Corn Silk Days Part 23

He laughed. "Maybe Silas is losing his mind. He ain't no Texan."

Elizabeth Jane could not help but laugh at Alexander's humor. And she was thankful to have that to always lighten her up a bit.

Chapter Forty-three: Sunday, the 20th Day of March 1864.

Night Camp, Fort Esperanza, Texas Dearly beloved wife, I sincerely hope these words find you doing well. We marched from Indianola the 13th and encamped here on the 14th. There was a small accident that happened as we were marching down here but not in our regiment. We had two bayous to cross. We crossed these bayous on a board constructed of several small boats, probably you would call them sciffs. These small boats numbered three when the accident happened. They were placed in the water length wise with the stream and scantling fastened on them and plank for the floor and the board is drawn back and forth by a rope. While the 69th Indiana was crossing, the boat sank and twenty-four White soldiers drowned and some say sixteen Black soldiers. They got scared and drowned one another. Some would swim up and down the stream for a hundred yards and would not go to sh.o.r.e. So they would perish in the water.

But the boat was repaired so there was not danger when we crossed. Soldiers have to go through a great many dangers and trials in battle or out of it. They never know when they are safe.

Well Janie, I must tell you where we are and what we are doing. We are about four miles from Fort Esperanza a fortifying. We are building forts and breastworks from a small bay across the island to the Gulf. What it is done for I cannot tell unless it is a fortifying against foreign powers. This is one of the prominent points we have in Texas. It keeps the Rebs from running boats through the pa.s.s so they cannot get their cotton and other trade out. I hardly think that France will interfere with us. A hundred thousand of our men could whip France in Mexico so quick that she would hardly know how it was done.

Probably you would like to know the reason. It is this. As quick as our men would get into Mexico she would turn right around and help us. I have good reasons to believe such for it is all the French can do to hold places that she has taken.

Governor Stone wrote to our colonel. He said that two years of our time would be up in June and we could enlist in the Veterans there after if we wished. The colonel wants the regiment to reenlist but how it will be is more than I can tell. I do not think it will be necessary for us to reenlist. Everything shows a speedy termination of the war. They may hold out until after the election but that is all nonsense to them to do so with the calculation they have in their heads, for I think old Abe will be our next president. If he runs I shall give him a kiss.

Well Janie, the news came to Headquarters the other day that three States had come into the Union by a large majority and we will be on our road home by May but you need not look for me until you see me coming.

We get all the fish we want to eat. We have a seine and we go to the bay and catch all the fish we want.

So no more at present.

Yours as ever, Silas Dear Janie, I did not have the chance to mail Sunday's letter to you and I am writing you again. It is Thursday, March 24th and we are now at Camp Saluria at the eastern end of Matagorda Island, Texas.

The health of the troops here is excellent. We had one death in our Regiment, Company B the other day. The first one since we left Vicksburg and the nicest funeral I have seen since I have been in the service. He was buried in regular military form. It looks nice when conducted in the right manner. Heretofore when the boys died, they were buried sufficient but I like to see respect paid to the boys as if they were at home.

I received a letter from Elias. He wrote he was at Huntsville, Alabama. They took a short tramp after the Battle of Lookout Mountain to reinforce a body of armament which the Rebs had attacked and drove them a ways and burnt up some of the quarters but our men rallied and put the Rebs to flight. The division he was in marched twentythree miles in eight hours and the principle part of that after night with sixty rounds of cartridges. That I call good marching but they did not have anything to do with the Rebs as our men had wiped them out before they got there. So they marched back to Huntsville. He said Huntsville was a place of between seven and nine thousand inhabitants. He said there is nice country around about the city. He said he was at church the other night and Uncle Sam's boys and the Secesh Ladies were there. I will have to believe such doctrine for I have had experience in such cases but I like to see women, Secesh or not. Although I am very shy of them. It has been so long since I have seen them I don't know what to make of them.

