Lieutenant John Holbrook, Sergeant John Wheeler

by Laszlo Endrody

  I took half a bag of a pain powder and was hoping that I wouldn’t feel it when she cut. She cut me quickly. It bled, but she tied a bandage made from a shirt around me. She the bullet to me and boy, was it a big bullet. It was a .59 or bigger.

  After she wrapped that bandage around me, she told me to put on one of my red shirts. I put one of my new shirts and my back was already feeling better. Before they left, I told them to look in the saddlebag and get the ammo for their rifles, and they did. They put the coffee pot and skillet back in the saddlebag and then that next morning they helped me saddle up the horses. They put a bag of oats on my gelding saddle as well.

  We had a nice breakfast and I gave the woman a bunch of confederate money; she just laughed. She collected a dollar from the sergeant, then I kissed her hand and shook hands with her dad and away we went.

  “You look like a Texas ranger,” she told me.

  I then winked at her and said, “Thank you for everything.”

  “Thank you for taking care of those bandits,” she replied.

  We rode out of there and started traveling. Our horses wanted to go and we traveled quickly. We let them go at their own pace and didn’t push or hold them back. We covered quite a bit of country. The pain was pretty much gone from my back, so it made traveling much easier.

  We caught up with another sergeant who was also going to Ohio. His left arm was just hanging and he couldn’t move it. He ended up riding with us, but we had to slow down to his speed. A few hours later we made camp by a creek. We made a fire and fed the horses. I had the first watch, so I soaked some beans and around 11:00 p.m. I started cooking the beans. I put an onion and some bacon in the pot and then called the sergeant and told him to stir the beans. I went to sleep and they called me at 6:00 a.m. and I got ready. They helped me saddle up and I fed the horses and rolled up my blankets and tied them on my saddle. I put the sack on my mare and rode my gelding. We traveled pretty well.

  We went through a little town where they had a baker, so I bought a bunch of rolls, and then we moved on. We all had some rolls for lunch that afternoon. A little later, we came to a stage station and I asked them if they had any food available.

  I told the woman inside, “We have cash.”

  “No Yankees,” she said, so we moved on.

  Later that the evening, we found a good camping spot. We made a fire and then I put the beans on to soak. They let me have first watch again, but this time I had the beans cooking before I called my relief. As a matter of fact, I called them both because there was a snake towards us on the trail. I shot the snake and then told the men, “snake control.” I told my relief that the beans were cooking and to wake me up in the morning.

  They woke me at 6:00 a.m. and I started feeding the horse some oats. There was some grass but we didn’t want to have a snake problem and we also wanted to travel. We had breakfast and coffee and then got started. We traveled pretty well.

  We got to Memphis that night and I got a room for all three of us at the hotel. All six of our horses went into the stable and they were fed very well. I wanted to see a doctor the next day and have him take all the old bandages off my wound and put some fresh ones on. After that, we looked for a buckboard to travel in and found one with new wheels for 60 dollars. I bought it and then we went back to the hotel and checked out. We bought a sack of oats and then went back to my buckboard. I had to get harnesses for two. Once I did, I harnessed up the two mares and tied the other four horses in the back. We got some bread and rolls at the baker’s and then headed north on the stage road.

  We got to a stage station quite late in the day. We went inside and asked if they had some food for cash customers. They had some stew. I asked if they had some clean straw in the stable to sleep on, but they only had mud. The owner asked us if I would sell him a couple of horses for some Yankee money.

  “Do you have a gelding?” the owner asked.

  “I have a few mares for sale, but not a gelding,” I told him.

  That night, the owner came into the stable and took my gelding out. He figured we were all asleep. After he was out of the stable, he started to saddle my gelding up. As soon as he got in the saddle, I gave my horse the whistle and he dumped the bastard. He was pretty hurt and he couldn’t get up. Before we left, both sergeants put a bag of oats on the buckboard. At 3:00 a.m. we got the horses, our saddles, and our buckboard and pulled out. One of the sergeants went to sleep in the buckboard and we went on traveling.

