The entire list of officers was now read and received with applause. If there were some who were disappointed, they acquiesced good-naturedly, with one exception.
When the applause had subsided, John Haynes rose and, in a voice trembling with pa.s.sion, said:
"Mr. Chairman, I wish to give notice to all present that I resign my place as a member of this company. I don"t choose to serve under such officers as you have chosen to-day. I don"t think they are fit to have command."
Here there was a general chorus of hisses, drowning John"s voice completely. After glancing about him a moment in speechless fury, he seized his hat, and left the room in indignant haste, slamming the door after him.
"He"s a mean fellow!" said Frank Ingalls. "I suppose he expected to be captain."
"Shouldn"t wonder," said Sam Rivers. "Anyhow, he"s a fool to make such a fuss about it. As for me," he added, with a mirthful glance, "I am just as much disappointed as he is. When I came here this afternoon I expected I should be elected captain, and I"d got my speech all ready, but now I"m sorry that it will have to be wasted."
There was a general burst of laughter, for Sam Rivers, whom everybody liked for his good nature, was incorrigibly awkward, and had made a larger number of blunders, probably, than any other member of the company.
"Give us the speech, Sam," said Bob Ingalls.
"Yes, don"t let it be wasted."
"Speech! speech!" cried Joseph Barry.
"Very well, gentlemen, if you desire it."
Sam drew from his pocket a blank piece of paper, and pretended to read the following speech, which he made up on the spur of the moment.
"Ahem! gentlemen," he commenced, in a pompous tone, a.s.suming an air of importance; "I am deeply indebted to you for this very unexpected honor."
"Oh, very," said one of the boys near.
"I feel that you have done yourself credit in your selection."
Here there was a round of applause.
"I am sorry that some of you are still very awkward, but I hope under my excellent discipline to make veterans of you in less than no time."
"Good for you!"
"You cannot expect me to remain long with you, as I am now in the line of promotion, and don"t mean to stop short of a brigadier. But as long as I am your captain I hope you will appreciate your privileges."
Sam"s speech was followed by a chorus of laughter, in which he joined heartily himself.
As for John"s defection, n.o.body seemed to regret it much. It was generally felt that the company would have no difficulty in getting along without him.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE REBEL TRAP
ON the first of April Frank received the following letter from his father. It was the more welcome because nearly a month had elapsed since anything had been received, and the whole family had become quite anxious:
"Dear Frank," the letter commenced, "you are no doubt feeling anxious on account of my long silence. You will understand the cause of it when I tell you that since the date of my last letter I have been for a fortnight in the enemy"s hands as a prisoner. Fortunately, I have succeeded in effecting my escape. You will naturally be interested to learn the particulars.
"Three weeks since, a lady occupying an estate about five miles distant from our camp waited on our commanding officer and made an urgent request to have a few soldiers detailed as a guard to protect her and her property from molestation and loss. Our colonel was not at first disposed to grant her request, but finally acceded to it, rather reluctantly, declaring that it was all nonsense. I was selected, with five other men, to serve as a guard. Mrs. Roberts--for this was her name--appeared quite satisfied to find her request granted, and drove slowly home under our escort.
"On arriving, we found a mansion in the old Virginia style, low in elevation, broad upon the ground, and with a piazza extending along the front. Surrounding it was a good-sized plantation. At a little distance from the house was a row of negro huts. These were mostly vacant, the former occupants having secured their freedom by taking refuge within our lines.
"As sergeant in command--you must know that I have been promoted--I inquired of Mrs. Roberts what danger she apprehended. Her answers were vague and unsatisfactory. However, she seemed disposed to treat me very civilly, and at nine o"clock invited the whole party into the house to partake of a little refreshment. This invitation was very welcome to soldiers who had not for months partaken of anything better than camp fare. It was all the more acceptable because outside a cold rain was falling, and the mod was deep and miry.
"In the dining-room we found a plentiful meal spread, including hot coffee, hot corn bread, bacon, and other viands. We were not, however, destined to take our supper in peace. As I was drinking my second cup of coffee I thought I heard a noise outside, and remarked it to Mrs.
Roberts.
""It is only the wind, sergeant," said she, indifferently.
"It was not long before I became convinced that it was something more serious. I ordered my men to stand to their arms, in spite of the urgent protestations of the old lady, and marched them out upon the lawn, just in time to be confronted by twenty or thirty men on horseback, clad in the rebel uniform.
"Resistance against such odds would have been only productive of useless loss of life, and with my little force I was compelled to surrender myself a prisoner.
