George C. Richardson would like to thank Dianna Burns for the wonderful pen and ink drawings at the beginning of each chapter of Drummer. Dianna is an elementary art teacher at Ivy Hall Elementary School in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Chapter 1
While serving dinner to the twenty Confederate officers, Johnny Jackson overheard that two companies of the Second Pennsylvania Infantry were camped less than five miles north along the road to Frederick, Maryland. It was now an hour past midnight. The guards on picket duty around the Confederate encampment had changed and it was quiet again. The rebel soldiers had settled down to sleep. Johnny had long dreamed of this moment. Now, as he lay wrapped in his tattered blanket, his mind raced with thoughts of freedom. Was this his chance to escape?
Yes, his mind was made up. Now was the time. With the Union Army only five miles away he couldn't pass up this chance for freedom and a new life. Johnny's crude bed lay one hundred feet from the nearest Confederate soldiers but they didn't pay much attention to him, a common slave. Finally, he could stand it no longer. He quietly threw off his blanket and moved quickly in the direction of the latrine. If someone stopped him he would say that he needed to relieve himself.
When no one challenged Johnny, he continued walking until he was a hundred yards into the woods surrounding the Confederate camp. Johnny then turned north and slowed his pace. He found a small trail that allowed him to move through the woods without making a sound. Whenever possible he stayed in the darkest shadows cast by the full moon. He had never believed that being black could ever be an advantage, but his dark body blended well with the blackness of the woods.
As he rounded a bend in the trail, Johnny gasped with fear, his heart pounding in his chest. There, not fifty feet in front of him along the same trail, stood a Confederate soldier on picket duty leaning against a large oak tree. Johnny froze. His eyes followed the soldier's every movement and he prepared to run into the woods to try to avoid being captured. After a moment, Johnny realized that the soldier's back was to him and he was looking north toward the Yankee lines.
Johnny turned and eased back around the bend in the trail. When he stopped again he could hardly breath. His knees trembled and his heart raced so hard he felt it would burst from his chest. Johnny fought to gain control. He stood stark still in the dark shadows waiting, hoping not to be heard by the Confederate soldier. In time his heartbeat slowed and his breathing came easier. Strength returned to his knees and legs. As he stood on the trail Johnny realized that he needed a plan to get around the Confederate soldier to continue his journey to the Union lines and freedom.
Johnny traced his steps back along the trail and found a half-hidden path that headed northeast into the woods, at an angle away from the soldier. The path was not as clear and Johnny crept carefully in an effort not to make a sound. As he moved through a growth of saplings Johnny was startled to find that he was on the edge of a dirt road. He stood looking in disbelief at the road. Then he realized that just a short distance to his left the Confederate soldier stood watching the same road, waiting for Union troops and slaves trying to escape to the North.
The full moon lit the road in a bright glow, making deep shadows from the overhanging branches of the trees. Even with the cover of night Johnny knew that there would be no way to avoid the soldier if he stayed on the road heading north. He turned and carefully made his way along the road to the south away from the soldier until he approached a large tree with branches that covered the whole road in deep shadows. With his heart again racing, Johnny used the darkest shadows to creep across the road and move into the trees on the opposite side from the soldier. He kneeled down to catch his breath and to find a path through the trees and out of possible sight of any Confederate pickets.
Johnny was now in shadows so dark that it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of his face. Crawling on his hands and knees, he managed to wiggle through the young saplings until he was out of sight of anyone on the road. He lay waiting for his strength to return so that he could see what other difficulties were in his path to freedom.
After a few long minutes Johnny stood up slowly and looked around. To his right was an open pasture aglow in the moonlight. He could see a few cows lying down and some grazing. Johnny knew that if he could see the cows, there was no doubt he would be seen if he tried to cross the pasture. He must avoid all open space or end up back at the Confederate camp tied to a pole with his back feeling the searing pain of the cow strap. Between the road and the pasture Johnny noticed a narrow cow path that moved through the trees. This path would be the perfect way for him to avoid the road and the moonlight.
As Johnny eased along the cow path, he suddenly heard voices and froze in his tracks. Looking in the direction of the voices he saw the white faces of two soldiers across the road. As he stood in the dark shadows listening, he heard one of the soldiers say, "I's the last picket on this here road! The next man be up there in the woods about a hundred feet yonder."
Johnny quietly continued down the cow path staying in the darkest shadows until he was sure that he was clear of all Confederate soldiers. He inched carefully through the trees and out onto the dirt road. Trying to stay out of the bright moonlight, Johnny hurried as fast as he could north toward the Union encampment.
