Box Set: The ArringtonTrilogy (36 page)

Colonel Smith gave them strict orders not to
allow us to leave the plantation for any reason, and if we did need
to venture outside, we were to be followed. The soldiers especially
didn’t trust Hamilton and the other workers. His eyes narrowed onto
them and he held his musket close when they were near.

“Ain’t no slave driver to keep their Negroes
in control,” I heard him tell the younger soldier named Phineas
Barrows.

Phineas was the quietest of the three men; he
only spoke when spoken to. Sergeant Byron didn’t like Phineas at
all and bullied and taunted him when the colonel was elsewhere in
the mansion.

“I see you eyeing that pretty thing, Phineas.
Too bad you’ll never be good enough for the likes of her,” I heard
him say. “That kind only goes after men with class. And you ain’t
got none of that.”

The sergeant laughed to himself and leaned
against the front door. I was cleaning up after breakfast, trying
not to pay them any mind. They frightened me. It was all I could do
to sleep at night, thinking one would come in and have his way with
me. Sometimes I would hear the floorboards creaking from footsteps
outside my room, and then they would suddenly stop before my door.
I trembled while praying that they would leave me alone. I had
suffered enough, I explained to God. I prayed not to be violated
again.

Fortunately, none of the men found it
necessary to prey on me, but to my dismay, they taunted and
harassed Hattie, forcing her to become their personal slave.

“Come here girl and polish my shoes,”
Sergeant Byron ordered.

“Fetch me some fresh milk, girl,” Colonel
Smith barked.

Hattie was flustered, and it pained me to see
them abusing her so. When I finally found the courage to stand up
to them, I was immediately struck across the face and told to shut
up and mind my own business. I fell to the ground and clutched my
battered face as Hattie ran to help me up.

“Ain’t no need to hit her,” Phineas said.

“No girl is gonna speak to me that way!”

“ Ain’t no need to hit her,” he repeated.

“Mind your business, Phineas,” he said
sharply.

Phineas leaned down to help me, but Sergeant
Byron wasn’t going to allow him to show me any compassion. He took
hold of Phineas’ arm and pushed him away. I scooted away from the
fight, and then stood with Hattie’s assistance.

“Don’t you put your hands on me, Byron!”
Phineas ordered.

“Don’t you back talk to me,” Sergeant Byron
flared and put his fists up, “or I’ll sock you one straight in the
jaw.”

“I dare you!”

“You dare me, do you? All right then, you
asked for it.” He laid a punch straight into Phineas’ face. Phineas
wasn’t going to back down from the fight. He immediately swung back
at the sergeant but he missed, and Sergeant Byron began to
laugh.

“Quit your laughing!” Phineas shouted as he
dabbed the blood from the corner of his lip.

“What is all this commotion about?” Colonel
Smith barked.

“That Negro girl wasn’t obeying me!” Sergeant
Byron lied. “And Barrows here was sticking up for her.”

“Is that so, Corporal?”

“No, sir. It ain’t so,” he replied, standing
at full attention.

The colonel turned and pointed to Hattie and
asked, “Were you disrespecting my men?”

“No, sir,” she said in a quivering voice.

He stared at her for a moment, unconvinced. I
reached for Hattie’s hand and squeezed it tightly, just like years
before when we were in school and Mr. Giles was about to lash out
at her. We both sensed the jeopardy Hattie was in.

“Byron, take her outside and show her and all
these folks what will happen if they disobey an officer of the
Confederate Army.”

“NO!” I screamed as they dragged Hattie away.
“LEAVE HER ALONE!”

The colonel strode behind them while Phineas
was ordered to hold me back.

“I’m just doing what I am told,” he said
solemnly. “Just stay still, Miss Arrington. For your own good.”

Outside she was stripped naked and tied to a
tree, for all to witness what would happen if we disobeyed the
soldiers. Hattie’s screams of terror rang out, and I stood
helplessly listening to her cries with each lash of the whip she
endured.. Corporal Byron held Hamilton back at gunpoint and ordered
Eugenia to stay and watch. Mammy begged for them to stop, but her
pleas went ignored.

Phineas allowed me to cover my ears and bury
my face in his chest as the whipping went on.

