Devareaux directed the fire of his men at the soldiers running towards the warehouse. The doors to the warehouse were open and more made it into the warehouse than fell from the fire of Devareaux’s men.
This is when he noticed movement to his left on the field. Benjamin sent a detachment of men with lit rum bottles. It was not the entire force. The men raced for the warehouse. The first fell as a shot came from the warehouse door.
Devareaux cried out and pointed his men to shoot at the open doorway of the warehouse. Shots began cracking out and impacting with the walls and floor of the open doorway. Only one more man was hit as they raced forward. His bottle shattered on the ground and splashed flaming rum on to the side of a tent.
One of the running men hurled his bottle at the warehouse and it landed short of the building. It set the ground ablaze in a circle about 10 yards short of the building. His second bottle crashed at the base of the wall. This fire burned weakly on the wall.
Two more men threw their bottles. Two impacted on the outer wall of the warehouse while one shattered in the doorway as the defenders killed another attacker. Two men with flaming bottles remained.
The first closed to within five feet of the open doorway. He was to the left of the doorway. Devareaux watched as the man drew back his arm and flung the first bottle inside. As he switched hands on the second, the man doubled over and the bottle shattered setting the man ablaze, obviously killed by one of the defenders.
The second had approached from the right side of the doorway. Now flames blocked the doorway. He hurled the fire bomb left handed into the warehouse. Then he stepped back and threw the other much harder right handed. It flew in farther than any other attempt had.
The survivors began to run from the field back to the jungle. The jungle to the south began to ring out with shots as the men in Benjamin’s command offered covering fire for the survivors.
From the north side of the warehouse, men could be seen forming up while others fled from the warehouse.
Devareaux ordered his men to cease fire and aim at the formation. The formation started to slowly march through the camp towards the rebel position. He had to assume that this would be happening on Pena’s side as well.
He barked out the fire command and his men fired a ragged volley and then he ordered a retreat. His men pulled out and fled deep into the jungle. Devareaux put a whistle to his lips and before he could blow he heard Benjamin’s whistle. He was pulling out as well. He blew his anyway and followed his men deeper into the jungle.
His men did not stop, but rapidly made their way deep into the rally point in the jungle. He stopped running after 20 minutes to see if there was any pursuit. As far as he could tell, the Germans did not chase them.
The rally point took Devareaux almost three hours to reach. The men dropped exhausted in the clearing. Pena’s men had reached the clearing first. They were grinning madly.
“Well, how did it go?”
Pena gave Devareaux an expansive smile.
“Excellent job my friend. My men got a bit of an early start, I am afraid. They slipped down and had killed the guards before they were to jump off. Then my men moved through the tents, cutting their ropes with machetes and bayonetting anything that moved beneath them. This went well for quite a while. By the time someone could scream, we were nearly to the warehouse.”
Devareaux was impressed with Pena.
“Then what happened.”
“Well, my boys waited. We set some tents on fire to get things going once you started shooting. The Germans started to assemble men north of the warehouse. That is where most of the troops were anyway. We threw some of the fire bombs into the forming men and caused great confusion. Two fire bombs were thrown through windows of the warehouse and the rest into the tents. My men fled from there. I had one man killed. David was wounded, but we carried him away. Other than that, we were unscathed.”
The raid was better than he had any reason to believe it should be. Devareaux had lost no one. The only return fire his men had taken was wild and ineffective. He never allowed the Germans to get into position. Now it was just waiting for Benjamin.
Devareaux ordered men to serve as sentries and only allowed a third of the men to get some rest. It was another hour before Benjamin’s men arrived. They came back to the camp in threes and fours. Benjamin’s men suffered the worst. All ten of the men who had run at the warehouse had all been killed. They were caught by enemy riflemen who were finally able to get into action.
They reported that most of the tents had been unoccupied. The one building that was set afire was fully engulfed by the time they left. No one was sure about the warehouse.
More worrying was that there was no sign of Benjamin or of any of his marines. They continued to wait. About a half hour later, three marines emerged into the clearing. They reported in to Devareaux.
“Sir, Lieutenant Benjamin told us to report in. We remained behind to ensure the men made it out.”
He then lowered his voice conspiratorially so none of the rebels could hear.
“We ensured that there were no wounded left behind. We lost fifteen total men. Several were lost attempting to save their fellows who fell. A company of formed German troops rounded the warehouse. We managed to kill the officers before we fled. Lieutenant Benjamin and Sergeant Wilcox stayed behind to watch over things. They should be a few more minutes behind us.”
Devareaux nodded. It was not as bad as he feared it could have been but he was not sure that it was worth the price that they paid.
The men rested and cleaned their weapons while waiting for Benjamin and Wilcox to return. They had to wait a full hour more and the men arrived right at the break of dawn.
Benjamin and Wilcox were absolutely exhausted but they still reported in.
