 This is Henrietta McLeod, a Confederate war widow who has buried not only her husband but also her son. To readers of the Charleston Mercury she is better known as "Boadicea." The name comes from the Celtic queen of England's distant history-- the brave woman who stood against Roman occupation of the British Isles. Henrietta sees herself as playing a similar role. Having lost most of her family to an invading army, she would take up arms herself to preserve what remained of her glorious land. In the articles she writes for the local newspaper, she calls upon all true Southerners to join her in continuing to fight for the "Lost Cause". And she particularly encourages the women of the South -- those who, like her, have lost their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons -- to band together with pride and determination. Where a traditional army had failed, she argues, a band of strong women could prevail. Immediately after the war, she moved to Charleston and purchased the house next door to the Dubois House on Legare Street. In the following years, she would go on to create an organization for women alone -- one that would come to represent all the confederacy had stood for. But during Reconstruction, her words are all she has to use as weapons, and use them she does, to persuade one woman at a time to join her cause. Will she be a challenge to Susan, or a threat?  |
