The Way of All Soldiers (Gone For Soldiers)

by Jeffry S. Hepple

  “You must be mistaken. None of my family is serving the Confederacy in the West.”

  “This one’s a prisoner. Her name is Georgia Van Buskirk. Do you know her?”

  “Yes. Of course. She’s a Merchant Marine nurse on the navy hospital ship. She was reported missing and presumed dead. I’m glad to hear that the report was wrong.”

  Pemberton was watching Quincy closely. “If you have some plan of helping her escape, I suggest you rethink it.”

  “I have no such plan.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Quincy shrugged. “I don’t care if you do or you don’t.”

  “I’m told that, unarmed, you hospitalized nine of my men.”

  “They were beating me with rifle butts.”

  “That’s not the issue. I was curious to know why you would scale the wall unarmed and jump into the middle of a company of angry defenders.”

  “Those scaling ladders weigh over a hundred pounds. I couldn’t manage any more weight so I discarded my weapons.”

  “You scaled the wall alone and unarmed,” Pemberton said, dubiously. “What did you expect to accomplish?”

  “I wasn’t expecting to be alone,” Quincy replied. “I had a whole army behind me but they chose not to follow.”

  “Your family has a history of foolhardy heroics, but logic tells me that you intended to be captured.”

  “You can’t seriously think that I’d risk my life to try to break a distant cousin out of your prison, General.”

  “She’s not in prison, she’s been paroled.”

  “Oh.” Quincy shrugged. “Then you have your answer. It’s a matter of honor. If Georgia signed a parole agreement, she would never break it. Nor would I, for that matter.”

  “No.” Pemberton pulled a pad of forms toward him. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t at that. You too will need to sign the usual parole agreement – not to take up arms against the Confederacy or try to escape.”

  “I’ll agree if it stipulates that I’m no longer bound the moment you surrender.”

  “I don’t intend to surrender.”

  “Your intentions don’t matter in the least. You’ll surrender or Ulysses Grant will kill every living thing in this city and then burn it to ash.”

  “With you inside the city?”

  “Of course. He’ll sacrifice as many lives as it takes to defeat the rebellion. You can’t win.”

  “We’ll see. Sign here, then go next door and see Doctor Balfour. Your cousin and the other nurse will be there too.”

  ~

  Dr. William T. Balfour dropped the stub and root of a tooth into a metal bowl. “The pain should abate very soon now, Colonel. I’d advise you to stay off your feet for a few days. I suspect that you have a concussion.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” Quincy got up. “How much do I owe you?”

  “What can you afford?”

  Quincy gave him a gold coin.

  Balfour looked at the coin in surprise. “This is too much.”

  “I’m grateful for the help you gave my cousin and my fiancée. You’ll need that as the siege begins.”

  Dr. Balfour started to say something else, but nodded instead.

  Quincy opened the door that led into the Balfour living quarters where Ginger and Chrissy were having tea with Emma Balfour. “I feel better already.” He closed the door behind him. “Thank you for helping my cousin and my fiancée, Mrs. Balfour. If I can ever be of assistance to you or the doctor, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “They have been more help to me than I to them,” Emma replied. “Will you be going to the caves or have you decided to risk life above ground, Colonel?”

  “The concentrated bombardment won’t begin until Grant’s encircled the whole city,” Quincy said. “That gives us a few days to decide and prepare.” He looked at Ginger and Chrissy who were still stunned to have Quincy there with them. “Are you two ready to go?”

  Ginger and Chrissy stood up quickly.

  “Yes,” Ginger said. “Good day, Mrs. Balfour. Thank you for the tea.”

  “You’re always welcome,” she replied.

  Quincy walked into the hallway, opened the front door and waited for the two women, then followed them out, closing the door behind him.

  “Fiancée?” Chrissy asked.

  He shrugged. “And I said that Ginger’s my cousin. What are a few little white lies between mortal enemies?”

