CHAPTER XX
 

^ N THE progress of these chronicles, I have
M now reached a period' in which the events
^ are fresh in the memory of a large por¬
tion of the population of the County.
The excitements of the war were more lively
and the feelings of animosity were necessa¬
rily much more bitter here than elsewhere.
This County was a battle field. It was overrun
by both armies. Vast quantities of property were
destroyed. The population were divided in senti¬
ment, and each portion ascribed to the other the
losses and indignities they suffered. It was liter¬
ally a fratricidal strife and a fratricidal strife is
always the most embittered. It seemed that the
words of the Prophet had been fulfilled. No trust
could be placed in a friend, no confidence in a
guide and it was well for a man to keep the doors
of his mouth from her that lay on his bosom, for
the son rose against the father, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law and a man's enemies
were often the men of his own house. There was
strife and division within the family circle. In
some instances the father would S3'mpathize with
one side, the mother with the other. Some of the
sons would join the Northern army and some the
Southern or it might .be that the father would be
arrayed against his sons and not unfrequently
would brothers be brought into direct conflict in
opposing forces.

With those far removed from the scene of the
strife the feeling of resentment was more of a
sentimental nature, but here upon the stage, added
to this was direct personal hatred. Those who
sympathized with the Union suffered loss during
the Southern occupancy and inconvenience all the
 

time and they felt that their nearest neighbors
might be aiding and abetting those who were de¬
spoiling them. Those who sympathized with the
South, if they gave any license to their tongues
were oppressed and ■ insulted and some of them
taken from their homes and families to be impris¬
oned in Northern forts. These were likewise deep¬
ly incensed with those of their neighbors who re¬
joiced in their misfortunes.

In the North people were growing rich on the
war, patriotism was profitable, but in Washington
County the country was overrun by armies and
farmers frequently saw the results of a year's hard
labor swept away or trod under foot in an hour.
Crops would be sowed, the ground ploughed with
hired horses and the work done at enormous ex¬
pense and as the crops would be white for the
harvest an army would encamp in the field. Or at
a critical time every horse from a farm would be
carried off leaving the farmer paralyzed. Miles
of fencing which had cost" almost as much as the
land it enclosed was swept away and burnt up
for firewood in a day. For this condition each
side considered the friends of the other side re¬
sponsible.

The Union man did not doubt that the se¬
cessionists, by attempting to break up the Union
.and by firing on the fiag, were responsible for the
war. The Secessionist did not doubt that the
Southern States had a constitutional right to ter¬
minate a compact with those who had violated its
terms and that the North, by invading the South
was alone responsible for the conflict. Then, too,
the successive occupancy of the County by the
troops of the two sides gave rise to much feeling.