“The Arrington’s will no longer refuse to
comply with the rules, for if you do, each one of you will endure
the same punishment!” Colonel Smith announced for all to hear, then
struck another blow with the whip to Hattie’s back. She let out a
bloodcurdling scream, and then she went silent.

“Untie her,” Colonel Smith ordered.

Phineas released his hold on me and I ran
outside. Mammy cradled Hattie, while Eugenia rushed out with a
blanket to shield Hattie from more humiliation.

“Remember what I said. Any one of you will be
punished. Even the pregnant girl is not safe from a whipping!”

Day after day we were prisoners in our own
home, waiting for Warren to appear so we could regain our freedom,
whatever was left of it. The soldiers spoke of the Union’s
victories and their steadfast pace toward controlling the
South.

“We will fight to the end,” Sergeant Byron
stated during a meal.

In the distance we often heard the battles
and scuffles between the two armies. Our soldiers stayed concealed
at the windows under the drapes each night, muskets in hand,
prepared to capture Warren and take him off to prison or to counter
any attack. They took turns resting, sleeping only an hour at a
time. After nearly two weeks of this, they began to feel the
effects of sleep deprivation and became quite irritable.

Hattie recovered from her beating enough to
return to waiting on them. She surrendered all of her dignity, just
to appease them. She worked from sunup to sundown. The colonel
refused Mammy’s repeated requests to relieve Hattie of her duties
and have her tend to their needs.

“For now I want the pretty Negro to wash my
clothes and polish my shoes.”

“I can help,” I chimed in.

“You need to stay good and healthy for now.
Warren’s expecting to see you carrying his baby. That’s what he’s
returning for. You stay seated. Hattie girl can take care of us
just fine.”

The abuse and humiliation we all endured was
endless.

“You’re one of our own. Why don’t you treat
us with some respect?” she cried.

“Harboring a deserter don’t make you one of
us!” Sergeant Byron barked.

The men went through all Eugenia’s belongings
and stashed what they believed to be valuable away.

“When Thomas hears of this, heads will roll,”
she sobbed as they took away her possessions.

“Tell us where Warren Stone is, and you may
have your valuables back,” Colonel Smith replied.

“If I knew, believe me, I would tell
you!”

“No, Mrs. Arrington. I don’t believe you. Now
be quiet and keep yourself away. The pitch of your voice gives me a
headache.”

That evening there was a massive storm
brewing. The winds were violent, thunder clouds rolled in and bolts
of lightning struck the ground all around the plantation.

“Get those shutters closed up!” Colonel Smith
told Hamilton. “You two help him,” he said to his men.

“Right away, Colonel.”

The skies turned black, and I ran about
lighting the lamps, with Hattie’s help.

“I will light the upstairs lamps,” I
said.

The second floor windows hadn’t been closed
up. The rain had already flooded the floors to the rooms. Some of
the windows were swollen from the moisture and I couldn’t pull them
down. Outside, Hamilton hurried with the ladder and Sergeant Byron
climbed up, holding on tight, trying not to be blown off by the
powerful gusts.

“I can’t get this one closed,” I shouted over
the wind, as the rain struck my face.

“I will close the shutters over it.”

I stepped back and watched as he managed one
side, then slammed the other closed. The room became pitch black
and I waited for my eyes to adjust. It was then that I was grabbed
from behind. I screamed, but the thunder muffled my sound.

“Calm down, Amelia. It’s only me.”

“Warren!”

“Shhhhh,” he whispered, pressing his finger
against my lips to keep me quiet.

I quickly became enraged. “Do you realize
what you’ve put us through?”

“Please be quiet. Come with me,” he insisted,
and he took hold of my hand.

I snatched it away. “I won’t go anywhere with
you! They are here to take you to prison!”

“I know,” he replied flatly. “Is that what
you want? Do you want to see me hanged? You loathe me that
much?”

I sighed heavily and blinked my eyes to get a
better look at him.

“No, Warren. I don’t loathe you enough to see
you hanged.”

“Then come with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? You and I can get away. I have
connections. I can get us up north. I came back for you. In fact, I
never left.”

