by T S Paul
They say that the army moves on its stomach, but during the American Civil War, it moved via the railroads. Rail power defined much of the direction of the war. For the Union, it was vital and thus the reason Jackson was occupied in the first place.
Union Colonel Adolph Engelmann moved several army units into the Salem Cemetery area. There were reports of rebels in the area.
“Corporal Drake!” Colonel Engelmann yelled at the man.
“Sir,” the very young-looking man saluted.
“Inform your Captain that he and the rest of the 61st Illinois are to take up a position to the right of the road behind the cemetery. The 43rd and the 11th Illinois have the left flank. Your unit should tuck in close to the 5th Ohio. I will be with the 2nd West Tennessee in the middle. Understood?” The Colonel directed.
Drake shivered in the biting cold air and nodded. “Yes, Sir!”
“Good. This is just a quick patrol, we should be back to camp in a couple of hours. Just a brisk walk in the snow. Carry on,” he ordered.
Corporal Drake hoped that was all it was as he ran back to his company. The day was shaping up to be bad. Command had ordered them out on patrol to take a look around, leaving the warmth of the fires and all their winter gear. The young man from Carrolton couldn’t believe how cold the South could get.
Engelmann watched the young man stumble away and shook his head. To be that young again. Checking his map, he mentally posted the troops on it. With the snow and the freezing wind, the enemy would be crazy to attack now. This patrol was just to appease General Grant and the rest of command.
As the men settled into position, fires in the distance were spotted.
“Sir, the 43rd reports a large cavalry unit has been spotted over the ridge in that wooded area,” one of the regiment’s runners reported.
“Did Lieutenant Beutel say who they suspect is over there?” The Colonel asked.
“One of the scouts reported seeing Forrester’s cavalry,” the runner explained.
“Blast!” Colonel Engleman pulled out his map and stared at it. “Send word to all the company commanders. Have them send representatives to me.”
The runner rubbed his hands together to keep them warm. He saluted and ran off.
<<< >>>
Gundi remembered the cold that day. The wind was from the east, and only the wooded ridge kept the troops they were with from freezing.
“Keep those fires low, Jackson’s occupied, remember?” Adam Moon reminded his small pack of men.
“Tell that to them,” Gundi pointed toward the group of regulars they were accompanying.
Adam looked at the small fires popping up among the trees as Confederate forces tried to stay warm. “Let the General worry about them. Check your rifles and load your pistols, this is going to get crazy.”
A horseman rode up eyeing the small group of militia and glaring at Adam. “Lieutenant Moon?”
Adam looked at the man and saluted. “Sir.”
Captain Walters saluted back. “We’re moving out. Try and keep up with the main party. Once we clear the road, you are to break and attempt to draw the enemy from the town. Remember this is a feint, not a pitched battle. Retreat if you are engaged.”
The 4th Company commander rode back to his troops. Adam could see the others mounting up and loading weapons. Turning back to his small command he pointed. “We need to be like them.”
Gundi glared at her brother and spoke up. Her voice was sharp, “We need to be looking for a place to settle. Like you promised! We haven’t lost anyone yet, but we could. What do we care about these ... humans?”
“Keep your damn voice down! I care because if the South wins, we can write our own ticket when it comes to the General. Look at all the help we’ve been,” Adam remarked.
“What help? We’ve scouted a bit and stole food and supplies from helpless farmers. You need to live up to your promises or I will.” Gundi insisted.
“You? Just what exactly will you do, Beta? You are my second, not my mother. We both already have one of those. I’m the Alpha. You WILL follow my orders.” Adam glared at his sister and the others.
“For now we will, but after this patrol we will discuss this as a Pack, understand?” Gundi replied.
Adam nodded, acquiescing to his sister. “Mount up, it’s time to get moving.”
<<< >>>
Colonel Engelmann cursed as another gust of wind tore through his small camp. His short patrol had turned into a reconnaissance in force. Command told him to scout the enemy positions and remain at the cemetery. The day turned to night and his men… His men were slowly freezing to death. He didn’t want to give his position away, so no fires were constructed. He’d ordered the men to run in circles if they got too cold. Looking up at the sky he could see just a glimmer of light. “Runner!”
