In the Face of Death by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Author:Chelsea Quinn Yarbro [Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Vampires, Historical
ISBN: 1932100296
Publisher: BenBella Books
Published: 2001-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

At New Springs Farm, near Buchanan, Georgia, 29 April, 1862

Word has come from Fox Woman that she is leaving her traditional home for the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, because she is afraid of what this war may do to her if she remains where she is and the fighting spreads. She is not the only one of her people to make such a choice. . . . Her nephew says that she would rather face disunity among her own people than continue here, where both sides are her enemies. . . . I am saddened to know she is in such desperate straits, but it is not within my power to assuage her. . . . As someone who fled the Revolution in France, I cannot castigate those who are doing now what I did then.

Five more Buchanan boys are dead. They were killed on the 6th of this month at a battle on the Tennessee River. General Albert Johnston also died there, and many of the reports I have read consider his loss a dire thing for the South. A messenger brought back what effects of the dead soldiers could be found, though none of the bodies has been sent back here for burial. The messenger, who stayed with the Thatcher family, is hardly of an age to shave yet, but he has the eyes of an old and frightened man. . . .

I have learned from this messenger that Tecumseh was also part of that battle. I know he is alive still, but I begin to fear for him. We are hearing accounts of terrible slaughter and frightful injuries, wounds that no man would want to live with, and men who welcome death to end their suffering, knowing it for a kindness. Those condemned to linger in agony know better than anyone how cruel survival can be. . . . And many of the dead are now being embalmed, so that their bodies may be returned home without overmuch decay. I do not know what embalming would do to one of my blood, for embalming does not destroy the nervous system, and as such, should not be fatal. None of the Pharaohs ever rose after embalming but their brains were gone as well as their blood. Yet since embalming drains the body of blood, and for us more surely than any other, blood is life, it could be that it would be sufficient to bring the True Death. . . . If Tecumseh falls in battle and is embalmed, I fear he will be lost forever. . . . I must write to Saint-Germain and find out what embalming might do to one of us. . . . How I may get a letter to him in these times, however, with the North blockading Southern harbors, I cannot guess, and once I have such information, how do I convey it to Tecumseh? . . .

Army suppliers have come to Buchanan, as they have to many of these

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