Red Rock: A Chronicle of Reconstruction

by Thomas Nelson Page

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE NEW TROOP MEETS THE ENEMY

  The difference between the old company and the new one which came inits place, was marked in many ways besides color, and the latter hadnot been in the county an hour before the people knew that the strugglewas on, and set themselves to prepare for it.

  The evening of the arrival of the new company, Jerry entered CaptainAllen’s office somewhat hastily, and busied himself with suspiciousindustry. Presently Steve looked at him amusedly.

  “Well, what do you want now?—grandmother dead again? If you get drunkI’ll thrash you within an inch of your life.”

  Jerry giggled.

  “Done sent a company o’ niggers heah,” he announced, with somethingvery like a grin as he cut his eyes at his master.

  “Negroes—hey?” Steve’s expression did not change a particle, and Jerrylooked disappointed. If anything, there was a little more light inSteve’s eyes, but they were gazing out of the window, and Jerry couldnot see them.

  “Leech back?” asked Mr. Allen, indifferently.

  “Don’ know, suh—I’ll fine out.” The look on Jerry’s face once morebecame pleasant.

  Just then the sound of a distant bugle came in at the window, andSteve rose and walked to the door of his office. The doors of severalother offices were filled about the same moment. Steve walked downto the fence in front of the court green, and stood leaning againstit listlessly, watching as the company came up the road, with bugleblowing, dust rising, and a crowd of young negroes running beside them.

  “Halt!” The Captain, a stout, red-faced man, turned his horse, andwaved his sword to the negroes in the road. “Pull that fence down.”He indicated the panel where Steve stood, adding a string of oaths tostir the negroes from their dulness. A dozen men jumped toward thefence. Steve never budged an inch. With his arms resting on the rail,he looked the Captain in the eye calmly, then looked at the negroesbefore him, and kept his place. Except for a slight dilatation of thenostrils he might not have known that there was a soldier within ahundred miles. The men hesitated a second, then, just as the Captainbegan to swear again, ran to the next panel and tore it down even withthe ground, dragging the posts out of their holes, and making a widebreach through which the company passed into the court-yard to the oldcamp which Middleton’s company had occupied.

  As Steve turned away he said to a man near him:

  “Seventy-nine negroes, and three white men. We can manage them. Jerry,saddle my horse, and find out when Leech is coming back—and whereCaptain McRaffle is.”

  “Yes, suh,” and Jerry, with a shrewd look, disappeared.

  When Jerry returned, his master was writing, and as he did not lookup, Jerry went into the inner room, and shortly brought out a pair ofsaddle-bags, and a pair of pistols.

  Steve had just finished his letters, and was sealing them. Jerry gavehis report.

  “Nor, suh, he ain’ come yet; but dee’s ’spectin’ of him, de Cap’n says.Cap’n McRaffle, he’s away, too.”

  “I thought as much. Take this letter over to the General. These two arefor Mr. Hurley and Mr. Garden. If I’m not here, come up to Dr. Cary’sto-morrow morning.”

  “Yes, suh—yo’ horse is in de stable. I’ll take de saddle bags overdyah.”

  Steve buckled one pistol on under his coat, put the other in hissaddle-bags, and went out. He sauntered across to where the company waspitching camp. The throng of negroes was already increasing. A tall,black sergeant, with great pompousness, was superintending the placingof the lines, cursing and damning his men, with much importance, forthe benefit of the crowd around. Sweeping the crowd aside, Steve walkedright up to him.

  “Boy, where’s your Captain?” The Sergeant turned and faced him.Perhaps, had Steve been ten feet off the soldier might have beeninsolent; but Captain Allen was close up to him, and there was thatabout him, and the tone of command in which he spoke, which demandedobedience. The Sergeant instinctively pointed to the other side of thecamp.

  “Go and tell him that Captain Allen wishes to speak to him. Go on.”Impelled by the tone of authority, the imperative gesture, and theevident impression made on the crowd, the Sergeant moved off, withSteve at his heels.

  “Dat’s one o’ my young marsters—he wuz a gret soldier,” said one ofthe old negroes just outside the camp to a squad near him.

  Steve and the Sergeant found the Captain sitting against a treesmoking. He was a heavy-looking man, with a red face. Steve took in thefamiliarity with which the Sergeant addressed him, and governed himselfaccordingly.

  “Here, boy—” Steve gave the negro a five-dollar note, not the lesscoolly because it was his last; thanked him as he would have done anyother servant, only, perhaps, with a little more condescension, andaddressed himself to the officer.

  “Captain, I am Captain Allen, and I have come to have an understandingwith you at the outset.”

  Perhaps, his very assurance stood him in stead. Had he been a victordictating terms he could not have done it more coolly.

