SATURDAY STORY - ZACH HIGGENBOTTOM IN THE ARMY - WEEK 2

ZACH 2  - SATURDAY STORY JUNE 17, 2023- ZACH HIGGENBOTTOM

Last Saturday I started a new story.  It is about Zach Higgenbottom, a 17-year-old from Litchfield Connecticut who joins the Union Army in 1861 to fight in the Civil War.  He was opposed to the slavery of human beings in the United States and had subtle pressure from his family and peers to fight in the noble battle.  Last week, he is in his first battle - and has to shoot at a fellow human being and sees two of his regiment killed.  This woke up Zach’s basic belief - that shall not kill.  

*****

The attack on Fort St. Philip resulted in a Union army victory. The Sixth Commandment of the Ten Commandments said “Thou shalt not kill”.   Wasn’t there some way to settle this national calamity without a war? Zach was confronted with a personal dilemma.

The 12th Connecticut Regiment went back to Ship Island to recover and plan for the next attack - New Orleans.

*****

Zach Higgenbottom had taken geography as a student, but those lessons were terribly incomplete as the 12th Connecticut Regiment advanced up the Mississippi River.  He could identify Louisiana on a map, and point out New Orleans, but the bayous, backwoods, swamps, and meandering of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans were like a maze without an exit.  

He vaguely remembered something about the Mississippi River delta that pushed tons of sediment from the north into the ocean and kept extending the Mississippi River out into the Gulf of Mexico.  There wasn’t much of a current on the lower Mississippi River which had carried the dirt from as far away as Minnesota and even the Dakotas.  At places along the river, it was a mile wide and the channel was deep enough to take ocean-going vessels. 

The goal of the Union Army for the next month was to take New Orleans which was a major seaport for the Confederacy.  The area to the north or New Orleans was a prime cotton growing area - and cotton was a cash crop that helped finance the Confederacy.  Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which removed the seeds from the cotton which was a long and costly process.  Cotton was ideal for making fabric and clothes.  And cotton fetched a good price in France and England - and the Confederacy needed money to buy equipment and ammunition.

If the Union forces could stop the Confederacy from shipping cotton to Europe, it could stop the flow of money back to the Confederacy for weapons and warfare.   

*****t

But, for Zach Higgenbottom, the war - after one skirmish - was not what he signed up for. Yes, end slavery; yes, keep the Union whole, and yes, united we stand, divided we fall.  BUT - killing humans still wasn’t good.  

Zach remembered his Bible lessons where Moses was told by God to get rid of the people living in Canaan - the promised land.  And how Joshua continued that work after Moses’ death - and even then King David - still was killing people.  

And, he also remembered his New Testament readings - about loving your enemies, and that everybody is your neighbor and you were to love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus said “Turn the other cheek”, and “forgive”.

Zach felt as if he met a Confederate soldier one-on-one and they both had guns, that he couldn’t shoot a human being that was just about the same as he was.  He’d put up his hands and surrender.  And if the Confederate soldier shot him, he’d be on his way to heaven as a martyr.

*****

Zach was taking long walks by himself and praying a lot.  All the American Soldiers were given Bibles when they enlisted, but Zach had his own Bible - given to him at the First Congregational Church in Litchfield Connecticut when he was in first grade. He had written comments in the margins, and circled passages that were special to him.  It was well-worn and actually coming apart at the seams because of use.

***

There wasn’t a chaplain assigned to the 12th Connecticut Regiment, but one of the lieutenants was Daniel Wheeler from Canton Connecticut.  He had heard that Daniel was in the theology program at Yale College in New Haven.  One evening at the evening mess, Zach got up the courage to sit by Daniel and get to know him.  

Zach wanted to jump right in and say to Daniel, “I can’t shoot another human being, even if we don’t agree on things like slavery”.  But instead, Zach sat down and asked Daniel, “I heard you were in the theology school at Yale.  Is that right?”.

Lieutenant Wheeler answered, “Yes, I hope to be a minister some day”.

