Diana Smith
Washington, Arkansas
December 24, 1862
DIANA SMITH
THE HEROINE OF THE NORTHWEST
Diana, his only daughter, is a beautiful girl, and has been tenderly raised, and well educated. She is also a member of the M. E. Church, and has always been regarded as very pious and exemplary. She is descended from a race of unflinching nerve, and satisfied with nothing less than freedom as unrestrained as the pure air of their mountain home. Her devotion to the cause of Southern rights, in which her father had nobly engaged, has caused her, too, to feel the oppressor's power.
Although a tender and delicate flower, upon whose cheek the bloom of sixteen summers yet lingers, she has been five times captured by the Yankees, and marched sometimes on foot, in manacles, a prisoner; once a considerable distance to Ohio, at which time she made her escape. She was never released, but in each instance managed to escape from her guard.
She, too, has been in service; she was in several battles in which her father engaged the enemy. She has seen blood flow like water. Her trusty rifle has made more than one of the vile Yankees bite the dust. She left her home in company with the Moccasin Rangers, (Captain Joseph R. Kessler) and came through the enemy's line in safety, and is now at the Blue Sulphur Springs. She was accompanied by Miss Duskie, who has earned the proud distinction of a heroine.
On one occasion this fearless girl was surrounded by fifty Yankees and Union men, when she went rushing through their ranks with a daring that struck terror to their craven hearts. With her rifle lashed across her shoulders, she swam the west fork of the Kanhawa river, and made her way to the Mountain Rangers; preferring to trust her safety to those brave spirits, well knowing that her sex would entitle her to protection from those brave mountaineers.
These young ladies have lain in the mountains for months, with no bed but the earth, and no covering but the canopy of heaven. They have shared the soldier's rough fare, and his dangers, his hopes, and his joys. "
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