by Ginny Dye
Moses squeezed his hand tightly. “When you get to Richmond,” he gasped, “you find Carrie… help her…” His eyes closed as his body went slack.
Four hours after the battle had begun, it was all over. Lee’s attempt to break out of Grant’s siege had failed miserably. The Confederate army was weaker than ever. Federal morale skyrocketed as the Union force waited for reinforcements.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Carrie scowled as Spencer drove her past the three old red-brick tobacco warehouses on Cary Street in Shockoe Bottom that comprised Castle Thunder Prison. A wooden fence created a small prison yard with guards lining the top of the wall. She knew prisoners were separated among the three buildings: Confederate deserters and political prisoners in one warehouse, black and female prisoners in another one, and Union deserters and prisoners of war in the last warehouse. The prison was bulging.
Every time she thought of Opal’s cousin, Eddie, incarcerated there, Carrie felt sick. She had tried many times to get word about him, but not even her father’s attempts created any results. The only thing she’d been told through the years was that Eddie was still a prisoner.
She supposed she should be grateful for that - if it was true. Carrie knew the execution rate was high.
Spencer glanced down, saw her scowl, and interpreted her thoughts. “Any word on Eddie, Miss Carrie?”
Carrie sighed heavily. “No. It’s as if he doesn’t exist.”
“That might be a right good thing.”
“Why?”
Spencer shrugged. “That Castle Thunder be a bad place, Miss Carrie. I got friends telling me about the screams that come from there right often,” he said soberly. “Theys don’t have no trouble putting the lash to peoples that don’t behave like theys want them to. And theys the lucky ones. Lots of gunshots coming from that place.”
Carrie blanched, knowing he was referring to prisoners being executed. Shortly after Eddie had been arrested, the commander of the prison, Captain George Alexander, was brought up before the Confederate Congress for investigation because of reports of inhumane and cruel treatment that poured from those brick walls. Carrie had so hoped something would be done, but the final determination supported his punishment methods because of the prisoners’ behavior. His reign of terror was allowed to continue.
“What you reckon gonna happen with them prisoners when the Yankees break through our lines?” Spencer asked.
Carrie scowled again. “I wish I could say they will all be free, but my father says there are plans to move them soon.”
“Where to?”
“He said they are emptying Castle Thunder and Libby Prison and taking the prisoners up to Danville.”
Eddie lifted his head wearily, listening once again for muted sounds of battle at the Petersburg lines. As long as fighting continued, he could hope he would eventually get out of prison. Already skinny when captured and tried for espionage, Eddie now resembled little more than a skeleton. Skin hung loosely from his emaciated frame, and his eyes were sunk deep into his head.
Two years in Castle Thunder had come close to breaking him, but visions of Fannie and the kids, their eyes shining with love for him, kept him hanging on. He could only imagine how much his children had grown. Susie would be a woman now. Carl, Amber, and Sadie would be much bigger. He lowered his head and stifled a groan as the old question arose; were his children alive? Was Fannie alive? Had the harsh winters that had almost done him in been more than they could handle without him there to help with food and shelter?
The questions drove him crazy because he had no way of getting any answers.
Suddenly he felt someone watching him. The years had taught him to be aware when anyone focused attention on him. He looked up and recognized a man who had been brought in a few days earlier. He felt pity when he saw the raised welts on the man’s arms and legs that said the white man had taken the lash to him, but Eddie had survived for two years by staying totally to himself. He hardly spoke to anyone - keeping his focus on his wife and children foremost in his mind. He was starved for human connection, but he had seen the price prisoners paid when someone they had talked to got into trouble; everyone around that person paid the price.
Eddie was determined to stay alive and get out to experience the freedom waiting for him. He kept to himself, but he listened; he knew the amendment to abolish slavery had passed, and he knew the Union was winning the war. He listened for sounds of battle every moment and longed for the day he would be free.
Eddie opened his mouth to protest when the prisoner staring at him moved over to sit beside him, but pity kept Eddie silent. He understood the horror and pain in the eyes watching him; he’d felt the lash himself when he had first arrived and would always carry the scars and memories from those first horrific weeks.
“Been here long?” the prisoner whispered.
“Two years.”
The other man gasped. “Two years! You been in Castle Thunder for two years? And you still be alive?”
“It can be done,” Eddie said grimly. If he was going to talk to him, he might as well know the man he was talking to. “What’s your name?”
“Abraham.”
“What you in here for?”
“They trying to get slaves to be soldiers. I wasn’t interested so they dumped me here.”
Eddie peered at him sharply. “Soldiers? The Rebels plan on giving guns to slaves and making them fight?” This was a new one.
“It ain’t working too good,” Abraham said smugly. “As soon as the word spread, most of the slaves still in Richmond decide it for sho time to leave so theys headed on up north. They ain’t goin’ about it too smart.”
“What do you mean?” Eddie asked, starved for information.
“Oh, they passed the bill a couple weeks ago. Lots of talk ‘bout how Johnny Reb was gonna get three hundred thousand slaves to put on the Rebel uniform and go off to fight.”
