Page updated 08/12/2004.
The following incident is told concerning the independent and successful stand taken by a woman in New Orleans, on behalf of the Union. She and her husband —a Mississippi steamboat captain —-occupied the middle front room of the lowest range of sleeping apartments in the St. Charles Hotel , at the time when the city was to be illuminated in honor of secession. She refused to allow the illuminating candles to be fixed in the windows of her room, and the proprietors remonstrated in vain —she finally ordering them to leave the room, of which she claimed, while its occupant, to have entire control. The rest of the story is thus told:
“Determined not to be outdone in a matter of such grave importance, the captain, who was not in the room during the above proceedings, was next found and appealed to. He heard their case; said his wife had reported him correctly on the Union question; nevertheless, he would go with them to the room and see if the matter could be amicably arranged. The captain's disposition to yield was not to be seconded by his better half. The proprietors next proposed to vacate the best chamber in her favor, in some other part of the house, if that would be satisfactory; but the lady's ‘NO!' was still as peremptory as ever. Her point was gained, and the St. Charles was doomed to have a dark front chamber. Pleased with this triumph, Mrs. devised the following manœuver to make the most of her victory. Summoning a servant, she sent him out to procure for her an American flag, which, at dusk, she suspended from her window. When evening came, the streets, animated by a merry throng, were illuminated; but, alas the St. Charles was disfigured by its sombre chamber, when suddenly a succession of lamps suspended on both sides of the flag, revealing the Stars and Stripes, were lit up, and the ensign of the Union waved from the centre of a hotel illuminated in honor of its overthrow! The effect -was, to give the impression that the whole house was thus paying homage to the American flag ; and what is more significant, is the fact that the latter was greeted by the passing crowd with vociferous applause. So much for the firmness of a true Union woman."
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Page updated 08/12/2004.