Transcript of the 38-page reminiscences of Victoria Hansford Teass documents Teass's experiences as a Confederate in Coal Mouth, West Virginia, during the early years of the Civil War. Teass describes both her life on the home front and interactions with the Confederate and Union troops moving through the area. Topics related to the start of the war include molding bullets; visiting the Kanawha Riflemen at Camp Tompkins in the spring of 1861; servants being sent to another farmer; slave quarters; traveling to Paint Creek as a refugee during the summer of 1861 with other women and children; and local men joining the 22nd Virginia Infantry Regiment and the early movements of the unit. Teass also writes about living under Union occupation. She describes secretly receiving letters from Confederate soldiers; Northern soldiers arriving at her door to capture a Confederate flag that she had hidden; hiding contraband goods; and retrieving a horse that had been taken by the Union army. Teass also records seeing citizens retreating up the river from Charleston with the Union army and seeing Lightburn's Retreat in 1862.
English
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