Mrs. Mary Chesnut was accustomed to receiving guests. Her home was the center for the highest society of Richmond. General Lee, General Hood, and President Davis were frequent guests. Mrs. Chesnut’s best friend was Varina Davis, the wife of the president.
But when she opened the door early one morning, after hearing an insistent knock, she was taken aback by the sight of a young girl, staring at her with tragic eyes.
“Mrs. Chesnut,” the girl said, “I guess you don’t remember me.”
“Why, I’m afraid I don’t, child.”
“My sister and I were at a tea that you had. I’m Leah Carter, and my sister’s name is Sarah.”
“Why, yes, of course, I remember you now. Come in, come in at once.” Mary Chesnut stepped back, and Leah entered. “How is your uncle? He was very ill, if I remember correctly.”
“He’s fine, Mrs. Chesnut. But it’s my sister—she’s in awful trouble.”
Mary Chesnut stared at the girl. “Well, perhaps you’d better come into the parlor. We can talk about it there.” She led the way down the hall. Opening a door, she took Leah inside a room that was rather small and filled with sewing baskets and fragments of quilts in various stages. “Sit down right there. Move that quilt out of the way, Leah,” Mrs. Chesnut said. “Now then, tell me all about it.”
Leah hesitated. “It’s so awful. You remember that there was a captain who was attentive to my sister.”
“Why, yes, I do remember. Captain Lyons, wasn’t
it?”
“That’s him. Well, he’s been coming to call on her ever since that tea.”
“I suppose your sister is very flattered to have such a handsome, eligible young man calling on her.”
“Oh, no, ma’am, she doesn’t want him, and that’s what caused the trouble.”
Mrs. Chesnut blinked. She saw that the girl’s lower lip was trembling as if she were on the verge of tears. “What is it, child?” she asked. “What’s wrong with your sister?”
“She’s been arrested!” Leah burst out, and then tears did run down her cheeks. She let them flow unheeded and said, “She’s no spy, Mrs. Chesnut. She wouldn’t do anything like that. We just came here to take care of my Uncle Silas.”
“Now, dry those tears.” Mrs. Chesnut produced a silk handkerchief and handed it to her. “Tell me all about it. Go very slowly now.” She sat and listened until the story had poured out of Leah. Then Mrs. Chesnut said, “Why, it sounds frightful. When is the trial to be?”
“I think it’s today, but they won’t tell us anything. They won’t let us in to see her either.”
Mary Chesnut was a woman of firm convictions. She was a little on the rebellious side, refusing to accept the traditional role of a woman. She had, at times, a rather sharp tongue. Somehow the sight of Leah’s tearful face angered her. She said, “Let me get my cape. We’ll go down and find my husband, Colonel Chesnut. Then we’ll see about this!”
Things happened rapidly. Leah was bundled into a carriage, and all the way to the War Department she found herself telling the lady beside her about life in Kentucky. By the time they had reached the War Department and were out of the carriage, Mary Chesnut knew all about Jeff and Tom and their father, Nelson Majors.
Mrs. Chesnut said, “Come along. We’ll have to explain all of this to my husband. I’m sure he’ll be able to help.”
They found Colonel Chesnut, who was one of Jefferson Davis’s advisers, with an office full of people. His wife simply brushed them aside, shooed them out of the office, and said, “Now, husband, you sit down and listen to this young lady.”
The colonel was a distinguished-looking man, rather slight. He was accustomed to his wife’s abrupt ways. “Very well, my dear,” he said. “I suppose it must be important.”
“It certainly is! Just listen!”
Twenty minutes later Colonel Chesnut had the whole story. He had not said a word. But as soon as Leah was finished, he said, “I hadn’t heard about this. You two wait right here while I go and do some checking.”
As soon as he was out of the room, Mary Chesnut went over and put her arm around Leah. “Don’t you worry now. My husband may be a little slow at times, but when he gets that look in his eye, I know there’s going to be action. It’s rather strange, that look. He looks like he’s just decided to lower his head and ram it through a brick wall! A stubborn man, but very sweet.”
