Chapter Twenty-Four

 

 

The Brady’s immersed themselves in field work from dawn until dark as they struggled to get the spring crops in. Patrick and Mr. Meyers also assisted with planting. Too tired to ride back home, Patrick slept on the sofa some nights and tried his best to comfort Anna before exhaustion took him. Numerous times, she showed him the letter she had received from David. She also told him of Stephen’s proposal.

“Don’t fret, lass,” he told her. “I’ll protect ye from Stephen, if need be. I won’t lose ye to your greedy neighbor. I’ll sacrifice me own future, if that’s what it takes.”

Anna wasn’t sure of his intentions but assumed he was being chivalrous.

On May 16, she received a wire from Stephen.

My darling Anna,” she read aloud to her sisters. “I am to attend a Grand Review in Washington next week. The entire Union army is expected to march through the city, including Generals Grant and Sherman. Nothing grieves me more than the loss of our illustrious president, who was taken from this great nation too soon. I am also sorrowful you cannot attend to witness the celebratory spectacle.” She paused and looked at her sisters. “I’m not sorry,” she grumbled.

The girls giggled.

Looking back at the telegram, she continued, “It is my wish that we wed immediately upon my return.”

“Uh oh,” said Abigail.

“Don’t fret, sweetheart,” Anna told her with a smile. “It will never happen.”

Abigail grinned at her. Maggie frowned.

“I’m happily married,” Anna continued. Her voice cracked. “To a wonderful man.” A tear streamed down her cheek. “But I don’t understand why I haven’t heard from him recently.”

“Don’t worry, Anna,” Abigail assured her. “David is fine. I know it.”

Anna smiled at her little sister, thankful for her naive cheerfulness. She recalled how, one week ago, they had celebrated Abigail’s tenth birthday. When asked what she had wanted, her only wish was for David to come home safe and sound.

“That means your uncle will return soon!” Sarah exclaimed. Her face beamed with a wide smile.

“I’d like to show Patrick this telegram,” Anna said.

“He’ll be here for supper,” said Maggie. “Remember? You invited him.”

Anna nodded. “Oh, so I did.” She sat down at the kitchen table, expelling a deep sigh. “I wonder what David is doing this very minute.”

Sarah sat beside her. “Four o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon. I’m sure, if nothing else dear, he’s thinking of you.”

She smiled, knowing her aunt was right. Anna could feel it in her heart. David had to sense her thoughts were with him at that very moment. She stood and walked outside. Finding Renegade in the pasture, she held her hand out to him. He eagerly trotted up.

“Now, Renegade,” she said, softly rubbing his forehead, “you must eat. He wouldn’t be happy with you if you didn’t eat.” She patted his neck. The little horse sighed. “I’ll bring you some molasses for your oats tonight, but you have to eat them all. Do you promise?”

The stallion stared at her for a moment. She thought she detected a flash of acknowledgment in his greenish-brown eyes. He tossed his head and whinnied.

“Good.” She chuckled. “He’ll return to us very soon,” she assured, giving herself confidence as well, and stroked his muzzle.

At sundown, Patrick arrived. He inhaled his meal of roasted pork and spring vegetables, thanked his hostesses graciously, and cleared the table for them. Anna pulled him aside to show him the telegraph letter she had received from Stephen. While he read it, his face turned red.

“Anna, me dear, the war’s over. You should tell him now of your marriage to David.”

She shook her head. “Not yet,” she replied. “He’s still in prison, and Stephen might have the power to cause him harm.”

Patrick frowned. “Are ye certain he’s still alive then?”

“Yes, he is. I know it in my heart.”

“Well, I know ye believe it, but ye haven’t heard from him in quite some time.”

“I’ve given it much consideration. If he hasn’t returned to me by the end of June, I’ll go back up to New York myself and find out what’s become of him.” Her lower lip quivered. “Even if it means searching out his grave.” She started to sob.

Patrick wrapped his arms around her. “Now, me darlin’, sure’n he must be all right.”

He held her until she regained her composure, and asked her to sit next to him in the parlor. They seated themselves on the sofa.

“Anna,” he said, “I’ve thought long and hard about it, and if need be, I’ll pretend to wed ye meself, in order to prevent Stephen from havin’ the farm.”

She glared at him. “What do you mean, pretend?” she inquired.

He grinned. “Ours is a love more like that ‘tween a brother and sister. I could never take the place of your David, nor would I wish to. And besides, ye know I’m plannin’ to go out West someday.” He paused, taking her hand. “But if somethin’ dire has become of him, and Stephen presses ye into matrimony, then I’d be willin’ to offer ye an alibi.”

Anna sniffed. She let out a whimper, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Patrick. I do love you.” She drew back, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

 

 

 

Discipline within the camp eased. The men were allowed double rations. Out of boredom, David decided to volunteer at the hospital, even though he dreaded the place. The least he could do, he asserted, was to read, talk with, and sing to the afflicted, since he had been spared from any life-threatening ailment himself.

One afternoon, he entered the building and was greeted by an orderly.

“I’d like to help out, if I can,” he said.

“Sure thing,” said the orderly. “We can use all the help we can get.”

