Books: With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

G >> G.A. Henty >> With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

"Walked forty-eight miles, Vincent! What on earth have you done
that for?"

"Not from choice, I can assure you, mother; but you know the old
saying, 'Needs must when the devil drives,' and in the present case
you must read 'Yankee' instead of 'the gentleman in black.'

"But has Petersburg fallen?" Mrs. Wingfield asked in alarm.

"No; Petersburg is safe, and is likely to continue so. But you must
really be patient, mother, until I have had some tea, then you can
hear the story in full."

When the servant came in with the tea Vincent told her that she
was to tell Dinah, whom she would find on the veranda, to bring
her husband into the kitchen, and to give him everything he
wanted. Then, as soon as he had finished tea, he told his mother
and sister the adventures he had gone through. Both were crying
when he had finished.

"I am proud of you, Vincent," his mother said. "It is hard on us
that you should run such risks; still I do not blame you, my boy, for
if I had ten sons I would give them all for my country."

Vincent had but just finished his story when the servant came in
and said that the buggy was at the door.

"I will go in my slippers, mother, but I will run up and change my
other things. It's lucky I have got a spare suit here. Any of our
fellows who happened to be going down to-night in the train
would think that I was mad were I to go like this."

It was one o'clock in the morning when Vincent reached
Petersburg. He went straight to his quarters, as it would be no use
waking General Lee at that hour. A light was burning in his room,
and Dan was asleep at the table with his head on his arms. He
leaped up with a cry of joy as his master entered.

"Well, Dan, here I am safe again," Vincent said cheerily. "I hope
you had not begun to give me up."

"I began to be terribly frightened, sir-terribly frightened. I went dis
afternoon and asked Captain Burley if he had any news oh you.
He said 'No;' and asked me ef I knew where you were. I said 'No,
sah;' that I knew nuffin about it except that you had gone on some
dangerous job. He said he hoped that you would be back soon;
and certainly, as far as dey had heard, nuffin had happened to you.
Still I was bery anzious, and tought I would sit up till de last train
came in from Richmond. Den I tink I dropped off to sleep."

"I think you did, Dan. Well, I am too tired to tell you anything
about it now, but I have one piece of news for you; Tony has come
back to his wife."

"Dat's good news, sah; bery good news. I had begun to be afraid
dat Tony had been shot or hung or someting. I know Dinah hab
been fretting about him though she never said much, but when I
am at home she allus asks me all sorts of questions 'bout him. She
bery glad woman now."

The next morning Vincent went to General Lee's quarters.

"I am heartily glad to see you back," the general said warmly as he
entered. "I have blamed myself for letting you go. Well, what
success have you had?"

"Here is a rough plan of the works, general. I have not had time to
do it out fairly, but it shows the positions of all their principal
batteries, with a rough estimate as to the number of guns that each
is intended to carry."

"Excellent!" the general said, glancing over the plan. "This will
give us exactly the information we want. We must set to with our
counter-works at once. The country is indeed indebted to you, sir.
So you managed to cheat the Yankees altogether?"

"I should have cheated them, sir; but 'unfortunately I came across
an old acquaintance who denounced me, and I had a narrow escape
of being shot."

"Well, Captain Wingfield, I must see about this business, and give
orders at once. Will you come and breakfast with me at half-past
eight? Then you can give me an account of your adventures."

Vincent returned to his quarters, and spent the next two hours in
making a detailed drawing of the enemy's positions and batteries,
and then at half-past eight walked over to General Lee's quarters.
The general returned in a few minutes with General Wade
Hampton and several other officers, and they at once sat down to
breakfast. As the meal was proceeding an orderly entered with a
telegram for the general. General Lee glanced through it.