“What!”

“Please keep your voice down. I stayed hidden
at the Montgomery plantation all these months.”

“It was you there the night Hattie and I went
to the mansion. The night Jacob Thomas drowned.”

“I’m sorry for his dying. So many terrible
things have happened here at Sutton Hall, with the exception of my
falling in love with you and creating a child with you. I love you
so much, Amelia. I couldn’t find a way to leave you.” He began to
kiss me. I pushed him away, sickened by his affection.

“You’re carrying my child. Do you expect me
to ignore that? That baby is just as much a piece of me as it is
you.”

“Stop it, Warren. I want nothing to do with
you. You are a monster,” I cried and ran for the door, screaming
for help.

“Amelia, no!”

“Colonel Smith, Sergeant Byron. Warren is
here!”

Warren bolted past me and down the hall to
the flight of stairs and out the door.

Colonel Smith came bursting into the
room.

“He just ran out.”

“Who?”

“Warren Stone, for God’s sake!”

The colonel took off after Warren, out into
the storm, calling for his men. “After him!”

I began to shake in fear. A part of me was
relieved that Warren had come forth and would be captured. For
everything he had done to me, I wanted justice. Nevertheless, it
wasn’t easy watching him being dragged by the back of his collar,
covered in mud mixed with his own blood. His eyes were already
beginning to turn black and blue, his lip was bleeding and the
sides of his face were swollen. He was so beaten he didn’t even
resemble his former self.

Sergeant Byron tossed Warren on the floor of
the foyer and kicked him repeatedly in the stomach, until Phineas
restrained the sergeant from beating him to death.

“Let him face the judge. It’s his right.”

“He don’t deserve no rights. Deserters
shouldn’t have no rights,” Sergeant Byron huffed and spat on
Warren.

The men looked up at me and Sergeant Byron
said, “Have Hattie girl clean him up. We will be leaving first
light of day to take him to prison. No less than a week, I’m sure,
he’ll be tried, convicted, and hanged.”

~ ~ ~

It was all I could do not to be ridden with
guilt as I watched Hattie all night tending to Warren. He moaned in
pain and winced every time Hattie dabbed the soaked cloth against
his face to clean the dried blood away. Mammy came and checked in
on him, declaring he most likely had least a few broken ribs.

“Wrap him up as best you can,” she said to
Hattie. “Hamilton will cut up some bed sheets and bring them
up.”

Through the narrow slits of his eyes, Warren
continuously stared at me. Hattie gave me a look indicating that I
should come and help tend to him - because he wanted me to. As soon
as she handed me the cloth, I burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, Warren,” I sobbed and began
working on his wounds. “I should have just run off with you. I
don’t want to see you hanged.”

The cheery laughter and cigar smoke from
downstairs traveled to the second floor. The soldiers were
celebrating their capture, while Warren’s limp hand lay in mine as
he silently cried himself to sleep.

I stayed with him all through the long,
stormy night, only dozing for a moment or two in the chair as I sat
beside him. By the light of the new morning the rains were heavy,
and Colonel Smith announced that they would have to wait to travel
into Savannah with their prisoner. “The roads are flooded and
impassable. We will have to wait until tomorrow.”

In the light of day, Warren looked worse.
Eugenia had come in before dawn to give him some sleeping powders -
the kind Warren used to rape me, just so he could sleep
comfortably. My hands trembled as I lifted the drink laced with the
medication to his lips. Memories of confused nights being ravaged
by Warren came rushing back to me. He saw the anguish that remained
with me and mumbled, “I’m sorry,” just before he dozed off. Warren
was constantly apologizing to me, yet I couldn’t accept his
excuses, his reasons for taking me the way he did.

“I don’t know what came over me. You believe
me don’t, you? I am only a man, a simple man who gave into
incredible temptation. But if I had to do it all over again, I
swear I wouldn’t take advantage of you the way I did. I would be an
honorable man, one you would admire and want to be with. The kind
of man Patrick Arrington is.”

The hours crept by ever so slowly. Minutes
went by like days. The rain was relentless and added inches more
water to the already saturated ground. The men were becoming
restless as one day dragged into another and the rain would not
end.