Posted by AlOmega on June 12, 1999 at 20:09:08:
CHISHOLM TRAIL
by AlOmega
Chapter 4
Wichita Village
Didn’t stay down long. Just enough to see the herd moving toward me. Kinda hard to climb trees with
boots but when thousands of tons of flesh are movin’ at breakneck speed, it can be done pretty fast. I could
see a couple of shapes tryin’ to turn ‘em; and, it seemed to be workin’. Then for no reason, the herd
stopped their panic-driven race to exhaustion and almost stopped dead in their tracks. Sometimes happens.
Frank rode by and I shouted at him. He almost couldn’t stop laughing when he saw me - especially when he
had to get Scott to bring another horse to help me down. Never woulda told anyone that I was afraid of
heights and couldn’t stand bein’ three feet off the ground. Rode Scott’s horse to get another. Buckskin
broke her leg runnin’ away from the cattle. Didn’t get run over by the cattle but got her leg caught in some
rocks. Had to shoot her. Buckskin could be cantankerous - ‘specially on cold days - like makin’ it hard to
cinch up. Use to kick her belly when I saddled her. Soon broke her of that. But the tricks never ended.
Was a contest to see which of us would win.
God I hated losin’ her.
Wondered ‘bout the rifle fire. Well maybe it weren’t a rifle. But I was the only one to hear it so just had
to let it be until I could prove it. Lost only three cows besides Buckskin.
Actually the stampede weren’t so bad ‘cause we were able to push the herd further north then we would
have normally. Cap’n Tatum thought we might make it to Kansas in about a week. We started movin’ the
herd and I took the right side. Ya get a bit more dust from that side - especially when the wind blew. I was
sorta looking at the herd but not seein’ it - like lookin’ at nothing. Saw Greg in the distance but paid him no
never-mind. Suddenly, I realized I had been lookin’ at him for a long time. And he was lookin’ at me with a
stare that could have broken bones. Why I didn’t know. I mean me and Greg didn’t get along much but still
I figured he wouldn’t do nothin’ to hurt the cattle. We needed the money too bad. I just dropped it.
Later that night a bunch of us were settin ‘round the fire. Maguel had fixed us a real good meal. ‘Course
he always did. I mean that’s why he was hired. Still you get tired of steaks after a while even if they was
from calves. And there’s only so many ways you can fix beans. Rod, Scott, Jesse, and I were discussin’ the
stampede and what mighta caused it. Looked up at that moment and saw Greg passin’ by. Again he gave
me that look I’d seen that afternoon. Wondered what got his goat but figured it was none of my business so
went back to talkin’ with the fellers. We did steer a ways away from the fire. Don’t know if any of you’ve
done drovin’ but ifn you has, you know that ya don’t wear those new type pants done up by Levi near the
fire. The company puts these here rivet things in the pants to hold ‘em together. One of them metal pieces
is put right where your privates like to rest and when kneeling in front of the fire... Well that howl ain’t
from pleasure. Like the pants but would sure like to take that Levi character, put him in his own pants and
put him in front of the fire for a bit.
Anyway, a bunch of us was talkin’ ‘bout the old days when we ran with Cap’n Tatum. Each of us had a
story to spell at one time or ‘tother. We talked about all the tough times we had and how we’d gone up
against impossible odds. More than enough of it was true but sometimes we just sorta stretched it a mite.
Scott started talkin about when he and Cap’n Tatum had ridden with Col. Wheeler. They was up near
Georgia way or there’bouts. The Colonel had detached a troop under Cap’n Tatum to track down a bunch
of Yankees. Seems that Sherman had given orders to burn and loot everything they could find in a hundred
mile swath. Well it might have been fifty or even twenty-five but it was Scott was tellin’ it and I ain’t one to
dispute it bein’ that we’re good friends. Hell he was always fighting Sherman even though Cap’n Tatum
said more’n once they was nowhere near Sherman. But I should tell this as Scott told it to us
Anyway,
“the point was that Sherman was doin’ the marchin’ and killin’ and about a hundred of us Texans were
suppose to stop him. When the troop found those Yanks, they were on a girl’s school of some sort near
Atlanta. Seems that a few slaves were still on the place; and, they was mostly women. There were a bunch
of white women there as well. Mostly they were students with a few teachers. None of them expected the
Yanks to be that far south. About twenty horses and a wagon were tied up so it was easy enough to figure
the Yanks were inside. Dismounting in the trees, the Confederates crept up to the school and began hearing
some screaming from inside. Then we heard some rifle fire from inside and the screaming stopped. I
looked inside and saw two darkie men were already dead and another guy and a darkie gal were dyin’.