Double checking his map, the Colonel gave orders to the runner. “Tell Colonel Dunning of the 5th Ohio to send a small unit of his cavalry down the road toward the trees. They are not to engage the enemy, only to see if they can rile them up and bring them to us. Understand?”
The young private from St. Louis could only nod. His lips were heavily frozen and chapped.
“Good. Get moving,” he ordered the private.
Every man in the 5th Ohio volunteered to go tempt the enemy. The battle-hardened group was new to Grant’s command having been with General Mansfield at Antietam. Their colonel selected ten of his best riders and did as his commander instructed. “Make ready boys. When those rebs come down that road, we’ll cut them.”
<<< >>>
Adam Moon’s small group and the regulars he was attached to burst from the trees just as members of the 5th Ohio rode down the road. The fifth riders began firing their pistols at the approaching rebels.
As Forrest’s troops rode straight toward the approaching Union cavalry, Adam’s militia group broke off to the left across the open field.
“Yankees!” Gundi raised up in her saddle pointing as the 5th Ohio started firing at them from cover.
Bullets started to zip in around the swiftly galloping horses. Adam and his men pressed their bodies tight against their horses' necks, but it wasn’t enough. With a squeal and a scream two of their horses went down in a pile of legs, mane, and broken bodies.
“Nate!” Adam yelled for his chief enforcer and friend as the man hit the ground. He circled his horse around the fallen man and began returning fire at the Union troops.
Riding hell-bent for leather, Gundi ventured a look behind her to find the whole troop pulling back toward Adam and the fallen man. “Dammit!”
Pulling back on her reins she broke off her attack and circled back. With her supernatural hearing, she could hear the Yankees cheering and yelling at them. “Adam, we have to go that way!”
“No! Nate took a hit.” He jumped off his horse and ran toward Nate.
One of the other riders grunted as a mini-ball hit his leg. Whirling his horse to the left, he tried to dodge the fusillade of fire that was beginning to concentrate on the small unit.
“Dammit, Adam! They’re finding our range. We’re too exposed out here!” Dozens of bullets started hitting the ground all around them. Moon’s small troop was just out of range for most rifles.
An explosion to their left caught everyone's attention. Cannon fire was rippling across the cemetery and the ridgeline it was on.
“Adam, the General’s opened fire with the big guns!” Robert Prato remarked as another cannon blast echoed across the field.
Adam looked up from Nate into the cloud of gunpowder smoke drifting across the field. “Change, Nate. We can’t wait for you to heal. You can catch up to us later.”
Quickly the rest of the troupe huddled around the fallen man allowing him time to shift into his other form.
“Mount up, we need to follow our orders!” Gundi yelled at the men as Nate took off across the field away from the fighting on all four legs.
Adam glared at his sister but mounted. Circling around they char
ged across the edge of the field right into the remnants of the 5th Ohio.
“Right wheel!” Adam shouted.
The horses rode in a circle as the men hiding behind trees began firing. “Pull back. We need to get out of range.”
Bringing up the rear, Gundi watched as Adam led the group back towards the edge of the tree line. Stopping next to her brother she started yelling at him. “What now?”
Adam looked past her toward the main attack. Forrest’s regulars were marching down the road toward the cemetery two abreast. The three cannons were repeatedly firing into the dug in Union forces.
“As soon as the General is engaged with them, we’ll try it again. We need to get around this point there.” Adam pointed to the edge of the ridge where the 5th Ohio was dug in. “The town is really close. Remember we’re just a feint. The real action is over by the railyards.”
Gundi frowned, but didn’t argue with her alpha and brother. “Jack, how’s your leg?”
The bloodstained rider shrugged his shoulders and ripped at the hole in his leggings. The skin beneath was barely red anymore. Were healing at its best.
