other officers and the men to understand that I belonged to the special corps, and was doing a share of the fighting just for the love of the thing. Some of them evidently did not know who I was, and were inclined to regard me as an intruder; for I heard a soldier behind me say, "What little dandy is that?" Some one replied, "Why, don't you know? That's the fellow that raised the company," a bit of information that undoubtedly raised me immensely in the estimation of the interrogator, as well as in that of others who had joined the company since I had left it.
Among Old Friends.
Notwithstanding the number of strange faces that met my eyes as I glanced along the ranks, I saw enough old acquaintances to make me feel very much at home, and I was delighted beyond measure in an opportunity to take part in a great battle along with my own company that I had raised over in the Arkansas swamp, that I had marched through New Orleans and Mobile in such gallant style, and that I had so astonished my late husband by appearing in Pensacola at the head of, and resolved to prove myself worthy of them, and to show that, even if I was a little dandy, I was as good a soldier as the best of them when any hard fighting was to be done. Indeed, all the circumstances were such as to inspire me to distinguish myself by some unusually gallant action, and I resolved that, if it were possible to do so, the occasion should be made a memorable one for us all.
Captain De Caulp told me to remain with him, and to wait and see what would happen for my advantage ; for as some desperate fighting was yet to be done, there would very probably be some need of my services before the battle was over. In the mean time, and until there was a special call upon me, I could fight on my own hook, or act as a sort of aid to him. He then sent his orderly to the rear with the boy Bob and the horses, with directions to conduct them to the camp.
Glancing over the field, I saw the eleventh Louisiana regiment, with a friend of mine, and a brave officer, Colonel Sam. Marks, at its head, going for the enemy in gallant style, and in a short time the order came for us to advance. I was all oak, as the boys would say, and there was not upon the whole field a prouder or more determined upholder of the
