Soldier's Life: A Memoir

Soldier’s Life. A memoir.

I worked in the farming industry for several years, with my wife Sarah behind me with all that I did. My two sons accompanied me in my endeavors to keep the farm up and running. Rowland, who was 16 at the time, helped with milking the cows and making sure all the animals got fed on time. As well as milking and feeding he was in charge of cleaning up after the animals and his younger brother of course. James, who was 10 at the time, didn’t really help much. He stayed off to the sidelines helping Sarah gather food for supper each night. Myself, being a middle-aged man in his 30s, was at my prime. I considered myself as one of the most athletically fit person in the small Northern town of Calamine, Massachusetts.

One day around dusk Sarah and James came running from the gravel road off to the southwest of the farm yelling and hollering that I needed to go to the post office in town as soon as I could. “What are you talking about?” I asked them in a confused voice. James blubbered with tears filled in his eyes, “They are going to send you away to fight in the war papa!” As soon as I head that I readied my great horse and stormed into town when several of the local men were gathered. A bunch of them were protesting that there was “no way in hell we are leaving our families to serve in a war” in which they had no interest. With many of them in such an outrage they decided to avoid the law and skip town that night. Romulus Scott, the richest man in town had a plan to bribe his neighboring household for one of their sons to take his place. Seeing that the boy’s family didn’t have very much to live on, they accepted. I left town and headed back to the farm. I told the boys that there was no need to worry about me...

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...t camp. I asked a nurse what had happened to me. I remembered that I had been shot, which had proven true by my bandaged up leg. “A young man, about 18 or 19 came up and shot the guy who had shot you and saved your life!” Confused by what the woman had said I asked her to repeat herself. After fully understanding what had happened I ask her if he knew who this man was. I wanted to thank the man for saving my life. She told me that the man had died from severe blood loss. “Before he passed he asked me to give a message to you.” She gracefully handed me a blood stained piece of paper folded into four quadrants. ‘I love you, the best father I could ever have.’ I couldn’t believe what I had read. I started crying, the nurse to me told me that I was to be sent home. They had more than enough soldiers to cover for me. I asked to be left alone. She left without hesitation.