Antebellum BK 1 (69 page)

Robert blew in it and looked inside, then grinned. “Well, congratulations, Colonel.” He took a cigar from his pocket and handed it to Grant. “This calls for a celebration.”

Grant sat down beside him and clipped the cigar with his pocket knife. “I’m to take command of the Twenty-first Illinois volunteer regiment. They’re said to be a bunch of malcontents and troublemakers.”

“
Do you need an X-O?”

Grant looked at him. “You’d have to take a demotion to major.”

“
What do I care? I’m just a brevet colonel anyway and I don’t care about the pay.”

“
Really?”

“
Why not? If we can arrange it.”

“
What will General Frémont have to say about it?”

“
He won’t care. He gave me the job as a favor to my sister.”

Grant blew a plume of smoke at the sky. “You okay with taking orders from me?”

“
As long as you’re right.”

Grant chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll let me know if I’m not.”

Robert examined the ash on his cigar. “You’re a better leader than I am, Sam. I know you don’t believe that yet, but you’ll see.”

Grant didn’t reply for a long time. “So, how’s your family, Professor?”

“
My brother Thomas is supposedly forming a Texas regiment,” Robert said. “His youngest son Johnny is in the Army of Virginia’s cavalry.”

“
What about Jack, Quincy and Paul?”

“
Jack’s still with my mother in New Mexico. Quincy was with Anderson in the Army of Kentucky, but Anderson assigned him to help Cump Sherman pull the 13
^th
Infantry together. Pea’s in the First Cavalry. I don’t know who’s in command. Pea thinks it’ll be John Buford since Robert Lee resigned.”

“
I heard Buford went south.”

Robert shook his head. “The Confederacy offered him carte blanche, but he turned them down. His brother probably convinced him.”

“
Too bad Lee went south. He’ll be missed.”

“
Yeah. He was offered the whole army by Lincoln, but he declined.”

“
Is he that good?”

“
The only man I ever knew that could see a battlefield more clearly than Robert E. Lee is you.”

“
Well, with Lee in the east and us in the west, I guess we’ll never face each other anyway.”

“
Time will tell, Sam. Time will tell.”

“
Can you send a wire to Frémont to see if he’d object to transferring you?”

“
Sure. Do you have a telegrapher handy?”

“
Absolutely.”

~

Grant watched Robert’s face as he read the telegram. “Guess you were wrong about Frémont.”

Robert nodded. “Guess so. His answer is pretty curt. He says I’m to consult with General Nathaniel Lyon in Springfield, soonest.”

“
There no general named Lyon in Springfield,” Grant said with a puzzled look.

“
He probably means Springfield, Missouri.”

“
You better check before you make a long trip for nothing.”

“
Missouri must be right.”

“
Isn’t Missouri neutral?”

“
They say they’re an
armed neutral
, whatever that means. There’s been some kind of conflict there since April. I haven’t been following it very closely. I remember the name Lyon, but I would almost swear that he was a captain.”

“
Captains can become generals overnight during wartime,” Grant said with a grin. “Does it say that you’re to report to this General Lyon?”

“
No. It says ‘consult with’.”

“
Sounds like they may have promoted a captain and now have a loose cannon.”

“
God, I hope not. Trying to manage someone that outranks you is the worst duty in the Army.”

“
Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“
Well, one of the worst.” He gave Grant his hand. “I’ll be seeing you as soon as possible.”

“
I’ll work on it from my end. Maybe I’ll win some big battle and get promoted to general.”

“
Do that, please.”

“
Be careful.’

“
You too.”

June 19, 1861

Martinsburg, Virginia

J
ohnny Van Buskirk trotted his horse forward, then halted facing the mounted officer and saluted. “Lieutenant John Van Buskirk reporting for duty, sir.”

The officer, sporting the gold shoulder-boards of a lieutenant colonel, a red-lined gray cape, a bright yellow sash and an ostrich plume in his hat, returned the salute. “You’re on the ‘Absent without leave’ report. What’s your excuse?”

Johnny was a bit surprised by the reply. “I didn’t know where you were, Beauty.”

