Spake As a Dragon (11 page)

Returning to the wagons, they begin to
move southeast toward Washington, D.C. Robert was depressed and in
pain.
Why
, he though,
can’t I remember everything
?
Luke and Matthew, I know they are someone important to me, but
who exactly are they
?

He guessed their destination is about
40 to 50 miles away, but in these slow, mule pulled wagons, the
prison and a doctor is still four or five days down the
road.

Had Robert only known, his spirits
would have been lifted tremendously, since back in the wagon train
close to the rear rides his son Luke. Injured but alive; however,
Luke is but a name, unassociated with anything in his memory.
However, Robert and Luke seem to be heading to the same
destination.

Five days later the wagon train pulls
into a large tent city just a couple of blocks from the White
House. This city of tents has twelve rows of ten tents each. The
large tents hold twelve men; approximately 1200 to 1500 prisoners
can be accommodated at this one facility. The men are taken from
the wagons and assigned a tent. Ben and Robert are again bunkmates.
They are assigned the first tent in row two. At last, a couple of
medical attendants are sent by the Yanks to clean and dress the
wounds of the soldiers. Fortunately Robert’s, despite the harrowing
wagon trip, wounds have not become infected and are beginning to
heal.

“
How long yer figure,
Robert, ‘till them Yanks move us to our permanent home
place?”

“
I don’t know Ben, but
from the looks of this set-up I’m reasoning this may be our home
for awhile.”

Before Ben can respond they notice a
large hubbub occurring outside in front of their tent. The
orderlies and Union soldiers all seem to be hurrying to the
excitement.

Luke turns to the man lying in the
bunk next to him “Hey what’s all the commotion next
door?”

One of the men standing at the tent
flap answers, “Seems like someone important is visitin’ that thar
tent,” he says pointing at one of the tents. “Whos you reckon they
went to see?”

Turning his back to the man talking
Luke grunts and replies,

“
Huh! Don’t know, and
don’t care!”

“
It’s the President, it’s
President Lincoln. He’s come to visit us.” The fellow at the flap
hollers.

As Robert begins to respond the
soldier snapped to ramrod straight attention and yells in a loud
voice for all to hear, “A-TEN-SHUN!” Robert and Ben both turn and
look toward the entrance flap to their tent. There in the open flap
stands a tall, slender man, dressed in all black. The stovepipe hat
he is removing catches their eye, the soldier is right it is the
President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

Although Ben and Robert are
technically at war with this man, he after all WAS the President.
Old loyalties are hard to die, both men clicked their heels
together and stood, as the Union soldiers, ramrod straight at
attention too.

President Lincoln enters the tent;
speaks a word or two to the Confederate prisoners as he makes his
way down the aisle toward Ben and Robert. A Federal colonel leads
the Presidential party right up to Robert and stops. The colonel
looked directly at Robert and asks, “Are you Sergeant Robert
Scarburg?”

“
Uh, uh, yes
sir.”

The colonel speaks as he steps aside
allowing the President to advance, “The President of the United
States Abraham Lincoln wishes to have a word with you
Sergeant.”

President Lincoln extends his hand to
Sergeant Scarburg. Robert is shocked. Robert rubs his hand on his
britches in an attempt to clean it, then he shakes the President’s
hand. “Sergeant I understand your family has a long history of
military service. Proud, brave service to our United States. Your
grandfather served in the Revolutionary War and was hanged for his
loyalty, your father fought in the War of 1812 and you bravely
served in the Great Seminole Indian War, receiving a commendation
for bravery. The Congress of the United States granted you public
land as a token of America’s appreciation to you as an American
veteran for your service to your country, is this
correct?”

Robert hardly can speak; he can’t even
remember the people of whom the President spoke, he only muttered,
“Yes sir.”

“
Tell me Sergeant,” said
the President. “How many slaves do you own?” This statement struck
a nerve. He, for some reason, remembers he has no
slaves.

“
None Mr. President. I do
not believe a man has the right to own another person.”

“
And yet, Sir, you fight
for the right of slave owners to continue the dreadful act of
slavery!”

“
No, Mr. President I fight
for the South. I fight for my home state of Alabama. If it were in
my power, I would free all the slaves today. I would issue an
emancipation order proclaiming to all slave owners that on a date
appointed their slaves would be then and forever free; however, I
think the owners should be paid a fair price for what is now
legally their property.”

“
I see... you would free
all the slaves? Hmmm...,” the President scratches his beard as
though thinking. “And they tell me, Sergeant Scarburg, you were
wounded at Gettysburg, how you getting along? How’s the treatment
from our fellows?” Without waiting for an answer, “Speaking of
Gettysburg, I am being prompted to go to Gettysburg and dedicate
their military cemetery when it’s ready. You were there, albeit,
fighting against us,” said the President as he smiles and turns to
his entourage. Addressing Robert, “You have any thoughts on what I
should say in my dedication speech?”

“
Well...well,” Robert’s
brain is moving at breakneck speed he has to say something
intelligently to the President of the United States, “Well, Sir, I
saw a lot of good, brave men both Confederate and Union die at
Gettysburg. I think if I were you I would say as President, you
understand: I’m not able to dedicate this cemetery; I’m not even
able to consecrate this hallowed ground. I’d say the brave men,
those living and those dead, who struggled here, have consecrated
it, far above my power to add or detract. Then, I guess, I would
say something about the world will little note, or long remember
what is said here, but it can never forget what they did here. I
know, for a fact Mr. President I will never forget. Well, I suppose
that’s about all I would say.”

