“We couldn’t risk sendin’ you word by telegraph; we suspect them Yanks have tapped into our lines. I was sent to give you the bad news.”
“Settle down, son, and give it to me straight.”
“General Lee had to weaken our defenses at Petersburg again. He’s already got Kershaw, Anderson, and Heth’s divisions givin’ them Yanks fits a slipe away. He sent Rooney Lee’s cavalry out yesterday to help ’em. This mornin’, Fields’ Division and Fitz Lee’s cavalry rode out to strengthen their flanks and harry them Yanks. We ain’t got more ’an eighteen thousand men left down there, sir. If Grant guesses how weak we are, he’ll have his troops attack and we ain’t sure we can hold ’em back. General Lee needs you back with your division so you can get your brigades ready for battle.”
Laura realized that several cavalry corps were operating within miles of the city and Jayce could be riding with one of them. So close and yet so far away from her, and in the middle of such awesome perils…
“We’ve already surmised Grant’s tactic is to decoy us away from there, but we can’t allow those Yankees to take Richmond; she’s even more important to us than Petersburg. About ten this morning, there was heavy fighting southeast of town. I’ve already sent word to Lee that Sheridan’s and Hancock’s advances have been checked, and our boys have those other companies pinned down. As long as we have so many of Grant’s troops skirmishing nearby, he can’t attack down there.”
“That’s the problem, sir. Our reconnoiters reported Sheridan and Hancock have been ordered back to Petersburg; one’s to get into position to hit the Weldon Railroad. Grant’s got another detachment marchin’ to free up Butler from where we got him trapped in the Bermuda Hundred. Looks like Grant’s gatherin’ his divisions on the sly, so somethin’ big is in the works. If we don’t make fast mush of them Yanks up this way and get back there, our trenches are gonna be overrun and that ground’s gonna be lost.”
Laura watched Colonel Deavers ponder those new facts, his lined brow furrowing in deep thought. It also sounded to her as if General Grant was about to make a significant strike against Petersburg. Perhaps, she mused, the Union commander had fatigued of the stalemate and of sitting around and waiting for the Rebels to make judgment errors while fighting increased elsewhere. Despite her Union loyalty, she couldn’t help but hope “Beast” Butler stayed bottled up in the lowlands since she didn’t concur with his crude strategies. A heightening of conflicts near Petersburg would involve Jayce…
“I’ll get my belongings from my room and check out. Saddle my horse and bring him around front; the stable’s out back. Be ready to ride in ten minutes. We’ll stop by the War Department and tell them I’m leaving.”
As the two men spoke for another few minutes, it gave Laura time to leave her hiding place and lock the cellar door. She encountered the men in the foyer, and sent them a genial smile and polite greeting. She listened as Colonel Deavers said he had been summoned back to his post and had to depart immediately. “I’m sorry you have to go, sir, but I understand when duty calls. Would you like for me to prepare you some refreshments to eat here or snacks to carry with you?”
“That’s very kind of you, Miss Laura, but time is lacking. I told Melvin to fetch my horse from the stable while I gather my things.”
“You may follow me through the kitchen, sir,” she told the younger man, “so I can tell Alvus to release the colonel’s horse to you; otherwise, he wouldn’t permit a stranger to take it.”
As they passed through the kitchen, Laura smiled at her cook and said, “Excuse us for trampling through your domain, Bertha, but there’s an emergency and Colonel Deavers has to leave immediately. We’ll have one less guest for dinner tonight.”
“Smells mighty good, ma’am; sorry the colonel has to go.”
Laura opened the back door and said, “The stable is out there. Alvus!” she called to her worker. “Let this officer have Colonel Deavers’ horse.”
The large black man nodded, then awaited the young officer who was hurrying toward him.
Bertha Barton suggested, “Why don’t you give that young man two of these ham biscuits and some fruit? I saw hunger and pleading in his eyes.”
“You’re a kind soul, Bertha.” Laura quickly wrapped the biscuits in a clean cloth and chose three pieces of fruit from a basket. She went to the stable and gave them to Melvin, who was most grateful.