  “You have seventy-nine men and three officers—I have ten times asmany.”

  “Major Leech—told me—” began the Captain.

  “Your Major Leech is a liar, and a coward, and you will find it so. Wepropose to obey the laws, but we do not mean to be governed by negroes,and if you attempt it you will commit a great mistake.” He walked backthrough the camp inspecting the horses, leaving the other to wonder whoand what he could be.

  Ten minutes later the officer had called a guard, but Steve was alreadyriding out the back lane toward the upper part of the county.

  Leech arrived on the next train after that which brought the newtroops. He opened a law office in a part of the building occupied byhis commissary, and announced himself as a practitioner of the law, aswell as the Provost of the county.

  He had evidently strengthened his hands during his absence. Krafton,who appeared now to be the chief authority in the State, was inconstant communication with him.

  Leech boasted openly that he had had Middleton’s company removed, andhe began to exercise new functions. The new company seemed to be underhis authority.

  Within a few weeks Dr. Cary and the other civil officers in the countyreceived notices from Leech vacating their commissions on the ground,among others, that they had exceeded their powers. Still was appointedJustice of the Peace in place of Dr. Cary, and Nicholas Ash was madeConstable. Their services were not in immediate requisition, however,as, for the time being, Leech appeared to prefer to exercise hismilitary, rather than his civil, powers. He began, forthwith, to sendout the soldiers in squads on tours throughout the county, partly todistribute rations, and partly to patrol the country.

  They had not been at this business long when they began bullying andtyrannizing over the people and terrorizing them as far as possible. Atfirst, they devoted their energies principally to the whites, and thenegroes were both impressed and affected by their power and insolenceBut after more than one of the marauders were shot, they began to goin large parties, and soon turned their energies against the negroesas well as against the former masters, and were quickly almost asobnoxious to the blacks as to the whites. Their action caused intenseexcitement in the county.

  Steve Allen had almost abandoned his law practice, or at least hisoffice, and spent his time visiting about in the adjoining counties.Leech took it as a sign of timidity and breathed the freer that theinsolent young lawyer was away.

  “I mean to drive him and that Jacquelin Gray out of the county,” heboasted to Still. “I’ll make it too hot for him.”

  “Wish you could,” answered Still, devoutly. “But don’t you go too fast.They ain’t the sort to drive easy. They was taken up late. And if youpush ’em too hard there’ll be trouble.”

  Leech sneered. He wished Allen would do something so he might get hishand on him.

  “You don’t mean nothin’ to _you_? ’Cause if he got his hand on youfirst——”

  “No—I ain’t afraid of him. He ain’t such a
fool as to do anything tome. I am the Government of the United States!” The Provost puffed outhis bosom, and with a look of satisfaction glanced at himself in amirror.

  “He ain’t afeared of the Gov’ment or nothin’ else. I wish he was,”declared Still, sincerely.

  “Well, he’d better be,” asserted Leech. “As soon as I get thingsstraight, I mean to make him give an account of himself.”

  Someone soon gave an account of himself. A considerable party of themen of the negro troop, under command of a sergeant, was “raiding,” oneafternoon, in the upper end of the county, when an incident occurredwhich had a signal effect on both the company and the county. Theyhad already “raided” several places on their tour and were on theirway home, their saddle-bows ornamented with the trophies of theirrapacity: from sheep to ladies’ bonnets, when toward sunset theystopped near the edge of the Red Rock plantation, at a roadside store,of which Mr. Andy Stamper had recently become the owner. Mr. Stamperwas absent, and the store was in charge of his agent, an old soldiernamed Michael.

  The men demanded liquor. They took all they wanted, and called in anumber of negroes and made them drunk also. Old Waverley, who had cometo the store to make some little purchases, was sitting on a block,smoking. Him they tried to induce to drink too, and when he declined,they hustled him a good deal and finally kicked him out into the road.He was a “worthless old fool who didn’t deserve to be free,” theysaid. Then in their drunken folly they began to talk of going to RedRock and ordering supper before returning to camp. It would be a finething to take possession of that big house and have supper, and theywould raid Stamper’s also on the way. They knew all about both places,and declared that they ought both to be burnt down. Meantime, theydemanded more liquor, which the store-keeper seemed suddenly readyto furnish. He made a sign to old Waverley, and the latter slippedoff and took a path through the woods. The nearest place was a littlehomestead on the roadside, belonging to a man named Deals; but therewas no one there but a woman; her husband had gone up to Mr. Stamper’s,she told Waverley. So warning her as to the squad of negroes, the oldman set out as hard as he could for home. Before he was through thewoods, however, he met Rupert, riding down to the store on his colt,a handsome gray, and to him he gave notice, telling him that thestore-keeper was doing what he could to hold the men there. Rupertwheeled his horse, and was off like a shot, and when Waverley emergedfrom the woods, he saw the boy a half mile away, dashing up—not toRed Rock; but to the Stamper place, which stood out, off to one side,clear on its little hill, a straight column of smoke going up in thestill evening air. It seemed to the old man that there were a numberof horses standing about in the yard, and it occurred to him to wonderif the soldiers could possibly have gotten there already. If so, hisyoung master would be in danger of being hurt. But if the horsemenwere soldiers they did not remain long; for in a few minutes Waverleysaw a number of men mount and the whole party ride rapidly away downthe hill, with Rupert on his gray colt among them. Waverley caught onemore glimpse of the riders as they disappeared at a gallop in the wood,going in the direction of the store, and then he hurried on to RedRock, where he found everything quiet.

