GENERAL GRANT
The sunny April days brought many blossoms along the Tennessee ravines
near Shiloh; trillium and butterwort, arbutus and violets were to be
found, and masses of dogwood bloomed along the slopes, where only a
few weeks earlier the fierce Battle of Shiloh had raged. The Union
fleet had moved down the Tennessee; Beauregard, convinced that the
campaign was lost, was about to leave Corinth in the possession of
Grant’s army, and it was felt that the Union cause would soon triumph.
In the Arnolds’ cabin the little household had returned to the
peaceful occupations of the days before the two armies had come
so near to them. Berry’s garden flourished; Lily was becoming a
well-trained servant, and Mr. Arnold was rapidly gaining strength.
Within two weeks after Beauregard’s defeat Steve Bragg had appeared
at his cabin, and was as warmly welcomed as if he had been a brave
soldier returned from war. It was soon evident, however, that a
change had come over Mr. Bragg, for he at once began to work steadily.
He enlarged the garden; cut logs with which he built a shelter for the
calf that Mr. Arnold gave him; made repairs on the old cabin, and was
so praised by his wife and children for his industry that he firmly
resolved that in the future no one should ever again truthfully speak
of him as “Shiftless Steve.” When he looked at his wounded soldier son
Mr. Bragg also made many other excellent resolves.
It was late in May when Mr. Arnold made his first trip since the
preceding autumn to Corinth, and brought back the long-hoped-for
letter from Francis, who was with the Union forces in Virginia, and
wrote that he was well. But it seemed to Berry that her father had
other good news; he smiled so often, she noticed, and Berry had been
quick to see that, whatever it was, her mother was in the secret.
“Maybe it is about going back to Vermont this summer,” she decided,
for Berry knew that her father and mother were both hopeful that a
return to their New England home might soon be possible, and when
Mrs. Arnold announced that she was going to have a party, Berry was
convinced that she was right in her conclusions.
“Of course ‘a party’ means that we are to have the Bragg family to
dinner,” said Berry. But Mrs. Arnold shook her head smilingly.
“That’s not what this party means. Although Len is so much better
that we will ask them all to come up on next Sunday. This party is a
surprise!” she responded.
“Tell me, Mother! Oh! Please tell me!” urged Berry, but Mrs. Arnold
laughingly refused.
“No, my dear! Not until the very day comes. And then you are to wear
your white muslin dress. I will let out the tucks and the seams so it
will do, and your Roman sash, and be a real little Yankee girl. And
Lily shall have a dress and a white apron and cap. And I shall wear
my gray tibet dress, and your father will wear a white collar! Yes,
indeed! It is to be a great occasion!” and Mrs. Arnold laughed again,
as if her secret was one that meant a great pleasure near at hand.
So Berry was greatly puzzled, and she and Lily waited expectantly for
the day to come when they would be told to discard knickerbockers and
blouses and put on the dresses that were ready for them, and on the
morning of June first, Berry awoke to find her mother taking the white
muslin dress from the closet.
“Oh, Mother! Is to-day the party?” exclaimed the little girl,
springing out of bed. “And who is it, Mother? Who is coming? You said
you would tell me when the day came!” And Berry seized her mother’s
arm and looked pleadingly up at her mother’s smiling face.
“Yes; as soon as you are dressed, dear!” responded Mrs. Arnold. “Put
on your white stockings and slippers, and make these short curls as
neat as you can!” and she touched Berry’s brown hair, and left the
room.
“Oh! How can I wait!” thought Berry impatiently as she hurried to
dress. “If I was in Vermont I should think it was either the minister,
or Aunt Melvina coming to visit,” she decided, as she vigorously
brushed her brown curls.
When Berry reached the kitchen she exclaimed in amazement, for the
table was spread for six people. Its coarse cover was white as
snow, and the blue of the dishes, the glass dish filled with wild
strawberries, and the white bowl filled with violets, gave it a very
festive air. Lily, in a blue dress, and wearing a white cap and
apron, was busy at the stove, and Mrs. Arnold was just cutting out
a pan of rolls, while Berry’s father, “dressed for church,” as the
little girl exclaimed, stood in the open doorway over which hung the
American flag.
“Who is it? Who is it that is coming? I should think it was General
Grant himself!” exclaimed Berry as she ran toward her father.
