Retribution

PART I

THE WAR

CHAPTER 1

Emilee Burns dropped the basket of black huckleberries and fell to her knees. Instinct told her to hide. Where? As she spied the patch of skunk cabbage and large ferns under some low growing red cedar trees she heard the rustle of leaves behind her. She stiffened. The squeal caught in her throat as a hand quashed the sound in her throat.

Don’t scream or you’ll bring them down on us, Felix’s voice whispered in her ear.

The two crawled into the shadows. Emilee hugged her legs close to her chest and made herself as small as possible. Felix covered them both with a layer of dank leaves and downed pine boughs. Emilee and her companion, her father’s youngest brother, laid as still as a hunted animals. Motionless in her green cocoon, she remained cautious while the hunters approached. Felix held her shoulders against him to stop her body from shaking.

Take a couple of deep breaths and calm down or we’re goners, he murmured.

They sensed the beat of horses’ hooves on the ground beneath them. The Guard approached. She heard the lead rider growl out orders to his subordinates.

Flush out those gall durn brats and we’ll find the food them Burns’ got hid or y’all go hungry tonight. Jenkins, you take three men and circle back on the north side of the stream. I’ll take these and we’ll see if we can shake them out of the bushes.

Emilee peaked from under the leaves at the narrow path. A roan horse carried her family’s nemesis, Sergeant Buford Adkins of the Georgia Home Guard. For someone who sought to be respected and powerful, he appeared disheveled and insignificant. The sergeant, a man of limited stature, wore a uniform that appeared both ill-fitting and in need of repair.

His almost comic appearance left her ill-prepared for the venomous tone of voice that emitted from the figure. While his guttural slur made it hard to understand his diatribes, his actions left little need for interpretation. His way to remind them of his new power, as provided by the State of Georgia.

Adkins pulled up on the reins and returned to the path.

Let’s go back the other direction. I don’t see any sign they came this way.

Felix spoke softly in her ear, Stay quiet. We’re hid real good.

The guardsmen paused within four feet of her. Emilee took a deep breath, exhaled, and cradled herself in Felix’s arms. She closed her eyes as they passed one-by-one. She bit down on the tie of her bonnet to keep her teeth from rattling.

After the last guardsman passed, Emilee released a sigh of relief. She turned and looked up at Felix. He mouthed hush. She stayed quiet. She watched the men search for them. Then her eyes fell on something that might give them away. The basket of berries laid scattered in full sight on the path where she’d dropped them.

Oh, please Heavenly Father don’t let them see my basket. Emilee prayed as they huddled in the shadows.

At that very moment Adkins’ roan struck the container with his right front hoof knocking it off the road into the ferns that circled an enormous spreading oak. The riders continued on the path appearing not to notice its flight.

Adkins bellowed, You young’uns better show yourselves. It won’t go good for y’all if we have to flush you out. Tobacco juice from his chaw drooled out the side of his mouth.

Dang nabbitt sergeant, cain’t we head back to camp?

Damn it, I said keep looking till I tell you to stop.

Wait. I think I hear’d something in them bushes over yonder, Jenkins shouted as he pointed to the embankment near their hiding place.

Emilee’s pulse raced in fear. At that moment a rabbit bounded out of the underbrush and headed up the side of the hill for the tall grass.

Well, it looks like rabbit stew for supper tonight boys, yelled the private as they took off in pursuit of their next meal.

Emilee inhaled and then released a deep breath to alleviate the tension she felt growing in her back. She started to speak. Felix raised his finger to her lips to silence her. She waited fifteen minutes before she spoke.

I swan, another ten minutes and I think I would have fainted from the heat and the smell of these rotten leaves. Emilee reached down to scratch her calf. I bet I’m covered with chigger bites.

Adkins came to the house looking for your father again right after you and Jamie left. Mother will be beside herself with worry, still we need to give the guard another half hour before we start for the house.

Did my mama get back from town before they came?

Yep, she kept the young’uns in the house and out of the way. Mother did all the talking. You would have loved to have heard her. Adkins turned red in the face when she told him to get off our place. Felix chuckled before he continued. Mother has no time for him since he accused your daddy of being a deserter.

