Caleb Goes to War

                                                        by Walter Brant

 

In April of 1861, Caleb Swann was sitting at the kitchen table with his mother in their farmhouse in south central Pennsylvania. “If this war breaks out, I’ll get drafted and I’ll get killed”. His mother, who was a good Christian woman, replied, “Don’t talk like that. God will protect you if you don’t do anything foolish.” Caleb mumbled, “God won’t protect me”. She was shocked. She realized that she had raised a son with little faith in God. A few minutes later, Caleb’s father walked in with a newspaper and announced, “They attacked Fort Sumter!”. Caleb put his head down and said nothing. He knew his country was at war.

He was soon drafted and sent to a training camp in Maryland. He grumbled that most of them would get killed, until a fellow soldier lost his temper and told him, “If you don’t shut up one of us is gonna put a bullet in you!”.

In March of 1862, his regiment left the training camp and began a rapid march to Georgia. They met no resistance until they reached Georgia, where they were fired on by a small band of confederate soldiers who were shooting from the cover of trees. Caleb saw one of them firing and foolishly stood out in the open to shoot back. “I’m going to shoot that damn rebel before he kills one of us”. As soon as he finished the sentence he was hit in the stomach and fell. His first thought was, “I just did a foolish thing”.

His friend came over, then called their commanding officer. The officer looked at Caleb’s stomach wound and told the friend, “We can’t take him. We are marching fast and he would slow us down, and he will die soon.” Caleb was conscious and heard every word. The officer then said to Caleb, “Sorry son, we can’t take you. I hope you had a good life”. Caleb answered, “I didn’t, sir”. The officer and the soldier left and didn’t return.

His regiment was soon gone. Caleb laid on his back, conscious but too weak to move. He just laid there waiting to die. He remembered his mother saying, “God will protect you if you don’t do anything foolish,”. He was thinking about the things he had wanted to do in his life. He thought, “I wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean. I wanted to see the Rocky Mountains. I wanted to ride a horse in Texas”. He thought, “I wonder how my father will feel when he hears that I was killed. I am his only son. My mother will cry, but she has two daughters and woman seem to love their daughters more than their sons. I wonder how my neighbors will feel. Some of them are probably so worried about their own family members that got drafted that they will hardly care what happens to me. …..I wonder how Mary will react. I wonder if she was in love with me. I don’t think so. She was too pretty. She just smiled at me a lot. My little sister will probably cry the most but that’s because she is only 10 and she never knew anybody who died before.”

“I really wanted to buy a farm, and have a son, and marry. I wonder what the honeymoon would have been like. Why do we have to fight this war? Why don’t those fools just free their slaves instead of trying to create their own damn country? Don’t they realize that the time for slavery is long past? The Romans and Greeks had slaves, not modern, civilized men. What kind of a monster could hold an innocent man in chains? Even the Negro children are held in slavery. What kind of a monster could make slaves of children? The man who shot me probably doesn’t even have slaves, most of the southerners don’t. I wonder who he is. He was probably like me, a young guy who got drafted and really didn’t want to go and get shot at. I don’t hate him, in fact I think I forgive him….. My stomach is hurting worse than ever. If I fall asleep I think I will die in my sleep”.

At the end of the day, Caleb fell asleep. He dreamt of a raging battle between Union and confederate soldiers. The dream was created by his subconscious to tell him there was a raging battle being fought in his stomach; his body was fighting the infection.

When he woke his pain was worse than ever. He was conscious all day, laying on his back, unable to move. He thought the same thoughts, “I wonder how my father will feel when he hears that I was killed…I really wanted to see the ocean….I wonder if Mary is in love with me…… Why do we have to fight this war? He became tired of thinking the same thoughts. At the end of the day, he fell asleep. He dreamt the same dream, a raging battle between Union and confederate soldiers, with neither side winning. It was an even fight.

When he woke in the morning; he was still too weak to move and his pain was just as bad. He thought the same thoughts all day. At the end of the day as he was about to fall asleep, he thought, “My stomach doesn’t hurt as much, that’s strange.” Then he fell asleep.

He dreamt of the same battle, but many confederate soldiers were falling. When most of them had fallen, the others fled in all directions. The Union soldiers cheered, “We won!” and threw their rifles into the air. He awoke in the morning, smiling because he remembered the dream, but he thought he was still dreaming because his pain was gone.

When he realized he wasn’t dreaming, he knew that the infection had been cured. He said to himself, “I am going to live!”.

He told himself, “You damn fool Caleb. You laid here waiting to die for three days and never considered that God could be healing your wound.” He hated himself for not having more faith in God. He began yelling for help and in minutes two small children came. They looked at him and ran away. A half hour later they brought their mother with a horse and wagon to take him to their farm. She had not decided whether to hide him and treat his wound; she was going to wait until her husband came home and made the decision. In her family, the father made the important decisions.