Captain Dewey of Company G has two ladies with him. The talk is he is married to one and the other one is a hire or the wife's daughter. They are very nice looking women but I would hate to be in their place for the boys here talk all kinds of talk. They have been out of sight of women so long a time that they never think of the conversation they should use in the presence of the fair s.e.x, and a great many of them do not care. They have no respect for anyone, but at the same time we have to look over a great deal of their unbecoming language. I do not wish to say that I am so very polite and throw all the blame on the other soldiers but I try to behave myself and use decent language when in the presence of the fair s.e.x. I will respect women of all kinds, whether Black or White unless they begin on me but it is very seldom they pitch on to me for I am very civil. You know that by experience that I never use any unbecoming language that will offend the ladies in any shape or manner. I do not bother them very much and therefore they do not trouble me. If they will let me alone I am sure they will not be troubled. We have a few Black women here in the army. I suppose their men are along and they stay with them and do was.h.i.+ng for all the soldiers they can.

That is enough on that subject. I will write a few more lines of miscellaneous items. I have very little time to write except at night. We are working on fortification every day so it takes all our idle time, but the colonel is not working us very hard. We have got four forts nigh completed. We are fortifying from the gulf across the island to a bay which is about three miles and four forts are built in that distance with breastworks between. This island is going to be a very strong fortified place when these are finished. There will be six forts with Fort Esperanza. It is still a mystery to me why they are building such strong works as it can't be for the Rebs. There are none on this island and only one place where we could forfeit the bay. And one Union regiment could keep five thousand Rebs at bay. The 99th Illinois are at that place and we do not have any pickets out to guard us when we sleep. The Rebs are very scarce of transports so they cannot do very much here.

As I said, this fortification must be for foreign powers but I do not think it necessary but it is well to prepare and if such a thing should happen we will be ready for them. If any interference it will be France, but I think France is afraid to undertake such a job. She will rue it the longest day. The government for Russia is waiting for her to strike a blow and Russia will show her where home is. Russia ran her vessels out and many are in our harbors maybe waiting for France to make up her mind. France has been trying to make a treaty with Russia but Russia will not have anything to do with her. Russia holds a grudge against France ever since the Crimean War and France knows it. Therefore I think she will not meddle any more than she has. England still wants to stay with us as she needs our crops, cotton and wheat. England has drawn tired trying to get in with us but I think she has signed away the day of grace. She has detained several of the Rebels boats that they had built for them. I have a sneaking idea in my head that if England could get France to declare war with us and get her troops away from home that England would light onto France and a.s.sail her. France has been preparing for war for several years and they do not like each other.

Janie, I have to taper off now. I seen potatoes up from four inches to six inches high the tenth of this month and all other garden stuff was in like manner. I like Texas first rate in such things as this but I think I will be satisfied with Iowa if I can get back to the good old patriotic state. I thought once I would like to go West but I have come to the conclusion that I will be satisfied at home once more.

Hank McGowen has got his commission for captain. I am in hopes that he will make a very good captain. I expect some of the boys will get furloughs pretty soon. There has been several Blacks come to each company. There are sixty day furloughs. I do not want a furlough at present. I would like to have a furlough next summer if I could get it.

We had a considerable storm of wind and rain last night but we faired pretty well. Our tents did not blow down. I bunk together with Summers and Dave and Hank Perin and us four makes the little family of our tent. We have very nice times.

I remain yours as ever, Silas

Chapter Forty-four: Rebecca and the Preacher Men.

It was daybreak and the bugle sounded but Rebecca Edminton was already awake. She watched from bed as James Garrison put on his uniform pants and boots. He caught her watching as he pulled on his s.h.i.+rt. "Hey there," he said. "You stay there babe and get some more sleep. I've got duty for the next four hours."

She smiled at him. "I wish you could stay this morning."

He nodded. "Me too, but I have things to do. When I get back at lunch we'll find something nice to do."

She gave him a teasing look, "And what might that be, James?"

He laughed as he combed his hair back with his hands. "I think you know. You didn't get enough last night did yah?"

Now it was her turn to laugh. "Hmm, I got a lot ... but I want more, and more. You gonna give it to me?"

"If you're a good girl." He pulled on his cap, leaned over and swatted her on the rear. "Good girls get lots of good things." He reached for her chin and kissed her on the lips. "I love you, Rebecca. See you in a bit."

"I love you," she replied. She watched as he left the tent. She rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes.

