Bring the Boys Home (5 page)

Jeff marched on with the rest of the Confederates, and finally 26,000 men were paroled. But no one now thought of numbers or victory.

General Chamberlain wrote later of the ceremony, “On our part not a sound of a trumpet more, no roll of drum; not a cheer, not word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor emotion of man standing again at the order, but an odd stillness rather, and breath holding, as if it were the passing of the dead.”

And then it was done. Jeff marched away beside his brother, his eye on his father up ahead. He was thinking that those who had followed Lee for so long must now travel their own separate roads. He
wondered what kind of life would be left for him and for his family, and what they would make of the new.

Tom, still marching alongside Jeff, limping slightly from the inconvenience of his artificial leg, asked, “Did you see Royal?”

“Sure. He was looking right at us. It was funny, sort of. You two have been friends all your life. Now you’re wearing gray, and he’s wearing blue.”

Tom Majors looked down at his tattered uniform and shook his head. “Neither one of us will be wearing a uniform much longer. We’ll have to find something else to wear.”

But Tom’s thoughts were on Sarah, Royal Carter’s sister, whom he had loved for years. Now he was not only a man with just one leg—he was an ex-Rebel besides. Sadness came over him as he thought,
There’s too much against all of us. We can’t ever be what we would’ve been if it hadn’t been for the war
.

B
efore the Confederate army left Richmond, abandoning it to the Federals, they set fire to the city’s warehouses, and the fire quickly spread. Soon the streets were filled with a mob of thugs, thieves, prostitutes, army deserters, and convicts who had broken out of the penitentiary. All order broke down. To make matters worse, the city’s liquor supply had been emptied into the gutters, where rough-looking people immediately began scooping up the whiskey in buckets and pitchers.

Then Lee’s army streamed northward across the Appomattox, and as the last Confederate defender of Richmond galloped over the bridge, everyone then understood that the war was truly over.

Soon Federal troops filled the streets of Richmond. One fourteen-year-old girl, Francis Hunt, reflected in her diary, “The Yankees are behaving very well considering it is them.”

Abraham Lincoln decided to visit Richmond. Accompanied by his twelve-year-old son, he arrived unannounced. But as he was recognized, some black laborers fell to their knees and kissed his feet—which Lincoln helplessly protested. Then they came tumbling and shouting about him, and the president stood a chance of being crushed.

Lincoln said only a few words. “You’re free,” he told them, “as free as air.”

One of the most touching moments in Lincoln’s life came when he paid a visit to Mrs. George Pickett, the pretty young wife of the Confederate general. Answering the door, Mrs. Pickett found a tall, gaunt, sad-faced man in ill-fitting clothes standing outside.

He said, “I’m Abraham Lincoln.”

When she gasped, “The president!” he said, “No, Abraham Lincoln, ma’am. Just George’s old friend.”

Lincoln took the Picketts’ ten-month-old son, kissed him, then handed the child back, saying, “Tell your father that I forgive him for the sake of your bright eyes.”

“Well, the house is still there,” Colonel Majors said, heaving a sigh of relief. “I was afraid it might have been burned by some of the rabble.”

Jeff and Tom and their father had walked all the way back from Appomattox to Richmond, for no ride had presented itself. When Tom protested that it was a shame for an officer to have to walk, his father said, “I’m not an officer anymore. We’re all paroled out. Remember, there
is
no more Confederacy.”

Now, as they anxiously approached the familiar white frame house, Nelson cried, “Hello! We’re back!”

Instantly the door burst open, and Eileen came running out, her red hair unbound and catching the April breeze. She threw herself into his arms and pressed her face against his chest. She was sobbing. “You’re back! You’re back! I was so afraid!”

He patted her shoulders and held her tightly. “It’s all right, Eileen,” he whispered. “We’re all right now. The war is over.”

Jeff got an equally ardent welcome, for Leah ran out of the house next. She threw herself at Jeff,
knocking him off balance. He had to hold onto her to keep from falling down. She was sobbing too.

“Now,” he muttered, “there’s no sense to make such a fuss.”

Leah looked up at him, tears running down her face. “We were so afraid. We heard rumors that the whole army had been killed.”