That would make any mother detest that man. Can we go now?

Emilee rose to brush off the leaves and dirt from the only frock she owned that consisted of more patches than dress.

Felix helped her clean off the mess. We need to get Jamie and Maybelle. I left them at the mud hole when I came to check on you. I told him not to move until I got back.

He parted the dense foliage and looked in both directions before they stepped out from their safe haven. They didn’t know how long they had lingered. Emilee knew her little brother would be frantic by now. She ran barefoot down the path and scooped up her basket and they left.

As she rounded the corner at the mud pit, she heard a low whimper emerge from the cattails.

I thought you’d forgotten me. Jamie whined.

Emilee spotted rope burns on his slender hands. The tracks laid witness that Jamie gripped the rope with all his might as if it tested his adolescent manhood.

I heard wild dogs howling and feared they‘d get a whiff of us and come after Maybelle. I knew I couldn’t stop her if she got scar’t and run. I kept scratchin’ her belly to keep her still. Jamie removed his straw hat and whacked it against his pant legs.

Aware her brother would have appreciated praise from his Uncle Felix much more than from his sister, she seized the moment and wrapped him in her arms. Then she planted a side-kick on Felix’s leg. He took the hint. He encircled Jamie’s neck with one arm and snapped his suspenders.

You done good today, boy. I’m proud of you. Felix added. Now we need to get home before the family thinks the patrol got us.

Felix took the rope from Jamie. He pulled Maybelle out of the cool red mud and started her in the direction of the house. Emilee and Jamie positioned themselves on each side of her rotund belly to herd her home. Periodic grunts, her way to express resistance at being redirected, could be their undoing.

Emilee swatted her with the rope. Stop grunting. If you don’t keep quiet, you’ll end up as sausage patties in Adkins frying pan.

CHAPTER 2

Weak from another bout of coughing William Burns shivered and wrapped the scratchy woolen blanket tighter. Propped up against the mud wall in his trench, he wondered if the illness that racked his body would consume him before a bullet found its mark.

His thoughts tormented his soul. Somehow killing in this damn war had become methodical and impersonal. War Between the States? States is merely a word. Words don’t kill. Men kill. The Union calls it the Civil War. There’s nothin’ civil about it. Kill him before he kills you. God forgive me.

William crawled out of the foul muck and sprawled on the dew-covered ground. He felt the enemy’s presence across the field. He knew their eyes pierced the darkness for any type of movement. Still he needed to feel the dew on the grass. It made him feel clean again; if only for a few moments.

Is this God’s plan for me? Am I to die in this carnage and have my body thrown unceremoniously into a pit? What honor is left a soldier, blue or gray, when scavengers feed off of their bodies. I need to stay alive. At all cost, except one that would bring dishonor to my name.

###

William heard the familiar voice of Sergeant Price shout as the thunder of the cannonade broke the silence off in the distance. We have the high ground, boys. Tomorrow when them Yanks find out they’re a going against General Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, they might throw up their hands and surrender without a fight.

After two years the sergeant’s rhetoric had little impact on William and the men. They all drifted back to the safety of their hastily dug rifle pits. Those that could slept in line hunched over their rifles to be prepared for the skirmish that would come with the red sky of dawn.

He listened to the pickets as they called out on their rounds. Apprehension settled in and took a firm grip. Loyalty to his fellow soldiers crouched here alongside of him in the muck would propel him forward onto the killing field to face whatever fate lie ahead. Waiting caused the fear.

###

Sunup came without the anticipated clash of forces. His company took advantage of the lull. William and his brothers cleaned their muskets and checked their cartridges and caps.

A fellow soldier remarked, The general blessed our upcoming victory today then skedaddled. Sure wish he’d stayed to fight. He laughed then added, We could make use of another gun.

Chief-cook-and-bottle-washer, Private Randall, gathered some dead branches he’d use as kindling, stoked the fire, and made coffee. He mixed grounds he’d reused over and over again with ground up toasted acorns and eggshells. It went down hot and strong to cut the chill that racked their bodies.

William passed his cup. The bitter concoction warmed his empty belly. His nostrils filled with the aroma that rose from the tin cup as he pressed it to his lips.

