Southern Ingenuity

Following the battle of Piedmont in Augusta County, 10,000 Union soldiers swept through Staunton - burning, looting and pillaging the former Confederate stronghold. One of the more interesting stories to come from the invasion centers on Augusta Female Seminary and its principal, Mary Julia Baldwin, for whom the school would eventually be renamed. Around June 7, 1864 a contingent of Yankee soldiers entered the school bent on plundering it, but thanks to Baldwin's ingenuity, they went away empty-handed.

Baldwin had already hidden most of the seminary's supplies, including firewood and even the school's dairy cow, down in a hidden cellar. When she led the soldiers through the school's maze of connecting rooms, stairwells and hallways, she guided them in such a way that they ended up searching the same places two or three times, unaware that they were going in circles. But Baldwin's most clever ruse was saved for the flour.

To hide the 16 barrels the school had on hand, lengths of crinoline were wrapped around the barrels and the tops were disguised to look like dressing tables. These were then placed in the students' rooms. One mattress had the stuffing removed and replaced with flour as well. Next, Baldwin dabbed the face of one of the girls with leftover flour, to make her look pale and sickly. She laid on the flour-filled mattress and upon entrance of the Yankee looters, acted the part. The soldiers took one look at her and left the room, for fear of contagion.