“Sir, we did it. The warehouse was destroyed. The fires we set reached something important and the whole building exploded. I think the explosion did more damage than any of our efforts to this point. A full company of Germans was racing past the building to pursue you when the warehouse exploded. I don’t think I saw a single man of that company remaining. Two men on horseback were caught in the explosion and most of the surrounding tents and the other building were set on fire.”
“Well, damn. Good job Benjamin. What took you so long?”
“Well, when we fired on the advancing company, we managed to kill the officers. The company NCOs had their head on straight and had the men spread out into a skirmish line. They used what cover that they could find. Then they started firing back at us. Wilcox and I, spread out and fired randomly out at them to keep them guessing. We stopped firing and moved towards your path through the jungle. That is when the warehouse exploded. We left after that. They had better things to do than to chase us.”
“Well, that is a bit of good news. Let’s go home men. Let’s go home.”
Chapter 32: Repercussions
The return journey took even more time. Though they had less gear, they were exhausted from the rapid movement. They were burning through rations and water at a faster rate than they should. Men were also less careful than they had been on the way there. More accidents happened with two men falling to their deaths going over a pass and three more mules were lost.
But they did reach camp. They knew something was wrong when they smelled the smoke through the jungle. When they broke through the clearing, they saw what remained of the camp. It was burned with bodies lying everywhere. There was not a single structure on the base had been spared the torch. The four platforms for the Gatling guns lay in burned ruins. Only one of the guns remained at its post. It was a shattered wreck.
Men wept as they found the bodies of their wives and friends among the wreckage. Devareaux put his eye to his glass and looked down the hill. He could see the spot where the light gun was set up that destroyed the Gatling gun.
His men had put up a fight, but the odds were too imbalanced against them. As he passed through the remains of the encampment, smoke sti
ll rose from some of the ashes. Bodies littered the ground. No Germans were in sight, but Confederate and rebel alike lay where they had fallen.
With the Gatling guns gone and their supplies destroyed, there was nothing left here. Devareaux listened to men weep as they found friends, wives, and even some children dead among the wreckage.
Devareaux’s heart felt heavy in his chest. He sighed and sat down in the ashes.
“Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
“Well, we are feeling morose if we seek solace in the despair of Job.”
Benjamin sat next to Devareaux and clapped his shoulder.
The two men sat silently for a minute before Devareaux nodded when he came to a conclusion.
“We need to bury the dead. We should get started to see what is happening in Humancao.”
…
It took over four hours to bury the dead. Each man was quiet as they prayed over their friends and family members.
“We need to move. We need to see if we can find out more about what happened. There may still be survivors. We will go to Humancao. Let’s see what we can find out.”
The men obviously must have approved of the plan as they began to shuffle off in the direction of the town. They saw smoke on the horizon as they moved. The closer they came, the more noises that they heard. Loud crashes of artillery and smaller pops of rifle fire came to them from the distance.
A change occurred in the men. They moved from sullen and defeated to wary and prepared. Officers quickly shook men out into order and formed into an extended skirmish line. They advanced no longer with sullen resignation, but with anticipation for action. He could feel their desire for revenge.
Once they had a line of sight to the town, they could see that there was artillery stationed in a field to the south of the town. There were four small guns. Riders were galloping in and out of the town to the guns. The guns would adjust and fire based on the report of the riders. Soldiers in reserve were formed outside of the town and a field hospital was made a bit behind the artillery park.
Devareaux held his hand up and waved over Pena and Benjamin. He pointed out what he had seen so far and handed his glass to Benjamin.
“What do you think?”
“Well, well, well. I think we are in a unique position. We can flank them and take out the artillery. I don’t see the headquarters. Do you think they are in the town?”
Devareaux nodded and waited for Benjamin to go on.
“Hmm, it seems to me that we should move behind them with just a few men. Fire on the gunners and suppress them. When the reserves react, you can fire on them from here. Then move out and turn around and try to hit them again. Have them feel like they are surrounded. Too bad we drank the left overs of the fire bombs on the way back. They would have proven useful.”
“Do you want to lead the team?”
“You know I do. I want to get some payback.”
Benjamin called out three marines and two rebels. The men immediately began moving out to circle around the enemy.
…
It took a while to get downhill and behind the artillery. As they were moving they came across a road. Benjamin looked out from the trees to both sides to determine if there would be any Germans who would spot them. He saw a wagon. Ducking back into the tree line he waited. A cart with a single horse was heavily loaded with boxes. The driver was in a German uniform. With a hand gesture, Benjamin motioned to the marines who stepped out to surround the wagon.
The driver was in the process of lifting a small bottle to his lips. The surprise appearance of three dirty Confederates with leveled rifles was enough to cause the man to drop his bottle. He raised his hands above his head in surrender.
They waved the man off of the wagon and into the trees. Benjamin went to the cart examined the contents. It was more ammunition for the guns. Benjamin waived the two rebels over. He started showing them what he wanted. The men began to gather anything they could find that appeared dry and combustible. Benjamin began to work on one of the shells.
