Northern Blood by Daniel Greene

Author:Daniel Greene [Greene, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rune Publishing
Published: 2020-03-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Mid-morning, May 9, 1864

East of Laurel Hill, Shady Grove Church, Virginia

J. E. B. Stuart’s general staff stood inside the tiny single room of Shady Grove Methodist Church near the town of Spotsylvania. It had been founded almost twenty years earlier and most likely had never seen so many men, never as many men in uniform, perhaps never a man as distraught as the one before them.

The man before Wade Hampton was in shambles. Stress surrounded his eyes and mouth like heavy bags of grain. His lips quivered beneath a bushy well-formed beard. His shirt was untucked underneath his dirty gray uniform, and his plumed hat lay tossed in a short-backed pew. He began to pace, his arms folded over his proud chest.

“Sir, I beg of you. The battle is here. We protect Lee’s flanks. We bleed Grant day after day here, but we must not let them flank us. Even now Hancock searches for a way around.”

A finger pointed at him, shaking fiercely. “Do you not understand what I told you? She’s gone.”

Hampton eyed the pulpit and the plain wooden cross behind it. The telegram had come from a reputable source, but its contents were no less disturbing than if it had been an evil jest. Stuart’s wife Flora had been taken by a band of renegades. His words came slow and assured. “I understand what you’ve told me. It is dire news.”

Stuart wiped his cheek, glaring. “Union cavalry is departing their lines en masse.” He shook his head. “This sequence of events is no coincidence. They smell rotten, my dear friend.” His lip quivered in anger.

“Marse Robert wants you to intercept Sheridan?”

“I want to kill Sheridan if he is behind such treachery!”

“What did he say?”

“I am to pursue as I see fit. Defend Richmond if need be. But how can he ask that when my wife, bless her fragile soul, is missing!”

“But the battle is here, sir. This is where we fight it. We bleed them enough through this wilderness, they will yield to our cause.”

Stuart shook his head, not listening to Hampton’s protest. “No, I must get her back. What kind of man am I if I cannot even protect my own family?” His eyes pleaded for understanding. “You have a family. Can you imagine? What if Mary were taken? Would you not make every effort to secure her?”

The man begged to be assured he was making the right move.

“I would on my honor.”

“Then you understand my reputation is at stake here.”

Hampton pointed out a window that ran along most of the church wall. “But we are fighting for something larger than our personal honor.”

Stuart’s mouth stood agape. “There is nothing greater than a man’s personal honor. Without it, we are mere beasts, apes, soulless creatures.”

“And with that comes causes higher than oneself. Liberty. Justice. Freedom. Surely those things mean more than a single man’s honor?”

Stuart’s face twisted, his mouth forming a snarl. “How dare you? It is my wife for Christ’s sake.”

Hampton stood his ground, keeping his cool.

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