Colonel Chesnut was gone for almost thirty minutes. When he came back he was bustling. “Come along,” he said. He belted on a saber, jammed a soft felt Confederate hat on his head, and said, “I think we’ll attend your sister’s trial, Miss Leah.”
He led them across the yard toward a large, red brick building, where a soldier saluted him sharply. Then he conducted them to a pair of large double doors guarded by two privates. “Is the trial going on?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the men said. “It just started. Do you want to go in, Colonel?”
“Yes, and these are my guests.”
“Yes, sir.” He opened the doors wide, and Colonel Chesnut marched in. His wife clutched one arm and Leah the other.
Leah was scared when she saw six officers seated at a table. Across from them was her sister, and she wanted to cry out, but Mrs. Chesnut squeezed her arm.
“It’ll be all right, dear. Let my husband handle it.”
“Why, Colonel Chesnut,” another colonel said, looking up with surprise. “I didn’t expect you here, sir.”
Colonel Chesnut turned to his wife. “You sit here, dear. Leah, you sit down with us.” Then he looked across the room to where Captain Wesley Lyons sat with a startled look in his eye.
“You have an interest in this case, Colonel?”
“Yes, I do. Proceed, and I will let my feelings be known at the proper time.”
“Why—why, of course, Colonel Chesnut.”
The officer in charge seemed flustered, but he quickly pulled himself together. “Now then, we will hear the evidence against the accused.”
A small, rotund man sitting at a table to one side rose and cast one look at Colonel Chesnut. He cleared his throat. “The accused has been brought to this place on charges of treason.”
He rambled on for quite a while, and finally the presiding officer said with some irritation, “We have many cases to hear, Captain. What is the evidence against Miss Carter?”
“Letters, sir. I have them right here.” He opened one and began to read. It was a simple enough letter. Leah remembered when Sarah had written it. It simply gave a brief account of what they were doing with their time and reported on Uncle Silas’s condition. It did mention that there was a great deal of activity and that McClellan’s army was expected to move at any time. It was the kind of talk that people made every day.
When the prosecuting attorney had read the letter, the colonel in charge said, “Where is the proof of treason?”
“You must see it, Colonel! She’s telling this man—her father, who is an agent for the North—about our troops, about what’s happening here in Richmond.”
A young man seated beside Sarah said, “I object, sir.” He stood to his feet. “There’s nothing in that letter that isn’t known to everybody in the North. We all know that McClellan is on his way. There’s no military secret there.”
“Objection sustained! We’d better hear the rest of those letters, sir,” the colonel said, and his face grew stern. “And we’d better hear something more incriminating than that, or we will find someone in contempt for wasting the time of the court.”
“Why—why, yes, sir!” The prosecutor wiped his forehead. He read through several letters.
Finally the presiding officer said, “Is this the sum of your evidence?”
“Sir, her father is an agent for the North!”
The colonel looked across at Sarah. “Is this true, Miss Carter?”
“My father is not an agent for the North. He is a sutler,” Sarah said calmly. “He sells supplies to the troops just as your sutlers do. In addition to that, he passes out Bibles and tracts. You can confirm this very easily.”
The colonel’s face grew red as he stared at the prosecuting attorney. “This is the extent of your evidence?” he repeated.
“Well … yes, sir.”
“Who had this woman arrested?”
“Why, I believe Captain Lyons brought the matter to our attention.” The prosecuting attorney gave the captain an angry look. Leah saw he was upset at being put in such an embarrassing position. “Perhaps he may have more evidence than he’s given me.”
Colonel Ames, the head of the court, said, “Captain, you may speak. Why have you brought these charges on this flimsy evidence?”
Captain Lyons was accustomed to being in charge of things, but the eyes of all six men were fixed on him. He glanced at Colonel Chesnut. “Why, I thought it my duty to bring the matter to the court’s attention.” That must have sounded feeble even to his own ears.
