THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9602280485
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Abby House, the cantankerous, hard-swearing, pipe-smoking Tar Heel spinster with strong Virginia connections, who brushed aside the objections of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and other high ranking Rebel brass like so many flies when she determined to have her way, is a perfect subject for a National Women's History Month column.
Born around 1796 to Green and Ann House, Abby spent most of her life near Franklinton, N.C. When she was 16, she learned that her sweetheart, then serving as a soldier of the War of 1812, was ill in Norfolk. ``Putting her feet in the path'' - to use an old Southern saying, Abby walked all of the way here to determine if she should comfort him in any way. Unfortunately, the day of her arrival coincided with her lover's funeral, leaving her no other alternative than to walk home again.
The attachment was apparently deep, for from then on Abby remained a spinster, concentrating her affections on her eight nephews. At the outbreak of the Civil War she encouraged them to enlist in the Confederate Army, promising ``If any of you gits sick or wounded, you can depend on your old Aunt Abby to nuss and tend you.'' Meanwhile, Abby scoured the countyside for shoes, food and clothing for her young kinsmen, frequently delivering them in person.
During the four years of the war Abby became a familiar sight to both soldiers and civilians from Raleigh to Richmond, and her appearance was described thus:
``Always dressed in calico or homespun, wearing a long black cape against the chill and often smoking a corn cob pipe, her clothes were sometimes soiled and even ragged. Slightly stooped, she always carried a cane - or even two - for the dual purpose of aiding her in walking and to emphasize her wishes. She would often whack anyone who didn't agree with her.''
Abby, who also sported a poke bonnet, was further described by the same author as having ``an alert look about her as though she was always expecting someone to take advantage of her. She was illiterate, with no formal education, but was quite adept at making herself understood and was noted for her use of profanity, especially when `riled up.' ''
Even though Abby rarely ``had enough money for train fare, her rough features, shrewd eyes, black mourning clothes, feisty personality and-ever present cane convinced conductors of the expediency of allowing her to travel at no cost.'' Her efforts for the welfare of her ``boys'' and their friends soon made ``ubiquitous, indefatigable and inevitable'' Abby well-known to the officers under whom her nephews served. When the former balked at falling in line with her wishes, she didn't hesitate to go over their heads. In that way she attracted the attention of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and other top ranking Confederates who soon came to respect her.
Tireless in her efforts for the Confederate cause, Abby labored under fire during the siege of Petersburg. Earlier, she searched for 12 days in the gruesome aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg to find a dead relation. Having located him, she was to it that he was properly buried.
Abby was on her way to join Lee's Army when she learned of the evacuation of Richmond and that Jefferson Davis had arrived at Greensboro, N.C. Turning back, she reached that place before he left. Later, she reported that she ``cooked the last mouthful of vittles Jeff Davis ate in North Carolina, and he shuck hands with me when the train started and said `Goodby, Aunt Abby, you are true grit and stuck to your friends to the last, but it's no more than I thought you's do.' ''
Abby lost her property after the war, but she was rescued from poverty when a group of Raleigh Civil War veterans provided her with a cottage near the State Capitol. In 1876, ``House brazenly joined the Democratic State Convention, uninvited, to nominate Zebulon B. Vance for governor. When the presiding officer moved that House take the place of the only absent delegate, the motion was carried unanimously and House cast her vote for her beloved Vance. In asserting herself, House probably became the first women to cast an official vote for political office.''
Abby died in April 1881 and was buried in her family cemetery north of Franklinton. Her crude grave marker describes her deservedly as haven been an ``Angel of Mercy to Confederate Soldiers.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Abby House
by CNB