onfederate lines, when she was fired
upon by the Yankee soldiers, and a Minie-ball entering her limb just
below the hip, she died in thirty minutes from the loss of blood. The
children, frightened, hid themselves in the bushes, while Mr. Smith sat
down upon the ground by his wife, to see her breathe her last. After she
had been dead for some time, the Yankee commander permitted him to take
a cart, and, with no assistance except one of his children, he put the
dead body in the cart and carried it into the town. On his arrival in
town, he was not permitted to take the remains of his wife to her
brother's residence until he had first gone through the town to the
Provost Marshal's office and obtained permission. On his arrival at the
Provost Marshal's office, he was gruffly told to take his wife to the
graveyard and bury her. He carried her to her brother's, John R. Kilby,
Esq., and a few friends prepared her for burial; Mr. Kilby not being
allowed to leave the house, or to attend the remains of his sister to
the graveyard.

"Nor did the cruelty of the fiends stop here. Mr. Smith was denied the
privilege of going in search of his little children, and for four days
and nights they wandered in the woods and among the soldiers without
anything to eat or any place to sleep. The baby was taken up by a
colored woman and nursed until some private in the Yankee army, with a
little better heart than his associates, took it on his horse and
carried it to town. Mr. Smith is still in the lines of the enemy, his
house and everything else he had destroyed, and his little children
cared for by his friends.

"Will not the Confederate soldiers now in Pennsylvania remember such
acts of cruelty and barbarism? Will not the Nansemond companies remember
it? And will not that gallant boy in the 16th Regiment remember his
mother's fate, and take vengeance on the enemy? Will not such a cruel
race of people eventually reap the fruit of their doings? God grant that
they may."

SUNDAY AFTERNOON.--There are two reports of important events current in
the streets: first, that Lee's army has taken and destroyed Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania; and second, that Vicksburg has fallen. I am not prepared
to credit either, although the first is said to be true by no less a
person than Gov. Letcher. And yet one or both may be confirmed
to-morrow; and if so, that is, if Vicksburg has fallen, and Lee should
retire, as he must sooner or later, there will be a dark and