The Mockingbird's Ballad

"I am leaving for Chattanooga on the 4:16PM train. First I'm going to Augusta to visit with father and then I'm going by Caladonia to see Mrs. Sherrod. Right now I can't imagine what will happen. All I need to do is get some good food, get home and see what's what and call on Mrs. Sherrod. Sterling has told me about a plan he has for me in New Orleans. We'll see."

Stevenson offered with a chuckle, "Not sure the old army will take back a sergeant the Rebel Army raised to colonel. Last few years experience might not sit well with any Union recruiter." Sobering after receiving Joe's smile, he said, "I'm for Cincinnati. Seems like I need to check out something there." The ham was good, cheese divine, the mustard zesty and the different beers satisfying. Melancholy and uncertainty thus acknowledged and shared by the two who had been together to hell and back for nearly four years. Now what?

===

The Memphis - Charleston depot in Courtland, Alabama was a small shabby war damaged building. The general's heart didn't see the ugly reality; he only felt the meaning of this stop. Mrs. Daniella Jones Sherrod lived only a few miles northeast. Wheeler's civilian suit was a new experience that he still felt uncertain about. Uniforms had been his wardrobe for over ten years. The hat was more familiar. It was similar to his army slouch hat, his last and favorite military headgear.

Checking his suitcase and big trunk labeled "J. Wheeler, New Orleans" with the baggage master, he went about finding the livery. He needed a mount to ride out the half-dozen miles to Caladonia. His father in Augusta had outfitted the former career soldier for his new life as a civilian. The items were partly from his father's wardrobe, neighbors' households, and partly from what goods the Augusta haberdasher had in its' limited inventory. This equipment for a new life was simple and unpretentious as was the present owner. Standing on the depot porch taking in the crisp October morning, he surveyed the north Alabama landscape on this mid-south fall morning. It was the ending of harvest time. Soon the acreage would be laid by for the dreary winter's passage. The land looked as if it would never revive; brown, shaggy, dreary - he knew spring would change all but his spirit fully understood this shadowy time.

After adjusting his dark gray frock and tugging down the matching vest, he patted his vest pockets. In one rested his father's silver pocket watch attached to a plain fob.

===

The national trial was over. The verdict was definitive. The adversaries were spent.