[newspaper clipping]
  At Charleston I put up at the Charleston Hotel,
arriving in the evening of the 26th December.  I
made no effort until the morning to see Gen. Ripley,
who I found was boarding at the same house.  At
10 o�clock I took a carriage and was conveyed to his
office, near the ruins of the late fire, and was
ushered into an ante-room thereof, until a messenger
could take my card and Lieut. Huger�s note to Gen.
Ripley.  The messenger brought back word that
the General would pay no attention to my ap-
plication, and my heart sank within me.  The
messenger seemed to sympathize with me in my 
affliction, knowing I had come a great distance to see
my son.
  I returned to the hotel and waited until I could
get an opportunity of meeting Gen. Ripley, as he
would be leaving the dining-room from dinner, he
having been pointed out to me by one of the attend-
ants of the house.  I succeeded in a moment�s inter-
view with him, which resulted in the most painful
disappointment.  His manner was repulsive and
haughty in the extreme, and he would but barely
glance at Lieut. Huger�s letter, and informed me
that if I had anything for the prisoners I should take
them to the Quartermaster�s Department, and very
abruptly left me.  Several of the lady boarders
overhead the brief interview, and immediately sum-
moned their husbands to go in quest of such aid as
would secure me a meeting with my son at the Jail.
To these kind friends Lowe a world of gratitude for
their solicitude and generous assistance.  One of
them, Mr. James McCarty, went to the General�s 
office and procured a pass for me into the Jail, and
also brought to me the minister of the church, to
whom I had a letter.  In short, I was from that mo-
ment taken in charge by the kindest and best of
Christian friends.
  I would rather have thrown a veil over the short-
comings of Gen. Ripley, for he was the only indi-
vidual who caused me to feel an utter destitution
throughout the whole of my journey.
  Nor would I now speak of my journey thus pub-
licly were it not that I would correct the misappre-
hensions into which your statements might lead some
persons.
  I would add that Gen. Ripley (as I learned before
I left Charleston) is an Ohio man, having married a
rich Southern lady; and that his strained zeal in the
cause of the Southern rebellion is particularly no-
ticed and remarked of by those who proclaim him un-
popular in Charleston.        MRS. I. W. INGERSOLL.