by Eric Gurr
The eastern attack of another hundred thousand men moved through The University of Richmond to a golf course just two and a half miles from Picket’s forces.
Richmond was contained from the south to west all the way up to Route 33. But I-95 to the north was wide open and troops from the enemy army could move freely and quickly.
In Maymont, Picket rallied his troops and started to move them towards the city. Evan’s army to the north had to move to contain I-95 and stop troops and supplies from reaching the enemy.
The eastern troops, led by two capable men from Texas would press east and support Picket.
The first big battle took place in two cemeteries. Hollywood cemetery and Riverview cemetery. Just short of one mile wide, Picket planned to march around the grave sites out of respect. But he was stopped at I-95 just north of the cemeteries, and forced to hold.
From a residential area on the eastern edge of the fields, bullets rained down on the NFA troops. They were pushed back to the edge.
The multi-gun trucks and catapult trucks that hadn’t been lost on the bridge were moved to the front. The first charge was set.
As soon as the trucks started to move, heavier gunfire erupted and the enemy army of the east unleashed a barrage of their own explosives. Two of the ten remaining multi-gun trucks were destroyed and all but one of the catapult launchers as well.
Picket retreated again to the edge and cover. A massive charge of all of his men would be necessary to make it to the center of the city and capital of the state.
He watched from a safe distance as men fought to get to wounded and dead soldiers. It was close to six and the sky was already getting dark. The fighting had been going on all day.
Ahead of Picket just a few yards, he heard a shot. He looked up to the top of a two-story apartment building where it had come from. A young brown haired kid looked down at him and shouted. “Got another one sir!”
Picket just smiled at the kid. That’s good work son. Keep ‘em off our boys!”
“Will do sir.” The boy said. And turned his attention back to the scope on his rifle. Just a few seconds later he fired again. “Got another one sir.”
Picket turned to the man next to him. “Who the hell is that kid?” He asked.
The man smiled and said. “Jimmy Edward Burns, or Jeb as he likes to be called. He says he is eighteen years old. We brought him up from Georgia. His dad swore he was eighteen and had joined the army. He just got out of high school this past year and was set to go to basic in July. But when the fighting broke out, well, he changed his mind I guess.”
When the last of the men had been pulled from the cemetery battle field Picket called the kid down.
“You stay with me from now on. You’re a great sniper and we might need you for special duty. Also, you’re a sergeant now Jeb. That’s called a battlefield promotion.”
Jeb just smiled and nodded. “Yes sir. Thank you sir. He saluted smartly and walked away.
For the rest of the night Picket would work and organize. They would need to push through the cemetery to the east and then through the residential areas.
Tens of thousands of men were going to have to be quickly organized and pushed harder than they ever had been in their lives. Picket knew what was coming. As men fell dead, others would become afraid and run. It would be a long night.
While Picket was fighting in the south, Evans was pushing fast to the north. He pushed his troops ten miles to the north to I-95 and 295 to stop or slow down new troops from the EA, or establishment army, as the enemy were now being called.
There were two exits not much more than half a mile apart. I-95 was the biggest but State Route 1 just to the west was also an easy path to get EA troops to the city.
Evans rushed in quickly with five-thousand men between and along the two exits. They took the first, the Route 1 exits quickly, and pushed towards the I-95 exit. At the 95 exit they bogged down quickly. Evans moved some of his men to the wooded areas to the north and west. But he couldn’t cross the highway because of fierce opposition.
He concentrated nearly half of his troops to the North West corner. They would move in and blow up the overpass. That would slow any movement from the EA.
They made progress moving just a few feet at a time. Evans was in the front and firing as he barked orders to make it to the overpass and set the charges.
Men were dropping all around him. But they held together. There were within just a few feet of their targets when the EA forces suddenly retreated. He ordered men from the high side of the road to follow him and rushed towards the overpass and began to set explosives.
He heard a thump. It was the familiar sound of a mortar canon. He raised his head and saw dozens of canisters flying towards the open area in the center of the loop. He and nearly five hundred other men were working furiously to blow the bridges.
When the canisters hit, smoke started pouring from them. He felt a burning in his nose and eyes. He tried to breathe and the burning went deeply into his lungs.
“Tear gas!” Someone yelled and they tried to keep working. But as the seconds wore on Troy Evans knew this was not just tear gas. Men began vomiting and falling.
He ordered a retreat. He tried to run back to the east but he was becoming disoriented.
He fell to his knees and tried to crawl. A man was laying in front of him twitching. He reached out and grabbed the man by the back of his coat and tried to pull him out. Then the gunfire erupted.
He rose to his feet still trying to pull the man. He felt a bullet go into his back. It was high, near the shoulder. He fell back to his knees.
He tried to stand again and was hit a second time. He fell again and rolled to his back. He raised his head and saw the EA forces jumping from the edges of the overpass firing blindly towards Troy and his troops.
