CHAPTER 10

By noon that morning, after leaving the Jenkins’ farm, Sarah wasn’t feeling so good. She ate little and said she would like to lie down and rest just a bit longer before starting out again.

Unfortunately, the next morning she still wasn’t feeling well. Effie insisted she take some of the medicine she had packed for fever, and continue resting. An hour or so later, declaring herself much better, Sarah wanted to get started again.

When they stopped for the noon break, Sarah didn’t want anything to eat, just cold water to drink. After quickly feeding Elisha, she stretched out on her bedroll and went to sleep.

Effie held Elisha close. She was beginning to worry about the situation. “What in the world will I do if Sarah continues to get sicker. Here we are with miles to go….possibly 30 or 40 miles. Well, I can’t let her go any further today. Maybe if she rests all afternoon and evening, she’ll be better”. All these thoughts kept going through Effie’s head. “I’ll make a nice pot of vegetable soup and see if I can get her to eat some.”

Sarah slept almost all afternoon. When the soup was ready, Effie encouraged her to eat as much as she could, and she gave her more medicine.

Another of Effie’s worries was the food situation. With Sarah sick and sleeping most of the time they were camped, Effie felt she couldn’t leave her and the baby alone long enough to hunt for rabbits or try catching some fish. They really needed fresh meat of some kind. Their food supply at the moment consisted of a small bag of vegetables, a bit of cornmeal, some dried fruit, a few beans, and a tiny bit of salt pork.

With that in mind, an hour or so before dark, Effie put Elisha in the pouch and tied it around her waist and back of her neck as Sarah did. She told Sarah she was going to walk a short distance down the road to see if there were any promising looking farm houses ahead. She promised to be back in 15 to 20 minutes, and certainly before dark.

Taking her rifle in hand, Effie started walking down the trail. After walking for about ten minutes and seeing nothing but fields and forest as far as she could see, she turned back. Her thinking had been that if Sarah got worse, heaven forbid, her only hope would be to try to find some farmer they could hire to drive them back home. She would have no other choice.

She realized now that the sensible thing to do would be to go back and see if Albert would do it.

Needless to say, Effie didn’t sleep much that night, constantly checking on Sarah. At one point she got down on her hands and knees and said a prayer, “God, I have never asked much of you, but now I beg you, don’t let anything happen to this young mother. Please help me get Sarah and her baby back home safely.”

After that, she dropped off to sleep for a while. When she woke, Sarah was sitting up feeding Elisha, but still didn’t look too good. “I don’t think I want anything to eat this morning, just some hot tea or coffee,” she said.

After Effie had fixed the tea and brought it over to Sarah, she said, “Sarah, I’m really worried about you. You slept all afternoon and evening and have been runnin’ a temperature most of the time. I walked down the road a bit to see if there was a farmhouse up ahead, but didn’t see one. So this morning I’d like to pack up our things and head back to Albert and Bess’s place. Maybe we can hire Albert to drive us back home in his wagon, or maybe he knows someone who would. How does that sound to you?”

“It sounds like a good idea to me. I’d much rather be with him than with strangers right now.”

“Do you think you can make it back that far? I doubt if it’s more than five miles.”

“Yes, I’m sure I can. I can always stop and rest for a while if I get too tired.”

“Then let’s do it. I’ll carry Elisha as I did last night, and you’ll just have to worry about getting yourself there. But I do wish you’d try to eat something, if only some bread and jelly if nothing else.”

“I’ll try.”

The next morning, Sarah was still running a temperature, but insisted on starting out. However, after walking about one-half mile, she just sank to the ground and said, “Oh, Effie, I’m sorry, but I just can’t go on. I’m so tired and my legs hurt so much.” She looked as though she might pass out.

Effie quickly took Elisha and made him comfortable, and then fixed a place for Sarah to lie down on a grassy spot off the trail. She unpacked Lizzy and tied her to a tree close by. She knew there was no way they could go on right now. So she sat back and assessed the situation. What was she going to do? She was in a quandary. How far were they from the Jenkins farm? How sick was Sarah? Was Elisha going to be OK? He certainly seemed to be fine up to now – in fact he seemed to be thriving on the excursion.

Her head spinning, she finally said to herself: “Well, Effie, old girl, the time has come to live up to Sarah’s confidence in you. Remember she said she chose you to come along on this trip because she felt you’d be the kind of person who could handle any situation. So now you’re goin’ to be put to the test. Just how are you goin’ to handle it?”

Effie got down on her hands and knees and started to pray. She said, “Lord, I’ve never asked you for much before I made a vow to get Sarah and her precious little son Elisha home safely, but I desperately need your help now. I don’t think I can do it alone. Amen.”

