Freedom (Gone For Soldiers)
Page 39
May 24, 1865
Washington, D.C.
Unlike Meade, General William Tecumseh Sherman was unknown to most Washington dwellers, and so they came out in even larger numbers than the previous day. Sherman had also taken Quincy’s comment about camp followers to heart, so in addition to the 65,000 men of the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia, he was followed by the throng of people who had accompanied his army from Savannah and an enormous herd of livestock.
May 28, 1865
Orchard Hill Plantation, Virginia
Urilla put her bare foot in Johnny’s back and pushed. “Get up, lazybones.”
He grunted something and put his pillow over his head.
“If you don’t get up right now we’ll be late for church,” Urilla complained.
Johnny didn’t move.
She moved closer to him and nuzzled the back of his neck. “Or, maybe we could…”
“Yankees!” a woman outside the house shrieked in terror. “The Yankees are comin’! The Yankees are comin’!”
Urilla jumped out of bed and raced to Jefferson’s bedroom while Johnny struggled to put on his artificial leg and arm himself.
Urilla came back with Jefferson in her arms and peeked out the bedroom window. “Wait,” she said. “It may be okay.”
“What do you mean?” Johnny asked in a confused tone.
“There are women and children with them. And some of the men are wearing Confederate uniforms. “
“Let me look.” Johnny stumped to the window. “That’s my brother riding in front. And my Uncle Robert.” He laughed. “Glory!”
Urilla pointed. “That woman in the first wagon is my cousin Betty.”
“Good Lord. I was told that she looked just like you, but she’s fat. Very fat.”
“She’s pregnant,” Urilla giggled. “Very pregnant.”
“What?” He looked shocked. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She pointed. “Who’s the darky driving the wagon?”
“That’s no darky, Urilla, that’s Abe.” Johnny laughed out loud, then turned back into the bedroom. “Help me get dressed and I’ll go down and greet them while you dress.”
May 29, 1865
Washington, D.C.
Whereas the President of the United States, on the 8th day of December, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and on the 26 day of March, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, did, with the object to suppress the existing rebellion, to induce all persons to return to their loyalty, and to restore the authority of the United States, issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to certain persons who had directly or by implication participated in the said rebellion; and whereas many persons who had so engaged in said rebellion have, since the issuance of said proclamations, failed or neglected to take the benefits offered thereby; and whereas many persons who have been justly deprived of all claim to amnesty and pardon thereunder, by reason of their participation directly or by implication in said rebellion, and continued hostility to the government of the United States since the date of said proclamation, now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and pardon:
To the end, therefore, that the authority of the government of the United States may be restored, and that peace, order, and freedom may be established, I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant to all persons who have, directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except in cases where legal proceedings, under the laws of the United States providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged in rebellion, have been instituted; but upon the condition, nevertheless, that every such person shall take and subscribe the following oath, (or affirmation,) and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:
I, _______ _______, do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God.
The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this proclamation: 1st, all who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate government; 2nd, all who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; 3d, all who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confederate government above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy; 4th, all who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion; 5th, all who resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the army or navy of the United States to evade duty in resisting the rebellion; 6th, all who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States service, as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities; 7th, all persons who have been, or are absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion; 8th, all military and naval officers in the rebel service, who were educated by the government in the Military Academy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy; 9th, all persons who held the pretended offices of governors of States in insurrection against the United States; 10th, all persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States, and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the pretended Confederate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion; 11th, all persons who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United States; 12th, all persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement, or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval authorities, or agents of the United States as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offenses of any kind, either before or after conviction; 13th, all persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars; 14th, all persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's proclamation of December 8th, A.D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the government of the United States since the date of said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate.
Provided, That special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes; and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States.
The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefit to the people, and guard the government against fraud.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.
ANDREW JOHNSON
By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
June 30, 1865
Washington, D.C.
A military tribunal to try the Booth conspirators was ordered by President Andrew Johnson on May 1, 1865. Booth himself, while hiding in a Virginia farmer’s barn, had been killed by a soldier of the 16th New York Cavalry on April 26th. Those conspirators named by the tribunal were Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, David Her
old, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlin, Lewis Powell, Edmund Spangler, and Mary Surratt. Dr. Mudd’s involvement revolved around the simple fact that he’d treated Booth’s broken leg. Spangler’s was that he was a stagehand at Ford’s Theatre who had given Booth’s horse to a call boy while Booth shot Lincoln.
On June 30th, all the defendants were found guilty. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were sentenced to death by hanging; Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlin were sentenced to life in prison.
August 17, 1865
Waco, Texas
Tom and Jane were sitting at the kitchen table when Prudence burst in through the back door. “Come with me. Quick. You’ve gotta see this.”
Tom reached for his pistol.
“No, no, you don’t need that,” Prudence said. “Hurry. This is something you won’t ever see again.”
Tom and Jane ran out and followed Prudence along the riverbank toward the Chisholm turnpike where a huge crowd had collected around the ferry station.
“What is it?” Jane asked, trying to see over the heads of the people who were facing the Brazos River.
Tom stood on his toes. “There’s some kind of a long wagon train on the other side. It looks like they’re loading some people on barges to cross.”
“Make a hole, here,” Prudence shouted. “You people step aside and let the Van Buskirks through.”
To Tom and Jane’s amazement, the crowd began to part.
“Why is everyone smiling at us?” Jane asked nervously.
“I don’t know,” Tom said, taking her elbow.
“Hurry,” Prudence urged. “They’re on the way.”
Tom guided Jane through the crowd and out onto the ferry dock. Across the river, one of the smaller barges had just set out. Aboard it were three white men, a black man and three women. Three of the men were wearing faded blue uniforms, and the fourth man was wearing a tattered gray tunic over butternut trousers. One of the women had an infant in her arms and another woman was holding the hand of a little boy.
Jane gasped and put her fingers to her mouth. “Thank you, Lord.”
“It’s our family,” Tom said, in a choked voice. “They’re home.”
Prudence climbed onto the guardrail, looked back at the crowd and began to sing: “When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout, the ladies they will all turn out
And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.”
Jane and all the people around the dock joined in the next verse: “The old church bell will peal with joy, Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy, Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say, with roses they will strew the way,
And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.”
The End
Notes about historical accuracy:
This is a work of fiction set during a well-documented historical period. Conversations between actual historical figures are either fictional or have been taken from historical documents and newspaper accounts. Direct quotations of historical characters that were derived from written documents for use as dialog in these novels may have been minimally edited to flow conversationally.
Some fictional characters, particularly in battle settings, have been substituted for the historical characters so that the story can remain true to facts.
The issue of free versus slave states was very complicated, and the laws, territorial borders and names of the territories within the Louisiana Purchase and land ceded by Mexico after the Mexican War changed with every shift of political power. To simplify the story for the reader and avoid confusion, the commonly known territorial names may have been used such as New Mexico, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, before those names were official.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was not signed into law until 1854, but it had been proposed in spirit for over a decade before it was passed. The story line in Antebellum has moved the date forward in order to mix the events of Bleeding Kansas with similar slavery/anti-slavery movements and events, such as the Underground Railroad.
Malaria was known by a variety of names, including Mexican Fever and Swamp Fever, until after the Civil War. Malaria has been used in the text to avoid confusing the modern reader.
When several historical accounts of an event contradict one another, the author has chosen the prevalent version.
The sale of Van Buskirk Point to J.D. Rockefeller actually occurred after the Civil War. The graveyard was later moved to Long Island and was still being maintained by Exxon Corporation at the time of this writing.