Spake As a Dragon (37 page)

She could stand it no longer, “Gitta
up,” she said to the mules as she turned into the long drive
leading up to the once magnificent place they called home. She let
the mules led the way up the road. Her eyes were filled with tears
seeing the awful sight before her. Near the main house the driveway
divides and another path leads to the guesthouse, she turns to the
right heading in its direction. Her mules come to a stop. Standing
in front of her are some children! Whose children are these, she
wonders? Wiping the tears from her eyes, she can now see them
plainly. No! No! This cannot be true!

“
Mama, Mama,” hollers
Lizzie as she runs down the path toward Malinda. “Mama,” hollers
William, running close behind Lizzie. Lizzie and William run up to
the wagon, Malinda is faint, she believes she is going to fall from
the wagon.

Stephen jumps from the wagon,
“William, Lizzie is it really you? You did not drown?”

Sary is up on the wagon beside Malinda
wetting her face with a handkerchief. The shock of seeing William
and Lizzie is just too much for Malinda. In a moment or so, she
regains her composure, “William, Lizzie come here my darlings let
me touch you.”

Standing off to one side is Levi and
Ora Lee watching the glorious reunion. While Malinda, William,
Lizzie and the rest of the family rejoice, Sary speaks to Ora Lee,
“Lands sakes woman, what in the world is this? Can you
explain?”

Ora Lee tells how Lizzie fell into the
river and could not swim. William jumped in to help. Both were
swept downstream in the swollen river. William clung to a tree
branch as it floated for miles down the Tallulah River. Eventually,
it floated close enough to shore to allow William to get upon the
dry riverbank. He was disheartened thinking sister Elizabeth had
drowned. Within minutes from the river William heard, “Here
William, I’m here!” It was Lizzie, alive, she had been floating on
the large wooden Bible box she had under her arm. She never let go.
Fortunately they came ashore at the place where the Saluda River
empties into the Tallulah River. The Mink Creek, where Scarburg
Mill is located empties into the Saluda. Luck was with William and
Lizzie they hitched a ride that very afternoon with a riverboat man
who was on his way with a barge full of corn headed to the Scarburg
Mill to get it ground into cornmeal – William and Lizzie had the
comforts of floating almost to Scarlett. Leaving the Tallulah, up
the Saluda, from the Saluda into Mink Creek and Scarlettsville.
They had been at Scarlett for over a month now.

Levi and Ora Lee announces, “Everyone
come on up to the guesthouse. You folks are home now!”

Chapter
Forty-Five

THE WAR IS OVER

Spring was finally arriving in 1865.
Robert has waited day after day to hear his name called as Captain
Michael Thomas had promised
.
Robert thought as he lay on his
bunk,
the Captain did not promise I would be exchanged, he only
said he put in a recommendation that my name be added to the
exchange list. Anything could have happened to prevent that from
taking place.

The last couple of months had taken
its toll on Robert’s health. His only friend now was T.J. Wells,
Robert never knew what the T.J. stood for he was simply known as
TJ. TJ had been with Robert at Gettysburg, just in another outfit.
Had it not been for TJ, Robert would not have survived as long as
he had already. Robert was too weak to even walk to the mess house
to get what meager rations were being served. TJ would, somehow,
get him a piece of meat or a slice of bread occasionally, not much,
but enough to keep him alive.

News was flowing into Point Lookout
like a river. Each day is more talk of the War ending. General
Grant still has General Lee besieged at Petersburg, Virginia, but
recent news indicates that General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
has slipped away from Petersburg on the night of April 2-3 and is
headed west, followed closely by General Grant’s Army of the
Potomac.

All the prisoners in the prison know a
final battle is coming; it is just a matter of when and where.
Lee’s army is starving, most have no shoes, their supply of
ammunition is almost exhausted. To General Lee, surrender is the
only course of action left. On 9 April the General said, “There is
nothing left for me to do, but to go and see General Grant and I
would rather die a thousand deaths."

