Drummer Boy at Bull Run (6 page)

“You’re real old, all right.” Jeff grinned at her. His hair was black as a crow’s wing when the sun hit it, and his eyes almost as black. He stood looking down at her and holding her hand. “You sure do have small arms. Why, my fingers almost go around your arm twice. You’re going to have to get your ma to feed you more so you can get some fat on your bones.”

Leah pulled her hand away, her eyes flashing. “I don’t want to be fat,” she snapped.

As a matter of fact, Jeff had noticed that even the short time he had been away—or perhaps because of the fact that he had been away—Leah seemed to have grown up. She was not much taller, but she had filled out. He didn’t comment on this except to say, “Well, I don’t reckon you have to worry about that.”

“Come on, let’s go down to the stream. Maybe we’ll see old Napoleon down there, and we can catch him.”

“All right.”

The two ambled along until they reached the bridge. They leaned against the rail and looked over, and Jeff said, “Do you remember the last time we were here? We went home and heard about the war starting.”

“I remember. I wish it would have never happened—that old war.” Suddenly she turned to him. “Jeff, why don’t you stay here with us? Pa needs help on the farm, and it would be a good place for you.”

Jeff shook his head. “No, I’m going back.” He hesitated and said, “I haven’t told my pa about this, but I’m going in the army.”

“In the army?” Leah looked at him with shock in her eyes. “Why, you can’t go in the army—you’re only fourteen years old.”

“I can go in as a drummer boy,” Jeff said stubbornly. “And I’m going to. It won’t be long before this war will be over, and I want to see some of it.” Leah stared at him, and then she smiled. She had always had an attractive smile. She announced, “I’m going in the army too.”

Jeff’s jaw dropped open.

He must have looked comical, for she laughed out loud. Her laughter had a trilling sound, very attractive to him, and she said, “Well, not really going in the army. I’m going to be a vivandiére.”

“You’re going to be a what?”

“A vee-von-dee-ay.” Leah pronounced the word slowly. “That’s just a fancy French word. It means a young woman who goes and sells things to the soldiers. You see, Jeff, Pa’s going to be a sutler, and I’m going with him—mostly to take care of him. He’s not too strong, you know. So we’ll be following the army wherever it goes, selling the soldiers needles and thread and passing out Bibles and tracts to them all.”

They walked on deep into the woods, enjoying the breeze and the sun. Finally Jeff looked around the green walls of the forest and said, “I don’t know
when I’ll ever get back here, Leah. And when I do, you’ll be gone.”

“Let’s don’t say that!” She shook her head violently. “Let’s think it will be over soon, and your pa and Tom will be back, and you’ll be here, and I’ll be here.”

“I wish it was now.” He told her about Sergeant Simms. “What if something happened to him? There he’d have a widow and two babies left.”

“I know,” Leah said. “I worry about Royal. Something could happen to him. I worry about your pa and Tom too.”

A thoughtful look came into her eyes. “Sarah worries about Tom all the time. Do you suppose,” she asked, “that when the war’s over they’ll get married?”

“I don’t know.”

“If they did, that’d make us cousins, wouldn’t it? Or something like that?”

Jeff grinned. “You don’t know much about how to get to be cousins, do you? I guess we’d be in-laws of some kind, though.”

They came out of the woods and approached the house.

Jeff said abruptly, “I’ll be leaving tomorrow, so I’ll just say my thanks here to you. I’ve already said it a hundred times to your ma and pa. You sure got some fine folks, Leah.”

Leah reached out and touched his arm. “It makes me sad to think about separating. I like for people to be close when they are friends.” She stopped briefly, then said, “You know you’re my best friend, Jeff. You always have been.”

Jeff put his hand out and took hers. He shook it firmly and said, “Well, shoot! You’re my best friend too, Leah …”

He would have said more, but her mother came out and called, “Hurry up, supper’s almost ready.”

Jeff left the next morning, and the thing he remembered most clearly about his departure was Esther’s crying when he walked out the door—and the tears in Leah’s eyes.

L
eah looked over the pile of supplies stacked high in the wagon. “Pa, it looks like this is about all we can carry.”