Zach asked, “How long does it take to become a minister?”

Daniel Wheeler said “It takes two full years.  The first year, I took all classes - Pentateuch, Psalms, Gospels, Greek, Sermon Making, then I interned as a visiting pastor in North Branford Connecticut  that didn’t have a pastor.  If I had stayed at Yale this year, it would be about the same except I have to preach more.  And, then a second internship as a visiting pastor.  Now, that’s not really deep enough.  I have to get accepted to the seminary - do I really believe in Jesus Christ, am I called to be a minister.  I get quizzed over my values, my direction, my fervor almost weekly.  I took a leave of absence after my first internship and I will be returning when my term of duty is done.”

Daniel asked, “I should know you, what’s your name and background?’

Zach answered “Yes.  I’m Zach Higgenbottom from Litchfield.  I’m pretty serious about my faith.  My family worships at the First Congregational Church in Litchfield.  My father has been an elder for many years as well as a Sunday School teacher.  I think he wanted to be a minister, but he was the eldest son and so he got the farm.  I graduated from finishing school last May, but as the war was starting, I seemed to be pressured to join the army.  For me, slavery is a mortal sin in society. We are all human beings and keeping humans as chattel is abominable. 

Zach then asked, “What does it cost to go to seminary?”

Daniel said, “Generally about $400 a year.  Some men work out arrangements that they will pay back the cost over five years when they become a minister.”

Zach almost collapsed “400 a year.  I didn’t know it was that expensive.”

Zach sat quietly for a minute not knowing how to say he didn’t want to shoot at any humans.

Daniel pushed his chair back and acted like he was going to stand up.

Zach lowered his voice, “Lieutenant Wheeler, I have a problem can I talk to you about it?”

Daniel leaned back in to listen to Zach.  There weren’t many in the mess hall now.  “Go ahead, Zach, what’s on your mind?”

Zach slowly quietly started, “I joined the army as I wanted to stop slavery.  I wanted this country to stay as one, not separated into little kingdoms like Europe.  First, it might be the southern states, then maybe the New England states might say that they disagree with the western states, or maybe New York thinks it is more important than Connecticut.”

Daniel Wheeler said quietly, “Go on”.

Zach continued, “In the battle of Fort St. Philip, I froze.  I didn’t want to shoot at a fellow human being, even if we disagreed on some issues.  That rebel soldier is like me, made in the image and likeness of God.  I don’t want to shoot at another person.  I’m not sure I can, even if I’m ordered to.  Does that make sense?”

Daniel Wheeler thought for a minute.  So, you are talking about Jesus saying “Love your enemies?”.

Zach nodded, “Or like the Good Samaritan of being a good neighbor and I’m to love my neighbor as myself.  Maybe like Isaiah who wrote about beating your sword into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks.  Nor shall they study war anymore.”.

Daniel looked at Zach.  “So, when you did your training and shot your rifles, didn’t your instructors tell you that you’d be shooting at human beings?”

Zach hung his head down.  “It was like they told us we’d be shooting rebels or atheists Not men like me.  It was like I was going to be shooting at monsters.  I could see the face of the man I shot at the other day.  He looked like me - maybe a young man just out of school - just like me, maybe even a farmer’s son like me, or somebody with a spiritual thirst like me.  Maybe he was pressured into the army for his family’s image like I was.”

Zach continued, Lieutenant Wheeler,, I just don’t think I can shoot to kill a man.  I could shoot too high or too low and maybe scare the man, but I can’t shoot him.:

Lieutenant Daniel Wheeler was listening intently to Zach Higgenbottom.  The poor kid was just that - a kid, away from home for the first time, who joined the army because it was the right thing to do. And, now he was in over his head.  If he went to Captain Morton, he’d be laughed at and told to go shoot those heathen Confederates.  You couldn’t be a good Christian if you thought having slaves was alright.  

Daniel knew of a few conscientious objectors - who objected to killing people like Zach did.