“Load your weapons. We’ll hit them again in a bit.” Adam watched his first pitched battle with interest.
<<< >>>
Colonel Engelmann wasn’t prepared to fight an extended battle here. He’d left the majority of his supplies in camp. When the first rebels were spotted, he’d ordered the 43rd and 61st Illinois to aim by the lone oak tree by the road. Any rebel that passed it was to be fair game.
The first riders past the tree were killed in a fusillade of bullets. This is what prompted the cannon fire and press of additional troops. Engelmann had no idea there were all that many rebels in the stand of trees.
“Colonel! The 5th Ohio reports they are under attack by mounted militia,” a haggard-looking runner reported.
Checking his map and standing up in his stirrups he could just barely see the small battle raging in the field. “Tell Colonel Dunning to pull back behind the 61st, and we’ll cover him.”
The runner took off through the dirty snow. The colonel cursed himself for not bringing a bit of his train with him. A cannon shell landed dangerously close to the man as he stared at the map. Twitching he moved his horse closer to the infantry in front of him. The men were really taking a pounding.
As Engelmann watched the road, more and more rebel cavalry started to charge his position. “Sergeant Palmer!”
The burly man in question dropped the ammo box he was holding and saluted the officer. “Sir?”
“Find your Captain and tell him to pull his men back to the town. Have every fourth man pull back then wait for ten and have the rest follow. I’ll pass the word to the other companies,” the colonel ordered.
“Yes, Sir!” Sergeant Palmer grabbed up the ammo can and ran toward the thickest part of the fighting.
Rounding up the collection of runners, Engelmann passed the same order to the other commanders.
<<< >>>
“The fire’s lessening,” Robert Aaron said as he pointed toward the oak tree and the main battle.
“Now we attack! Let’s go!” Adam ordered as he kicked his horse.
Gundi sighed as she followed her brother. “Once more unto the breach…”
“Stiffen the sinews and summon the blood.” Gundi misquoted Shakespeare as she murmured to herself remembering that charge and its consequences. The enemy wasn’t there when they managed to flank the ridge. The Union forces retreated back to Jackson before her brother could attack forgetting this was only a feint, not a real attack. Something even the General forgot. Almost a hundred of the regulars were killed along the road.
War was dumb. They weren’t even allowed to keep the hard-won cemetery ground. General Forrest pulled all the units back from Jackson after his troops destroyed the rails. The objective was to deny Grant the use of them. He attacked Vicksburg instead of Mississippi. She wasn’t part of that battle. It was her advice that landed them here, in Jackson.
“What about this place, Adam?” Gundi asked.
The Alpha looked at his sister questioningly, “What about it?”
“It’s got water, food, open fields, and a small town already in place. Why can’t we stay here?” Gundi pointed toward Jackson.
“Maybe because the army is going that way.” Adam pointed to the south were Forrest’s regular units were headed.
“We aren’t a part of them. You said yourself we were just volunteering to help. Can’t we un-volunteer?” she asked.
“They’d label us deserters and shoot us. Do you want that?” Adam asked.
“No. But didn’t the General say they were coming back here? Grant’s army won’t stay here forever. Couldn’t we say we would raid the Yankees in preparation for when the General returns?” Gundi pointed out.
Adam looked at his third with a raised eyebrow. Nate now in his clothes and gear smiled back at him. “It might work. Those regulars really aren’t fond of us.”
“Good idea, sis. I’ll try it.” Adam jumped on his horse and caught up with the command unit.
<<< >>>
So long ago. Gundi mused as she looked at the battlefield mementos on the wall of the restaurant. If that General had only known with what he was riding. The war might have been very different indeed if our people could’ve fought openly. For a split second, she wondered about the fate of her birth family. Postwar, one of the boys returned in search of answers but found only burned homes and devastated farmland. Hiding hadn’t helped, the war had still swept right over them.
“Whatcha looking at?” Adam asked his sister.
“The past. Did we make a mistake settling here?” Gundi asked.
Adam snorted. “You ask that now? It was your idea. What brought this on?”
