Carol Maureen DeHart
I remember when the slaves worked the land
here in Virginia .
No one likes to hear tell of it ‘cuz this generation’s ashamed that their
grand-pappy had slaves. Rightly so. I was a little girl then and I was
fascinated by Jonah, the man with the deep chocolate skin and the low
resounding voice.
Mamaw said Jonah was the hardest working man she’d ever known. She cried when
they left. I never did learn what happened to him and his son after they were
freed.
Old Sis begged them to stay. She was our house maid and did the cooking. She
lived in the little shed behind the big house with her husband, Sammy. Sis
stayed on with us even after she was freed. Pa paid her room and board and I
guess Sis had everything she needed. She may not have known it like I do, yet
she never could have found a prettier or better place to live on this earth.
Sammy, he’d gone on to be free with the Lord before he was ever freed here on
this earth.
Lavinia was our other servant. Mostly we called her Vinia. She’d been with us
since before I was born. She was more like a sister to me than my own sisters
were, seems they were always away at school or living with some other
relatives. Vinia wasn’t but eleven years old by the time I was five. I never
did know where she came from or who her parents were, poor thing. She went off
with Jonah and Johnnie after she was freed. That ‘bout broke my heart.
One of our neighbors, Stephen Fawley, he was the blacksmith lived up the river,
he never run out of work. He was always fixing an axle, or fitting a shoe on a
horse. You could hear his anvil ringing day and night. They said the Federal
forces brought their horses to him after they fought the Battle at
Brock’s Gap. I don’t doubt they did. And what could he do but serve them? He
was an old man by the time I come along. He had gnarly and gristly hands, and a
twinkle in his eyes, a big burley moustache and broad shoulders. He was that
Fawley stock after all.
And I’ll tell ya, I never will forget that morning in the autumn of ’64. I was
awakened by a blast which shook the house. I pulled the covers up over my head
and there came another and another and another: BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They seemed
to shake the world.
Mama came to me and laid her hand on top of my cover. She hadn’t been out of
bed since Benny had been born several weeks earlier. He was such a big boy they
said it caused her troubles. I didn’t know what they were talking about. All I
knew that morning was that she was there, like her old self.
“Lizzie. Lizzie. You must get up and get dressed.”
“What is it Mama? What is it?”
“Come on, Sunshine. Let’s get up now.”
The booming was so loud, just the other side of the gap, I sure wished Pa and
the boys were home but they were all off to war.
I heard Jonah downstairs, his deep voice low and quiet, and I knew something
serious was happening ‘cuz he never came inside the big house.
“It’s the Union Army, Sis. We got to move quick. Johnnie and Sammy’ll take the
stock up the hills ‘til the Yanks are gone. You and Vinia pack ‘em up some
food. I’ll stay here with you all.”
Sis asked him something and I heard him say, “No, I don’t know how long it’ll
be. Couple days, week, maybe.” I heard the door bang shut after he went outside.
No, I’ll never forget that morning. I clung to Cara. No matter that she was a
doll, Cara was my best friend.
We went downstairs to where Sis and Vinia were packing up sacks of food. Vinia
was shaking, her eyes big and wild. Soon as they had those sacks full, Vinia
ran them out to Johnnie and Sammy.
The cannon and rifle shots were near constant by that time and the smell of
gunpowder was seeping in to the house.
I couldn’t help myself. “MOMMY!” I wailed. “I’m afraid!”
Benny was in his downstairs cradle and he started crying too.
Mama’s eyes were wide yet she kept her calm.
“Ssshhhh, my little Sunshine, ssshhh. You take care of Cara and help me watch
Benny.”
“Will they come and burn our house down? What are we gonna do, Mama?”
“We’re going to stand our ground, Sunshine. That’s all we can do.” Then Mama
picked Benny up in her arms and he quieted down. I sure wished it could’a been
me she took in her arms.
“I need you to be a big girl now,” she said to me. “Let’s all take a minute and
gather for a prayer.”
Just then, Jonah and Vinia came back in the house and joined Sis, Mama, Benny
and I. We formed a circle and held hands.
Mama prayed. “Our Father in Heaven, watch over us today. Help us to be your
servants. And please Lord, protect us all. Amen.” “Amen,” we all whispered.