Following the men’s departure, Laura told Belle and Cleo to clean up the colonel’s room so it would be ready for the next guest. She concluded there was no need to rush a report on the situation to Ben and Grant, as they were no doubt already apprised of it. If not, conditions were changing too rapidly for hours-old information to be of value.
As she went about her chores and worried aboutJayce’s safety, Laura did not even suspect that in less than fifteen hours, gruesome and decisive events involving the facts she had just overheard would take place and would affect her personally…
Chapter Nine
Saturday, the thirtieth of July, 1864, dawned hot and sunny, much as other recent days; but Laura soon discovered it was vastly different. Shocking news arrived early and continued to filter in all day about a dreadful explosion near Petersburg and its grisly aftermath. She learned about the unfolding events from newspapers, visitors, and special flyers printed almost hourly and sold on street corners to keep residents informed.
An entire Confederate battery and most of another one had been annihilated when eight thousand pounds of powder were set off beneath Elliott’s Sailent at 4:44 in the morning. The fort, men, and cannon were hurled a hundred feet in the air. The blast left a tremendous hole filled with debris and the scattered bodies of the slain. Federal soldiers had poured into the massive hollow to begin an assault on the broken entrenchment, but their plans had failed to provide a means of scaling the other side.
One paper reported that chaos ruled the Federals’ minds and actions, giving the Confederates time to regroup and retaliate against men who were helpless to escape sand and slippery clay. Rebels, under Major General Mahone, had rallied and counterattacked in a near-massacre of vulnerable Yankees as rifle and mortar fire blasted away at them. The Confederates had known about the Union mine in progress, but their sappers had been unable to locate the Federal tunnel and destroy it. Now, it was too late.
An eleven o’clock flyer revealed that Union General Meade had tried to halt the siege and ordered a retreat to stop the slaughter of his men, but it was foiled by determined and vengeful Southerners who gave the Rebel yell and leapt over the rim to challenge their enemies. Fierce fighting ensued, some in hand-to-hand combat or with rifle butts and bayonets. Casualties were reported to be high and still climbing on both sides.
By early afternoon, Confederates had repulsed the assault; retaken all lost terrain; captured light and heavy artillery, sixteen flags, and numerous prisoners; and repaired and rearmed the breached section.
By nightfall, the Crater Incident was acclaimed a glorious and heroic Confederate victory. Over 4,400 Union soldiers were dead, wounded, missing, or captured; Rebel losses were reported to be 1500. Petersburg was safe for the time being, as was Richmond.
Laura heard music coming from Capitol Square where a band was playing “Dixie” and other tunes. The crowd’s cheers and applause could be heard from the front porch where she stood with Lily. “So much death and destruction, will it ever end? With this so-called triumph, Southerners will be encouraged to continue this vile war,” Laura murmured in a low and strained voice which couldn’t be overheard by those inside. “Listen to them singing and making merry while men are dead or dying or suffering not far away. Husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers were lost forever. Is that ‘glorious and heroic’ victory a reason to celebrate? I think not. They should be using their voices and energies to demand peace negotiations. I wonder how they would feel if they had witnessed that carnage. In a matter of hours, over five thousand lives were lost.”
Lily whispered, “You’re worried about yo
ur father and brothers, aren’t you? And perhaps about Lieutenant Storm?”
Jayce’s image leapt into Laura’s distressed mind even before, she realized, her family’s did. Anguish gnawed at her at the thought of losing her loved ones. “Yes, any of them could be facing similar perils. There is no place in the South where Union or Confederate forces are safe. Every time an area is supposedly captured by the Union, Rebels rally and more fighting ensues. Did you read where McCausland rode into Maryland and Pennsylvania yesterday?” After Lily shook her head, Laura disclosed, “He attempted to levy Chambersburg an enormous amount of money or gold in retribution for Hunter’s damage to the Valley. When they couldn’t or wouldn’t pay, he torched the town. Is that what war is about, Lily, harming innocents? How can one evil deed compensate for another?”
