Annie, Between the States

by L. M. Elliott

  Interestingly, Mosby was one Confederate leader who embraced Reconstruction. Before the war, he had voted against secession and publicly campaigned for a Unionist candidate for president. Like Robert E. Lee, Mosby followed Virginia’s final choice to join the Confederacy because: “Virginia is my mother, God bless her! I can’t fight against my mother, can I?” When the war was over, he plunged back into his law practice and public life. Although Grant had once issued a death warrant for him, Mosby and the general became good friends during Grant’s presidential administration. Mosby campaigned for his reelection.

  His support of Grant cost Mosby. Many Virginians called him a traitor. His law practice dwindled. He further alienated his former admirers by criticizing Lee and defending Stuart’s role in Gettysburg. He eventually embarked on what he called a self-imposed twenty-five-year exile from Virginia, serving in various Republican administrations, as consul to Hong Kong, as special agent in the Department of Interior, and as an assistant attorney for the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Mosby personally knew four presidents: Grant, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt. All but Roosevelt he had fought during the war. McKinley frequently joked that Mosby’s men had made life miserable for him when he served in the Shenandoah Valley.

  In 1916, Mosby died in Washington, D.C., at the age of eighty-two. By the end of his life, he had again become a popular folk hero, remembered as the “Gray Ghost” who bedeviled superior and sometimes cruel forces. He became the subject of three silent films, in one of which he actually appeared himself. And in 1957, CBS produced a weekly television series about him.

  Writing about the Civil War is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Not because its stories weren’t compelling. On the contrary, the courage, the bravura, the mercy shown by the combatants and civilians alike produced some of the most heart-wrenching, inspiring, and maddening anecdotes one will ever read. It was difficult because of the obvious and appalling moral issue involved—slavery—and the choice to feature a traditional Virginia family as protagonists.

  Living almost one hundred and fifty years later, we see the cause of the Civil War as slavery. But for most Southerners it had as much to do with regionalism; people at that time identified their citizenship primarily according to their state, not the country. Most never traveled beyond a few dozen miles from their home. They interpreted the Constitution as setting up an alliance predicated on a state’s desire to be in the Union, and therefore breakable. By that point, the United States had become two very divergent entities—the agricultural South and the industrialized North—with very different needs. The North, however, had twice the population and dominated Congress, passing high tariffs that impeded Southern imports and exports and in essence chained the South to Northern factories and their high-priced finished goods. The South wanted out of what it increasingly saw as a lopsided marriage.

  An overwhelming majority of Confederate soldiers did not come from slave-holding families. Most Africans held in this abhorrent bondage labored on Deep South plantations that produced single crops such as cotton or rice and where the percentage of slave-holders climbed to slightly over one out of three whites. (In Mississippi and South Carolina, that number neared one-half. It was on these plantations, which often held more than twenty slaves, that the “capital value” of slaves exceeded the value of the land, making the reprehensible institution a highly profitable one.)

  In Virginia, by comparison, three out of four whites did not own slaves, and of those who did, forty-one percent held three or fewer “servants” (a euphemism they used in their memoirs). Some—such as Stonewall Jackson, who set up a Sunday school for one hundred slaves and freemen in Lexington, Virginia—ignored public disapproval and laws to teach blacks to read and write. Others, such as Robert E. Lee, freed their slaves before the Emancipation Proclamation or did so when the edict took effect. And surprisingly, records show that free blacks voluntarily joined the Confederate army as wagon drivers, cooks, blacksmiths, and musicians, some even serving as pickets. One Tennessee regiment asked a black man to serve as its chaplain.

  Said one Civil War battlefield historian: “It is impossible for us to understand that mindset today. Certainly the cruel Hollywood stereotypes existed, but there were different breeds of slave-owners, some more progressive than others. There were those who were quite charitable, and slaves quite devoted to their masters who actually followed them into battle.” North Carolina’s Department of Cultural Resources, for example, tells the story of a slave named George Mills who discovered his master dead at Antietam. He could have fled to freedom easily, but instead carried the body through three war-torn states back to Hendersonville, North Carolina, so that his master would not be buried in a ditch with the thousands of other soldiers who died there.

  Such stories are in sharp contrast to the better-known, horrifying, and tragic ones—of abuse; of African-American families standing on the auction block being sold separately and broken apart; of runaways being chased by dogs and whipped or shackled when caught; of slaves sent in to build Confederate fortifications at gunpoint or under Union fire during battles. But they do exist.

  The uncomfortable fact is that racism permeated the entire country. For all its noble, inspiring, devoted abolitionists and the thousands of women who traveled south to teach freed slaves, there were indeed four states in the Union that practiced slavery throughout the Civil War: Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky.