Eddie stared in disbelief. “That be crazy.”
“Yep. Specially how they go about it. Right after they started recruitin’, a couple of slaves got caught breakin’ into a house. They hung ‘em up. Another one got caught with his white mistress; they whupped him almost to death.”
Eddie nodded grimly. “Don’t surprise me none.”
“Yeah, well, that Governor Smith decided he would let them house breakin’ slaves stay alive. He put them in the army instead. All the boys I talked to said theys even less excited about fightin’ in this crazy war now they know fighting be a punishment. Most of them decided it wadn’t no better than hanging, so they took off. I figures the same way they does.”
“They making free blacks fight, too?” Would any of his friends in the black quarter be left when he got out, or would they all take off up north to keep from having to fight?
“Ain’t been no talk of that. They sure nuff figures they can make slaves fight, though. Building them trenches be one thing. Joining up and being shot at be another. I didn’t take kindly to the idea. I be on my way out of town when I gots caught. It be a heap easier than it used to be to escape, but I guess theys real desperate for soldiers.”
“That desperate?” Eddie asked, hope sparking in his heart.
“Sho ‘nuff is,” Abraham replied. “I listen real close to eberthing out there. Things going bad for the South. Don’t reckon it gonna be long before Grant busts through them lines down at Petersburg.” He glanced around. “No, suh, I reckon I ain’t gonna be here long.”
Eddie glanced at the windows letting in bits of air and light. “Can’t happen soon enough for me.”
Abraham looked around to make sure no one was watching, and lowered his voice even more, barely moving his lips. “Been a right lot of people lettin’ theyselves out of Castle Thunder.”
Eddie stared at him and was certain he didn’t understand what Abraham was saying. Something pushed him to be sure. “You mean escaping?” He leaned closer, using his body to block Abraham’s lips from anyone who might be watching.
&
nbsp; “Yep. Like I said, I listen real good.”
Eddie shook his head. “I didn’t think it was possible,” he murmured. He kept his head and voice low, his eyes scanning the area for guards as they talked. If a word of this was overheard, it would be grounds for execution, but he was desperate to hear more. He had given up any thought of escape when the guards told him that if he tried, his wife and children would be hauled in and lashed as he had been. But now… He didn’t know whether his body could hold out much longer.
“It be possible,” Abraham confirmed, his eyes steady. “Some men done climbed out a window. Some climbed down a pole onto one dem outbuildings and got away. I heard ‘bout some more that dug holes right through the walls and got out.” He paused. “Course, they didn’t have nowheres to go, so a bunch of them got caught and brought back.”
Eddie thought about the gunshots coming on a regular basis from the back of the prison. He already knew what an escapee’s punishment would have been.
Abraham looked around and continued in a low voice. “I also done heard they be plannin’ to take all the prisoners up to Danville on the train.”
Eddie gasped. “So they really believes Grant will take the city?”
“Don’t see nothing that can stop that from happening,” Abraham replied. “I actually feels sorry for dem boys fighting down there to try to stop him. A bunch of them soldiers not looking much better than you, and you looks like death sho’nuff.”
Eddie’s mind began racing as he absorbed Abraham’s information; then he stood up and walked away before any guard entering the room saw them together. He’d begun to formulate his plan, and he wasn’t about to take any chances now.
Eddie watched as a sliver of moon appeared in the tiny crack of the window in the huge room he shared with more than one hundred black inmates. When it disappeared from sight, it would be time to make his move. He fought to keep his breathing steady as he worked the plan through his mind over and over. He knew if he were caught they would probably just kill him on the spot, but he’d decided he wasn’t going to be taken to Danville. He wouldn’t get any further from Fanny and his kids. This prison had stolen two years of his life. It was time to take it back.
Unusual activity in the prison all day had kept guards more tense than usual. After talking with Abraham, Eddie knew something was about to happen. If he didn’t make his move now, his chance would probably be lost forever. He was ready to take the risk.
He lay quietly watching the moon; when it edged from sight, he stood and slipped from the room into the darkened hallway.
“What are you doing, boy?” a guard snapped.
“I just gotta go, sir,” Eddie said meekly, glad the darkness covered the anger on his face as he adopted a subservient tone.
“Be quick about it,” the guard growled.
“Yessuh,” Eddie replied, ducking into the room with the pot that was emptied daily. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard another guard call to the one he had just spoken to. He listened carefully as he heard the first guard’s footsteps disappear down the hall. He knew he didn’t have much time.
Now that he had decided to do it, he was amazed how simple it was. He leapt forward and soundlessly opened the only window. No guard had secured it; probably because no one thought a prisoner would jump from a window three stories high.
Eddie had roamed inside Castle Thunder all day, moving slowly so he didn’t attract attention. He’d looked through other windows so that he could scout out the best one to crawl through. He knew he risked a nasty fall, but now that he had made up his mind, nothing could stop him.
He almost didn’t have the strength to pull himself up to the edge because he was so weak. He gritted his teeth and silenced his grunt as he finally pulled his skinny body through the small window, glad for the first time in two years that his body had been starved down to almost nothing.
