Uncle Daniel's Story Of "Tom" Anderson Part 11

"'No, sir,' responded the President; 'I was only putting the worst side of the case--just as I would look at the worst side of a client's case in court. The people of this country love this republic too well to see it go down marred and destroyed merely for the purpose of upholding the crime and infamy of slavery. No, gentlemen, this Union will be restored.

All the rebels of the South, and all the sympathizers and Golden Circles of the North cannot destroy it so long as there is one patriot left qualified to lead an army. They will have to burn every city and a.s.sa.s.sinate every leading man who is able to be a leader before our flag will go down in gloom and disgrace. This they may try. G.o.d only knows what desperate men will do to uphold an unholy cause.'"

"How prophetic this thought was," said Dr. Adams.

"Yes, it was really so. The very things mentioned were attempted, and an organization completed for the purpose. They accomplished a part of their h.e.l.lish design, but they did not succeed to the extent contemplated.

"But to return to the conversation with the President and Secretary:

"The President then asked me if I would, in my own way, further ferret out what was being done by this organization in the West and post him by reports in writing as often as I could conveniently do so.

"I responded that I could not go into the lodges myself, but I would, in every way that I could consistently, through others, obtain information and send him.

"'This,' he said, 'was all that he could ask me to do, situated as I was.'

"This being all that was desired, the Secretary of War made out a pa.s.s authorizing me to enter any and all of our lines or camps of prisoners, to visit any and all hospitals--in fact, to go to and pa.s.s through all places under military control in the United States. With this pa.s.s in my pocket I bade good-by to the President and Secretary and left for home.

"When I returned I found that Col. Tom Anderson, his wife, and old Aunt Martha had arrived. The family had a joyful meeting and had become settled down. All were glad to see me. Col. Tom, his wife, and Aunt Martha had many pleasant things to relate--how Tom recovered so rapidly; how kind Col. Harden had been; what a good man Surg. Long was; how a band of rebels came down the river to old George's farm, where Tom had been so long; how they were surprised and captured by one of Col.

Harden's reconnoitering parties, and that they said they were sent to take Mr. George's property away and to bring with them old Ham and Aunt Martha.

"Old Ham, being present, broke out in one of his characteristic laughs.

"'Ah! He-ogh. Fo' de good Laud, dat's de time dey miss der cotch. Dis darky was done gone when dey comed. I know'd dey'd be dar sometime for dis cat, and Marfa, too. I tells you, dey want her, dey do. She know how to cook and do things, she do. Be a cole day when dey gits dis cat agin, sho's you born'd.'

"Aunt Martha came in and said to Ham:

"'What you doin' heah, Ham?'

"'I's sympensizen wid dem "Sesh" what comed down to ole Ma.s.sa George's place back yonder for to fotch me and you back to de Missip. De cat done gone. He-ah! he-ah!'

"'Yes; but you ole fool, dey'd got you if it had not bin for me. I beg you afore you goes to go wid Ma.s.sa Daniel, you knows I did.'

"'Yes, Marfa, dat's so. I tole dem all de time dat you knows de bes'.

Don't I, Ma.s.sa Daniel?'

"'Oh, yes, Ham,' I said. 'You always speak well of Martha, and what she knows.'

"'Deed I do, Marfa; dat's so; I does, all de time.'

"'Dat's all right den, Ham. I forgib you all what you do, so you jes'

git out in de kitchen; dar's whar you blong. Dese folks spile you ef dey don't mind deyselves.

"The family, or a considerable portion of them, again being together, we naturally drifted in our conversation as to the war, it being uppermost in everybody's mind at that time; so I found an opportunity to tell Col.

Anderson and Peter all about my trip, what had occurred, and what I had promised to do. Peter said that I would have to be very cautious, and that the first thing was to understand whether or not the Postmaster here could be trusted. Should he allow it to be known that I was frequently communicating with the President, the enemies at Allentown would manage in some way to discover my communications, and thereby my life would be in danger.

"I knew the Postmaster, however, and that he could be trusted; so that part of the matter was settled.

"Colonel Anderson suggested that there should be no haste in settling the arrangements; that it was of such importance that a little reflection would do no harm; so we laid the matter over for the present."

"Uncle Daniel," said Col. Bush, "we who were in the army felt the influence of the Knights of the Golden Circle. There was one time during the war when we would have hundreds of desertions in a night; nor could we stop it for a considerable length of time. We finally discovered that the people opposed to the war were engaged in every possible way in influencing the relatives of the soldiers. They would sometimes get their wives to write about their sufferings, sickness in their families, and in every way that it could be done they were rendered dissatisfied."

"Yes," said Maj. Clymer, "that is true in every respect. Part of my command deserted, and I have found since the war that they were induced to do so by these very influences."

"The situation at that time was very critical," said Dr. Adams. "I remember well when mobs were organized and when soldiers were shot down on the road in this vicinity while returning to their commands after being home on a leave of absence.

