Make It End

This was written by my son.  His Grandfather's name was H.                                                                      

                                                                         Introduction

           In 1862 was the day I got myself into something I wasn’t prepared for, the Civil War.

            “Man, I can’t wait to whoop those Jonny rebs!” said Timmy excitedly.

            Timmy and I lived together since before kindergarten, and for years after the war.

            “I know I might even see my dad!!!” I said.  “The rebs might even surrenders before we get there.”   We’ll be back by Halloween, I thought.

            “Next!!” said the man from the draft board, I stepped up getting nervous.

            “Age? Remember, you must be over 18.” he asked.

            “Over 18” I said even though I’m only 17.  I had a slip of paper under my foot that said 18.

            “Name” he said.

            “H. Chine” I said proudly.

            “You are in the regiment of the 20^th Maine, good luck rookie” He said with a sly grin.

            When I was going home a soldier came running up to me.

            “H. H. H. H. H. H. H. H.!!!!!!!!!” He said

            “What!!!!!” I screamed back.

            “Your dad’s dead, by the hand of Robert Hole” He said.

            No!!! For one of the few times in my life I was furious. How dare he kill him!!!! Now my mom is going to be all alone. I’m going to kill him like he killed my fath-. I stopped.  Ma will be all alone, with no one.  I’ll have to end the war as fast as I can.

Chapter 1

            After a year of hard training we were finally marching into battle.

            “I can’t believe that it’s been three years since it started. You’ll finally get your revenge H.” said Timmy. “I still can’t believe that even after a year you still want to kill Robert Hole or whoever it is. For all you know he might be dead?”

            “I know that he’s alive, I can feel it.” I yawned.  “If you don’t mind I’m changing the subject. No I can’t believe it started three years ago. I mean they said it would last a week.”

            “Hey, H. I think we’re stopping for the night.” Timmy said.

            .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .

            All of the tents were up at around 11:00 at night and Timmy and I were talking to a clean man and a dirty man.

            “Man, I can’t wait to whoop every reb I see!!” said the dirty man.

            “I can’t wait t’il its over.” I said shaking my head.

            “Don’t you want to fight for your country!!” shouted the dirty man standing up.

            “Ya, I agree, but I also want to live.” I said calmly. The man sat down.

            “I just hope the slaves are freed.” said the clean man.

            “There are actually a lot of them coming through our part of Maine” said Timmy smiling.

            “I don’t care who wins I just want to kill!!!!!!!!!” the dirty man said.  “When will we go into battle already?!?!?!”

            “He’ll get himself killed” said Timmy

            I nodded slowly so the man wouldn’t see.

Chapter 2

            “Get into position!!!!”  said the Colonel.

            A few days later we were in Chancellorsville. My first battle.

            “Aim and fire at will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He screamed shooting his pistol.

            The words hit my head, finally. All of a sudden there was a sound like popcorn, but I knew it was bullets. Then I saw lines of gray go red. I heard the same popcorn noise but softer. My curiosity turned to fear and disgust as men left and right fell injured or dead.

            “So this is why we haven’t won yet!!!” Timmy said over the sound of his rifle.

            I was to busy reloading and firing to respond.  More men fell left and right. Then I heard a scream unlike the others. I knew what happened. I looked to my left where Timmy was standing; there he lay with a bloody stomach.  He was looking at me in a way that I knew he wanted me not to worry.

            “Good luck” He said in his dying breath, his last breath.

            “NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!” I yelled. I looked in front of me. There was a one armed long bearded man with a pistol still smoking. I quickly reloaded, aimed and fired at him.

            The man next to him went down. I heard a faint “No!” and he looked at me the way I looked at him, I killed his friend.  I knew what was coming, I quickly got under cover, and then I heard a ting as a bullet hit the wall I was under. Man, that guy has good aim, I thought as I reloaded.

             Before I could finish I heard someone yell “Retreat!” Then I saw men in blue run and fall as they followed orders.

            I looked at what was left of Timmy,”I’m not leaving you here” I said to him as I picked him up over my shoulder and ran. 

Chapter 3

After I burned Timmy and put his ashes into a jar for his family. I walked over to the clean and dirty man had been.  Only the clean man was there.

            “Hi, ware’s the other guy?” I asked.

            “He’s dead!” He half sobbed half screamed.

            “Listen, I’m sorry for your loss.  I lost a friend out there too.”  I said out of sympathy.

            “Why doss the war have to take every single last drop of joy and friendship?”  He sobbed.

            “At least we have each oth-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because of the man’s sobbing.

            “I killed so many people! I saw so many slaves die!! If I was the enemy I would have killed you” He said before he lost consciousness.

Chapter 4

            As we were chasing the army of Northern Virginia, I realized that I was alone. The clean man wasn’t good company.

            Now I understand how and why my dad died and I’ll never forget as hard as I try.

            At first when we were walking into battle everyone was talking about winning. Now that we were walking away from battle even though we were walking in silence it was obvious that everyone was thinking the opposite.

.           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .          .

            A while later the person next to me all of a sudden screamed out “I can’t take it any more!!!” There was a loud bang and a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared he was lying on the floor with a quarter of his head missing. Surprisingly he was smiling.

            Then I realized that my ammo and powder were low. So I bent down and took his.

Chapter 5

            Three days latter we were in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, they were on our turf now.

            The Colonel just made a speech that we were the end of the line and that we can’t retreat no matter what.  Retreat meant the whole army would collapse.

            A minute later rebs came out of the trees and the order was given to fire, and smoke filled the air yet again. Then someone cried out “They’re retreating!!!” which was followed by cheering.  But then the bullets came and then came by more death.  This went on over and over until the living and dead were running out of ammo. Then I heard the Colonel said “Bayonets!”

            Is he crazy? People are dying faster then we can count, this will double that rate, I thought as I fixed my bayonet.

            The order was given to charge and I with my fellow men got up over the wall of dead and ran slashing and stabbing. I was stabbing someone when I saw the one armed bearded man, I charged at him. He raised his pistol, I saw the puff of smoke then I tripped. I was flying in the air when I felt a slash and everything went black.

Chapter 6

            Some time later I woke up on some soft lump. Then I realized that I had a huge gash in my leg.

            “AAAAAAAAA!!!!” I screamed.

            Then after an hour,  I finally got up and leaned on a tree. Then I noticed that I was lying on the one armed man. My bayoneted gun inches away from where my head was

            “Water….Water…OOOOOOOOO” He moaned “Wait a minute you killed my best friend, you son of a gun!!!”

            “You killed mine. And sorry I was aiming for you.” I said half sarcastically. I don’t know why but it feels like I know this guy from somewhere.

            “What’s your name?” I asked.

            “Why should I tell you? You best friend killing Billy Yank!” He wheezed.

            “Because if you don’t I’ll finish what my gun started” I said putting my hand on the trigger.

            “Robert Hole, there are you happy now!?” Robert whined.

            “You k-killed my d-dad, you killed T-Timmy and nearly killed me twice, I’LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!” I yelled yanking the bayonet out of him.

            Then I stole his pistol, ammo and saber and limped away.

Afterword

            Years later Vick (the clean man) and I came home like heroes. I gave Timmy’s mom his ashes.  I told my crying mom about my adventure in Gettysburg. 

            In the war I got used to using my gun like a cane so I kept it with me even though it brings these terrible, guilty memories with it.