Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
The End
Chapter One
I woke up in pain. As I looked around, I saw that I was with a bunch of wounded men in a big room and my left arm was bandaged up. I wondered how long I had been here.
A doctor started examining me and I asked him, “How long have I been here, Doc?”
“Two days, Sergeant. How do you feel?” he asked.
“Terrible,” I replied.
He spoke to a corporal; soon after the corporal brought him a small glass container and a glass of water. The doctor told me to open my mouth, so I did. He put some powder in my mouth and then he held up my head and told me to drink the water. He then told me that he would be back in five minutes. When he came back, I was in a daze. He then started to remove the bandage from my arm. When he finished, he told me that my arm looked good.
I looked over at my arm and said, “It looks short.”
He then started to sprinkle some Sulphur on my wounds and then it hit me, I was missing part of my arm.
“What happened to me?” I asked.
“A shell took your lower arm off,” the doctor replied.
I must have passed out. The next time I came to, a man came over and fed me some soup. I dozed off again wondering who I was, I could not remember. When I woke up, my mind was cleared from the effects of the powder. A man was going around with a tray with slices of bread; he saw that I had my eyes open and came over and handed me a slice. I started eating right away, I was hungry; it had some lard on it and it tasted good. He then went to try and find some more customers. When he came back, he gave me another slice.
“How are you feeling, yank?” he asked me.
I just realized that these were all Confederate soldiers; I wore blue. I looked down and I still had my shoes on. I could see that they cut some of my left sleeve off and pushed up the rest above my bandage. I was slowly starting to get my wits about me and I realized that I must have messed my pants and it started to bother me. When I sat up, I could smell myself and I wanted to clean up. As I stood up I got very dizzy, but once the dizziness cleared, my mind cleared a little more too. I took a few steps and grabbed onto a post. I stayed there for a minute and then made my way to the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a rebel corporal asked me.
I told him, “I must have messed myself and I need to clean up.”
I looked around and saw a creek. I then asked the corporal to help me down the steps so that I could make my way down to the water. He helped me and told me not to go far. As I went down to the creek, he kept a close eye on me. I walked into the water. I was still a little unsteady, but could feel my strength slowly returning. The powder’s effect was almost completely gone and my left arm was throbbing. I let down my suspenders and sat on a rock. I then started to wash myself with the cold water. I wanted to clean out my pants, so I started to look around for something I could use. Just then the corporal came down to check on me.
I said, “Corporal, be a good rebel and give me a couple of handfuls of weeds.”
He handed me a few handfuls and I started to scrape my pants clean. As he handed me another handful, someone called out to him and he left. I worked away at my pants and started to wash them out with my hand. Once I had them clean, I stood up and pulled them up. I noticed that I had on a money belt. I then pulled up my suspenders and buttoned up a couple of buttons.
When I came out of the water, I leaned against a tree to rest for a moment. I then saw two Confederate officers ride up; one was covered in blood and the corporal went out to help him. Just then shelling started. Several rounds hit close by. They sounded like heavy Napoleons; then I heard some Parrott guns firing. I started back towards the hospital but I was still quite weak, so I stopped to rest at another tree. As I looked at the hospital, I noticed that it looked like a schoolhouse. Just then it took a direct hit. I made my way to the hospital and looked inside, it was a mess; everybody was dead. The doctor was inside, along with the officers and the corporal. There was nothing but death. I looked down and saw a box of sulfur that the doctor must have been carrying and I picked it up. As I bent down, I saw that a captain had a pistol in his belt. I took the pistol and put it behind my suspender.
“Is there anybody here?” I called out. I listened intently, but heard nothing but silence.
I sat down on the steps and saw two horses that were about 150 feet away. I went over to them and lifted up one end of the saddlebag on the Arab’s Texas saddle and put the sulfur and gun inside it. I then tied the other horse’s reins to the horn with a couple of one-handed half hitches. I figured it was now or never, so I put a foot in the stirrup and heaved myself up and slowly rode out of there. The second horse looked like a Morgan. It had two pistols in saddle holsters fastened in front of the saddle. I walked the horses towards the cannons and we rode into to some nearby woods. My arm was hurting so bad that I had to stop. After a while we started again.
When we got to a creek, I stopped, got off the horse, and tied the reins to my ankle. I then got the bedroll off of the saddle, rolled it out, laid down, and passed out. When I woke up, it was early morning and I felt better. I looked at my arm and saw that there was very little blood on the bandage. I figured that I had better leave it alone. I rolled up the blankets the best I could and put the bedroll behind the saddle; it hung down on both sides, but I could not help that. I then made the strap fast.
I started walking and let the horses get some grass. I was trying to figure out who I was and where we were. All I could remember was the schoolhouse, the doctor, the corporal, and the things that had happened the last three days. I could not remember anything before I woke up in the hospital. It was all blank. “I must have lost my memory,” I told myself. I stopped grazing the horses and opened up the saddlebag. There was a piece of dried bread inside, so I ate it and went on.
