by Unknown
They called me Lucky Jack because of the number of times I emerged from a gun fight with neither wounds nor injuries. Everyone else who had served with the captain since the early days now sported a wound of some description; but not Lucky Jack. They also knew my story; how my parents had been murdered by a blaggard of a landowner, Arthur Beauregard and how my sister and I had had to live on the streets of Cork. They called me Lucky Jack because when I escaped from that dire existence it was to join a slaver where Captain Boswell rescued me. I still did not know where my sister was. I was determined to find her once this war was over. I would be a relatively rich man by then. The captain invested our money in European banks. While we had little money in our pockets we had a great deal safely stored out of the country.
I washed myself in the bucket and wandered over to the fire. Cecil saw me and poured me a cup of strong black coffee. He went back to his gun. In the Wildcats we didn’t go in for filling the silences. If we had nothing of importance to say, we kept quiet. I noticed the gun was in bits.
“Is that worth repairing? It looks to be beyond repair.”
“Nah sergeant. This is a Colt. They are solid guns. The Yankee who had this just didn’t look after it. It jammed last night when he tried to fire it. He was aiming at you. It won’t take me long to repair and then I will have an Army Colt just like you.”
If the story was circulating then the jammed gun would add to the mystique of Lucky Jack. “I’ll get you some ammo. I always make sure I collect that before anything else. A gun is only useful if it has lead to fire!”
Captain Boswell had equipped us with Navy Colts. The Navy Colt is a good weapon but the Army Colt has more stopping power. I had managed to get two early in the war and the rest of the company had all been trying to get the same weapon. Inevitably Cecil and the younger recruits had still to get one.
He put it together and cocked it. The action sounded right.”There, it is finished and ready to use.” He looked up as though he had just noticed me. “Captain Boswell took the boys to Front Royal. He said they would be back in the morning and you were to be in charge until then.”
“Then I guess Dago and me’ll go hunting. Want to come?”
He looked down at the ground. “I don’t think Dago likes me very much and I’m not very good at hunting anyway.”
“Forget what others think and, as for hunting, the more you do it, the better you get.” I hesitated. “I would like you to come.” My ma had always said that simple acts of kindness are the best. I think it is true. Cecil’s face lit up like a new dawn and he nodded.
Dago just shrugged when I suggested hunting with Cecil. “Just so long as you don’t get your skinny ass in my sights; I might just think you are a squirrel.”
“Don’t pay him no mind Cecil. You’ll do just fine and he couldn’t hit a squirrel unless it jumped in front of his sights and surrendered!”
We took our Henry carbines. They did not have the long range of a rifle but in the trees of the forest they were better. They had a much shorter barrel. We headed downstream with the wind in our faces. I led with Dago to my right and Cecil to my left. It was late autumn and almost winter. There was still a cool feel to the air in the mountains but the land still had islands of green growth from the summer. I soon saw the tracks of the deer. There looked to be a small herd and I held my hand up to go a little slower. Just ahead I noticed some berries. They looked nothing like the berries we had in Ireland but something had been nibbling them. I assumed deer and I slowed down even more. There was juice dripping from some of them. There was a powerfully pungent smell, and it wasn’t deer. Suddenly a brown bear with two cubs rose up in front of me. In an instant I knew that the berries had been the fodder of bears and not deer and the bears had come upstream while the deer went down. None of that helped me as she sprang towards me. I half turned and fired at her. The bullet hit her chest but she kept coming. I loaded another shell and then I heard Cecil’s Henry from behind me. He fired four well placed shots and they all struck her head. Even though she was dead, she still managed to collapse on top of me, her blood pouring over my face and her weight crushing me.
“Get this damn bear off of me!”
I heard Dago’s laconic voice as the two of them joined with me to push off the beast. “You’re still alive then eh, Lucky Jack.”
As it was heaved from me I said, “Yeah. Thanks to Cecil. I owe you my life, Cecil.”
He was so embarrassed that he looked to the ground and shuffled form side to side. “Yeah Irish! They were four damn fine shots. You’ll do!”
Cecil suddenly seemed to grow about six inches at that praise. The two cubs had raced off into the brush. Their size led me to believe that they would survive. There were plenty of berries and fish for the cubs. The bear would provide us with some good eating and a bear skin for the winter. We had discovered just how cold it could get in the Blue Ridge in December and January.
The beast was skinned, butchered and cooked by the time the rest of the company had returned. Jed looked unhappy that he had neither shot nor cooked the bear but everyone was surprised that it had been Irish who had saved the day. From that day on he was accepted, despite his occasional temper tantrums.
“We can sort of celebrate tonight. General Stuart was real pleased with our prisoner. I don’t think they will learn anything from him but it must have upset them that the man they sent to capture us was captured by us. He said to thank the boys who did it. When I told him your names, Dago and Jack, he didn’t seem surprised. He just said that he was in your debt again.”
Dago added dryly, “I can’t see when the hell he is gonna pay the debt seeing as how he is always on the other side of the state.”