“Why, that’s foolish!” Jeff said. He felt strange holding Leah in his arms like this. She was not a little girl any longer but a grown young lady. He hardly knew how to speak to her. “Well, I’m all right,” he said finally.

Tom was grinning. “You don’t have to hold her any longer.” He had picked up Esther, who was squealing and holding onto his neck and pulling at his cap. “He tried to get himself shot so you’d feel sorry for him and make a hero out of him,” Tom teased. “But he couldn’t get in the way of a bullet.”

“Don’t make fun, Tom!” Leah said quickly. Her lip was quivering, and she stepped back with her cheeks reddened. She was visibly embarrassed now by the way she had greeted Jeff.

Eileen pulled herself free from her husband, saying, “Come inside the house. We want to hear everything that’s happened. There’s not much left to eat, I’m afraid, but we can scrape up something.”

The women found five eggs, bits and pieces of bacon, two loaves of bread that Leah had baked the day before, and a jar of blackberry jam.

“Why, this is a feast,” Nelson said, after he had asked the blessing over the simple meal. “We haven’t had a meal this good since … well, I don’t know when.”

“Tastes good, doesn’t it, Pa? I don’t reckon I have to call you ‘Colonel’ anymore, do I?” Jeff asked.

“No, not anymore!” His father reached for a slice of bread. “I thank God that we’re all safe.”

Tom was nibbling at a piece of bacon. “Not many families got through without losing a single man. God’s been extra good to us.”

Quiet fell, and Jeff could sense happiness all about the table at that moment.

After the meal, Tom took Esther outside to play, and Jeff, seeing his father looking at his new wife, whispered to Leah, “Let’s go down to the pond.”

“All right, Jeff.”

They sat on a log by the water.

“I didn’t mean to grab you like that, Jeff,” Leah apologized. She flushed. “I guess I just got carried away.”

“Aw, that’s all right. I’m glad to be welcomed home. Do it any time you want to.”

Leah’s eyes flashed at his teasing. She pushed at him.

“Look out! You’re going to push me off the log!”

The pond was still, but suddenly, near their feet, an enormous bullfrog croaked something that sounded like, “Yikes!” and with a mighty splash broke the quietness of the water.

Jeff looked at the rings spreading out over the pond. “I’ll come back and get you,” he promised the frog. “I haven’t had any good frog legs in quite a while.”

“Let’s go frogging tonight. We could use something different to eat,” Leah said.

“All right. The boat’s still here, if we can get a frog gig.”

“We have the same one we used last time.” Leah moved closer to him. “Tell me about what it was like at the surrender.”

Jeff stirred slightly, not wanting to talk about it, but he saw that she really wanted to hear. He recounted how the Southern troops had all lined up, and the Northern troops had presented arms to them.

“And guess who I saw as I was going to stack my musket.”

“Who? General Grant?”

“No, it was Royal.”

“Royal?
My brother?”

“He’s the only Royal I know. Yep, he was looking right at us, and he had Rosie and Drake Bedford right beside him. All three of them made it through.”

“Oh, how wonderful! I wonder if he’ll come to see us.”

“He will if he gets a chance. You know that.”

It was barely ten o’clock in the morning when Royal Carter knocked at the door of the white frame house. From inside, he heard Leah say, “I’ll go see who it is.”

She opened the door, cried, “Royal!” and threw her arms around his neck.

Royal laughed and held her close. “Hello, sis,” he said. “I brought some company.”

Leah untwined her arms and greeted Rosie and Drake.

Tom and Jeff rose at once and came over to shake hands. The boys had all known each other before the war.

“It’s good to see you, Royal—and all of you,” Tom said. “I saw you at the surrender.”

Royal could not speak for a moment. He had always admired Tom Majors more than any other man he knew. A lump came into his throat as he
said, “I’m glad you’re all right, Tom. I worried about you.”

“I worried about you too.”

“Well, everybody stop worrying.” Rosie grinned. “The war is over.”

Nelson Majors greeted the three Union soldiers he had known back in Kentucky. He introduced Eileen. Then everybody sat down, and Leah made sassafras tea and served the remnants of some cookies she had baked for Jeff and Tom the night before.

After they had talked a while, Nelson said, “I guess you fellas will be going back to Kentucky.”

“As soon as we can get there. We’ll be mustered out pretty quick, I imagine,” Royal said. “What about you, sir?”