"This, gentlemen, is from the minister of war. I acquainted him by
telegraph this morning that Captain Wingfield, who had
volunteered for the dangerous service, had just returned from the
Federal lines with a plan of the positions and strength of all the
works that they are erecting. I said that I trusted that such
distinguished service as he had rendered would be at once
rewarded with promotion, and the minister telegraphs to me now
that he baa this morning signed this young officer's commission as
major. I heartily congratulate you, sir, on your well-earned step.
And now, as I see you have finished your breakfast, perhaps, you
will give 'us an account of your proceedings."

Vincent gave a detailed account of his adventures, which were
heard with surprise and interest.

"That was a narrow escape, indeed," the general said, as he
finished. "It was a marvelous thing your lighting upon this negro,
whom you say you had once had an opportunity of serving, just at
that moment; and although you do not tell us what was the nature
of the service you had rendered him, it must have been a very
considerable service or he would never have risked his life in that
way to save yours. When these negroes do feel attachment for
their masters there are no more faithful and devoted fellows. Well,
in your case certainly a good action has met with its reward; if it
had not been for him there could be no question that your doom
was sealed. It is a strange thing too your meeting that traitor. I
remember reading about that escape of yours from the Yankee
prison. He must have been an ungrateful villain, after your taking
him with you."

"He was a bad fellow altogether, I am afraid," Vincent said; "and
the quarrel between us was a long-standing one."

"Whatever your quarrel was," the general said hotly, "a man who
would betray even an enemy to death in that way is a villain.
However, he has gone to his account, and the country can forgive
his treachery to her, as I have no doubt you have already done his
conduct toward your-self."

A short time afterward Vincent had leave for a week, as things
were quiet at Petersburg.

"Mother," he said on the morning after he got home9 "I fear that
there is no doubt whatever now how this struggle will end. I think
we might keep Grant at bay here, but Sherman is too strong for us
down in Georgia. We are already cut off from most of the
Southern States, and in time Sherman will sweep round here, and
then it will be all over. You see it yourself, don't you, mother?"

"Yes, I am afraid it cannot continue much longer, Vincent. Well,
of course, we shall fight to the end."

"I am not talking of giving up, mother; I am looking forward to the
future. The first step will be that all the slaves will be freed. Now,
it seems to me that however attached they may be to their masters
and mistresses tbey will lose their heads over this, flock into the
towns, and nearly starve there; or else take up little patches of land
and cultivate them, and live from hand to mouth, which will be
ruin to the present owners as well as to them. Anyhow for a time
all will be confusion and disorder. Now, my idea is this, if you
give all your slaves their freedom at once, offer them patches of
land for their own cultivation and employ them at wages, you will
find that a great many of them will stop with you. There is
nowhere for them to go at present and nothing to excite them, so
before the general crash comes they will have settled down quietly
to work here in their new positions, and will not be likely to go
away

"It is a serious step to take, Vincent," Mrs. Wingfield said, after
thinking the matter over in silence for some time. "You do not
think there is any probablity of the ultimate success of our cause?"

"None, mother; I do not think there is even a possibility. One by
one the Southern States have been wrested from the Confederacy.
Sherman's march will completely isolate us. We have put our last
available man in the field, and tremendous as are the losses of the
enemy they are able to fill up the gaps as fast as they are made.
No, mother, do not let us deceive ourselves on that head. The end
must come, and that before long. The slaves will unquestionably
be freed, and the only question for us is how to soften the blow.
There is no doubt that our slaves, both at the Orangery and at the
other plantations, are contented and happy; but you know how
fickle and easily led the negroes are, and in the excitement of
finding them selves free and able to go where they please, you may
be sure that the greater number will wander away. My proposal is,
that we should at once mark out a plot of land for each family and
tell them that as long as they stay here it is theirs rent-free; they
will be paid for their work upon the estate, three, four, or five days
a week, as they can spare time from their own plots. In this way
they will be settled down, and have crops upon their plots of land,
before the whole black population is upset by the sudden abolition
of slavery."

"But supposing they won't work at all, even for wages, Vincent?"