As soon as we stepped apart, Mama said real quiet, “Vinia, gather up the
potatoes, apples, onions, and put them in feed sacks. Sis, bring the silver
from the sideboard and do the same. Tie them up secure and bury them in that
pit that Johnnie dug out. Then close it over as clean as you can and put some
big rocks on top. I know I can count on you both.”
About that time, we looked out the door and Sammy and Johnnie were riding off
down the road, our pack of hogs trottin’ between them. Sammy was riding Sorrel,
and Bertha, our old milk cow, was following behind, tethered to his saddle.
Bertha’s baby, little Sucker, she trotted behind her mama like there was an
invisible rope keeping her tied right there. Pepper was our sheep dog, he was
running back and forth, nipping a heel here and there, keeping them all
together.
Watching them leave, I could only whimper. I clung to Cara and popped my thumb
in my mouth.
Sis and Vinia had just gotten back from hiding the food and silver
when we heard horses crashing across the river. We looked out and saw five men
in worn blue uniforms pull up in front of the house.
I could see Mama’s hands shaking as she handed Benny to Sis. We all followed
her out to the porch. I grabbed hold of Mama’s skirts, and Rusty, our old
terrier, he barked like a crazy thing at the top of the stairs. Jonah, he stood
out in front with Mama.
“Hush now, Rusty. HUSH!” Sis scolded him. Vinia scooped him up in her arms and
stuck him in his pen at the end of the porch. That little dog would have torn
the pants off those fellows if he could’ve gotten to them.
Then one of the men, the Sergeant, pulled forward on his horse and tipped his
hat. “Mornin’ Ma’am.” He didn’t even look at Jonah.
That was the first time I’d ever seen Union soldiers. They looked more like my
brothers than they did the Devil. They didn’t look any older than my brother
Jacob, but I knew from his meanness that they were old enough to do terror.
All the men got off their horses and tied them to the hitching rail out front.
Like they were coming for a visit.
The Sergeant stepped forward and the four soldiers gathered around alongside
him. “Ma’am, we have our orders to burn all of the houses and barns through
these valleys. If you will cooperate, none of your family will be hurt.”
“NOOO!” Vinia screamed.
“We not goin’ let you do that, Sir.” Jonah stood firm and tall.
Benny took to crying harder, Rusty kept yapping and Sis grabbed Mama around the
waist. Tears were running down my face yet I kept quiet, sucking hard on my
thumb. I heard Mama say “Please, Sir. We are Union sympathizers.”
The Sergeant gave a short laugh, “Ha! That’s what they all say.”
Then quick as lightening, the four soldiers surrounded Jonah and dragged him
off the stairs. He put up a good fight, kicking and a struggling, but he was no
match for the four of them. They yanked a sheet of cloth around his mouth and
tied him to the old walnut tree with a lock and chain.
Tears kept streaming down my face and I heard Mama pleadin’ with the man,
“Please, spare us, Sir. Please.”
“We have our orders, Ma’am.”
Them four Yanks pushed into the house and I clung to Mama’s dress. I could hear
them flying open drawers and I heard one of them yell, “They took the silver,
Sarge.” And then another one yelled, “And they cleaned out the pantry.”
“Where you hidin’ it, Ma’am?” the Sergeant asked. “We have an army to feed.”
“They came last week and took it all, Sir,” Mama lied. “Every last bit of it.”
“Men. Go out to the barn and finish up there. I’ll take care of the house.”
When the men left, that Sergeant looked Mama in the eyes and said, “You give me
what I’ve been needing and we’ll spare the house.”
Mama just fainted straight away. That’s when I lost my grip on her skirts. The
Sergeant took her up, threw her over his shoulder and walked into the house.
Benny kept crying and Vinia was wailing hysterically. Sis grabbed me and
wrapped her arms around me and Vinia. Sis was screaming like I’d never heard
her, “No, Sir. No! It’ll kill her. Please! Leave her alone.” That man acted
like he hadn’t even heard Sis. He just kept on walking and straight upstairs.
I cried and cried ‘til I thought my eyes would fall out. Vinia laid Benny down
in his cradle and we all went to Jonah. Sis took the gag off his mouth. Vinia
went to the well and brought him back a cup a water.
Sis ran to the shed and brought the axe back. It was half the size of her
little body but she took it up and started beating the chains with it. She was
crying and praying the whole time. “Oh Lord,” she said. “Forgive me. Forgive
me. Forgive me.” For some reason I never figured, she thought this was all her
fault.