  The two sergeants got two sacks of oats and put them on the wagon on their way out of the stable. We left that place and started traveling. The woman came out and started hollering at us, but we didn’t stop we just kept on going.

  We stopped a little later and made some coffee and fried some bacon and with rolls, and that was breakfast. The horses had some grain. The two sergeants walked their geldings around so they could get some grass. I gave all the horses some oats and then we went on.

  The other sergeant got some sleep in the buckboard as I drove on talking to Sergeant Bexter about everything. He was going to Ohio; he didn’t know where and he didn’t know anybody. He had been in the service too long. He didn’t have any property or relatives; he was just undecided. I told him to come up to Ft. Wayne and look around to be sure he wanted to go to Ohio. We had four more days in Tennessee and then Kentucky, which at the time was in Yankee hands.

  A little later on that morning, we saw four men with five horses coming towards us. One of the horses had a packsaddle. I told the sergeant in the back to be ready to use his gun.

  “They may be bandits,” I said. I was right. They approached us and then split up bandit style. I then told both sergeants, “As soon as they say to stop, start shooting.”

  I had my gun in my lap with my hand on it. This blonde fellow with long hair waved us to stop, and I put a bullet into his skull. The gun went off behind me and his partner fell off his horse. Then the bandit on the other side was shot, and two other bandits were down. Sergeant Bexter got off his horse and rounded up the three horses and tied them fast to the back wheel of the buckboard. I got off and the other sergeant got out and we got the other two horses quickly. After the horses were secured, we then went to the dead and went through their pockets. We got a lot of money. They were all carrying a lot of money and they also had on money belts. We gathered up all of their guns and put them in the wagon. Both sergeants got a Henry and I got a Sharps and an army Springfield. The three of us also got a few six shooters. Three of the horses were U.S. branded and had army saddles. We took the saddles off the horses and left them on the side of the road and let the horses go. Both sergeants each got a jacket and one of them got a hat. We put the saddlebags on the wagon to go through later.

  Sergeant Bexter got on the two horses that weren’t banded and rode them behind me. One of the horses was mine, but I figured that both sergeants could have one. We went on for an hour and then we stopped and reloaded our guns.

  When we stopped I told the men, “One of you will have a packhorse.”

  Sergeant Stone said, “This is great news.”

  The horses we got from the bandits weren’t much, so I told them they could have mine because I didn’t need any more horses. After a while, Sergeant Stone got on the other saddled horse and told Sergeant Bexter to take it easy because he would take over riding for a while. They were both happy to have another horse.

  We finally came to the Kentucky border at Fulton. From there, we headed for Mayfield. In Mayfield, we stopped at a restaurant to eat and a sheriff came in and wanted to know where we stole the horses from.

  Sergeant Bexter said, “I got one in Sacramento and the others are from Mexico City.”

  “Where the hell is Sacramento?” the sheriff asked.

  “It’s in California, but I didn’t steal them for you, I stole them for me,” Sergeant Bexter said.

  “So you admit that you are horse thieves?”

  “You know, Sheriff,” I said, “y
ou must be really stupid. Both of these sergeants are still in uniform. I am in civilian clothes so you don’t have to salute me. You go around calling people thieves; you’re breaking the law yourself. You came here to harass us when we just stopped here to have a nice meal. I realize that you are a confederate sheriff and us three are Yankees, but you are out of line. And we don’t have a shovel, don’t make us need to buy one on account of you. Normally I shoot at the gun to bloody up the hand, but since we’re inside the restaurant I can’t do that because somebody might get hurt, so I have no other option but to shoot you in the gizzard.”

  We asked for our bill and paid, leaving a nice tip for the serving girl. We started to leave but the sheriff pulled his gun and I put a bullet in his right hand. Sergeant Stone tapped him on the head and let him lay on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.