All of a sudden, I realized that I was hearing voices. There was a clearing in front of me with a house and barn. I was lined up with the back of the barn. I wanted to get closer, so I tied up the horses and pulled out the saddle pistol from the Morgan horse’s saddle holster and checked the loads. I put the gun behind my suspender and walked up to the barn. There were some people arguing over a mule. I looked around the corner and saw an old Negro holding the mule. A Confederate captain was sitting on a horse, along with a corporal and another soldier. They were demanding the mule from an old farmer.
The old man insisted that they could not have the mule and he was holding a rifle. The soldier next to the corporal pulled out a pistol and shot the old man. I stepped out, pulled my gun, and shot the private. The captain and the corporal pulled their guns, but I just kept shooting and got them all. I went over to the old man and he looked up at me. A little girl came running saying, “Grandpa, are you hurt?”
The old man reached for my arm and I went down on my knee. I knew he was going. I laid my pistol down and let him hold my hand, he whispered,
“Please take care of my girl, please.” Then the light went out of his eyes and his hand let go of mine and fell. I knew that he was dead.
I took the little girl’s hand and said, “Honey, he is gone.” She was heartbroken and started sobbing. I told the Negro to hold the horses and asked his name. He told me it was Moses.
“Where can we hide these horses?” I asked Moses.
He told me that they had a corral in the woods, so I told him to take the horses and hide them but to leave the saddlebags.
The little girl was crying, so I held her for a little while. Then I went after my horses and followed Moses.
When we got to the corral, there was another mule inside. I asked him to unsaddle all four horses and to bring my saddlebags and all of my blanket rolls over to the house.
When I got back, the little girl was still crying. I asked her what her name was she told me it was Mary. I asked her to come inside and she did. They had a two-room house with very little in it, just two bunks with some old blankets. I asked her for some water and she brought me some in a cup. I told her that I was very weak and that I had just lost my arm. Moses came in and I told him to take the mule with him and put it in the corral. I told Mary that I was sorry that I was not able to save her grandpa, I was just too late. She looked at me and asked who I was.
“Just a soldier, a wounded soldier,” I told her. “Where is your mother?”
“She is dead and so is my father. I only had Grandpa.”
“How old are you?” I asked
“Eight, it’s in the bible.”
“I am kind of lost, what is the nearest town called?” I asked her.
“Tuscaloosa.”
“How far are we from Tuscaloosa?”
“Half a day in a wagon,” she answered.
“Which way?” She indicated to the north. “Are there any troops in this area?”
“We see some every once in a while,” she answered.
Moses came back in with the other saddlebag and blankets. I asked him to bring in all of the fallen guns from outside. I also asked him to dig two graves, one for the troopers and one for Grandpa. It took him a long while. When he was finished, he came in and told me he was ready. I went out with him and looked at the rebels. The captain had a nice pair of boots on, so I told Moses to take them off him. I had him take everything out of all their pockets and I instructed him to take the captain’s jacket off him. He took the jacket, pants, and socks; they were like new. We put the rest of him in the hole. The other two were dirty, but I asked Moses if he wanted their clothes since he was in rags. After he took everything off them, we put them in the hole and Moses covered them with dirt.
Moses also dug a grave for the old guy. I told Moses to go through his pockets and bring everything inside. I went over to the old man’s bunk and got a blanket, which seemed to be just as old as he was, and laid it on the ground beside him. We then rolled him onto the blanket and dragged him over to the grave.
I went in and asked Mary where her bible was and she got it for me. I tried to find a place to read, but my mind did not work. Helping Moses drag the old man took too much out of me. I told the girl that I would have to do this later, I was too dizzy. After I rested a little, I told Mary to bring me the bible and we went out.
Moses had Grandpa in the grave and I said the Lords prayer and Moses started to cover him up. Little Mary was heartbroken; I held her with my good arm and then walked her back to the house. I asked her to spread one of the blankets on her Grandpa’s bunk, and I lay down and rested. I asked Mary to take everything out of the saddlebags to see if there was any food. She told me that they had some lard, flour, and cornmeal.
“Do you want me to cook something?” she asked.
“Let’s see what is in the bags first,” I told her.
She slowly took everything out and we found some coffee, salt, and beans. One bag had a big bundle of jerky, so I took a piece of that and chewed on it. Moses came in and wanted to know if I wanted anything from him and called me Master Sir. I gave him some of the jerky and he thanked me and he went out. I asked Mary where he slept and she said in the barn. I then laid down on the blanket and went to sleep.
It started to rain outside and it thundered. Mary came over and lay down next to me. When I awoke in the morning, she was snuggled up against me. I sat up and she asked me where I was going.
“I’m going to try and shoot a deer and look at the horses. I will be back in soon,” I assured her.
