A LOST FRIEND--DEATH OF LIEUTENANT JAMES V.--HIS BURIAL--THE GRAVE BY
NIGHT--MY VOW--A SOLDIER-CHAPLAIN--RECOGNITIONS IN HEAVEN--DOUBTS AND
DISSATISFACTION--CAPTURE OF A SPY--MY EXAMINATIONS AT HEADQUARTERS--MY
DISGUISE AS A SPY--I AM METAMORPHOSED INTO A CONTRABAND--HIRED AS A
COOK--BISCUIT MAKING--THE DOCTOR'S TEA.
Not long after these events, returning one day from an excursion, I found
the camp almost deserted, and an unusual silence pervading all around.
Upon looking to the right and left to discover the cause of so much
quietness, I saw a procession of soldiers slowly winding their way from a
peach orchard, where they had just deposited the remains of a comrade.
Who could it have been? I did not dare to go and meet them to inquire, but
I waited in painful suspense until the procession came up, with arms
reversed. With sad faces and slow and measured tread they returned in
order as they had gone. I stepped forward and inquired whom they had
buried. Lieutenant James V. was the reply.
My friend! They had buried him, and I had not seen him! I went to my tent
without uttering a word. I felt as if it could not be possible that what I
heard was true. It must be some one else. I did not inquire how, when or
where he had been killed, but there I sat with tearless eyes. Mr. and Mrs.
B. came in, she sobbing aloud, he calm and dignified, but with tears
slowly rolling down his face. Lieutenant V. was thirty-two years of age;
he was tall, had black wavy hair, and large black eyes. He was a sincere
christian, active in all the duties devolving upon a christian soldier,
and was greatly beloved both by officers and men. His loss was deeply
felt. His heart, though brave, was tender as a woman's. He was noble and
generous, and had the highest regard for truth and law. Although gentle
and kind to all, yet he had an indomitable spirit and a peculiar courage
and daring, which almost amounted to recklessness in time of danger. He
was not an American, but was born of English parents, and was a native of
St. John, New Brunswick. I had known him almost from childhood, and found
him always a faithful friend.
When we met in the army we met as strangers. The changes which five years
had wrought, and the costume which I wore, together with change of name,
rendered it impossible for him to recognize me. I was glad that he did
not, and took peculiar pleasure in remaining unrecognized. We became
acquainted again, and a new friendship sprang up, on his part, for mine
was not new, which was very pleasant, at least to me. At times my position
became very embarrassing, for I was obliged to listen to a recapitulation
of my own former conversations and correspondence with him, which made me
feel very much like an eavesdropper. He had neither wife, mother nor
sister, and, like myself, was a wanderer from his native land. There was a
strong bond of sympathy existing between us, for we both believed that
duty called us there, and were willing to lay down even life itself, if
need be, in this glorious cause. Now he was gone, and I was left alone
with a deeper sorrow in my heart than I had ever known before.
Chaplain B. broke the painful silence by informing me how he had met his
fate. He was acting in the capacity of aide-de-camp on General C.'s staff.
He was sent to carry an order from headquarters to the officer in command
of the outer picket line, and while riding along the line he was struck by
a Minnie ball, which passed through the temple, killing him instantly.
His remains were brought to camp and prepared for their last resting
place. Without shroud or coffin, wrapped in his blanket, his body was
committed to the cold ground. They made his grave under a beautiful pear
tree, in full bloom, where he sleeps peacefully, notwithstanding the roar
of cannon and the din of battle which peal forth their funeral notes over
his dreamless bed.
One more buried
Beneath the sod,
One more standing
Before his God.
We should not weep
That he has gone;
With us 'tis night,
With him 'tis morn.
Night came at last with its friendly mantle, and our camp was again hushed
in comparative repose. Twelve o'clock came, but I could not sleep. Visions
of a pale face and a mass of black wavy hair, matted with gore which oozed
from a dark purple spot on the temple, haunted me. I rose up quietly and
passed out into the open air. The cool night breeze felt grateful to my
burning brow, which glowed with feverish excitement. With a hasty word of
explanation I passed the camp guard, and was soon beside the grave of
Lieutenant V. The solemn grandeur of the heavens, the silent stars looking
lovingly down upon that little heaped up mound of earth, the death-like
stillness of the hour, only broken by the occasional booming of the
enemy's cannon, all combined to make the scene awfully impressive. I felt
that I was not alone. I was in the presence of that God who had summoned
my friend to the eternal world, and the spirit of the departed one was
hovering near, although my dim eyes could not penetrate the mysterious
veil which hid him from my view. It was there, in that midnight hour,
kneeling beside the grave of him who was very dear to me, that I vowed to
avenge the death of that christian hero. I could now better understand the
feelings of poor Nellie when she fired the pistol at me, because I was
"one of the hated Yankees who was in sympathy with the murderers of her
husband, father and brothers."
