On rising and being seated in the desk, we observed a little excitement at the door, between a couple of gentlemen and several ladies, which we afterward learned was the effort of the men to get the ladies cooled off and back into church again, which they succeeded in doing, except the old woman. She declared she would never hear a _blue coat_ preach as long as she lived, and home she went. A few days thereafter we were told that the old lady and a daughter or two were sweeping the sidewalk down town with their long dress trails, and when coming to the United States flag, suspended in front of headquarters, and over the sidewalk, they stepped to the middle of the street, and thus avoided the humiliation of passing under the hated "Stars and Stripes."
Their contemptuous conduct was noticed, and reported to the post-commandant, who sent a posse after them, had them brought back, and made them march to and fro under the flag for several minutes, while the band played the national airs of "Star Spangled Banner" and "Yankee Doodle." And then they were dismissed with the wholesome admonition, "to show more respect in the future for the old flag which had done them good, and not evil, all their days."
A Sunday or two after we noticed the old lady in church again, where she listened respectfully to the preaching of the offensive _blue coat_, and we thought the thorough Union medical treatment she had received had done her good, as her bilious or rebellious condition seemed very much reduced, and the patient rapidly convalescing toward a love of the "red, white and _blue_."
We visited San Antonio, and on reaching New Braunfels, thirty miles from there, a fine German town of five or six thousand inhabitants, we found at the hotel a man just in from the bush, where he had been met, robbed, stripped, and tied to a tree, and there left to perish by hunger and thirst, or to be the prey of bears, wolves, and panthers from the mountains near by. Judging from the cast-off clothing they left behind, the robbers appeared to be deserters from the Federal camps at San Antonio. Fortunately some passer-by heard his cries of distress, and went and released the man from his perilous situation. The robbers had taken from him a gold watch, $175 in gold, and a good suit of clothes in exchange for some rags of blue, with which the victim in part covered himself so as to get into town. In their haste the robbers left in the clothing an old silver watch, which, with the clothing, we took and turned over to the General in command at San Antonio. He kindly thanked us for the interest we had taken in the matter, and said that information had been lodged that two cavalry-men were missing from camp, and presumed these were the parties; and said he should send out a detachment, and if possible capture them. We subsequently learned they were not captured. You might as well look for a needle in a haymow as to hunt for deserters in the forests, chaparral, and mountains of Texas.