They had a good deal of trash piled up on the wagon when Benjamin got the shell case open. He poured the powder into the base of the box, then covered the box again with the canvas. That should give them a little bit of time before it would explode.
The marines came back from the woods. The German was tied to a tree and gagged. They stripped off his uniform jacket and were working on lighting it. Once lit, they applied the burning jacket to the rubbish on the back of the wagon. Waiting a minute to see if it would catch, Benjamin drew back his hand and slapped the horse on its rump to send it towards the camp.
Watching the horse run down the road the men smiled at each other and slowly advanced toward the camp like a group of hunters hoping to flush a pheasant on a pleasant afternoon’s hunt.
…
Devareaux looked at his watch for the third time since Benjamin left. He was getting jumpy and the men could tell. He started to mentally count backwards by threes to still himself. When he opened his eyes, he could see something was happening.
A horse with a wagon was running into the camp. The wagon was on fire with smoke billowing behind it. Some men were running from the wagon while others were running towards it. A furrier managed to get the harness of the horse and was trying to calm it. Another was hacking the straps free with a sword to try and free the animal.
Devareaux watched in fascination and horror. He glanced around him and saw that everyone had their eyes locked on the unfolding action. About the moment that the horse became free it reared up on its hind legs and the wagon exploded. All heads turned as they averted their eyes from the brightness of the flash.
Devareaux blinked his eyes for a few moments to clear the spots left behind from the bright flash. As soon as he was able, he reexamined the field. In the moments that the wagon arrived, the guns had stopped firing. He looked for evidence of the horse and wagon, but could not find them. The wagon had just vanished. A ring of torn earth and burned grass extended out from it its location for at least 10 feet in all directions.
Small patches of burning grass were to be found surrounding the explosion area. Men were lying flat on the ground where the blast had deposited them. There was the horse. It must have been thrown some thirty yards from the wagon and lay in a crumpled heap.
He could hear distinct shots being fired now from the field below. Two riders emerged from the town looking about frantically. Devareaux saw one topple over. Looking to the gunners, at least three lay unmoving by their guns while others were still moving about as if concussed by the explosion.
The reserve infantry appeared to be dazed.
Devareaux waved his arms at his men to get their attention and whispered.
“Fire, Fire.”
The men took his meaning, and immediately took aim. Shots began to ring out in moments. Figures in the stunned formation of Germans began to fall almost immediately. Feldwebels below began to bellow orders as they realized the danger. The men began to scatter into skirmish order out from the ranks that they had been so patiently waiting for their turn.
They were moving their weapons off of shoulders and into their hands as officers moved them to address the threat.
Devareaux called out to the men and each tapped the other in their prearranged signal and began to pull out. The Germans would only find spent cartridge cases when they arrived up the hill.
…
Benjamin’s men were carefully picking targets. They had already accounted for several of the gunners, the two officers from the town and a couple of the other officers and NCOs that appeared to be getting things back under control.
Benjamin patted each of the five men on the shoulder and they each began their retreat. They fled down the road back to where they first encountered the wagon. They reached the tied German. Benjamin pulled out his knife. He was about to cut the man free when they heard a noise.
…
Devareaux moved back half way to their old bas
e. They were greeted by three horses with each double mounted. The first rider was Benjamin. He was grinning like a mad man.
He dismounted and shook Devareaux’s hand.
“We did it. Did you see our small diversion?”
“Who didn’t? My eyes still are seeing spots. Where did the horses come from?”
Benjamin laughed.
“This group of naval officers were riding up to see what the fuss was about. We ambushed them and relieved them of their horses. It was as simple as that. They are very good cavalry mounts.”
Devareaux nodded and gave them a weak smile. He waved to Benjamin and Pena to join him some distance from the men. Benjamin’s group dismounted and began to exchange stories with the rest of the men.
“While that raid was satisfactory, we still only have problems at this point. One, the Germans now know the Confederacy is here. Two, we are short on food and ammunition. Three, we have no way to get home. Those who supported us are now under siege. We have no boats and now we have a couple of horses but nothing else. Gentlemen, I am open to suggestions.”
Pena and Benjamin’s faces moved from one of joy to rather grave after the recitation of facts. It was sobering. The men also reflected the dire straits that they were in. The rebel Puerto Ricans were determined to fight on and seek revenge for the harm to their family and friends. The marines seemed resigned to their fate of being trapped on a foreign shore.
Brief side discussions broke out across the group. Arms began to wave and words grew in volume before finally, Pena placed his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. He now had everyone’s attention.
“Amigos, the town is lost. We dealt them a light blow, but we cannot stop a force so large. There is a small village to the south. Let’s go there. It is on the coast. We may be able to get some boats to cross back to the Confederate base. We can cross at night and slip past the Germans. From there, we can see if there is any news for us.”
CSS Appomattox: A Thomas Devareaux Alternative History Military Adventure (The Thomas Sumter Devareaux Series Book 1) Page 21
