Rifles for Watie

As Jeff and his regiment crosses into Arkansas, they hear cannon fire. Bill Earle complains about a blister on his foot, as their new commander has marched them over 50 miles over the last three days. Jeff doesn’t mention that he is enjoying marching in the Arkansas weather. Although the others respond nervously to the sound of the cannon, Jeff is excited that he might finally see battle. They discuss their new commander, a doctor named Blunt. Their new sergeant, Pike, orders them to quiet down. Pike shows them a piece of anti-Union propaganda, stressing that they are about to face an army that believes they are fighting to protect their homes and families. Jeff and the other Union soldiers are shocked to hear how the rebels think of them. As they head toward the battle, Jeff notes that the armies on both sides usually avoid fighting in the winter, and that “apparently Blunt, their new commander, was an ignorant chap who had not been school in the accepted military custom” (157). 

The Union cavalry emerges from the woods, ragged from battle. After the cavalry has begun the fight, “now it was the infantry’s job to go in and clean up, if it could” (158). Noah Babbitt spits, cursing the cavalry to Jeff’s confusion. Suddenly, a cannon ball passes overhead, and the infantry drops to the ground in a pile. Clardy orders them back in line, threatening to shoot any soldier who is out of place. As the rebel rifle fire rains around them, Jeff is surprised to discover that he is anxious. The drumline starts to play and Jeff notices Jimmy Lear, focused and determined over his instrument. Jeff and the rest of the infantry follow orders to prepare their bayonets, and Jeff feels some relief when he notices Babbitt next to him. As they head into battle, Jeff finds himself thinking about his family, picturing what they might be doing at that moment. He becomes emotional and quickly suppresses the tears in his eyes.

The soldier next to Jeff falls, and Jeff begins to pray, realizing, “he hadn’t dreamed that war was anything like this” (162). Jeff follows orders to march forward along with the other men, becoming outraged at “how little control a soldier in the ranks had over his own destiny” (162). The Confederate soldiers are in the woods while the Union army advances from an open field. The Union soldiers start taking their coats off and dropping them. Jeff does the same, discovering that he doesn’t believe he’ll need it again because he expects to die. Jeff forces himself forward, reflecting on his desire not to die and be forgotten. On the order to charge, Jeff and the other men rush toward the line of rebel soldiers in brown uniforms. Men start falling all around him, but Jeff sees that Babbitt is still beside him. Jeff drops to the ground to load his rifle, jumps up to fire a shot, and continues to repeat this until they reach the line of soldiers.

The two armies meet and begin hand-to-hand combat. Jeff launches himself at a rebel soldier, attacking with his bayonet. They both drop their muskets, and Jeff knocks the other soldier over by throwing himself at the man’s legs. They struggle until Babbitt appears and hits the other soldier hard in the head with his rifle. Jeff and Babbitt watch as thousands of rebel soldiers begin to redirect towards an artillery unit that is firing cannon shots at the Confederate forces. Babbitt suggests that they go and help. Jeff, who “didn’t think much of the idea” (166), agrees without question as “by that time he would have followed Noah anywhere” (166). The artillery unit has taken a beating, and the lieutenant begs Jeff and Babbitt to take over the cannon as the soldier who was manning it deserted. The lieutenant shows them how to load and fire the cannon as a mounted officer approaches. Babbitt identifies him as Blunt.

Jeff loads, swabs, and reloads the cannon on the lieutenant’s orders, surrounded by gunfire. One artillery unit has been destroyed by sharpshooters who have been taking out one cannoneer at a time. One Union soldier, a Native American, who is driving one of the guns, is hit and dies. Confederate fire suddenly slows down and stops. The rebels retreat, and the battle is over. The lieutenant takes Jeff and Babbitt’s names. Jeff, exhausted and filthy, cannot believe he survived. Babbitt asks Jeff how he felt about his first battle, since he has been clamoring to fight since he joined. Jeff replies, “Noah, anybody that ever joins anything is crazy” (171). They are both thirsty, but the other men and their horses reach the nearby creek first and drink it dry. Hungry, thirsty, and tired, Jeff and Babbitt find some straw and fall asleep, huddled together for warmth.

The next morning, Jeff and Babbitt wake up to walk 14 miles with no food. They arrive at Rhea’s Mills where they are greeted with supply trains. They eat ravenously and the gear they lost in battle is replaced before Jeff and Babbitt both collapse to rest in the sun. Jeff thinks about the battle, in which two men from his hometown were killed as well as Sergeant Baird (the officer who had led the group of soldiers that had confiscated livestock from the McComas house and other Confederate families). Although Jeff’s hand is swollen from the bayonet fight, he feels lucky to be alive. They stay there for nine days. Blunt learns that the rebel forces they defeated at Prairie Grove are camped 40 miles away at Van Buren, and he and another general make plans to attack them before they can build their defense.