She thought about what he had said. Good girls. She knew James meant it in a teasing, sensual, and loving way, but those words. .h.i.t her in a bad way and her mind took her back years ago to a time when she could not be more than seven years of age. He stood over her, his stomach pouching out with rolls of fat and below something long and stiff throbbing up and down near a soft sack of loose skin. He looked awful and she was terrified. He moved to her and pulled her nightgown up. Then she felt it, the stiff thing between her legs and while he rubbed it over her he was groaning, and his sweat began to fall onto her face and stung as it hit her eyes which were open wide with fear. She tried to cry out but her voice would not leave her throat. And he told her, "That's a good girl, it's okay, it's okay. G.o.d says you're a good girl."

That was the first time, but not the last. He was the preacher man. They said he was her grandfather, and she lived alone with him in his house. The only day she felt safe was on Sunday when the church next to the house would fill with people and he would be a'preaching. She would sit in the back of the small church and wonder who this G.o.d person was that said she was a good girl. And she would wonder why it had to hurt so much to be a good girl.

One day when she was almost fifteen she decided she would not be a good girl anymore. While he was napping she packed a small satchel with a few clothes, her favorite rag doll that she had been stuffing every Sunday for months with a dollar or two that she took from the church basket, some food from the cellar, all the dollars he had in his purse, and she left.

She hurried to the train station about half a mile from his home. As soon as she entered the station she asked a bearded man, wearing wire eye gla.s.ses and sitting at a desk beneath a sign that read South Carolina Railroad Fare Tickets, "Mister, when is the train getting here?"

He looked up from the paperwork he was working on, reached in his vest pocket, pulled out a pocket watch, and said, "'bout twenty minutes it'll be rollin' in."

"How far can I go?"

"Depends on how much money you got to spend. You can go all the way to Augusta if you want. Four dollars will take you there."

She pulled out four dollars and told the man, "One fare to Augusta, please."

When she boarded the train she was determined to ride the rails as far away from him and his church as she could get. And on that train ride she made a promise to herself that she would never go back.

But also on that train ride was another man who would soon make it possible for her to begin a new life.

This man was younger, a lawyer, a politician, and part owner of the railroad she was riding on.

He was also a single father, a widower, and he told Rebecca he had the perfect job for her in his home caring for his young child.

So she couldn't have asked for anything more perfect than to be living with a wealthy, attractive, and intelligent man and his young son. Before long Georgia Legislator Mark Waverton also welcomed her into his bed and taught her what lovemaking was all about. He was patient, tender, and loving with her. He encouraged her s.e.xuality as she matured, but as her feelings grew strong for him, she was beginning to feel rejected as he publicly dated women years older than her.

"Rebecca as much as I love you and love being with you, we cannot make it more than our private time together," he told her. "I have a career to think of and if people knew about our relations.h.i.+p it would be the end of my career in politics and even in law."

"Mark, I'm getting older. It should be okay then when I'm eighteen or nineteen."

He pulled her down next to him on the bed and held her tight against him. "It can't be, hon. It is what it is, and nothing more. One day you will be ready to leave and go out there and find you a man."

"I don't want another man."

"You will one day. You'll want your own kids, your own family. But for now, just enjoy this, enjoy what we have together."

"Mark, I'll give you all you want of me, just don't tell me I have to go one day. I can't."

"Let's not talk about that anymore now, hon," he said. "I want to give you pleasure, so be quiet now and let me love you." As he reached to kiss her mouth she surrendered into his arms. Within moments she was enjoying what this man was so good at with his hands, with his mouth, and with all of him. She responded to his every touch that swept delicately across her naked body, soon building to a crescendo as he skillfully held her on the edge, teasing, bringing her forth to the brink of organism and pulling back again and then again until finally he let her explode in wild ecstasy, crying out as their bodies reached the ultimate moment of release.

And while still caught up in bliss she thought to herself that she was not a good girl at all. Mark had taught her well.

By the next year she knew she had learned all her lessons and could be as wild and naughty as any man would want. As much as she wanted Mark all the time, he had no idea she also had come to want other men, and was having s.e.x with others when he was at the Capitol for days on end.

Yes, Rebecca Edminton was proud that she was a fast learner.