She slowly rose to a standing position and got busy – first looking at the sky to check on weather possibilities, and then started a fire to cook something for their next meal from their meager food supply. After a pot containing the last of the beans and salt pork was boiling, she sat back to contemplate the situation. Again, the only thing she could think of was to somehow get back to the Jenkins farm.

But how? There was no way she could carry Sarah herself. Could she take their gear and hide it in the bushes someplace and manage to get Sarah up on Lizzy’s back?

“No,” she thought. “Not without a tremendous amount of help from Sarah herself, and I’m afraid that might worsen her condition even if we managed to do it.

“Oh, if we only had brought a wagon or cart of some kind as we originally considered and rejected as not being a good idea,” she thought. “But I’m not goin’ to think that way. It’s not helpful.

“I wonder if I could hide Sarah in a safe place, take Elisha and Lizzy, and walk back to get help? No, I won’t do that, it’s too dangerous.”

Suddenly it occurred to her that she might possibly find two sturdy sticks or young tree branches and make a stretcher or litter of sorts to drag Sarah on. Sarah, being a small person, weighed no more than 110 pounds.

She immediately started looking for something that could be used for poles. She decided that the best thing would be two young saplings if she could manage to cut them down with their knife. She began working on the problem immediately while Elisha and Sarah were still sleeping.

One hour later she was still sawing away, but she almost had one of the poles cut. It was hard work and she had already cut herself in a few places. She decided she had to rest for a bit, though, and Elisha was stirring and making sounds, needing attention.

After she had made Sarah and the baby comfortable, she was back busily trying to cut the other pole. She felt she couldn’t waste any time. After another hour or so, she had the poles finished. She tied them together at one end with a rope, then got one of the blankets and stitched it between the poles to make a bed.

She felt confident it would work, so she set about getting ready to try it out. First she woke Sarah and explained what she was planning to do. Then she managed to get her covered on the litter and ready to go. After that she repacked Lizzy with the gear, including the rifle, which she wouldn’t be able to carry this time since she would be carrying the baby in the pouch and pulling Sarah.

It was very slow going, but at least they were on the move. Sarah seemed to be riding OK. Effie tried to find as smooth a path as she could to make it easier for Sarah and for herself.

At one point, Effie noticed the rope was coming loose, so she decided to stop since they needed to rest anyway. The baby seemed to be making the trip very well. He had dozed most of the way.

Sarah managed to sit up and drink a bit of water before they started back on the trail. Effie checked and found Sarah was still running a temperature. She prayed they would be there soon.

Just about the time Effie thought she couldn’t possibly make it another step, they turned the bend around a clump of trees. There up ahead was the Jenkins farm – their destination!

In just a few minutes, she saw the two Jenkins daughters running down the lane to met them, with Bessie following along more slowly behind. Effie just stood and savored the moment. Never in her life could she remember being so happy to see anyone. When Bess reached them, she said, “The girls saw you comin’ and called to me. Right away I knew somethin’ was wrong.”

After taking in the situation, Bess told Nancy to run back in and get their father to bring the cart. “You mustn’t walk another step, Effie. You’re all in. And tell him to hurry, Nancy, we must get them inside as soon as possible.

“I knew when the girls told me they saw you comin’ that somethin’ had to be wrong. Don’t bother tryin’ to tell me about it now. Just rest and get your breath. We can hear about all it later.”

To the other daughter, she said, “Run back and bring a small bucket of fresh drinkin’ water. Cold.”

To Effie, she said, “And I expect that you are probably hungry too. Well, we’ll get you inside and make you comfortable and take care of it.”

In just a few minutes, Albert was there with a small wagon. He and the girls managed to get Sarah lifted and comfortable in it. Effie insisted that since she had rested for a bit, she could make it the rest of the way. Bess had already taken charge of the baby.

Before long, Bess had Sarah undressed and resting comfortably in one of the upstairs beds, and the girls were taking turns looking after Elisha.

Back downstairs, Effie filled Bess and Albert in on what happened since they left, how worried she had been, and how she had prayed about what to do. Not knowing what was ahead, and not having made the acquaintance of anyone else farther down the trail, she felt their only choice was to come back to their place.

“I hesitated to impose on you again, and it isn’t our intention to stay ‘til Sarah gets well. My hope is to find someone we might hire to drive us home by horse and wagon. We’d gladly pay whatever it’s worth to them. It would be a great relief to me to get her safely back with her family and Dr. Brown. That’s been my goal all along since leavin’ home. Sarah has become more like a sister to me than a cousin.”

After she finished speaking, Albert said, “Well, you certainly aren’t going to rush off tonight, so let’s just relax and think about it. We’ll see what can be worked out.”

Bess got up and said, “The girls should have the table set, so let’s go in and eat.”

