"Please give me a bit of bread, Aunty, I am starving," was the plea one day of a young soldier who saw a negro woman passing the window. He thrust his emaciated hand between the bars and clutched the bit which she cheerfully gave him; but before it had passed between his teeth he saw the brains of his benefactress spattered upon the sidewalk by the sentinel!
Although the city was in possession of the Union forces, there were many residents who believed that Lee would retrieve the disaster.
"I was sorry," said a citizen, "to see the Stars and Stripes torn down in 1861. It is the prettiest flag in the world, but I shed tears when I saw it raised over the Capitol of Virginia on Sunday morning."
"Why so?" I asked.
"Because it was done without the consent of the State of Virginia."
"Then you still cling to the idea that a State is more than the nation."
"Yes; State rights above everything."
"Don't you think the war is almost over,—that it is useless for Lee to contend further?"
"No. He will fight another battle, and he will win. He can fight for twenty-five years in the mountains."
"Do you think that men can live in the mountains?"