He paused for a long minute before replying.  “Zach, first, let’s pray.”  Then Lieutenant Daniel Wheeler prayed, “Lord give wisdom to Zach Higgenbottom, help him to understand what war is about, give him understanding and peace. Amen”.

Then Daniel continued.  ‘Zach, I’m going to think about this and pray about this tonight, and I hope you will too.  Bless you, my friend”.

That seemed to be the code for Zach and Daniel to get up and leave the mess hall.

*****

Like the past week after their first skirmish with the Confederates, Daniel got more withdrawn.  In the evenings around the camp, he would walk for maybe two hours, praying, thinking, and just numbing himself.

Charles Williams noticed that Zach was preoccupied and a little moody.  Charles had noticed that Zach had talked with Lieutenant Wheeler at the end of dinner.  He then was watching Zach in the barracks to take a walk.  Charles gave Zach about three minutes and then quietly followed him.  Some of the guys in the barracks were playing whist or poker, and one of the harmonica players was just playing chords and improvising on his instrument.  Others seemed to be writing letters back home. Charles looked around the main barracks room to see if anybody was watching him and slipped quietly out the door.  Zach was heading towards the east end of Ship Island - where there were trees and deer.  He knew that Zach liked that area as it was as close as he could find on this southern island surrounded by ocean. 

Charles had an idea of where his friend was headed, and in the last three months, he had explored many of the trails and quickly walked on alternative paths to reach a crossroads of paths.

Charles got to the location quickly and sat down on a rock motionless.  Soon Zach came into the clearing.  Zach didn’t anticipate anybody being there and was going to walk on further  Charles said just loud enough, “Hey Zach - do you want to talk?”

It did surprise Zach.  “Hey Charles, what are you doing here?”

Charles answered “I’m worried about one of my best friends that seems to be depressed and moody.  Maybe you know him?  His name is Zach.”

Charles remained on his rock waiting for Zach to respond.  

Zach was quiet - it seemed like he had a choice to make, deny that he was depressed or open up to his friend.

Initially, Zach answered, “I’m just taking a walk.  It keeps my brain active.”

Charles quietly answered him, “I don’t think so.  You’re bothered by something, and I think I know what it is.”

Zach was quiet.

Charles also just was quiet.

Who was going to break first?  Charles tried another approach.  “Okay, you’re in the army, a long way from home, and you are finding that the army isn’t what you expected it to be.  You don’t want to shoot and kill another human being.”

Zach tried to control it but gave a little gasp when Charles nailed the issue so soon.  Had Charles overheard his conversation with Lieutenant Wheeler?  Did Charles see him hesitate to shoot in their first battle?  Was it so obvious that Charles could guess it so easily?

Whether it was the pressure of the situation or just something that needed to happen, Zach started to cry.  The sobs got louder and heavier.  Charles got up off his rock and went to Zach and hugged him tightly.  

Zach cried but in between sobs he added “I am such a failure”. Charles sensed it wasn’t time for him to talk but to show compassion and love to his friend from back home.  

“Let’s take a walk”, suggested Charles.  

Zach seemed to nod ‘okay’ and they took a few steps down the trail on the right.  The trails were not really trails but paths that the deer had made during their time on Ship Island.  The sun was starting to sink into the ocean to the west of the island and there was a golden sunset.

“So buddy.  What can I do to help?”  Asked Charles.

Zach started slowly and barely above a whisper.  “I signed up for the noble act of ending slavery, and to keep this nation united.  Yes, I’m in the United we stand, divided we fall, group.  I expected to be shooting at monsters, at terrible, ugly, hideous, treacherous villains.   But, in that first battle, I froze.  I was shooting at myself - some kid about my age, maybe not a slave holder, but a young man who got up and milked cows in the morning and again in the afternoon.  A man who had dreams of a wife and a family, of a man who on Sunday mornings sat in a church singing the same hymns we sing.  Singing about God’s Amazing Grace.  

I just couldn’t shoot at a human being defending his homeland against invaders trying to push their values onto them.