“
I did the best that I could to protect you,” Stuart replied, “but we have a new colonel now. He says he’s been sent here by General Johnson to take command. I had no choice but to report you. You had better have a wonderful excuse.”

Johnny shrugged. “What’s this new colonel’s name?”

“
Thomas Jackson.”

Johnny shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

“
He’s been an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute and he’s very ‘by the book’, drilling the infantry from sunup to sundown.” Stuart looked around to be sure they couldn’t be heard and stepped closer to Johnny. “He’s even more devout than Marse Lee and has taken an instant dislike to me.”

Johnny made a face. “Are you wearing cologne, Beauty?”

“
You have a bigger problem than how I smell,” Stuart growled.

Johnny chuckled. “So where do I find the Reverend Colonel Jackson?”

Stuart pointed at a tent. “Be careful with him, Johnny. He’s very well connected politically and sure to be wearing a star before long.”

Johnny gave Stuart a smart salute, then turned his horse toward the tent. He was having serious doubts about his decision to join the Confederacy and wondered if he could still resign. He was equally unsure of his decision to marry Urilla. The first week of the honeymoon had been spent mostly in bed, but the last week had been spent mostly in argument. Urilla had been spoiled beyond reason since the day she was born and she believed that whatever she wished for should magically happen. She saw the war and Johnny’s duty as impediments to her happiness and she wished them gone.

Johnny dismounted, tied his horse to the hitching post, brushed at his uniform and then scratched on the tent flap.

“
Come,” a voice from inside replied.

Johnny ducked through the opening, came to attention and saluted. “Lieutenant John Van Buskirk reporting for duty, sir.”

Thomas Jackson was seated behind a camp desk writing furiously. “One moment, please.”

Uncertain of the proper response, Johnny lowered his salute.

“
Were you not due to report on the 14
^th
, sir?” Jackson asked, without looking up.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Today is the 19
^th
, unless I am mistaken.”

“
You’re not mistaken, sir. I’ve been absent without leave for five days.”

Jackson put his pen aside and looked up. “What excuse have you to offer?”

“
None, sir.”

Jackson pushed his campstool back and crossed his legs. “Then perhaps you might tell me what you have been doing for the last five days, while you were supposed to be on duty.”

“
Traveling most of them, sir. I returned my wife to her father’s plantation at Orchard Hill after our honeymoon, then I rode to Harpers Ferry where I was told that the unit had moved to the Valley. I finally learned the location of Colonel Stuart’s cavalry last evening and rode all night to join him.”

“
That sounds like an excuse.”

“
It wasn’t intended to be, sir. It was my responsibility to know where my unit was located and I failed to do so. The fault is mine.”

“
Colonel Stuart says that he sent a message to you in care of your father-in-law informing you of his location.”

“
I never received it, sir.”

“
Odd, don’t you think?”

“
My father-in-law would be happy if you hanged me for desertion, sir.”

A hint of a smile appeared around Jackson’s eyes. “Why is that?”

“
I eloped with his daughter, sir. He calls it kidnapping. If his wife hadn’t stayed his hand he would have shot me.”

“
Are you a Christian, Lieutenant Van Buskirk?”

“
A poor one, sir.”

“
I’m disappointed, but not surprised.”

Johnny decided not to comment.

“
I knew your grandfather, your father and your uncles in the Mexican War. They too practiced a peculiar form of Christianity. I think they called it Episcopalianism, but it is in fact Lutheran Catholicism at its core.”

Johnny continued his silence.

“
Your grandmother is Roman Catholic, I think.”

“
Yes, sir. She was educated by Roman Catholic nuns at a convent school in New Orleans. Although I don’t believe she ever attended Mass regularly as an adult.”

“
I plan to make religious instruction part of our regular training. It would of course be strictly voluntary to officers. Are you interested?”

“
No, sir,” Johnny said emphatically. “I most certainly am not.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “You disapprove?”

“
I do, sir. The separation of church and state is a pillar of the United States of America. If the Confederate States of America are not going to follow that example, I will resign my commission and go north to defend the Union and those principles.”