  Kentucky, in fact, continued to buy and sell human beings until the thirteenth amendment was ratified—eight months after the war ended. Officials in that Union state actually seized several hundred runaway slaves who had fled the Confederate states of Tennessee and Alabama and followed the Union army to what they thought would be safety. The refugees were put in prison and then sold back into bondage.

  Abraham Lincoln’s “paramount” objective was to save the Union. He said, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” When support for the war began to wane in the North in 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, elevating the fight to a nobler crusade. However, his Proclamation applied only to areas that remained in rebellion. It left slavery intact in the Union and in Southern territories already under Federal control to appease slave owners there. After announcing it, Lincoln even proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would have postponed the final elimination of slavery until the year 1900. Fortunately, Congress voted it down. It was also Congress in 1862 that abolished slavery in Washington, D.C., and the Western territories and passed an act forbidding Union soldiers to return fugitive slaves to owners.

  It is interesting to note two waves of desertions, one in each army. On the Confederate side, the first large desertion occurred as Lee crossed into Maryland in September 1862. Soldiers left because they had signed up to protect their states, their homeland, not to invade others. One Confederate general’s wife would write her husband that she could no longer pray for him because of their offensive move into Union territory. On the Union side, large numbers deserted during the very same month, when Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclamation. One Illinois regiment lost a majority of its men, who disapproved of Lincoln’s policy. Mosby’s most trusted guide, “Big Yankee” Ames, joined his ranks in that way.

  Northern enthusiasm for the war continued to fluctuate, so much so that in the spring of 1863, Lincoln instigated the first federal draft to ensure that the Union army had enough soldiers to fight. All men between the ages of twenty and forty-five were required to register. Any man whose name was drawn had to serve for three years.

  This did not sit well with many Northerners, who were further alienated by the fact that rich men could buy their way out of service with $300—a fortune to most. (Future presidents Grover Cleveland and Chester A. Arthur paid their way out, as did the fathers of T
heodore and Franklin Roosevelt.)

  In New York City, the names of the first draftees were posted at the same time that long lists of Gettysburg casualties were published. The city erupted in violence. For three long days, mobs carrying clubs and torches rampaged, breaking into buildings, smashing windows, and murdering several men—including two disabled veterans—who tried to stop them. The largely immigrant crowds from the city’s slums not only targeted the homes of the wealthy, they specifically went after African Americans. They torched a black church, a black orphanage, and black boardinghouses. They lynched a black coachman, chanting “Hurrah for Jeff Davis,” before setting his dead body on fire. It took troops arriving from Gettysburg to finally stop the madness.

  When runaway slaves approached Union troops before January 1863, they were dubbed “contraband” and often put to work mucking stalls, cooking, cleaning, and digging latrines. Or they were run off at bayonet point by soldiers whose fight would ultimately free them but who didn’t want much, if anything, to do with African Americans afterward. Colonization plans—sending African Americans to Liberia or to Central America—were widely promoted.

  After the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, however, “contraband” blacks and slaves in the Union states were allowed to enlist in “colored” regiments in the Federal army. Enlisting brought freedom to a slave’s family as well. Some Union officers questioned it, such as General William Tecumseh Sherman, who said: “Can a negro do our skirmishing and picket duty? Can they improvise bridges, sorties, flank movement, etc., like the white man? I say no.”

  Grant, on the other hand, gave his “hearty support” to the idea of black soldiers. Ironically both the son of an abolitionist and the husband of a slave-holder, Grant wrote: “By arming the Negro we have added a powerful ally. They will make good soldiers and taking them from the enemy weakens him in the same proportion they strengthen us.”

  Even so, black privates serving the Union were paid three dollars less a month than whites. They were also denied the clothing allowance given whites. Their death rate from disease was double that of whites serving in the U.S. army, because of exposure to the cold and the fact that military doctors were reluctant to treat them.

  Despite such outrageous inequities, 180,000 African Americans fought for the Union, braving execution or being sold into slavery by Confederates taking them as prisoners of war. They faced their own command sending them into sure slaughter in the forefront of battles such as Fort Wagner, South Carolina, and the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. The tenacity, resourcefulness, and dignity of these black soldiers probably did more to erase prejudice among those who witnessed them than any acts of Congress or orders from President Lincoln could. Twenty-three of them were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor—many years after the war ended.

  Ultimately, the Civil War did become about slavery and emancipation. It did put a stop to a sickening, incomprehensible cruelty that American leaders seemed unable to stop through a civilized vote. In the end, the best statistic to remember about the Civil War is that 3 million human beings were freed.

  Michael Shaara concludes his Pulitzer Prize–winning book, The Killer Angels, with a quote from the British statesman Winston Churchill, who wrote that the American Civil War was “the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts.”

