EIGHT
Henry was here.
Reverend Adams said it several times over before Maggie believed him. An injured soldier he’d met told him that he’d heard of Henry in camp that morning. The soldier specifically remembered it because there was a disagreement with Sheridan.
“Sheridan wanted to push the entire infantry north, but one officer spoke out—in which company would be considered very much so an impropriety—sharing concern at the rising stream that the left-flank must cross, and the open field towards the right. ‘Perfect places for a counterattack’ was how he put it. Sheridan was, of course, outraged by the outspoken officer and dismissed him from the council. No one thought much of it until that officer was proven correct.”
“It was Henry who spoke out, wasn’t it?” Maggie breathed..
The reverend nodded firmly. “That’s the name that I was given— ‘Officer Farrow.’ The army was nearly divided today after the Confederates attacked, just as Henry predicted.
Sheridan is gathering reinforcements tonight and preparing to meet the Confederate army head-on in the morning.
That is why McDewitt was headed to Five Forks.
This setback is the reason he received the dispatch to change course. ”
“But this soldier doesn’t know where Henry is now?”
He shook his head. “After he was removed from the council, it was rumored he was going to be stripped of his title, but one general under Major General Warren vouched for him. I don’t know who.”
“If he wasn’t wounded, how do we know he wasn’t killed or taken prisoner?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Adams answered honestly. “But it was implied that the number of Confederate fatalities far outweighed the Union’s…. You’re nearly there, now, Margaret. Don’t lose hope.”
Despite the reverend’s words, it was hard for Maggie not to consider the worst.
Everything was coming to a head. Tomorrow would be another battle.
One that may decide the course of the war, if all the rumors running throughout the encampment were true.
The Confederates were already outnumbered and pushed back.
Union troops would continue to pour into the town tonight.
The noose was tightening on General Lee’s Confederate army.
All able-bodied men would be summoned for the fight.
And in the morning, they would advance on the Confederate entrenched at the South Side Railroad—the last railroad into Petersburg.
If victorious, it was only logical to assume that the mass of Union troops would continue on to try to overtake Richmond once the Confederate supply line was cut off. How long that could take, no one knew. Days, weeks, or more months.
If Maggie were to find Henry, the time was now. While they knew his location, and while he was within arm’s reach. And before McDewitt had time to find him first.
Adams’ grey eyes stared solemnly at her. “We’re protected here for now. When it’s safe after the battle, we’ll continue to Five Forks. Then, Tucker and I will resume our search for Henry.”
“That could take days. I don’t have time to waste. How will you find him?” Maggie argued. Tomorrow was the first day of April. It’d already been over two weeks since she left Elijah in Albemarle. God only knows what had happened to Levi and Abigail since then, or how they were faring.
There were one hundred thousand soldiers. Expecting an elderly reverend to find one particular man was insane. What had she been thinking?
Too much was at stake to wait. Should the reverend be wrong and McDewitt discover her lie, it would all be ruined.
She refused to accept defeat so near the end.
On the other hand, should the reverend’s findings prove true, this battle could be one to end the war.
Both sides would be giving their all. No man was safe.
And that included Henry.
“We will find him, Margaret.” He peered into her eyes and frowned at what he saw in them. She dropped her gaze, as if he could see her thoughts. “Promise me that you’ll stay put.”
She’d mostly decided what to do before Adams told her his plan. But that finalized it. She’d have to go alone.
“I promise.” Maggie clenched her tongue between her teeth. It was just a promise she would have to break.
Before dawn lightened the sky, Maggie could sense movement throughout the camp. A dense fog covered the landscape, preventing her from seeing anything beyond. But the sounds of preparing for battle were not hard to register.
The commotion had begun.
“Tucker, let’s go visit the wounded. See what else we can glean,” Adams said, rolling out of his bedroll.
The two men disappeared back inside the town, leaving Cynthia and Maggie in the mist. Maggie fidgeted, trying to work up a way to sneak away. She had hoped a plan would come to her during the night, but it hadn’t.
All she knew was that she had to get to Five Forks.
Voices raised in anger distracted her and she hopped out of the wagon to see what was going on. A mixed party of nine was stopped, all dressed in very fine clothing. The carriage they rode in spoke of wealth alone.
