On to Richmond (71 page)

Early the next morning, Moses moved onto land with the troops.  He was glad to leave the bobbing ship and put his feet on solid ground.  As soon as they landed, the order was given to march.  Moses looked around as they moved quickly through the hastily laid out camps on the outskirts of the fort. Their marching brought them to the outskirts of Hampton.  Moses stared at the forest of charred chimneys lining the skyline.  “What happened here?  Was there a battle?”

              “Hardly!” James snorted.  “Magruder, the Confederate general running the show around here heard the North was planning on turning Hampton into a settlement for runaway slaves.”

             
“He burned his own city?” Moses asked in disbelief.

             
James shrugged.  “I think the guy is nuts.  He decided he could not bear to see the city suffer such desecration, so he burned it to the ground.”

             
Moses just stared at the destruction in front of him.  Once more he was reminded of the passions ruling unrestrained in the country.  It also drove home to him how careful he must be.  Passions that could wreak such destruction would not hesitate to kill him if his Union loyalties were discovered. 

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

              Robert had been in Richmond almost a week before he was able to break away from his duties to have dinner with Thomas Cromwell.  He could feel the anxiety and fear pulsating in the air as he rode his horse through the streets. It felt like a living thing he could reach out and touch.  The city, once so gaily defiant, was now afraid.  He shook his head grimly as he pushed his horse through the crowds and moved as quickly as he could down Broad Street.   The beauty of a glorious spring day was wasted on everyone he saw.  The drawn lines in their faces and the trouble in their eyes said tragedy was about to fall. 

             
“Robert!  It’s good to see you. Come in,” Thomas said warmly as soon as Micah announced his arrival.

             
Robert knew Thomas had not brought him here for small talk.  There were too many serious situations brewing in their country.

             
Thomas turned to him as soon as he sat down.  “I’m so glad you were able to come.  I have been longing to talk to you.  I spend hours talking to politicians.  I have found myself needing the cold logic of a military officer to balance things out.”

             
“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make you feel much better,” Robert replied. 

             
Thomas shook his head.  “That’s not what I want.  I’m not looking for good-hearted fantasy.  I simply want to hear things from your perspective.”

             
Robert nodded.  “Where do you want me to start?”

“With Johnston’s withdrawal from Manassas.  Was it really as chaotic as I have heard?”

              Robert grimaced.  “I’m afraid so,” he said soberly.  “Oh, Johnston tried, but he had a lot of things working against him.  He discovered early, after Davis’ orders to bring the army closer to Richmond, that security had been breached.  There was no telling who in the Union might know of what he had been told to do - or what they would do to stop it.  Davis wanted him to bring all the artillery with him, but the spring rain made the roads impassable for heavy weapons.   To top it all off, the railroad was unable to remove the massive number of supplies and goods they had stockpiled around Manassas in the last eight months.”

             
Thomas smiled wryly.  “I understand the commissary department had rather outdone itself.”

             
Robert nodded.  “That would be one way to put it.  There were over three million pounds of subsistence stores to be moved.  Not to mention all the soldiers’ baggage.”

             
“Did every soldier really have a trunk to move?”

             
“Including Johnston himself,” Robert affirmed.   “When the call was given to withdraw, there were still tons of supplies that had not been moved.  Johnston got word of unusual activity among the Union troops on the Potomac.  He was afraid his worst fears had been realized - someone had tipped off the Union to his evacuation.  Whatever couldn’t be carried away was destroyed.”

             
Thomas closed his eyes and groaned.  “A very serious loss.”

             
“Yes, a very serious loss.”  Then Robert allowed himself a small smile.  “It was the best smelling withdrawal of any army in the world, though, I bet.”

             
“What in the world do you mean?”

             
“Surely you are aware of the meat-curing plant that was fifteen miles behind the lines.”

             
Thomas nodded.  “Of course.  It was the largest in the South.  It had over two million pounds of bacon and salted meat.”

             
Robert smiled.  “The cavalry rear guard torched the depots and the meat-curing plant when the last columns passed.  The smell of frying bacon followed us for twenty miles.”   He would never forget the blue and yellow flames curling up from the huge piles of meat set aflame, but he was also aware of the tremendous loss to the army.

             
Thomas chuckled briefly, but his mind was intent on other things.  “Johnston sent you ahead?”

             
“Yes.  I was sent on to Richmond to once again help with the fortifications of the city here.  Lee was still not certain what the buildup of troops at Fort Monroe meant.  He wasn’t sure which direction McClellan was headed.”

             
“It’s certainly obvious now!” Thomas exclaimed.

             
Robert nodded.  For a few minutes, both men were silent with their thoughts.  McClellan had made his intentions clear when his 100,000 man army had marched away from Fort Monroe and advanced on Yorktown.  Richmond was his target.  The cry of
On to Richmond!
was once more being acted upon.

