Stars & Stripes Forever (38 page)

"Understood, sir. And to be obeyed with the greatest of pleasure, sir!"

Wedge's hair was grizzled, his face red from drink or rage—or both. He had been passed over for command too often and would never rise to a higher rank. His men hated him, but they fought well for him, since he hated the enemy even more. He was a formidable fighter and this was his kind of battle.

"Do you have a site in mind, Captain?"

"I do. Here." They bent their heads over the map. "On the coast of South Carolina, a small town called Myrtle Beach. I called in there once for water. There are some fishing vessels, and a railroad station at the end of this line that goes inland. The buildings, as I recall, were mostly wooden."

"They'll burn well. When do we attack?"

"We are making six knots now which should bring us within sight of land at dawn. We will go in as soon as the target is identified."

The postmaster of Myrtle Beach was just raising the flag when the unmistakable sound of cannon fire boomed from the direction of the harbor. By the time he had hurried to the corner, to look down the road to the shore, dark clouds of smoke were roiling up above the roofs. There were screams now and people running. The fishing boats tied up in the little harbor were all burning. Boatloads of soldiers in red uniforms were coming ashore. Beyond them the dark hull of a warship brightened suddenly with the flames from its guns and an instant later the front of the First Bank of South Carolina exploded outward.

The postmaster ran. Through the crunch of broken glass to the train terminal, throwing open the door to the telegraph office.

"Get this out on the wire! The British are here, burning and blowing up everything. Firing cannon, landing soldiers. The war has come here..."

The burst of musket fire hurled the postmaster back onto the telegraph operator, threw them both dead to the floor.

Lieutenant Wedge and his marines stamped across the floor in their heavy boots and on into the empty station beyond. A black, diamond-stack locomotive waited on the tracks there: the crew had fled. A trickle of smoke rose from the stack; steam hissed lightly from a valve. "Just what I had hoped to find. Bring up Mr. McCloud." The captain had agreed at once when the marine lieutenant had suggested that the ship's engineering officer accompany them ashore. Wedge pointed at the locomotive when the engineer appeared.

"Can you take care of that thing? Blow it up. Will you need black powder?"

"Not at all, sir. A steam engine is a steam engine, none much different from the other, at sea or on land. I'll just stoke her red hot, close all the outlet valves—and tie down the safety valve. After that the boiler will take care of itself."

The town was in flames, the fishing boats burnt down to their waterlines, the townsfolk who had not escaped were dead in the streets. A satisfactory morning's work, Lieutenant Wedge thought as he climbed back to the deck of the
Speedfast.
He turned to look at the burning buildings when there was a great explosion and a white cloud of steam shot up out of the black clouds of smoke.

"What was that?" Captain Gaffney asked. "A powder store?"

"No, sir. A steam engine blowing itself to kingdom come."

"Well done. Be sure to mention that in your report."

"Another town burnt, Mr. President," Nicolay said. "Myrtle Beach, little place on the South Carolina coast. And at least seven American merchant ships have been attacked and seized at sea. Even worse, there have been two more armed incursions across the Canadian border. A most serious one in Vermont. People are in panic up there, leaving their homes and fleeing south."

"These are terrible things to hear, John. Terrible. Soldiers fighting soldiers is one thing, but the British have declared war against our entire population. Go to the Congress at once, report what is happening to the clerk there. They should be voting on the proposals today and perhaps these cruel events can add a little fire to their resolution."

Nicolay ran most of the way to the Capitol, arrived gasping for breath. Gave the reports to the head clerk and dropped into a chair. Congressman Wade, the fire-breathing abolitionist, was on his feet and in fine oratorical form.

"Never, and I repeat never, will I put my name to this proposal that will so weaken our resolution to do away with the evil institution of slavery as soon and as rapidly as possible. Men have died, battles have been fought on this principle. Simply freeing the slaves is not enough. That their masters should be
paid
for freeing them is an insult. God has called for the punishment of these evil men. They must be hurled down from their high station and made to suffer just as their helpless Negroes suffered at their hands. It would be treason if we allowed them to escape God's justice..."