  “I don’t have the words to say how happy I am to see you,” Ginger said. “But you have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “Is there some place that I can clean up and get something to eat first?” he asked.

  Ginger giggled and took his arm. “It ain’t New York, but I think we can arrange that.”

  Chrissy took his other arm. “Did you get captured on purpose?”

  He looked at her. “Do you take me for a fool?”

  “Yes. And if you really want to marry me the answer to that is yes too.”

  “It better be today if you expect to share a bed tonight,” Ginger said. “I’m very serious about that.”

  “Old prude,” Chrissy grumbled.

  “We’ll find a preacher later, Ginger,” Quincy said. “I promise.”

  June 2, 1863

  Washington, D.C.

  John Hay looked up as Anna Lagrange came into his White House office. “You just missed your brother.”

  “Which brother?” She gave Hay a folder and sat down across from his desk.

  “Jack. You knew that he’s now General John Reynolds’s chief of staff, didn’t you?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I’d heard that. What was Jack doing here?”

  “He was with Reynolds. President Lincoln wanted Reynolds to replace General Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac.”

  “Did Reynolds accept?”

  Hay shook his head. “He said that he would – if he was given a free hand and isolated from politics. Of course you know the answer to that.”

  “Too bad. Who’s the next choice?”

  “George G. Meade. If he’ll accept.”

  ~

  Robert E. Lee was moving his reorganized army northward from Fredericksburg toward Culpeper, Virginia. Under the new organization, General James Longstreet was still in command of his First Corps but Jackson’s wing had been split into two corps commanded by Generals Richard S. Ewell and A.P. Hill. Stuart’s cavalry command remained unchanged.

  Joseph Hooker, unaware that he was about to be replaced, followed Lee with his seven infantry corps and one cavalry corps.

  June 6, 1863

  Richmond, Louisiana

  Newspapers throughout the south were clamoring for Confederate President Jefferson Davis to rescue Pemberton’s besieged troops at Vicksburg. Intending to disrupt Grant’s supply lines, Davis directed Trans-Mississippi Department Commander General Edmund Kirby Smith to attack the Union supply depot at Milliken’s Bend.

  Smith ordered General Richard Taylor to mount the attack and assigned General John George Walker’s Division of Texans to Taylor’s command. On the 5th, Taylor and Walker left Alexandria via the Red River to the Ouachita River and marched north from there toward Richmond, Louisiana.

  On the morning of the 6th, at the Tallulah Railroad Station near Richmond, Walker’s flankers engaged the African Brigade and two 10th Illinois Cavalry troops under the command of Colonel Hermann Lieb.

  Lieb quickly drove the Confederates away and retired back to the railway station, but soon after a small detachment of Union cavalry raced into the station with Walker’s main body hot on their heels. Lieb formed a battle line and repelled the Rebels, but then decided to return to Milliken’s Bend and inform Grant by courier of the developments.

  Walker chose not to follow Lieb and instead consolidated his forces. Then, at 7:00 PM, he marched out from Richmond and reached Oaklawn Plantation at midnight. He was now seven miles south of Milliken’s Bend and about the same distance from Young’s Point to his south.

  June 7
, 1863

  Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana

  Abe was awakened at 3:00 AM by the sentry reporting that the pickets were exchanging fire with an unknown force. Ten minutes later the African Brigade was in line and prepared to repel an attack near the bayou while Lieb defended the other sides.

  The Texans struck the African Brigade in two waves. The first wave was repelled by a well aimed volley but the African Brigade was armed with muzzle loaders and they had no time to reload before the second wave charged.

  Abe pulled back into the protection of the levee banks and lined up his men in three ranks to volley fire. Half the Rebel force gained the levee, fixed bayonets and charged, while the other half moved to flank Abe’s right.

  Although the African Brigade had no bayonets, they stood their ground and fought hand-to-hand until they came under fire from the Confederates on their flank. With nowhere else to go, Abe used a Revolutionary War tactic and formed the brigade into squares, falling back toward the river. The sun was on the horizon now and the Union gunboats Choctaw and Lexington could, at last, identify Confederate targets and began to pound them mercilessly.

