Chapter 22: Pickett's Generals

In this chapter, you will meet the three brigadier generals under Pickett's command. By the way, Pickett is a MAJOR general, not a LIEUTENANT general as I mistakenly said before, my apologies, and rest assured that I am beating my head against a 20 pounder Parrot rifle now for making such an error. And just so you don't think I've forgotten about Gir, he has an appearance as well, still programmed as a normal dog. And lastly, in this chapter, Zim learns something that will affect him for the rest of the story. What is it? Well read on and find out.

Zim stepped outside the house onto the small back porch and inhaled deeply the warm, humid air. The last two days had been hot, almost to the point of boiling. Zim was reminded of the time he had to sell candies under such a horrible sun. At least with the coming of night, the air was growing cooler. A short distance away, Gir was curled up under a tree sleeping, an empty metal plate next to him. 'Let him alone…' Zim said to himself 'at least he's enjoying himself'.

He stepped off the porch, and began to make his way down the rows of tents. Some of the soldiers didn't even appear to have tents, and lay on blankets, reading books or writing letters. Campfires had already been made, and some men roasted food over the open flame. Zim heard music, a lovely, melodious tune drifting through the air. He walked in the direction of the wonderful sounds. Outside a tent, three men sat on folding wooden chairs. One was playing a guitar, one a violin, and the other a guitar looking instrument with a round white body. Zim walked near and watched them play. It was a haunting tune, one of those rare melodies that speak to the heart. The men ended the song, and the man with the guitar noticed their audience.

"You like the song?" He asked.

"Yes. Yes indeed." Zim replied. "What is it."

"My Old Kentucky Home." The man replied. "Never a more beautiful song was ever written about Kentucky."

"I agree." Zim said. "It's very beautiful. And if Kentucky is as beautiful as that composition, I would like to see it." The man smiled.

"I count the days until I can go back there." The man said. "Beautiful country where a beautiful woman is waitin' for me." Zim smiled.

"I hope you see it soon." He replied. He walked away, deeper into the city of soldiers. There was another campfire ahead, and Zim could see the unmistakable uniform of General Pickett, seated with more men that looked to be officers. He approached the group.

"General Pickett, sir?" Zim asked. The commander turned and looked at Zim a moment, then recognized him.

"Ah yes. What can I do for you, young man?" He queried.

"I was just out for a walk, and wondered if I could join this gathering, sir."

"Indeed. Indeed, son. Come take a seat. We were just about to begin a rousing game of poker, and you would be loathe to miss my skill and luck at the game." Pickett said with a grin. He turned to the other men. "Sirs, this is corporal um…er. My apologies…"

"Zim." Zim said.

"Ah yes, young corporal Zim of General Lee's staff, who positioned us thusly earlier. Corporal, these are the brigade commanders of my division. This is General Garnett…" A lean short-bearded man in a fine uniform nodded soberly. "Old Jim Kemper," A barrel-chested man with a long scruffy beard rose.

"Good to meet you, son." He said. "You a Virginian?"

"Um…no, I'm afraid I'm not…" Zim replied.

"Kemper is the speaker of the house of Virginia." Pickett explained. Zim nodded. "And this is General Lewis Armistead, or Lo as we like to call him." A kind-looking man with an auburn beard, wearing a worn wide-brimmed grey hat nodded almost in a bow.

"I am pleased to meet you, sirs." Zim said, saluting.

"Ahhh, there's no need for formalities now," Pickett said with a wave of his hand. "We're not fighting right now, so at least we can spend a little time as just a gathering of gentlemen." He looked around as Zim took a seat on a log. "Now who has the cards?" General Kemper produced a deck of playing cards and began to shuffle them. He started dealing them to the other men.

"You want to play, son?" Kemper asked when he got to Zim.

"Eh…no, I'll just watch." Zim said. When the cards were all dealt, the men began to study their hands carefully.

"So George," Kemper said. Pickett looked up. "You know that Colonel Freemantle that is here from Britain?"

"I saw him today." Pickett replied, laying down two cards, and getting two more from Kemper. "Spoke to him in fact, why?"

"You really think England'll come in and help us win the war?" The large general asked. He laid down three cards and drew three more.

"Prob'ly not." Pickett smiled. Garnett laid down three cards, and Kemper passed him three more. "We'll have to win it on our own before the British decide to help us win." General Armistead smiled and nodded.

