Читать книгу Confederate Money - Paul Varnes - Страница 12

Leaving some of our things at Ella Mae’s lightened Smokey’s load enough that Coon, who left with us, could ride him. After we told Coon the entire story about what happened to Henry and what we were going to do, Coon had announced that he was going. He thought it would be a great adventure. I was surprised when his ma said he could go. After giving it some thought, I decided that Coon was allowed to go for the same reason that I was allowed to go. He was the reason for us to go back by his house.

As we rode, I spent lots of time thinking about Ella Mae and Mary. I didn’t say anything about my thoughts to Coon or Henry. It was real easy not saying anything to Coon. He never did talk very much.

Henry and I continued reading the medical book and discussed it daily. Those discussions kept me reminded of Mary’s tonsils. Having read about taking tonsils out, and having seen Henry take out a set, I figured I could do the same if the situation required it. Occasionally, I daydreamed about removing my first set of tonsils from a child of a young woman with the same qualities as Ella Mae. I was to find the medical profession is usually not so glamorous.

We hadn’t been riding long when Coon said, “My pa’s fighting for the Yankees. We got a letter from him that says there’s lots of Southern men doing the same.”

This startling piece of information left Henry and me silent until Henry said, “We’re going to kill some Yankees. How do you feel about that?”

“Pa’s way up north and I don’t know any Yankees down here. I don’t care,” Coon said.

After reflecting on that, Henry said, “I’m going to get revenge for Pa. I don’t care either. I’d take revenge on the Confederates if they were the ones.”

Coon said, “Me too.”

I didn’t say anything, but Coon’s pa being in the Federal army sure jolted me. It started me to thinking about Ella Mae and how I felt about her husband fighting for the North. I also asked myself if her husband being in the Yankee army made me feel any different about her. I immediately said no. Even then, the question kept coming back to haunt me as we rode.

When asked if he had a plan for getting revenge, Henry said he had a few, but would first have to get the lay of the land before finalizing one. He was concerned because we didn’t know who actually had killed his pa and he wasn’t sure if Ella Mae’s map was accurate. Ella Mae had last been in the Pensacola area a couple of years before the war began and her information might not still be good. Also, Coon was eleven years old when he last saw Pensacola and his memory might not be exact. Henry also said that he didn’t know which men had killed his pa but that we would get revenge on someone wearing Yankee uniforms.

The area we passed through from Blountstown to Milton was the most desolate any of us had ever seen. Though we’d seen no one for days, we still avoided Milton and Pensacola by riding north of those towns before turning south toward the coast. It was a big detour. Pensacola, then the largest city in Florida and the largest we had ever seen, had a population of 2,886 people, even without the Confederate States of America forces there.

Henry bought a bushel of dried in the hull peanuts at a farm near Pensacola but wouldn’t let us eat any. Though I kept thinking those peanuts had something to do with his plan, for the life of me I couldn’t think of what.

Upon our arrival, we began to familiarize ourselves with the area. As we were observing the coast road and Fort Pickens late on the morning of November 22, a terrible artillery battle started. Fort Pickens, then held by Union forces, is on the west end of Santa Rosa Island. The batteries in Fort Pickens, two gunboats, and several other batteries on the island were firing on CSA positions in Fort McRee, which is on the mainland. The Federal guns couldn’t reach Pensacola, ten miles away, but could hit Fort McRee and other CSA positions. Fort McRee was taking a beating and by nightfall its guns became silent. We learned a few days later that, for all that shooting, there were only two killed and six wounded on the Confederate side.

A barrier island, Santa Rosa Island is near sixty miles long but only a couple of miles wide. Skirting the Florida coast from Shalimar, Florida, almost to Alabama, it partially blocks off Pensacola Bay. The CSA sank some old ships and barges in the channels so the Union couldn’t get their gunboats into Pensacola Bay or into the channel between the mainland and Santa Rosa Island. The two sides just sat there shooting cannons back and forth at each other, and raided a little.

Along with a couple of gunboats, the Federal position on the west end of the island allowed their forces to blockade Pensacola Bay and prevented the CSA from importing arms and supplies through that port. The Union did the same thing at Cedar Key, Tampa, and all the rest of the ports along the east and west coasts of Florida and the coasts of all other Southern states. The Federal strategy was to blockade the ports, denying the CSA access to foreign trade.

It was apparent that the three of us couldn’t cross an expanse of water and attack two thousand well-armed men in a fort. We didn’t stand much chance against a gunboat either. I didn’t see any way for us to help Henry get revenge.

During the first day there, Henry produced pen and paper and set about writing Coon a letter from his pa in the Seventh Connecticut. Henry changed Coon’s name to Ray Watson. If confronted by Federal troops, Coon, posing as Ray Watson, would produce that letter to show his family’s loyalty to the North. Henry also wrote Coon a letter from Ray’s cousin, Surgeon Henry Watson, which would introduce him to CSA troops. The two letters were to be carried in different pockets and the correct one produced depending on what troops Ray encountered.

Ray was to steal a boat the next morning at dawn and row over to the island. There he would sell the bushel of peanuts at two cents per double handful to the Federal soldiers. If CSA forces stopped him before he shoved off, he was to offer to spy and report back and then actually do so. Because he was supplied with proper papers of introduction, it should work. His chief job on the island was to offer to bring whiskey and some women for some of the Federal soldiers if they had enough money. The price would be one dollar a quart for the whiskey and three dollars from each of six men, three men for each woman. He was to be sure to tell the soldiers that these women were not whores. They were good Northern sympathizers who desperately needed the money to escape to the North. Additionally, Henry wanted to know if the Federal ship Tahomas was in the area on blockade duty, or was on the way there. Ray could ask about that by saying his mother’s brother, his uncle, was on board. That way there wouldn’t have to be someone on board with the last name “Watson.” If intercepted by Confederate forces, Ray was also to learn the name of the CSA commanding officer in the area.

