Valley Forge

Chapter IX

Wednesday, December 31, 1778- Thursday, January 1, 1779

We performed the last duty for the dead, on the last day of the year. 

We heated water to wash. Eben, Benny, and Edwards shaved the best they could without soap. I used my knife to clean up their job. The rest were still beardless. We knocked the mud from our clothes and our hair and tried to clean our boots and shoes. We did not have any black cloth to wear around our arms. Faulkner came up with the idea of marking our sleeves halfway between the wrist and elbow with a heavy line of charcoal to show our mourning.

The graveyard was hidden in a small clearing deep in the woods near General Wayne's regiment, Tucked out of sight so British spies how many of our armies had died. For that reason too there were no wooden crosses marking the graves unmarked. The quiets of mounds would settle in the snow until spring. The enemy could never count how many dead. . .

We dug the graves in shifts except for Benny who did not stop shoveling or sweating, shivering until the man-sized hole was deep enough. He never wiped away the tears that washed his face nor did he speak a word to any soul. The pines around us bent in the heavy wind.

When the grave was ready the litter was carried from the hospital tent to the grave by Edwards, Benny, Eben, And Me. a bleak march across the grand parade past the south facing cannons of the artillery park down the Baptist road. The sergeants face and naked body was covered by a pale white blanket expect one bloody dirty foot. Clothes were too precious to be wasted on the dead. Sergeant woodruff would go to his eternal reward wearing what hed be born in

Every soldier removed their hat when we approached. The women of the camp bowed their head and as soon as we passed they continue to work.

We set the litter next to the hole. Benny walked away and stared into the woods while we picked up his 'Our' Uncle laid him into the ground and removed the blanket I was shattered into a million pieces but I didn't let it show

When we were done he came back for the short service The chaplain read from his bible in a quiet voice that was hard to hear over the wind in the trees. There could be no firing of guns n his honor. The ammunition had to be saved for the energy, and movement

When he closed the book,  Captain Stanwell nodded, Edwards, Eben and I picked up a shovelful of dirt and began filling the grave

"No, Wait!" Benny shouted

The captain put his hand Eben's shoulder "Mayhaps you should head back to camp"

"Not yet sir Give me one moment"

We put the shovels down without waiting for the captains' reply.

Benny unbuttoned his coat-His uncle's coat- My uncle's coat, Now his. and slipped one arm free of it "Does anyone have a blade?"

We all shook our heads at this unsettling question Eben muttered something into Edwards' ear. Crows called from swaying branches above

"Why do you need a blade, lad?" the captain gently" asked.

"To keep the dirt from his face."

Benny wiped his eyes on his shirtsleeve then grabbed the fabric and pulled so hard, the sleeve ripped at the shoulder. He pulled again until the stitches gave way. He pulled off the sleeve and his naked arm retreated into his coat and buttoned it. "Can you read that prayer again?"

The chaplain fingered through the pages in search of the right passage. When he began reading Benjermain Belling-ham fouled his sleeve once, knelt, and laid it across the face of his uncle 'Our Uncle' 

He stood and looked at us across the open grave. "Wait till you can't see me before you start."

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That night was my turn to stand guard. Halfway through the watch, Benny appeared out of the gloom with an armful of firewood. I took the wood from him, Heaped it on the fire and sat on the log next to him. Benny sniffed in the dark and drew shakey breaths he did not speak until all the wood blazed and crackled.

"I got into another fight."

"Lee?"

"No Cousin Aaron. He said I had no right to cry on account Uncle, wasn't my father and you were there, I swung at him, and he punched back. I lost track of myself. Next thing I knew fellows were pulling me off of him. I'm fair certain I broke his nose."

He sniffled and made a gulping noise. "Uncle would be disappointed in me for fighting like that"

"You were Five right?"

"Five and Seven Months" 

A log shifted and sparks flew up. I almost told him all my secrets then because he told me his. More sparks flew and I came to my sense

"Can I punch Aaron too?"

"You'll hurt your hand, and you've been involved in a duel with Lee already" he pressed his finger against one nostril, blew out the snot, then wiped his nose on his sleeve. "All the Barrys got cast-iron heads"

We sat knee to knee, breathing in cold air and blowing out frost the rest of that night. Above us, the sky passed from the Year of our Lord 1778 to the Year Of Our Lord 1779 in darkness someone had stolen the moon from the sky.

Word Count-896