Part 19 (1/2)
”You're right, fellows,” he said. ”We oughtn't to be quarreling among ourselves when there are so many Yankees to fight.”
Mail forwarded from Richmond was distributed in the camp the next day and Harry was in the mult.i.tude gathered about the officers distributing it. The delivery of the mail was always a stirring event in either army, and as the war rolled on it steadily increased in importance.
There were men in this very group who had not heard from home since they left it two years before, and there were letters for men who would never receive them. The letters were being given out at various points, but where Harry stood a major was calling them in a loud, clear voice.
”John Es...o...b.., Field's brigade.”
Es...o...b.., deeply tanned and twenty-two, ran forward and received a thick letter addressed in a woman's handwriting, that of his mother, and, amid cheering at his luck, disappeared in the crowd.
”Thomas Anderson, Gregg's brigade. Girl's handwriting, too. Lucky boy, Tom.”
”Hey, Tom, open it and show it to us! Maybe her picture's inside it! I'll bet she's got red hair!”
But Tom fled, blus.h.i.+ng, and opened his letter when he was at a safe distance.
”Carlton Ives, Thomas' brigade.”
”In hospital, Major, but I'll take the letter to him. He's in my company.”
”Stephen Brayton, Lane's brigade.”
There was a silence for a moment, and then some one said:
”Dead, at Antietam, sir.”
The major put the letter on one side, and called:
”Thomas Langdon, the Invincibles.”
Langdon darted forward and seized his letter.
”It's from my father,” he said as he glanced at the superscription, although it was half hidden from him by a mist that suddenly appeared before his eyes.
”Here, Tom, stand behind us and read it,” said Harry, who was waiting in an anxiety that was positively painful for a letter to himself.
”Henry Lawton, Pender's brigade,” called the major. ”This is from a girl, too, and there is a photograph inside. I can feel it. Wish I could get such a letter myself, Henry.”
Lawton, his letter in his hand, retreated rapidly amid envious cheers.
”Charles Carson, Lane's brigade.”
”Dead at Fredericksburg, sir; I helped to bury him.”
”Thomas Carstairs, Field's brigade.”
”Killed at the Second Mana.s.sas, sir.”
”Richard Graves, Archer's brigade.”
”Died in hospital after Antietam, sir.”