“The audacity! I hear tell that Lincoln was in City Point yesterday. Should he witness John Van Buren being told to wait, no doubt he would also see you as the fool you are for denying us entry,” an older, larger man from the group screamed at a sentinel.
“Sir, as I’ve told you, we’ve strict orders to—”
His puffy cheeks turned brilliant red. “Did you not hear my name? I don’t care about your strict orders! I demand we be taken to where General Sheridan is now.”
“The general is occupied. The battle—” The poor sentinel couldn’t finish his sentence before someone cut him off.
“Has the battle already begun? Oh Father, we are missing it,” a young lady clutching his coat sleeve cried.
He patted her arm reassuringly and addressed the sentinel again. “Tell me where the battle is, and I will trouble you no more. We’ve ridden all night.” He tried to pass the guard something, but the guard wouldn’t take it.
The guard looked back and forth at his peers. One shrugged at him. “Let me find a captain,” he nervously said to the gentleman. But not before taking the item from him and stuffing it into his pocket.
The gentleman bowed up his chest. “You have five minutes.” Turning his attention to the woman on his arm, he said, “Anna, come. Back into the carriage.”
As she climbed into the carriage, a gust of wind came up and blew her parasol from her hand. “Oh,” she cried and hopped down to chase after it.
It rolled in the wind, faster than she could catch it in her laced heel boots. It blew straight towards Maggie. Reaching out, Maggie managed to grab it. She quickly closed it before another gust blew.
“Thank you.” Anna walked over to retrieve it. “I would’ve been brown as an Indian if I stayed in the sun all day without it.”
“No problem,” Maggie mumbled.
“Are you waiting to watch the fight? I hope we make it there before it really begins.”
“You came to watch the battle?” Maggie was floored at the idea.
Anna nodded enthusiastically. “We’ve made a party out of it.
I want to be one of the first Union girls to walk through Richmond when General Grant obliterates the rebels.
” She looked at Cynthia near the horses.
“Is that your maid? No wonder they haven’t allowed you admittance. Women must have a male escort.”
Maggie opened and closed her mouth several times, truly at a loss. Thankfully, the girl needed no encouragement to go on, even with questions left unanswered.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ve heard of some women disguising themselves as men and entering the fray to fight.
Can you imagine? If it wasn’t so vulgar, I may have been tempted to do that myself,” she giggled.
“The papers would have a field day. ‘Anna Van Buren in Trousers’. It would make headlines!”
Some of her ridiculous statements pierced through. “Wait, what? Women are fighting... How are they getting into the battle?”
A devious light lit up Anna’s eyes. “One cannot be sure, after all, of rumors. But if they look like a man…all they have to do is enlist under a man’s name. Short hair, never undressing in front of anyone. It’s doable, I suppose.”
“Anna,” the large man called out to her. “Come. This half-wit has gained enough sense to show us the way to Five Forks.”
“Coming,” she called back. With one little wave to Maggie, she flitted back to her carriage, where the waiting party sat.
Had that been real? It was such a brief and strange encounter, Maggie wondered if she had dreamed it.
But it had ignited something inside of her. She knew how to find Henry. And she was going to find him. Every fiber in her being rang out with certainty.
The time was now.
She walked over to a perplexed Cynthia. “I’m feeling a bit funny. Is there anything left to eat?”
Cynthia studied her face. “You do look a bit pale. I’ll go and see what I can find.”
“Thank you.”
Cynthia climbed into the wagon, rifling through the pack nearest the wagon seat.
While her back was turned, Maggie thrust her hand in to grab her own pack.
Since she hadn’t repacked her blanket from the night before, it was relatively empty.
Lifting the edge of her skirt, she shoved it all the way up towards her belly.
“I need a moment of privacy. I’m going behind those trees there. ”
Cynthia’s head shot up. Maggie stepped closer to the wagon, so all Cynthia could see was her body chest up. “Tucker said not to separate.”
“Just one minute. Allow me to have some dignity,” Maggie faked a grimace.
There was distrust in Cynthia’s eyes, but she couldn’t argue with Maggie’s reasoning. “Hurry back.”
Maggie turned quickly and walked around the side of the wagon. She placed her hands as if she were cradling something precious, like she’d seen her mother do every pregnancy. It kept the pack firmly concealed and accounted for the bulge. The sentries looked at her, and she nodded towards the trees.
It worked. One jerked his head in the direction she’d indicated. “Don’t take long.”