here it is for those of you who are interested. What we would like to know is - who were Amanda's twin boys? [Rebecca] >This story is told in John I. Smith’s book, “Reminiscences of Ed T. Smith.” > As the Civil War lingered on, many deserted ranks and became fugitives. An >unknown soldier arrived at the home of Mrs. Amanda Youngblood, a young widow >who lived on an isolated farm on the bayou near Garrett Bridge. He was >young and attractive – and hungry. Amanda prepared a meal and during their >conversation, he told her he had deserted from the Confederate Army. He >gave his name as Samuel Jones and asked if he could stay on as a farmhand. >Needing help as well as protection, Amanda allowed him to stay, knowing that >harboring a deserter was dangerous. They agreed to tell no one and that he >would never leave the farm. Samuel prepared a hiding place in a nearby >almost impenetrable cypress swamp where he would flee upon a signal given by >Amanda if someone should approach the house. They eventually fell in love, >agreed to marry after the war, and began to live as husband and wife. > George W. Rowell, a schoolteacher at nearby Greenmount [near Tyro] and a >“red-hot agitator for the Confederacy…became a Confederate officer of some >kind and one of his duties was to run down deserters, of which there were >plenty.” Rowell received word from a hunter that a stranger was living on >the Youngblood farm and went to investigate. Amanda (pregnant now and >showing plainly) rang the farm bell, and Samuel escaped to the swamp. When >Rowell visited the third time, he figured out the signal system. He >returned again with a helper who hid on the path to the swamp. Rowell >slipped up on Amanda before she had a chance to ring the bell. She rang it >as he questioned her as to the whereabouts of her “husband.” Samuel ran >toward the swamp only to be met by a rifle leveled at his face. > “Rowell rode up and said, ‘You have come to the end of the road. It would >have been better for you to have been shot down in battle. I guess you know >the penalty for desertion.’ He began tying his arms and legs. Sam begged, >‘Just let me go and I will get Mandy to deed you the farm.’” Rowell replied >that he would probably get the farm anyway if the south should win as he and >his helper began making a large pile of dry timber. > Samuel Jones cried, “My poor Amanda! My poor baby!” “Amanda saw the >smoke. When the fire was set, the end came among screams that did not last >long.” Amanda gave birth to twin boys who became respected members of the >community. Rowell somehow (probably by extortion) acquired the Youngblood >farm and sold it to Ed T. Smith in 1900.