  We left town going northeast just off the road. When it got dark, we got back on the road and continued on. Eventually we made it to Eddyville and we took a trail headed north. After a while, we stopped and nobody seemed to be following us, so we fed the horses.

  The next morning, we passed through a little village and got the horses water. In Marion, we went to a restaurant to eat and then continued on after that heading north. Two days later, we were in Morganfield. We spent the night, cooked beans for the morning, and went onto Henderson where we waited all night to get on the ferry the next morning.

  When we took the ferry, it took us out of Kentucky and into Evansville, Indiana. We stopped in a hotel and stayed the night and put the horses in a stable. In the morning, we had a nice breakfast and then headed north for Indianapolis. I figured that it would take two and a half weeks to get to Indianapolis and about a month to get home.

  When we got to Indianapolis, Sergeant Stone wanted to head quickly for the Ohio border, so he left with his two horses and we went north. It took us three weeks to get up to Ft. Wayne and my father’s little farm.

  Chapter Two

  When I got home, the house was full of young women. The local priest had found out that the house was empty and he filled it up with homeless girls who had lost their husbands in the war. We decided to stay in the barn that night so we could decide what we were going to do about this situation.

  That next morning, we hobbled the horses and the girls made coffee. I donated a side of bacon and the girls had some eggs. We had a nice breakfast. The horses were able to eat some good grass and some fresh water. We unloaded the saddles and took the packsaddle into the kitchen. After the girls unloaded it, I took the packsaddle out to the barn.

  The room inside the barn had quite a few sacks of wheat from dad’s storage. I took four sacks of the wheat to the mill and had them turned into flour. I then went to see the priest. He told me that he didn’t know where else to put the girls, but that he would figure something out.

  He then told me, “If you farm the place, we have boys to plow and work.”

  “My father’s team is gone and so is my plow,” I told him.

  “When your father died, your neighbor picked them up and he has been using them ever since,”

  After I picked up the flour from the mill, I went on home. When I got there, the girls were cleaning the house. I took in two sacks of flour and Teresa, the senior girl, started to bake bread. Because Teresa had been there the longest, I asked her about what she knew about Wilson taking the team and some of our tools.

  She told me, “Wilson took the horses, plow, harrows, and all of the haying tools a while back.”

  I went to the sheriff and told him about the situation and he came out to speak to Wilson with us. We were able to get the team, the plow, and the harrows back but Wilson said that he didn’t have anything else.

  “The young ladies in the house say that they saw you take the haying tools too. That is outright stealing from a soldier,” the sheriff told him. “You can guarantee that the federal judge will be hearing about this, and you will probably have to pay Lieutenant Holbrook for using his horses and the tools.”

  I then spoke up and said, “One of the girls, Betty, told me that you took a wagon load of wheat sacks from the barn as well.”

  When we went home, Teresa made lunch for us out of the stuff we took in. She had fresh bread and had some potatoes fried with bacon.

  We had some hay to cut, so we had to go out and buy some tools for the both the sergeant and myself. I kept the bill and I got a lawyer. He took the Wilson’s to court and they ended up paying for everything he took, as well as the wagon-full of wheat. He had to pay us 450 dollars, along with a fine of 450 dollars. Soon after that, the Wilsons packed up and left for the west. They had two mules pulling a wagon and slowly left the state of Ohio where they then headed south. The lawyer wanted to know if I wanted the Wilson farm, which was 400 acres. I told him that I did, so the federal fudge gave me the farm. The house still had all the furniture in it; however, I stayed in my house and the girls moved into the Wilson’s home. I took my father’s room and Sergeant Bexter got my old room.

  The priest came out daily making sure things were going smoothly between the girls and us. We got the title to the Wilson farm, his tools, and his plow. We took the plow to the blacksmith so he could fix it up. We were now able to plow with two plows. The priest got us two 14-year-old boys to work for us full time.

