Candle in the Darkness - Lynn N. Austin [82]
“Why, Massa Charles. If you ain’t a sight for sore eyes. Our Missy awful worried about you. But you get on in that dining room and sit yourself down now, you hear? You gonna let me feed you this morning, and you ain’t gonna argue, because I can hear the gears in your belly grinding clear across this hallway.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled and gave a mock salute as he agreed to stay for breakfast. Daddy joined us at the dining room table. As Esther piled food in front of us, Charles told his story.
“After we all arrived at the armory and they distributed the weapons, we headed down to Rocketts Wharf to engage any enemy landing forces. Later, they decided to station part of us downriver a few miles, below the city. We were all so tense and edgy it’s a wonder someone didn’t shoot off his own foot. At least those of us who’ve trained with the state militia knew how to handle a weapon—although I’m not sure bayonets and musket balls would have done much good against a warship.
“We spent the night camped on the river, waiting, only to learn early this morning that it was all a false alarm. The Pawnee did leave Norfolk Harbor yesterday, but it headed out into Chesapeake Bay and, presumably, up the Potomac.”
“More ham and biscuits?” Esther asked as she bustled into the room with another tray.
Charles held up both hands. “You’re only feeding one soldier, Esther, not the entire army. Although that’s not such a bad idea. Would you like to come along and be our commissary cook?”
“If I do that, Missy Caroline never would eat nothing,” she said, setting the platter in front of me. “Then she just might blow away one of these days.” Esther disappeared through the door again.
“So all that fretting was for nothing,” I said with a sigh.
“No, it did accomplish one important thing,” Charles said, cutting into another slice of ham. “It showed us how ill-prepared we are to defend ourselves and this city.”
“Well, we only voted to secede a few days ago,” Daddy said. “We can hardly expect to be prepared so soon.”
“If the enemy’s military leadership had been on their toes,” Charles replied, “they would have sent the Pawnee upriver and blasted the Tredegar Iron Works into oblivion before we had a chance to build a single cannon. You can bet we’ll start constructing shore batteries now and mining the James with torpedoes.”
Daddy sipped his coffee, then leaned back in his chair. “Have you made any immediate plans, Charles?”
Charles’ eyes met mine for a moment before he answered, as if giving me time to prepare myself for his response. “I plan to enlist right away in the Richmond Light Infantry Blues.”
“Ah, yes. That’s an old, highly regarded unit,” Daddy said. “A very distinguished outfit.”
Charles nodded. “I’m continuing a family tradition. Some of my ancestors fought with the ‘Blues’ during the first revolution.” He sighed and removed his napkin from his lap, folding it carefully and placing it beside his empty plate. “I have a feeling that yesterday was only a taste of what’s to come. Virginia is likely to become a principal battleground during this war, not only because we’re so close to Washington, but because Richmond is one of the South’s few industrial centers.”
“I think you’re right,” Daddy said. “In light of all this, may I ask . . . what have you two decided about your wedding?”
Charles looked at me again. “We haven’t decided anything, sir. I still want very much to marry Caroline. But I think, unless the war ends before July . . . I think we will be forced to postpone it for a while.”
In the weeks that followed, Charles became part of a stampede of volunteers who lined up to enlist in the Confederate Army. Jonathan joined him in filling the ranks of Richmond’s Light Infantry Blues. I drew a small measure of comfort from the fact that the two of them were together, watching out for each other. Jennings Wise, editor of the Enquirer and son of our former governor, was named the Blues’ captain. Jonathan’s older brother, William, joined an artillery