"I should not give them the option, mother; it will be a condition
of their having their plots of land free that they shall work at least
three days a week for wages."

"I will think over what you say, Vincent, and tell you my decision
in the morning. I certainly think your plan is a good one."

The next morning Mrs. Wingfield told Vincent that she had
decided to adopt his plan. He at once held a long consultation
with the overseer, and decided which fields should be set aside for
the allotments, choosing land Close to the negroes' quarters and
suitable for the raising of vegetables for sale in the town.

In the afternoon Mrs Wingfield went down with him. The bell was
rung and the whole of the slaves assembled. Vincent then made
them a speech. He began by reminding them of the kind treatment
they had always received, and of the good feeling that had existed
between the owners of the Orangery and their slaves. He praised
them for their good conduct since the beginning of the troubles,
and said that his mother and himself had agreed that they would
now take steps to reward them, and to strengthen the tie between
them. They would all be granted their freedom at once, and a
large plot of land would be given to each man, as much as he and
his family could cultivate with an average of two days a week
steady labor.

Those who liked would, of course, be at liberty to leave; but he
hoped that none of them would avail themselves of this freedom,
for nowhere would they do so well as by accepting the offer he
made them. All who accepted the offer of a plot of land rent-free
must understand that it was granted them upon the condition that
they would labor upon the estate for at least three days a week,
receiving a rate of pay similar to that earned by other freed
negroes. Of course they would be at liberty to work four or five
days a week if they chose; but at least they must work three days
and any one failing to do this would forfeit his plot of land. "Three
days' work," he said, "will be sufficient to provide all necessaries
for yourselves and families and the produce of your land you can
sell, and will so be able to lay by an ample sum to keep yourselves
in old age. I have already plotted out the land and you shall cast
lots for choice of the plots. There will be a little delay before all
your papers of freedom can be made out, but the arrangement will
begin from to-day, and henceforth you will be paid for all labor
done on the estate."

Scarcely a word was spoken when Vincent concluded. The news
was too surprising to the negroes for them to be able to understand
it all at once. Dan and Tony, to whom Vincent had already
explained the matter, went among them, and they gradually took in
the whole of Vincent's meaning. A few received the news with
great joy, but many others were depressed rather than rejoiced at
the responsibilities of their new positions. Hitherto they had been
clothed and fed, the doctor attended them in sickness, their master
would care for them in old age. They had been literally without a
care for the morrow, and the thought that in future they would
have to think of all these things for themselves almost frightened
them. Several of the older men went up to Mrs. Wingfield and
positively declined to accept their freedom. They were quite
contented and happy, and wanted nothing more. They had worked
on the plantation since they had been children, and freedom
offered them no temptations whatever.

"What had we better do, Vincent?" Mrs. Wingfield asked.

"I think, mother, it will be best to toll them that all who wish can
remain upon the old footing, but that their papers will be made out
and if at any time they wish to have their freedom they will only
have to say so. No doubt they will soon become accustomed to the
idea, and seeing how comfortable the others are with their pay and
the produce of their gardens they will soon fall in with the rest. Of
course it will decrease the income from the estate, but not so much
as you would think. They will be paid for their labor, but we shall
have neither to feed nor clothe them; and I think we shall get better
labor than we do now, for the knowledge that those who do not
work steadily will lose their plots of land, and have to go out in the
world to work, their places being filled by others, will keep them
steady."

"It's an experiment, Vincent, and we shall see how it works."

"It's an experiment I have often thought I should like to make,
mother, and now you see it is almost forced upon us. To-morrow I
will ride over to the other plantations and make the same
arrangements."

During the month of August many battles took place round
Petersburg. On the 12th the Federals attacked, but were repulsed
with heavy loss, and 2,500 prisoners were taken. On the 21st the
Confederates attacked, and obtained a certain amount of success,
killing, wounding, and capturing 2,400 men. Petersburg was
shelled day and night, and almost continuous fighting went on.
Nevertheless, up to the middle of October the positions of the
armies remained unaltered. On the 27th of that mouth the Federals
made another general attack, but were repulsed with a loss of
1,500 men. During the next three months there was little fighting,
the Confederates having now so strengthened their lines by
incessant toil that even General Grant, reckless of the lives of his
troops as he was, hesitated to renew the assault.

But in the South General Sherman was carrying all before him.
Generals Hood and Johnston, who commanded the Confederate
armies there, had fought several desperate battles, but the forces
opposed to them were too strong to be driven back. They had
marched through Georgia to Atlanta and captured that important
town on the 1st of September, and obtained command of the
network of railways, and thus cut off a large portion of the
Confederacy from Richmond. Then Sherman marched south,
wasting the country through which he marched, and capturing
Savannah on the 21st of September.

While he was so doing, General Hood had marched into
Tennessee, and after various petty successes was defeated, after
two days' hard fighting, near Nashville. In the third week in
January, 1865, Sherman set out with 60,000 infantry and 10,000
cavalry from Savannah, laying waste the whole country-burning,
pillaging, and destroying. The town of Columbia was occupied,
sacked, and burned, the white men and women and even the
negroes being horribly ill-treated.

The Confederates evacuated Charleston at the approach of the
enemy, setting it in flames rather than allow it to fall into
Sherman's hands. The Federal army then continued its devastating
route through South Carolina, and at the end of March had
established itself at Goldsboro, in North Carolina, and was in
readiness to aid Grant in his final attack on Richmond.

Lee, seeing the imminence of the danger, made an attack upon the
enemy in front of Petersburg, but was repulsed. He had now but
37,000 men with which to oppose an enemy of nearly four times
that strength in front of him, while Sheridan's cavalry, 10,000
strong, threatened his flank, and Sherman with his army was but a
few days' march distant. There was fierce fighting on the 29th,
30th, and 31st of March, and on the 2d of April the whole Federal
army assaulted the positions at Petersburg, and after desperate
fighting succeeded in carrying them. The Confederate troops,
outnumbered and exhausted as they were by the previous week's
marching and fighting, yet retained their discipline, and Lee drew
off with 20,000 men and marched to endeavor to effect a junction
with Johnston, who was still facing Sherman. But his men had but
one day's provision with them. The stores that he had ordered to
await them at the point to which he directed his march had not
arrived there when they reached it, and, harassed at every foot of
their march by Sheridan's cavalry and Ord's infantry, the force
fought its way on. The horses and mules were so weak from want
of food that they were unable to drag the guns, and the men
dropped in numbers from fatigue and famine. Sheridan and Ord
cut off two corps, but General Lee, with but 8,000 infantry and
2,000 cavalry, still pressed forward toward Lynchburg. But
Sheridan threw himself in the way, and, finding that no more could
be done, General Lee and the infantry surrendered, and a few days
later Generals Lee and Grant met and signed terms of peace.
General Johnston's army surrendered to General Sherman, and the
long and desperate struggle was at an end.

It was a dreadful day in Richmond when the news came that the
lines of Petersburg were forced, and that General Lee no longer
stood between the city and the invaders. The president and
ministers left at once, and were followed by all the better class of
inhabitants who could find means of conveyance. The negroes,
Irish, and some of the lower classes at once set to work to pillage
and burn, and the whole city would have been destroyed had not a
Federal force arrived and at once suppressed the rioting.

Whatever bad been the conduct of the Federal troops during the
last year of the war, however great the suffering they had inflicted
upon the unarmed and innocent population of the country through
which they marched, the terms of peace that General Grant agreed
upon, and which were, although with some reluctance, ratified by
the government, were in the highest degree liberal and generous.
No one was to be injured or molested for the share he had taken in
the war. A general amnesty was granted to all, and the States were
simply to return to the position in the Union that they occupied
previous to the commencement of the struggle.

