Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
Commendable Heroism of a Charlotte lady.
Richmond, May 18th, 1861.
The following soul-stirring message, sent by a lady of
Charlotte to her husband, who is a member of the
Charlotte Troop, that marched from that county on Thursday last, breathes a spirit of such lofty and self-sacrificing patriotism, and affords an example so worthy of imitation to others of her sex, who are similarly situated, that I deem it my duty to send it to your paper for publication.
Your correspondent, who is himself a member of the same company, having been unavoidably detained at home for a day or two after his comrades had set out on their journey to this place, called upon the lady in question (whose husband is one of his most cherished friends) on the evening previous to his departure to join his company, for the purpose of taking leave of her, and of ascertaining if she had any special communication to send by him to her husband.
Being too much overpowered by her feelings to express herself as fully as she wished during the brief interview I had with her, she addressed me a note, a short time afterwards, from which I extract the following sentence, which would have reflected credit upon a Roman matron in the palmiest days of the
Roman Commonwealth:
‘"Tell my dear husband to fight bravely; to defend his country; that I love his honor more than my life; to let every thought of home, of me, and of his children, nerve his arm to fight for liberty."’
This noble sentiment will be more highly appreciated by your readers when I state that the fair heroine who uttered it has been an invalid for years, and had to be propped up in her bed, in order to write the note from which the foregoing extract has been copied.
I deem it proper to add, also, that her husband is a worthy son of a noble and distinguished sire, and bears a name illustrious in the annals of Virginia.
Surely, the husbands, sons and brothers of such heroic women, in a struggle for their liberty, their firesides, and their homes, must be invincible.
Randolph.
