In the autumn before the war ended, the little neighborhood near what is now Swepsonville was agog with excitement, for the Western Artillery of the Confederate Army was going to pass that way en route t o Virginia. Every family scraped together what food and clothing it could, and had it ready for the troops when they arrived. Years later one aged wooman remembered the endless stream of tired, hungry, half-naked men who shuffled along the road by her grandfathers home. Some of the more fortunate rode horses, but many walked barefoot and listlessly, without music and without flages. For thirty-six long hours, the troops filed across the narow fording place on Haw River. The young girl watched from the kitchen window, as she fried large slabs of meat and busshels of potatoes, and boiled pots ofsynthetic coffee for the hungry soldiers. Long into the night she kept her place over the stove, preparing food, while other members of the family passed it to the men on the road outside. A company of French Zouaves, part of the Confederate force, was detailed to guard the house from damage by the troops, and as the long night passed, they kept up their spirits by singing "La Marseilles," the French National Anthem, and other strange and foreign songs. When the food was finally gone and the day had come, the girl went with her grandfather to watch the long columns of men from a nearby ridge. There on the ridge they found a young soldier weeping. He told them that his horse was no longer able to carry him and that he was heartbroken at the thought of leaving the animal behind. The aged plantation owner led the soldier to his stables and gave him the last saddle horse on the farm, in exchange for the boy's own sorrowful colt. With a smile of grateful appreciation, the young soldier mounted the horse and rode away, as the Army continued to file slowly along the dusty road. ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange