A Heart Divided by Al Lacy

Author:Al Lacy [Lacy, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-78057-7
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Before dawn the next morning, several Rebel soldiers prepared the wagons while the Confederates and Yankees who were going to make the trip to Jackson were eating breakfast in the dining hall.

Captain Leonard Whittier ate quickly, then made his way to the table where Ryan McGraw was eating with Judd Rawlings and Bobby Brinson. Standing over the Confederate officer, Whittier said with grit in his voice, “You shouldn’t be making my wounded men take this ride, McGraw.”

“We’ve already been over that, Captain. They’re going.”

“I’m telling you again, Johnny Reb. You’ll never get us to that prison camp. There are plenty of Union troops out there in those forests. They’ll cut down every man in a gray uniform in short order.”

“You’d better hope not,” was McGraw’s blunt reply.

“And why is that?”

“Because you and your men are going to be wearing gray.”

Whittier’s jaw slacked. “What’re you talking about?”

“When you made your little threat yesterday about the woods being infested with Union troops, you said, ‘When they see you hauling us in the wagons, they’ll annihilate you.’ Remember?”

“Yeah. So what?”

“You planted an idea in my head. I happened to know that there were several old and tattered Confederate uniforms in a store room here in the fort. General Page was glad to let me have enough to dress each of you blue-bellies in gray. All of you will be wearing Rebel uniforms on the way to Jackson. We’ll put your wounded men in gray, also. They’ll ride in a wagon together, and the rest of you will fill up the other two.”

Whittier’s eyes bulged. “You can’t do this!”

“Oh, but I can. Your men will drive the wagons while my men and I ride horseback. Every one of your able-bodied men will have a rifle … but no ammunition, of course. With all twenty-nine of you in gray uniforms, we’ll look like a detachment of thirty-five Confederate soldiers hauling seven of our wounded men somewhere. Since the Union scouting units are always made up of a dozen men or less, your blue-bellied comrades won’t want to tackle a squad of thirty-five.”

Whittier measured McGraw with a look of cold fury. “If our troops do attack, me and my men will be helpless! They’ll cut us down—”

“This is war, Captain Whittier. You threatened me with Union troops coming after us in the woods, so I came up with a way to try to ward them off. If they open fire on you and your men, that’s the way it is in war.”

“If it happens, it’ll make you a murderer.”

“It won’t be me pulling the triggers. You’d better pray your blue-bellied friends leave us alone. I might also add, Captain, that if any of your men try to escape, they will be shot. They’re all listening over there right now. You better make sure they understand I mean what I say.”

Just before dawn, Captain McGraw led the procession out of Fort Morgan, heading northward along the edge of Mobile Bay. Captain Leonard Whittier rode on the seat of the wagon that bore his seven wounded men.

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