"O, yes, those were perilous times for all who were in favor of their country's success. Returning, however, to family matters:

"On the morning of the next day, after Peter, Col. Anderson and myself had talked over the matter of my Was.h.i.+ngton trip, and sat down to breakfast, Col. Anderson found a paper under his plate. All eyes were upon him, and he turned his upon the paper. He read it, and looked at me as though he understood it all, yet it was evidently a very happy surprise; he said not one word, but handed it to his wife, supposing that the rest knew of it. She jumped up from the table and threw her arms around my neck and wept for joy. This procedure seemed to puzzle the rest of the family, as they were totally ignorant of the contents of the paper.

"'Mother,' exclaimed Peter, 'what is all this?'

"Col. Anderson said: 'Aunt, do you not know what it is?'

"'No, indeed,' she replied.

"I then revealed the secret of my keeping the fact quiet about Tom having been commissioned as a Brigadier-General

"Peter at once said: 'Well, that settles the question in our regiment; and I am truly glad, for two reasons: first, that Col. Anderson has been promoted, and, second, that it leaves our regiment intact.'

"All congratulated the Colonel and were happy over it. Old Aunt Martha who was waiting on the table that morning shouted out 'Glory! Dat's jes'

what I sed; dat de good Laud was gwine to keep Ma.s.sa Tom for some big thing, so he do good. I know'd it.'

"We all felt that it was due him and all were glad. Upon looking up I discerned tears in Jennie's eyes, I knew in a moment her thoughts, but said not a word. Her darling child, Sarah, had died, and of course she was sensitive and easily touched. After breakfast I took the first opportunity to say to her: 'My dear child, don't feel badly; your husband's promotion will come very soon.'

"This seemed to cheer her up, and all went on well and pleasantly. No one seemed to understand Jennie's tears but myself, and I was very quiet on the subject. Sure enough, the very next day she got a letter from David, telling her that he had been promoted and a.s.signed to the command of a brigade. This made us all doubly happy, and caused us to forget our grief for a time. The two children did not quite understand all this. But Aunt Martha, to whom the children had become quite devoted, was in her very peculiar way explaining it all to the children, and yet she knew but little more about it than they did, and between her explanations and their understanding of it, made it very amusing indeed.

"Two days afterwards Peter left for his command, which was still encamped on the battle-field of Pittskill Landing. He felt as though he could do camp duty if no more. He wore the same sad countenance that had become fastened upon him since he had been pondering over his mother's dream.

"Col. Anderson was still very weak, but was nervous about the future and extremely anxious to recover sufficiently to take the field. His bloodless face and trembling motion showed that he couldn't perform field duty for some time to come. He made a request, however, for the detail of Capt. Day, of Col. Harden's regiment, as one of his aides-de-camp. The order for the detail, in accordance with his wishes, he soon received, but delayed sending it forward, leaving Capt. Day with Col. Harden until such time as he should be able to be a.s.signed to duty.

In talking over with Gen. Anderson the situation and the mission I had to perform, we concluded, inasmuch as he was only slightly known through the West, that he could travel through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois on a prospecting tour and be less liable to suspicion than myself, known as I was in many parts of the country, and that the journey was just what he needed to give him strength.

"Preparatory to his undertaking the expedition we thought proper to visit Joseph Dent on the farm, and have the General more fully posted in the mysteries of the Golden Circle. We at once repaired to the farm.

While there Dent instructed him thoroughly, he having it at his tongue's end, as he had been meeting with the Circle frequently in the neighborhood, under the advice of Peter and myself. Gen. Anderson carefully wrote down everything in his pocket memorandum book, and after frequently going over the signs, manipulations, pa.s.swords, etc., with Dent, we left for home. All the preliminaries were then arranged, so that the General was to start as soon as he considered himself sufficiently strong to undergo the fatigues of the journey.

"Late in the evening the form of a tall, well-proportioned man appeared at the door and rapped. I said 'Come.' He entered, saying, 'Father, how are you?' I saw it was my son Jackson, from St. Paul, Minn. After hearty greetings, I introduced him to Gen. Anderson and wife. Aunt Sarah soon entered the room, and the meeting between mother and son was most touching. In the conversation that ensued Jackson soon disclosed the fact that he was on his way to join the army somewhere, not entirely defined in his own mind; but came by to pay a visit to us first.

"Gen. Anderson seemed at once to take a fancy to Jack son, and proposed that he make application for a Captaincy in the Regular Army and be a.s.signed to him as one of his staff officers. This was readily acceded to by my son. The papers were made out, and Jackson started for Was.h.i.+ngton the next morning to make the request of the President, the understanding being that he was to return to my house and await the future movements of Gen. Anderson. His mother, hearing of this arrangement, was better satisfied with it than she would have been if he had started out in some regiment; but she wept bitter tears at the thought of all her sons endangering their lives.

"She said to me:

"'Daniel, if our whole family, or a greater part of them should be lost, who will remember it to our honor, and where will sympathy for us come from? You know the youth who fired the Ephesian Dome is remembered, while the builder is forgotten.'

"These words of my good wife are constantly ringing in my ears. How true! how true!"

CHAPTER VII.