“It can’t, Laura; revenge rarely works when we try to inflict it on others, or even on ourselves out of the mistaken belief we deserve it.”
Laura faced Lily, grasping the reference to her troubled past. She smiled and said, “You’re my best friend, Lily Hart, and I love you. One day, this horrible period will be over and we’ll make new lives for ourselves. Now, why don’t we go to my house, open that bottle of wine in the kitchen, and toast our futures? I think we deserve a little fun. We can chat for hours, and not mention this infernal war a single time.”
“That sounds wonderful, Laura, but you’re forgetting this is one of our busiest nights; Saturday always is. If our regulars didn’t come here for all kinds of mischief, what would they have to seek forgiveness for tomorrow at church?” she jested.
Laura took a deep breath of disappointment. “You’re right. Just because a tragedy occurred not far away, that won’t keep our guests and patrons from seeking amusements tonight. I tell you what, I’ll skip church in the morning and we’ll have our fun then. I’m sure God will understand our need for rest and diversion since we hardly get any.”
But Sunday was vastly different from what Laura had planned. Requests were sent to all of the women who worked as volunteers at the local hospitals. She received hers while she was serving breakfast. As soon as she finished, she put Lily in charge of the hotel, gathered her things, and responded to the call.
For the next five days, Laura labored in various hospitals, feeding men too weak or injured to do it themselves, changing and washing linens, helping with minor wounds, rolling new bandages and changing old ones, cleaning up following surgeries, cooking meals, fetching water for baths done by older women, running errands for doctors, reading aloud and writing letters for the men, and collecting donations of clothing and food and other items from local residents.
During that period, wagons poured into Richmond with casualties: Southern wounded, Union prisoners, and slain Rebels. The injured were placed where space and doctors were available. The dead were taken to a building where embalming was done, bodies were put in pine boxes, and marked—if known—with their names and addresses to be sent home for burial. If no identification was possible, they were interred north of town in the Shockoe Cemetery. Captives were separated: officers went to Libby Prison and infantrymen were confined to Belle Isle.
It was an exhausting and frightening episode for Laura, who remained at her post from sunrise to sunset. As she tended the arrivals, she checked every ward every day to see if Jayce was among the wounded, and she prayed he wasn’t among the dead. She thanked God that the medical supplies had gotten through before this calamity.
News came that President Lincoln’s reelection bid had suffered from the disaster at Petersburg, and Northerners were displeased with Grant’s failure to take not only that town but Richmond as well. Yankees also were unhappy about the high number of Union lives being lost. Northern newspapers featured nearultimatums that Lincoln and Grant push for a hasty end to the war. Some Congress members demanded harsh, vengeful policies for the reconstruction governments of Arkansas and Louisiana, and for the remaining Rebel states ensuing victory. That discovery did not sit well with Laura, a Southerner and Virginian. She prayed that Lincoln and other members could cool Union tempers.
Laura knew that Southerners were just as disgruntled with Davis and Lee over the losses of lives and terrain. In the West and Midwest, fighting was sporadic, with the Union having the advantage of manpower and arms in both. It was a selfish thought, but Laura was glad Jayce didn’t have any family in Missouri where fighting had been constant that month, else he would be there to protect them and they wouldn’t have met. Farther South, Sherman was shelling and advancing on Atlanta, and she noticed that Lily checked reports of that area daily…
During her rendezvous with Ben on Thursday, Laura learned that General Meade had requested a Court of Inquiry concerning the costly Crater Incident, and Grant had concurred. It appeared as if several Union officers would be forced to resign, some would be transferred, and others would be censured. In view of the disastrous failure, Grant’s new strategy would be to work at keeping Lee perplexed, unsteady, and under pressure while he elongated his offensive line to the west and north until Petersburg was encompassed and all railroads and major roads were captured or obstructed; that tactic should force Lee to stretch his defensive one too thin, thereby allowing for it to be severed. If nothing else, that maneuver should starve Lee into surrender or compel him to desist protecting Richmond and perhaps flee south where Sherman and others would be waiting with open arms to ensnare him. Ben also told her that Grant and Sheridan were heading for Washington to confer with Lincoln on their plans.
