"Well, you will have to stay in ninety days after your term expires.
Will that make you eighteen?"
"No, it wouldn"t; and if it did they would be careful not to say so."
"Then I don"t see what reason you have to get huffy over a thing that can"t be helped," continued the officer. "We must have men, and if they will not come in willingly, they must be dragged in. We can"t be subdued; we never will consent to be slaves. But you two will get out all right."
"We knew it all the while; at least I thought of it," replied d.i.c.k, "but I didn"t want to mention it while the rest of the boys were around. They are mad already, and it might make them worse to know that we two are better off than they are."
"But I want to tell you that you will make a big mistake if you accept your discharges," the captain went on to say. "You ought by all means to stay in until this thing is settled and the invaders driven from our soil. You"ll wish you had when you see the boys come home covered with glory. And then think of the possibilities before you! You are bound to be promoted, and that rapidly. If I had your military education I would not be satisfied with anything short of a colonelcy."
"Well, you may have it, and since you want it, I hope you will get it; but I wouldn"t accept it if it were offered to me," answered d.i.c.k, turning on his heel. "I"ll not serve under such a fraud of a government as this has turned out to be a day longer than I can help. I"ll take my discharge as soon as they will condescend to give it to me, and then they can hunt somebody to fill my place. I"ll never volunteer again, and sooner than be conscripted I"ll take to the woods."
"Now, sergeant, you know you wouldn"t do any such thing," said the captain.
"Yes, I would," d.i.c.k insisted. "There is a principle at the bottom of this whole thing that is most contemptible; but what more could you expect of men who induced us to enlist by holding out the promise of an easy victory? "The North won"t fight!" This looks like it. We"re whipped already."
These were the sentiments of thousands of men who wore gray jackets in the beginning of 1862, but it wasn"t every one who dared express them as boldly as d.i.c.k Graham did, nor was it every officer who would have listened as quietly as did Captain Jones. Everything went to show that the officers had been drilled in the parts they were expected to perform long before the men dreamed that such a thing as a Conscription Act was thought of; for, as a rule, all discussion regarding the policy of the Richmond government was "choked off" with a strong hand. In some armies, Bragg"s especially, the men were treated "worse than their n.i.g.g.e.rs ever were." They dared not speak above a whisper for fear of being shoved into the guard-house; and "when some regiments hesitated to avail themselves of this permission (to volunteer) they were treated as seditious, and the most refractory soldiers, on the point of being shot, only saved their lives by the prompt signature of their comrades to the compact of a new enlistment." Things were not quite as bad as this in Price"s army, but still Captain Jones thought it best to tell his men, especially the out-spoken d.i.c.k Graham, that they had better be a little more guarded in their language, unless they were well acquainted with those to whom they were talking. They went to Memphis, as the captain said they would, marching over a horrible road and leaving some of their artillery stuck in the mud at Desarc on White River, and from Memphis they went to Corinth forty miles farther on, packed in box cars like sheep, and on top like so much useless rubbish. Their train was rushed through at such a rate of speed that the men on top shouted to the engineer:
"Go it. Let out two or three more sections of that throttle. Run us off into the ditch and kill us if you want to. There are plenty more men where we came from."
Rodney Gray afterward declared that he had never seen a grander sight than Beauregard"s camp presented when the troops from the West marched through it, greeted everywhere by the most vociferous cheering, to take their positions on the right. Their arrival brought the strength of the army up to more than a hundred thousand men, and, somewhat to their surprise, they were introduced to their new comrades as "Invincibles." At any rate that was what General Bragg called them in an address which he issued to his soldiers a few days afterward:
"The slight reverses we have met on the sea-board have worked us good as well as evil," was what he said in the vain hope of blinding his troops to the real magnitude of the disaster that had recently befallen the Confederacy. "The brave troops so long retained there have hastened to swell your numbers, while the gallant Van Dorn and invincible Price, with the ever-successful Army of the West, are now in your midst, with numbers almost equaling the Army of Shiloh."