Her father had been trying to force a small package full of needles into a crevice. He turned and shrugged his shoulders, and a smile was on his thin lips. “I guess you’re right, Leah. Don’t even have room left for this last package.” He shoved it into his pocket instead. “Well, let’s go say good-bye to the folks. We need to be on our way.”

They climbed out of the wagon and returned to the house where the family was gathered around the breakfast table.

Leah’s mother shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “I hope you two don’t think you’re going to get away without eating breakfast! Sit down now. You’ll get at least one good meal. No telling when you’ll get another one.”

“Now, Ma, that’s real fine,” her husband said. He put his arm around her and gave her a hug. “I know Leah and I will miss your good cooking. There’s not another cook like you.”

Then the family enjoyed a breakfast of battered eggs, pork sausage, large biscuits, grits, and plenty of fresh milk and coffee to wash it all down.

“I guess we got everything loaded,” Mr. Carter said as he shoved a bit of biscuit in his mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully. “If we got any more in
that wagon, I don’t think Buck and Jake could pull the load. They’re good mules, but there’s a limit even to a mule.”

His wife looked up and said sharply, “There’s a limit on men too. Now, Dan, I want you to promise me, if you can’t make it, come on home.” She cut off his words and shook her head firmly. “Leah, you make him mind, you hear? Bring him home if he gets to feeling too bad.”

“We’ll make it fine, Mama. I’ll take care of him. You know I will.”

After breakfast they all gathered outside, and for just one moment Dan bowed his head. They held hands as he said a quick prayer. He ended by saying, “And, O God, take care of our people—Mary and the children here while Leah and I go to minister to the soldiers. We trust You for this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

A murmur of amens went up, and Leah went at once to hug Morena, who smiled up at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You be sweet, Morena,” Leah whispered. Then she went to Sarah and her mother and gave them both hugs.

Finally Leah and her father were in the wagon, and they rolled out of the yard, waving at those left behind.

When they were out of sight of the house, Leah said, “You know, Pa, I feel a little funny, don’t you?”

He shoved his straw hat back on his head and scratched the bridge of his nose. “I guess so, Pet. But we know this is the Lord’s work, so we’ll be all right. Do you think we got everything?”

Leah pulled a list out of her pocket. She was wearing a brown-and-pink, oversized, checked gingham dress today, and a bonnet over her curls.
She studied the list and named off some of the items. “Let’s see. We got pens, ink, razors, lots of candy, food—mostly sweet things—and lots of tracts and Bibles.” She gave her father a warm smile. “Oh, Pa, this is going to be so much fun.”

He scratched his chin thoughtfully and gave her a cautious look. “Well,” he murmured, “it’s going to be a little more than a Sunday school picnic, I reckon.”

They drove all day long, just pausing at noon for a quick meal. That night they made camp beside a small stream. Leah did the cooking after her father had built a fire, and afterward they sat around looking into the flame and talking about what was to come.

“I guess we’ll be doing this a lot,” Mr. Carter said, nodding sleepily. The trip had tired him, and his face was drawn. “We’ll be moving right along with the soldiers, and that’ll mean making camp every night just like we did tonight.”

Leah was not deceived by his cheerful words. She had learned to recognize the signs of fatigue on his face, but she didn’t mention this. Instead she stretched and yawned hugely, saying, “Oh, Pa, I’m so tired! Let’s go to bed early tonight and sleep as late as we can.”

“Why, if you’re tired, I guess that’s what we better do,” he said, apparently fooled by her tactics.

She made her bed inside the wagon, using blankets and a goose-feather pillow. There was barely room for her to make it, so filled was the wagon with supplies. When she finally had put on her nightgown and pulled a light blanket over her, she said, “Good night, Pa.”

From beneath the wagon, where her father had made his bed, came the sleepy answer. “Good night,
daughter. You sleep well. Won’t be long before we’ll be seeing some of the soldiers.” Silence ran over the camp, and finally he muttered, “I hope we get to see Royal. I sure do miss that boy.”

Leah lay quietly, unable to sleep. She was not as tired as she had pretended, but she wanted her father to get a good night’s rest. For a long time she lay there, listening to the gurgling of the creek as it ran over the stones and to the chirping of crickets as they punctuated the silence of the night.

Finally, she said her prayers, asking at the last, “Help me take care of Pa, Lord, and we’ll be all right.”

