Recalling the past with Mrs. Charlie Wiley Reed
Rhoda J. Herlong and the Civil War
Notes by
Norman E. Reed (dates unknown)
As told to
Norman E. Reed by his mother Mrs. C. W. Reed (Mrs. Charlie Wiley Reed)
Rhoda J. Herlong and the Civil War
Rhoda J. Herlong was a little girl during the Confederate
war. When Sherman’s army came through she was living on a hugh (sp) house that
was high off the ground, the carriages could be stored under the house. They
knew Sherman was coming, an Officer of the Confederacy came through the day
before and told them to put their jewels and valuables in a safe place. The
officer told them that the army would take everything they could get. The
family sat on the steps and could see the army coming a half mile away. They
knew the soldiers would take any horses, muel, wagons, buggies, anything of
value, when they came through.
They told Mrs. Herlong that if she wanted to see her father,
Dr. Jack Hilderbrand alive again that she better go on up to the house. They
were going to kill him. She said well if you are going to kill him I don’t want
to see him. She knew that they wanted to get her away from the house so they
could set it on fire.
A slave was hiding three of the horses in the swamp. He was
afraid the horses would neigh and they would be found. The Union soldiers the
slave or the three horses. Her father had taken the two oldest boys, flanked
Sherman because he had heard that they would take these boys with them.
These two boys were 14 and 16 years old. These were the two
oldest sons. He and the two sons went to Edgefield, S.C.
One of the soldiers gave the children some hardtack
crackers, these tasted terrible. Some of the soldiers went in the kitchen and
took the biscuits out of the oven, they weren’t even done but they ate them
anyway.
The soldiers took all the meat except some that was buried
in a barrel in the lot. When they were rolling the last buggy under the house
an officer came and wouldn’t let them take anything else. The only thing left
was a wagon. They had a mill that would grind corn into meal and grits. It was
feared that this mill would be found and taken or destroyed. The soldiers
didn’t fine it.
My grandmother was standing in the lot watching as the
soldiers were pulling the setting hens of (sp) their nest and spearing them
with their bayonets. They did the same with some of the hogs in the lot. An old
hog was loose and started to root around where the barrel of meat was buried.
She walked over and stood. She had a shaul (sp) over her shoulders with a
bucket on her arm with her jewelry in it. This saved the watches and jewels, by
standing over the barrel of meat it was saved. She made the old hog go away
before the meat was detected.
The children were hungry, an officer told them that a wagon
was broken down at the Advance Post Office it was loaded with meat and
potatoes. When we got there someone else had already gotten the wagon.
The next day she and
Bascomb with two slaves went to where the army was camped. They had been told
by an officer that the army was very wasteful. They found enough food to last
for a while. They found a buggy and loaded with rice, bacon, coffee and a
little of everything imaginable. They pushed and pulled the buggy home. They
were afraid to take the horses, they may be seen and taken away.
Sent by N.E. Reed’s son, Don Reed to Tom Reed 12-2021.
Retyped into Word.
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