"Lo?" Kemper asked. Armistead held up a hand, signaling he was satisfied with his cards.

"I think we can win." Zim spoke.

"Good." Pickett commented. "I don't think you'd be welcome in this army if you didn't think so." The men chuckled. They laid their cards down on the folding table they had set up in their midst.

"Two pair." Garnett boasted.

"Heh, royal flush, looks like I am victorious, gentlemen." Pickett said with a smile. Zim smiled too. These men were generals, commanders of great numbers of soldiers, and here they sat playing cards and joking with one another as if there wasn't even a war, as if the enemy wasn't just a short distance away. Zim was aware of a presence behind him. He turned to see General Longstreet watching the scene. General Pickett noted the arrival of his commander too and motioned to him.

"Come on Pete, come join us in our game."

"No thank you gentlemen." Longstreet replied somberly. "I have much thinking to do, and I'm afraid it would hinder my ability to play."

"Aww…" Pickett said "Even in the midst of conducting a battle, you could beat us at poker." Longstreet smiled, but held up his hand, showing that he would not be moved from his decision. To Zim, the generals seemed so different. There was the quiet, dignified Lee, the broody and meditative Longstreet, and the exuberant and ornate Pickett, not to mention the expressive and hot headed Trimble and Stuart, who Zim was still contemplating.

"General Longstreet?" The general who had been introduced as Armistead asked. "May I have a word?"

"Of course." Longstreet replied.

"What do we do for a fourth player?" Pickett gloomed. Just then, Colonel Freemantle happened by. Pickett looked up joyfully. "Ah! Colonel, I was wondering if you could join us in our game of poker, sir." The Englishman looked around.

"Well…I would be delighted, sir…yes, delighted indeed, though I am afraid I am not familiar with the game."

"Well that's fine," Pickett grinned as Armistead stood and left the circle. "We can teach you everything you need to know about poker, right Jimmy?" General Kemper chuckled. Armistead joined Longstreet and Zim at the edge of the campfire's light.

"How are you, Peter?" Armistead asked. Zim had never heard officers of any army that so casually called each other by their first names. It was usually considered unprofessional and even disrespectful, but here, it only concreted Zim's feelings that this army was different. It was more like a family.

"I'm good, Lo." Longsteeet replied, nodding softly. "And you?"

"I'm good, I suppose." Armistead replied. "Been thinking a lot lately." Longstreet sighed and nodded. Undoubtedly, he had been as well. "I heard that John Reynolds was killed yesterday." Again, Longstreet nodded softly. Armistead sighed. "Too many friends have been killed in this war."

"I know." Longstreet said. Zim looked down. He didn't really know anyone who had died, but the death and pain he had seen was more terrible than anything he had ever seen.

"I saw the flags of the 2nd Corps today…" Armistead continued. "You know Winfield is commanding the 2nd Corps now."

"Yep." Longstreet said.

"You know, I hope I get to see Winfield again…I mean, I hope we make it through the war, both of us."

"We all have friends on the other side." Longstreet said sympathetically. Zim finally caught onto what the conversation was about.

"Wait…" Zim said. "General Armistead, sir…you have a friend that is fighting for the Yankees?" Armistead smiled a sad smile at Zim.

"A very good friend, yes." The general replied. "I've known him since I was a young man at West Point. We served in the regular army together…me…and John Reynolds and Winfield Hancock…" The general sighed. "Sometimes I wish this war would be over so we could all be friends again."

Once again, the reality of this war struck Zim. A war between races, between countries or worlds or people who were different, that was something else. It could be justified as 'They…them…we… '. This was a war between people of the same world, of the same race and country. Zim felt a heaviness in his chest as he looked at the two generals, and looked around at the soldiers sitting around campfires. It was not people from another nation they fought, or some alien race…it was their own countrymen, their own families and friends. What was the word he had heard in the Irken academy when the instructor talked about the Irken Civil War that had happened millennia ago? He racked his brain. Fratricide…that was it. Fratricide, the killing of one's own brothers. How could that be justified?

"A war to achieve peace." Lee had said. That was it. That was the only way he could rationalize it in a way he could stomach.