Then the bridge exploded. Troy Evans, the first commissioned officer of the New Freedom Army, was dead. But his mission had been completed.
Hartwick had kissed his wife and children goodbye. It was a strange farewell. He was only going about five miles away. Back to the parking lot where it had all started.
He was smoking a cigarette and standing with his shoulder leaned against the post of a drug store. His phone buzzed.
“General Hartwick?” A voice said. “This is Dave Baxter. I’m, well I work with General Picket. We’re here south of the city.”
“How’s it going?” Hartwick asked.
“Uhh, we’re digging in and preparing for the morning. I have some bad news sir. Troy Evans has been killed. He was up to the north fighting and he and about five-hundred men were lost in a gas attack.” Baxter said.
Hartwick was stunned. He had known a few men casually who had been killed in battle. But no one as close to him as Evans. He thought about Troy’s big smile.
“Do you mean the establishment army is using nerve gas?” Hartwick asked. Trying to focus on the battle.
“Well, we don’t know sir. General Picket says tear gas shouldn’t work like that. It shouldn’t kill a person. But we don’t really know. Some of the men who made it back said that it looked like most of the men were shot.
We think whatever it was it caused confusion. They launched the gas, then the EA bastards went in when our guys were all disoriented and mowed them down.
I’m about thirty miles outside the city sir. I’m one of the relay Comms guys. Cell phones are down in the city so they get to me with two-ways. It takes a few minutes to get all the info. But right now, that’s what we think happened.”
“Are you sure they used gas?” Hartwick asked again. Not believing that it was possible.
“Yes sir. They definitely used something. Some of the men were just hit in the legs or shoulders. But they were all twisted up and dead. Word I’m getting sir is like Picket said. Tear gas shouldn’t have done that.”
“Baxter, I’m going to call you back in a few minutes.
“Yes sir. I’ll be out here until they tell me to come forward.” Baxt
er answered.
When he hung up the phone he immediately called Admiral Shock. Shock answered the phone expecting the call.
“Admiral this is General John Hartwick. Did you fucking double cross me?” Hartwick said.
“What’s going on General? And no, I did not.” Shock answered quickly.
“They just used gas on us in Richmond, just north of Richmond on I-95.” Hartwick said.
“General Hartwick, I will see what I can find out and call you back in a few minutes.”
In D.C. Shock called his group of fellow minded officers and told them what had transpired. Then he called the president.
“Mr. President, we have made it clear to all sides that the United States military would not allow the use of chemical, biologic or radioactive weapons. We need to act.”
President Hoxworth told Shock he was in favor, but wanted to talk it over with Van Driessen first.
“Mr. President, I’ve spoken to Williams, Rodriguez and several other generals and military leaders. We are not open to much debate about this.”
To his surprise, Van Driessen wanted to go further. He reasoned that they wouldn’t be able to stop the war anyway, and it was time to pick a side. When the President passed the idea along to Shock he requested a personal meeting with the President and Vice-President. He now knew that he could divulge his plan.
President Hoxworth and Van-Driessen were both in agreement. If the NFA took Richmond, they would, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, offer a surrender.
The President was already scheduled to hold an emergency press conference about the attack on Richmond. At Eight o’clock Eastern Time, the press was gathered.
The members of the press were briefed off camera before the official conference started. Admiral Shock spoke. He told them of the use of chemical weapons by the volunteer army supported by all of the Democrats and a good number of Republicans.
They were told that the information was validated and that any suggestion that this was an attempt by the United States military, or the President of the United States to intervene on one side or the other would be considered treason and they would be arrested.
ThePresident then spoke and told them that the military would retaliate, but only to stop the flow or further use of chemical weapons.
After the press conference ended Shock called Hartwick. He told them they were going to bomb long stretches of I-95 both south and north of Washington. He also told him the President and Vice-President were now aware of the plan to surrender, should Hartwick’s army take Richmond.
If they were defeated, they would not intercede. But the bombing of 95 would give them a clear advantage and they should act accordingly.
Hartwick relayed the information to Picket. He was ordered to attack in full force in the morning.
On April 3rd the NFA tornado would be unleashed. With one-hundred and fifty-thousand trained troops at the front and another twenty-thousand who joined along the way, Picket attacked. Nearly one-hundred thousand more in reserve began to move forward.
Picket and his new young friend Jimmy Edward Burns, or Jeb moved near the front of the advance.
The battles raged from street to street and neighborhood to neighborhood inside Richmond. The NFA would often move a mile or two into an area where the fighting was already over. Locals had fought back and resisted the EA forces.
In other neighborhoods the battle would rage from house to house and street to street over several hours.
When it was quiet for an hour or two Picket would send Jeb to the roof of some building to snipe at any enemy he could spot.
He would never let Jeb get in much danger. Though he did recognize that the young man was an excellent sniper, he was drawn to him because he reminded him of his own son.
At nineteen his son had been killed in one of the early battles near Atlanta Georgia. A striking similarity between the looks of the two had created a soft spot in his heart for young Jeb.