When the father came home for lunch, she asked him if they could hide the wounded soldier until he recovered. There was very little debate because they both wanted to help him, but for different reasons. She was a devout Christian and felt that it was the Christian thing to do. He, however, had been a patriotic American and was strongly opposed to Georgia leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy. For this reason he was willing to do this thing that was almost treason. His wife began her “pitch” to hide the soldier until he could recover, “So what if he recovers and re-joins the Union army. One more soldier will not be enough to make the Union win this war”. Her husband replied, “And if it is, would that be bad?” The discussion was over, Caleb would be allowed to stay until he recovered.

For three weeks he laid in bed. They fed him, changed his bandages and treated him with home remedies. One morning, the father entered and asked, “How are you feeling?”. Caleb answered, “Sir, I’m ready to leave”. The father said, “Fine. We will take you to the train station tonight. The train goes to northern Virginia. Caleb said, “I would like to pay you but I can only give you this, and he give him his rifle”. He was in a very good mood and he joked, “Just don’t tell anyone how you got it”. The father said, “You’ll have to walk across the border to enter… (he paused and could barely stop himself from crying) …… the United States”. If you try to get a ride from someone they might suspect that you are a Union solder and have you arrested. Caleb asked, “How close to Maryland does the train go?”. The father answered, “Winchester, Virginia. It is one or two days walk to the border.” Caleb was shocked. He wasn’t sure if he was well enough to walk that far.

Late that evening, under the cover of darkness, they took him to the train station, gave him food and money and said goodbye. He boarded the train in the morning and rode straight to Winchester. The ride was very bumpy and it made his stomach hurt badly. “Why didn’t I wait another week to recover more?”. He couldn’t even ask anyone how far it was from Winchester to the Maryland border because they may suspect he was a Union soldier. He got off the train in Winchester and began walking north through the fields. He knew that there would be no border marker in the fields, no sign, “Welcome to Maryland”. The thought of it made him laugh. For two days he walked and rested on and off, a few hours of walking and a few hours of resting. Then, he laid down to rest and realized that he had no more strength, he had become too ill. He didn’t know if he was in Maryland, but he was afraid that if he asked someone they could have him arrested if he were still in Virginia. He said to himself, “Is God going to let me die here?......No! I may die right here but it will be my own fault. God won’t always protect a person when they act foolish. If He did, people would act foolish all the time. Even more than they do now, if that’s possible. I acted foolish when I stood out in the open and shot at that soldier, and God helped me recover, but I acted foolish again when I left Georgia too soon, and He may not give me another chance.”

He thought, “I feel like God is telling me to look up”. In a disrespectful tone of voice he talked to God, “Why look up God? Do you want me to see Heaven? To see where I am going soon? I’m not ready to die, God!” He looked up, then began to cry. He saw a farm house at the top of a large hill. In the yard was flying an American flag. “I’m in Maryland”.

He found the strength to walk to a nearby road, where he asked two teenage boys riding a horse and wagon to give him a ride. They let him ride in the wagon with the younger boy. The boy asked him, “Where are you coming from?”. He answered, “Georgia”. The boy laughed and joked “You aren’t from Georgia, unless you came here to kill people”. Caleb answered, ”I am a Union soldier. I was left for dead in Georgia and I am traveling back to my farm in Pennsylvania”, and he showed him his wound. The boy said, “Wow! You’re my hero”, then asked, “How did you get to here?”. He answered, “I took the train to Winchester and walked from there.” The boy said, “How did you walk all the way from Winchester with that wound?” Caleb became very serious and answered, “Friend, always remember this, God will give you enough strength to do what you need to do.” The boy talked to the driver, and they agreed to take him all the way to Pennsylvania, which was less than 50 miles in that part of Maryland. Later, the boy asked, looking excited, “What was it like to shoot at those rebels? Caleb became very serious again and answered, “It was like I died and went to hell”. The boy was quiet for the rest of the trip. When they reached Pennsylvania, Caleb thanked them, then asked the boy, “What was it that I told you to always remember?” The boy forgot.

Caleb was now in Bedford County, on the southern border of Pennsylvania, only a few hours ride from his farm. A farmer in his 50’s was traveling north with a horse and wagon, and Caleb asked him for a ride. He told the farmer that he was a Union soldier, he had been left for dead in Georgia by his own squad, and was returning home, and he showed him his wound. The farmer wasn’t sure if his  story was true; he wondered if he had been shot robbing a farm house or something, so he asked, “What’s your name?” Caleb answered, “My name is Caleb Swann, sir”. The farmer’s jaw dropped, he couldn’t believe what he heard. “I heard you died in Georgia. Do your parents know you’re alive?” Caleb laughed and said, “What, write them a letter? The postal service was bad before the war, imagine how bad it is now! Sir, you are the first person in the state of Pennsylvania who knows I’m alive.” The farmer  then said, “Son, I even know where your farm is. I’ll take you home.” Caleb asked the farmer, “Are you Christian, sir? The farmer said he was, and Caleb said, “I am becoming more Christian every day. I have been receiving miracles ever since I got shot, like meeting you.”

