Mrs. Florence Capshaw
Florence Smith Capshaw
Mrs. Capshaw was born in Catoosa County, Georgia, on November 24, 1852, Her father and brothers went to war leaving her and her mother with several younger children. On May 3, 1864, when General William Sherman on his "March to The Sea," crossed Georgia, advance word was given and Mrs. Capshaw's mother with the children made ready for the enemies--the kitchen floor was removed, bells taken from the sheep and they were penned under the house and covered with the flooring, food was hidden under rocks, silver in the well.
The company camped within one half mile of the home. About sundown the evening the army moved in, a man with a slouch hat and ragged clothes came to the gate and asked to spend the night. When her mother refused, he replied, "Lady, you don't know the tactics of war--you need a guard." She let him stay and in true southern hospitality gave him the best food she had for his supper. In return he gave them a package of Peaberry coffee, the first they had seen since the war began. They had used Rebel coffee, made with water from cooked wheat. The man stayed for two days and nights, guarding the house as a sentry, and finally disappeared. It was later learned that he was a spy from General Blackstone Bragg's company and was gathering information for the Confederate Army.
One morning Mrs. Capshaw with a sister was searching for a lost sheep and as they parted the bushes at the bottom of a hill, they saw General Sherman watering his horse not ten feet from them. She also told that the family's home had been ordered spared by the General because of her mother's pleading. As the army moved on, neighbors searched the woods and found large chunks of meat, saw their first crackers and found enough provisions to last for several days. Much of the loot that had been taken from the homes was also found.
Mrs. Capshaw lived four miles from the battle of Ringgold and 10 miles from the Battle of Missionary Ridge. The yard was covered with cannon balls, and the chickens, geese and dogs were killed. The Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought September 19-20, 1864, was 14 miles from her home and was one of the most disastrous battles of the war. The armies began getting ready for the battle the day before, tearing down rail fences for breastworks. By four o'clock on the afternoon of the nineteenth, the first day of the battle, "it seemed as if the world was shaking, and the smoke was so dense it hid the sun.* And when the second day of fighting was over one could have walked 300 yards on dead soldiers. Some 34,000 were killed, wounded or taken prisoners. Thousands of muskets were gathered from the fields and hundreds of heart-breaking letters were found.
Mrs. Capshaw keep two of these letters. One read, "My dear brother, At church last Sunday there was not a young man. Our wheat crop is good, but father is not able to gather it and we cannot get laborers."
Another one she kept reads, "My dear son, My daily prayer is that the Lord may shield you and that this terrible war may soon end." Some of the letters were from wives and sweethearts.
It was not an easy life for a little girl. She had to help kill beef, tan the leather and make her own shoes. She was plow-boy for three years. She spun the wool that made her clothing. And one day her chance came to get even with the enemies and this woman who is loved and respected by her acquaintance was called on to do the most heroic deed of her life and she did it like a general. She carried messages through enemy lines and "was as brave as the men who faced the cannons."
After the Federals took possession of Georgia, the southern soldiers would slip back in the hills to see their families. For two weeks little Florence carried breakfast and messages for the two Confederates hidden in the hills. She was only 12 years old and passed the Federals unnoticed, but she was cautious and took a new route each time.
One morning at 2 o'clock a voice was heard outside the window. A friend was asking them to get word to his wife, whom he learned was staying with a northern family. Little Florence was given the task to deliver the message in code. At dawn, and just as the eastern sun rose on a bleak war-ridden country, the little spy went to the northern home to borrow meal. They were at breakfast, and Florence, turned to the man's wife and said, "Mama said to please go to Deep Hollow and feed the old sow some corn." The woman understood that her husband was there.
When the war ended it did not mean the end of hard work and trouble, for the reconstruction was a bitter experience. In 1870 Florence married Robert David Capshaw, born April 13, 1849 in Capshaw, Limestone County, Alabama. Robert was one of nine children born to David Granville Capshaw and Rebecca Ann Christopher Capshaw. Two years later they started west to seek their fortune in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. They settled in Woodruff County and helped to change the wilderness into a thriving county. Mr. Capshaw died May 22, 1922 and Florence lived with a son, Granville David "Dandy" Capshaw, at McCrory until she entered the Confederate Home where she died March 21, 1951. Both Florence and her husband, Robert David Capshaw are buried in Woodman of the World Cemetery at McCrory, Woodruff County, Arkansas.
Mrs. Capshaw had antiques that were priceless to her and would grace any museum. Her collection included a watch 125 years old, her husband's powder gourd, 90 years old, his pistol carried during the war; daguerreotypes of her grandparents, 200 years old; three family Bibles from 100 to 200 years old; a Methodist hymnal more than 100 years old; a speech book 90 years old. She had a workbox made from an axle grease box 125 years old. The most interesting of Mrs. Capshaw's collection was an account book of Benjamin Franklin Capshaw, dating back to 1830, with the inclosed (sic) items: Wool, 20c; tobacco, 20c lb.; eggs 12 1/2c dozen; sugar,10c lb.; coffee, 8c lb. The book belonged to an uncle of her husband's who owned a store in Tennessee.
Mrs. Capshaw had five other children: Mrs. Ida Lou Collier of DeView; Gideon W. Capshaw of New Mexico, Lonnie Emmett Capshaw of Augusta, Oscar Wylie and Preston David Capshaw of McCrory; there were 13 grandchildren and ten great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. She had a sister, Mrs. (unreadable) Wilsford, 80, of Hughes, Arkansas, a brother, W. E. Smith, 79, of Forrest City, Arkansas. Two of her grandchildren lived at McCrory, Victor Capshaw and Mrs. Ralph Myers.
Arkansas Central Leader
Mrs. Florence Smith Capshaw, aged 98 years, three months and 27 days, oldest resident of the Arkansas Confederate Home, died there Wednesday afternoon, March 21, 1951.Mrs. Capshaw was born at Ringgold, Ga., Nov. 24, 1852, and lived there as a girl. She had told friends she remembered General Sherman passing her home during his march to the sea.
In 1870, she and her family moved to La Grange,Arkansas, where two years later she met and married her husband , Robert David Capshaw, a Confederate veteran. They moved to McCrory , Arkansas in 1900, where Mr. Capshaw died in 1922. She lived here until 1937, when she entered the Confederate Home.
At the home, Mrs. Capshaw was fond of recalling the War Between the States. She said General Sherman ordered his troops to spare her family's home at her mother's pleading. She also told of carrying messages from a Confederate spy to troops hidden near her home.
Survivors are four sons, G. W. Capshaw of Boise, Idaho, Preston of Wynne, Oscar and G. D. of McCrory; a daughter, Mrs. Ida Lou Collier of McCrory; 13 grandchildren, and 10 great grand-children, and one great-great-grandchild.
Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30, Friday morning, March 23, in the McCrory Methodist Church, by the Rev. John W. Glover, pastor, assisted by Rev. Shoptaw of Little Rock.
Burial will be in Woodman Cemetery, with Thompson-Wilson Funeral Home in charge.