The "slight reverses" to which the general so gingerly referred were the pa.s.sage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip by Farragut"s fleet, the annihilation of the Confederate gunboats and the capture of New Orleans; and these "slight reverses" were almost immediately followed by the defeat of the gunboats that had been building at Memphis, and of which the Confederates expected such great things. But the rank and file of the army were not so easily deceived. They knew well enough that the accounts that came to them through the papers were "doctored" on purpose for them, and were fully sensible of the fact that the loss of these important points, Memphis and New Orleans, were disasters most discouraging. When they were in the presence of those to whom they knew they could speak freely, they sneered at the efforts made by their superiors to belittle the Union victories, and laughed to scorn Mayor Monroe and the "city fathers" for the att.i.tude they had seen fit to a.s.sume while Farragut"s powerful fleet held the Crescent city under its guns. If the pompous little mayor, by folding his arms and standing in front of that loaded howitzer when the marines came ash.o.r.e to hoist the Stars and Stripes over the Custom House, desired to show the people of New Orleans and the country at large what a brave man he was, he failed of his object, for the men who had faced cannon on the field of battle had nothing but contempt for him and his antics.
"He has made himself a laughing-stock for all time to come," was what Rodney Gray thought about it. "That was all done for effect, for there was not the slightest danger that the Yankees would fire that howitzer at him while he was going through his monkey-shines. If he is such an awful brave man, why didn"t he follow that naval officer to the roof of the Custom House and jerk the Union flag down the minute it was hauled up?"
"Or why doesn"t he shoulder a musket and fall in with us?" chimed in d.i.c.k. "One short campaign through Missouri mud would take some of that nonsense out of him."
There were a good many in the army who thought that the constant maneuvering and skirmishing that followed during the next few weeks were not kept up because a great battle was expected, but for the purpose of giving the men so much to do that they could not get together and talk over the discouraging news they had recently heard. There was one engagement fought, that of Farmington, which resulted in a victory for the Confederates, and taught them at the same time that they were mistaken in supposing that our troops would not venture so far into the country that they would be out of the reach of help from the gunboats, which had rendered them such important service at the battle of Pittsburg Landing. Of course Rodney and d.i.c.k marched and skirmished and fought with the rest, but they didn"t care much whether they whipped or got whipped, for the feelings that took them away from home and friends and into the army, had long since given place to others of an entirely different character. They didn"t care as much for State Rights and Southern independence as they did once, and if they ever got home again the Richmond government might go to smash for all they could do to save it. Two questions engrossed their minds, and formed the princ.i.p.al subjects of their conversation: Would they be permitted to leave the service when the year for which they enlisted expired; and if so, how was d.i.c.k Graham going to get across the river into Missouri now that Memphis had fallen, and the Mississippi as far down as Vicksburg was in possession of the Federals?
In regard to the first question-there was one thing which the boys were afraid would work against them. While nearly all the line officers of the regiment remained with them, the field officers who had come with them from the West had disappeared, some being promoted, some discharged and others being sent to the hospital, new ones had taken their places and a new staff had been appointed.
"And a lovely staff it is," said d.i.c.k, expressing the sentiments of every man in his company. "I can see now why that Conscription Act was pa.s.sed. It was to make room for a lot of government pets, who are too fine to go into the ranks, but who are allowed to come here and shove out veterans when they cannot tell the difference between "countermarch by file right" and "right by twos." Our new colonel doesn"t know who we are or what we have done, and cares less; and when we go to him for our discharges, he will throw so much red-tape in our way that we can"t get out. That"s what I am afraid of."
As to the other question-how d.i.c.k Graham was to get over the river-that was something that could be settled when they had their discharges in their pockets. First and foremost d.i.c.k would go home with Rodney; and after he had taken a good long rest, and learned all about the means of communication between the two sh.o.r.es (they were positive there must be some regular means of communication, because d.i.c.k had received two letters from home since he had joined the Army of the Center), Rodney would take his chances of seeing him safely across the river. But their discharges must be their first care, and they came much easier than they dared hope for. One day Rodney was detailed to act as guard at brigade headquarters, and the first officer to whom he presented arms was one whose face was strangely familiar to him. It was his new brigade commander, and a wild hope sprung up in Rodney"s breast. The energetic, soldier-like manner in which he handled his piece attracted the notice of the general, who seemed to be in good humor, and who unbent from his dignity long enough to remark:
"You have been well drilled, sentry."
