Chapter Twenty Four

What with the champagne and the cognac, Daniel found it very difficult to prize himself out of Arabella’s arms and return to his onerous work but duty is duty and he rose at dawn with a throbbing head.

When he went down to the stables to collect Star he found the animal groomed and fed so someone in the household must have known that he would be staying over.

He saddled the stallion and rode out into the darkness arriving at his quarters just as the reveille sounded. He had to change into his workday clothing which Jack had already anticipated and laid out.

Sergeant Major Jock Macpherson was waiting for him with the latest orders: “Prepare to move at dawn tomorrow.”

Daniel wondered why Grant was moving before his ammunition arrived but then he knew that armies move slowly and possibly Grant felt that there would be time for the munitions to catch up to them before the enemy engaged.

“Jock, get these orders out to the companies as quickly as possible. Those majors will take their time. You’ll notice that I have told them to prepare to move this evening. No person in his right mind will believe that, moving into increasing darkness, but our bunch has never been in their right minds.”

Later in the afternoon General Meade rode by, “Colonel Bridges, I see that your men are ready to move so I would like you to take the lead.”

The colonel was delighted to be singled out as the ‘most ready’ regiment. He went up to headquarters to collect his orders.

The whole regiment was eating supper when the news arrived. The munitions barges had been attacked by the Rebels and sunk in a lightning raid.

An intelligence officer came by to question Daniel.

“Major, I see that you sent your Chinese man to dispatch a cable that was in code. Can you explain to me why you did not use the army telegraph office to send the cable and why it was in code?”

“Certainly, Captain, you come at an awkward time. We are about to move but I think I can ease your mind on that matter fairly quickly. I did not use the army telegraph office because the subject matter was related to my private business interests. If you check the recipient of the message you will find that it was sent to my business agent in Boston. The message was short and simply said: “Goods due in two days coming south on water.” It was in code to prevent business rivals from knowing when my goods would arrive from Canada. Will that be all? I have much to do here.”

“Thank you Major, I believe that is all that I need.”

As a result of, the loss of the munitions the order came to stand down on the move.

Daniel received another invitation from Arabella to dine with her again since his departure had been delayed.

This time he did not bother to change out of his workday uniform but rode directly to Arabella from his work.

Arabella had set up everything as on the previous occasion and Daniel understood that they were to spend the night together once more.

They were halfway through the meal when there was an imperious knock upon the front door. As Arabella was not dressed to receive visitors and the servants had all been dismissed, Daniel went to the front door and opened it.

“Good evening Major Daniels, I hope that you remember me, I am Captain Mason. I met you yesterday.”

“I remember you well Captain. How may I help you?”

“I have come to ask some questions of Mrs Boulder, sir. May I see her?”

“Not this evening Captain. I am a childhood friend of Mrs Boulder. I am visiting her as she is not well and her husband is away. I fear I shall have to send for the doctor.”

“My apologies, Major, for calling unannounced but in the intelligence field it is better not to give your suspects a chance to prepare.”

“Am I to understand that Mrs Boulder is a suspect? Of what may I ask?”

“Not at all sir, but Mrs Boulder does have connections with the South and through her husband could well have access to military information. It is my duty to check such things.”

“I understand, but could you not leave the matter until the lady has recovered from her ailment? Major General Boulder will not be happy to hear of her being mistreated.”

“Sir, I have no intention of mistreating Mrs Boulder in any way. I shall call again tomorrow in the hope that she is sufficiently recovered to receive me.”

The captain withdrew and Daniel returned to Arabella.

“Did you hear all of that?”

Arabella giggled. “Yes, you handled him superbly!”

“Arabella do not take this lightly. Do you have a doctor? That Captain is very likely to check this matter. Even if he were not concerned about you being a spy, just letting me in here while your husband is away, could cause a scandal if the captain does not accept that I am here due to your illness. I will have to summon your doctor and you will have to feign an illness that will convince him so that he in turn will convince the captain that you were indeed ill.”

“Ah pooh! I do not care. Bartholomew may divorce me if he wishes to. I have you and that is all I care about!”

“But you must care, Arabella. Spying carries the death penalty. Either of us is susceptible to being accused of it. Do you want to see me hanged? If not, let us play this matter right.”

She stopped laughing immediately. “Very well, Daniel, here is the doctor’s visiting card. He is a silly old fool but has served Bartholomew’s family for years. Tell him that I have a splitting headache. He will want to bleed me and I shall refuse so he will give me a drop of laudanum and send Bartholomew an outrageous bill. He is sure to maximize his diagnosis to justify the bill so your intelligence captain will be satisfied.”

Daniel rode out and fetched the doctor paying him ten dollars to stir himself to see Arabella at that time of night. Daniel realized that Major General Boulder would nevertheless still get a bill including a charge for nighttime call-out.

Daniel stayed downstairs while the doctor completed his examination and then descended the stairs shaking his head sadly.

“It is a nervous condition, Major, caused by the stress of her husband going off to war. It would be better for her if you stayed by her side. She needs someone available at call and I understand that she has let the servants off early while the master is away. It is as well that you called on her to see how she is faring with her husband gone. Friends like you, Major, are few and far between.”

Daniel thought that his last comment was generated by the ten dollar incentive that he had paid to the doctor.

Daniel locked the door behind the doctor and went up to Arabella who was already in bed.