On April 6th Pickets forces took the Capital of Virginia and moved north eight miles to the exit where Troy Evans had been killed. The victory in Richmond was won. He called John Hartwick.
“General Hartwick, Richmond is ours. Our troops are in control of the city and surrounding suburbs all the way to 295. We are one-hundred miles from Washington D.C. What are your orders sir?”
“Thank you General Picket. I am heading to the airport. I will be landing in Richmond in about five hours.
Begin moving your forces to Arlington National Cemetery. We will meet tomorrow morning at seven at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”
Chapter 14
Victory
Alarge tent had been set up just outside of the Tomb.
The rain of the last few days had cleared and the morning was bright and cold.
The President of the United States, The Vice-President, the members of the military selected earlier, the Republican leader of the House, and the highest ranking Democrat from the House were in attendance. The Speaker had fled Washington for California as had many other Democrats.
When Hartwick walked in with Matt Davis, Jake Stahl, Jacob Picket, young Jeb, and a small group of other volunteer leaders from around the country, it was Admiral John Shock who stood first. He walked to Hartwick, saluted and shook his hand.
“Congratulations General. It is my pleasure and honor to finally meet you.” The president and Vice-President then formed a line and shook Hartwick’s hand and introduced themselves.
The media had been kept out of the area. They would be invited in for a press briefing at ten. The first order of business was to sign the surrender. It was a single piece of paper signed at the bottom by all in attendance. An unconditional surrender to the NFA or New Freedom Army.
President Hoxworth then spoke. We would like this transition to be as peaceful as possible. My first order of business will be to of course resign.
Hartwick stopped him. “Much will change in the coming days Mr. President. The military will not. We would also like to request that you and Vice-President Van-Driessen stay in office for the time being.
We are forming a committee of twelve men who will govern as the legislature. In eight months, on schedule, we intend to have elections. Voting will change. It will require an ID, and you must contribute to the nation in order to vote. The details of that will be worked out later.”
“You mean, you want me to still be president?” Hoxworth asked, unable to hide the confusion on his face.
“Yes sir Mr. President.” Hartwick answered. “We are not politicians. Hell, until just a year ago most of us weren’t even soldiers. We want to get back to our lives. We want to get back to our families. We didn’t ask for this. It was thrust upon us.
We will insist on changes. But we also want a peaceful transition. Half the nation voted for you. If you take out California, more than half.”
Hoxworth looked to Van-Driessen. Always the pragmatist Van-Driessen answered without even being asked. “I’ll do it. It’s the smart move Mr. President.”
“Thank you, General Hartwick. We have prepared an assessment of the current situation for you. This is Scott Alexander. He is a deputy director of analysts with the NSA.”
Scott Alexander stood at the head of the long table.
“Good morning gentlemen. We started working with some of your military leaders last night. These estimates are early and subject to change. We also, of course, have analysts around the nation.
Over the last couple of days, we believe that your losses are over ten-thousand killed and thirty thousand wounded. Across the nation the number of your killed and wounded approaches one-hundred thousand men.
Most of these of course were not directly attached to your army. These are deaths from small skirmishes around the nation.
On the left, the battle of Richmond saw the loss of more than thirty-thousand killed and the number of wounded is unknown.
For the entirety of the civil war the death count is nearly the same as yours. Total
killed in battle is roughly two-hundred thousand.”
Hartwick interrupted. “That’s actually much lower than I thought it would be.”
“Sir, that is just killed in battle.” Alexander said. “The total number of dead is unknown but probably well over two million and could be as high as five million dead.”
“Oh shit. “How is that possible?” Hartwick asked.
“In the cities, suburbs and rural areas, insulin and antibiotics were hard to get. Many diabetics died. People with common infections, and no access to antibiotics died as well. There was also some death by starvation, but those almost certainly involved other aggravating circumstances.
This continues today, but it is better. Lifesaving surgeries were sometimes impossible as certain drugs became scarce.
The population of the nation before California seceded was three hundred and thirty million people.
With the loss of California and a sizable portion of Oregon, the population is now about two hundred and eighty-five million.
Over the last year, more than fifteen million more have either been forcibly evacuated or voluntarily left for California. About five million have left California for The United States. When we add the non-battle related deaths just mentioned, the population could be ten million fewer.
Prior to the war the Gross Domestic Product, that is, the entire economic output of the United States was approximately twenty-three trillion dollars. In California and the cities of Oregon aligned, the GDP was roughly three trillion dollars.
Our latest estimate is that the current U.S. GDP, without California, is something less than fifteen trillion dollars and could be as low as twelve trillion.
Our intelligence sources across the nation show that there are still active groups that will fight against you and the new nation.
We have identified over one hundred of these groups. Most are small. Just fifty people or so. A few are larger and becoming better organized in the last few months. I have much more information but I was told to keep it brief. That is the overall status of the nation at the moment.”