"You dare speak of treason!" Congressman Trumbull shouted, on his feet and waving his fist, apoplectic with anger. "You betray your country and betray all the young men, both of the North and the South, who gave their lives to rid this country of the foreign invaders. Now we hope to bind up the wounds of war and unite against this common enemy and you want to prevent that. I say that any man who speaks as you do is the
real
traitor to this country. If it were within my power I would see you hanged for your treasonous cant."

This session of Congress was loud and vituperative and ran far into the night. Only exhaustion finally ground the discussion to a halt. With the acknowledgment that it would continue the following day. They would stay in session until agreement of one kind or another was reached.

Far from Washington, in the most northern part of the State of New York, an armed column of soldiers was moving briskly through the night. This was the smallest command that General Joseph E. Johnston had had in many years. And the strangest. The infantry regiments, the 2nd and 13th Louisiana, had served under him in the past. They were mostly from New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. Lean and hard; tough fighting men. The four artillery batteries had joined up with them in Pennsylvania. They were good and well trained soldiers. But he was still not used to having Yankees under his command.

And then there were the supply wagons. Not only the military ones, but the five others driven by Missouri mule skinners. Silent men who chewed tobacco constantly and spat with deadly accuracy.

If General Robert E. Lee himself had not met with Johnston to tell him in detail what needed to be done, he might have begun to doubt the sanity of the operation. But once General Lee had explained the overall concept of the strategy he had agreed at once to take command. Within twenty-four hours of their meeting his troops, guns, wagons and horses had come together in the marshaling yards. It was after midnight and raining hard, the rain hissing on the metal covers of the kerosene lamps, when they had boarded the waiting trains. The wagons had been pushed aboard the flatcars, the horses coaxed and pulled into the boxcars, the weary troops more than willing to fill the passenger cars. After that the only stops had been for coal and water as they rolled north. To Woods Mills, New York, a rail junction where two lines crossed. And perilously close to enemy-occupied Plattsburgh.

"I want scouts out on all sides," General Johnston ordered. "Cavalry down the roads that we will be taking."

"We've got us a volunteer here," a cavalryman said. "Came riding up when he saw who we were." A burly man on a large horse came forward out of the darkness into the light of the lantern.

"The name's Warner, gentlemen, Sheriff Warner and this here is my badge."

The general looked at it and nodded. "Lived here long, Sheriff Warner?" the general asked.

"Born here, traveled a bit, served in the cavalry during the Indian wars, General. Had enough of the army by that time and I come back here. Nothing much here but farming and I didn't take to that. Sheriff died of the pox and I got his job. If there is anything I can do to lend a hand—why I am your man."

"You know the local roads?"

"Know them better than I know the back of my hand. I could find my way around anywhere here in the dark with my eyes closed."

"Well we prefer that you to do that with your eyes open. You can go with these men here." General Johnston pulled the lieutenant aside as he started to follow his men. "Keep an eye on him and the roads you take. You can never be too careful."

But the sheriff proved to be a man of his word. They bypassed the sleeping Plattsburgh and the British units stationed there without being seen.

With Sheriff Warner showing the scouts the way, they had crossed unseen south of this city during the night, and by morning were moving steadily along the shore of Lake Champlain to ambush the boats.

And it worked exactly to plan. The dawn attack with the cannon, the destruction of some of the craft, the flight north of the rest. Then his command had turned in their tracks and followed the boats north. But there was a fair wind from the west and the boats were soon hull down and out of sight. Which was fine, very fine indeed. The trains were waiting for them when they got back to Woods Mills and the tired men and horses were happy enough to board them once again. The civilian wagons that had been left behind were still aboard the train, the mule skinners as surly and silent as ever.

In his headquarters car General Johnston met with his officers.

