A most unusual and thrilling story is told by Mrs. Sally Sanderson, of Golconda, who recently observed her 85th birthday. She tells how an eight year old girl and her three younger brothers lived for two years on the battlefield during the Civil War. She should know because she was that eight year old girl.
     Mrs. Sanderson, who lives alone in a cottage southwest of Golconda, is a native of Tennessee and the last survivor of her family. She was eight years old when the Civil War broke out. Her mother had just died and her father, although born in Tennessee, joined the Union Army.
      Sally and three smaller brothers, the youngest of whom could barely walk, were left in the care of two older brothers.. In a few months the two oldest boys enlisted. There was no one to stay at home with the children, so they followed their brothers to war.
      "The soldiers cared for us best they could," Mrs. Sanderson said, "They fed us and somehow we lived through more than two years of this life. We were moved from place to place in crowded boxcars along with the soldiers and fared as they did. A number of times I recall the soldiers hiding us in the forts for protection from gunfire during active battle.
      "I recall going out on the battlefield after the firing ceased and helping give aid to the wounded. I would lift up the visor of a soldier’s cap, look at his eyes to see if he was dead, ‘Here, this one’s still alive,’ I would call. I remember the surgeons at work.
      " Father came to camp to see us when he could get a leave from his company. Finally only two months before the war ended the Sisters of Mercy heard of us, came and took the four of us to an orphanage in Memphis. After peace was declared father came and got us. We returned to our home in Tennessee only to find that we were unwanted there. Father had fought with the Northern Army and neighbors were unforgiving. So we came to Illinois.
      "At the age of 10 I was cook and housekeeper for my family and also worked in the fields. Married when quite young, I was mother of nine. These have all died. So have all my grandchildren, save possibly one, and I have lost track of him."

__Johnston City Progress, 1940