Perry County AlArchives News.....To the Ladies of Perry County 1861
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J. Hugh LeBaron hlebaron@ms.metrocast.net November 10, 2006, 10:10 am

Marion Commonwealth Newspaper 1861
	Will you permit one of your sex to make a suggestion as to our duty in 
the perilous conflict in which our youthful nation is involved?  The Supreme 
Disposer of human fortunes has not called us to the open fields and the deadly 
conflicts of battle, but from the teachings of his sacred word, and the 
chivalrous instincts of the stronger sex, these are duties that devolve upon 
our fathers, our husbands and our brothers.  But are there no duties for us to 
perform in this hour of our country’s peril?  When we have given our sons and 
our brothers to the army, and bid them farewell with prayerful and affectionate 
benedictions, have we then discharged our whole duty?  Must we then sit down 
and weep and pray until the strife be ended?  To weep is the peculiar privilege 
of woman and is doubtless an amiable weakness, and to pray is her high and 
sacred duty; but in times like these there are other privileges and duties 
besides weeping and praying for those with whom we have parted for our 
country’s cause.  There is no safer maxim for the soldier than to “trust in God 
and keep his power dry,” but if, while he is trusting in God he should forget 
his powder, he would be badly prepared for the reception of the enemy, and 
while we ought not to forget our prayers for the success of our brave army, yet 
let us remember that the soldiers must have arms—he must have powder and lead—
he must have bread and clothes, that our government is young and without a 
national treasury, and that the means of supporting the army must come directly 
from the people.  When the writer witnessed the parting scene between our 
young, brave soldiers of “Marion Light Infantry,” and their friends, she asked 
herself, “And is it for my safety that these noble young men have torn 
themselves from the sacred affections of home to encounter the deadly strife of 
bloody fields and is there nothing that I can do for the glorious cause of 
Southern freedom and independence?”  And as the cars dashed off with that brave 
band of soldiers, the writer resolved to have a part, however humble, of the 
glorious work of emancipating Southern soil from the desolating tread of 
Northern oppression and fanaticism.  She resolved to wear no more ornamental 
jewelry, and to purchase no more silks or other costly dresses until the flag 
of the Confederate States waves in triumph over every city, fortress and 
garrison from Baltimore to Galveston, and until the “Seven Stars: shall float 
in a cloudless sky over the Capital at Washington.  
	The writer is informed that there has been a call made by the 
Confederate States for Cavalry, and that there are many brave, but poor young 
men among us who are ready and anxious to respond to the call, if they had the 
horses, the writer therefore proposed to the ladies of Perry county to be one 
of one hundred to furnish, each, one horse and the necessary equipments to farm 
a Cavalry Company to be known as the “Alabama Rangers.”  And she would suggest, 
in order that there may be no delay in the movement, that each lady who can 
respond to the proposition will write her name upon a card with this 
inscription: “One Horse for the Alabama Rangers,” and enclose it to Gen. E. D. 
King, through the Post Office or otherwise as may suit her convenience.  Shall 
we not have the one hundred horses pledged by Monday night?
				A SOLDIER’S SISTER


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