He directed David to a nearby row of wood slat beds.

Seating himself near the patient, David said, “Can I git you anything?”

“Naw,” said the man. He extracted his hand from beneath a bedsheet to wave David away. The man’s fingers were missing.

“What happened to your hand?” he asked.

“Frostbite,” replied the man. “Near everyone in here has froze off fingers, toes, or ears.” He looked David over with penetrating blue eyes. “Looks like you got lucky, young feller.” He faintly smiled.

David said nothing but stood and walked to the next bed. After he had made his way down the aisle, he decided tending to eight ailing inmates was all he could take. When he returned the following day, he made his way down the same row.

“Where’s the man who was here yesterday?” he asked a passing assistant. “The one with his fingers frozen off?”

“He’s gone,” replied the orderly.

“Gone? Gone where? Did he git paroled?”

“No. He’s gone. From his earthly existence.”

David stared at him. “Oh,” he finally uttered. Without another word to anyone, he left the hospital and realized his heart was too big for the task. He couldn’t make himself go back to comfort them, no matter how much he wanted to.

He decided to volunteer his services elsewhere and ended up doing grounds work again by weeding flowers and trimming grass. Whenever he found an opportunity, he inhaled the fragrant roses, just to remind himself of Anna. Disappointed she hadn’t responded to his last letter, he wrote to her again, assuring her everything would be all right and that he would soon be released. Once the letter was completed, he took it to the post, and then made his way to the library.

“Private Summers,” one of the guards said to him. “We got a new copy of the Elmira Gazette in today.” He motioned to a nearby table.

“Thank you,” David replied. He sat down and started reading the issue dated May 5. To his dismay, he learned that, on the previous day, General Richard Taylor had surrendered the largest remaining Confederate army at Citronelle, Alabama. David’s heart leaped into his throat. Now his family was completely unprotected.

 

 

Two more weeks dragged by, and still, the men weren’t released. The townsfolk, however, were allowed to enter the prison.

David made his way toward the market, where he saw convicts displaying their wares for sale.

“Help me pay for my passage home,” one vendor pleaded to passersby.

“I need money to support my young’uns,” said another. “My wife died whilst I was in here.”

A finely-dressed gentleman tossed a silver dollar his way. The man scrambled to catch it.

“Here you are, my fine man,” the gentleman said. “And may I express my sincere regret for your confinement and loss.”

“Thank you, sir,” the inmate said.

David walked on, hearing the same sentiment repeated by other visiting Elmirans. He glanced toward the direction of the front gate and saw a Union officer arrive on a white horse. The officer dismounted and entered the camp officials’ quarters.

“Now’s our chance,” one mangy Rebel said.

He and several others surrounded the steed. Once they had stepped away, David saw they had plucked the horse clean like a chicken by pulling out all of its mane and tail hairs.

“These’ll make fine trinkets,” the mangy man said. He winked at David and gave him a toothy grin before tramping away with his fists full of horsehair.

The officer emerged from the officials’ quarters. “What happened to my horse?” he demanded. Several officers made their way around, asking men if they’d seen anything.

No one responded.

“Did you see what happened to that horse?” an officer asked David.

He meekly stared at him.

The officer scowled and walked away. David expelled a relieved sigh. Later on, he learned the offenders had gone undetected.

Men who had taken their oath prior to the end of the war were now being set free. Hundreds more lined up to proclaim their allegiance and acquire their freedom, but others were defiant. One man bragged he was a Rebel till the end. Within a week, however, he had taken his oath too.

Out of loyalty, David continued to sell his carvings through Amos instead of directly offering them to the townspeople visiting camp. One morning, he asked him outright, “Were you ever a slave?”

The young man chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. Ma mammie, she was. She an’ her sis’er escape from Marylan’ wid me in tow, an’ de start dere fam’lies up No’t.”

“Reckon they didn’t have far to go,” David replied earnestly.

Amos smiled. “Did too. Dey come up from Al’bama afo’ dat. Dey stay fo’ while in Marylan’, where Ize born, and den we come here to New Yo’k.”

“Alabama?” David asked.

“Yeah, dat right.”

“I’m from Alabama.”

“You is? Well whatchoo know ‘bout dat!”

“Where in Alabama did they come from?”

Amos thought for a moment. “Tuscaloosa.”

“So you weren’t born yet when your ma and aunt came up to Maryland?”

“Yeah, dat right.”

Stunned, David realized how dire the situation must have been. For a woman to be so desperate as to risk her own life and that of her unborn child in order to escape slavery was incomprehensible to him. She must have been abused to want to leave so badly. “Is your ma still alive?”

Amos smirked. “Now, why you be askin’ dat?”

He shrugged. Deciding he had pried into the man’s life as far as he cared to delve, he bid him good day and went on his way. He couldn’t help but wonder what it must feel like to be a black man, the son of a slave, in a country recently rejoined. Neither side really wanted the Negroes or had any true desire to better their condition. He pondered whether Percy and Isabelle still remained with Jake’s family now that the war was over. They had always been like family, and he regretted they might not be there when he returned home. He understood that, when he returned home, it wouldn’t be like home at all.