Chapter 10:

Once back at the farm, I unsaddled Rebel, taking everything off of him and letting him go into his stall. I put everything away before walking out of the stables and back up to the house. Once back in the house, I decided to go ahead and get my shower, since I had been out nearly all day. I got cleaned up and then pulled on a pair of camo lounge pants and a black long sleeved shirt, leaving my hair down.

I noticed the time, and then a text from Andrew informing me that he was 15 minutes out. I urged him to at least stop so he could get some sleep for the night, and after a few convincing texts later, he agreed. I found no reason for him to stress himself out on the road, he needed the rest. I know that he was anxious to get back to me, but as I assured him, I wasn't going anywhere, I was right here with my parents and siblings.

I was anxious too. It would be a long night and even longer morning, as he estimated that after getting his father and all, that he would be here about noon tomorrow, and it couldn't come soon enough. It's funny, how it's been nearly 150 years that I spent without him, and now knowing that he's so close, it was excruciating. But at least I could deal, knowing that I would see him in a few hours and knowing that he's actually alive rather than dead as I thought since 1864.

I walked back into my room and sat on my bed for a moment before deciding that I wanted to work on some of my work. The one that I had decided to do was a book on Sabine Pass, but first, a little background on the first battle on Sabine Pass:

The battle was a naval and land battle during the American Civil War in Sabine Pass, Texas. In addition to strengthening the Union naval blockade of the Texas coastline, it was also intended to open the way for a possible amphibious assault on the Confederate town of Sabine Pass.

In September, 1862, Lieutenant Pennington in the mortar schooner USS Henry Janes was blockading the Sabine River estuary. On September 21, Acting Master Frederick Crocker in the steamer USS Kensington and Acting Master Quincy Hooper in the schooner USS Rachel Seaman reunited with the Henry Janes, all members of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, to develop a plan of attack on the Confederate fort. In the early morning hours of September 25, 1862, Union naval forces under the command of Crocker attempted to enter Sabine Pass, as Crocker made his way through the Inland Passage towards Beaumont, the Confederates attacked.

And that had resulted in a Union victory. They say that the union had zero casualties and losses, and they are unsure about our side. But there were 30 Calvary and 30 Infantry, so yeah, there were some losses. I believe we had about 10 soldiers or so to have lost their lives and another 20 or so were injured. So I made some notes throughout that section of the book, particularly involving the medical areas.

As for the second battle of Sabine Pass however, was a Confederate victory:

The second battle took place on September 8, 1863, the result of a Union Army expedition into the Confederate state of Texas during the American Civil War. It has often been credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory during the War.

France had been sympathetic to our cause since the early beginning of the war, and one man in particular, After Mexican forces were defeated by French forces in summer 1863, Mexican president Benito Juárez escaped the capital, and the French installed Frenchman Maximilian as "Emperor". With a de facto French government bordering Texas on the south across the Rio Grande, the Confederates hoped to establish a formal route between Texas and Mexico by way of which the Confederacy could obtain much-needed supplies.

Abraham Lincoln had seemed to notice this. And he sent an expedition to establish a military presence in Texas and to discourage Maximilian from opening trade with the Confederacy. The military Federal force was commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, a political general with little discernible command ability. Banks's original intent was to launch a combined Army-Navy campaign in northwest Louisiana. The Union plan was to send Union Navy warships from the Mississippi up the tributary Red River, which was navigable upstream as far as where the boundaries of the Confederate states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas came together.

For once, we had no causalities on our side, just a few minor injuries, however, the same couldn't be said for the Union. They had roughly 200 men killed, captured or wounded. A dear friend of mine actually, had run off with an injured Union soldier, after being tasked to care for him, apparently, what had happened, she had fell in love with the boy, and when Andrew found out, as it was supposed to be reported to him, he was mad, he was beyond mad, he was pissed. I can't say I blamed him, but I had never seen him like that before.

Flashback:

It was basically an ordinary day, not very long after the second Battle of Sabine Pass and they were getting ready to transport injured captured Union soldiers to a prison camp, and the other nurses and I were tasked by my father to make sure they were all ready and able to leave.

But the problem was that I couldn't find Sarah, no matter where I looked. My eyes narrowed, and did a head count of how many captured soldiers that we still had in the tent, I had noticed her getting close to one of them. And I noticed that we were one short. I sighed, well, this was not very good. I shook my head and I knew that I had to tell my father.

