The Slave Scheme by Eric Krantz

Author:Eric Krantz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing Company
Published: 2021-04-19T16:52:43+00:00

Book Two

Admiral Porter’s fleet running the rebel blockade of the Mississippi at Vicksburg, April 16th 1863

Chapter 40

Secret Agent

The beginning of the second year of the Civil War took place approximately two years after Josh’s meeting with Jefferson Davis at Joseph Davis’s plantation. Jefferson was now the president of the Confederacy. Through Nate’s cooking school, Josh’s plantation had made significant inroads into raising the consciousness of slaves in the surrounding properties. Josh, his family, and their house slaves had been accepted into Mississippi society in the area.

Over this time frame, Wilma and Jackson became closer to each other and now were lovers. No other slave catchers came looking for Nate. Emily had become more and more comfortable in her role as mistress of the plantation. Various masters and mistresses in the surrounding plantations accepted her as one of their own.

Elijah continued to remain a slave in Emily’s and Josh’s household. He always knew that something was different about this plantation, compared to the others he had known. His new owners never took him further into their confidence in order to avoid subjecting him to more stress. Once the war began, all communications with Josh’s family were quickly cut off as a protection for Josh as well as his parents.

At the very start of the Civil War, Josh communicated to his family up north the idea of offering his services to the North. He contemplated fleeing with the group to return to Massachusetts. He was all set to go when word came from his parents that he was to meet with another man in Vicksburg. This rendezvous was set up through the northern War Department, but Josh knew nothing about it at the time.

The man Josh met with turned out to be none other than John Wilms, the reporter who Josh had eavesdropped on in Seth Feinberg’s store two years earlier. Wilms had been recruited as an agent by the War Department in Washington due to his political connections and his allegiance to the North.

The meeting took place in the newspaper office where John Wilms worked, and on that day, John was the only person in the office of the Vicksburg Sentinel.

The War Department had gotten all the information from Josh’s parents about his abolition mission down south and how it was proceeding, and they were in the process of facilitating a commission for Josh.

Officials at the War Department decided that Josh, his wife Emily, and their four slaves were worth much more to the Union ensconced at the Davis Bend plantation. They were close to Jefferson Davis’s property, and they already had a good relationship with Jefferson and his family. There was an excellent chance they could come by intelligence as to what Jefferson Davis was planning. It was definitely possible that, in communications with his brother Joseph and his family, there might be secrets they could learn—especially through Dee Ann, who was very talkative.

In view of his training at West Point, Josh wanted a battlefield role. John Wilms quickly talked him out of that idea by telling him that this was his chance to do something bigger for the Union.

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