At 4 pm on the afternoon of 9 April
1865, General Robert E. Lee meets General Ulysses S. Grant at the
home of Wilmer Mclean at a small crossroads known simply as
Appomattox Courthouse and surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia
– for all practical purposes the War of the Rebellion, or as it is
best known the Civil War, is finally over. One correspond standing
in the yard of the Mclean house remarked, “Strange, the War started
in Wilmer Mclean’s yard at the 1
^st
Battle of Bull Run in
1861. He moves to get his family away from war and the War ends in
his yard in Virginia in 1985!”

News of the surrender did not reach
Point Lookout until the afternoon of 10 April 1865. TJ bolts into
the tent, “Robert, you must hear the news! Bobby Lee has
surrendered his self and his Army of Northern Virginny. Yeah, you
heard right he surrendered sommers west of Petersburg, Virginny, at
a place called Appomattox, you ever heared of it? No? Me
neither.”

Robert weakly asked what did TJ think
is going to happen now? TJ responds by saying the talk is the
prisoners are to be taken by steamer down to Norfolk, Virginia and
set free.

“
TJ for two years now I
have posted letters to my family in Alabama. As to date, I have
never received a reply, as far as I know they might not even be
alive. I had two sons, Luke and Matthew with me at Gettysburg, I’ve
never found out what happened to them. I know the War is over, but
even if I get carried to the steamer, I will not survive. Can you
do me one last favor – write a letter to my brother Isaac Scarburg
in care of the Scarburg Mill at Scarlettsville, South Carolina. At
the very least, my family can know of my final demise.”

“
Robert, my friend, if I
can find some paper and pen, I assure you I will post a letter to
your brother, but hang in there my friend, you ain’t gonna
die!”

Point Lookout is in a scurry for the
following weeks, most of the Negro guards have run off afraid of
retaliation by the prisoners, in fact, for the past couple of weeks
there have been no guards on the walls at all, but where are the
inmates to go? Most were in rags; all were barefoot, ribs you can
count, beards and hair that have not been trimmed in months. They
look like dead men walking, in fact, a lot of them were just that,
walking dead men. Robert, unfortunately, was one of
them.

TJ has not forgotten his promise to
Robert, he found a pen, but he cannot find writing paper. One
afternoon, TJ has an inspiration. The prison is overrun by
worthless Confederate money, shin-plasters as the men call the
currency. Why not use them to write a note to Robert’s brother. On
the white backs of a couple of ten-dollar Confed’ bills, TJ pens a
brief note to Isaac.

As he walks along Pennsylvania Avenue
heading toward the office where mail is delivered, he is shoving
the two ten-dollar shin-plasters into an envelope. A couple of
malcontents see what TJ is doing. To them he is sending good Union
greenbacks home. They are going to have none of that, one of the
ruffians approaches TJ, “What’s yer doin’ my good man, sendin’ yer
sweetie yer savings, huh?”

“
My what? Savings? Well
no, there’s no funds in this post I am making.”

“
Well, We’ll jest have to
see fer ourselves, won’t we there,” the provocateur at his back
said as he grabs the envelope. TJ makes and effort to grab it back,
but the man in front hoists a knife and plunges it into his heart,
killing TJ instantly.

Robert’s lifeline to the outside world
is now severed completely. He truly is now alone...

Chapter
Forty-Six

HOMECOMING

Luke, Catherine, Sam, Nate, Kentucky
Lead and the hounds spend the past week resting and relaxing at the
old fort at Fort Payne, Alabama. News had arrived that the War is
almost over. Over! It is hard to visualize, no more kill or be
killed. Now Luke thinks they can get back home and get on with
their lives.

“
Everyone get aboard, it’s
just thirty more miles and we will be home. We’ll get up on Sand
Mountain at Rainsville, head south and two days later we will be
eating supper with Mother and the rest of the family. Who knows,
Father and Matthew may be there already.”

Luke propped his shiny black boots
adorned with their silver spurs upon the dashboard of the wagon and
yells, “Let’s go, Albertville or Bust!” The rest of the day they
work their way up the steep mountain road from Fort Payne to
Rainsville. As the sun set on the western side of Sand Mountain,
Robert and Catherine stood holding hands watching the ever-changing
rainbow of lights fade as night approaches. Turning to Catherine,
“That’s one good thing about living on top of a mountain my dear
wife.”

“
And what’s that my dear
husband?”

