After months of being at the military base, I returned home for a brief time. My family congratulated me as a "hero",and that I had done a great thing. That night, I looked out of my bedroom window, and saw the lights on in the slave cabins. My thoughts had begun to waver, thinking if I was fighting for the right side or not. No, I had to serve my country, and my family.
The next day, I woke up, and saud my goodbye's. I rode my horse out of the sunlit grove of trees down the plantation road. I felt eyes watching me and I studied the roadside. Then I saw a child, about the age of 10, wearing torn clothes. I said nothing, even though the children were supposed to be out helping pick cotton. A middle aged woman camevout of the slave quarters, called to the boy, abd looked at me, saying a silent thank you for not yelling at the child. I traveled to the military base, and put my horse in the stables. I saw the military commander and he said, "Son, you are going to now be commisioned at a fort off the coast at Port Royal. I departed the mainland, and headed off to the fort. Just a couple of months ago, I had beem attacking a fort, and now I had to guard one.
The next couple of days were stormy, making all the base's occupants stay inside the fort. The inside of the fort was a cold, dark place, smelling of gunpowder and mold. For meals, we had cold food, eating by candlelight, with the storm winds whipping and howling outside, making waves smash up against the base of the fort. "You gonna eat that?", said a gruff, older man. "Naw, you can have it". The man said a brief thank you and began to eat my leftovers. After dinner, I went back to my bunk, and began writing in my journal. I wrote about all my adventures so far, and the things I liked and didn't like about being in the army.
The next day, a group of boats had gathered outside the base, abd I took out a telescope, and saw that they had union flags raised. I yelled to the commander, who told us to load and fire the cannons. Our first shot missed, and the ships, now alerted by our presence, began to fire back at us. After we ran out of ammo, the commander told us to abandon the fort. We did so, and sailed out on rowboats out into the bay, unseen by our enemies. I took one last look at the fort, and thought, what if we don't win this war? I shrugged the idea off, and rowed faster.
YOU ARE READING
The Civil War: A Soldier's Story
Historical FictionA man travels across the country in the Confederate Army and experiences many major battles and events.