“You never know Dago; one day he might be able to do something for you.” He shook his head as though to clear it. “Anyway the other reason for the celebration is that we are heading north of the Potomac!”We all cheered. North of the Potomac was Yankee country. “It seems John Mosby has this area nailed!” We all jeered. There was, what one might call, sibling rivalry between us. He waved his arms to calm us down. “The thing of it is, I don’t mind. We know the land north of the river. They won’t have any patrols looking for us and we have more freedom to do what we want. We can really hurt the Yankees.”
I wasn’t certain. We would not be able to get any loot to the quartermaster and there would be no Mulligans or other patriots to shelter us. But he was our captain and we followed him wherever he led. Lieutenant Murphy, Danny, was standing close to me. “Don’t you worry Jack. We could all end up being shot by a firing squad but Lucky Jack will fall in a shithole and come up smelling of roses.”
I shook my head, “Don’t you start, Danny. It’s bad enough the rest but you know there is no luck of the Irish.”
“Don’t give me that! A gun misfires when the Yank has you dead to rights. A bear stands up in front of you and the worst shot in the company saves your life. You are lucky and then some!”
The following day was spent in preserving as much meat as we could and packing away the tents. We left in the afternoon so that we could travel at dusk. We weren’t far from the river but we wanted no witnesses to our crossing. We headed towards Leesburg; we all knew that it was dangerous but we counted on the fact that we would travelling to the north and over the wooded ridge which ran parallel to the Blue Ridge. We were heading for Balls Bluff. We had crossed the ford over the Potomac there before. There was an island in the middle and the swim was not that bad. At this time of year we hoped that it would not be too cold but we had done it enough times to know that it would not last long.
I rode next to Danny as we headed north of the Potomac. We used White’s Ford. We had crossed easily enough and avoided any of the enemy patrols that were in the area. Yankee cavalry were very predictable and they liked to keep together in larger groups than we did. It made our job much easier. Captain Boswell said the reason they used large companies was because they feared us. That may have been true. Every prisoner w
e took seemed in awe of us. We steered clear of the houses and then crossed the Potomac, swimming the last part. We had time to stop and check cinches and girths. “You know, Danny, I have travelled these roads before. Apart from the mountain ridge which runs to the west of Gettysburg and Frederick there isn’t a great deal of cover. Where are we going to operate and what is our target?”
“I think the captain would like to disrupt the supplies up here. Do something with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. After Antietam the generals thought that it would be possible to invade the north.” He shrugged. “I’m with you on this. The last place we want to get caught is north of the river.” We remounted. “You say there is a mountain area to the west?”
“Yeah Dago and I hid there when we rescued Stuart’s nephew.”
“I’ll see if the captain will base us there. We would have further to go each day but at least we would have somewhere to hide if they decided to come looking for us.”
The forty man company twisted and turned along small trails as we headed north. Every step took us further from friends and closer to foes. What made it worse was that Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had retreated south of the Potomac. I felt very uneasy about this patrol.
Chapter 2
We reached the outskirts of Frederick well before dawn. Captain Boswell waved me and Dago forward. “You guys know this area?”
“Yeah. We even ate with a Yankee officer in the town.” I looked at the captain and spoke slowly so that he would not misinterpret my words. “It is full of Yankees sir. They have checkpoints at either end of town and here is where they base the guys trying to catch us.”
He grinned at me. “I get it Jack. Danny told me about your worries. I do not intend to get us killed. You and Dago take us around this burg and find that mountain you were talking about.”
“Yes sir!”
We followed the main road until it turned north towards Frederick and then Gettysburg. When we reached the railway track I knew exactly where we were. The captain made us halt at the tracks and it did not take a mind reader to work out that he was reconnoitring for an ambush. We shadowed the Boonsboro road for a while and then, as the sun broke behind us, I pointed at the mountain range rising ahead of us. “There we are sir.“
“Well done, Jack. Find us a camp hidden from the trails and I’ll be a happy man.”
Dago pointed towards the south west. “Didn’t we camp over there? There was a nice spring as I recall.”
“You are right. Let’s head there.”
As soon as we saw it we remembered it. We had chanced upon it the first time but had we searched for weeks we could not have found a better hide out. There was a small dell with trees for cover. The ridge above us was dotted with rock and small bushes from which sentries could observe the land for miles around. Most importantly, the camp was a number of miles from any track and any habitation. No one would stumble upon us accidentally; if they found us then they were searching for us.
We erected our tents in the four sections we used. There were ten of us in each section. Dago and Jed, as the two corporals were used when we needed to divide one of the sections further. I had two of the new men in my sections, Jacob and Wilkie. I had been disappointed when Colm and Geraghty, the two new Irish lads had been placed in Danny’s section. The captain had said, jokingly, “We can’t have all the Irish in once section, now can we? We have to spread the luck around.”