But the one thing she did not learn, was how to keep from getting pregnant.

Just before her nineteenth birthday she discovered she was going to have a baby.

What she also did not know was who might be the father of her baby. It could be Mark, or it could be one of several other men who had paid for her to service them.

Afraid to let Mark know she was pregnant, she found a woman in a nearby town who could help her lose the baby. She had to end the pregnancy.

And she did.

But she also nearly ended her life. And when her infection became so bad, in between her delirium from the fever, she wished she was dead.

Mark had no idea where she was and it was not until she was close to death that the midwife contacted him to let him know that she was caring for Rebecca.

As sick as she was she was aware of Mark's voice coming from the next room as he said, "What the h.e.l.l did you do to her! She's going to die."

"She's better, Mr. Waverton."

"Better! She's burning up with fever. She didn't even know I was sitting there beside her."

"She'll get through this," the woman said.

"I doubt it," Mark said. "How could you do this to her? G.o.d will punish you for this. And if I wanted to I could have you punished, and not wait for G.o.d."

Then Rebecca heard words from him she never wanted to hear. He told the woman, "Here is some money for you to give her the best care, you understand?"

"Yes, sir. I will."

"When she is strong again," he said, "you give her the money in this envelope and you tell her to buy a train ticket to Philadelphia. You tell her to make a new home there."

That was the last time Rebecca saw or heard from Mark Waverton.

Two weeks later she took the envelope of his money, bought fare to Philadelphia and never looked back.

And again, she wondered about this G.o.d person who would punish a kind woman who helped her and nursed her back to health, and who once thought she, herself, was a good girl.

Maybe one day she would figure out who that G.o.d person really was and what it was all about.

Chapter Forty-five: Silas and the Boys.

It was nearing sundown at Matagorda Island, Texas in early April and Silas sat outside his tent, his back leaning against a tree. He was upset and he could not hide it from his friends, Elijah Summers or Dave Perin.

Summers lit his cigarette and then asked Silas, "Something bothering you, Silas?"

"You might say that, Elijah. I got a letter from Elizabeth Jane today. Doesn't make me happy."

"Why's that?"

"She's very opposed to me going in a Colored regiment."

"She is?"

"I wrote her that I had been thinking about wanting to do that and I could get a recommend for it. She doesn't like the idea. I also told her not to worry about it as there were other recommends and not any openings and I did not know when there would be a chance of me getting a post. I told her I would like it though, if I could, that it would suit me well."

"You really want to work with the Negro soldiers?" Perin asked.

"Sure. They are fine soldiers," Silas told him. "But my wife thinks I don't want to see her, told me she would have little hope of seeing me when the three years are out and if I took the post of the Negro regiment she would give up all hopes of ever seeing me. I want to think she didn't mean what she wrote but I have read it several times and I think she means it."

"Oh, Silas, maybe she was just upset when she wrote it," Summers told him. "You know how wives can overreact at times."

Perin said, "Yeah women get all emotional and mushy."

"Janie does not usually overreact to things. So I don't know what to think of her words. I told her probably she thinks I like Negroes so well that I would not think of coming home to see her or forget there was such a being as her and my two darling children. I said that was my first thoughts and then again when wandering thoughts come upon it. I told her it appears to me that a person would do better, and our government would be better, to stay in the army until the war closes."

Summers laughed. "Closes. I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will end. We're out here day in and day out and n.o.body has told us it is near end."

Silas nodded. "I know. I suppose our women left at home sees hard and lonesome times. I worry about Janie having to plant the crops and take care of the farm, and keep life going back there in Iowa. That is when I have time to worry and not more concerned with what is happening right here."

"The women have their hands full, alright," Summers admitted.

"Time has been easier for us right now working on the island fortifications," Silas said. "It was hard work but I am also happy to have our brigade drills again. Some of the boys do not like General Fitz Henry Warren, and say he makes them put on too much style. But I like that."

Summers crushed out his cigarette in the dirt, stood up and said, "You would like all that style and rigidness. That's why you would be good leading a Negro regiment. Your wife just doesn't know how good you are at what you do."

Perin and Silas laughed. "Hey, Summers, don't make my ego inflate until it is too big for me to handle, now," Silas said.