1862 March 20: Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock cuts her hair, dons men's clothing, and enlists with her husband in the Confederate army, becoming North Carolina's only known female Civil War soldier. 1863 March 18: During what has become known as the Salisbury Bread Riot, several dozen women armed with axes and hatchets storm speculators' stores demanding flour, molasses, and salt in Salisbury. When shop owners refuse to turn over the goods, the women take them by force. ..................now you know, as if ya didn't already. Don't mess with North Carolina wimmin. Gene

There are stories told by the family about Myra QUEEN, daughter of Stephen QUEEN and Sarah STEWART, wife of John Harrison HUGHES that have always made me think she was one hell of a woman also. Daddy told how John HUGHES was always deserting the Union Army to check on the family at home. He told how he and a *companion* were headed back to Cherokee Co in Dec. When they came to the rivere [I assume he was talking about Tennesee River] it was cold, they were tired and the river was frozen. So they piled branches, etc in the middle of the river to look like brush caught up in the freeze. They crawled inside this *lean to* to sleep a bit. While they were sleeping there was a good snow that covered their hiding place completely, so they stayed there and just slept for a couple of days. I found out later that this companion had to be Grandma Myra. She went WITH her husband when he went to war. After they got there, they found out that there would be no rations for Grandma Myra. So in December Grandpa John got permission to take her home. According to the war records, home was her parents house on the GA-NC border. He never returned, says the roads were being patrolled by Thomas' Legion and he couldn't get through to get back. They charged him with the army carbine and horse he left with. They say he hid in the hills and Grandma Myra carried food to him. He came down every so often to check on her as well. One day while he was at the cabin, they saw a Union patrol headed for the house. Grandpa John didn't have time to leave and there was no place to hide in the house. So the story goes that Grandma Myra had him get down on all fours, sat on his back with her skirts covering him and calmly set on her *stool* and churned butter while the soldiers searched the house for Grandpa John. These are stories told to my Dad by Grandma Myra who died when Daddy was 18, at the age of 90. ----- Original Message ----- From: "O. Eugene Queen" <EQueen@Lexcominc.net> To: "QResearchers" <QUEEN@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:00 PM Subject: [QUEEN] From NC Museum of History > ..................now you know, as if ya didn't already. > > Don't mess with North Carolina wimmin. > > Gene