Colonel Ames stared at him, then looked across the room at Sarah. “We will keep this on an informal basis, I think. Miss Carter, can you think of any reason why Captain Lyons would accuse you of spying for the Union?”
Sarah said without hesitation, “He has been trying to court me. When I expressed a preference for a sergeant in General Stonewall’s brigade, he became very angry. I can only assume that this is the cause of his accusations.”
A silence fell over the room. Colonel Ames looked at Colonel Chesnut. Some message seemed to pass between the two men. Colonel Ames said loudly, “I declare this case dismissed. Miss Carter, we must ask your forgiveness for the unjust accusations.” Then his head turned. “Captain Lyons, you will remain. The court has a few words to say to you.”
The defense attorney said, “Thank you, Colonel Ames.” He reached down and shook Sarah’s hand.
She rose and stood before the court. “Thank you, Colonel Ames and all you gentlemen,” she said. Then she turned, and Leah met her, throwing her arms around her.
“Come along—we’ll go now,” Mrs. Chesnut said.
The four of them left, and when they were outside, Sarah turned to Mary Chesnut and to her husband. “I can’t thank you both enough for—”
“Oh—” Colonel Chesnut waved his hand in a gesture of disdain “—it would have come to nothing anyway. That fool of a captain should have known better. I hope they put him in the stockade for being an idiot.”
“Will you come back to the house with us?” Mrs. Chesnut asked.
“I really need to get home,” Sarah said, “but we’ll call later to thank you properly.”
That should have been the end of it. Sarah went home with Leah, and the two had a little celebration with Uncle Silas. They were singing the praises of the Chesnuts.
However, on the next day a letter came from the colonel:
My dear Miss Carter,
There have been repercussions concerning your case. I, myself, am totally convinced of your innocence and so are the six men on the board. However, it seems that the father of Wesley Lyons is a man of considerable influence. I will not attempt to justify this, but he has brought great pressure to bear. As a result, I am forced to ask that you leave Richmond and return to your home in Kentucky.
Your younger sister, I trust, will be able to care for your uncle. Once again, rest assured I will pursue this, but it will take some time as these things do.
Regretfully yours,
Colonel Chesnut
Sarah looked up blankly when she had read the letter, and Leah cried, “Why, they can’t make you go home!”
“I’m afraid they can, Leah. This is their country, and Colonel Chesnut wouldn’t have written this if there hadn’t been tremendous pressure. I’ll have to go.”
She would not have to go to the train station alone, however, for Colonel Chesnut had pursued his investigation. He had Tom freed at once, and that young man came flying to Silas Carter’s house. Sarah opened the door herself and found herself wrapped in his arms—or in one of them anyhow. The other was still bandaged.
“Are you all right, Sarah?” he asked. “I was so worried about you.”
“Oh, yes, I’m fine.” She laughed nervously. “But I’ve got to go back to Kentucky, Tom.”
“Colonel Chesnut told me. But it won’t be for long. He’s working on it, and he’ll get you back here soon.”
“I hope so. I hate to leave Leah here all alone, but there’s no other way it seems.”
The next day Sarah said her good-byes to Leah and Uncle Silas, and Tom took her to the station. They stood on the platform as the train huffed and puffed, sending great clouds of steam into the air.
“I hate like fury for you to go!” Tom groaned. “Just doesn’t seem right! Seems like we spend our lives saying good-bye.”
Sarah had slept little, and her eyes looked forlorn, but she managed to smile. “It won’t be forever. I need to go home anyway and help take care of that baby sister of yours. You watch out for Leah.”
“I will.” Tom hesitated, then put his good arm around her and kissed her. “Good-bye, but it won’t be long.”
“Take care of yourself,” Sarah whispered. “Oh, be careful! Don’t let anything happen to you.” Then she whirled and boarded the train.
Tom watched it roll out of the station and pick up speed. It grew smaller in the distance and finally disappeared around a curve. He turned and walked slowly away as despondent as he’d ever been in his whole life.