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Spring, 1862, Madison County, Alabama
Ethan was working in the hot sun alone in his fields. As he bent down to pull a weed out of the ground, he heard a click.
“Get up slowly!” said a gruff voice behind him. Ethan straightened up and turned around. A man in a torn and dirty Confederate Army uniform was holding a pistol and pointing it at him.
“By order of the Confederate Government. You must come with me.” He growled as he leveled the pistol at Ethan’s head.
Ethan dropped his hand shovel and wiped his hands on his trousers. “Where are we going?” He asked.
“Silence, I will tell you in good time. But where is your brother Daniel?” He said as he held up a yellowed 1860 Alabama Census form and waved it at Ethan.
“He is in the barn. I suspect.” Said Ethan surprised the soldier knew his name.
“Good, then let’s go.” The Confederate soldier pointed the pistol in the direction of the small wooden farmhouse with a barn attached on the side.
Both men walked up to the house, scaring the chickens clustered around their feet. Ethan stood outside the barn. “Danny, come outside,” he yelled into the barn.
Their mother heard his shouting and ran outside the house wearing an old farm dress with the apron. She shook the flour from her hands. A baby could be heard crying inside.
“Stop, Ma!” cried Ethan as his mother ran down the steps of the front porch towards him. She saw the soldier with the pistol and stopped.
Daniel walked outside the barn. “What are you bellowing about?” he said to his older brother and stopped suddenly when he saw the man with the pistol.
The soldier peered down at the census form and said: “Are you, Daniel?” He said. “You are over eighteen?”
Daniel nodded his head “Yes” looking at the pistol pointed at his brother’s head.
The soldier turned to look at their mother and said: “Where is your husband Ma’am?”
“He died of the fever last winter.” She said mournfully. A Scarlet fever epidemic had raged in the county, and her husband grew ill and died.
The soldier grunted and said, “I’ll have to settle for you two good-ole boys then.”
The boy’s mother spoke up and said: “Where are you taking them?”
“To Decatur, to join the Confederate Army!” The soldier muttered. “By orders of Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Congress. If you stop me, I am authorized to shoot you.”
“Now get some clothes and food for your sons Ma’am. I am in a hurry to get back to camp.”
The boy's mother ran inside the ramshackle house and stuffed a few items of clothing in a duffel bag. She grabbed some food from their larder and gave it to Ethan to carry.
“All right, let’s move before it gets dark.” He pointed the pistol towards the road. Daniel and Ethan with their hands tied behind their backs began walking down the dusty road. Their mother held her crying baby in her arms and watched with tears streaming down her cheeks as they were marched away.