             
Finally Thomas shook his head.  “What I can’t figure out - even though I thank God for it daily - is why McClellan is still stalling at Yorktown.  Magruder has a mere 20,000 men to combat his 100,000.  What in the world is he waiting for?”

             
This time Robert’s chuckle was genuine.  “I think our man Magruder is playing a game with McClellan.  I think he should consider the theater when this war is over.” 

             
Thomas stared at him blankly.  “Would you like to explain that?”

             
“Magruder is well known for his ability to make things seem much more than they are.  Some reports of his actions have come back to us here.  Some of his units have been split into two parts.  He has kept them traveling twenty-four hours a day, instructing them to show themselves in different places all along the line.  I’m sure the poor men are exhausted, but it has worked.  I’m convinced McClellan believes he is facing a much bigger army than he actually is.  He is known to be extremely cautious.  Magruder is counting on that.”

             
“Until we can get reinforcements to him.”

             
Robert nodded, suddenly grim again.  “Not that I’m sure how much good it will do.  We simply don’t have enough troops to stop McClellan when he determines to move forward.  Johnston’s additional troops may enable us to slow him down, but I don’t think we can stop him.  He is simply too powerful - even though he doesn’t seem to know it yet.”

             
“The longer we can keep him from knowing it the better,” Thomas replied.  “The government is doing all it can to get you the manpower you need.”

             
“The Conscription Act?” Robert asked.

             
Thomas nodded.  “Congress passed the legislation just last week.  It conscripts every man between the ages of eighteen to thirty-five.  There are exceptions, of course, but we should see the numbers rise immediately.”

             
Robert was glad there was more manpower on the way, but he had to ask the question on his mind.   “How does that sit with the rights of each state to determine their own destiny and defense?”  He was aware of President Davis’s efforts to honor that principle.

             
Thomas shrugged.  When he spoke, his face was as grim as his words.  “Idealism does not always have its way.  Without an adequate force to defend it, there will be no Confederate States to worry about their rights.  You know as well as I do that the picture for us right now is bleak.”

             
Robert did indeed know.  With the fall of Shiloh ten days before, the Confederacy had for all intents and purposes lost the middle Mississippi.  The coast of North Carolina was sealed from the sea, and all the major South Carolina ports were either occupied or blockaded.  Now there was a force of 100,000 Yankee soldiers moving toward Richmond. 

             
Robert’s next question was one that had been bothering him for weeks.  “Have you called Carrie to the city, Thomas?”  He had had countless nightmares of Carrie being alone on the plantation when Union troops came through.  He was not telling Thomas how sure he was that Johnston could not stop McClellan.  Hope was sometimes all that kept people going.

             
Thomas scowled.  “You know my daughter,” he said helplessly.  “Of course, I wrote her right away when McClellan started building up his troops at Fort Monroe. She wrote back telling me she was too busy planting crops to come to Richmond, and besides, she had confidence in Johnston to control things.”

             
Robert frowned.  “I see.”  He wasn’t sure what to say.  He did indeed know Thomas’ strong-willed daughter.  He also knew if it were up to him, he probably would have ridden out, thrown her across his saddle, and returned her to Richmond.  He almost laughed at his own thoughts.  They sounded noble, but he also knew how impossible Carrie was to move once she set her mind on something. 

             
Thomas read his face.  “I don’t know what to do.  I can tell you think I should ride out and force her to return.  Don’t think I haven’t considered it!”

             
Robert smiled reluctantly.  “Yes, I did think that.  I also reached the same conclusion you did.”  He paused, thinking.  “Have you sent her more letters?”

             
“One a day,” Thomas said wearily.  “I haven’t heard any more from her.  Not even her regular letters.  Of course, everything in the city is disrupted with the current crisis.  I have no way of knowing if she has actually received my correspondence.”

             
Robert frowned again.  “I wonder if she realizes her crops may end up feeding the Union army as they pass through on the way to Richmond,” he muttered. 

             
Thomas shrugged.  “She is convinced she has a job to do.  She promised me she would leave the plantation if it became too dangerous for her to remain, but she is so isolated she may not realize the danger until it is too late.”  He shook his head.  “I will go get her myself if the need arises.”

             
Robert shook his head.  “I will make sure Carrie gets off the plantation, Thomas.”  He paused for a moment, and then leaned forward to ask quietly, “Does she know the secret?”

             
Thomas shook his head morosely.  “I should have told her.  I had planned to, even.  But for some reason I never did.  I was convinced she would come to Richmond if I asked her to.   I learned the secret when my father wanted me to.  Not until he died did I find the letter he wrote me shortly before.  He had kept the secret since just after his father died.  He wanted the secret kept until I was gone, as well.  Carrie knows there is a letter in the safe.  I put it there after Abigail died.  She also knows she is not to open it till I’m gone.  I’m confident she will heed my wishes.”