The Long Journey Home

Prologue - The Fading Drums of War

Columbus, Georgia

1865

War. It was brutal. Blood, bones, guts, and screams that pierced the air, drowning out any human thought from his mind. Dewy fought to maintain his composure. Clem, his best friend, had been wounded and carried off, only to die in the hack job of a surgery they were trying to perform. The attempt to save his life had taken it. 

His leg was bruised from a shallow gunshot wound, and Dewy had managed to pull the bullet from the flesh of his left thigh, thankful that it hadn't gone deep enough to need surgery. The doctors were merely cutting limbs off with a saw at this point, and too many men were dying from infection, fevers, and loss of blood.  He said a thankful prayer to the Almighty for preserving him.

With little else to do, he offered to assist in burying the dead. As a low ranking soldier, he would've been told to do it anyway. Not a task he wanted, but someone had to, and he was alive do so. Even as he went about the self-appointed task, Dewy wondered about the folks back home. How long would it be before the families of these many men learned of their demise? The grieving mothers, the mourning widows: Their lives were changed forever because of this bloody battle that ended all battles.

 What did a soldier with a musket and rank on his shirt do at the end of a war? Did he just pick up and go home? Men called out from every direction, sending orders, making plans. Dewy stood over the grave of a man, a boy really, who was too young to die in battle. He’d never know the love of a woman, the cry of his firstborn, or the labor of providing for a family. Dewy’s silent prayer went up for the boy, his family, and himself.

“YOU THERE!” An unknown Sergeant called out. “HURRY UP! THERE’S MORE TO BURY.” Dewy snapped to attention and moved on to the next one, thinking the same thoughts, praying the same prayers, and pouring the dirt from the shovel over corpse after corpse as tears flowed down his face. He did this until sunset without stopping except to drink every now and again.