Carried Forward By Hope (27 page)

But today was a day for celebrating. Moses shook off any remaining dark thoughts as he marched proudly with the conquering army. There was not one white face in the sea of black that lined the parade route. Cries of joy and gratitude rang in his ears with every step he took.

The pain of all he had lost faded away as he gazed into the happy faces surrounding him. True, there was still a heavy price to be paid for freedom, but the people lining Broad Street would never have imagined a short time ago that they would be free on the streets of Richmond, Virginia to create a new life for themselves.

******
 

Moses knew the tromp of feet would still be heard for a long time as he and his men peeled away from the marching column when they reached the northern edge of Richmond.

“You’re heading out of the city?”

Moses looked up as Captain Jones, his commanding officer, rode up to him. “Yes, sir.”

“I hope you find your family, Moses.”

Moses nodded. “I’ll find them,” he said confidently. “I don’t know how long it will take me, but if my mama and Sadie are out there, I will find them.” He had nothing but deep respect and appreciation for his captain. It had been Captain Jones who arranged for him to take time off to find June and take her to the contraband camp. He smiled as he remembered his terror when June went into labor, having Simon right there in the woods beside the road. But all had turned out well.

“I wish you the best,” Captain Jones replied.

“Will you be here when I return, sir?” Moses asked, suddenly realizing his captain might have orders to go elsewhere.

“I don’t know,” Captain Jones admitted. He smiled. “To tell you the truth, I have tendered my resignation from the army.”

Moses whistled. “You’ve served for a long time.”

“Twenty years. It’s enough.”

Moses gazed at him. “It’s been a rough four years, sir.”

Captain Jones nodded. “It has, indeed. I think I’ve got enough gray hair and wrinkles to prove it.”

He spoke lightly, but Moses saw the fatigue and darkness lurking in his eyes. “What will you do next, sir?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Probably as little as possible for a while. I’ll spend time with my wife and kids and then figure out what comes next.”

“You deserve nothing but great things,” Moses said warmly. He stepped forward and held out his hand. “Thank you for everything, sir.”

Captain Jones gripped his hand firmly, holding it for a long moment. “I thank you, as well,” he finally said. “I’ve depended on your leadership and your good sense. You’ve taught me many things.” He hesitated. “You’re a natural leader, Moses. Your people are going to need leadership from their own in the years to come.”

Moses frowned. “I appreciate the compliment, sir, but all I want to do is farm.” He explained briefly his plan to take his unit out to Cromwell Plantation and bring it back to life.

Captain Jones listened intently. “Cromwell Plantation, eh? That’s quite a place.” He stared off at the horizon for a moment and then swung his gaze back. “Is Carrie Borden going back out there?”

“As soon as her husband is well enough to move. He’s still very ill. Her father has also arrived home. He returned last night. Everyone will be going out together.”

Captain Jones nodded. “Tell her to contact me when they’re ready to go,” he said suddenly.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s fairly safe in the city now, but we haven’t been able to bring the entire countryside under control. There are too many desperate people out there who wouldn’t hesitate to accost someone of obvious means. It won’t be safe for her and her father. My resignation won’t be effective for a few months. I will send a unit of my men with them when they are ready to go.”

Moses gazed at him with appreciation. “Thank you, sir,” he managed, knowing that it wasn’t enough.

Captain Jones smiled. “I might just join the unit myself. Perhaps I’ll discover how Mrs. Borden managed to escape with that giant, gray Thoroughbred of hers.”

Moses laughed. “I wouldn’t count on it, sir.”

Captain Jones eyed him more closely. “You know the answer, don’t you?”

Moses said nothing but laughter danced in his eyes.

“I could order you to tell me.”

“But you won’t,” Moses replied, his voice confident.

Captain Jones scowled but his eyes brightened. “You’re right. I won’t.” He waved his hand. “Go on and find your mama.”

Moses nodded and turned away. He had already told Simon goodbye. He knew his friend would keep an eye on everyone on the hill. Suddenly his gaze sharpened. “Jeremy!” he called as he hurried over to where he sat on a wagon seat. “What are you doing here?” His heart quickened. “What’s wrong?” he asked sharply.

Jeremy smiled and shook his head. “Not a thing.”

Moses was confused. “Then what are you doing here?”

Jeremy answered with a question of his own. “How are you planning on bringing your mama and Sadie home?”

Moses shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I haven’t thought that far.” He was embarrassed to acknowledge that was true. Did he really think his mama and Sadie were going to walk back to Richmond with him? Carrie had offered him Granite, but he had refused, not willing to separate them again.

“That’s what Thomas figured,” Jeremy replied.

“Thomas?”

“Yes. We were talking about it this morning.” Jeremy’s expression grew more serious. “He feels responsible for separating your family.”

Moses said nothing. It was true.

“He also told me it was dangerous for you to be out on the roads by yourself right now.”

Moses frowned and began to protest.

Jeremy held up his hand. “There is nothing but chaos in the South right now. No one has figured out what to do with all the freed slaves traveling on the road.”

Moses shook his head. “That’s not going to stop me from going,” he said quietly.

“Of course it’s not!” Jeremy exclaimed. “That’s why I’m going with you. In this wagon,” he added.

Moses stared at him. “What?” A smile spread across his face. “Thomas sent this wagon for us to use? And you’re going with me?”

“That’s right.” Jeremy leaned forward. “Accept the gift, Moses. Thomas feels terrible and needs a way to help make it right. This will never make up for separating your family, but he can at least make it easier for you. And for your mama and Sadie,” he added. “Besides, I’m unemployed at the moment and would love to get out of the city.”

