"Ruin and Redemption"

Derrick questions His Life

The next day, Derrick and his father got up and dressed in their best business dress. The made their way downstairs to a noon meal with the other guest at the hotel, some who were also in town to lend their support to the newly created Confederacy.

 Derrick gleaned all sorts of information that he would rather not know during the lunch:

An abolitionist had been caught and tried for violating the fugitive slave act and hung in the town square. One of the gentlemen was purchasing some pretty young females for breeding stock; He thought if he were the father he could breed some healthy houseslaves before turning the women out to his fieldhands to breed more of the same. A young Negro girl had escaped from the auction block, but never made it out of the city; She had been whipped ruthlessly by her new owner when caught; Luckily, the doctor had been fetched and she had survived.

Derrick didn’t want to hear anymore. He wanted to be back in the pretty French styles room, making love with Lettice or back on his plantation. He was homesick already; if only Lizzie and Scarlett could let him off the hook! He thought miserably. He would do his best to be good!

After lunch, it was off in the carriage with a couple of the other men for the meeting Derrick’s father wanted him to attend. He stared at the window. Sure, slavery was a fact of life, but did he really want to go and lend his support?

The carriage pulled up, and Derrick got out. Suzanne was hanging heavy on his mind right now. He hated that images of her cold and dead were so easy to come by, and the happy times when she had actually laughed as they galloped along seemed to pass through his mind as quickly and rarely as falling stars.

Derrick brushed his boots firmly on the mat, though they had gathered no dirt on his way over, and removed his hat from his head for a moment, resettling it. He was not eager to go up the stairs, but inevitably he followed his father’s broad back up the several flights to the large open meeting room, already peopled with many white males of multiple ages.

A couple of light skinned serving girls moved around to pass out drinks and take back the empty glasses. Derrick and his father were seated at a long table. Derrick recognized some of his business associates and was introduced to the few prominent men of the city whom he had not yet met.

The man at the end, a Mr. Wallace with dark black hair and a broad square face, tapped his fist on the table and cleared his throat to bring the meeting to order. Derrick placed his hands in his lap and what he hoped was a smile on his face.

“Gentlemen, I would like to call this meeting to order. As you well know, the delegates from South Carolina met with delegates from Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana to form our new nation, the Confederate States of America.”

Those present in the room began clapping. Derrick found himself clapping along with them, though it was a hollow meaningless sound. His father was making the same sound beside him.

“I have just learned today that the troops of the government of the United States of America are on their way to attempt to claim property which they say belongs to them, despite it being within the borders of the Confederate States. They are even planning to come here, to take our beloved Fort Sumter from us, and we can not allow that,” Mr. Wallace’s words were meant to draw support from the crowd, and Derrick heard shouts around him.

“Fortunately, we have now been joined by Virginia and Arkansas, and we expect both Tennessee and North Carolina to join our Confederacy soon.” The shouts of acclaim grew louder, and Derrick found himself raising his own fist in the air in support. The Confederate States were larger than he had thought; they were not a rag tag band, they were a real country to rival the United States of America. And they could protect their rights; He and his friends would protect their country and their property against encroachment by the United States. Someday, the Confederacy would realize, just like the United States that slavery needed to be abolished. They would wean themselves off it, when they could.