Yanks had set up some sort of gun on a tripod and had just fired a bunch of bullets at the last two. I’d never
seen such a contraption but Sergeant Dresser had. It was one of them new things called a Gattling Gun. A
more horrible device I never saw. Spits out bullets quicker than a goose can shit. Why they were shooting
the darkie we didn’t find out ‘til later.
“What we could tell from looking in the windows were that the Yanks had been drinkin’ pretty much and
had crowded most of the girls into the main dining area. We devised a plan whereby some would come in
from the back and some from the front and some from the second floor. I was one for the second floor.
Wasn’t that hard climbing up a tree, crawling out on a branch to the second story balcony. Waited until we
all were ready and went in. Plan was that we would ease in until discovered when it would be fingers to the
triggers until we or the Yanks were dead. I entered a screened door onto a long hallway. several rooms
were on either side. Figured about twelve rooms in all before I could see the stairs. Most of the doors were
open and I could see they were bedrooms for the girls. Finished the east side and had passed the stairs to
the west when I heard a commotion goin’ on in the last room on the right. With pistol in one hand and a
knife in the other, I peeked in. Only one Yank but two girls were there. He had one tied up with a gag of
some sort. Damn if she didn’t look fine even though she was terrified at what was happening on the bed. The
other girl, he was chokin’ while tryin’ to rape her. I smiled noticing he was having a hard time gettin’ it in
because she was fighting so hard. I noticed in passing that she was blond; her breasts were bare; she was
clawing at his hands; her eyes were tight shut; and her tongue was out of her mouth. If she gritted any
harder, she’d have bit her tongue in to. Putting my pistol in my belt, I put a finger to my lips cautioning the
tied-up gal to keep quiet. Not a sound I made as I got behind the Yank. Grabbing a handful of hair, I pulled
his head back and sliced his neck as hard and as quick as I could. He made a gargling sound when I killed
him and pulled him onto the floor.
“Damn Yank bled all over the girl who was getting her breath. I pulled a cover over her nakedness just
before she started to scream. That I silenced by clamping a hand over her mouth. Then when she realized
who I was, she calmed down. She whispered hoarsely what had been happening while I cut the bonds from
the other girl. The bound girl was Nancy and the blond girl was Barbie. The Yanks had come on them the
night before and started questioning them. One of the teachers had been tortured to death down in the
basement. The girls had heard her screaming all night and into the morning. They had been forced to
prepare meals for the Yanks. I stopped Barbie before she could get started and cautioned both girls to stay
behind. They had the Yank’s pistol and rifle and I figured they could handle themselves until I got back.
Now that the upper rooms at this level were cleared out, I figured I would go downstairs and get a few more
Yanks. Being careful not to cause a step to creak, I started down the stair. A noise caused me to turn and I
saw another Yank gettin’ ready to plug me. A bullet from Barbie caught him by surprise. I saluted her and
rushed down the stairs with knife and pistol in hand.
“That rifle shot caused the whole place to erupt in activity. Caught two Yanks struggling with their pants
and plugged ‘em before they could do more’n squat. Figured the Gattling gun was the thing to stop ‘cause
if the Yanks got it goin’, we’d be flopping about like fish in a net. But when I got there, five Yankee bodies
were strewn over the floor and a black girl was pullin’ a Bowie knife from a sixth and ready to stick me if I
made a move at her. Now I may have been a Southerner but I never messed with no woman who didn’t
want me to - black or white. I just smiled and left after takin’ the two boxes where all the bullet things were
kept. Put them behind a chair in the next room. Had to ‘cause I had to drop behind the chair. You would
to if bullets started flying at ya. I got one before my bullets ran out but if it hadn’t been for Steve and
Tiberius cutting the two of them down from behind, I woulda been pushing up grass. Like most of us, they
had some pretty big knives for the work and could throw them easily enough. And when they threw them,
the knives hit with a single thunk.