I’m such a failure.  I can’t go home and I can’t shoot at other human beings.  My God is bigger than that.”

Charles listened to his friend as they ambled through the woods and back to the main part of Ship Island.  

Charles asked, “Is that what you were talking about with Lieutenant Wheeler?”

Zach answered, “Yes.  He is studying for the ministry at Yale College.  I thought he might understand.  He prayed with me.”

Charles was silent for a second.  “Okay, so you can’t kill another human being, even if they love slavery and want to break the Union apart.”

Zach nodded.

Charles added, “And you are in the Army where you are supposed to shoot the enemy.”

Again Zach nodded.

“And you can’t quit as you couldn’t go home, and you’d have to walk through Confederate territory for weeks.  If you go home, your family would disown you as a coward and not a loyal American”, said Charles, 

Again, Zach nodded.  

Charles asked, “So, what can be done?”

Zach started, “Yes, I don’t want to kill anybody, I can’t go home, I’d be a disgrace to my family and kicked out.  

“I’m grasping at straws.  I could be a cook, a builder, a supply man, maybe even a medic.”

It was Charles’ turn to nod in agreement.  “Could you be a chaplain?”

Zach answered, “I’m not sure - there probably are some requirements there as well. “

The two friends walked back to the barracks together.  They talked about farming.  In the last weeks of April, their family and friends back home would be starting planting soon.

*****

Lieutenant Daniel Wheeler didn’t have much time to think and pray about Zach Higgenbottom.  He had been sent on a secret mission to New Orleans to spy out the area for a Union Army attack.  

A small steamboat took Daniel to the eastern edge of Lake Pontchartrain and then a rowboat with just Daniel and Oscar Lemur crossed Lake Pontchartrain and moored along a small inlet on the eastern edge of New Orleans.  They had to avoid fishermen and crocodiles to get close to the city.  

The Union commanders thought they could come up the Mississippi River channel with cannons on the bow.  The Union army already took St. Philip and Jackson which was hampering international shipping on the lower Mississippi River.  

If they could sneak some men into New Orleans, they could be snipers behind the Confederate lines and attack the rebels from the river, but also be sniping from behind - like wasps.

With the prisoners of war taken from the St. Philip battle, Daniel and Oscar had Confederate army clothes in a bag.  They were dressed in longshoreman style.  But if they needed to disguise themselves as soldiers they could.  But wearing the Confederate clothes might cause somebody to ask why they weren’t at their base.  

Daniel and Oscar had been talking with the prisoners at Ship Island, not so much to get information but to hear their accents and hopefully pass as natives.  

They ambled around New Orleans like Confederate Soldiers on leave for the day.  They observed rail tracks into a building near the Mississippi River.  They loitered around until they saw a cart loaded with ammunition being pulled out of the building and down to the banks of the river.

Daniel whispered to Oscar.  “I think this is the Confederate armory.  If we could somehow blow this up, it would put a big dent in the rebel plans.” 

They made their way to the port docks on the Mississippi River. There were soldiers around, but nobody stopped and questioned them. If a squad, maybe 10 men, or even less, could get into New Orleans like they did, they could get the rebels in the crossfire as well as burn down the armory.

On the docks were lots of black men, loading, unloading, carrying, and working. Daniel had seen a few blacks in New Haven, Connecticut. There were even a few black men at Yale College.  His father told Daniel about a slave ship, the Amistad, where the slaves overpowered the crew and sailed it to New Haven.  He thought some of the blacks in New Haven were because of the Amistad incident.

Daniel and Oscar were trying to be just two dock workers in an area of dock workers.  They watched ships being loaded and unloaded.  It seemed as if shipping was done more by a flotilla approach - where a Confederate gunboat would lead a group of international ships down the river.  And, although they passed the St. Philip outpost the gunboat would be ready to fire if needed.  Then the Confederate gunboat would anchor in the Gulf of Mexico and make the return trip to the city when there was a group of ships arriving with goods.  