"Yes, sir; at Barrington Military Academy," replied Rodney, with a good deal of emphasis on the last words.
This had just the effect the boy meant it should have. The general stopped and looked curiously at him, and Rodney, instead of keeping his eyes "straight to the front and striking the ground at the distance of fifteen paces," returned his superior"s gaze with interest.
"Haven"t I seen you before?" the latter asked at length.
"Yes, sir; aboard the steamer Mollie Able, going up the river a year ago," answered Rodney. "You were Captain Howard then."
The boy had no business to say all this, and no one in the army knew it better than he did. It was his place to wait and be questioned; but he couldn"t do it. There was too much at stake-his discharge and d.i.c.k"s. The general did riot appear to notice this breach of military etiquette. On the contrary he smiled and said, pleasantly:
"I remember you perfectly. You were on your way to join Price, and your presence here proves that you found him. When you are relieved I want to see you."
"Very good, sir," replied Rodney, bringing his piece to a shoulder and resuming his walk. "If that man"s word is worth anything," he added, mentally, when the general disappeared in his tent, "d.i.c.k Graham and I will be free men when our year and three months are up, and you just say that much to your folks and tell "em it"s confidential. He as good as said that he would do something for me if he could, and now I will try him on; but there"s one thing I"ll not promise to do: I won"t re-enlist until I get a good ready, and if I can help myself, that time will never come."
Rodney walked his beat as if he were treading on air, and wished his friend d.i.c.k would happen along about the time he was relieved, so that he might tell him that he believed he had found a powerful friend in their new brigade commander. At the end of two hours, having been relieved from post and obtained the necessary permission from the officer of the guard, Rodney presented himself at the door of General Howard"s tent, and sent his name in by the orderly.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONCLUSION.
General Howard did not look or act like a man who was very badly overworked, nor did he seem to be at all anxious over the result of the heavy firing that was going on on the left of the line. He had pulled off his coat and riding boots, and when the orderly entered to tell him that Private Rodney Gray of the -th Missouri Cavalry had come there to see him by his orders, he was tilling his pipe preparatory to indulging in a smoke. He greeted Rodney pleasantly, and pointed with the stem of his pipe to an empty cracker box.
"Turn that up and sit down," said he; whereupon the orderly opened his eyes in wonder. There was a much wider gulf between the officers and privates in the rebel army than there was in our own, especially after the war had been going on for about a year. The sons of rich men, who had shouldered a musket at the beginning, began working their way out of the ranks, leaving behind them only those who were too poor or too low in the social scale to command the influence that was necessary to bring them a commission. As a rule rich people in the South did not think much of poor white trash. The latter were good enough to fight and obey orders, but scarcely good enough to be treated with civility; so when General Howard told his visitor to turn up the cracker box and sit down on it, the orderly straightway made up his mind that Rodney Gray was a little better than the common run of folks, even if he was a private soldier.
"I don"t suppose you have thought of me once since I bid you good-by at that woodcutters" camp," said the general, throwing himself upon a rude couch and propping his head up with his hand. "But I have often thought of you, and a few months ago I was down Mooreville way on a scout. I pa.s.sed right by your father"s plantation, and finding out who he was, and being a trifle hungry besides, I dropped in and invited myself to dinner with him and your mother."
Rodney was delighted to hear this, but all he said was that he hoped the general had enjoyed his visit.