But I could not forgive his murderers as she had done. I did not enjoy
taking care of the sick and wounded as I once did, but I longed to go
forth and do, as a noble chaplain did at the battle of Pittsburg Landing.
He picked up the musket and cartridge-box of a wounded soldier, stepped
into the front rank, and took deliberate aim at one rebel after another
until he had fired sixty rounds of cartridge; and as he sent a messenger
of death to each heart he also sent up the following brief prayer: "May
God have mercy upon your miserable soul."
From this time forward I became strangely interested in the fifteenth
chapter of first Corinthians--the doctrine of the resurrection, and the
hope of "recognition of friends in heaven" became very precious to me. For
I believe with regard to our departed loved ones, that
When safely landed on that heavenly shore
Where sighings cease and sorrows come no more--
With hearts no more by cruel anguish riven,
As we have loved on earth we'll love in heaven.
And infinitely more than we are capable of loving here. "Few things
connected with the great hereafter so deeply concern the heart as the
question of personal recognition in heaven. Dear ones of earth, linked to
our hearts by the most tender ties, have departed and gone away into the
unknown realm. We have carefully and tearfully laid their bodies in the
grave to slumber till the great awakening morning. If there is no personal
recognition in heaven, if we shall neither see nor know our friends there,
so far as we are concerned they are annihilated, and heaven has no genuine
antidote for the soul's agony in the hour of bereavement. All the precious
memories of toil and trial, of conflict and victory, of gracious
manifestations and of holy joy, shared with them in the time of our
pilgrimage, will have perished forever. The anxiety of the soul with
regard to the recognition of our friends in the future state is natural.
It springs from the holiest sympathies of the human heart, and any inquiry
that may solve our doubts or relieve our anxiety is equally rational and
commendable.
"Tell me, ye who have seen the open tomb receive into its bosom the sacred
trust committed to its keeping, in hope of the first resurrection--ye who
have heard the sullen rumbling of the clods as they dropped upon the
coffin lid, and told you that earth had gone back to earth; when the
separation from the object of your love was realized in all the desolation
of bereavement, next to the thought that you should ere long see Christ as
he is and be like him, was not that consolation the strongest which
assured you that the departed one, whom God has put from you into
darkness, will run to meet you when you cross the threshold of
immortality, and, with the holy rapture to which the redeemed alone can
give utterance, lead you to the exalted Saviour, and with you bow at his
feet and cast the conqueror's crown before him? And is this hope vain?
Shall we not even know those dear ones in the spirit world? Was this light
of hope that gilded so beautifully the sad, dark hour of human woe, only a
mocking _ignis fatuus_, so soon to go out in everlasting darkness? Is this
affection, so deep, so holy, yearning over its object with undying love,
to be nipped in the very bud of its being? Nay, it cannot be. There must
have been some higher purpose; God could not delight in the bestowal of
affections that were to be blighted in their very beginning, and of hopes
that were to end only in the mockery of eternal disappointment."
If fate unite the faithful but to part,
Why is their memory sacred to the heart?
Oh, thank God for FAITH! for a faith that takes hold of that which is
within the veil. There we behold our loved ones basking in the sunshine of
the Redeemer's love--there they see Him face to face, and know as they are
known. And they speak to us from the bright eternal world, and bid us
Weep not at nature's transient pain;
Congenial spirits part to meet again.
Just at this crisis I received a letter from a friend of mine at the
North, disapproving in strong terms of my remaining any longer in the
army, requesting me to give up my situation immediately, and to meet him
in Washington two weeks from date. I regarded that friend's opinions very
much, especially when they coincided with my own; but upon this point no
two opinions could differ more widely than did ours.
It is true I was becoming dissatisfied with my situation as nurse, and was
determined to leave the hospital; but before doing so I thought it best to
call a council of three, Mr. and Mrs. B. and I, to decide what was the
best course to pursue. After an hour's conference together the matter was
decided in my mind. Chaplain B. told me that he knew of a situation he
could get for me if I had sufficient moral courage to undertake its
duties; and, said he, "it is a situation of great danger and of vast
responsibility."
That morning a detachment of the Thirty-seventh New York had been sent out
as scouts, and had returned bringing in several prisoners, who stated that
one of the Federal spies had been captured at Richmond and was to be
executed. This information proved to be correct, and we lost a valuable
soldier from the secret service of the United States. Now it was necessary
for that vacancy to be supplied, and, as the Chaplain had said with
reference to it, it was a situation of great danger and vast
responsibility, and this was the one which Mr. B. could procure for me.
But was I capable of filling it with honor to myself and advantage to the
Federal Government? This was an important question for me to consider ere
I proceeded further. I did consider it thoroughly, and made up my mind to
accept it with all its fearful responsibilities. The subject of life and
death was not weighed in the balance; I left that in the hands of my
Creator, feeling assured that I was just as safe in passing the picket
lines of the enemy, if it was God's will that I should go there, as I
would be in the Federal camp. And if not, then His will be done:
Then welcome death, the end of fears.
