The Fire Within

Epilogue

"With malice toward none; with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Abraham Lincoln during his inauguration address. March 4, 1865

Battles continue to rage though America for the next ten months.

On November 8, 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln won in all but three states. "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country," Lincoln told supporters.

Following his reelection, Lincoln pushed hard to have Congress approve the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment would abolish slavery in America. On January 31, 1865, Lincoln got his wish. The U.S. Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment, to abolish slavery. In spite of the many ardent objectors, slavery is declared to unconstitutional. “All men are created equal.”

Several months later, on April 9, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. "After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources," Lee told his troops.

On April 14, 1865, the Stars and Stripes was ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter, declaring the fort to be occupied by Union troops. That night, Lincoln and his wife Mary went to a play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the head. Doctors attended to the president in the theater then moved him to a house across the street. He never regained consciousness. By the morning of April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was declared deceased. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency in wake of his death. Eleven days later, John Wilkes Booth was shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.

In May the remaining Confederate forces surrendered, the war was finally over. The Nation was able to begin healing and the north and south were reunited as one nation. Over the course of four years of fighting, 620,000 Americans died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees.

July, 1865

Grace sits outside on the porch of her Philadelphia home soaking in the early morning silence. Now that the war is finally over, she no longer has to worry about her family being called into service. In spite of the calm that has washed over the country following the bloody war, Grace still feels on edge. Her nervousness doesn’t come from the sound of cannon fire or the threat of battle however, it comes from a future she never believed she would or could have.

Rising from the rocking chair, she stands at the railing watching as the birds fly through the crystal clear blue sky.

Suddenly strong arms engulf her, wrapping around her waist and across her swollen abdomen. The feel of her warm strong husband taking away all of her uncertainty and fear. She never once believed that she would ever find love, especially the kind of love that Zachariah gave to her. She also never believed that she would be a mother. Yet here she was, married to the best man she has ever known and pregnant with their first child.

Many things had changed since the surrender of the south and the end of the war. Zachariah retired from the Union Army, taking his place as a lawyer in Philadelphia alongside William. His intentions were to run for the U.S Congress in the next term.

Ezekiel, being forced into retirement following his debilitating injury, started working with Zachariah and William. Together the three men worked for improved treatment of former slaves. Their first order of business was to clear Isaiah of his status as a deserter from the Confederate Army.

Ezekiel remained in Zachariah’s and Grace’s home with them. Following the loss of his beloved Mary, he couldn’t bring himself to return to Maryland. Instead he gave all of his property to Isaiah and Elizabeth so that they could begin their new life together. Ezekiel and Emanuel made a home with Grace and Zachariah, raising their children together and living their lives.

Isaiah and Elizabeth moved to Maryland. In spite of Isaiah’s injuries, he became a farmer, he was one of the first Maryland farmers to hire former slaves and paid them a fair wage. He and Elizabeth were also pregnant with their first child.

William and Helen continued to live together in Philadelphia. Helen worked at a nurse and as far as anyone was concerned, she was William’s nursemaid. Even after slavery was declared unconstitutional, their love of one another had to be hidden from public eyes. Neither of them seemed to mind however.

Grace smiles to herself thinking about all of the changes in their lives and how their world was something new to explore and reinvent. She turns her body toward her husband, reaching around his neck and wrapping her arms around him. Leaning down toward her, he presses his lips to hers, feeling the swell of her stomach against him. Movement from within her causes him to jump and stare in awe at his beautiful wife.

“Was that what I think it was?” he asks.

Smiling Grace nods, “Someone wants to say hi to his daddy.”

Leaning in again, Zachariah presses his lips to hers once more. This is more than he could have ever imagined for his life. After losing his mother, growing up with a drunken father and an abusive step-mother, he never thought he would find someone who could see beyond his past troubles, he never thought he could get beyond them either.

Together Grace and Zachariah found a love that survived war, injury, death, and heartache. Together they found forever.

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On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was finally ratified. Slavery was finally abolished.