More liberal terms were never granted by a conqueror to the
vanquished.

Vincent was with the cavalry who escaped prior to Lee's surrender,
but as soon as the terms of peace were ratified the force was
disbanded and he returned home. He was received with the
deepest joy by his mother and sister.

"Thank God, my dear boy, that all is over, and you have been
preserved to us. We are beaten, but no one can say that we have
been disgraced. Had every State done its duty as Virginia has we
should never have been overpowered. It has been a terrible four
years, and there are few families indeed that have no losses to
mourn."

"It was well you were not in Richmond, mother, the day of the
riots."

"Yes; but we had our trouble here too, Vincent. A number of the
slaves from some of the plantations came along this way, and
wanted our hands to join them to burn down their quarters and the
house, and to march to Richmond. Tony and Dan, hearing of their
approach, armed themselves with your double-barreled guns, went
down and called out the hands and armed them with hoes and
other implements. When the negroes came up there was a
desperate quarrel, but our hands stood firm, and Tony and Dan
declared that they would shoot the first four men that advanced,
and at last they drew off and made their way to Richmond.

"Your plan has succeeded admirably. One or two of the hands
went to Richmond next day, but returned a day or two afterward
and begged so hard to be taken on again that I forgave them. Since
then everything has been going on as quietly and regularly as
usual, while there is scarcely a man left on any of the estates near."

"And now, mother, that I find things are quiet and settled here, I
shall go down to Georgia and fetch Lucy home. I shall be of age in
a few months, and the house on the estate that comes to me then
can be enlarged a bit, and will do very well."

"Not at all, Vincent. Annie will be married next month. Herbert
Rowsell was here two days ago, and it's all settled. So I shall be
alone here. It will be very lonely and dull for me, Vincent, and I
would rather give up the reins of government to Lucy and live here
with you, if you like the plan."

"Certainly, I should like it, mother, and so, I am sure, would Lucy."

"Well, at any rate, Vincent, we will try the experiment, and if it
does not work well I will take possession of the other house."

"There is no fear of that, mother, none whatever."

"And when are you thinking of getting married, Vincent?"

"At once, mother. I wrote to her the day we were disbanded saying
that I should come in a week, and would allow another week and
no longer for her to get ready."

"Then, in that case, Vincent, Annie and I will go down with you.
Annie will not have much to do to get ready for her own wedding.
It must, of course, be a very quiet one, and there will be no array of
dresses to get; for I suppose it will be some time yet before the
railways are open again and things begin to come down from the
North."

Happily Antioch had escaped the ravages of war, and there was
nothing to mar the happiness of the wedding. Lucy's father had
returned, having lost a leg in one of the battles of the Wilderness a
year before, and her brother had also escaped. After the wedding
they returned to their farm in Tennessee, and Mrs. Wingfield,
Annie, Vincent, and Lucy went back to the Orangery.

For the next three or four years times were very bard in Virginia,
and Mrs. Wingfleld had to draw upon her savings to keep up the
house in its former state; while the great majority of the planters
were utterly ruined.

The negroes, however, for the most part remained steadily working
en the estate. A few wandered away, but their places were easily
filled; for the majority of the freed slaves very soon discovered
that their lot was a far harder one than it had been before, and that
freedom so suddenly given was a curse rather than a blessing to
them.

Thus, while so many went down, the Wingfields weathered the
storm, and the step that had been taken in preparing their hands for
the general abolition of slavery was a complete success.

With the gradual return of prosperity to the South the prices of
produce improved, and ten years after the conclusion of the
rebellion the income of the Orangery.was nearly as large as it had
been previous to its outbreak. Vincent, two years after the
conclusion of the struggle; took his wife over to visit his relations
in England, and, since the death of his mother in 1879, has every
year spent three or four months at home, and will not improbably
ere long sell his estates in Virginia and settle in England
altogether.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27