John R. Musick

“ And may it not be one of the great designs of the Ruler of the universe (whose ways are often inscrutable by short-sighted mortals) thus to transform original crime into a single blessing to the most unfortunate portions of the globe? But I fear we uphold slavery rather for our own mercenary advantages than as a blessing either to our country or to either race."
"Why, Mr. Tompkins, you are advocating Abolition doctrine," said Mrs. Diggs.
"I believe I am, and that abolition is right."
"Would you be willing to lose your own slaves to have the niggers freed?" ”

“ Hem, hem, hem! 'They first have breathed treason.'"
"Yes, they stole our property. The interests of the North and South are directly opposite. They want to ruin us, and we must protect ourselves while we can. We can not live in peace with the North; the next best thing is to separate."
"That's so,—hem, hem!—that's so," said Mr. Diggs.
"Then why refuse to enter the Confederate army? The South is your country, and if you want military renown seek it in the ranks of your country. If they call you a rebel be proud of the name. Washington and Marion were rebels." ”

“ The minister sat silently holding his watch, noting the swift flying moments, his lips moving in silent prayer for the soul of the man, who was soon to appear at the bar of God.
Ten o'clock came. There was a rattling of keys, a sliding of iron bolts and bars, and the jailer called the name of
"Patrick Henry Diggs!"
The minister and all, in the doomed man's cell, bowed for a moment in silence, then the good man lifted up his voice to that God, whom all the universe worships, in a prayer for a soul about to take flight. ”

“ War on a gigantic scale—a new Nation, with new men at its head—was the all-absorbing topic. The Union was shattered, and a new Nation was rising out of the ruins and fragments of the old.
Mr. Diggs concluded to espouse the cause of the new Nation. He would raise a company of volunteers to fight its battles; he would be captain. From captain he would be promoted for his bravery to colonel, from colonel to brigadier-general, or commander-in-chief. Mr. Diggs' fertile imagination planned a glorious future for himself. Other men had risen from obscurity to renown, and why not he? ”

“ Wait until he has overrun the whole country with armed soldiers? Wait until he has bound us hand and foot? Then what can we do? No! Now is the time for action."
"I don't believe Lincoln will free the negroes," said Abner.
"I will stake my life as the wager," said Oleah, "that before his term of office expires, he declares every negro in the United States a free American citizen, war or no war. Mark my words and see if I am not a true prophet."
"Come, come, boys, we have had political discussion enough for the present," said Mr. Tompkins. ”

“ Sixteen years, with all their joys and sorrows, all their pleasures and pains, have been numbered with the dead past. Boys have grown to be men, men in the full vigor of their prime have grown old, and creep about with bent forms and heads whitening, while men who were old before now slumber with the dead. Girls are women, and women have grown gray, yet father Time has touched gently some of his children.
Abner and Oleah Tompkins are no longer boys. Only the memory is left them of their childhood joys, when they played in the dark, cool woods, or by the brook in the wide, smooth lawn. ”

“ The fates have determined that we should hate each other, and the hatred of brothers is the hatred of devils. Irene," his voice softening, "I believe you love me though you will not speak," and Oleah seized her passionately in his embrace and rained kisses on her fair, pale face. "I must go now," he said, releasing her, "but you shall yet be mine, I swear it. Neither brother, nor father, nor mother, no power on earth shall prevent it." ”

“ Be my brother still!"
"Let what is broken so remain,
The gods are hard to reconcile,"
said Abner, looking sorrowfully into the pale, pleading face. "When change has come, nothing can bring back the old order of things. But I will wait, I will promise you not to speak again of my love, until you can answer me without tears in your eyes. Now, let me see you smile, Irene, once more before I go."
Irene could not sleep that night; her bed chamber was in the south wing of the house, and her window looked out upon a portion of the grounds directly shaded with trees and shrubbery. ”

“ No one of the Tompkins family had left their home. During the night Irene had been awakened by the rumble of wheels and the tramp of hoofs, and, looking from her bedroom window down the broad road, saw long lines of dark, silent figures marching in the direction of Snagtown. For more than an hour those silent dark figures, with their bristling bayonets glittering in the cold moonlight, marched on and on past her window in seemingly never-ending procession—horsemen, artillery and baggage wagons rolling by. ”

