A Simple Singing

by Leslie Gould

  Annie’s stomach roiled. She exhaled and then asked Ira, “Do you think he’d get better care under Dr. Carson?”

  “Perhaps, but I’m not sure that would matter either. I’m so sorry.” He glanced at her again. “But let’s ask Doc.” He kept his eyes on her. “I think that would be best. Don’t you?”

  She nodded.

  They rode in silence for a few minutes, and then Annie thanked Ira for his help.

  “I can tell Richert means a lot to you.”

  “Jah,” she answered. “He’s my sister’s beau. She’s ill—”

  “Pardon?”

  “Sophia has consumption.”

  “No, what did you say before? Richert is your sister’s beau?”

  “Jah,” she said.

  He chuckled.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Absolutely nothing.” His face grew serious. “I shouldn’t have laughed. It’s just that I thought that Richert was your beau, not your sister’s.”

  Annie wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “Then again, you probably have a beau back home, right?”

  She wasn’t sure how to answer that either. Finally, she said, “Time will tell.”

  Ira snapped the reins as they reached the road. His tone was light, but his words were serious. “I suppose it will.”

  Annie never knew exactly how Ira managed it, but the next morning he left in the wagon and then returned with Richert in the back. He and an orderly carried him up the stairs and placed him on the back porch on the cot of a soldier who’d died during the night.

  Both Kate and Dr. Carson examined him as Annie fed an egg to a soldier who had broken one arm and lost the other.

  Richert was alert and answered the doctor’s questions as he removed the bandage over his eyes. The cannon he was loading had exploded.

  “I can’t see anything, sir, except a bit of light.” He reached up to his face, but Kate caught his hand. “Will my sight come back?”

  Dr. Carson said he didn’t know, that time would tell.

  Annie thought of her exchange with Ira two nights before. Even though he’d wanted her to go home, he hadn’t been as bossy about it as Samuel. Then again, Samuel had only been able to communicate through a letter. He probably wouldn’t have sounded that way in person. A wave of homesickness came over her, for her family and for Samuel.

  “Right now,” Dr. Carson said to Richert, “I’m more concerned about your arm.” He unwrapped the bandage as he talked. “What did the doctor at the field hospital say about it?”

  “That time would tell. . . .”

  The doctor smiled, although Richert couldn’t see his expression of course. Annie couldn’t help but smile too. They were all waiting on time.

  “I have a wound in my thigh too.” Richert reached down below the sheet.

  “I’ll look at it next,” Doc Carson said and then asked Kate to move the basin closer. “They missed some shrapnel in the muscle of your arm.”

  Annie turned her attention back to the soldier she was feeding.

  That afternoon, she took some time and wrote a letter to Sophia, telling her how thrilled she was to read that she was feeling better. Then she wrote about finding Richert in the field hospital and Ira bringing him to Dr. Carson’s house. I believe he is getting the best care possible. We will do what we can to get him home as soon as we can. She listed his injuries, hoping that Sophia would surmise how serious they were. Then Annie added a note to her parents, assuring them that George had not wanted her to go to Gettysburg, but she couldn’t stay away when she knew she could help. It was her doing, not her brother’s, and she asked them not to be angry with him.

  Next, she wrote a quick note to Harriet and George, letting them know she’d found Richert and passing on the news she’d heard about Cecil, that he had survived the battle without any injuries and was now traveling with his unit.

  Finally, she wrote Samuel, wishing she’d done so earlier. She said she didn’t plan to come home anytime soon, that she was in fact presently in Gettysburg helping to take care of soldiers and perhaps, God willing, she’d see him soon, which she longed for. She assured him she was well and thanked him for his concern.

  Each day, another soldier would die, while another grew stronger. Often, Annie was surprised by who passed and who survived. Sometimes it seemed as if there was no rhyme or reason to any of it.

