Life As Mrs. Erwin
Born in Fulton, Missouri, she was a daughter of William Henry Russell (1802-1873). In 1853 Josephine Deborah Russell married a grandson of Henry Clay named Andrew Eugene Erwin.
Prior to the Civil War, the couple had three daughters. During the war, Erwin served in the Confederate Army, rising to the rank of Colonel and commanding of the 6th Missouri Infantry Regiment. In 1863 Josephine Erwin brought the couple's nine-year-old daughter, Lucretia (Lula), to join Andrew Erwin who was part of the force defending Vicksburg. Andrew Erwin was killed in the Battle of Vicksburg, one week before the end of the Union siege. On July 18, 1863, the pregnant Josephine Erwin met with General Ulysses S. Grant to obtain passes allowing Lula and her to return to Missouri. Josephine Erwin bore her fourth daughter in 1864, but the girl died shortly after her birth.
Read more about this topic: Josephine Russell Clay
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature’s monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere.”
—Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)