I Do Wish This Cruel War Was Over by Mark K. Christ Patrick G. Williams

Author:Mark K. Christ, Patrick G. Williams [Mark K. Christ, Patrick G. Williams]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781557286475
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: 2014-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

As Confederate Arkansas was constricted to the southwestern corner of the state after the fall of Little Rock, the civilian population there began to experience the war firsthand. The diary of Virginia Davis Gray, a native of Maine who became an ardent supporter of the Confederacy, gives a detailed account of life in Princeton, Arkansas, in late 1863.

Originally appeared in Carl H. Moneyhon, ed., “Life in Confederate Arkansas: The Diary of Virginia Davis Gray, 1863–1865, Part 1,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 42 (Spring 1983): 47–85.

September 12, 1863—Saturday

Have been acting as nurse to Capt. Allston210 and his wife. Administered four doses of calomel, dressed a blister and dabbed on castor oil till my hands are soft as milk. It don’t suit me much but they are sick and Mrs. [William T. H.] Holmes is sick in the house. He is patient, she a little fretful. Perhaps she thinks as little Bob Lea211 said when he was sick “if I stop grunting I shall puke.”

September 14, 1863—Monday

All day yesterday my patients were very sick and the blisters sore. Capt. Allston, with a mustard plaster on each temple, shut his eyes and said nothing. We had Sunday School in the morning and prayer meeting in the evening. Uncle Johnny Mann212 gave us one of his grand talks. The example of Jonah and the future of Ninevah seemed fixed in his mind and he seldom failed to remind us of them. Much confusion in town—men coming and going as if this was a more business-like place than quiet little Princeton. This morning we rose soon and went to help Mrs. Allston pack up, a service I had often performed in that same room. She had sent her trunk off on Saturday and now all manner of things, with numerous little bottles of medicine, had to go in two satchels and one pair of saddlebags. The satchels were soon full—but Capt. Allston’s part was not so convenient, as he had already turned one side of the saddlebags into a hardware and blacksmith’s shop. Both of them ought to have stayed one week longer, if they would be in a proper condition to travel, but fear of the Federals was so great that they could not be induced to stay any longer. After they left we went to pass an hour with Mrs. [George] Lea. Kate213 was there having her pretty homemade hat made a little more homemade by the addition of palmetto trimming. Little Rob was quite sick with a chill. In the evening Mr. R. Thrasher214 and Willie Harley215 came to see us. R. Thrasher would leave that evening to go to Texas to remain till his wound was healed. After supper we went across town to see Mrs. Cooksey216 and Mrs. Stubblefield.217 Mrs. Cooksey had moved in town and has been sick nearly ever since with headache and fever. There was a dreadful alarm about the middle of the morning that the Feds. were near. All the men saddled their horses and stood ready to run and the women cried for fear they might not have another opportunity.

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