  Annie grew more and more confident in nursing the soldiers, and Kate said, several times, that Annie had a gift for medicine. She also began helping in the kitchen tent some, assisting Meg with the meal preparation when she was short-staffed. It was a nice break from the sadness in the house. Meg was kind and good-spirited, never sinking into despair despite the hardships all around them. One afternoon, Annie was helping Meg make tea for the staff when Kate headed for the tent, followed by Dr. Carson.

  “Kate,” he called out. “Wait!”

  She marched ahead. Annie couldn’t imagine why she was ignoring the man.

  When she reached the tent, Kate spoke quietly to Meg. “He needs a cup of coffee. And keep him away from the house.” With that, Kate spun around, without even acknowledging Annie, and headed back to the house, walking brusquely by the doctor.

  He stopped and looked after her until Meg yelled, “Come on, Doc. We have a cup of coffee for you. And a piece of cobbler.”

  He turned toward her, his eyes red.

  Meg stepped toward him. “Come along.” Then she turned back to Annie and said, “Go ask Kate how you can help.”

  Annie did as Meg instructed. Dr. Carson didn’t acknowledge her as she passed by him, and she didn’t say anything either. She caught a whiff of alcohol though. It seemed he didn’t just drink at night. At least not today. She turned and watched as Meg removed something from the pocket of the doctor’s work apron and then took his hand and led him into the tent. Meg gestured for Annie to keep moving. Embarrassed, Annie did, hurrying to the house.

  The next day Dr. Carson seemed fine and no one mentioned his indiscretion from the day before. He, Kate, and Ira performed more amputations. Annie’s heart would have broken for the soldiers, except that, surprisingly, the majority of them survived their operations, although she knew they had a hard recovery ahead. Annie never assisted during an amputation. There was no need for her to, thankfully. But she prayed each time the orderlies carried another soldier to the tent.

  Richert grew a little stronger, although his vision didn’t improve and the wound to his thigh continued to fester. Several patients had been transported to York by train, while others were still being brought to Dr. Carson’s from the field hospitals, including several soldiers who hailed from Lancaster County. After a visit from Dr. Letterman, the surgeon general of the Union, Dr. Carson stood in the hallway of the house, outside his office door, and told Kate it would be good to transport the Lancaster County soldiers home so their families could care for them and free up hospital beds for soldiers from Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and other faraway places. Annie, tending a soldier in the dining room, could hear the conversation.

  “Ira, Annie, and I can take the wounded by train,” Kate said.

  “No,” Dr. Carson said. “We need you here. We’ll send someone else.”

  Kate said she’d stayed as long as she intended to. “We’ve been here three weeks.”

  Dr. Carson guffawed. “It’s not that simple.”

  Annie strained to hear if Kate responded. If she did, it must have been very quietly.

  “I need to speak to you in private,” the doctor said to her. Footsteps fell in the hall and then his office door slammed.

  Annie kept tending the soldiers, but Dr. Carson’s voice rose a couple times. “I already apologized for that,” he yelled at one point. And then he said, “I beg you to stay.”

  After that, Kate marched out the door with him calling after her.

  She stood in the hall where Annie could see her, and in a calm voice said to him, “Ira will return. But I need
to get back to my midwifery business. I’ve neglected my duties long enough.”

  Before the doctor responded, Kate walked through the dining room, her head high, on her way to the back porch. Dr. Carson spent the rest of the day in his office. Later, Annie asked Kate if she was all right, and she simply nodded but didn’t say a word.

  The next morning, Woody arrived with another load of supplies. After everything was unloaded and recorded, Woody ate breakfast while Ira and the other orderlies loaded soldiers into his wagon and Dr. Carson’s wagon too. Ira and another soldier drove the wagons to the station, unloaded them, and then returned.

  Annie packed her few things and Kate’s too, while the older woman redressed wounds.

  When she reached the back porch, Ira and Woody were loading Richert, the last of the wounded to leave the hospital that day, into Woody’s wagon. They would be traveling with twelve patients in all. Four could walk, but the rest were immobile.

  Kate followed Annie out of the house and down the stairs, taking off her bloody apron. Annie put their bags in the back of the wagon as Woody greeted Kate by taking his hat off and saying, “Hello, Miss Kate.”