As his body slid through the opening he groped for the pipe he knew was there from his earlier explorations, listening for any sound behind him that would indicate the guard had returned. His breath came in gasps as his heart pounded against his ribs.
As soon as he grasped the pipe he swung out. He knew there was no time to do things carefully; he had to keep moving. He gripped the pipe tightly with both hands while his feet searched for the narrow ledge he had seen earlier that day. His heart lurched as his body dangled. He took a deep breath when his body stopped its free fall, and then he slid down the pole smoothly, bracing his feet against the brick wall to slow his descent and praying the pipe wouldn’t rip away from the building.
It felt like hours, but he knew it really took him only seconds to reach the bottom. Knowing that any second the upstairs guard would come back to check on him and then sound the alarm, he scrambled back into a dark shadow.
He peered out from his dark hiding place, his heart dropping when he saw two guards talking together at the edge of the yard. He estimated how far he could move forward in the shadows without being detected and started to creep toward the wooden fence, wondering whether he had enough strength to pull himself over it if he got close enough to make the attempt. Failure would mean certain death.
He was barely breathing as he drew to within ten feet of where the guards stood talking.
“Sounds like we’ll be out of here tomorrow,” one said.
“That’s what I hear. We’re going to move all these prisoners up to Danville - unless we kill some of them off first,” he added with a harsh laugh. “Sure would make it easier if we didn’t have so many to move.”
“Maybe we could offer to take care of it,” the other said roughly.
A sudden call exploded through the night air. “Prisoner escape! Prisoner escape!”
Eddie shrank back against the rough brick wall, his body shivering in the cool spring air, and looked up wildly to see the third floor guard yelling from the open window.
Both guards he had been listening to stared up at the window and then leapt in that direction, their guns drawn.
Eddie quit thinking. He simply acted. It would take only seconds to find him in the shadows. He jumped out of his hidden position and leaped at the wooden fence, grabbed the top, and began hauling himself up. His arms screamed, but his mind screamed even louder, somehow giving him the strength to reach the top.
“Hey! Stop!”
The guard’s angry voice bellowed behind him as he launched himself over the fence and slammed to the ground, the impact shooting pain through his emaciated body. The sharp crack of bullets slammed into the fence above where he lay. Eddie sobbed in fear, tightened his lips, and hurtled himself forward into the closest darkness he could find.
He heard pounding feet as he took off running, his weakened body weaving as he staggered down the road. He knew he had the advantage of knowing the area like the back of his hand. He had thought of nothing else all day as he had made his plans.
He ran down Cary Street, turned onto 18th Street, expecting a bullet to take him down. He kept running, slipped into a darkened alley he knew was just past the livery, and then pressed forward to another narrow alley behind the little pharmacy. When he had run for ten or fifteen minutes and was gasping to catch his breath, he finally collapsed onto the ground behind the black church; sure that he had eluded the guards.
He knew the black section of town would be the first place they came to look for him; where else would a black man go who was an escaped prisoner? But he figured he had until morning, and he had to let Fannie and the kids know he had escaped so they could go somewhere safe until the war was truly over. Visions of their being lashed with the whip made him willing to do whatever it took to warn them. He waited a few minutes more to make sure he didn’t hear the sound of pounding feet, and then slipped back into the shadows and headed for home.
He’d only gone a few hundred yards when he realized how he stood out in his prison garb. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw wash on a line that someone had neglected to bring in for the night. He sorted through
it quickly, finding a pair of pants that were much too short and a shirt that was much too large, but they would have to do. He didn’t figure people were too particular about clothes right now; they were too focused on survival. He hoped whoever he had snagged them from wouldn’t feel the loss too much.
Now that he was dressed, he could relax enough to appreciate the feeling of freedom. He took deep breaths of the chilly March air and breathed in the scent of trees and dirt. After two years of being crammed in a sweaty room reeking with urine, or freezing through long nights on hard concrete, freedom felt as wonderful as he thought it would.
The sharp report of a gun jerked him back to the reality he was a wanted prisoner. He took a deep breath and turned into another alley that would take him directly to his home. He walked quietly, listening for anything that would warn him of trouble.
The night was quiet as he stood in front of his house and stared up at the windows where his children slept, and then he let his gaze linger on his and Fannie’s room. He could hardly wait to see her face when she saw him. The thought of it gave him the courage to slip around the back and rap lightly on the door.
A minute or so later, he heard footsteps and then a man’s gruff voice. “Who be out there?”
Eddie blinked in surprise and then relaxed. Fannie must be renting some of the rooms out to make extra money. He was glad she had male protection. “My name is Eddie,” he said softly, standing as close to the door as possible. “This is my house. I’m here to see my wife.”
The door swung open, and a strong arm reached out to pull him in.
“What…?” Eddie began to ask as he stared into the eyes of a man much shorter than he was, but with a stocky build that said he was strong.
“You’re in Castle Thunder,” the man growled, holding up a lantern to stare at his face. “How’d you get here?”