With two thousand men on the island, and no women, he should have no trouble finding ready buyers for women and whiskey. Cut off from the mainland, the island fort was supplied only by ships controlled or operated by the Federal Navy. The supply of whiskey and women to its troops would not be a priority of the Federal military. While there was little or no whiskey available on the Union-held part of the island, whiskey could be purchased in Pensacola for twenty-five cents a gallon. There should also be a ready supply of money in the fort. Having been isolated for months while receiving thirteen dollars a month in pay, there was no place for the Yankee soldiers to spend their money.

After being drilled the rest of the day on his new identity and duties, Ray got them down pretty good. Henry forbade me to call Ray “Coon” so he could get used to the name.

The next day at daylight Ray stole a rowboat and was a hundred yards out toward the island before some CSA troops shouted at him. He waved, but didn’t otherwise respond. Everyone could see he was a child so no one shot at him. Upon his arrival at the island we could see Union soldiers gather around him and escort him toward the fort.

At 10:00 A.M. the artillery battle started again. Ignoring the continuing shelling, Ray pushed off at noon for the mainland. A couple of CSA soldiers met him as he beached the boat and escorted him to a command post. The command post was out of sight of the island and not under bombardment. After being questioned for more than an hour, he emerged and walked up the road before doubling back to us.

Having made a judgment about supply and demand, Coon had gone up to three cents a double handful for the peanuts. When word got around among the Union soldiers about his pa being in the Seventh Connecticut, lots of them gave him five or ten cents. He made three dollars and eighty-seven cents on those peanuts.

When questioned by a CSA colonel, Ray gave him a factual report. He also offered to go back and spy some more if the colonel could get him more peanuts, or something else to sell. Of course the colonel wanted him to do it. We hoped, however, to be gone in two more days.

Coon told us that a lieutenant and three other men were to meet him and get the whiskey and women. Not wanting six people involved, the lieutenant had raised the price to compensate. Each man would pay four dollars for the women if they would stay over until the next night. They would also pay a dollar each for the five quarts of whiskey. The lieutenant even gave him a two-dollar advance to buy whiskey with. He also said that no one on the island knew the location of the Federal ship Tahomas.

Henry then said, “It might take us the rest of our lives to catch up with the Tahomas. Even then we couldn’t be sure who shot my step-pa. We’ll have to use an alternate plan and get revenge where we can.”

At 11:15 that night when the moon set and we shoved off for the island, I at least knew the backup plan. Heavily armed, and wearing Ella Mae’s bonnets, Henry and I were in the boat. Though we were a few minutes late arriving at the island, hearing our boat paddles, the lieutenant and the three others came to the beach to meet us. To prove they were gallant they stepped out in the water to help beach our boat. Even with the stars reflecting off the white sand, the night was dark enough that they got up close without suspicion. We shot them as the boat touched the sand.

Henry did a quick search of the soldiers while Coon and I loaded their guns into the boat. There was over forty dollars in specie on the four of them. We took their money. Henry also took the lieutenant’s shirt and left a sign on his chest. Since we could hear others approaching from toward the fort, we then shoved off and pulled hard for the mainland.

Alerted by the earlier shooting and hearing our paddles in the water as we approached, CSA soldiers were waiting for us as we beached the boat back on the mainland. After taking our guns, they led us to the colonel’s command post. Though recognized and spoke to by the colonel, Ray kept quiet and Henry did the talking. Henry told them what of the story he wanted them to hear.

The colonel said, “Why did you do it? What’s this all about?”

“Sir, it was a matter of honor,” Henry replied. “There were two ladies involved who I can’t mention.”

Revenge was a personal matter that would not be enhanced by the telling of it. Henry also didn’t want the real reason known by anyone who could identify us as associated with the raid. The real reason was weighted down on that Federal lieutenant’s chest, however. The sign said, “REVENGE FOR THE CEDAR KEY RAID OF OCTOBER 4, 1861.”

The whole thing so impressed the colonel that he ordered us released with our goods. He also asked us to go see General Bragg. After hearing the story, the general commended us in writing about our bravery and asked us to join his unit.

Henry declined, saying, “Sir, we have sick womenfolk in Blountstown. We must return immediately and see to their welfare.”

General Bragg wrote us a pass that was good for anywhere in Florida. He signed it himself. Being a very good writer, Henry then had an original signature to work from. Henry also asked for the colonel’s signature, saying he wanted folks to know they had met. It puffed the colonel up a little, and got Henry another signature.

As for Coon, he apologized for not being able to spy for the colonel as promised.

Arriving back at our camp that morning, we didn’t go to bed even though we had been up and active for most of the past twenty-four hours. The horses rested, we pulled stakes and rode north to clear Pensacola Bay before turning east toward home. Henry had taken a compass off the lieutenant and he used it as we rode. Using the compass and the pass, and traveling as straight a line as possible, we could make it to Coon’s house in six days of steady riding.

Though the general took the other Yankee weapons, he let Henry keep a .44 caliber Remington army revolver. Once fully loaded, it could be fired six times without reloading. Trying to find the way to wear the revolver so it could be brought on line easiest and quickest, Henry played around with it almost every day after that. I was carrying Doctor Isaac’s dueling pistol in my belt.