I sighed as I found him at the sink, cleaning off his tools. "Dad." I started, almost hesitantly.

He looked up at me. "Yeah Maise?" He asked, going back to looking at what he was doing.

"Um, Sarah's gone. As is that Union soldier she's been talking to, Alexander Moore I believe it was."

Daddy stopped what he was doing with a little groan. "Great, this is going to have to be reported." He sighed and shook his head. Then he put his tools down. "Alright Maisie, c'mon." He told me.

I nodded, and I knew who he had to report this to. Andrew. My husband was the highest rank in camp right now, so, in other words, he was in charge. I followed my father nervously out of the medical tent. I had no idea how Andrew would take this, I know he has been extremely stressed out lately, and this type of news would only stress him out even more, as not only has a Union soldier escaped, but Sarah would now be deemed as a traitor.

We walked over to the officer's tent and daddy got Andrew's attention. "Uh, Colonel, we have quite a situation on our hands."

Andrew looked at my father, and stopped what he was doing, paperwork, eyebrows raised. "What may that be?"

Daddy sighed. "It appears that one of my nurses, Sarah Greene, has run off with one of the captured soldiers."

All conversation in the tent stopped abruptly and if one listened closely enough, they could hear the stunned silence of the officers in the tent.

Andrew was the first to react, and he wasn't happy.

"What!?" He exclaimed. "She did what! When?"

"I'm not sure Colonel, Maisie just informed me that she noticed Sarah was missing, as the solider, she did a head count."

Andrew turned his green eyes to the other officers. "And none of you seemed to notice them sneaking out of camp!"

They shifted uncomfortably, while all muttering "No sir."

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright." He shook his head. "Smith, Jones, take a party of 3 or so and see if you can track them down! Do I make myself clear!?"

The two nodded and saluted. "Yes sir!" They shuffled out of the tent past my father and me. Andrew turned to the last three men in the tent, still agitated; "Holden, Cambridge, Robertson I want you three to question the men in camp. Try to find out everything you can!"

Then he looked at my father. "George, you're to come with me." He told my father. He looked at me last. "Maisie, I want you to talk to the other nurses, and patients, see if they know anything." He said a bit gentler than he had been with the other men and my father.

I nodded and left quickly to start my task. I had remained silent throughout that whole exchange, he was seriously stressed, I could see it in his face, and he tried to hide it, but he wasn't that good at it.

I didn't find out much, nothing that we didn't already know, and most of the Union soldiers weren't being very cooperative, although a few of them were helpful, and a couple had even told me that they had heard hushed whispers about running away or something like that, but I couldn't figure out much.

I then deiced to check out her quarters that were within the medical tent, she and the other two nurses, Lily and Mary stayed, I stayed just outside the medical tent in an individual one, as I was now married and was able to stay with my husband, but yet be close enough to the patients.

I found a note and several pieces of paper that Sarah had written, basically incriminating herself, and I went back to the officer tent and turned those over before going back to do my job.

Just before sundown, daddy told me that I was done for the day, so I left the medical tent and headed to mine. I made some records and notes in my journal, as I did every day, which was mainly keeping record and then pulled out my book that I was currently ready to get some reading done.

Andrew came to the tent just before bedtime looking stressed and weary. I looked up from my book, watching him as he took a seat on the bed, rubbing his face for a moment before looking up at me and sighed.

"I'm sorry for the outburst today, it just doesn't make sense and I'm so frustrated." He sighed again. I put my book down and away and walked over to him and put my hands on his shoulders.

"It's okay, you're just stressed and tired and no one was expecting anything like this." I rubbed his shoulders for a moment before sitting down beside him. He looked over at him and wrapped an arm around me.

"Still, doesn't excuse my anger, not like that." He shook his head and took one of my hands in his other free one.

I studied him for a moment. "You need to get some sleep." I noticed the dark circles around his eyes, a sign that he hadn't got much sleep since before the battle.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah." He stood and removed his coat and other articles of clothing that wasn't necessary needed for sleep.

He waited until I was beside him before he actually relaxed though, wrapping his arms around me, and I rested my head on his chest. He kissed my head. "I love you." He said, rubbing my arm a bit.

I gave a hint of a smile. "I love you too."

Sorry for that history lesson there (not really) but there you have it, took me 2 hours to come up with and type.

Poll:

1. What did ya think?

2. How did you like the flashback scene?

3. What are you looking forward to?