Somewhere in the World

Chapter 14

War was the only topic on anyone’s lips. Militia units were forming, and young men were joining up from all areas of town. A number of the older siblings of Margaret’s students enlisted; their younger brothers exclaimed with envy, hoping for the day when they, too, could don a uniform and shoulder a rifle. Margaret shuddered at the thought of a conflict lasting long enough to sweep these young men away to a battlefield, and prayed for a swift resolution to this rift.

As the days wore on, her hopes eroded. On July 21, the First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Manassas by Confederate forces (starting a long tradition of different names for battles in this conflict, both sides incapable of reaching accord on something as innocuous as the name of a battle) was fought near the city of Manassas, Virginia. The first major land battle of the war
occurred just months after the bombing of Fort Sumter. Northerners clamored for the Union troops to march against the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia, believing that a quick and decisive victory might easily end the war.

Little did the Northerners understand the implacable position of the South, or the strength and cunning possessed by the officers who had left the U.S. military to serve the Confederacy. At the war’s onset, the South had claimed the allegiance of brilliant military men such as Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, Magruder, and Armistead. Yet, the North persisted in believing that the South could be quickly defeated, that this was a sham of a war which their Southern brethren did not take seriously. Yielding to this mindset, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell led a green army across Bull Run creek straight into the line of sight of Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard. Initially at a disadvantage, Confederate forces, bolstered by reinforcements from Shenandoah Valley, turned the tide of the battle. A brigade of Virginians under the command of Jackson stood unflinchingly against the Union army, earning their leader the nickname of “Stonewall.” As Union troops fell back in disarray, the retreat turned into a rout. The battle stood as a sobering call to both sides, however, as the experienced officers realized that this war would last much longer than anticipated, and take a much higher toll than expected.

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On a rainy summer evening, Margaret sat in the kitchen shelling beans. It had been a sultry day of high thunderclouds with occasional rumblings and slashes of lightening. The air was filled with electrical energy, and she felt a restless uneasiness settle over the house. Her mother had fallen ill that day, an occurrence which was becoming more common as the heated, anxious days passed by. Her father was secreted in his library, pouring over some tome selected to force his mind from worries about money and his wife’s health. With the advent of the war, his school had closed as most of his students had either joined the army or were needed at home to fill in for fathers and brothers who had been swept into the Union Army. Mr. Hale spent his days tutoring those students who were too young to enlist, and doing translations of works in anticipation of future classes. Margaret feared that many of his students would not make it home alive to participate in such classes, but knew enough to keep her morbid thoughts to herself. As a result of the closing, his salary had been reduced to a mere stipend.

His lessons with Mr. Thornton had dwindled to one or two hours every other month, since work had picked up at the factory. Although Mr. Thornton was scrupulous in his attempts to avoid Margaret, she had overheard him say on several occasions that the factory had any number of orders to fill before they might be forced to shut down operations as workers were recruited to make munitions. Already a sizeable part of his workforce was women, and as more men were recruited into the Army, he expected that number to grow. Jessy and Tansy had both sought work at the mill, and had been hired. They now shared a small house with their father, pooling their wages to pay their room and board. Margaret missed their company as well as their assistance at the house, and had assumed a greater share of the household chores, given Dixon was preoccupied with the care of Mrs. Hale.