Altsheler The Star of Gettysburg - A Story of Southern High Tide

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-3-95676-004-4
Verlag: OTB eBook publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 308 Seiten

Joseph Alexander Altsheler was born on April 29, 1862, in Three Springs, Kentucky. In 1888, he became a reporter, then editor at a newspaper in Louisville, then began working for New York World in 1892 as a Hawaiian correspondent. In 1888, he married Sarah Boles and they had one son. Because of a shortage of stories, Altsheler began writing children’s stories for a magazine. Eventually, he began writing short stories and novels in 1895, completing nearly one hundred of them including six series. There were eight books in his Civil War series. While visiting gery, World War I broke out and the family became stranded there. A perilous journey home took a toll on his health and he died on June 5, 1919, at the age of 57, in New York City. 'The Star of Gettysburg' is a complete romance, but it is also one of the series dealing with the Civil War. The story centers about the young Southern hero, Harry Kenton, and his friends.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Altsheler, Joseph A.

Leseproben

Then they listened, as the echo of the twelfth Southern shot died away on the stream, and no sound came after it. Twenty-four shots had been fired, twelve by each army, conveying Christmas good wishes, and the group in the house went back to their dinner. Some glasses had been found, and there was a thimbleful of wine, enough for everyone. The black cake was cut, and at a word from Colonel Talbot all rose and drank a toast to the mothers and wives and sweethearts and sisters they had left behind them. Then the twilight thickened rapidly and the winter night came down upon them, hiding the ruined town, the blackened walls, the muddy streets and the icicles hanging from scorched timbers. Caesar Moncrieffe washed all the dishes—those left in the house had been sufficient for their purpose—wiped them carefully, and returned them to the cupboard. Then he announced that he must go. "Come now, Santa Claus," said Happy Tom, "you must stay here. You've done enough for one day. In fact, I should say that you've earned a week's rest." "I ain't no Santy Claus," said Caesar, "but I done got to git back to Massa Moncrieffe. He'll be expectin' me." "But you'll get lost in the dark. Besides, some Yankee scout may shoot the top of your head off." "You can't lose me anywhar' roun' here. 'Sides, I kin dodge them Yankees every time. On a dark night like this I could go right up the gullies and through the biggest army in the world without its seein' me." Caesar felt that he was bound to go, and all the officers in turn shook his big rough black hand. Then they saw him ride away in the darkness, armed with his pass from General Jackson, and on the lookout for any prowling Yankees who might have ventured on the right bank of the river. "Isn't it odd, Colonel," said Harry to Colonel Talbot, "that so many of our colored people regard the Yankees who are trying now to free them as enemies, while they look upon us as their best friends?" "Propinquity and association, Harry," replied Colonel Talbot, "and in the border states, at least, we have seldom been cruel to them. I hope there has been little of cruelty, too, in my own South Carolina. They are used to our ways, and they turn to us for the help that is seldom refused. The Northerner will always be a stranger to them, and an unsympathetic stranger, because there is no personal contact, none of that 'give and take' which makes men friends." "What a pity we didn't free 'em ourselves long ago!" "Yes, it is. I say this to you in confidence now, Harry. Of course, I would be denounced by our people if I said it. But many of our famous men, Harry, have not approved of it. The great Washington said slavery, with its shiftless methods of farming, was draining the life out of the land, and he was right. Haven't we seen the 'old fields' of Virginia?" "And Clay was against it, too," said Harry; "but I suppose it's one of the things we're now fighting for, unless we should choose to liberate them ourselves after defeating the North." "I suppose so," said Colonel Talbot, "but I am no politician or statesman. My trade unfits me for such matters. I am a West Pointer—a proud and glorious fact I consider it, too—but the life of a regular army officer makes him a man set apart. He is not really in touch with the nation. He cannot be, because he has so little personal contact with it. For that reason West Pointers should never aspire to public office. It does not suit them, and they seldom succeed in it. But here, I'm becoming a prosy old bore. Come into the house, lad. The boys are growing sentimental. Listen to their song. It's the same, isn't it, that some of our bands played at Bull Run?" "Yes, sir, it is," replied Harry, as he joined the others in the song: "The hour was sad, I left the maid
     A lingering farewell taking,
Her sighs and tears my steps delayed
     I thought her heart was breaking.
"In hurried words her name I blessed,
     I breathed the vows that bind me,
And to my heart in anguish pressed
     The girl I left behind me."