  When I finished counting up all my gold in the money belts, I ended up with 2,400 dollars in gold.

  I had a gelding that could work with a mare to pull a plow, and the sergeant had two geldings that could work as well. We bought some harnesses and I also bought a two and half ton wagon that I could use in haying and other ranch work. I had to fill both barns for the winter. I bought two milk cows so both houses had milk. I got a wagonload of groceries and loaded both kitchens with food. Both houses were stocked full of everything we needed.

  Sergeant Bexter shot a deer and one of the girls skinned it for him. He took a leg over to the Wilson house and told Betty that she was in charge of making a big stew. She got the girls started on peeling some potatoes and she kept everybody busy. He cut the chops for Teresa and boned out the rest of the deer for stew. Teresa was so happy; she hadn’t had meat for so long and now she had everything she needed. She was very happy and she really worked hard, and she kept the rest of the girls working hard too. They girls were so grateful to have the food they needed, and were willing to do whatever work was asked of them or help out wherever they could. I thanked Teresa and told her that since I didn’t have a wife, I wanted her to run things for me and make lists of everything she and the other girls needed. I gave her 20 dollars gold and told her that this was just for her to buy what she needed at the grocery store, like dresses and such.

  I said, “Just let me know how I can help, but you are in charge, just as if you owned this place. You are in charge of the Wilson house too. Sergeant Bexter put Betty in charge there, but she is working for you. I will need the girls to work, but they will get paid a dollar per day, but only if they work. You and Betty will have a steady paycheck. I will have two boys plowing steady and you will fix them food and keep them happy. They will stay out in the barn at night. They will need breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you need help with anything, just let me know. The girls that work in the hayfield just need good shoes. I will pay for those too. I don’t want barefooted girls in the hayfield. The priest is trying to help us, so if he comes out, try to be nice to him and fry him up some eggs. The butcher will smoke us two big hogs so we have meat. He will also bring us two bred sows for our pigpen. We will get some cracked corn to feed the sows and the milk cows. How about chickens, do we have enough?”

  “Yes,” she answered, “but we may need more if we’re feeding workers. I don’t know how many chickens Betty has. I will check with her. When will you need girls for haying?”

  “Soon,” I told her.

  “I will see how many girls need shoes,” she said. “They all want to work for you. We figured that when you came back you would thr
ow us all out.”

  “I couldn’t do that. I saw too many husbands lying on the battlefields. You all are casualties of the war just like Sergeant Bexter and me. We were professional soldiers who were wounded and were later discharged by a surgeon. As a captain, I could have gotten married but I didn’t have a chance. I would definitely like to get married someday though,” I hinted to her.

  “Do you have someone in mind?” she asked.

  “Yes, I do,” I replied.

  “Is it a girl who lost her husband in the war?” she asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Does she live here?”

  “Yes, she does,” I assured her.

  “She is a very lucky girl. Are you going to tell me who she is?”

  “Well if you really want to know, it’s you,” I told her.

  She looked at me and said, “I could be a very good wife for you.” Then she started crying.

  I got up and held her to me and asked, “Why are you crying?”

  “I don’t know. I guess that I never thought I would ever get married again. I am just so happy that you want me to be your wife,” she said.

  “I will talk to him about marrying us. Are you a Catholic?” I asked her.

  “No, but he helped me a lot,” she said.

  “He is helping me a lot too, and I’m not a Catholic either,” I told her.

  “I think you’re the best Catholic he has,” she said.

  “Let’s go to church on Sunday an we will talk to him then. He seems to be very cooperative and helpful,” I said.

  The two boys came in for lunch and so did Sergeant Bexter. We had lunch with them. It was stew. The boys had a glass of milk while Sergeant Bexter and I had coffee. We also had fresh bread. It was a nice lunch.

  I then asked the boys, “How are those horses holding up for you boys?”

  One of the boys answered, “The sergeant gave them a nosebag of oats and then we will get them a drink before they go back to work.”