I knew he was right but it was galling as both the Irish lads showed greater competence and skills than the other recruits. And I had remembered how long it had taken me to make a soldier out of Cecil. It took Danny less than a week and then they looked like veterans. Still it meant we had good craich around the fire at night. As we were finishing putting the tents up the two of them wandered over. They had joined with Jacob and appeared to be friends. “So the lieutenant was telling us that you and Dago were hiding out here last year?”
“Aye. We had freed a prisoner from Gettysburg and the Yankees were hot on our trail. It’s a nice quiet place and that spring is as sweet a taste of water as you could wish.”
“Will we be working around Gettysburg then?”
“I don’t know Geraghty. The captain sort of makes his mind up as we leave the camp. It makes for an exciting life. I dare say we will go on four patrols and see what we can find. We will only be here for a month at the most. Any more than that and the Yankees will spot our new trails.”
“Where will we go then?”
“I told you, it depends on the captain’s mood, the weather, who knows? In the Wildcats you have to learn to think on your feet.”
The next morning I was proved correct as the captain sent us north, south, east and west to reconnoitre and scout the land around our new camp. Our mission was simple: don’t get seen and find juicy targets. As I said to Wilkie as we rode east, “That’s easier said than done.”
I liked to ride with the new men to get to know them. As I had discovered with Cecil, there were many stories behind their enlistment. Wilkie’s was much like mine. He had been orphaned during an outbreak of fever and had had to live on his wits in Baltimore. The authorities and the police in that town had made life hard for the boy without a home and without money. He had had to resort to stealing and then fled south when he was almost caught. He had joined the Confederacy out of expediency rather than a belief in the cause. I, too, was there because of reasons other than political ones but all of us fought just as hard as the patriots like Captain Boswell.
We headed south towards Brunswick. I felt lucky in that I knew the area well but I was taking no chances. Dago was with the captain and I had to rely on my relatively inexperienced section. I gave Cecil his chance and hoped that his recent successes would give him more confidence. “Cecil, you ride half a mile ahead. Wave your hat if you see trouble.” We were wearing a collection of slouch hats to make us look less obviously Confederates. A single rider had more chance of escaping notice but the rest of us riding together would identify us clearly as Confederates.
I turned to my most experienced men, “Jimmy and Davy, you ride half a mile to the rear.” They knew what was expected of them. When we rode through open ground or trees they made sure that the trail was as little disturbed as possible. When we rode on the pikes and roads they would stop frequently to listen for the sounds of others using the roads.
Cecil halted us close by a stand of trees overlooking Brunswick just after we had crossed the Burkittsville Road. The heights above the town gave us the opportunity to dismount and look at the Union town in relative comfort and safety. “Feed your horses and give them some water. Jacob and Wilkie, keep watch for anyone coming up to the trees.” When Davy and Jimmy reported that our rear was safe I could relax a little. I chewed on some dried bear meat as I slithered towards the rocks just below the tree line. I took off my hat and took out the pencil and paper I carried. Dago had told me that when the map maker Jedediah Hotchkiss travelled making maps he always had a pencil and paper to draw quick sketches of what he saw. I found it a useful practice and helped me to make better reports to the captain.
There were a pair of guns on the bridge which led to the Berlin Pike and they looked to be manned by about forty men. The guns were Parrot Rifles. I could see no sign of stables, which was a good thing, as it meant that there were only infantry there. There were some large warehouses close to the river. I would suggest a night visit to investigate them when I returned to the captain. I slid down to the men. “Mount up. Bert, you take the point. We will head down towards the river. Ride east but be careful. There are Yankees down there.”
The bluffs rose to about four hundred feet above the river and we rode half way up to avoid being seen against the skyline. The trees were both a help and a hindrance. They hid us but they made it difficult to see long distances. Suddenly Bert rode in waving his hat.
“Sarge! There’s a railway line at the bottom of the bluff. Real close to the river.”
“That will be the Baltimore and
Ohio sarge.”
“Yeah I remember Jimmy. Let’s go and have a look eh?”
We left the trail and began to work our way down the hillside. It was not too steep and we weren’t trying to keep order so that we negotiated the many twists, turns and falls easily. I smiled at the grim determination on Cecil’s face as he clung on to the reins and leaned back as I had taught him. He would never be a confident rider but he was getting better.
Once we were in sight of the line I had the men dismount and left the horses with the two new men; much to their disappointment. “Half of you go with Jimmy and Davy. Head west. You are looking for any tool boxes, points or workmen’s huts.” I looked at Davy, “You know how far we need to check.” He nodded and led his half off. “You three come with me.”
This was the nerve wracking part. If a train came we would have to run for shelter and there was always a chance we could be seen. There could also be men repairing and inspecting the track. They would be equally dangerous. “Cecil and Bert, take the river side of the track.”
I noticed that it was just a single track at this point. I could see that it was probably too narrow for two sets of rails but that suited us. Any damage would close the line in both directions. As soon as I found the trackside toolbox I halted. It had a lock on it but we could smash that off. It looked to be an oiled and well used lock which suggested regular visits by the crews who maintained the line.