  Jacquelin was ill in bed that day, and Steve Allen had left the houseabout noon. Rupert had gone to the store for the mail. Waverley didnot tell anything about having seen Rupert go off with the men fromStamper’s; but he turned and hurried back to the store, thinking nowonly of Rupert. He had not gone far when he heard a shot or two fired,and then on a sudden a dozen or more. The old fellow broke into a run.When he reached the edge of the woods from which he could see theDeals’s homestead he stopped appalled.

  A half dozen negroes lay on the ground dead or dying, and a half dozenyoung white men, among them Captain McRaffle, were engaged eitherreloading their pistols or talking. Rupert was sitting on his horse ata little distance.

  The little company of men Waverley had seen were a few who hadgathered together on hearing of the raid that was taking place in theneighborhood that day. They too had heard of the contemplated visit toRed Rock and the Stamper place; for Jerry had got from someone thatmorning a hint that a descent was to be made on these places.

  Shortly after Waverley had left the store the squad of soldiers hadstarted for Red Rock; but, thinking to make a clean sweep as theywent, they had stopped at the little house on the way, where Waverleyhad warned the woman and where there was a well, to take another drink.They were engaged in the pleasant amusement of looting this place,shooting chickens, etc., when the company that Waverley had seen rideoff from Stamper’s came upon them. It was well for Mrs. Deals thatthe young men arrived when they did, for the troopers were tired ofmerely destroying property, and just as the white men rode up theyhad seized her. Her scream hastened the rescuing party. No one knewfor a long time who composed the party; for in five minutes everyone of the raiders was stretched on the ground, and the two or threeneighborhood-negroes who were with them were sworn to secrecy underthreats which they feared too much to wish to break their oaths.

  There was excitement enough in the county that night, and when thenews reached the court-house, which, owing to the picketing of theroads, it did not do till next morning, the citizens were prepared forthe consequences. The comrades of the dead men swore they would burnthe village and carry fire and sword through the county; but it wastoo grave a matter to be carried through too heedlessly. The officerssuddenly awoke to the gravity of the situation, which was well forthem. They were, no doubt, aided in doing so by the appearance of twoor three hundred grave-looking men who were riding into town by everyroad that led to it, silent and dusty and grim. They were of every ageand condition, and they lacked just order enough not to appear marchingtroops; but showed enough to seem one body. They were all seriousand silent, and with that something in their deliberate movementswhich, whether it be mere resolution or desperation, impresses all whobehold it. The negroes about the village who had been in a flurry ofexcitement since the news came and had been crowding about the campshouting and yelling, suddenly settled down and melted out of sight,and even the soldiers quieted at the appearance of that steadilyincreasing force of resolute and orderly men gathered along the fences,facing the camp. General Legaie and Dr. Cary were their spokesmen,and they held an interview with the Captain, in which they gave himto understand certain things: They would obey his orders, they said,if he sent them by a single messenger; but if armed bodies of negroescontinued to ravage the country they would not be responsible for theconsequences.

  Leech was not to be found that afternoon. He had “gone to the city.”Jerry learned afterward and told Captain Allen that he did not go untilthat night, and that when the crowd was there he was hidden at HiramStill’s.

  An investigation of the outbreak was held, and as a consequence CaptainMcRaffle and several young men left the county, among them Rupert Gray,who was sent off to school to an academy which was not known to theneighbors generally. Another result was that the old county got a badname with those who were controlling the destiny of the State, whichclung to it for many years. Andy Stamper was arrested for the affair,and was taken, handcuffed, by Leech and thrown in jail. Fortunatelyfor him, however, it was shown that he was absent from the county thatday, and he was discharged. All of these things, however, at the timewere little cared for by the residents there, for the negro troop wasremoved and two white companies were sent in its place. The disorderbreaking out wherever negro troops were stationed had attractedattention and caused the substitution of white soldiers.