Before Mrs. Arnold could speak and fulfil her promise there was the
sound of hoofs, the jangle of harness, and Mr. Arnold ran down the
path. Berry was close behind him, but she suddenly stopped short.
“It’s Colonel Peabody!” she exclaimed, and then noticed a bearded man,
mounted on a fine gray horse, whom her father was eagerly welcoming.
Behind these two officers rode the young soldier, whom Berry instantly
remembered as the one who had guided Lily and herself from the camp at
Pittsburg Landing.
The two officers dismounted, and the young soldier took charge of
their horses.
Berry stood on the path not knowing quite what to do, but Colonel
Peabody came to meet her, and in a moment Berry was being led
toward that quiet, unimposing, and unostentatious officer,
Brigadier-General U. S. Grant; whom, in 1862, neither public opinion,
nor his own thought, had marked out for the mighty achievements before
him.
[Illustration: “HERE IS THE LITTLE MESSENGER OF WHOM I TOLD YOU.”]
As Berry heard Colonel Peabody say: “General Grant, here is the little
messenger of whom I told you, the Yankee girl of Shiloh!” she looked
up to meet the steady, friendly glance of the grave eyes of the great
General of the Civil War, and it was Berry who walked beside him to
the cabin door, and who sat at his right hand at that simple breakfast
party where the war-worn soldiers feasted on hot rolls and coffee, and
praised the broiled chicken and hominy that Mrs. Arnold and Lily had
so carefully prepared.
The visit was a brief one; within an hour the “party” was over, and
General Grant and his companions were again on horseback. As Berry
bade them good-bye General Grant rested his hand lightly on the curly
head, and said gravely:
“Good-bye, Berenice. Be sure I shall not forget you,” and Berry smiled
up at the serious face and responded:
“I wish I were a soldier, like my brother Francis, and could fight in
your army, General Grant.”
After the last sound of the horses’ feet had died away, and Berry had
ceased to exclaim over the “surprise,” Mr. Arnold told the little girl
more fully of the great honor that had befallen her.
“General Grant’s visit was wholly for you, Berry,” he said soberly.
“Colonel Peabody told me of the plan on the day of my visit to
Corinth. And you must not forget the honor of such a visit.”
Berry nodded silently. Her thoughts drifted back to the night when in
Shiloh woods she crouched listening to the words of the Confederate
generals planning their attack on Grant’s army.
“I never can forget it,” she responded, and added quickly: “Nor the
Battle of Shiloh, Father! Or anything that has happened this winter.
But I do wish we could go home to Vermont.”
“Well, my dear, that is just what we are going to do. General Grant
has given us passes through the Union lines, and within a few weeks we
will start,” replied Mr. Arnold smilingly.
“Oh, Lor’! W’ot’s gwine ter become ob me?” wailed a smothered voice
close at hand, and Berry turned to find Lily, with her apron thrown
over her head, swaying back and forth on the path.
“You will go with us, of course!” Berry declared, and Mr. Arnold
promptly repeated her words: “‘Of course,’” and instantly Lily was
smiling radiantly.
But Mollie Bragg heard the news of Berry’s departure with a sad heart.
Not even the gifts that the Arnolds bestowed on Mollie’s mother could
comfort the little mountain girl for the loss of the only playmate she
had ever known. The only comfort for Mollie was the fact that Berry
promised to write to her, from far-off Vermont.
“And you can write to me, Mollie,” Berry reminded her, and at this a
smile crept over the little girl’s face.
“Yes, I kin,” she responded proudly. “Len says I’m a right smart
writer.”
“And sometime I’ll come back and see you,” Berry promised.
Mollie’s pale eyes brightened. “Oh, Berry! I hopes you will come
back,” she said eagerly. “Promise you will.” And again Berry
promised. But it was many years before the little Yankee girl visited
the cabin on the ridge beyond the battlefield of Shiloh, and fulfilled
the promise to the little mountain girl.
The Stories in this Series are:
A YANKEE GIRL AT FORT SUMTER
A YANKEE GIRL AT BULL RUN
A YANKEE GIRL AT SHILOH
A YANKEE GIRL AT GETTYSBURG (in press)
Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spelling and grammar as
printed.
Removed redundant title from bottom of Illustrations page.
End of Project Gutenberg's A Yankee Girl at Shiloh, by Alice Turner Curtis