He eyeballed his unit. What a rag tag lot they’d become. Unshaven. Unruly. Their once proud uniforms now tattered and soiled. They no longer resembled the proud warriors that marched off that day so long ago with the confidence that came from the knowledge their cause remained honorable.

His stomach growled. Rations bordered on subsistence. He and his brothers foraged to survive. He hadn’t been paid in months. News from Georgia painted a bleak picture. Guilt for not being able to provide for his loved ones back home exasperated him.

At 11:00 a.m. the order came to check their equipment and stand ready. We’re moving forward. The officer in charge hollered down the line.

###

Major General McLaws ordered them forward along the old turnpike. It didn’t take long before the enemy initiated contact. The shrill whistle of canisters filled with shrapnel permeated the air around William, followed by an ear-shattering explosion that shook and scarred the earth. Ahead of him bodies exploded into the air like a child’s rag doll and landed in a grotesque ballet of frenzied death and dying.

In front the Union troops moved toward them in unending lines. Get off the road, yelled the lieutenant as he dove into a muddy ditch. Union gunners continued to hit their mark. It meant certain death to stay bunched up near the road. A courier rode up with orders to attack across the open field.

Men, push them back to the woods, the lieutenant barked as he raised his saber and ran forward.

A teenage bugler sounded the attack as they scrambled up the slick embankment eager to engage the enemy. Lines of blue and gray embraced their destiny and charged to victory or defeat.

Wham! The ground erupted in front of William spewing deadly shrapnel. The force of the explosion knocked him to the ground. He lost his footing as he slipped in the gore that had once been a cherished boyhood friend. William closed his colleague’s vacant green eyes and quickly whispered a quick prayer for the man’s eternal salvation.

His brother, John, grabbed him by the elbow. They took off running. William and John caught up with George and Company F as the Union skirmishers shot off their next salvo.

Volleys from the new Union Spencer repeating rifle continued to deliver death in an indiscriminate manner. Their Reb ramrods clanged as they slammed down into hot musket barrels. A yellow flame followed the firing and yielded the location of the shooter in the dense smoke.

A flash of light caught William’s attention. As he turned his head to the left a giant of a man in blue thrust his knife full force into the major’s chest. The ogre gutted the officer with one swift movement. William watched as the major’s intestines spilled onto the Virginia mud. The villain held the body up with one hand to gloat as the realization of death enfolded across his victim’s face. His brute actions no longer represented a soldier battling on a field of honor for his country. He’d become a blood thirsty beast. Now he headed straight for William.

William stood frozen in horror. The last gruesome moments passed before him again in slow motion. He wondered, did I witness my own end? Is this blue demon the angel of death? He raised his rifle and fired. In his haste he hadn’t reloaded. His stalker threw back his head and laughed. The Yankee approached within striking distance.

William dropped his gear to do battle. He fumbled to secure his bayonet on the empty weapon. The towering giant approached to take his life. His weakened state assured the outcome. William refused to surrender his life without a struggle.

The barbarous Yank raised his hand then a shot ripped past William’s ear and hit the aggressor. The giant grabbed his belly and fell onto one knee as thick crimson blood spurted from the hole in his blue uniform. A look of disbelief flashed across his ugly face. His blood curdling scream struck fear into those around him. No! No! You can’t kill me you Reb bastard!

The wounded Yank rose and stumbled forward to make William dance on the end of his blade. A second shot hit the bloody villain square between the eyes. William glimpsed the horror in the man’s bulging black eyes as he fell. William knew this godless heathen saw the face of Satan as his heartless soul was cast into the blazing fires of Hell.

William glanced around to acknowledge the person or persons who fired the shots that spared his life. No one in the sea of faces confirmed their participation. The realization swept over him that his life and death struggle existed as a brief flash in the violence taking place at that moment on the battlefield.

Shaken, he reloaded and joined the fight. The enemy kept coming, one endless wave after another. How could any of them survive?

CHAPTER 3

Emilee walked out of the woods. Ahead at the end of the winding country road set her grandparents’ home, Rustling Oaks. Not a grand cotton plantation like those found in South Georgia; rather a modest homestead fit for a Methodist minister and his wife to raise their family.

