The story
“John Reed, a Northern man who has lived in the South for many years before the Civil War, enlists under the banner of the Confederacy when hostilities break out. Outside his relatives in the North, he is alone in the world except for his daughter, who is just budding into young womanhood. May follows her father to the front as a nurse. When he is mortally wounded, she is brought to the hospital to which he is assigned. A camp follower, a woman, has been brought there on a charge of being a spy, and hears the dying message of Reed. He leaves his daughter to his cousin, a Northern woman she has never seen, and asks her to be good to May for his sake, as the girl is alone in the world. Later when the two women are alone with the dead, May is struck by a shell and apparently killed. The spy, seeing a chance to escape, takes the letter from May, disguises herself in the clothing of the supposed dead girl, and goes north, where she is warmly greeted by the family, who take her for a relative.
“May is found by the Union troops who have captured the entrenchment, and the doctor discovers that she is not dead. Her recovery is slow, however. Before she has a chance to go North the impostor has firmly settled herself with her cousin, who believes her implicitly. In fact she desires to see her married to her son, although he is not inclined to the union. When May arrives, shabby and pale, she is denounced as an impostor, both by her cousin and the usurper. Fortunately for May, however, the child of a neighbor has overheard the impostor offer May a sum of money to go away, and at the same time, believing herself alone, has sneeringly admitted that she is sailing under false colors, but declares that her victim cannot prove it. May is just about to be turned away a second time, despite the sympathy of John, who is half inclined to believe her story, when the boy confronts the impostor, and is evidenced, together with a severe cross-examination by the indignant John, force her to confess her fraud, and leave the home where she has no right. May kisses the child who has aided her, and is grateful to the man who proved himself a friend when everyone else made haste to disown her.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 1 April 1911