“What did he give you, Arabella?”

“Just as I predicted, darling, he gave me a drop of laudanum and now I am feeling rather drowsy. Get in here before I fall asleep.”

For one reason and another she slept soundly that night and did not stir when Daniel let himself out.

He was working at his desk when the Intelligence Captain called on him once more.

“Major, I trust that Mrs Boulder is feeling better this morning?”

“I cannot say. She slept soundly from whatever the doctor gave her and I did not wish to awaken her so I left when the servants arrived.”

“I spoke to the doctor. He seemed concerned for her health. Has she always been this delicate?”

“Mrs Boulder has always been a very sensitive child but then most ladies are.”

“You seem very fond of the lady, Major.”

“Of course I am. She is like a sister to me. I have spent many a happy hour upon the Fairchild Plantation. I know each of the field hands personally.”

“Yes, I spoke to the colored maid called Ophelia. She seems to have a very high opinion of you, sir.”

“Well then you know. Our families have always been close.”

“Ophelia said one strange thing to me she said that you had been a member of the Quantrill Raiders.”

“Either she or you are mistaken. I was with the regiment when Quantrill was raiding in the county. I caught a couple of the raiders. Shot one in the kneecap and let them both go.”

“Why would you have let two of those criminals go?”

“I was at that stage in the war when I regarded the rebels as misguided brothers. The one I shot could never fight again and he needed the other to get him home to Texas. I have often wondered if that was the right thing to do but I could not bring myself to shoot them down in cold-blood.”

“You could have taken them prisoner, sir.”

“Possibly, but that would have meant absenting myself from my troop for two days while I herded an invalid and his supporter back to our barracks. The process would have been slow and I did not have rations to feed them.”

“I understand your dilemma, sir. In retrospect it was probably the only thing to do if you did not wish to shoot them.”

The captain left his office but Daniel noticed that he went to speak to Colonel Bridges, no doubt to double-check the story of the two raiders.

The next day a consignment of munitions arrived on board a train that had somehow been overlooked by the rebels. General Grant seized the opportunity to distribute the munitions among those companies that had delivered their own stocks to Major General Butler’s forces and then ordered an immediate march with the intention of facing up to Lee’s army to allow Butler to penetrate closer to Richmond.

Lee kept them in play knowing that they were not abundantly supplied with ammunition. He blocked Butler from progressing along the James river and Sigel found that Lynchburg was too well defended for him to reach the railroad line.

Grant was left alone to fight an overland campaign against a well-supplied Lee.

Daniel was no longer a fighting soldier as regimental executive officer. He watched the finest men of the regiment throw themselves against Confederate steel and lead and be returned as corpses and casualties. Field promotions became the order of the day and horses were desperately required. Daniel struggled hard to provide the needs of the regiment to the extent that he had Jack staying away from the fighting but collecting every stray horse that he could find. After two weeks of unceasing battle, the bad news came that Colonel Bridges had been wounded and was unable to lead the regiment.

Daniel reported to his Brigadier who gave him short shrift.

“Major, I have no more officers to give you. You will have to lead the regiment yourself. I shall send you a brevet order to act as lieutenant colonel. How many active men have you now?”

Daniel found himself in charge of the regiment and also operating as executive officer. Every one of the majors had either been killed or wounded so most companies were being run by lieutenants and Captains Hamilton and Younger were the highest ranking unwounded officers. Bill Hamilton was not executive officer material so Daniel had to use Brad Younger in that capacity. Brad was not by nature a cavalry officer so he was not a great loss to the fighting forces. Daniel put Bill Hamilton in charge of the cavalry and almost immediately regretted it because Bill wanted to charge everything. He did not care whether it was grapeshot or massed rifles he wanted to charge and Daniel spent a lot of time holding him back.

The situation became a war of attrition as both sides suffered enormous casualties. As cavalry does not dig in and shelter against cannon shot and rifle fire, every action resulted in regimental shrinkage. Even though the cavalry was not sent in except for flanking movements when the light cannon that Brad Younger had asked for showed their worth, surprise only last for a few minutes before the enemy started to shoot back and the regimental butcher’s bill began to climb.

“Where in hell are the reinforcements that I asked for?” Was the complaint from every battalion.

“Colonel Daniels,” General Meade said to Daniel after summoning him to his tent. “You are to take command of the Brigade. Brigadier Anderson is critically wounded. Your brevet order is here. I am holding a meeting at six this evening. General Grant will address us then.”

Daniel hardly had time to advise his staff of his unwanted advancement when it was time for the scheduled meeting.

“Gentlemen, Lee is between us and Richmond. It is my intention to drive a wedge between his forces and Richmond by moving to take Spotsylvania. Prepare yourselves for this. I am waiting for reinforcements and munitions which should be here in the next few days. The cavalry brigades will move first since they move quickly. Once we have established a bridgehead, the infantry will fill in. I do not want to see any signs that we are moving or being prepared to move. Lee’s forces watch every move we make just as we watch theirs. When we move we do so at night and we leave the camp undisturbed. Injured men will keep campfires burning and stand guard as if the army were still in place. Your orders may be collected from the sergeant at the tent entrance. Any questions?”

The usual number of questions indicating a lack of comprehension or just plain stupidity followed but Daniel was already collecting his orders.