March 25, 1863, Dallas Herald
Our informant who gave us the facts in regard to the capture of the Queen of the West, on Red River, and who was forced to go with the Queen down the Atchafalaya, relates the following incident:
At one of the places burnt by the Queen, and owned by a lady who had been thus villainously left houseless, the valiant Commander attempted to converse with her on the bank from the deck of his boat. She proved true pluck for him. He asked her:
“Madam, have you a father, brothers or any other relative in this war?”
The lady was quite young, a widow, with two young boys of five and seven years of age by her side. Her reply was a stinger to this three, six and nine month invader and subjugator of old Abe. She answered, in sight of the smoldering ruins of her home:
“I have two brothers in the army; and if you keep on this war twelve years longer, (pressing the heads of her boys,) I shall have two sons to fight you till their deaths. I expect nothing better than arson and murder from any of your tribe.
The commander slope to his gun-room, while the lady and boys cheered the departure of the Queen of the West with the Bonnie Blue Flag.–Natchez Courier.