It was the last day.
They rode into the courthouse square and got down from their mounts. The General was in pain and gingerly walked up the steps . His staff slowly mounted the steps of the porch and halted at the door. General Lee went in alone and took a seat at a small oval table at the window.
They rode into the courthouse square and got down from their mounts. The General was in pain and gingerly walked up the steps . His staff slowly mounted the steps of the porch and halted at the door. General Lee went in alone and took a seat at a small oval table at the window.
They waited patiently on the porch for the Yankees to
arrive. The end had come. There was no need to rush it.
Colonel Taylor stood rigid and erect as he waited. Eyes on all the rest. A hawk standing vigil over squabbling chicks. Vengeful and implacable faces twisted in agony and
despair. Captain Young stood swaying
from side to side with his anger barely in check. Surgeon Guild was chewing
fiercely on a chaw of tobacco. Sending a quick splatter of juice contemptuously
out to the courtyard as if he could smother this evil day in a spray of foul
smelling spittle. None of them worried Taylor. He had his eyes on Edwards.
Captain Edwards had been chief of Scouts for the past two
years after the General had met him at Gettysburg. Served with General
Hood in his Texas Calvary before Lee had met him. Lee was always buoyed
by his boundless ferocity and rock solid
determination. He could depend on him to not fail him like Stuart had. What
would he do in defeat? At the surrender. At the end.
Could he stay his hand and bend his will to the discipline
that Marse Robert demanded of his subordinates. Had this final indignity loosened those bonds
enough to release an inner demon on the Yankee high command that
would soon be within grasp.
It was worrisome.