The day before moving out, Jeff and Babbitt are called forward during the daily inspection. Struck dumb, Jeff watches as General Blunt approaches and reads from a piece of paper. Blunt awards both of them with the Medal of Honor for volunteering to help the artillery unit in the Battle of Prairie Cove. Taken aback, Jeff exclaims, “Shoot, General, […] all we did was load her and swab her” (175). Although other officers give Jeff a dirty look for speaking out, Blunt smiles and asks his name. The next day, which is Christmas, the Union troops begin to march. They stop in the town of Cane Hill, the site of a battle that occurred a month prior. The town has been destroyed, and the soldiers are told they can visit the rebel hospital that seems to cover the entire town.

Jeff goes into a church that has been converted to house wounded soldiers. Surveying them, he reminds himself that these men are the enemy. A Sister of Mercy spots Jeff’s uniform and points him toward another Union soldier who was gravely wounded and dying. Horrified, Jeff recognizes Jimmy Lear, as the doctor informs him that he will die. Jeff is struck by the expression on Jimmy’s face, “the desperate, cheated look of this young Missouri lad who had just been told his life on earth was ebbing” (177-78). Lear recognizes Jeff and begs him to not to leave him. He tells Jeff that he has no family and asks him to take care of his new drum after he dies. Suddenly Sergeant Pike shows up and tells Jeff that it’s time to leave. Jeff promises to hurry. Jimmy asks Jeff to hold his hand while he dies and Jeff weeps as he props Jimmy’s hand up before he has to go.

Jeff is distracted as he marches, grieving. The soldiers receive rations and rest overnight, “but now a new species of torture awaited them” (180). They must wade across the frigid Cove Creek. Soaked, they march until 10 that night, drying off and sleeping until they are awakened at three. More than anything, they are hungry. As they approach Van Buren, they hear cannon fire. Van Buren is a large town, and Jeff wonders tiredly if taking control of it will make any difference. They watch the rebel forces retreating, realizing that the Union has taken Van Buren. As the band begins to play “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Jeff begins to feel a swell of pride in the Union forces, as “he guessed that starving and fighting all day and being marched to death all night was what made a good soldier out of you” (183). Starving, 4,000 Union troops began to scavenge for food in the town. Jeff, Babbitt, and two other young soldiers discover a black man who is leaving a storefront carrying a ham. Terrified, the man tries to hide the ham. Babbitt asks if there are more hams in the store, and the man, relieved, tells him there are. Babbitt grabs the ham and tells him that he should go back in and get another one.

As Jeff and the soldiers slice into the ham and eat, Jeff asks Babbitt what he would have done if the man hadn’t handed the meat over. Babbitt replies, “I ’spect I’da shot him, youngster” (184). Jeff, surprised at his seriousness, realizes that it’s “funny how war changed men” (184). The soldiers ravage the town for food, supplies, and clothing. Jeff hesitates to take anything expensive, but another soldier, Stuart Mitchell, reminds him that the proprietors of the stores are Confederate. However, Jeff can’t find new shoes that are small enough to fit his feet. Jeff and his friends are called back to guard the rebel prisoners. Some of the prisoners make jokes about how soon they can get some “Lincoln coffee” since the southern side has run out of real coffee. Sadly, the prisoners say goodbye to their horses, which are confiscated. Jeff momentarily sympathizes, but then notices that one of the prisoners is wearing a nice, new pair of boots that appear to be his size.

Jeff asks the man, who is clearly an officer, what size his expensive boots are. The officer tells him that they aren’t sized as they were made for his feet. Jeff considers taking them, then changes his mind, pointing out that someone else would probably take them later. A few minutes later, the officer calls him over. His boots have been stolen. He calls Jeff “the only gentleman in the camp” and refers to the others as “thieves” (186). Jeff smiles, recognizing that both armies were looting each other. Without warning, there is cannon fire from the Confederates. Ordered to extract those who have been hurt from the wreckage, Jeff finds a gravely injured prisoner whose three Union escorts have been killed. The prisoner screams in agony until Clardy, irate, kills him by stomping on his face in full view of the entire company.

Jeff, “sickened by the brutal act” (187), shoves Clardy. The rest of the company joins in, pausing only at the sound of cannon artillery. Once the firing ceases, they begin to punish him again, forcing Clardy to salute over and over until he is exhausted. Jeff, who is still angry about Clardy’s actions, goes for a walk alone. He meets a black man who asks him to go and meet a dying man who was once a slave and wants badly to meet a Union soldier before he dies. Moved, Jeff agrees. When he enters the old man’s home, the old man sees him and blesses him before dying. Jeff remembers that this is one of the reasons he and his fellow Union soldiers are fighting. Walking back to camp, Jeff reflects on all that has happened over the last few days. Returning to camp, Jeff receives orders to confiscate any alcohol that his fellow soldiers might return with. Jeff takes most of the liquor from the drunken men who pass through but comes across one container that smells like apple cider and fills his canteen with it. Later, unable to sleep, Jeff tries the cider and begins to feel better. When his friends return to camp, Jeff is drunk, and Babbitt tells him that he’s been drinking applejack, which is much stronger than cider. Babbitt helps him into bed, and the next morning, helps Jeff to fight off his hangover.