"I a.s.sure you I did, and the dinner too," was the smiling reply. "And during the hour I pa.s.sed there I learned a good deal concerning your life in Missouri, and heard some portions of your letters read. Your parents were much surprised to know that I met you on your way up the river, and I renewed to them the promise I believe I made you on the steamer that if I could ever do you a fatherly kindness I would. I am glad to see you in my brigade, but I don"t quite understand how it comes that you are still a private. Haven"t you done your duty, or wouldn"t your officers push you?"
"The fault is my own, sir," answered Rodney. "I might have gone higher but I didn"t care to."
Then he went on to tell the general about d.i.c.k Graham. The latter was a Barrington boy too, he said, and they had made it up between them that it wouldn"t be worth while for them to accept promotion, for they had only a year to serve, and besides they did not want to run the risk of being separated.
"Oh, as to that, you mustn"t expect to stick together all the time," replied the general. "The exigencies of the service will not admit of it; you know that yourself. Still I will try to do something for your friend too, if I find upon inquiry of your regimental and company officers that he is worthy. I lost four of my staff at the battle of Farmington, and, if you like, will order you and Sergeant Graham to present yourselves for examination."
Rodney fairly gasped for breath, and wished that the general had not taken quite so deep an interest in him. The crisis was coming now, and he nerved himself for it.
"I am very much obliged, general," he faltered. "But my time will be up in about two weeks, and I should like to go home and see my folks.""
Rodney expected that his superior would be surprised to hear this, and his actions showed that he certainly was, and a little angry, as well. He arose to a sitting posture on the couch, and jammed the tobacco down in his pipe with a spiteful motion as he said, rather curtly:
"You must give up all such nonsense. I am not going to deplete my brigade, at this most critical time, by letting everybody go home who takes a fool"s notion into his head that he wants to. According to law I am obliged to discharge all one year"s men when their term of service expires; but they shall never get out of my lines. I"ll conscript them as fast as a provost guard can catch them."
The general settled back on his elbow again and looked at his visitor as if to inquire what he thought of the situation. Rodney thought it was dark enough, and showed what he thought by the gloomy expression that came upon his face. He gazed down at the cap he was twirling in his hands and said nothing. The general relented.
"I don"t want to be hard on you, Rodney," said he, speaking in much the same tone that a kind and indulgent father might use in reproving an erring son, "but can"t you see for yourself what would happen to us and our government if we should weaken our armies by discharging troops at this juncture? The enemy has a hundred and forty thousand men in our front at this minute, and more coming. Memphis is taken, New Orleans has fallen, the railroads, except those that run south of us, are in Halleck"s possession, and if the enemy along the river moves quickly, the troops we have sent to fortify Vicksburg will not have time to lift a shovel full of dirt before the Mississippi clear to the Gulf will be lost to us. I tell you the situation is critical in the extreme, and if we don"t look out, and fight as men never fought before, the Lincoln government will have us in the dust in less than two months. I"ll not let a man of you go, and that"s all there is about it."
The general puffed vigorously at his pipe and looked as though he meant every word he said. Was this the man who had promised on two different occasions that he would lend Rodney a helping hand if the opportunity was ever presented? Discouraged and perplexed as he was, the boy could still think clearly enough to draw a contrast between this arbitrary action of a so-called government, which claimed to be fighting for the rights of its people, to do as they pleased and the course pursued by the Union General Lyon at the battle of Wilson"s Creek. Rodney learned through some prisoners his regiment captured (and history to-day confirms the story) that Lyon had seven thousand men when he reached Springfield; two thousand short-term men demanded their release and got it; and the Union commander went on and fought the battle with five thousand. Perhaps the old government was not quite so bad after all.
"But you see, sir," said Rodney, after a moment"s reflection, "my comrade and I do not come under the terms of the Conscription Act. We are not yet eighteen years of age."
The surprised look that came over the general"s face showed very plainly that that was a point that had slipped his mind entirely. The boy had him there, and he hardly knew whether to laugh or get angry over it.
"And do you intend to take advantage of that provision of the Act?" he inquired.
"We"d like to, sir," was all Rodney thought it prudent to say in reply. His superior was nettled, and the boy wanted to leave him in good humor and get out of his presence as soon as possible.