“Guess there were about thirty Yanks that we got. Killed most of them. Guess I should say we killed all
but one. Steve caught him cryin’ in a corner afraid we’d kill him, too. He was the one who gave us the
information about the Yanks and their troop. They had been from Sherman’s band all right but had started
lootin’ and raping which didn’t go with what Sherman had ordered. The excuse made about killing the slaves
was that Sherman wanted to get rid of the former slaves taggin’ along behind his army acting as if his forces
were to take care of them. But Sherman had not ordered them to be killed. That was what these renegade
Yanks had decided to do on their own. And when they had gotten all the loot they could carry, the
renegades figured on going to the Northwest far from the fighting. No one would know they had deserted.
And while they were at it, they figured they might have fun with the Southern girls. We got this out of the
kid through his tears. A couple of us decided enough was enough and began checking out the school house.
We had checked out the top floors and finally got down to the basement. I drew my revolver when I heard a
moan comin’ from the dark. Samson was with us and had a lantern to boot. He’d figured we might need it
in the basement. There was some light down there but not enough of some dumbass Yank was holed up
somewhere. Carefully we descended the stairs. On reaching the bottom, we spread out watching each
others back. What we found there would turn anyone’s guts inside out. Won’t make much of a description
here but at least six teachers had been tortured in one way or another. Two were tied up and still alive. One
was missing the fingernails on her left hand. The other was only sobbing because of the carnage she was still
in. The smell of some woman’s guts spilling out of her sliced belly can make even hardened men gag -
especially when flys are walkin’ around in them. All four of us emptied out what little we had in our bellies
adding to the mess. We took the two ladies upstairs and stopped only to bandage the hand of Kathy. Kim
was still shaking even after we got some clothing to cover up their nakedness. Both ladies had to take baths
so the guys got some heated water and the students helped them bathe. Since I and Samson had already
puked up everything we had, we gathered some table cloths and wrapped the four bodies and took them to
the grave sites that we had to dig real quick like. It was too bad that Reverend Joe wasn’t there. He was
pretty good at preparing bodies for burial. But we had to do it quickly cause even then the smell was
gagging’ us.
“When we went back upstairs, I wanted to take the little cryin’ bastard and hang him slowly over a
roaring fire. So did Samson but Steve and Tiberius wouldn’t let me get to him. When we calmed down a
bit, we had to agree. Fact was the kid was only thirteen or fourteen and it wouldn’t have done no good
anyway. And when I thought about it, we did have Andersonville.
“Nothin’ else much happened. Most of the girls and teachers stayed. Barbie, who I would liked to have
know more of, went west somewhere. I found out later that Kim left for Canada. She couldn’t stand the
South because of the bitter memories nor the North for lettin’ white trash into their army. War maybe
something that happens but Sherman didn’t have to make it Hell - especially for women and children. We
took the bodies of the Yanks in their wagon to a spot about five miles north of the school and left them
hangin’ from the trees for the buzzards to find. The dead - even the darkies - were buried with honor and
reverence as befit people who had done nothing wrong and who had been wronged themselves.
“Most of the troop ended back in Texas. Talked to Steve before we left. Think Samson headed north to
Washington or Oregon or someplace in the West up north. Don’t know if he’s alive since I haven’t heard
from him in a long time. Nor do I know what happened to Tiberius. That’s my story; and, I challenge
anyone to say it ain’t true. “ None of us would have either.
We discussed a couple of more stories before hitting’ the sack. And early the next day, we started
pushing the cattle like we always had. Not much happened that week or the next. But one day we realized
we weren’t in the Indian Nations no more. Soon on the horizon were the four or five buildings which
formed the village of Wichita. The town was named after the Wichita Injuns which lived there. Wasn’t
much of a town but it was the first place where we could get tobacco and supplies. I had a nice pipeful
before retiring for the night. Soon we’d be in Abilene - and, after that, home.
Next
Chapter 5
Abilene
and
home
What happens when you get to the end of trail only to find out your true destiny?