After her return, Laura sat cross-legged on her bed and fingered the flower Jayce had given to her, then stared at the artist’s sketch of the two of them during their outing. They did make a lovely couple; she, dressed in her best finery; he…in a Confederate officer’s uniform. Tears misted her eyes, anguish chewed at her heart, and torment filled her mind.
Will I ever win you, Jayce Storm? Laura mused. I love you and want you, but will you despise and reject me if you learn the dark truth about me? Would it be right to keep that destructive secret from you forever, if that’s the only way I can have a future with you? Would that be such a terrible and selfish omission? Even if I lose you, I pray you’ll be safe and survive.
On Friday, August fifth, Richmond newspapers revealed that Farragut had taken several forts and many Confederate gunships and had conquered Mobile Bay, making an invasion of Mobile and a thrust into Alabama possible. No one had to tell Laura that left one major port—Wilmington—and several minor ones—Charleston, Savannah, and Galveston—available for blockade running and, then, only by sheer luck and skill of their captains. Copies of statements from northern newspapers with Farragut’s quote: “Damn the torpedoes—full speed ahead!” were included. Despite such a fruitful assault, one Washington source was quoted as printing: “Radical Republicans have begun a heated crusade against Lincoln’s reelection.” Laura didn’t want to imagine how that great man’s defeat and loss would affect chances for peace.
On the Confederacy’s side of the war’s “tally sheet,” as one colorful journalist put it, Early was making notable raids in Maryland, and would soon head for the Valley “to make Sheridan eat the dust he’s creating.”
The following Sunday was a dark day in the minds of all Virginians when Sheridan took command of the Army of the Shenandoah Valley and his “scorched earth” policy went into full effect, alarming and displeasing Laura. According to reports, Sheridan was determined to destroy Lee’s meat and grain supply from the Valley. In Georgia, Laura heard from a guest, Davis now had to worry about a conflict between Hood and Hardee and the Union’s continual ground-gaining there, bitter facts for Lily to accept.
Tuesday saw bold and effective sabotage at City Point where Grant was headquartered on the James River northeast of Petersburg; the huge blast near his tent where he was sitting showered him with dirt and debris. Intercepted messages revealed that forty-three men had been killed and one hundred twenty-six injured, and massive damage had been done. Again, many Richmond inhabitant
s cheered and celebrated the “victory.”
* * *
Wednesday, Wheeler assaulted Sherman’s supply line between Atlanta and Nashville and claimed victories. The C.S.S. Tallahassee reported it had taken seven Yankee ships near New Jersey without suffering any damage.
Laura didn’t want to imagine how those many triumphs would spur the Rebels onward with their Cause. How, she fretted, could they tire of war and search for peace when they believed they were winning the conflict?
Carl Epps came to eat dinner and play cards that evening, but it wasn’t a total waste of Laura’s time and energy to be cordial to the stranded Vicksburg plantation owner tonight. The obnoxious man did disclose that Jefferson Davis was leaving tomorrow to meet with Lee at Petersburg, a fact he boasted of learning during lunch with the President and others today.
At eight o’clock, the third regular patron in less than a week had mentioned Lily’s lack of spirit and attention during encounters upstairs; tonight’s had said she wasn’t “any fun anymore” and to give him Belle or Cleo next time. She had noticed how quiet, almost sullen, Lily had been after meeting with each of those customers, men she had “entertained” several times in the past. She also had noticed that Lily had bathed after each of those episodes and wondered if that meant her friend was feeling shame about her behavior. She realized there was only one course of action she could take to prevent future problems.
At ten, before they both retired, Laura summoned Lily to her house and told her what the patrons had reported, ending by saying firmly, “I think you need to quit this kind of work and get another job.”
Defiant Hearts Page 17
