ALLIGATOR CREEK by LOTTIE GUTTRY

Author:LOTTIE GUTTRY [LOTTIE GUTTRY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: na
Publisher: LOTTIE GUTTRY
Published: 2015-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

17

I was transferred to Elmira, N.Y. and about the middle of November exchanged. They kept us on the Ohioan Steamer about 25 days.

Alexander Browning

former POW,

letter to Board of Pensions,

1910

November–December 1864

Late in November, guards came for Alex. “You’re gonna be exchanged,” one told him and directed him to join a group of soldiers marching toward the train. Men with pale, gaunt faces and eyes without luster shuffled through the prison gates never looking back. Their tattered clothing hung loosely on their skeletal bodies.

While prisoners filed into the cars, the guards joked among themselves, paying little attention. Most men headed for freedom wouldn’t try to jump train in New York even if physically able to do so. Alex took a seat, impatient for the train to leave and to move even an inch closer to Lake City and his family. Even as he yearned for home, he feared facing Sarah again. After horrendous battles and two prisons, he was not the same man she’d known. As soon as the train got underway, he stared out the window at the bleak countryside and the snow-covered roofs of scattered farmhouses with smoke puffing from their chimneys.

At Baltimore, the prisoners crowded onto an Ohio steamer in Chesapeake Bay. On the floor of the lower cabin, Alex sat pressed against his fellow prisoners for several hours before the captain blew the horn and cast off. He overheard two men describing their experiences in an early battle. Their conversation reminded Alex of the maimed bodies twisted on the fields of Gettysburg. The horror of his memories made his head throb and his heart pound against his chest. Gasping for air, he made his way to the upper deck.

Later, as he returned down the gangway, he heard a familiar voice. He stumbled toward the stooped back of the speaker. “Max . . . Max Cartwright, is it you?”

Max unfolded himself off the floor and wrapped his arms around Alex. “My God, Alex. You old sonofabitch. You’re still alive. I thought sure you’d die from the consumption.”

“I did almost die, but, hey, fellow, the last time I saw you, you were hanging by your thumbs in the prison yard.”

Max held up his disfigured hands, the thumbs hanging useless against his palms. “I can’t hardly stand to think about it. I fainted a couple of times and nearly yanked my thumbs out of their sockets. Two days we stood out there. Dear God, if we’d only known what lay ahead.”

Alex blew out a long stream of air as if he could exhale all the evil, putrid smells and sights he’d endured during the past six months. He patted his friend’s back. “I know. I know. I just want to get out of this damn place. Have you heard anything about Lester?”

“As far as I know, the Bluecoats didn’t shoot him,” Max said.

As he had for several weeks, Alex slept fitfully. He dreamed about Jacob when he climbed out of the trench. He awoke in the dark hold of the ship amid the grunting snores of his fellow passengers, his heart beating wildly.

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