I picked up one of the pistols that was loaded and put it in my pants behind the suspenders. I went off towards the horses and before I got half way there, I spotted two deer. I shot the buck. I saw that Moses was up and he made his way towards me. I told him to bleed out the deer. After he cut the deer’s throat, he then started to drag it. I asked him why he was dragging the deer. He told me that he was going to skin it out right there. He told me that they had two pigs and they would have a feast on the deer’s insides. I told him that was great and walked over to the horses and they were fine, so I came back.
Mary was out there with some pots catching everything that Moses gave her. I told Moses to hang the deer in the barn and then he could cut it up later. I asked Mary if she liked liver for breakfast. She said she liked everything from a deer. We had some bacon from one of the saddlebags, so we fried some liver in bacon grease and had a great feast. I still could not eat too much, but I had two slices that Mary cut for me. It gave me a lot of strength.
I told Mary that I was going to ask Moses if he could wash my clothes for me. I then I asked her if she would be able help me out of my clothes. She said she would help me, so I had her take off my shoes and the rags that were on my feet. The captain had another set of socks in his bag that were clean; so after I washed my feet, I put them on. I took my pants off and asked Mary to put them in some water to soak for a while, and I wrapped a blanket around myself.
When Moses came in, I asked him and Mary to sit down and I told them that when the shell took my arm off I got shell shocked and I didn’t remember my own name or where I was from. I asked Mary what her last name was; she said it was Tucker. I asked her if she would mind if I used the same name until I found out who I was.
“I don’t know what I should use for a first name,” I said.
“I like David,” Mary suggested, “Like my uncle.”
“Where is your uncle?” I asked.
“He died in the war.”
“Okay, let me be Uncle Dave then. We will work together and try to make something out of this place.”
“This is not our farm,” Mary told me. “This place belongs to the bank in town. They just let Grandpa have it for a while.”
“Do you like it here?” I asked her.
“No, but our house in town was burned down.”
“Okay, let’s stay here until I get my strength back. Then we will go someplace better.”
I asked Moses to wash my pants out and I asked Mary to help me with my shirt. After I had my shirt off, I asked her to get a wet rag and wipe me off in the back; I wiped myself in the front and I felt a lot better. Then I asked Mary to unwrap my arm and we put the bandage in a pot of warm water. I left the bandage off for a while. It felt better with it off. The bandages were drying over by the stove, so I got Mary to take the sulfur and sprinkle it on the wound; I lay down so she could do it. We wrapped it back up and it did not feel so bad. I still had that deep pain, but I was learning to live with it. When my pants dried, I put them on, as well as my shoes.
I started to help Mary with things. We had Moses cut up some meat for stew and we put a big pan on the stove to cook. We did not have any vegetables to put in with the meat, so I figured we would have it as a soup. Mary said she could get some turnip greens to put in there, so I told her to get some. That was going to be supper.
Chapter Two
With Mary’s help, I loaded up
all of the guns. We had two rifles, three carbines, two Colt Navy .36’s, and three Confederate Griswold and Gunnison .36’s, along with the old man’s rifle. I had plenty of guns, but of course, I could only use the pistols. I organized all of the ammunition, and we had plenty. Old Moses came by with a bunch of steaks from the deer. I asked him if he could make jerky and he said that he could. I had him smoke some back by the trees so that the smoke could not be seen far away.
When I laid down to rest, I arranged the pistols so I could get to them easily if needed. Then I took off my shoes all by myself and Mary helped me try on the boots that the captain wore. They were a little tight, but my feet were swollen. I was sure that they would fit me later. I lay down for a while and then got up to eat some meat soup and then lay back down again and went to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, I put on the coffee pot with some water from the bucket; I found a big spoon and put the coffee in. When Mary got up, I was drinking coffee. Moses came over and we had some steaks and coffee. Moses was all cleaned up. He washed out the clothes that he took off the two soldiers and they looked real nice on him. At least now he had some clothes.
After breakfast, I took a trip over to the woods where I took care of letting my pants down and up again and buttoning them up one handed, it was getting easier. I checked out the barn. They had an old wagon in there but two of the wheels would not last a mile. Their mule harness was good, so I figured when we go we would take it with us. I asked Moses if they had any packsaddles but they didn’t. I wanted to pack up a lot of things, but I needed to haul them for quite a ways. They had some water bags, a shovel, a bucket, a lamp, a can of kerosene, and all of the kitchen things. I did not want to leave anything behind. I had an extra saddle, and we could put two sacks on it and some canvas that they had rolled up; so I figured on doing that. That left the two mules with nothing but the mule harness. I talked to Moses and asked him where we could get a couple of packsaddles, but he didn’t know.
That evening Moses came in and said, “I forgot, Master Dave, Sir, there is a dead horse back in the woods south of here with a saddle on it. We tried to take it off, but Master Tucker and I could not pull it free. We were going to go back with a mule to get it, but we never did.”
Sheriff Tucker Page 1