“
You get to actually see
the sunset every day!”

“
I know, and isn’t IT
beautiful.”

Sitting around the campfire Robert
begins to describe the farm – the rolling hills of grass, the
pines, Hog Creek, the canyon and the caves. He tells Sam how the
mountainsides are covered with raccoons and laughs when he makes a
joke about how Kentuck will think he is in raccoon heaven. He tells
Sam the area abounds with ‘coon hunters and when Sam has his pack
of Walker coonhounds ready for sale he’ll be rolling in the money.
Those ‘coon hunters will pay for his Walker hounds.

Morning comes early on top of a
mountain, it is the first place the early rays of sunshine strike,
but this morning the first light of day hits the two wagons already
up and moving south toward home. “Just one more day and we’ll be
there,” says Luke.

It is nearing mid-afternoon when Luke
halts his wagon. Turns and announces to everyone that the farm is
just around the next curve. The gate will be on the left and the
farmhouse should be seen a little way up the road from the
gate.

Luke is anxious; he snaps the reins
and the horses jump. “Gitta up guys, we’re almost home.”

They round the curve, arrive at the
gate, but the gate is locked tight with an enormous log chain
wrapped around the gate and gatepost, a lock big enough to secure a
boat to its mooring holds it together. A weathered piece of paper
flops in the breeze. Luke snatches the paper down and sees it is an
eviction notice dated back to the summer of last year. “What is
this? It says
Eviction for Non-payment of
Taxes
!”

“
Nate hand me the
Spencer!”

Luke loads one cartridge, aims
directly at the huge lock and fires.

The large .56 caliber lead bullet
tears through that old lock like a hot knife through butter. Luke
jerks the chain loose, jumps back upon his wagon seat and moves
through the gate.

Reaching the front porch Luke stops.
He cannot imagine what he sees - the place is empty! Not just empty
it appears deserted. Leaves have blown upon the porch, grass and
weeds are growing through the front steps, and one pane of glass is
broken out of one of the porch windows.

Before anyone can speak, Nate sees the
little cemetery under the red oak tree. Luke, Catherine and Sam see
him moving toward the tree and follow. Inside the picket fence,
they see three graves. One stone is marked ‘Margaret Scarburg,’
another ‘Jed Scarburg’ and the third ‘Jefferson Scarburg.’ Nate
does not speak, but a tear is beginning to form in the corner of
his eye. “That is Pa and brother Jefferson. What could have
happened? Luke, Pa and Jefferson are dead!”

“
Yes, it appears so. I am
sorry Nate, but your mother must still be alive. Notice there is no
grave with Sary’s name on it. The other is sister Margaret; she got
killed on the trip from South Carolina. Your Pa and Father went
back to north Georgia and brought her here to her final
home.”

“
You are rite Luke, but
where is Ma, and where’s yer family?”

Getting back on the wagons Luke
suggests a visit to Doc Crawford’s place. Doc is just down the road
and if anyone knows what has happened, it will be the
doctor.

ANSWERS FOUND

Knocking on Doc Crawford’s door Luke
is anxious to find out what has happened to his mother, brothers
and sisters. Nate needs an explanation to the death of his father
and brother.

Doc Crawford is surprised to see the
group standing on his front porch – he thinks he recognizes Luke,
but Nate, the woman and the young lad are not familiar. After
introductions, he invites them to have seats on the porch, and
before he can ask them to sit and get comfortable Luke and Nate are
barraging him with questions about their families.

“
Slow down gentlemen, one
at a time. I understand you both are quite upset over the events on
the Scarburg place. First off, for you Luke, your family left
sometime ago and went back to Scarlettsville. Some tragedy had
befallen your uncle Isaac at Scarlett and the overseer had
requested they come and give him some assistance. The request was
fortuitous since the Scarburg farm had fallen into delinquency with
the county over its taxes. Malinda could not pay what was due.”
Walking back inside to his desk, he withdrew the Quit Claim Deed
for the farm and back on the porch handed it to Luke, “as you see
Luke she signed the farm over to me if I could pay the back taxes.
I’m sorry Luke, I did not have the money to buy your farm. If I
had, I would let you have it back.”