Page:The woman in battle .djvu/101

Rh mustered in, and stationed in camp, Thomas C. De Caulp was appointed first lieutenant, and Frank Murdock second lieutenant, while I was ordered back to New Orleans to purchase more stores and equipments. . I had scarcely arrived at my destination when I received a despatch announcing the death of my husband, and requesting my immediate return. Terribly shocked, and nearly wild with grief, I started for Pensacola again, and found, upon my arrival there, that, while drilling his men, my husband undertook to explain the use of the carbine to one of the sergeants, and the weapon exploded in his hands, killing him almost instantly. I was now alone in the world, and more than ever disposed to take an active part in the war, if only for the purpose of revenging my husband's death. Smothering my grief as much as possible, I turned over the command of my battalion to Lieutenant De Caulp, for the double reason that the men were only enlisted for three months, and were to be stationed in Pensacola, or its vicinity, where there was not much prospect of very active service just then, and that I had resolved to go to the front in the character of an independent, with a view of leading a life of more stirring adventures than I probably should be able to do if permanently attached to a particular command. During the brief time I had been in Pensacola I had formed the acquaintance of a number of officers who were going to the front, and, as they intended to leave for Richmond shortly, I concluded that it would be better to go in their company, especially as several of them were first-rate fellows, and one or two particular friends of my late husband. I also became acquainted with a good many ladies, one of whom, a dashing young widow, paid my masculine charms the compliment of falling desperately in love with them. This lady did not require any encouragement from me; but finding that, while polite to her, I was rather shy and reserved, and apparently insensible to her attractions, she made a dead set at me, and took pains to let me know, in terms that could not be misunderstood, the sentiments she felt for me.