The Burning of the Valley

Transcription

1 Perfection Learning The Burning of the Valley by Anne Schraff

2 The Burning of the Valley by Anne Schraff Perfection Learning Corporation Logan, Iowa 51546

3 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY 77 7 A couple of weeks later Abbie was visiting Bessie and Liney. She had been visiting Liney often, trying to cheer her up. Paul was scheduled to leave soon. When she came home she found her mother in the kitchen preparing a savory feast. She was making roast wild duck, peas, and corn. Her mother had hoarded cans of vegetables and fruit. And now she broke them out with a strange abandon. The raisin bread for dessert was crammed with raisins, figs, and nuts. Mother, cried Abbie, why are we having such a grand feast? Abbie s mother turned. She had a gaiety about her that was stunning. In the days since the burning of the valley, she was usually in despair. But now she danced around the kitchen like a young girl getting ready for a ball. I just received word, my dear! Your father is coming home! she sang out. Abbie flew into her mother s arms, and they danced around the kitchen together, hugging each other. When, Mother? When is he coming home? Abbie demanded.

4 78 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY This night! At any moment I expect him to come riding up, dismount, and burst into our midst! Colonel Mason is coming home, wrapped in the laurels of victory! He has snatched victory from defeat for the Army of Virginia! Abbie s mother cried, elated. Oh, Mother, that is such splendid news was he victorious in Tennessee? Abbie asked. Oh! Abbie s mother said, the smile momentarily leaving her face. Not answering Abbie, she said, What will he think of all the ruins? He built the barn with his own hands, and the corncrib too. Oh... the Colonel will be so distressed. We must do something to make it all look better, Abbie. Get the broom and sweep the ashes away. Sweep all the ashes away, darling. Abbie stood still, staring at her mother. How could she think Abbie could sweep the whole farm and get rid of the ashes? Go on, go on, her mother said. Her hands were fluttering in the air like little white birds uncertain in flight. Get the broom. I don t want your father to see the ashes. Then she went to the oven and

5 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY 79 lifted the raisin loaf out, humming softly as she did. Even from several feet away, Abbie could see it was burned black. Mrs. Mason set the table, humming Somebody s Darling. There was insistent rapping on the door then. Abbie answered, and a cold breeze infiltrated the room. There stood the Pollards. We saw the Confederate officers at your door this morning, Judith Pollard said. Her face was white. Is there news of your father? Mr. Pollard asked in a gentle, worried voice. Father... is coming home, Abbie said. But her happiness and excitement was waning. A terrible sense of doom was beginning to engulf Abbie. Mother said he will be riding in at... any... moment. Mrs. Mason proudly set the charred raisin loaf on the table and smiled at the Pollards. Come rejoice with us! she cried. The colonel is coming home, and he has been victorious! The tide of battle has turned in our favor! Abbie saw the letter then. It was lying on the end table near the door. The

6 80 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY Confederate officers that the Pollards had seen must have delivered the letter this morning. Mother held aloft the brandied peaches she had been saving for her husband s homecoming. His favorite, she cried. Brandied peaches for the victorious colonel! Abbie picked up the letter with trembling hands. She read. The letter regretfully informed Mrs. Mason of the valiant death of her husband. He had fallen at the town of Franklin, about 25 miles south of Nashville. Abbie felt her knees begin to give out. Her eyes went black as she digested the news. But the happy humming of her mother pulled her out of the abyss she was falling into. She had to gain her composure. She had to take care of her mother. With the Pollards help, Abbie got her irrational mother to bed. During the day, other friends came to offer their condolences, but Mrs. Mason seemed in a daze for that day and several more. Mrs. Pollard sent one of her most trusted

7 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY 81 servants, Cassandra, to remain at Mrs. Mason s bedside until the crisis passed. Cassandra was not to leave the woman s side until the nervous collapse she had suffered on hearing of her husband s death had healed somewhat. My father has been killed, Abbie told Burton. Her voice was calm, even though her heart was broken. She felt numb, as if she really wasn t fully alive anymore either. She felt like the valley burned and blackened, raw and hurting. Seeing the valley burned, seeing most of the farm buildings reduced to ruins, and now this. The unthinkable had happened. It was all too much. It was like the end of the world had begun. In a way it had. The tide of the war had turned, but not in the South s favor. The North had torched Atlanta, just as they had done in the Shenandoah Valley. The Grand Army of Virginia was floundering. The demon Yankees were adding triumph to triumph. Colonel Mason would never be riding home. I am so sorry, so very sorry, Burton said. I know the terrible pain when a

8 82 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY loved one dies. When my brother died, it was as if I d lost a part of me forever. We were the best of buddies, as well as brothers. War is a monster, eating men alive. Mother had a complete breakdown, Abbie said. It was always Father s good cheer that kept her going, and now Tears streamed down Abbie s cheeks. She couldn t stop them anymore. Burton was sitting up in bed now. He took Abbie s hands, gently pulling her down beside him where she cried into his shoulder. Burton gently patted Abbie s back, and somehow it helped. While Abbie cried in the Yankee s arms, there was no blue, there was no gray. There was just an endless line of men broken under the savage wheel of war. There were no grand principles to be defended, no colors fluttering in the breeze, no songs telling of courage or pride. There was only the slaughter, the relentless slaughter as men from both sides fell like wheat before the scythe. Abbie wondered if any of the men she knew would ever come home again. And

9 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY 83 even if they did, would they be the same? Would anything ever be the same anymore? Her heart answered no, because Abbie s father, the strong, kindly man who guided and inspired her, was gone. Later Abbie went to her parents room where her mother was languishing in bed. There she found her mother sleeping. Cassandra was sitting beside her with a fan to stir up a breeze if it became too stifling in the room. Abbie walked over to her father s big walnut desk. He loved to sit there and write letters. He wrote so many of them to old friends and to family. Abbie found an unfinished letter her father had written to his cousin in Maryland. My dear John, I cannot fault you for your decision to take command of the 2nd Regiment. I myself opposed secession, and I don t endorse slavery. But my Virginia is under attack, and I cannot but defend it. I pray that no battle ever occurs during the dreaded conflict ahead where we must

10 84 THE BURNING OF THE VALLEY face each other across the field of battle, you under the Union flag, me under the Stars and Bars... The letter was never mailed. After another week, Abbie s mother improved enough to leave her bed and take her meals with Abbie. She was beginning to accept her widowhood, though the blues she had occasionally suffered now seemed part of her personality. I am a piteous widow, forever bereft of a husband, Mrs. Mason said. All because of the cruel Yankees who have taken everything from us. Try not to think of unhappy things, Abbie said. You will only make yourself ill again, Mother. I suppose you are right, my dear, her mother answered. Then after a pause she said, Judith has told me about the Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond where the poor wounded and sick soldiers are taken. We are making quilts for them. They are in need of everything. I shall busy myself with that good work and not consume myself in grieving.