Tear In Time (33 page)

  Gen.
Negley reached into his pocket and pulled out two polished silver stars and
handed them to David.

 
"I almost forgot. Here, David. Put these on before you two meet. Wouldn't
want to give the young lad the wrong impression," Gen. Negley said.

  David
removed the Captain's bars and pinned two General's stars to his . Dr. Morgan
looked over to David and, like a proud father, nodded.

  David
smiled and said, "You don't have to call me sir."

  Gen.
Negley immediately cut in, "That ole coot won't call sir to anyone,"
he said in dry humor.

 
"General, you impugn my good character. I have been known to address
Lincoln’s wife by sir," Dr. Morgan joked, then shuddered for effect.

  "Quite
right, Jim. I stand corrected. Many a man has been ill-deceived by Mary Todd
before she has attended to her morning stubble," Gen. Negley continued,
while holding back his own laughter.

 
"Wow, Mary Todd could grow a beard?" David asked rhetorically.

 
"A right handsome one at that," Gen. Negley replied. "If you
should ever meet with the first family, be sure to kiss the hand of the shorter
bearded dignitary."

  Dr.
Morgan was about to continue the joke when they heard Gen. Custer call to them.

 
"Gen. Negley … you have arrived," Gen. Custer yelled out, as he ran
to greet the arriving three. "There is no time, I fear. The Rebs are
readying themselves across the way."

  As the
three stepped down off their horses, Custer moved directly over to David and
shook his hand in genuine greeting.

 
"Gen. Warner, I presume," Custer said to David, while looking to Gen.
Negley for approval.

 
"Yes sir. And you must be Gen. Custer. I'm very pleased to meet you,"
David responded cordially.

 
"I am grateful that you are joining us. With the loss of all my officers,
I would not be able to make a good showing today. Now that you are here, I am
confident we will emerge victorious," Custer beamed.

 
"Well, I'll do my best," David replied, trying to hide his
insecurity.

  Custer
nodded to Dr. Morgan in greeting, then looked to Gen. Negley with a serious
stare and said, "Sir, I beg your pardon, but I have little time to brief
Gen. Warner. Would you accept my apologies and please excuse us?"

 
"War has no schedule. Please attended to your matters at once," Gen.
Negley replied.

  Dr.
Morgan extended his hand in a saddened farewell and said, "David, remember
what I taught you... and be careful. God be with you."

  The
two stared at each other for a moment as if they would not see each other
again, their sadness and despair now obvious to the others. David then stepped
away and shook Gen. Negley's hand.

  Like a
second father, the general read David's face and responded, "You'll do
fine, son."

  At that,
Custer and David turned and hurried into camp as Gen. Negley and Dr. Morgan
watched them leave from mounted horses.

 
"The boy will be alright, Jeb," Gen. Negley said, sensing the
doctor's anguish.

 
"He's not just a boy," Dr. Morgan replied. "He's my son."

 
"Quite right," Gen. Negley replied, understanding the inference.

 
Together, they snapped their reins and trotted back up the trail.

--- --- ---
--- ---

  Gen.
Custer and David sat down on rickety wooden chairs inside a hastily set-up
command tent. David looked around at the wooden crates that contained Custer's
personal belongings as well as books on tactics and maps of other areas
unknown. Custer pulled out a hand-sketched map of the surrounding area and
proceeded to brief David.

 
"Gen. Warner, the plan is simple. My sources tell me we have superior
numbers. I intend to send out a detachment to instigate the battle. Once all
their men are in the open, we will pour out onto them and overwhelm them,"
Custer informed. "Half my men will follow your command to the south and
the rest will follow my command on the north."

  David
watched as Custer pointed to the various obstructions on the battlefield to be
used as cover, and listened to him discuss the finer points of the impending
engagement.

  After
listening, Custer then asked David if he had any questions. David's ride over
had been from the southern end of the battlefield, the very location Custer
would be sending him. As he had ridden through, he had noted to himself various
landmarks that he could use as protection if he needed to retreat in short
order. After Custer discussed the plan in its entirety, David realized that his
plan of retreat could be adopted as a cleaver plan of attack.

 
"Gen. Custer, I've heard your plan and understand it. Basically, you're
just going to use your strength to overpower them, is this correct?" David
asked with respect.

 
"An oversimplification to be sure, but, essentially, yes," Gen.
Custer replied.

 
"If you'd humor me for a moment, I saw something on my way over here that
now I believe might be useful as an alternative to the main plan," David
started, trying to be diplomatic.

 
"Go on," Custer replied, slightly offended, but willing to listen.

 
"To the south, there is a stream that splits two bluffs down the middle.
The bluffs sort of form a shallow canyon, for a lack of better words. I'm sure
you've seen it," David said, stroking the young general's ego.

 
"Yes. The men gather water there for the horses," Custer replied.