“We haven’t made up our mind yet. I don’t see what we’re going to do. There’s not going to be any work anywhere with two million men suddenly turned loose out of the armies.”

Royal looked up quickly. He studied the face of the older Majors and then saw the same concern on the faces of his sons. “I don’t think there’s any problem about that, Colonel.”

“Not ‘Colonel’ anymore, Royal.” But then he asked curiously, “And what do you mean? There
is
a problem. There are lots of men just like me with nothing to go back to.”

Royal had been considering for some time the plight of those who had left the North and the border states to fight for the Confederacy. Especially he had thought of the Majorses. He glanced again at his friend Tom, who looked especially downcast.

“Why, you’re going back to Kentucky. There’s nothing else for you to do.”

Nelson looked up with surprise. “We can’t do that.”

“Can’t do it? Why not?”

“For one thing, there’s nothing there for us. We sold our place there, and now the money’s all gone.”

Royal shook his head emphatically. “I’m surprised at you, sir. You’ve got friends back in Kentucky.”

“I’ve got enemies too,” Nelson said abruptly. “Not everyone will want to see an ex-Rebel come back to Pineville.”

“I reckon that might be true,” Rosie spoke up, “but there’s lots of us that would. And I guess those of us that want you can convince those that don’t that they’re wrong.”

Tom said, “Thank you, Rosie. That’s a kind heart speaking.”

“But what Rosie says is true,” Drake broke in. “You spent all your life in Pineville before the war. Now it’s over. It’s time to put it behind us. I think you ought to go back.”

Royal saw Leah look eagerly at Jeff, and then everyone studied the face of Nelson Majors.

Eileen said, “It might be best, Nelson.”

But he still seemed unconvinced. “We’ll just have to think about it, Royal—but I appreciate what you’ve said.”

After the three Federal soldiers left, Leah said, “Royal is right, sir. My family would all be glad to see you come back.”

“I’d be coming back a beggar,” he said. “We don’t even have the money to
get
to Kentucky.”

“Well, God’s got the money,” Jeff said. “Let’s do it, Pa! There’s nothing here for us in Virginia. Just
bad memories about this war. Let’s go back to the hills where we came from.”

Jeff’s father stared at him, then shifted his gaze to his older son. “What do you think, Tom?”

“I agree with Jeff. There’s nothing for us here.”

Silence fell over the room as everyone watched the face of the tall, dark-haired man wearing the ragged uniform of a Confederate colonel.

Finally he took a deep breath, expelled it, then nodded. “All right, we’ll go to Kentucky.”

Jeff cried, “Hooray!” He picked up Esther and tossed her into the air. “You’re going to Kentucky, Esther!”

“Kentucky!” Esther cried and squealed as Jeff tossed her again.

Eileen laid a hand on Nelson’s shoulder. “We’ll be all right,” she said. “I’d rather our child would be born away from here.”

“We won’t have much. I don’t know how we’ll make it.”

“God will make a way.”

“When can we go, Pa?” Jeff said.

Now that the decision was made, it appeared Nelson Majors burned to get away from all the bad memories of Petersburg and Richmond. “I guess we’re ready for sunup in the morning.”

Leah squeezed Jeff’s hand. “We’ll all go together, Jeff. It’ll be just like it used to be,” she whispered.

“I don’t think it could ever be that,” he whispered back. He smiled at this glorious young woman who had grown up in the few years since they had left Kentucky. “But I’ll be glad to get back home.”

T
he departure from Richmond did not take place as easily as Nelson Majors had hoped. Although General Grant had assured soldiers rides on public transportation, the trains overflowed with men trying to get home. Many set forth walking, but Nelson knew that this would not do for his family. Eileen had to have something better than a walk back to Kentucky.

For two days he worried about how to get a wagon, horses, some means of transportation. He said little to the family, but he was gone most of those two days trying to arrange something. When he came back home at the end of the second day, however, he was greeted by an old friend, Uncle Silas, Leah’s elderly uncle.

“Silas! You’re back!”

“I surely am, boy, and just in time to do a job, it seems.”

Silas had a fine white beard and bright blue eyes. He had had the good fortune to put his money into Northern stocks before the war, so that now the fall of the Confederacy had not bankrupted him.