enemy rifle.
Jeremiah abruptly stopped in his tracks as the world stood still around him. There were no cannons, no gunfire, and no smoke. Behind them the battle raged relentless on, but for them everything ceased to exist, leaving the two soldiers completely alone in the world. Jeremiah could tell the rebel soldier was just as surprised as himself at the site of an enemy soldier standing in front of him. He stared at the thin, young, blond man in front of him. Looking into his piercing blue eyes was like looking into a mirror. There was something about him that Jeremiah couldn’t figure out. He somehow felt connected to the man in front of him, but he hadn’t the slightest inkling why. Probably just favors someone from West Point, Jeremiah told himself. He’d met a lot of southern boys there.
He noticed the boy’s finger shaking on the trigger and quickly raised his own rifle and shot the rebel boy in the chest. As the rebel fell backwards into the entrenchment, Jeremiah jumped in behind him. He rolled the boy out of the way and settled in position to launch an assault on any rebels who happened to wander too close to his new hiding place. He glanced over and watched the boy’s hand reaching into his jacket pocket, clutching at a piece of paper pinned to the fabric. Curious, he leaned closer to read the words written there.
Emerging from the entrenchment, Samuel had been so shocked to see the soldier standing a few feet away that he couldn’t even fire his gun. The Yankee’s bullet tore into his chest and ignited an excruciating fire inside his body. He swayed backward and fell right back into the hole he’d just jumped out of. He’d witnessed enough war wounds to know his was fatal. As the Yankee jumped in next to him, he thought about his family. He reached for the piece of paper attached to the inside of his jacket. Comforted in the assurance that his family could be notified of his death, he closed his eyes to die in peace.
Jeremiah gently lowered the rebel’s hand from his jacket and read the most painful words he ever laid eyes on. The first two words told him all he needed to know. Samuel Galloway. He didn’t need to read the Franklin Tennessee address to know what he’d just done. He hadn’t needed to make it to Tennessee to meet his cousin after all. He’d just met him right here on the Virginia countryside. He backed away from his cousin’s body. Overcome with guilt, he buried his face in his hands and wept.
At the sound of crying, Samuel opened his eyes and stared at the man next to him. Casting his eyes on his rifle laying across his lap, he carefully shifted it toward the other man. Putting his finger on the trigger, he forced his weakened body to fire the shot he had failed to fire moments before. He watched the Yankee soldier fall to the ground next to him, and then Samuel closed his eyes.
Jeremiah felt the pain rip through his body as he collapsed. Nothing in his military training had prepared him for this moment; nothing had prepared him for his death. He breathed three final shallow breaths as his body gave up the fight. As Samuel and Jeremiah lay next to each other in the ditch, the war raged on around them.
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About the Author
During a visit to Shiloh National Military Park, Jennifer gazed at an empty field and imagined what the peaceful countryside must have looked like during the height of battle. Her vision inspired her to write the short story “The War Raged On” portraying the horror of a war that literally tore families apart.
Jennifer Pitts Adair is a software engineer living in Athens, Alabama. Two of her short stories, “John’s Garden” and “Broken By the Wind” were Hackney Award recipients in the state category in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Her first full length book “Sheltered By God: A Year in the Life of an April 27, 2011 Tornado Survivor” is a personal journey through one year of her life after surviving an EF5 that destroyed her home during the April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak in Alabama.
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