Just then a scream split the air. I squeezed Cara so hard, I let out my own
scream, “MAMAAAAAA!!!”
Sis grabbed a hold of me and cried, “Don’t you go, Lizzie. You stay right here.”
Then we smelled the smoke and Jonah yelled, “The barn! Lizzie, Vinia, gather up
every bucket you can and fill them with water. Don’t you worry about me, I’m
all right. Save that barn.”
Vinia and me went tearing around, gatherin’ up and filling buckets. When we
finally took off for the barn, them four Yanks were walking back to their
horses. They were laughing and joking. Five years old and I wanted to kill
them. ‘Course I didn’t know then that our own Rebs were doing just as bad to
the folk up north.
The Sergeant appeared then, alone, at the door of the house. He said, “The
house is spared. Let’s go.”
They mounted their horses and were about to ride off when, tied to that tree,
Jonah said, “You all goin’ burn in the flames.” The Sergeant, he just snorted.
Their evil done in fifteen minutes, they rode off, crashing across the river.
Sis ran upstairs to help Mama and by the time Vinia and I reached the barn,
flames were shooting out the windows. We would have been spitting on the flames
of hell to throw our pittance of water on them. We set our little buckets down
and Vinia reached out her hand to me. We stood there crying, holdin’ hands,
shiverin’ in the heat of that fire.
Then the horror gripped me. Mama. Was Mama all right?
Vinia looked at me right then. She knew what I was thinking ‘cuz she was
thinking it too. We took off and ran all the way to the house. We charged up
those stairs fast as we could and burst in to Mama’s room. She lay in her four
poster bed, as still and white as the sheets.
Sis sat beside her, tears streaming down her face. She had a pan of water on
the floor and was wrinching out a cloth, wiping Mama’s face.
“Come kiss your Mama, Baby,” she said to me. “And then I have to ast you girls
to leave us alone.”
I bent over Mama. There was a scratch on her face.
“Mama,” the words caught in my throat. I kissed her lips.
Her eyes opened then, shinin’ like I had never seen before. She smiled that
beautiful smile of hers and said to me, “My little Sunshine. You always be a
good girl. You help Sis and Vinia take care of Benny now.”
I threw myself on her chest and cried, “Mama! You’ll be here, Mama. You ain’t
goin’ nowhere. MAMA!” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed my face. She
said, “I’ll always be with you, my precious angel.”
Sis’s hands was on my shoulders and she was sayin’, “Come on now, Baby. Let
your Mama rest. Come on now, Baby. Let your Mama rest.”
Sis pulled me off of her and I felt like I was floating. Like I wasn’t really
there anymore. I was numb. My little body knew.
Vinia didn’t say nothing. She followed me down the stairs.
What we hadn’t seen were the sheets stained in Mama’s blood. It had been too
soon after Benny’s hard birth for that Yank to tear in to her.
After quite some time, Sis came down the stairs. You could see it in her, she
was all tore up. “I done all I could. Oh Lord, forgive me. Forgive me,” she was
saying to herself. “We should’a let that Devil burn the house. Oh Lord, forgive
me.” She pulled me and Vinia in to her arms and said. “Your mama’s goin’ be
with the angels now, Baby.”
“No!” I screamed. “No she’s not. She’s still here.” I pulled away from Sis and
Vinia and ran up to see Mama. Sis had cleaned her all up. Mama looked so
pretty. Her braids were fallin’ over her shoulders like they always did when
she was asleep. I tried to wake her. I shook her shoulder. I kissed her cheek.
I tickled her ear. There was no giggle.
I crawled up into that bed and slipped beneath those covers. Pretty soon I
could hear the clank of the axe against Jonah’s chains. Me and Cara, we cried
ourselves to sleep, curled up against my Mama.
*
* *
“Baby. It’s time to get up now, Baby.” Sis’ voice was coming through my dream.
We’d all been down at the river, washing and playing. Then all of a sudden,
Mama, she became a brilliant, shining white owl and flew up and away and over
the tree tops. It was so glorious watching her. I wanted to fly up with her.
And then I felt the cold of Mama’s stiff body and the warmth of Sis’ hand on my
back. Then I knew that Mama was gone forever. I started crying all over again. It wasn’t long ‘til Mamaw and Papaw came back to stay with us. And after all
that had happened, that was the best thing in the world for me.