She saw her grandmother, Eleanor Burns, standing on the front porch searching the horizon for them. Grandma raised her hand to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun and chuckled out loud.

From a distance I could hardly make out if you herded Maybelle home or if Maybelle drug y’all back. I do declare, I got mighty concerned when it got to be four o’clock and y’all weren’t back. She hugged them tight against her body.

Emilee, you get inside and let your Mama know you and Jamie are home. Emilee heard her grandmother speak to Felix. You’re a good son. You and Jamie take Maybelle out and hide her real good.

###

Emilee knew her mama wouldn’t take any chances that might jeopardize the baby she carried in her womb. She saw her in the high back rocker cooling herself with a fan Jamie made from pheasant feathers. Emilee’s two younger sisters, Delia and Annie, lay sprawled across the floor at her feet. Mama listened as Annie recited her Bible verse for Sunday. Emilee tiptoed into the parlor.

Before her eyes adjusted to the dim light, two small arms grabbed her around the knees. Emilee, that mean old sergeant came after you left. I hid under a chair like Mama told me.

You’re a very good girl, Annie. Emilee, come over here by me, my child. Is your brother outside? I’ve been worried half to death.

Emilee dropped to the floor to put her head on what little remained of her mother’s lap. Yes ma’am, he’s with Felix. She stammered, Sergeant Adkins came to the creek bed hunting for us like we’re the enemy. Why does he continue to pester us so?

Grandpa preached against drinking his corn liquor. In his twisted mind we are his enemy. Mama kissed her forehead. This war can’t last much longer. Mama smiled, Then Daddy will take care of Sergeant Adkins.

Her mother changed the subject. That dress is mighty snug. Tomorrow you can pick out one of mine and we’ll cut it down for you to wear on Sunday. I do declare child, you are growing like a weed.

Yes ma’am, Emilee rose, hugged her mother, and opened the door. I’ll go help with dinner.

###

The young girl knew in her heart that her mother didn’t possess the qualities that she wanted to exemplify. That didn’t make her love Mama any less. Her Grandma Burns embodied the fortitude and strength Emilee hoped-for in her own moral fiber. Emilee hurried off to find her.

###

On the Sabbath the Burns household made every effort to provide an atmosphere of normalcy. After morning church services the family gathered for the noon meal and shared the news of the past week.

Grandpa, the Reverend James Burns, said the blessing. After a meager meal, Emilee sat fixed as her grandpa shared the news he had heard the day before.

I stopped at the Cates’ yesterday and baptized John’s new boy. He certainly resembles his father. Mrs. Cates received a letter from her other son while I visited. The letter from Willy showed a post mark of six months ago. Seems Cobb’s F Company remained in Fredericksburg with Lee all winter. The early snow caught them without any quarters built so they had to make do in tents. Being that winters are harder up there then here, some Carroll County boys suffered from frost bite and such. He didn’t mention our boys.

Grandpa dismissed the youngsters from the table and sent them out to make the most of their day of rest. He continued with the news from the battlefront.

There’s more. I don’t want to alarm y’all. There’s sickness again in the ranks. Francis Odom brought back some bodies for burial. He stopped by Cates during my visit and asked if we could spare some food so he could take it back. He’ll be over sometime today.

Emilee cringed at her mother’s comment, Today is the Sabbath. Can’t we have a day with little talk of war and death?

That ended all conversation. Grandpa excused himself and headed outside to round up the boys for a serious game of horseshoes.

###

Corporal Odom came by at dusk. Emilee took his horse, tied it to the rail, and followed Odom onto the porch.

Mama addressed him first. Have you seen my William, Mr. Odom? Is he well?

Yes ma’am, Miz Charlotte. The last time I seen him, he gave me this letter for you. Said to tell you he’s sorry it’s only one page. That’s all the time he had.

Grandma came through the door with a bag of dried beans and a smoked ham she’d squirreled away. Emilee relieved her of the burden as the older woman spoke to Odom.

Her voice shook. "Tell my sons that we are well and not to worry. Express to our Carroll County boys that we pray for their continued well-being and that this war will soon end. I have wrapped up some venison jerky and dried berries for you for your trip back. Thank you again for your