  But then before he could say anything more, Dr. Carson approached and again asked Kate to stay.

  She shook her head. “As I already told you, it’s time for me to go home.”

  “Then please return.”

  She shook her head but didn’t say anything more. Instead she handed her apron to Annie, who took off hers too.

  “Then leave Annie here,” Dr. Carson said. “She’s done a good job, much better than I expected. . . .”

  Annie headed to the washhouse with both aprons and couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation, but she wouldn’t stay without Kate. She took a quick detour to the kitchen tent and told Meg good-bye. The woman gave her a warm hug and said, “I’m going to miss your help and smile. I hope I’ll see you again someday.”

  Annie couldn’t imagine when she would, but she hugged the woman back and then returned to the wagon. Kate sat on the bench by Woody, and Ira sat in the back. Dr. Carson had already returned to the house. Annie climbed up onto the bench beside Kate, and Woody snapped the reins. As they passed by the side of the house, Annie saw a figure in the office window. She was certain it was the doctor.

  Kate, Woody, and Ira all seemed tense and remained silent. Annie didn’t say anything either.

  The depot platform was covered with wounded soldiers. Kate told her the area had operated as a hospital before the train tracks had been repaired. Now it was in transition—half hospital and half station—as train after train of wounded soldiers left Gettysburg for York.

  Ira and Woody carried the immobile soldiers to the platform while the ones who could walk shuffled along. One had his arm amputated and the other had taken a bullet in the neck. Somehow it had missed his artery, and he’d survived.

  After he and Ira lowered the last patient, Woody and Kate spoke at the end of the platform. From what Annie could hear, he was going to take several soldiers from Hanover to Peach Bottom. Then he planned to drive to Lancaster for another load of supplies.

  “Hopefully I’ll see you there, Miss Kate,” he said.

  She gave him an idea of their itinerary, as best she could.

  “Will Annie be going home?”

  “Yes,” Kate said. “I believe that’s her plan, although I would love to have her assist me in Peach Bottom if she ever wanted to.”

  Annie’s face grew warm with the words. She felt it would be best to remain on the farm, with her family, but she would do as the Lord led.

  When the train they were waiting for finally arrived, some people got off. Annie guessed a few were searching for a son, brother, or husband because many of the fallen were still unaccounted for. Other passengers carried bags of supplies. As they passed by the soldiers, they searched their faces.

  Once the train was vacated, Ira and other able-bodied soldiers carried the wounded aboard. Soon the train was full and took off, lurching forward.

  Annie and Kate walked up and down the aisle, checking on each soldier. Richert slept most of the way, but when he woke he seemed disoriented. Annie explained their plan to him again. The train would stop in York, and then they would go on to Columbia, where all of the soldiers would be taken off the train, loaded onto a boat, and taken across the Susquehanna River. Once they were on the other side, they’d board another train and continue on to Lancaster.

  Annie had sent letters to both Richert’s parents and to Sophia, letting them know they would be heading home soon. Ira said they’d need to hire a wagon at the station in Lancaster to get Richert to Leacock. Annie wished Woody would be able to transport him, but he wouldn’t be back from Peach Bottom by then.

  When they reached York, Annie and Ira stepped off the train, weaving their way between the soldiers covering the platform, to buy bread for those in their care. As they stepped into the station, looking for vendors, a man called out Annie’s name.

  She turned. Samuel hurried toward her.

  “What are you doing here?” she sputtered.

  “I was headed to Gettysburg to bring you back.”

  “There’s no need for that,” she said. “I’m headed home now.”

  “Why didn’t you write that you were leaving Gettysburg?”

  She wiped the palms of her hands on her apron. “I didn’t have time.” Although she’d taken the time to write to the Fishers and to Sophia. The truth was, she hadn’t thought to write Samuel. And she’d never expected that he’d come after her, but she was touched that he had.

  Ira had gone on to buy loaves of bread and then rejoined them. Annie introduced him to Samuel, and the two men shook hands.