The farmer drove him to his home and let him out at the road that led to the farm. In the kitchen, Caleb’s 10-year-old sister Ella was staring out the window at a person approaching the house from very far away. Her father said, “Ella, you have been staring out that window for 5 minutes. What are you looking at?” Ella said,” That man looks like Caleb. Mr. Swann looked out the window and laughed, “At that distance it could be anybody”, but he was curious because the man seemed to be walking very slowly, as if he were wounded. Caleb would probably be wounded, and why wasn’t he riding a horse? He, too, fixed his eyes on the man for a long time, watching him limp toward the house. The older sister, Catherine, came into the kitchen and made fun of her father for staring out the window for so long. She said, jokingly, “Dad, unless that’s Caleb himself I don’t see how you could be so interested in who’s coming to our house”. Mr. Swann turned to her, looked at her quietly for a second, then said, “It’s Caleb”. Ella began yelling, “Mom, Caleb’s home”. The whole family ran down the road to meet him. When they met him, Ella said, “I saw you first, tell him Dad, didn’t I see him first?”

In the house, Caleb told his family his story, then his father said, “We need to tell the neighbors. They all know what we were told by the army, that you were badly  wounded and left in Georgia, and not expected to survive.” Caleb asked his father to invite the neighbors to meet at their house, where Caleb would surprise them. The neighbors would assume that they would be told at the meeting that he had died. He wanted to see who looked the most sad when they arrived. He was most interested in Mary. The parents agreed, and the two sisters were dispatched to invite the neighbors over that evening, “for a meeting about Caleb”. The farms were far apart so they had only about 10 farms to visit. The sisters invited the parents of each family, but also invited Mary, because she was his friend. At most of the homes, after leaving, one family member would say to the others, “Poor Caleb”; but after leaving the last home, the husband said to the wife, “Poor Caleb”, and the wife said, “I think he’s alive”. The little girl looked like she had a secret she wanted to tell me”.

At 8:00 that evening all of the neighbors were waiting in the parlor. Mary was sitting far back in the corner, a very pretty, very sad-looking 19-year old young lady who was dressed like she was at a funeral. Mr. Swann entered, “As you all know, this meeting is about Caleb.” Ella, the 10 year old, couldn’t stand everyone being so sad and serious, while she was feeling happy, so she joked, “We have to decide where to bury him!”. Caleb’s family all lost control and began to laugh, at everyone’s amazement. Then, from back in the corner Mary started yelling at them, “Why are you all laughing. Caleb’s dead.” As everyone was looking at Mary, her face turned to stone. She was looking at Caleb, standing in the kitchen doorway.

Everyone talked and laughed for a long time, then someone said loudly above the noise, “What are you gonna to do next, Caleb?” Everyone stopped talking to hear his answer. “The next thing I’m going to do is visit the army recruiting office. I have to tell them I’m back. They think I’m dead”. Everybody laughed. “Then, they will put me in an army hospital to remove the bullet.” They were all surprised. “I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I noticed that there is one hole in the front of me and no holes in the back of me, so the bullet’s still there. His family was shocked, he hadn’t told them because he didn’t want them to worry that he still may not survive. He just wanted them to be happy for now. Everyone wondered how he had walked for two days with a bullet in him. “Then, if I survive those butchers (everyone laughed) the army may put me back in combat. Combat can’t be as bad as an army hospital”. Mary laughed; he made the jokes to make her laugh.

“But if I do go back into combat, this time I won’t be afraid, because now I know that God will protect me. I got shot in Georgia and I laid there for three days just waiting to die, with no faith in God. He was working His fingers to the bone the whole time healing my wound. As soon as He finished He sent two little children to find me and bring their mother to me to take me to their farm to recover.” He paused, trying not to cry. “When I got off the train in Winchester, God gave me the strength to walk for two days…..with a bullet in my stomach.” Another long pause. “When I crossed into Maryland, He sent two young men with a horse and wagon to take me all the way to Pennsylvania, and when I got to Pennsylvania, He sent a man with a horse and wagon to take me home. ….God will help me survive if I go back into combat. Of course, if some damn rebel puts a bullet in my head all bets are off.” Mary laughed.

His neighbor Joseph, who was a little too old to be drafted, raised his voice above the noise of the crowd and asked, “Do you think we will win the war Caleb?” Caleb answered, “Yes, we will win. God will let us win.” He paused to prepare what he would say next. “As my mother told me, ‘God will protect you if you don’t do anything foolish. God will not protect the confederates because they are doing something very foolish”. Joseph asked, “Do you mean trying to create their own country?”. Caleb answered, “No. Having slaves”. The room became quiet when he said this. They were surprised at his answer. They were impressed that he had returned home with not only stronger faith but with a strong belief about slavery.

Joseph asked, “What are you gonna do after you leave the army, Caleb?” Caleb looked at Mary. She blushed and put her head down. “Well, you know I always wanted to buy a farm in this county”. Someone said, “That’s great Caleb”. Then he pointed to Mary and added, “and if I’m really, really lucky she will fall in love with me”. Everyone in the room knew she already had. 

 

The End

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