Gundi shook her head to clear it. “Nothing just thinking. Sheriff Bowen called, we should expect visitors soon.”
“That sounds ominous. Who’s coming?” Adam asked.
“The FBI is in town. That Witch bitch that burned us out is back in town.” Gundi told him.
“Is she now? Interesting. Did your boyfriend say why she was here this time?” Adam asked.
“He didn’t get into detail, but it has something to do with this year’s induction,” she replied
Adam smiled. “Get all the information you can from him. Is he still smitten with you?”
Gundi laughed and seductively swiveled her body. “Of course. I’ve still got it.”
Adam laughed. “Love’em, leave’em, and eat’em. That’s my sister right there.”
“Only the ones that disappoint me, brother dear. How else can we entertain ourselves?” she replied.
“Find the Witch, and I’ll round up the boys. Tonight, we hunt.” Adam high-fived his sister as he left the room.
Chapter 10
“Chuck, did you get those satellite pictures of Moon’s property like I asked?” I tapped him on his shoulder.
Chuck turned to look at me. “Not exactly.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“It’s weird. Every satellite I tried was tied up on some kind of secret tasking. Top secret code word 'Vermillion' was the classification. Even some of the military sats were tied up. Is your clearance high enough to break through?” He asked me.
I snorted. “Vermillion? No way. I didn’t know it went higher than ultra blue. Is there a workaround you can try?”
“Maybe? Boogle has those public mapping satellites. The problem is they only pass over the Jackson area every two days. We’re halfway into that cycle now.” Chuck typed something onto his computer and pointed at the main screen. “That is Moon’s compound two days ago. The resolution sucks, but it does give us a good overview. I’ve got a program that can clear it up a little, but I can’t get you real-time.”
“Hmm. I’ll ask the Director when I call in. She may be able to task something our way. Good work. Did Sheriff Bowen send anything useful?” I nodded toward the building beside us.
“So
me. Most of what they have is just tickets and observations. These folks have lived here among them for so long they don’t see what we see. It’s crazy the amount of closeness a human community has with a Were pack. My uncle would lose his mind here.” Chuck replied.
Cat laughed. “From what I know about Robert Winthrop, I would agree with you. He doesn’t share power very well, does he?”
“No. He doesn’t. This place would horrify him. His opinion of human society is… Let’s just say he’s a traditionalist.” Chuck’s face darkened as he talked about his family.
Cat nodded. “I know the type. They would return us to the ‘us against them’ time. Not something to even consider these days.”
“Pretty much. That would be bad. Way too many humans out there now.” I agreed with my teammate.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
All three of us jumped as someone banged on the door to the bus.
“Didn’t you set the wards?” Cat asked me.
“We’re next door to the local sheriff office. I didn’t think we needed it.” Standing I walked over to the door, sidearm at the ready. Looking down I could see Sheriff Bowen and one of his officers standing outside. “It’s Sheriff Bowen.”
I quickly re-holstered my weapon while Chuck hit the door button and stepped down to meet our visitors.
“Can I help you gentleman?” Chuck’s large body filled the entire doorway.
Bowen took a step back from the door, and the deputy placed a hand on his gun. “Is your boss available?”
Chuck stepped off the bus and stood to one side giving me room to get off. “Hello, Sheriff. What can I do for you?”
“You lied to me.” Bowen blustered.
I looked at him questioningly. “About what?”
“What happened in Arbor? I called and talked to Sheriff Geri.” Bowen informed me.
I smiled, “and how is Adam doing these days?”
“He’s fine. The town isn’t though. You didn’t say that all the packs there were eliminated. According to Mayor Freki, you relocated everyone!” The sheriff thundered.
“You have been busy, haven’t you? I told you the pack war killed a great many people. It was the Pack Council that sent the surviving members to other states, not the FBI. My investigation was to find missing children. The war there was just ancillary to my main task. The blame for that mess belongs to Reverend Austin. He’s the one that set up Daniel Jaeger to fall,” I informed him.