Horrible Harvest

The fella sent to gather intelligence on the bluebellies was gone near five hours. His horse was spent and dehydrated when he come back. The captain huddled with him as we marched on. They talked ten minutes long and then Captain Doc run his mount full on to catch back up with us. He gathered his lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals ahead of the columns and ordered the company to halt.

“This excursion just got more fruitful than we could have hoped for. The enemy is a regiment of thieves. They are transporting contraband northbound, most likely headed to Nashville.”

“Contraband, sir?” A sergeant by the name of Cantwell asked.

“Slaves,” the captain answered. “Pilfered from farms and villages from here to Memphis. There to be loaded onto trains and sent to Cairo, Illinois for medical attention and processing. Women and children will be held in temporary housing. The men fitted for uniforms and sent back here to slaughter their masters. We are not going to let that happen.”

“No, sir,” a Lieutenant Duggar barked.

“The slaves have been sequestered on the west side of the camp. A cholera outbreak has slowed their travels. We will split into two parties. The bulk of our company will draw their forces eastward, while a smaller task force will flank the camp from the west.

“Lieutenant Duggar, you will take Sergeant Cantwell and the first seventy-six men in formation and create the diversion. Be frenetic and loud. Spread out two by two, a hundred yards wide. Stagger your shots from the left and right of your line. Furthest point to furthest point inward, until you reach the middle ranks. Then repeat the pattern. Controlled chaos is the key. They will be roused out of sleep and confused, so you will begin this engagement with a great advantage. You must give the illusion that you are a far bigger force than you are. Do not advance. Fallback at a steady pace but do not retreat. Give them enough confidence to be bold in their steps and move them away from the camp.”

Lieutenant Duggar give a nod. “Yes, sir.”

“I will lead the rest of the men and strike from the west.”

“Strike, sir?” I asked.

“Yes, corporal, we are in the military. That is what we do.”

The others laughed.

“But it sounds as if there ain’t nothing there but a medical unit, most likely guarded by a half dozen men – If that many. What’s to strike, sir?”

“Mr. Tennyson, have you forgotten we are operating under a black flag?”

“Sir?”

“We hold no quarter, corporal.” He pult his pocket watch out and struggled to read the time in the moonless night. “You’ve one hour to get your men in position and commence firing, Mr. Duggar. Any longer, and we lose the cover of darkness.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, already in a half turn towards the columns of men.

“Sir,” I said. “Request permission to join Lieutenant Duggar.”

“Request denied, corporal. You are with me. You and your band of campfire associates – Yates, Hughes, Jeffries, and the like. You are my strike team. While I think the man abhorrent, your training under Mr. Miller’s tutelage gives you special value in what will surely be a close combat situation.”

I didn’t bother putting up no protest. His decision to include me or Yates or Evers made sense, but Felix was another matter. “Sir, Private Jeffries wasn’t no Miller man.”

“You are correct, but he has chosen to keep acquaintance with the lot of you. That makes him a Miller man in training.”

“Captain, sir, we don’t – none of us – We don’t put much stock in Mr. Miller’s teachings. We ain’t passed nothing along to Felix – ”

“I find this discussion tedious and unwelcome, Mr. Tennyson. I have given you what is known in military parlance as an order. Remind me what it is you, as a subordinate, are to do when given an order by a superior?”

I fought like hell to tell him to shut the fuck up. “Sir, I’m to follow orders, sir.”

“And does the military encourage enlisted men of an infantry unit to question their commissioned officers?”

“No, sir.”

“So, one can infer that the entire scope of your relationship with me is to follow orders without question?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then why do you choose to question me?”

I didn’t give no reply.

“That was rhetorical, corporal. Gather your horde. Fix bayonets. We’ve more ground to cover than the others. We have to move quietly and quickly.” He called out to Sergeant Cantwell in the distance. “Take my mount.”

“Yes, sir,” the sergeant said, as he sprinted back to us.

“Treat him well, lad. We’ve seen much together in this war, and I’ve promised him a nice green pasture awaits him when the Yankee invaders finally turn tail and run back to the wretched north.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mr. Tennyson, why have you not gathered our strike force?”

I didn’t bother giving no answer. I simply turnt and run to the rear of the columns. Finding Felix first, I pult him out of the ranks and quietly said, “Go.”

“What?”

“Disappear. Into the woods. Keep walking until you can’t walk no more and then find it in you to keep walking.”

Overhearing me, Yates stepped forward. “Those are our orders?”

