Free Spirit

The sky was blue, cloudless, the air crisp. On the mountain below the snowline, among the pine trees and bushes, sat a lone horseman. His shirt and trousers were well worn but his jacket was thick and warm. He had taken it off a dead comrade; it had two bullet holes in it. His boots were stout, of high quality; they had belonged to a deceased enemy colonel. His slouch hat belonged to his father, a man he had never seen. The horse, a big bay, was called Sam. He had been roaming loose after a battle, there were still bloodstains on the saddle. Using binoculars the man surveyed the ground below. He had been here for nearly an hour but his patience was to be rewarded. A column of cavalry appeared from trees to his right, a colonel and a clutch of officers leading. The force was large and took a long time to pass. Once it had the watcher eased his horse away from the scene, his commander would need to know about the enemy movement. It was 1864, the third year of the American Civil War. Jesse Wells was born in Virginia in 1844 to mother Mary. They lived in a sturdy log cabin set in a small cotton plantation some three miles from Chancellorsville, Virginia. Jesse grew up with his mother and an elderly Negro, Peter. He was treated as a member of the family and occupied a small room at the end of the cabin, he worked the plantation with Mary. They managed to maintain a horse and a small carriage, later Peter would teach Jesse to ride the horse and Mary would teach him to read and write. They attended church every Sunday where Jesse met Joe Marsdon. He was a year older and bigger but they developed an immediate rapport when they found that they lived only a mile apart. The boys’ friendship served to bring the Wells and Marsdon families together. Weekends found them visiting each other to enjoy refreshment and exchange gossip. Jesse marvelled at the Marsdon abode, the number of rooms and the ornate grandeur. Joe’s father Edgar often took the boys to some handy stream where they would fish and swim. Peter was always invited and while Edgar puffed contentedly on his pipe they would engage in deep conversation. Edgar’s wife Kate had inherited a sizeable amount of money on the death of a favourite uncle. Her ambitious husband persuaded her to buy land in the area. Slowly and surely the Marsdon empire grew as more plantations came under Edgar’s control. The Wells and Marsdon plantations produced roughly the same amount of cotton and Edgar suggested the two amalgamate with an equal share in profits. After a great deal of thought Mary agreed and legal papers were drawn up. Jesse saw a change in Joe. His clothes were of the finest cloth, he began to smoke a pipe and help himself to Edgar’s brandy. He would offer some to Jesse but he refused, at first. Edgar and Kate threw regular parties and they invited former owners of property he had purchased to attend. Many had become managers and Edgar was quick to reward success. Mary and Jesse also came to enjoy the revelry, Jesse noticed that Joe seemed to impress pretty females with his smoking and drinking and gradually he began to succumb to the habits. Mary tried to stop him but he sneaked off with Joe, she guessed what they were doing, Joe and Jesse were beginning the journey from youth to manhood. “How about a quiet drink in the plantation?” asked Joe. “Sure, have you got some tobacco?” “Of course Jesse I will supply everything, and I mean everything.”