The Seeker (35 page)

April 20, 1862
Dear Adam,

It took your letter some time to reach Harmony Hill. We hope you are still in health although we have heard of the many dead at Shiloh. It seems wrong to have a battle where thousands died or were wounded named after a church on the battlefield. The Lord must shudder at such brazenness. Sister Martha says the Believers’ Mother Ann would do worse than shudder at the total disregard of peace and love. The elders and eldresses have us laboring many dances for the swift arrival of peace. The whirling and dancing are the Shakers’ way of reaching for the spirit. I have learned many of the dances and songs. It is very different from the church I attended in town, but I never have to worry about dozing off. Meeting is too lively for that, but you know. You were here to witness their meeting one Sunday.

Sister Martha says to thank you for the picture of the ironclad and wonders if you might include a sketch of General Grant in your next letter even though it appears he has lost some of his hero appeal. The papers indicate some in the North are calling for his removal due to the losses the army suffered at Shiloh. Still the Union came away victorious in the way battles are counted. The Believers were glad to hear that news and also of the abolishment of slavery in our great capital. I can only hope that the same will soon be true in Kentucky even though my father would argue against such an idea. But daily I see Sister Latisha’s face and I am glad.

Sister Martha also asks me to remind you there is need to watch your words in your letters. She and they, the Ministry, are anxious to hear from the war front, but they will not allow wrong words such as those when you wrote of sketches that have naught to do with the war.

Sister Martha understands that you are not that familiar with the Shaker way, but she wants you to know that she and the Ministry would welcome your questions if you should seek to learn more of the truth of the Second Coming of Christ who was their Mother Ann. That is the actual name of the Shakers, you know. The Believers in the Second Coming of Christ. Shakers is the name attached to the Believers by those of the world, but the Believers often use it themselves now. Shaker seeds and brooms and chairs are much sought by those of the world or were before the war disrupted so many lives. And gardens.

Brother Edwin signed the Covenant a month ago and has given over Hastings Farm to the Believers. His people were freed. Two stayed here at Harmony Hill, but most went north to begin their new lives. It is too perilous for a freed slave here as they are seized for work on the roads or bridges without warning or recompense.

I will pray for your safety and watch for your illustrations in
Harper’s Weekly
.

With prayerful concern,
Charlotte

May 21, 1862
Dear Charlotte,

I am picturing the beauty of the gardens at Harmony Hill. While I am beginning to understand the Shakers don’t cultivate their gardens with the beauty an eye might behold in mind, as an artist I can’t imagine not noticing nature’s handiwork. I have been privy to so much beauty in gardens, but such beauty can seem very remote when the battles are raging around me. At times the battlefield scenes keep playing through my mind long after the guns fall silent. Then it is good to have the memory of a beautiful garden to dwell on in order to shut out the visions of death.

I am back in the capital where a new offensive is being planned. The men look more like soldiers now but it remains to be seen how well they will fare when once more they are ordered to march against the Rebel army. I also hear reports of rumblings to the south, some near your state. Guerilla bands are destroying rail lines and bridges and raiding the countryside for supplies. The Shakers might do well to think of what means they might take to protect their property if those raids should come near Harmony Hill.

Here is Sister Martha’s picture of General Grant. He doesn’t look prepossessing but some think he is the best general for winning the day the Union has. At least he does not run from the fray.

Assure Sister Martha and the others that I had no intention of offending them with any of my words. I will consider my words more carefully before I pen them in future letters. As I consider the garden.

In appreciation of your concern,
Your friend, Adam

June 15, 1862
Dear Adam,

Sister Martha thanks you for the picture of General Grant. She has not been well and often is unable to walk. The Shakers have put wheels on a chair for her and I push her to meals and meetings, but she must stay on the lower floors. She has no fear of dying but instead welcomes the thought of stepping across the divide into heaven. She thinks she must be over 90 years old but has forgotten the year of her birth. She and a daughter came into the Shakers in 1806. The daughter left the village, but Sister Martha has faithfully followed the Shaker way in her many years here. She says I have been a gift to her, but even more she is a gift to me as I accustom myself to this new life after losing my place at Grayson.

Sister Latisha has heard that many of our people there are gone, either sold to the south by Selena or they have run away to the north. I hope they all ran away. Father would not like to hear me say that, but he has been blinded by his obsession with Selena. Besides he hears me say nothing. I have not spoken to him since I came to Harmony Hill. I am beginning not to care so much. Although I do long to walk again in the garden as I did before I came here.

Mellie has sent word her baby boy is healthy and even more important, was born free. She says she named him Nathaniel Adam. A proper name for a free child. If I have done nothing else right in my life, I did right by stealing her out of Selena’s hand. We heard of the battle at Fair Oaks. Another Union victory or so it seemed in the accounts the elder read to us. Were you there?

We pick the roses again for the Shaker rosewater.

As always,
Charlotte

July 7, 1862
Dear Charlotte,

I was at Fair Oaks as you ask in your last letter. It seems I have been at every battle or so my brother, Jake, tells me. He is at turns envious and grateful to have not been in the midst of the battle more than he has. He was at Fair Oaks and survived to fight again. That is all any soldier can wish for in this war. To gain an honorable victory and leave the field of battle with all limbs intact. The scenes around the hospital tents and houses are more than I can bear to draw and more than the readers could bear to see. Severed arms and legs are thrown out in a pile like so much stove wood and the flies come in clouds. Forgive me for putting that picture in front of your eyes. I should mark out those words, but I will not. It is part of war and I know you are one to face the truth.

It was strange to celebrate Independence Day with our nation so disastrously divided, but I hear the Southern troops celebrated the day with as much enthusiasm as those in the North. It is a strange time when Americans are shooting at Americans. Brothers at brothers, friends at friends. Who is the enemy?

Here is a picture of a little drummer boy with an Indiana regiment. The boy can’t be over ten. But he beats the drum in cadence as the regiment marches into battle. He brings to mind Selena’s son whom I met the last time I was at Grayson. Have you met him? He wants to be a whale boat captain. At least he is not marching out to war like this poor child.

We will both walk in the garden again. I am sure of it.

Your friend,
Adam

July 17, 1862
Dear Adam,

We are unsettled here as word has come to our ears that General John Hunt Morgan and his cavalry men are invading the state. They are not an army such as led by General McClellan or General Lee in that they do not line up for battle against an opposing army, but rather raid the countryside and take whatever they want. The Believers are very concerned about losing their horses and wagons to such raiders. There is much talk of hiding the horses should General Morgan’s troops come this far north and the news that comes in seems to indicate they are headed this way leaving a path of destruction behind them.

Your sketch of the young drummer boy brought tears to Sister Martha’s eyes and to mine. Sister Martha still struggles to talk without getting out of breath, but at least she is no worse except when she thinks of the raiders disturbing the peace at Harmony Hill.