The President did not speak – one
could have heard a pin drop. After a moment, the President looks at
Robert and says, “Well said Sir, well said,” with a laugh he
continues, “I may need for you to go in my stead, Sergeant.” His
entourage breathes a sigh and breaks into laughter. “Sergeant, you
are an interesting fellow,” again he scratches his whiskers and
with a faraway look continues, “Yes, very interesting...uh, good
luck to you. I must say it has been a real pleasure meeting you. A
real pleasure.” With these words, the President and the group
following him turns and as swiftly as they arrived they swiftly
leave.

The last man has barely gotten outside
when Ben says to Robert, “What wuz that all about. I ain’t
never...I ain’t never...the President of these United States wuz
here, wuz right here next to me, talking to you...the President of
the United States...I ain’t never...”

Chapter
Fifteen

JAMIE ARRIVES

The soldier at the flap walks to
Luke’s bunk and sits down, “I hear’d a rumor on the way down from
one of them blue-bellies that we is being sent to sommers called
Point Lookout. You ever hear’d of that place?”

Luke turns over and sits up, “Point
Lookout, you say? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s in Maryland, I
believe. From what I have picked up it’s not high on the list of
prisoner camps to go to.”

“
You think we might have a
chance to escape?”

“
Naw, from what I can tell
Point Lookout is on a peninsula on the south end of
Maryland.”

“
Pen...penne...”

“
A peninsula, it’s just a
name for land that is surrounded on three sides with water. Kind of
an island, but not exactly, only one way in and only one way out.
It’ll be hard for us to get out of there I’m afraid.”

“
Hey,” a voice from the
tent entrance yells, “anybody here know a ugly, Alabama hick named
Luke Scarburg?” The soldier enters as Luke is turning to confront
the man who is calling him names.

Standing in the glare of the open flap
it is hard for Luke to identify the big mouth, then, “Well I’ll be!
If it ain’t Morefield!” He says leaping from his bunk and grabs
Jamie Morefield and hugs him tightly.

“
Whoa! Whoa, you are
talkin’ to a wounded man!” Jamie says grabbing his left arm and
laughing, “just a bullet through my arm didn’t hit no bone or
nothin’. They say I’ll be fine.”

They both sit down on Luke’s bed and
began reminiscing about the past year. Although, Luke is in Company
‘E’ and Jamie in Company ‘B’ they have not had many occasions to
see each other or visit. Jamie tells Luke he heard that Luke was
here in this tent and he came looking for him.

“
Jamie when’s the last
time we saw each other?”

“
I believe it was at
Shiloh.”

After Luke agreed, he begins to fill
Jamie in on his part in the Battle of Gettysburg. He explains how
his father, Robert is last seen lying hurt beside the boulder at
Devil’s Den and how he had to leave Matthew badly wounded at the
split rail fence at Emmitsburg Road. He thrust his face into his
hands, and tears formed in his eyes as he remembered them both,
both badly hurt yet he was unable to help them. He tells how he
asked everyone he came into contact with about both of them, but no
one had seen either after the battle.

“
Luke, I caught a bit news
that might get your hopes up. I heard that your Pa is alive. Last I
heard he was at one of them temporary hospitals out there in them
woods close to Gettysburg. One of the boys in my wagon comin’ down
here had been in there with him.”

“
What else Jamie? Who is
that soldier? I need to talk to him!”

“
Nothing more Luke, that’s
the only thang I know, but that’s good ain’t it? Yer Pa was alive,
but I ain’t heard nothing about Matthew. As fer as talking with my
mate in the wagon he died afore we got here. There’s one other
thang, but I don’t know if’n I should tell you. He said all the
wounded in the tent had black armbands.” Sorry about that news
Luke.”

Luke sits back up straight, slaps
Jamie on the back, “Black bands or not now I’ve got hope! Thank you
Jamie, thank you my friend.”

“
Luke, what you been
hearin’ ‘bout us stayin’ here for the rest of the war? You think
that might be right? Some of the fellers in my tent thanks they’re
wrong they say we’re goin’ to sommers caller Pint Lookout. They say
they heard one of our Yankee guards say so. What say you
Luke?”

“
No, I don’t think we are
staying here, but it’s ‘Point’ Lookout and I also hear it’s a nice
place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there,” Luke says
grinning.

Chapter
Sixteen

TAXES

“
Mama!” Mattie Ann yells
as she runs up the steps into the house. “There’s dust down on the
main road, looks like somebody’s comin’ from town.”

Leaving the kitchen Malinda wipes her
hands on her apron as she walks to the front door to see for
herself. Mattie Ann was right she could see the dust floating above
the treetops, but it worries her too. She fears it is someone
coming from the Western Union office. Were they coming to tell her
something terrible has happened to Robert or one of her sons? A
fear of dread flows over her, she tries to push the thought from
her mind, but it is too overwhelming...she remembers the
hawk!

Watching the dust she thinks this
might not be the telegraph man, after all, it might be that rascal
Simeon LaPree. He did say he would come back in a week to collect
on that bale of cotton.

It had been a lot longer that a week,
in fact, it has been more than a couple of months since he was last
at Malinda’s farm seeking food and rations for the Confederacy,
surely he had forgotten about her by now. She has three sons,
William, Isaac and Stephen that he could impress into Confederate
service. She could deal with LaPree but please, not the man from
the telegraph office!

William and Isaac are out on the back
forty clearing a new ground for next years planting season. They
are so far away LaPree

cannot see them, and if he tries to
ride out their way her boys would hear him long before he could
find them and they can hide. Stephen was a target though. He is
shoeing his horse Blaze in the hallway of the barn. The whole
family loved Blaze, a mixture of a thoroughbred and a racking
horse. Her dark chestnut color was accented by a large white blaze
down the front of her head accompanied with three white socks. Her
mane was jet black as was her tail. Blaze was just a beautiful
horse that the Scarburgs adored.

“
Stephen! Stephen!” She
yells.

“
Yeah, Ma,” Stephen
answers stepping from the barn into the light, “what you
want?”