  The Texans hung on tenaciously but by noon, they were so depleted and exhausted that Walker had to order a retreat. Abe was unwilling to let Walker off so easily and he reformed the brigade’s survivors, ordered a charge and was soon joined by all the forces commanded by Colonel Lieb. The Texans took flight and retreated back to Walnut Bayou.

  Union casualties were six hundred fifty-two; Confederates one hundred eighty-five. The disparity in numbers was, in Abe’s opinion, directly related to the African Brigades inferior weapons and lack of formal training. Abe began a letter writing campaign using the battle’s statistics to lobby for better weapons and modern training for his men.

  June 9, 1863

  Culpeper, Virginia

  The corps of Confederate Generals James Longstreet and Richard Ewell were camped at Culpeper in preparation of crossing into Pennsylvania. Robert E. Lee’s plan was to capture food, horses and equipment for his men and to threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Six miles northeast, near Brandy Station on the Rappahannock River, Jeb Stuart was bivouacked to protect Lee from a surprise attack.

  Two hours before sunrise, in a dense fog, John Buford’s cavalry crossed the Rappahannock at Beverly’s Ford and pushed back the Confederate pickets.

  The sound of gunfire awakened the brigade of General William “Grumble” Jones who attacked Buford’s lead brigade on Beverly Ford Road and killed Colonel Benjamin Davis, the brigade commander. Reinforced by artillery, Jones began forming a line to the left of the guns while Confederate General Wade Hampton formed up on the right.

  Buford had been as surprised by the contact as the Confederates had been and he was still at the ford when Jones attacked Davis. While Buford was racing toward the sound of gunfire, Major Robert Morris, Jr. led the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry at the guns and was shredded. Buford arrived amid chaos and led a mixed component around the left flank, but he was met there by Rooney Lee’s brigade and infantry on Yew Ridge and behind a stone wall. A bloody fight ensued, with neither side gaining the advantage until the Union division of David McMurtrie Gregg joined the fight, and Jones and Hampton withdrew. At sunset, Buford crossed back over the river to report what he’d encountered.

  Since he held the field at the end of the day, Stuart claimed a victory, but everyone knew that the days of the Confederate cavalry’s dominance were over.

  June 11, 1863

  Vicksburg, Mississippi

  Quincy had designed a maze-like cave in the yellow clay below Vicksburg. The entrance was protected by a screen of vertical posts. Inside, the tunnel turned sharply left, then right to defuse the blast of a direct hit. The living quarters included a common area and two bedrooms. Although it was as comfortable as he could make it, it was still a hole in the ground with thousands of tons of explosive raining down on it both night and day.

  The bombardment today had ended sooner than usual as a division from the Union Department of the Missouri commanded by General Francis J. Herron took position in the Federal siege lines on the far south of Grant’s twelve mile ring of fire.

  Chrissy stepped into the open air, gagged and ran back into the cave. “There’s something dead out there.” She covered her nose and mouth with both hands.

  Quincy squeezed past her and looked outside. “It’s what’s left of a horse or mule that took a direct hit.”

  “Get rid of it,” Chrissy said with a shudder.

  “It must weigh a thousand pounds,” he argued.

  “We’ll salvage what meat we can and bury the rest,” Ginger said. “I’ll go get the cleaver and knives.”

  Quincy walked out into the smoke and looked back up the slope. “They softened up the southern slope. Not as many fires in the town today.”

  Chrissy joined him and hugged herself after giving the smoking heap of gore a disgusted glance. “There are still some roads open to the south. Let’s get out of here while we can.”

  “I can’t go, Chrissy. I’ve told you that a hundred times.”

  “Well I can’t stand it here another day.”

  “Then go,” he said.

  Chrissy gave him a cold look and went back into the cave.