“They ain’t. They’re my orders. For Felix. Go – ”

“Hell, I’ll go,” Yates said.

“You won’t. We’re too far gone. We got trained by a sumbitch to do sumbitch work.”

“I’ll get caught,” Felix said.

“But you’ll be spared the shit waiting for us on the other side of these bayonets.”

“They’ll be torment a-plenty for him if he’s caught,” Yates said. “Confeds catch him, he’ll be shot pointblank. Yanks catch him, he’ll be a POW tortured at the hands of godless fucks.”

“Shut the shit up, Yates,” I said. “He’s sixteen. He was illegally conscripted – ”

“You ain’t but sixteen or so yourself. You just look old as shit – ”

I grabbed Yates up by the collar and nearly lifted him off the ground. “Shut up – Ain’t no goddamn reason he needs to be in on this – ”

“There a problem?” Liddle asked from behind me.

I released Yates but didn’t turn to the lieutenant. “Move along, Mr. Liddle. You’re to join Lieutenant Duggar – ”

“I’m to join the captain.”

“You ain’t nothing but a record keeper. You ain’t suited for what’s coming on our end.”

“I’m a Confederate soldier, Mr. Tennyson. I am suited to kill Yankees. I’m also an officer which means I outrank you –”

I turnt to him. “Fix your bayonet.”

“Fix my bayonet?”

“The pointy thing, Lieutenant. Fit it to the end of your smoothbore – ”

“I know what it means – I just don’t understand – ”

“Those are the captain’s shit orders. We’re the strike force. We’re going in with fixed bayonets. The other group’ll draw the bulk of the regiment out of camp. You got any idea what that means, Liddle?”

“I – We will face – There will be a smaller force for us to engage – ”

“And we’ll engage the sumbitches with the tip of the spear. We’ll not be firing our weapons because doing so would draw the enemy back. Now, fix your bayonet and run me through, boy.”

“Run you through?”

“I fail to understand what’s got you confused. I think I was pretty fucking clear. Run me through.”

“I think it’s the run you through part that’s confusing him, Augustus” Yates said.

“Shut up, Yates. I want Mr. Liddle to demonstrate his skill with his bayonet. Fit it – Now.”

Liddle nervously did as instructed, but with a great deal of difficulty. He held the musket with both hands waist high and gripped it tightly. With a sudden and awkward burst, he thrust forward, and I stepped aside, grabbed his gun at the mid-point and threw him to the ground. Before he could gather himself and bounce back to his feet, I pressed my knee against his spine, and placed my Bowie knife at the base of his skull. “You ain’t suited for this.”

Without warning, Yates threw a fist that landed on my right ear. I fell back and fought to understand what the hell’d happened. It didn’t make no sense that he’d punched me unawares.

“Got no idea what’s going on in that noggin of yours,” he said. “You been leaking dumb out of that big brain of yours for a while now, and I ain’t got no more patience for it. You done caused me to be the reasonable one amongst us, and that don’t set too well with me.”

I stood, rubbing at my ear. “You don’t understand what’s to be done – What the captain wants.”

“And you don’t understand that his want is our orders. You used to understand that’s how things worked, but you’ve gone off in the head, and we ain’t got time for that nonsense.

“You wanna keep Jeffries safe – You ain’t doing him no favors telling him to run. He’s safe with us. We’ll cluster around him and ease him into this as much as we can, but this is a war. He’s gonna have to get his cuts and bruises some time or another.”

Liddle made it back to his feet. “You told Mr. Jeffries to run?”

Yates turned to him. “You’re gonna wanna pretend you didn’t hear nothing.”

“Pretend that Mr. Tennyson didn’t encourage another soldier to desert this company? I don’t think so. I’m duty bound to report this to the captain – ”

Yates grasped Liddle’s throat and squeezed. “I ain’t got but a half grip on you, boy. I go full on, and I will crush your throat and all its innards like a grape.”

Liddle gasped for air.

“I’ma let go, but know this, you say a word about deserting and this hand is gonna find your throat again. You better never sleep again. You hear me?”

Liddle give a nod against his grip.

Yates released him.

The captain’s record keeper give his throat a massage and said, “I will go with Lieutenant Duggar.”

Yates shook his head and smiled. “Nah, you won’t. You won you a trip with us.”

“But Mr. Tennyson was right. I’m not suited – ”

“You got the uniform on. That makes you suited for whatever the hell the rest of us are suited for. You’re with us. I’ma show you soldiering up close and personal.”

“But – ”

“My hand’s about to find your throat again, boy.”