 
"It looks like at one time a good deal of water rushed through there and
knocked down a bunch of trees; mostly at the end where the bluffs opened up
again into the forest. I believe you could persuade the enemy to follow you
between those bluffs. When you exited out the other side, men could pull a
bunch of trees across that exit, sort of blocking the route. I know it wouldn't
block them all the way, but in the confusion of trying to get around those
trees, they would bunch up - like a bottleneck," David explained.

  He
paused a moment for Custer to digest his plan, then continued, "I like the
idea of splitting us into two groups. One could antagonize the enemy, then
pretend to retreat, while the other group would be setting up the logs and
positioning themselves all over the elevated bluffs. In the end, you'd have
most of them in that narrow canyon where we could cut them to ribbons. The ones
that saw the trap before entering would probably stop and try to pick off the
men at the top, but you could anticipate this and charge through the woods,
circling back around to out flank them from the north."

  David
waited again for Custer to digest the information. He could see that Custer
liked this idea, but had reservations. David added one more incentive as
persuasion: Custer's ego.

 
"General, I believe the original plan would lose a good deal of your men,
and while your original plan to attack them straight on would work, it's a
common tactic and not one that would gain much recognition. On the other hand,
deceiving the enemy and capturing them without many casualties to your own
brigade would be a noteworthy accomplishment. If we were successful, you'd
probably be touted as a tactical genius." David said, delicately stroking
the general’s ego.

  Gen.
Custer smiled at the thought of notoriety. He got up and went outside the tent
and looked over to the bluffs David had just discussed. He then looked across
the field to the wood line where the enemy lay. Gen. Custer nodded his head. He
liked the plan, and called David over.

 
"Gen. Warner, could you come here please?" Custer yelled toward the
tent.

  David
immediately jumped up and hurried to Custer.

 
"Gen. Warner, I'll lead the charge. Take half the men and hurry to the
other side of the bluffs. Take the route through the woods so the Rebs can't
see your movements," Gen. Custer said. While shaking David's hand, he
added, "One more thing. Don't wait for my men to arrive to start pulling
trees. Do it now. Cover one half of the exit, then have horses lined up to pull
the remaining logs across the other half once we're out of the canyon. Good
luck to you."

 
"Good luck to you. You're the one in the most danger. You'll need it more
than me," David replied.

  Gen.
Custer beamed with satisfaction, knowing his military career was about to
improve. He nodded to David once more in gratitude, then turned and readied his
men.

  David
took half the men, about five hundred soldiers, on horseback through the woods,
trying to evade detection. Riding fast, he dodged trees and limbs, occasionally
jumping large rocks and dried streambeds, until he reached the far end of the
elevated bluffs.

 
Stopping for a moment, he scanned the area for anything he could drag between
the two small hills. Without notice, David heard the sound of gunfire off in
the distance. He strained his neck in the direction of Gen. Custer, but could
not see him. The battle had started far sooner than David had expected and now,
with very little time, he would need to deploy his men and create a blockade.
He would need to accomplish the impossible.

  David
looked around, but found nothing. Desperate for a solution, he called over a
sergeant.

 
“Sergeant, do we have any explosives?” David demanded.

  “You
mean dynamite? Yes sir,” the sergeant replied.

  “We
need it now, right now. Get it and bring it back here in less than a minute,”
David ordered.

  “Sir,
I'm not sure who has it,” the sergeant replied nervously.

 
“Sergeant, if we don't blow a couple of these trees now, there's a very good
chance a lot of your friends will die in the next few minutes, so I don't care
if you have to pull it out of your ass: just get it here quickly,” David said
impatiently.

  “Yes
sir,” the sergeant replied.

  David
called over several other sergeants and gave them orders as well.

  “You
sergeants: take your men and spread out on top of the bluff. We can't have the
Confederates see you, so I'm trusting that you will ensure that the men will be
well hidden. Wait until you hear me fire three shots, then open up on the
enemy. Is this clear?” David asked.

  “Yes
sir,” the sergeants replied, sounding almost as one.

  “Good.
I am counting on you. Don't let me down,” David said.

  “Yes
sir,” they all replied again.

  Just
as the men headed up to the top of the bluff, the other sergeant ran back
carrying a haversack filled with dynamite.

  “Sir,
I found it. What do we do with it?” the Sergeant asked.

  “Come
with me,” David demanded.

  David
and a couple others found a tree leaning away from the canyon. David ordered
the tree be blown over with dynamite. In less than thirty seconds, the
explosives had been set and all had taken cover. With the fuse lit, all eyes
watched and listened for the loud explosion. Moments later, the dynamite
sounded and the tree fell. Frantically, David yelled to his men to start
dragging the tree to the exit between the bluffs.

  Off in
the distance, David could still hear the sounds of Custer's men engaged in
battle. Directing his attention back to the trees, he watched as a couple more
were felled and dragged into place. As the exit was quickly being blocked,
David suddenly realized that the gunfire was now much louder and clearer than
before. Custer was on his way.