Most all the officers had leave for the full day. Harry and Dalton in fact were to stay overnight at the house, and, forgetful of the war, they sang one song after another as the evening waned. At nine o'clock all the guests left save Harry and Dalton. "You and Langdon will show them to their bedrooms," said Colonel Talbot. "Take the candle. The rest of us can sit here by the firelight." There was but a single candle, and it was already burning low, but Happy Tom and Arthur, shielding it from draughts, led the way to the second floor. "Most of the houses were demolished by cannon shot and fire," said Langdon, "but we've a habitable room which we reserve for guests of high degree. You will note here where a cannon shot, the result of plunging fire, came slantingly through the roof and passed out at the wall on the other side. You need not get under that hole if it should rain or snow, and meanwhile it serves splendidly for ventilation. The rip in the wall serves the same purpose, and, of course, you have too much sense to fall through it. Some blankets are spread there in the corner, and as you have your heavy cloaks with you, you ought to make out. Sorry we can't treat you any better, Sir Harry of Kentucky and Sir George of Virginia, but these be distressful times, and the best the castle affords is put at your service." "And I suspect that it's really the best," said Harry to Dalton, as St. Clair and Langdon went out. "There's straw under these blankets, George, and we've got a real bed." The moonlight shone through two windows and the cannon-shot hole, and it was bright in the room. "Here's a little bureau by the wall," said Dalton, "and as I intend to enjoy the luxury of undressing, I'm going to put my clothes in it, where they'll keep dry. You'll notice that all the panes have been shot out of those windows, and a driving rain would sweep all the way across the room." "Now and then a good idea springs up in some way in that old head of yours, George. I'll do the same." Dalton opened the top drawer. "Something has been left here," he said. He held up a large doll with blue eyes and yellow hair. "As sure as we're living," said Harry, "we're in the room of little Miss Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine, the young lady who sent us the holly. Evidently they took away all their clothing and lighter articles of furniture, but they forgot the doll. Put it back, George. They'll return to Fredericksburg some day and we want her to find it there." "You're right, Harry," said Dalton, as he replaced the doll and closed the drawer. "You and I ought to be grateful to that little girl whom we may never see." "We won't forget," said Harry, as he undressed rapidly and lay down upon their luxurious bed of blankets and straw. Neither of them remembered anything until they were dragged into the middle of the room next morning by St. Clair and Langdon. "Here! here! wake up! wake up!" cried Langdon. "It's not polite to your hosts to be snoring away when breakfast is almost ready. Go down on a piece of the back porch that's left, and you'll find two pans of cold water in which you can wash your faces. It's true the pans are frozen over, but you can break the ice, and it will remind you of home and your little boyhood." They sprang up and dressed as rapidly as they could, because when they came from the covers they found it icy cold in the room. Then they ran down, as they had been directed, broke the ice in the pans and bathed their faces. "Fine air," said Harry. "Yes, but too much of it," said Dalton. "Br-h-h-h-h, how it freezes me! Look at the icicles, George! I think some new ones came to town last night! And what a cold river! I don't believe there was ever a colder-looking river than the Rappahannock!" "And see the fogs and mists rising from it, too. It looks exactly as it did the morning of the battle." "Let it look as it pleases," said Harry. "I'm going to make a dash for the inside and a fire!" They found the colonels and the rest of the staff in the sitting-room, all except two, who were acting as cooks, but their work ceased in a moment or two, as breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee and bread and ham left over from the night before. A heap of timber glowed in the fireplace and shot forth ruddy flames. Harry's soul fairly warmed within him. "Sit down, all of you," said Colonel Talbot, "and we'll help one another." They ate with the appetite of the soldier, and Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, finishing first, withdrew to a wide window seat. There they produced the board and box of chessmen and proceeded to rearrange them exactly as they were before the battle of Fredericksburg. "You will recall that your king was in great danger, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. "Truly I do, Hector, but I do not think it beyond my power to rescue him." "It will be a hard task, Leonidas." "Hector, I would have you to remember that I am an officer in the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Army of Northern Virginia prefers hard tasks to easy ones." "You put the truth happily, Leonidas, but I must insist that your position is one of uncommon danger." "I recognize the fact fully, Hector, but I assert firmly that I will rescue my red king." Harry, his part of the work finished, watched them. The two gray heads bent lower and lower...