General Georgia's Orders...

General Georgia had no idea what a reprieve he had been given, he only knew it was quite amusing to see the vaunted Third Division retreat more or less in disarray. Nevermind the fact the same hailstorm that was pelting the gray-clad soldiers was also pelting his men. He was under a porch.

The thought of pursuing the Confederates never really crossed his mind. Georgia was the last man to seek a fight, something his men were beginning to appreciate. Especially today.

By the afternoon, the storms had cleared the ridge and he was able to send an aide to Brownsville, where they had a telegraph. The aide was ordered to send a report to Washington then ask for swift reinforcement.

The next morning’s papers in Washington would show restrained optimism. “Rabid Gen’l Retreats from Heavenly Fury” one headline read the next day. But those in the know knew better. That number did not include General Georgia.

His toughest decision came by late afternoon as the sun was drying the ground and making the roads quite passable again. It would no longer tire them men to march along them, so he had to decide if he would retreat back to the ridge above and take up defensive positions, or if he should stay the night in town.

The town would be less defensible, and it could invite an attack, but it had one critical feature the ridge lacked – women.

So as General Georgia surveyed the town from horseback, ostensibly surveying it for defense, he made a point to ride near as many houses as he could to spy on the women. If he could just find one whose face was fair or bosom was sufficient, he might make a quick jab, then retreat back to the ridge before midnight. But the pickings were decidedly slim.

Even the silverware his men “liberated” seemed tarnished and worthless.

As he was about to give up his survey and pronounce the position “untenable” (which would have been a very wise military assessment) his aide returned with the War Department’s staff colonel in tow, come riding up from the night before.

Both men saluted while on horseback, then dismounted. Handing their horses to a handler, to two men found a fencepost over which to caucus.

“They expect you to fight, General,” the colonel said.

“Well, I may have to. But I think we can handle it.”

The colonel raised his eyebrows in surprise. “General, they expect you to fight, but they do not expect you to win.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Georgia replied with evident sarcasm. “Why the optimism?”

“General, look at it from Washington’s perspective. A week ago they caught this man and his division disappearing into the mountains. Nobody knew where he was going or why. They just saw him disappear. Now, he reappears after completing an apparently impossible overland march across some of the thickest woods of all Virginia and Maryland state. And, he brings his artillery and baggage train with him, intact.”

The colonel did not know how false that last statement was about the baggage train.

“Clearly we’ve underestimated the Father General, again.”

“So now he becomes my sole responsibility?” General Georgia inquired critically.

“No, well, yes, for the moment. The War Department is considering the withdrawal of forces from Virginia to stop the Father General.”

“Well, we could use another brigade or so.”

The colonel gave a long, disbelieving stare to General Georgia.

“General, they’re pulling a corps to stop him.”

“A corps!”

“Yes. In fact, they’re pulling enough men to make the situation in Virginia quite dangerous. But they want Father General stopped, at all costs.”

The two men silently regarded the new understanding for a moment.

“General,” the colonel added, “Your new orders are to stop this man. Stop him and his division from getting past you. Whatever it takes, no matter how many men or how much material, you must stop him. That corps won’t arrive for days. You sir, are all we’ve got. You need to do this, or die trying.”

The die trying part didn’t sound too appealing to General Georgia.

“I think I’ve heard enough, colonel. With your leave, I’d like to get back to what I was doing.”

“Of course, carry on.” The officers saluted each other and returned to their horses. As the colonel rode back to his telegraph in Brownsville, General Georgia turned to his staff and dismissed them to a man. If this was going to be his last day on Earth, he might as well make it count, and he didn’t want them to know about the young woman he spied curiously watching him from a window the next house over…

Another excellent portrait of Gen. Georgia. However there is again one niggly detail..the wagons. Given the bounty of Maryland, he would never have enough wagons. Requisitioning them always leads to intrusive questions. But enemy wagons are of no ones concern. Their contents are unimportant, probably full of bibles and weevil infested food. Separating the Father General from his trains would spur the good general to give battle. The planning of such would become his first priority after calling on the girl next door.

Uncle Billy wrote:Another excellent portrait of Gen. Georgia. However there is again one niggly detail..the wagons. Given the bounty of Maryland, he would never have enough wagons. Requisitioning them always leads to intrusive questions. But enemy wagons are of no ones concern. Their contents are unimportant, probably full of bibles and weevil infested food. Separating the Father General from his trains would spur the good general to give battle. The planning of such would become his first priority after calling on the girl next door.

Come and take them, General Georgia.

-Father General

I shall.