Daniel and Oscar made their plans.  They would change into the Confederate uniforms this afternoon and go on one of the international ships and announce they were to help escort the ship to international waters.  They could see how the process unfolded. 

Daniel and Oscar could see the group getting ready to leave and picked the third from the last of ten ships to ride.  They got on the ship, which was headed to France without any problems, and positioned themselves to ride on the bow as the group sailed down the river.  The crew was French and Oscar was of French background and could converse some with the crew.  

By Fort St. Philip, they jumped off and swam to the fort, now under Union control.  

Maybe the most dangerous part was to get allowed into the St. Philip fort while dressed as Confederate Soldier.  Daniel had picked up a stick and had a white t-shirt which he removed and put on the stick as a white flag of surrender.  

Lookouts at the St. Philip fort saw the white flag and weren't sure what was going on.  Two men in Confederate uniforms coming towards the fort with their hands up?  Were the two men deserting?

Three men came out of the fort to meet Daniel and Oscar.  Daniel yelled “We’re Union soldiers from Ship Island, we were on a spying mission.  The men from the fort helped Daniel and Oscar into the fort.

The St. Philip fort was to be restocked with more men and more supplies the next day, so Daniel and Oscar waited to return to Ship Island with the restocking crew.

*****

The restocking ship also had more men for the fort.  Ship Island was growing to be almost a city. The restocking ship had chased the Confederate boat off from the mouth of the Mississippi.  Slowly the Union was taking control of the southern end of the river.

That night, Daniel was writing a report of their spying mission.  Somehow, he thought of Zach Higgenbottom and the young man’s dilemma - and he prayed for Zach. And, he had an idea where Zach could help the war effort and yet not shoot at anybody.

*****

At Ship Island, most of the 12th Connecticut Regiment were assigned to build new quarters for a larger group of Union soldiers.  Yes, they could have a tent city, but rain was frequent and buildings could give some protection from the rain. 

A good source of clay was found in the center of the island, along with sand, grass, and water.  Some of the soldiers dug the clay and others mixed the ingredients.  The raw bricks were set out under tarps to dry, and then baked in a kiln.  

Zach was on a bricklaying team. A team of horses brought the bricks from the brick-making area to the western fort area.  The bricklaying team used mortar and twine to keep the rows of bricks lined up.  Zach was trying to do a great job laying bricks. When officers walked by, Zach tried to say “Hello” so he would be noticed.  Two of the officers did say “Good job soldier” as they walked by.  Maybe Zach could be reappointed to a building crew.  Doing hard work helped get Zach out of his depression.  

Generally once a week a Union ship had been bringing new recruits to Ship Island.  More young men either for patriotic fervor for their nation or because of peer pressure from their families or by pressure from their communities were joining the army.  It was getting increasingly difficult in New England to be the only male between the ages of 16 and 28 that was not in the military.

The entire camp at Ship Island was busy.  From 8 in the morning to 8 at night there were men at the shooting range practicing killing cardboard targets. (Zach wondered if any of them would also be unable to shoot at another human being).   Others were digging clay and making bricks. Laying bricks or doing other camp chores like cooking and cleaning kept the men busy.  The men were outdoors for ten hours a day and Zach like the rest of the men had a great farmer tan.

Some men were appointed to make Ketchum Grenades.  Such devices could be lobed over walls and exploded.  In the tip of the grenade was a percussion cap that set off the gunpowder.  They weren’t perfect as they needed to land on their tip, but when used properly did cause havoc.  

******

Back from his spying trip to New Orleans, Lieutenant Daniel Wheeler had an idea for Zach Higgenbottom.  He had to run it passed Frank Henry Peck, the overall commander at Ship Island

*****

Thus ends week two of Zach Higgenbottom in the Civil War.  Does Zach overcome his aversion to shooting other men? Is there a way to be supportive of the end goals of the war without bloodshed?

We’ll see more next Saturday!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, JUNE 17, 2023