“Not to mention that having a white man with me will make things easier,” Moses said wryly, though he was wise enough to appreciate the logic of Thomas’s solution.

“We don’t have to tell anyone I’m really your black wife’s twin,” Jeremy replied ruefully. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

Moses laughed. “I’m all for keeping people in the dark,” he said, climbing into the wagon seat. “Let’s roll,” he said, his heart beating faster as he realized he truly was on his way to find his mama and Sadie. The added benefit of a wagon, and Jeremy for company, only made it better.

******

Moses took deep breaths of the fresh spring air as they began to roll out of the city. The horse pulling the wagon, a solid-looking bay, held his head proudly and moved at a good pace. Once they left the charred remains of the business district behind, the beleaguered city still showed some of its old grandeur. The houses were faded, fences were broken, and shutters hung from their hinges, but children were once more playing in the streets under the shade of brilliant dogwoods, their creamy white blooms standing in stark contrast. Colorful azaleas lined the foundations of homes that just seemed to be waiting for a new beginning.

Moses smiled at Jeremy. “This trip is going to be a lot different than I envisioned.”

Jeremy smiled back at him. “It will also happen a lot faster than you thought.”

Moses nodded, looked at him more closely, and then started laughing. “Which is part of the reason Thomas sent you and the wagon. He wants me back out on Cromwell to start putting in crops as soon as possible.”

Jeremy just smiled again. “He is a businessman who is trying to do the right thing. But, yes, he is eager to get things moving again.”

Moses nodded. “I am too,” he said simply. “I want to start building the life I dreamed about during all the years of slavery, and during the years I’ve been fighting. It’s time.” He thought back to his daddy, and the price he paid when he tried to escape to build the life he dreamed of. His dream ended with him dangling from a rope. He was determined to create the life for his mama and sister that his daddy had envisioned for them.

******

What started with the feeling of a grand adventure faded into a constant panorama of the stark reality of war as they headed west from Richmond. Everywhere they looked they saw destruction. Houses and barns were burned. Fields were scorched and fences torn away, their ties littering the ground. Railroad tracks were torn up in twisted masses. Fields that should have sported the fresh green of new crops lay brown and barren. Bridges were torn away. Only Jeremy’s knowledge of the roads enabled them to find alternate routes that kept them moving forward.

“My God,” Moses said, gazing around. “How do you come back from something like this?”

“It’s worse further up in the Shenandoah,” Jeremy responded. “Most of this is General Sheridan’s work. My understanding is that he had orders to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad and the James River Canal while Lee was bombarding Petersburg.”

“He did his job well,” Moses said. Now that the war was over, it was impossible not to look at everything with an eye to rebuilding. He thought of Cromwell Plantation as he stared over the barren fields. “It’s going to take a long time for things to return to normal,” he finally said.

Jeremy nodded. “Yes, it will, but the people of Virginia are resilient.”

“They will have to be.”

“Just as the people of Georgia will have to be to rebuild after Sherman wreaked his destruction down there.” Jeremy sighed. “It’s the cost of war.” He scowled. “The war should never have been fought, but it was. Now the South has no choice but to rebuild. It will take a long time, but it can be done. It
must
be done,” he added fiercely.

Moses thought about Jeremy’s lost position with the government. “You feel helpless to be a part of it,” he observed thoughtfully.

Jeremy sat quietly for a long moment and then shrugged his shoulders. “Not helpless exactly. I know I could have made a difference as a financial analyst, but only if they would have listened,” he admitted. “I tried to warn Virginia not to follow in the footsteps of the Confederacy in regard to how they handled their currency, but…”

“They wouldn’t listen,” Moses finished.

“No one wanted to acknowledge we were fighting a losing battle from the very beginning,” Jeremy said heavily. He frowned as the remnants of another scorched barn appeared as they rounded a curve. “The rebuilding is going to be as painful as the war,” he predicted. “Maybe more so. It’s certainly going to last longer,” he said flatly.

“Do you have confidence it can happen?” Moses asked quietly.

Jeremy was quiet again for a long while.

Moses waited, knowing he was pulling together his thoughts. Though he’d certainly had many opportunities to talk with Jeremy in the last several weeks, he was glad they were taking this trip together so he could get to know him better. He smiled knowing Rose was probably very jealous right now, though he also knew she was glad he wasn’t alone.

Finally Jeremy spoke. “The South will rebuild, but not without a lot of bitterness and anger. The men who started this war still believe their cause was just and right. They have been beaten in battle, but that hasn’t changed the feelings that started the war in the first place.”

“Will it ever end?” Moses asked. “Or will they just continue to fight the war in a different way?”

Jeremy gazed at him. “That’s the question to be answered.” He paused. “It’s common for Southerners to romanticize tragedy. They started a war they had no chance to win, but if they can convince themselves and the rest of the world that they were the victims in unjust aggression, they may feel they can salvage their pride.”

“That didn’t work so well before,” Moses observed.

“They were asking for money and support then,” Jeremy reminded him. “Now they are looking for sympathy.”

“To what end?” Moses was puzzled.

Jeremy shrugged. “They’ve lost everything. If they can somehow salvage their pride, they can continue to protest the war was wrong in the first place.”

“So it never ends,” Moses said heavily.

“It depends on how the next few years go,” Jeremy answered. “If Lincoln were still alive, I would feel much more optimistic. I know he would have made sure that blacks’ rights were enforced and that the freed slaves had a fair opportunity to build new lives.”

“And you don’t believe President Johnson will do that?”

“I’ve been studying everything I could get my hands on,” Jeremy began.