lelliott19
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"Mrs. Gen. Gordon, who was in Winchester, seized the division headquarters flag, and rushing into the street, called upon any of her husband's division to rally round her flag, and that she would lead them. She succeeded in rallying a party of near 200 and sent them to the field." Southern Watchman [Athens, GA], Nov. 2, 1864, page 1.
You've probably heard of this incident - Fanny Haralson Gordon, the wife of Confederate General John Brown Gordon, rallying the retreating troops at Third Winchester on September 19, 1864? Has anyone ever heard that the division headquarters flag was involved?
Either way, General Gordon was mortified that she had exposed herself to such danger and later wrote:
I saw Mrs. Gordon on the streets of Winchester, under fire, her soul aflame with patriotic ardor, appealing to retreating Confederates to halt and form a new line to resist the Union advance. She was so transported by her patriotic passion that she took no notice of the whizzing shot and shell, and seemed wholly unconscious of her great peril.
Reminiscences of the Civil War, John Brown Gordon, C. Scribner's Sons, 1903. p. 42.
Reminiscences of the Civil War, John Brown Gordon, C. Scribner's Sons, 1903. p. 42.
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