“ Say, has love no sharper eyes? Oh, my dear, dear—Julia—" here Corporal Diggs' manner became demonstrative; he seemed to forget the severe wounds, and, starting from the garden seat, down he went on one knee, and drawing from the sling the arm that had been shattered by grapeshot, he clasped his hands as if in prayer. "Oh, my dear—hem, hem, hem!—my darling Julia, I love you! I have loved you ever since I first saw you, and I ask you—hem, hem!—to become mine. ”

“ Harry Smith, who had fought with desperate bravery, was, with Lieutenant Tompkins, among the last to leave the field. As he was in the act of mounting his horse, he cast a glance down toward the ford, where the mass of Union troops were forming and beheld the Stars and Stripes streaming above the long line of blue coats. Harry turned pale for the first time during the fight. A shock, as of a galvanic battery, seemed to strike his frame.
"Oh! Heavens!" he thought, "why am I in these ranks, a rebel and a traitor, fighting against the best government this world has ever known?" ”

“ Uncle Dan was a certain shot at that range, and every step Oleah took was bringing him to surer death. Unconscious of his danger, or perfectly reckless of consequences, the young Confederate urged his powerful black horse on. The old man held his heavy rifle in the palm of his right hand, the breech was balanced against his right shoulder, and his aim was as steady and true as if he were sighting a deer, instead of a human being he had known for years and loved from childhood. ”

“ Mr. Diggs felt flattered.
"You are—hem—hem, very kind, Miss Irene, to attribute patriotism to me. Patriotism, true patriotism is one of man's most noble attributes."
"I agree with you."
"But, Miss Irene, it is hard to go, even to our country's aid, and leave behind friends dearer to us than life."
"Mercy!" mentally ejaculated Irene, "does the little fool mean to propose?" Then, still without any encouraging warmth in her tone, she asked, "When do you expect to leave Snagtown?"
"In two or three days at most, and I feel—hem—pardon me, Miss Irene." He rose and drew his chair nearer hers. ”

“ Tompkins was a man of very hasty temper and, although he was of Northern birth, he was a harsh master.
"Among the slaves he owned was a beautiful quadroon, named Maggie, and an attachment sprang up between us. I loved her with all my heart, and she loved me as earnestly. White people, who think that the tender emotions are only for their own race, are much mistaken. I, who had the blood of two savage nations in my veins, loved as wildly, fiercely, and yet as tenderly as any white man that ever lived. Maggie loved me as fervently as I did her. ”

“ The boy, full of his father's conviction, and of a conceit all his own, felt within his soul a rising greatness which one day would make him the foremost man of the Nation. He did not object to his father's plan; he was willing to become either a statesman or a lawyer, but having read the life of Washington, he would have chosen to be a general, only that there were now no redcoats to fight. Poor as Diggs' family was, they boasted that they associated only with the elite of Southern society. ”

“ Oleah lowered the field-glass, through which he had been looking at the young captain in blue across the river, and with a sad smile turned toward the speaker.
"Harry," he said, "do you know who we are fighting, who those men are across the river?"
"No," said Harry, "only that they are enemies."
"Once they were neighbors, friends and brothers. That is the company commanded by my brother Abner and raised in and about our village. Every shot we fire, whose aim is true, drinks the blood of one who was once a friend." ”

“ Domineering niggers would be our masters, would claim the right to vote and hold office. Imagine, my dear sir, an ignorant nigger holding an important office like that of justice of the peace. Consider for a moment, Mr. Tompkins, all of the horrors which would be the natural result of a lazy, indolent race, incapable of earning their own living, unless urged by the lash, being turned loose to shift for themselves. Slavery is more a blessing to the slave than to the master. What was the condition of the negro in his native wilds? ”