After everyone else had retired for the night, Albert and Bess quietly discussed the situation. They decided they had to help them. Albert said, “I think if I started early in the mornin’, Amos and I could make the trip easily in a day. We could either spend the night, or dependin’ on how early in the afternoon we get there, we could start back and camp overnight on the trail. Amos would like that.”

Bess eagerly said, “And I could pack enough lunch for all to eat quickly at noon on the way and also enough for you in case you do camp overnight. Oh, Albert, we must do it. We’d hope that someone would do the same for our daughter in such a situation.” Albert agreed.

So early the next morning, the two of them were up and around early. Effie soon joined them, feeling much better from her night’s rest. Bess filled her in on their plan. And so it was settled. It seemed as though the weather was going to be good, so Effie felt they should not delay in getting on the road.

Soon the whole household was astir. The girls were busy helping their mother with breakfast and packing lunches for the road. Amos was out helping Albert feed the horses, including Lizzy, so she could be hitched up to the back of the wagon.

“What a great family,” Effie thought as she helped Sarah and Elisha get ready for the trip home. Sarah managed to eat a small bowl of hot cereal and take a few sips of coffee.

Soon they were ready and loaded in the wagon, with Lizzy tied on the back. Bess had brought out a comforter and padding to make a soft bed for Sarah to lie on. The girls brought out the lunches and put them on the wagon. The concern for Sarah was obvious on all their faces.

With hugs and thanks to Bess and the girls, they were soon on the road. Amos sat up front with Albert, and Effie in back by Sarah and Elisha.

Albert was a considerate driver, going along at a pretty good pace; understanding the need to get Sarah home as soon as possible to see the doctor, but also slowing down in places where the trail wasn’t smooth.

- * - * - * - * -

James Sanders couldn’t remember a time when he had ever been so tired. It seemed that every bone in his body ached. His outfit had been engaged in conflict with the enemy for hours. A slow drizzle was falling. They were hungry.

The Rebels had retreated a short time ago, bloodied but not defeated. And the Union officers knew the Rebs were just over the hill and would be back, so they issued orders to hold positions to be ready for the next assault.

They didn’t have long to wait. The command was soon given to charge ahead. The battle was on again, and soon the quiet was replaced with shouts and the sound of hundreds of clicking guns with their smoke filling the air.

The captain of Sanders’ group ordered them forward to fire at close range upon the enemy. A few seconds later, a bullet tore into James’ shoulder and he fell to the ground, losing consciousness almost immediately.

Not long after, during a lull in the fighting, someone from the medical corp came to his side; and upon discovering that he had a pulse, ordered him carried to the field hospital.

- * - * - * - * -

As it turned out, Jessie and James never met again. After their last meeting, Jessie’s unit was ordered into battle two days later and was on the move for over a week. When they finally returned to base camp, Jessie tried to find out something about James’ unit with no luck. He began to be concerned and even made a trip to the base hospital again to check to make sure that James was not one of the many admitted recently. He was not there. Still Jessie never gave up. Every time he was free to do so, he kept searching around for someone who might know something about James.

Finally one day he ran into a Corporal Johnson who claimed he had been in James’ outfit He told of a fierce battle they were involved in for several days and that James hadn’t been seen since. He said it was assumed he was killed in the battle.

Jessie was heartbroken but couldn’t accept this as a fact without getting some verification. He searched out Sgt. Crabtree who again promised to try to be of help. The next day he came to Jessie and confirmed that James had been wounded in the battle, although Crabtree hadn’t been able to find out where James had been sent.

As soon as he thanked the sergeant again for his help, Jessie had to get away to himself to be alone with his thoughts. He was pleased about the news that James was still alive, but he had many questions. How badly injured was he? Where was he? Did the family know?

Unfortunately, his outfit was sent out the next morning to join other forces in a big battle, so he wasn’t able to continue his search. He hoped that by the time he got back, he would find that James had recovered and returned to his group.

That was not to be. Later, he was devastated to learn that James had died from dysentery while in the hospital recovering from his wounds three days earlier, and that the family had been so notified.

Jessie was stunned. He couldn’t believe it. His emotions went from sadness to rage. He wouldn’t have been so shocked if he had been told that James had died from his battle wounds, but to die from some disease he got in the hospital was inexcusable. How could they let that happen? All he could think of was Sarah, the baby, Ma and the rest of the family. How awful the news must have been for them.

He hated this war and was tempted to just walk away from it and go back home to be with the family. But being a sensible young man, he finally realized he couldn’t do that. They would probably come after him, and it wouldn’t bring James back.

As he slowly made his way back to quarters, he tried to console himself by thinking that the war would be over soon and that the younger men at home would all be spared the ordeal. They would be needed to pick up the pieces and carry on after it was all over. Let Sam be the future schoolmaster as their father had been. Jessie himself couldn’t wait to get back to the farm, settle down, and see how successful he could eventually be at it. And he would be content to never leave home again.