"A job well done, gentlemen," Johnston said. "Night-time movements with a mixed force is always difficult. I must commend you how it all worked out."

"Come a danged long way, General, if you don't mind my speaking out plain," Colonel Yancey said, pouring himself a large glass of corn whiskey. "Just to blow up a few bitty boats, then turn around and march away."

"I do agree with you, Colonel—if that was the only goal of this operation," Johnston said, holding up a sheaf of telegrams.

"These were waiting for me at Woods Mills. Our troops have broken the enemy all along the Hudson front. The British are on the run. And any of them that manage to reach the landings at the lake will find their transport gone. Soon they'll all be in the bag. We did exactly what we set out to do to cut off their retreat. But, I can tell you now, the boats were the smallest part of this action. Although what we did was most consequential, it was really part of a bigger plan that will be set into action very soon. The most important events are coming up now."

The general smiled as sudden silence filled the car. He took his time pouring whiskey into his own glass and sipping a bit of it. He had a most attentive audience.

"I refrained from telling you about this any earlier because our true purpose could not even be hinted at. General Lee swore me to silence—and I now ask the same of you."

"Permission to interrupt, sir," Captain DuBose said, then continued when the general nodded his head. "Was there any other news in the telegrams? Have you heard any more about the state of Jeff Davis?"

"Indeed there was information in this last batch. Alive and recovering—but very weak. Good news indeed. Now—back to the war. This was a fine operation, gentlemen, I congratulate you. Yancey was absolutely right. We did come a long way to blow up a few bitty boats. That is done. It was the perfect cover for the action that we will be taking now. We are now on this train which is definitely not going back to Pennsylvania." The cars rattled and swayed through a set of switches, driving home his point. "We are on a different track and heading for our final destination, the city of Ogdensburg. If any of you are not clear about Yankee geography I can tell you that Ogdensburg is on the shore of that mighty river, the St. Lawrence. And of course you know what is on the other side of this river..."

"Canada!" Captain DuBose shouted, jumping to his feet. "Canada with the
salaud
English clumped up there thick as fleas on an old dog. We cannot be here by chance. Is that it, General? We are here to make things very bad for the English?"

"Yes, gentlemen, that is it."

TAKING THE WAR TO THE ENEMY

Lincoln looked around at the members of his Cabinet, and shook his head in disbelief. He pulled his bony legs up before him, resting his heels on the edge of his chair, and wrapped his arms around them. "Why I have not seen as many long faces since my last visit to a livery stable. We should be celebrating victory gentlemen, not looking as though we have suffered dismal defeat."

"The war is at a stalemate," Secretary of War Stanton said. "Sherman has stopped at the Canadian border. The British sink our merchant ships at sea, then land and pillage our shores at will. They justify these actions by saying that a state of war still exists between their country and ours. This is nonsense. They invaded us. Congress declared that a state of war did exist only after their invasions. Now that they have been hurled back from our land, have been defeated at sea—what cause do they have for these continued murderous attacks on our citizenry?"

"None whatsoever, seeing that they have agreed to discuss peace," Seward said, with equal gloom. "But despite this agreement the Prussian talks progress not at all. Adams has presented our terms, which are reasonable indeed, but nothing pleases Palmerston or his lackeys. The British representatives in Berlin still make impossible demands for reparations, apologies, everything they can think of—other than seriously discussing peace. I feel that the Tory government is determined to press on with this war and only agreed to the talks to quiet the opposition parties in Parliament."

"Let us then talk of the good news," the President said. "The Reconstruction Bill has passed the lower house and will surely be approved by the Senate. When I sign it into law we will see the beginning of the end, hopefully, of our internal war. As regards the broader conflict I assure you that our generals are not standing still. If the British do not want peace then they shall see enough war to give them their fill. I have the distinct feeling that they will be far more surprised than we will be at the developments in the near future."

"What do you mean?" Seward asked. "As Secretary of State I should be privy to all war plans."