“ Diggs was in the very height of his patriotism and bravery, when the arrival of the re-enforcements so suddenly changed the tide of battle.
"Oh, Lordy! I'll be killed, I know I shall!" he shrieked, and January again turned and fled before the tempest. Taking a course to the left of that pursued by the regular army, Diggs soon found himself on the outskirts of the battle. As he looked over his shoulder, he beheld a powerful cavalryman in full uniform, mounted on a horse black as midnight, in hot pursuit of him. ”

“ Irene, forgetful of danger or too horrified to fly, stood motionless as a statue. She saw one or two of Oleah's company fall, and saw their captain wheel his horse and dash back among his panic-stricken troops. He reformed them almost instantly and returned the volley, driving back the advance of the Union troops, who immediately rallied and came on again to the conflict.
"Come, Irene, come in for Heaven's sake! You may be struck dead at any moment," cried Mrs. Tompkins, seizing the poor girl around the waist. "Come, come to the cellar; it is the only safe place." ”

“ Tompkins, "that infernal Eleventh is routed. They are in flight."
Abner's glance swept over the field. He was loth to give up the ground he had won, but they were almost surrounded. Things looked desperate. They must cut their way through and fly with the others or surrender. Rising in his stirrups, and waving his sword, the colonel shouted in thunder tones which were heard by the entire regiment:
"Yonder is our army. To remain here is death. Cut your way through, every man for himself!" ”

“ A glance told Abner that it was a Confederate officer, and that he held a naked sword in his hand. In an instant he had drawn his own weapon and leaped from the saddle, to discover that he was confronted by his brother.
"So, we meet again," cried Oleah, his eyes flashing fire. "You are my prisoner, sir."
"Release my horse, and remember that we are brothers," returning his sword to its scabbard. "We shall find other foes to fight. Loose my horse and go."
"When I go you will go a prisoner with me. Brothers!" exclaimed Oleah, sneeringly. "In all things you oppose me. ”

“ But do not fear, madam, for, I assure you, we shall take him without the firing of a shot."
Opening the door, Captain Tompkins boldly walked down the flight of stairs, leading to the cellar, a light in one hand and a drawn sword in the other—a number of his men following him. A sight met their view at the foot of the stairs, calculated rather to excite laughter than to strike terror to their hearts. A small man in gray uniform, rushing aimlessly about trying to scale the cellar wall, to hide beneath the boxes, to find some way—any way—of escape. ”

“ Brothers whose affection she once thought no earthly power could lessen, were growing daily colder and more and more estranged. Every morning each mounted his horse, and rode away alone, and it was always late in the night when they came home, never together. Gloomy and silent, the morning meal was hurried through, the pleasant conversation that had always accompanied it, was heard no more, if we except the efforts of Irene, who strove with all her power to infuse some of the old-time harmony and brightness into the altered family. ”

“ A man stood in front of the most comfortable looking of the two cabins, apparently waiting for Oleah and his party. He was dressed in the gray uniform, had a very red head, red whiskers, red eyelashes, red eyebrows, and red freckles on his face. This Irene noticed as he came forward to assist her to alight. The next thing she noticed, was his musket leaning against the cabin wall.
"Is every thing arranged, Jackson?" asked Oleah, as he sprang from the saddle.
"Every thing, captain; the cabin is as neat as a pin," and the red-headed soldier lifted his cap, blinking and nodding his head. ”

“ Playmates in their childhood, friends as well as brothers in their young manhood, no one could question a doubt of their brotherly love. Where one had been, the other had always been at his side. No slightest difference had ever yet ruffled the smooth surface of their existence. Yet they were dissimilar in temperament. Abner was slow and cool, but perhaps more determined than his brother, and his reason predominated over his prejudice. Oleah was rash, impetuous and bold, and more liable to be moved by prejudice or passion than by reason. ”

“ The eastern sun, like a blazing ball, was rising higher and higher in the sky as twelve men, among whom were Corporal Grimm and Sergeant Swords, galloped down a wooded road, keeping a sharp lookout for "bushwhackers." Six of these men wore the uniform and carried the arms of the United States Infantry, and six were dressed in citizens' attire and armed with rifles or double-barreled shot-guns. All rode at a furious pace, splashing through the mud and frightening the birds in the woods on either side. ”