My name was sent in to headquarters, and I was soon summoned to appear
there myself. Mr. and Mrs. B. accompanied me. We were ushered into the
presence of Generals Mc., M. and H., where I was questioned and
cross-questioned with regard to my views of the rebellion and my motive in
wishing to engage in so perilous an undertaking. My views were freely
given, my object briefly stated, and I had passed trial number one.
Next I was examined with regard to my knowledge of the use of firearms,
and in that department I sustained my character in a manner worthy of a
veteran. Then I was again cross-questioned, but this time by a new
committee of military stars. Next came a phrenological examination, and
finding that my organs of secretiveness, combativeness, etc., were largely
developed, the oath of allegiance was administered, and I was dismissed
with a few complimentary remarks which made the good Mr. B. feel quite
proud of his _protege_. This was the third time that I had taken the oath
of allegiance to the United States, and I began to think, as many of our
soldiers do, that profanity had become a military necessity.
I had three days in which to prepare for my debut into rebeldom, and I
commenced at once to remodel, transform and metamorphose for the occasion.
Early next morning I started for Fortress Monroe, where I procured a
number of articles indispensably necessary to a complete disguise. In the
first place I purchased a suit of contraband clothing, real plantation
style, and then I went to a barber and had my hair sheared close to my
head.
Next came the coloring process--head, face, neck, hands and arms were
colored black as any African, and then, to complete my contraband costume,
I required a wig of real negro wool. But how or where was it to be found?
There was no such thing at the Fortress, and none short of Washington.
Happily I found the mail-boat was about to start, and hastened on board,
and finding a Postmaster with whom I was acquainted, I stepped forward to
speak to him, forgetting my contraband appearance, and was saluted
with--"Well, Massa Cuff--what will you have?" Said I: "Massa send me to
you wid dis yere money for you to fotch him a darkie wig from Washington."
"What the ---- does he want of a darkie wig?" asked the Postmaster. "No
matter, dat's my orders; guess it's for some 'noiterin' business." "Oh,
for reconnoitering you mean; all right old fellow, I will bring it, tell
him." I remained at Fortress Monroe until the Postmaster returned with the
article which was to complete my disguise, and then returned to camp near
Yorktown.
On my return, I found myself without friends--a striking illustration of
the frailty of human friendship--I had been forgotten in those three short
days. I went to Mrs. B.'s tent and inquired if she wanted to hire a boy to
take care of her horse. She was very civil to me, asked if I came from
Fortress Monroe, and whether I could cook. She did not want to hire me,
but she thought she could find some one who did require a boy. Off she
went to Dr. E. and told him that there was a smart little contraband there
who was in search of work. Dr. E. came along, looking as important as two
year old doctors generally do. "Well, my boy, how much work can you do in
a day?" "Oh, I reckon I kin work right smart; kin do heaps o' work. Will
you hire me, Massa?" "Don't know but I may; can you cook?" "Yes, Massa,
kin cook anything I ebber seen." "How much do you think you can earn a
month?" "Guess I kin earn ten dollars easy nuff." Turning to Mrs. B. he
said in an undertone: "That darkie understands his business." "Yes indeed,
I would hire him by all means, Doctor," said Mrs. B. "Well, if you wish,
you can stay with me a month, and by that time I will be a better judge
how much you can earn."
So saying Dr. E. proceeded to give a synopsis of a contraband's duty
toward a master of whom he expected ten dollars per month, especially
emphasising the last clause. Then I was introduced to the culinary
department, which comprised flour, pork, beans, a small portable stove, a
spider, and a medicine chest. It was now supper time, and I was supposed
to understand my business sufficiently to prepare supper without asking
any questions whatever, and also to display some of my boasted talents by
making warm biscuit for supper. But how was I to make biscuit with my
colored hands? and how dare I wash them for fear the color would wash off?
All this trouble was soon put to an end, however, by Jack's making his
appearance while I was stirring up the biscuit with a stick, and in his
bustling, officious, negro style, he said: "See here nig--you don't know
nuffin bout makin bisket. Jis let me show you once, and dat ar will save
you heaps o' trouble wid Massa doct'r for time to come." I very willingly
accepted of this proffered assistance, for I had all the necessary
ingredients in the dish, with pork fat for shortening, and soda and
cream-tartar, which I found in the medicine chest, ready for kneading and
rolling out. After washing his hands and rolling up his sleeves, Jack went
to work with a flourish and a grin of satisfaction at being "boss" over
the new cook. Tea made, biscuit baked, and the medicine chest set off with
tin cups, plates, etc., supper was announced. Dr. E. was much pleased with
the general appearance of things, and was evidently beginning to think
that he had found rather an intelligent contraband for a cook.