On hearing the news, Leon left the house and walked alone into the woods he had known and loved all his life. When he returned he went into the main stock barn and hanged himself. Joe-Tom found him later that day (Leon had chosen a room seldom used) and ran to find Floyd. Floyd returned with Joe-Tom and, unbelieving, cut the rope that freed his friend. Before going to tell Sarah, he settled Leon gently against a pile of hay, and then holding him in his arms, wept bitterly.

6

In late April, James joined the county’s Volunteer Rifle Regiment and went to the camp grounds every day to drill. A month later the regiment was ordered to Savannah where it would be assigned positions along the coast to guard. Savannah was already blockaded by a Union ship, the Harriet Lane.

When he returned to Oaks on the day the orders reached the regiment, James told Rachel.

“And so you will go,” she said. “As I always knew you would.”

“I hate to, Rachel. All I want is you and our young ones, and to work the land. I don’t give a damn about the rest of it. But I have to go. If the war was fought only by men who loved fighting, who’d fight it?”

Beginning to cry, she shook her head and seemed to shrivel as she closed in on herself. He all but enfolded her with his arms and body as she said, “I’ll do the best I can, only don’t expect me to be brave, for I’m not. I can’t let you go the way Annabel let Blair, laughing and waving. I’ll probably scream my head off, and they’ll have to hold me back from boarding the train when you get on it!”

In the event, that did not occur.

Edna would not go into town; she was too old for public displays, she said, and she asked for the children to be left with her. B.B. would not agree to stay until Doreen said she would stay too. Sarah came over to Oaks that day and she and Bruce sat on the driver’s seat together, leaving James and Rachel alone behind them. Or so it had been planned. But when James made his home farewells, Jane would not be torn away from him. Although she had promised to remain with the others, it was decided to let her go as the easiest thing. She rode quietly enough on her father’s lap. James and Rachel’s hands were clasped together, and they were quiet too, the whole distance into Highboro.