* * *

“Well, Leah, what do you think of Washington?”

They had entered the capital and were driving along the main thoroughfare, which was 160 feet wide and more than 4 miles long. To get there, Leah’s father had driven through the center market—where gambling houses operated openly—and through Swampoodle and other slums.

They were traveling along the Old City Canal, a fetid bayou filled with floating dead cats and all kinds of garbage. It reeked with terrible odors. Cattle, sheep, swine, and geese scattered before the mules’ hooves as they made their way along.

Now, as they approached the outskirts of the city, having gone all the way through it, Leah made a face at her father. “It stinks!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, it does,” her father agreed. “I hope the camp will smell better.” He looked back under the canvas of the heavily loaded wagon. “We’ll have to
get permission to set up. I just hope I don’t have to pay too large a bribe.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, every sutler has to buy a license. But that’s only the beginning. If what I hear is true, there’ll be other palms to grease before we can do business.”

“Why, Pa, that’s terrible.”

“Well, it’s the way the world works, Leah.” Her father shrugged. “If we want to help the soldiers, we’ll just have to pay for the privilege.”

By the time they reached the camp, the sun was high in the sky. A corporal asked to see their pass and then directed them. “You’ll have to go to regimental headquarters to get your permit,” he said.

As the two drove along, Leah was overwhelmed at the tremendous activity in the camp. Sergeants were yelling at their squads. Horses raced by carrying couriers, and caissons rumbled past—sometimes forcing their wagon off the narrow road. Somehow they found their way to a large tent having a narrow pennant waving over it.

“I guess that’s it,” her father said. “Come on along, and we’ll get our permit.”

Getting the permit proved to be a relatively complicated business. They had to work their way up to a clerk who was a corporal to the major of the regiment. They recognized the major at once.

“Why, Major Bates,” Leah’s father said, “I’m glad to see you here.” When the major looked at him without recognition, he added, “I’m Dan Carter. My boy, Royal, is a member of your regiment. You enlisted him there in Pineville.”

Major Bates nodded, as recognition came to his eyes. “Why, yes, I do remember. What are you doing here? Just come to see your boy?”

“Oh, no, Major Bates. We’ve come to join you as sutlers. Got my wagon waiting right outside, ready to go to work.”

“Why, that’s fine! We need good men like you, sir.” He looked at Leah. “And who is this young lady?”

“That’s my daughter, Leah. She takes care of me while I take care of the supplies.”

Major Bates leaned back and stared at her. He stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, “Well, I’m afraid that’ll make things more difficult.”

“Why is that, Major?”

“You know how soldiers are.” The major shrugged. “Some of them are pretty rough, and the profanity’s fierce. I’d hate for this young lady to be subjected to it.”

“That’s all right, Major,” Leah said at once. “My brother is here, and if the rest of the soldiers are like him, they won’t offend me.”

Bates laughed and slapped his thigh. “Well, I suppose that answers it then. Here—let me give you this permit.” He scribbled his name on the sheet given him by the corporal, handed it to Dan Carter, and said, “I’ve heard a good report of your son. If I’m not mistaken, he’s already been made a corporal. I suppose you’d like to see him?”

“Yes, we would, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” the major said expansively. He turned to the corporal, who was sitting opposite at a desk. “Corporal, take Mr. Carter and his daughter over to Company A.”

“Yes, sir.”

The corporal rose at once and climbed onto the wagon seat. He was a heavy young man, and the seat was narrow, so he squeezed against Leah. He
grinned at her and winked. “This wagon wasn’t made for a big fellow like me, was it?” Then he directed her father down the crowded street.

It all seemed a maze to Leah. The tents were orderly enough, but the corporal directed them down several streets, and she became turned around.

“You’ll get used to it,” he said. He raised his arm and pointed. “Right over there is Company A. I’ll just walk back. You can find your boy somewhere drilling, I guess.”

“Thank you, Corporal.” Mr. Carter reached in his pocket and pulled out a small New Testament and handed it to the surprised soldier. “Like for you to have this,” he said. “Every man needs the Word of God, doesn’t he?”

The corporal took it gingerly, looked at it, then nodded with a smile. “Thanks a lot. I’ll sure read it.” He stuck it in his pocket, turned, and walked away.