"It's best not to think about it." Longstreet said. Zim looked up. General Longstreet was talking to Armistead, but Zim couldn't help but think the statement was meant for both of them.

"Do you have friends over there, son?" General Armistead asked Zim. It was the second time today he'd been asked that.

"No." Zim replied. He thought for a second. "I don't know, really. I was with two others when I got here. I don't know what happened to them. I got captured by a confederate picket who thought I was a yankee spy." He smiled at the Irony. "Now I'm a confederate corporal!" Armistead chuckled, and even Longstreet smiled a bit. "They might have avoided being captured, and if they did, who knows where they are now…Texas, Hampsterdam, Canada…" The two generals laughed out loud. Zim was lightening the mood a bit, and it was a welcome distraction. "If they did get captured by the Yankees, Dib would probably annoy them into giving up." Armistead chuckled again, and Longstreet took out a pipe, and began to fill it with tobacco.

"Surely your friend isn't that much of a bother." The tall general said. As they talked, several soldiers were walking by. They saluted the generals as they passed.

"You have no idea, generals." Zim continued. "Dib, with his big head and big glasses…" A sergeant in the group of soldiers overheard the conversation.

"Lad about your age and height?" The sergeant asked.

"Yes…"

"Strange eyeglasses, big and round like this?" The sergeant held his fingers up to his eyes, simulating Dib's glasses.

"Yes!"

"And does the lad have black hair, and wear boots like a cavalryman?"

"YES!" Zim exclaimed. "Where have you seen him, sergeant?"

"I was on that little hill, me and the rest of Oates' boys. We tried to take that hill time and again, but there was a yankee regiment at the far end puttin' up one hell of a fight. Finally, we thought we'd break 'em, and send 'em runnin', and the next thing we knew, this regiment was chargin' us with bayonets. Bayonetes, for God's sake! Drove us right off the hill! Anyway, there was the officer over this regiment, well, I guess he was the commanding officer, right there in the lead. The boy you spoke of, he was right next to his commander. Young lad, about your age, but he came down that hill like a veteran soldier, right beside his commander. Brave lad. Me and a few other boys in the company got clean away. How, I don't know, unless the good lord was watchin' over us. But I saw him. He a friend of yours?" Longstreet and Armistead looked at Zim. Zim wanted to hate Dib even more. He was now not just Zim's enemy, but the confederacy's as well.

"Dib…" Zim said. "He…how could he do this to me? How could he join the Yankees?" No matter how hard he tried, Zim couldn't conjure up hatred for his old enemy. It confused him. Why couldn't he think of Dib as the enemy anymore? If he saw Dib on the battlefield, could he kill him? He tried to picture it, aiming one of the muskets at Dib and…Zim grabbed his head and sat down on the ground. He couldn't do it.

"Thank you, sergeant." Longstreet said to the harbinger in a grey uniform. The sergeant saluted and jogged off to find the other soldiers again. "Zim?" The general asked. "You alright, son?"

"Yes…yes sir." Zim whispered. "It's just…"

"You can't see your friend as the enemy." The general said. Zim nodded. "I don't think any of us can."

"I couldn't…kill…him." Zim stammered. "I don't think I could. Even if I had to." Armistead put a hand on Zim's shoulder.

"I feel the same way about Win as you do about your friend Dib." Armistead said. "It is a sad duty we have." Zim nodded. "And maybe this will be the last battle. Maybe we'll win here, and this will be the end of it. Maybe after this…no more friends will have to die." He sighed. "Ii think we have to win this battle. I think if we do, we can end the war here." Zim felt sad, sadder than he'd ever felt. Longstreet nodded in his grave, solemn way, maybe not believing that this battle would end the war, but maybe holding onto a hope. A hope that soon, the killing would stop.

Well, what did you lot think about this chapter? I wanted to convey more of the deeper implications of the war, the true…fratricide of the conflict with little more than a bit of dialogue. And like many of you, I have a great amount of respect and admiration for General Armistead. I once drove around Gettysburg for an hour to find the spot where Armistead fell, just so I could pay my respects, and I proposed to my fiancée near the spot. I also have plans one day to walk from seminary ridge to the angle, to try to imagine what it may have been like (Those of you who know the history know what I mean, and those of you who do not will soon learn. Well, please send me your reviews, and I will keep the chapters coming. The next should be up soon, so until then, cheerio.