  A moment later Ginger came out wearing a butcher’s apron and carrying an armload of cutting tools. “What’s the matter with Chrissy?”

  “The shelling’s getting to her.” He took a cleaver from her.

  “Do you want me to talk to her?”

  “Shh.” He turned his head to listen. “Mortars. Get back in the cave.”

  June 19, 1863

  Near Vicksburg, Mississippi

  General Ulysses S. Grant was smoking a cigar as he whittled and General William T. Sherman was reading a newspaper while General Robert Van Buskirk was working at his desk.

  “Listen to what McClernand says, Professor,” Sherman said, reading from the newspaper. “…I but asked what General Grant had expressly and peremptorily ordered. The fault, therefore, if any, was not with me. In asking, alternatively, the latter, I only asked what, in massing our forces on a single and shaken point, would have materially conduced to the success of the attack.”

  “I read it, Cump,” Robert replied. “But I didn’t understand it.”

  “I didn’t read it, but I understand it,” Grant said. “What’s that newspaper, Cump?”

  Sherman showed him the front page masthead. “The New York Times.”

  Grant looked incredulous. “McClernand said it was my fault that he lost the battle in The New York Times?”

  “I’ve been trying to tell you,” Sherman grumbled.

  “You said it was a congratulatory order that he wrote to his corps,” Grant argued.

  “That’s also been published in the Times,” Robert replied. “It’s almost the same as the one Cump just read.”

  “Why haven’t I seen this congratulatory order?” Grant asked.

  “Because you don’t have a copy,” Sherman replied. “I asked Robert to let me read it, and he told me that McClernand didn’t send a copy of it to you.”

  Grant made a face. “He didn’t send me a copy of an order issued to a unit in my command?”

  “I’ve been trying to tell you,” Sherman repeated.

  “I have it somewhere,” Robert said. “After Cump asked to read our copy I got one from one of McClernand’s company commanders. Let me see if I can find it.”

  Grant waited while Robert looked through a stack of correspondence. “Is McClernand crazy?”

  “Like a fox,” Sherman replied. “He’s undermining you with the President and the public.”

  “Not to mention your troops,” Robert said. “Here it is. Do you want me to read the operative paragraph, Sam?”

  Grant nodded.

  “How and why the general assault failed, it would be useless now to explain. The Thirteenth army corps, acknowledging the good intentions of all, would scorn indulgence in weak regre
ts and idle criminations. According justice to all, it would only defend itself. If, while the enemy was massing to crush it, assistance was asked for by a diversion at other points, or by reinforcement, it only asked what, in one case, Major General Grant had specifically and peremptorily ordered – namely, simultaneous and persistent attack all along our lines, until the enemy’s outer works should be carried; and what, in the other, by massing a strong force in time upon a weakened point, would have probably insured success,” Robert read.

  Grant was sitting straight up in his chair. “Do we have an official copy of that order?”

  “He didn’t send us one,” Robert said. “I went looking for it when all the newspaper reports started.”

  “Send a message to McClernand and tell him that I want a copy.”

  “Okay,” Robert replied.

  “What are you gonna do with it, Sam?” Sherman asked.

  “Attach it to the orders relieving McClernand of his command,” Grant answered. “I’ve had enough of this. We’ll replace him with Ord.”

  June 26, 1863

  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  Confederate General Jubal Early’s division occupied the hamlet of Gettysburg on the 26th after a brief fight with a regiment of Pennsylvania militia. Early collected tribute, gathered some supplies and fodder, then captured some slaves and free blacks to sell. After destroying the railroad, the telegraph and setting fire to some railroad cars and bridges, Early left for the next county.

  June 28, 1863

  Middletown, Virginia

  General John Buford rode into General Paul Van Buskirk’s camp, dismounted and gave his reins to a private. “Where’s your general?”

  “Over in those trees, fishin’, sir.” The man pointed.

  “Fishin’,” Buford repeated.

  “Yes, sir. He might be nappin’ a bit. It’s a pretty day.”