never aim. I just shoot where my eyes are looking.” He was told to load his pistol. Isaac fired five rapid shots, hitting four out of five cans, and said, “I don’t know how I missed the fifth can.”
Back at the camp, the old man who had spoken up at the courthouse came over and sat with Will and Isaac. He said his name was Bill Curry. He had been a trapper and hunter out West, in the Rocky Mountains, for years and had come home to visit his ailing mother and was going back West when he got shanghaied to this outfit.
They spent several days around the camp when orders came to saddle their horses and pack their bedrolls and other gear.
Bill told them he was packing everything he had and that he was not coming back. Will and Isaac did the same.
*****
That evening, they rode out, all 150 men, en route to Knoxville, Tennessee. Two days later, they camped outside Greenville, Tennessee. The next day, September 4, 1864, they rode into Greenville.
Morgan’s troops were surprised by a Union patrol. He was shot in the back and died instantly. His men were shot badly and were scattering.
Will, Isaac, and Bill made it into a small wooded area. After dismounting, Bill noticed that Will had been shot. Will called Isaac to his side and said, “Son I’ve been gutshot and don’t have long, so listen to me well. Take my money belt and add it to yours. Then get out of that uniform. There is nothing for you to go back to Kentucky but a hard life and sorrow. Take the horses, and go West, away from this damned war.”
Isaac, with tears in his eyes, said, “Pa, I can’t leave you.”
“Isaac, son, you have never disobeyed me. Now is not the time to start. Ask Bill to come to me. Bill, this is an awful thing to ask, but will you look after my boy? He’s a good boy, but he’s young. I know he will make a good man if someone will guide him.” Then Will slipped away into darkness and crossed over.
Isaac sat, crying, when Bill told him, “We need to bury your pa and make some plans. First, we need to gather all the .44 ammo we can and what grub we can find. That patrol was in such a hurry to take Gen. Morgan’s body and the prisoners into town, but they will be back to police this area. So we have to act fast.”
They gathered up all they could carry on Will’s horse and started West.
That night, Isaac gathered wood for a fire.
Bill said, “Wait, son, don’t light that.”
Isaac said, “Why?”
“You have greenwood. It will send up smoke that can be seen for ten miles. Get dry wood, and drag it up to the timber. That way, the smoke will filter through the leaves and not be seen. And be sure to douse it before dark,” Bill said. “When you have lived in Indian country, it’s best not to be seen. We will travel slow and skirt all the larger towns and make our way to Arkansas.”
So they took their time crossing the state of Tennessee and crossed over to Arkansas.
Conway, Arkansas
It was early January in 1865. The news gathered from farmers and other travelers was that the war was winding down and that the Confederate army was retreating toward the South. One farmer said that Gen. Sherman had marched South all the way to the sea and burned everything in his way, including all the rail lines and ports. So the Confederate army was out of supplies.
*****
Bill looked at Isaac and said, “We best hurry toward West. The outlaws, cutthroats, and deserters will be everywhere.”
After three days of traveling, passing through a scrub oak thicket, Isaac heard shots being fired and a woman screaming.
Bill said, “None of our business, boy.”
Isaac said, “We can’t leave this.” He pulled out his rifle and spurred his mare in the direction of the shots.
With Bill doing the same, at one-eighth of a mile ahead, Isaac spotted a small wagon train of five. Men were shooting at four men taking cover in a crop of large rocks, firing at the wagons. Bill said, “Looks like a bushwhack on those sodbusters.”
Isaac rode his mare at top speed, firing with every step of his horse, hitting two men as he closed the distance. Bill came up, firing as fast as he could. Isaac pulled his Colt and took the other two out who were firing at Bill. The two approached the downed outlaws slowly with guns out and ready. They confirmed all four were dead or dying.
A loud cheer came from the wagons.
Bill said, “Let’s see who those poor souls are and how many are hurt.”
Isaac eased his mare over to the wagons, gun still in his hands.
An old man in his late sixties approached Isaac and said, “Mister, you sure saved our bacon. My name is Jeb Parsons. We just left Conway, Arkansas, about five miles back. Me and my neighbors got foreclosed on our farms and were trying to go back east.”
Bill rode in to tell him all four were dead and that their horses were tied in the woods. By this time, all the farmers and their wives and kids had gathered around. One woman said, “I thought God had sent the archangel Michael to save us.”
Bill said, “We’re sure not angels, ma’am.”
Isaac said, “Why did they attack you?”
Jeb said, “We just withdrew what little money we had out the bank. It’s not much, but it’s all we’ve got. They must’ve followed us from town.”
“Is there any law in Conway?” Bill asked.
One old man said that there was a sheriff’s office.
Isaac said, “If some of you will help me, I will go get them and their horses.”
Bill said, “Just leave the polecats to rot.”
“It would be best if we take them to town.”
Two young boys in their teens came forward and went with Isaac to get the bodies. Bill learned there were four couples with two boys and five girls from eight to seventeen years of age. Isaac returned with his morbid cargo.
Jeb said, “It’s late in the day for you all to travel, and it will soon be dark. Stay, and have supper, and go in the morning.”
Bill said, “I know you all are in a hurry, but you need to accompany us back to town so the sheriff won’t think we just murdered these four polecats.”
“It’s the least we can do, and Billy took a slug in the arm. I guess the town sawbones needs to look at it.”
Bill said, “Well, it’s settled then.”
*****
The sun was dropping fast, leaving the sky bright crimson and gold. The women and girls had the cooking fire going. Bill could not help but notice the girls looking at Isaac and giggling. Isaac was tall with light-brown shoulder-length hair, broad shoulders, dark-brown eyes, dark skin, and downright handsome. The boy he had