  “I’ll go change my ticket,” Samuel said, “and travel back with you.”

  “Great,” Ira answered. “We need an extra set of hands to help carry the stretchers.”

  Once they were back on the train, Ira kept Samuel busy, directing him to help feed the soldiers. Richert recognized Samuel’s voice immediately and the two chatted for a couple of minutes, but Samuel appeared uncomfortable with Richert’s injuries—or perhaps that he’d been fighting—and quickly moved on to feed another patient. When the train reached Columbia and it was time to disembark, it seemed providential that Samuel was available to help. Men from the town assisted too, and soon all of the soldiers were safely transported to the boat. Annie knelt beside Richert as they crossed, the breeze from the river helping to cool them from the midday sun.

  When she looked up at the Susquehanna hills in the distance, she noted that Samuel was watching her. Kate wanted Annie to return with her to Peach Bottom, but Annie wanted nothing more than to stay in Lancaster. To court Samuel. To tend the garden. To care for Sophia.

  There was nowhere safer for her than the Bachmann farm in Lancaster County.

  But, still, there was so much healing that needed to happen. If God had given her a gift, as Kate claimed, then He wanted her to use it to serve others. Yes, she didn’t believe in violence, but that didn’t mean that God didn’t want her to care for those who’d chosen it or were forced to participate. All had suffered because of it.

  By the time the group had reached the other side of the river and boarded the next train, Annie was exhausted and could only imagine how the patients felt. And Ira and Samuel. They were the ones doing the hard work. She only carried supplies.

  The closer they drew to the city of Lancaster, the more she longed for home. The weeks she’d spent away felt like a year.

  It was dark by the time they arrived. Five of the wounded soldiers had parents or brothers meet them at the station. Annie had written letters for them too, and their loved ones had been coming to the station day after day. Finally their hopes had been realized.

  One of the soldiers who could walk lived not far from the train station. Ira escorted him to his parents’ house. Kate sent messages to the other two soldiers’ families, but they lived farther away. It was too late and too dark for them t
o come tonight, and too late for Annie to start home with Richert too.

  Ira returned and they all, including Samuel, found a place to rest in the station. Annie felt ill with fatigue and wondered if the stress of the last couple of weeks had caught up with her. During the night, Richert took a turn for the worse, and Kate tended to him. Annie woke a few times, aware of the situation, but she was unable to rouse herself to help. Early in the morning before the sun had risen, she stumbled over to where Richert was on the floor. Ira had taken over for his mother.

  “He’s running a fever,” Ira said, “and he’s been restless all night.”

  “I’ll take a turn,” Annie said.

  “I’ll go find a wagon,” Ira said. “The sooner we get him home, the better.”

  By the time the sun rose, a father and an uncle of the other two soldiers arrived. Kate explained the care the soldiers needed and told the families to fetch their own doctor that day.

  After they left, Kate told Annie that the local doctors had probably never treated a bullet wound, let alone an amputation. “They’ll do the best they can, however.” Kate yawned. “We’ll get you, Richert, and Samuel on your way, and then Ira and I will find a ride to Peach Bottom.”

  “Come to my family’s farm and rest,” Annie said. “Perhaps Woody will be back by morning and can give you a ride.”

  Kate shook her head. “We don’t want to impose.”

  “You have to be exhausted.” Annie felt bad that she hadn’t been able to stay awake and help.

  Ira returned, saying he’d secured a wagon. As Kate stood, she wobbled a little, and Annie grabbed her arm. Ira helped steady his mother too.

  “Please come with us,” Annie said. “Get some sleep and good food. Then start home tomorrow.”

  Ira gave his mother a questioning look.

  She nodded. “I’m tired, is all. But I think a day of rest could make a big difference.”

  Annie held on to Kate as Samuel and Ira carried Richert out to the wagon. Annie assumed they’d drop Samuel off at his home, but he chose to ride on with them.

  They dropped off Richert at the Fishers’ first, to his relieved and grateful parents. Kate instructed them to send for a doctor immediately, explaining that his leg was infected and that he was running a fever.