The Little Soldier of ’64

Gabe, a southern backwoodsman, sees the massing of troops, and realizes that a great battle is imminent. Casting a quantity of lead bullets in an old-fashioned mold, he shoulders his rifle and goes to the recruiting station in the village and enlists. Matie, his young wife, pleads to go with him, but being denied, determines to follow. Searching through the garret, Matie finds a boy's suit, which she quickly dons, cuts her hair off short, mounts a horse and rides to overtake the volunteers. While riding toward the ferry she has a narrow escape from a company of Federal scouts, but, unrecognized by her husband, succeeds in joining the recruits. The Federal army approaching in overwhelming numbers, the raw recruits are immediately rushed into battle. This action being preceded by a most thrilling artillery duel between Confederate and Union batteries. Gabe, always in the thickest of the fight, is badly wounded, but when about to be run through by a Union soldier