  Perhaps. But let us hope that future generations remember the Civil War and its tragic bloodbath when we need to find the courage to stop injustice, eliminate prejudices, and reconcile our differences.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A book such as this cannot be written without doing massive amounts of research, as the following bibliography attests. When I speak to student groups about writing historical fiction, I always try to reassure them that research truly can be fun, like a treasure hunt. Certainly, the reading and interviewing I did yielded up many gems of details to make Annie’s story come alive. I am indebted to the many scholars who have written factual histories of the Civil War, which I read in preparation and used as reference while building this book and its characters.

  I owe a large thank-you to Jim Burgess, museum specialist at Manassas National Battlefield Park, who patiently allowed me to interview him for hours, dug out unpublished and little-known memoirs, and then read my manuscript for accuracy. I cannot thank him enough for his generosity, good humor, meticulousness, advice, and knowledge.

  Budd Reitnauer of Sky Meadows State Park graciously opened its historic Mount Bleak House for the jacket photograph and educated me more on the life of Fauquier residents during the Civil War. Historians at the Lee Mansion in Arlington, Virginia; the Gettysburg battlefield; and the Fauquier Heritage Society also fielded questions with grace and a wealth of information.

  I must say a special thanks to Dr. Edwin Wilson, of Wake Forest University, who long ago instilled in me a love of the English Romantic poets and who made sure my references to literature were correct.

  To my editor, Katherine Tegen, I owe my beginnings and existence as a fiction writer, after many years as a magazine journalist. Katherine has encouraged, nurtured, guided, and championed me. What more could a writer ask? Illustrator Henry Cole first introduced me to Katherine. His enthusiastic generosity is equaled only by his artistic talent.

  And finally, to my husband, John, and my children, Megan and Peter, who inspire me, hug me when I’m tired and discouraged, and bless me with sincere excitement about my books. Their insightful questions and compassionate curiosity make me a better writer; their belief in me a better one still.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  BOOKS AND ARTICLES

  Baird, Nancy Chappelear, ed. Journals of Amanda Virginia Edmonds: Lass of the Mosby Confederacy, 1859–1867. Stephens City, Va.: Commercial Press, 1984.

  Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1970.

  Carter, Isabel, submitted by Stevan Phillips. “My War: Praying for Southern Victory.” Civil War Times Illustrated (March/April 1991): 12–69.

  **Chang, Ina. A Separate Battle: Women and the Civil War. New York: Puffin Books, 1996.

  **Clinton, Catherine. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Scholastic, 1999.

  Compton, Marianne E. “A Woman’s Recollection of Two Famous Battles.” Manassas Journal (July 4, 1913).

  Davis, Burke. Jeb Stuart: The Last Cavalier. Short Hills, N. J.: Burford Books, 1957.

  Ewell, Alice Maude. A Virginia Scene or Life in Old Prince William. Lynchburg, Va.: J. P. Bell, 1931.

  Freeman, Douglas Southall. Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Vol. I, Manassas to Malvern Hill. New York: Scribner, 1942.

  ———. Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Vol. II, Cedar Mountain to Chancellorsville. New York: Scribner, 1943.

  ———. Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Vol. III, Gettysburg to Appomattox. New York: Scribner, 1944.

  Jones, Vergil Carrington. Ranger Mosby. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1944.

  Larson, Rebecca D. Blue and Gray Roses of Intrigue. Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 1993.

  Leonard, Elizabeth D. All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.

  Lomax, Virginia. The Old Capitol and Its Inmates: By a Lady, who enjoyed the hospitalities of the Government for a “Season.” New York: E. J. Hale & Son, 1867. Available electronically through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s digitization project “Documenting the American South, Beginnings to 1920.”

  Lowery, Rev. I. E. Life on the Old Plantation in Ante-Bellum Days; or, A Story Based on Facts. Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company Printers, 1911. Available electronically through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s digitization project “Documenting the American South, Beginnings to 1920.”

  McLean, James. California Sabers: The 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry in the Civil War. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2000.

  McNeil, Keith, and Rusty McNeil.
Civil War Songs. WEM Records (WEMCD507A; 507B; 507C), 1989.

  **Murphy, Jim. The Boys’ War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.

  **Pflueger, Lynda. Jeb Stuart: Confederate Cavalry General. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1998.

  Ramage, James A. Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby. Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky, 1999.

  Ramey, Emily G., and John K. Gott, eds. The Years of Anguish, Fauquier County, Virginia, 1861–1865. Collected and compiled for the Fauquier County Civil War Centennial Committee. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1998.

  Rawlings, Kevin. We Were Marching on Christmas Day: A History and Chronicle of Christmas during the Civil War. Baltimore, Md.: Toomey Press, 1996.

  **Ray, Delia. A Nation Torn: The Story of How the Civil War Began. New York: Puffin Books, 1996.