"Of course, I no longer doubted that we were the victims of a trick, and had been lured by Mrs. Roberts purposely to be made prisoners. If I had had any doubts on the subject, her conduct would have dissipated them.
She received our captors with open arms. They stepped into our places as guests, and the house was thrown open to them. Our arms were taken from us, our hands pinioned, and a scene of festivity ensued. A cask of wine was brought up from the cellar, and the contents freely distributed among the rebels, or gray backs, as we call them here.
"Once, as Mrs. Roberts pa.s.sed through the little room where we were confined, I said, "Do you consider this honorable conduct, madam, to lure us here by false representations, and then betray us to our enemies?"
""Yes, I do!" said she hotly. "What business have you to come down here and lay waste our territory? There is no true Southern woman but despises you heartily, and would do as much as I have, and more, too.
You"ve got my son a prisoner in one of your Yankee prisons. When I heard that he was taken, I swore to be revenged, and I have kept my word. I"ve got ten for one, though he"s worth a hundred such as you!"
"So saying, she swept out of the room, with a scornful look of triumph in her eyes. The next day, as I afterward learned, she sent word to our colonel that her house had been unexpectedly attacked by a large party of the rebels, and that we had been taken prisoners. Her complicity was suspected, but was not proved till our return to the camp. Of course, a further guard, which she asked for, to divert suspicion, was refused.
"Meanwhile we were carried some twenty miles across the river, and confined in a building which had formerly been used as a storehouse.
"The place was dark and gloomy. There were some dozen others who shared our captivity. Here we had rather a doleful time. We were supplied with food three times a day; but the supply was scanty, and we had meat but once in two days. We gathered that it was intended to send us to Richmond; but from day to day there was a delay in doing so. We decided that our chance of escape would be much better then than after we reached the rebel capital. We, therefore, formed a plan for defeating the intentions of our captors.
"Though the building a.s.signed to us as a prison consisted of two stories, we were confined in the lower part. This was more favorable to our designs. During the night we busied ourselves in loosening two of the planks of the flooring, so that we could remove them at any time.
Then lowering two of our number into the cellar, we succeeded in removing enough of the stone foundation to allow the escape of one man at a time through the aperture. Our arrangements were hastened by the a.s.signment of a particular day on which we were to be transferred from our prison, and conveyed to Richmond. Though we should have been glad to enter the city under some circ.u.mstances, we did not feel very desirous of going as prisoners of war.
"On the night selected we waited impatiently till midnight. Then, as silently as possible, we removed the planking, and afterwards the stones of the bas.e.m.e.nt wall, and crept through one by one. All this was effected so noiselessly that we were all out without creating any alarm.
We could hear the measured tramp of the sentinel, as he paced up and down in front of the empty prison. We pictured to ourselves his surprise when he discovered, the next morning, that we escaped under his nose without his knowing it!
"I need not dwell upon the next twenty-four hours. The utmost vigilance was required to elude the rebel pickets. At last, after nearly twenty hours, during which we had nothing to eat, we walked into camp, exhausted with hunger and fatigue, to the great joy of our comrades from whom we had been absent a fortnight.
"On receiving information of the manner in which we had been captured, our commanding officer at once despatched me with a detachment of men to arrest Mrs. Roberts and her daughter. Her surprise and dismay at seeing me whom she supposed safe in Richmond were intense. She is still under arrest.
"I suppose our campaign will open as soon as the roads are dried up. The mud in Virginia is much more formidable than at the North, and presents an insuperable, perhaps I should say an unfathomable, obstacle to active operations. I hope General Grant will succeed in taking Vicksburg. The loss of that important stronghold would be a great blow to the rebels.
"You ask me, in your last letter, whether I see much of the contrabands.
I have talked with a considerable number. One, a very intelligent fellow, had been very much trusted by his master, and had accompanied him to various parts of the South. I asked him the question: "Is it true that there are a considerable number of slaves who would prefer to remain in their present condition to becoming free?"
""Nebber see any such n.i.g.g.e.rs, ma.s.sa," he answered, shaking his head decisively. "We all want to be free. My old ma.s.sa treated me kindly, but I"d a left him any minute to be my own man."
"I hope the time will soon come, when, from Canada to the Gulf, there will not be a single black who is not his own man. We in the army are doing what we can, but we must be backed up by those who stay at home.
My own feeling is that slavery has received its death-blow. It may continue to live for some years, but it has fallen from its pomp and pride of place. It is tottering to its fall. What shall be done with the negroes in the transition state will be a problem for statesmen to consider. I don"t think we need fear the consequences of doing right, and on this subject there can be no doubt of what is right; The apparent insensibility and brutish ignorance which we find among some of the slaves will wear away under happier influences.