The Following is chapter 13 from the book Women of the South in War Times (by Matthew Page Andrews, published in 1920, from pages 145 – 147). The story portrays a great deal of self sacrifice on the part of the young lady; the reason it is one of the favorite stories of historians to give an example of the heroic deeds of the southern women during the War Between the States:
Near Winchester, Virginia, on the afternoon of July 20,* 1864, a Confederate force under General Ramseur was defeated by Federal troops under General Averell. The Confederates were compelled to beat a rapid retreat and left their dead and wounded on the battlefield.
As night came on, a number of women of Winchester arrived on the scene to give aid and comfort to the wounded. Among the young girls who had thus volunteered was Miss Tillie Russell. In passing among the dead and wounded, visible by the light of the moon and the lanterns of the Federal surgeons, Miss Russell came upon a youth suffering the greatest agony. He was Randolph Ridgely of Maryland, although she then knew only that he was a Confederate soldier. His clothing was soaked in the blood from his wound, which, some time before, had been hastily dressed by the Federal surgeon. Miss Russell raised Ridgely’s head to give him, if possible, some ease, whereupon the wounded man gave a sigh of relief and his head sank back into her arms as she sat down beside him. Almost at once, his low moans gave place to regular breathing as he fell into a sleep of exhaustion.
After some time, Miss Russell found herself and her charge alone on that portion of the field among the dead and wounded. She attempted to change the position of the wounded man and free herself from a severely cramped position, which, all the while, grew more and more painful. Whenever she attempted to move, however, the soldier moaned and awoke. The Federal surgeon who had dressed young Ridgely’s wound came by and told her that the case was critical, but that if the wounded man could sleep until morning, he might live. On the other hand, his fever was at its most dangerous point, and if his sleep were broken, he would die. Then and there, regardless of her own suffering, Tillie Russell resolved to make no further effort to lay Ridgely’s head on the grass, but would support his head until his life should be assured by the rest he needed.
Hour after hour went slowly by. The moon passed through the heavens, and there was no sound on the battleground except that of a fitful breeze in the nearby woods. The girl was suffering agony, but she never faltered! and, at the first touch of dawn, she saw the soldier awake with a faint smile on his lips. Forgetful of self, her feeling was one of thankfulness that she had saved the life of a Confederate soldier.
Miss Russell was made seriously ill by her experience, and she could not lift her hand for some days. The story of her deed was eagerly sought for publication but she refused permission to have her name used in connection with it. Artists visited the scene and portrayed the incident with brush and pencil. One of these pictures, by Oregon “Wilson, is entitled “Woman’s Devotion.” It should always be associated with the memory of one of the most unselfish and self-sacrificing deeds of endurance during the War between the States.
*The day after the burning of “Fountain Rock” and “Bedford” some thirty miles distant from the scenes of this narrative. See pp. 196-204.
