My Vicksburg by Ann Rinaldi Read Free Book Online Page B

on?"
    He closed his eyes for a minute, like he was praying. "Claire Louise, sit up. I have to talk to you," he said.
    "Landon," I whined, "five minutes ago you told me to go to sleep. And now you tell me—"
    "
Claire Louise, shut your mouth and listen to me!
"
    I sat up. "Not if you talk to me like that, I won't."
    He sighed heavily. He gathered himself in. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, but I need somebody to listen. I just got done talking to Dr. Balfour about Robert, and he gave me his professional physician's opinion of what I
had
to do to save my army career and my reputation as a doctor. As well as my family name. I know he's right, but I still can't bear to think about it. I've become friends with Robert. Did you hear that? I don't even know his last name. He won't tell me, and yet I've become friends with him. And now, if I listen to Balfour, and my own conscience, I have to turn him in."
    I listened, respectfully. He was going on like he would never stop. Like somebody had loosened something in him. He was pouring out his heart. To me.
    "What did he do?" I whispered.
    "Do? Yes, there is that, too, isn't there. As well as the fact that he deserted. All right, I'm going to tell you, Claire Louise. But you must swear to me that you'll never tell another soul."
    I swore. He nodded his head, accepting my word. And then he told me.
    "Do you remember the battle of Antietam? Last fall?"
    "Yes. We lost it."
    "Well, Robert is the reason the South lost it."
    I looked at him as if he'd taken leave of his senses.
    "Did you ever hear of Lee's lost Order Number 191?"
    I searched my memory. "I recollect Pa talking about it. Reading about it in the
Citizen.
'"
    "Last September ninth Lee wrote an order," he explained. "In it were the details of the march of his army, which had all but disappeared behind the Blue Ridge Mountains during its invasion of the North. The Yankees never knew where he was. And Bobby Lee wanted the orders to be circulated to his division commanders. They were given out to staff officers to be delivered to those commanders.
    "One of those officers was Robert. He told Lee his courier delivered the order to Hill. But to his disgrace, if you will, Hill never signed for it. Robert had no signature.
    "Nobody did. The order was lost. Four days later it was in Union hands."
    I gasped. "How did it get there?"
    "Good question. The Confederate bigwigs are still investigating. All they know is that the order was found by a private named Mitchell of the 27th Indiana in an envelope containing three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper. The piece of paper was the orders. The 27th Indiana was encamped on a former Confederate campground."
    I found myself shaking. I drew my blanket closer. "But what of Robert?"
    "He told me that piece of paper dropped out of his pocket before he could give it to his courier. This takes his
courier off the hook because Hill never signed for the order. It all goes back to Robert, but they can't prove anything. But it's the result of it all that matters.
    "Lincoln's General McCellan was able to make an immediate strike at Lee's army because of the intelligence he got from that piece of paper. Four days later we had the battle of Antietam because of it. England pulled back on any promises of aid to the South because of the loss at Antietam. And I have on my hands a severely depressed and confused and guilty Robert because of it. And that's why Dr. Balfour says I should turn him in."
    Silence between us then. My head whirred. "And what will you do?"
    "I don't know, Claire Louise. I have a week to have a crisis of conscience. I want to aid him in getting home. I know I should walk over to brigade headquarters this day and tell General Pemberton that I have him. Either way I'm in hell."
    I crawled out from under my blanket and over to him and gave him a hug. "I'll help you, whatever you do," I said.
    He hugged me back. "I can't drag my family into this. When I met him, he was a wounded Confederate