Chapter 3: Greed Is a Deadly Thing

“Mama we are leaving in the morning at first light as I don’t want any trouble with the powers that be on this plantation.” I told my Mama. “Baby, Massa Anderson is a true snake in the grass, we need to bypass breakfast and just get in the wind. Because the farther we are away from here the better I will feel, word amongst those going with us is that they intend to pick the place clean for all the hell they had endured their whole life on this damned plantation! I wish we had never came here, but we were desperate, as you saw what happened over at our place. Many were hurt or killed that didn’t or just couldn’t get away. That is why them there white men burnt the place to the ground to try and hide what all that had been done there. I told Zeke what I am telling you now, so if I was you I would sleep in my clothes, knowing in the morning by the time the wagons are hitched up I want us gone from this plantation!” My Mama said.

“Mama, you do know I am considered the leader of my men, I can’t wait to see how they react to the pretty young sweet little ‘Lady’ with the loud voice telling them what they had better do.” I said.

“Mack, I may not be that much older than you, but I am your Mama, don’t you forget that you are now the only man in my life now, yo Daddy was a hard act to follow. If another steps up then we will see until then you just do as I say and we will get along like always.” Mama said.

Zeke got busy spreading the word before he was able to go somewhere and get a few minutes sleep, a couple of hours later I heard the wagon return and Zeke unhitched it. I laid back down to rest my eyes. Next thing I knew is when I heard movement going on all around me. Finally my Mama kicked my foot. “I just about know that you ain’t still sleeping, Mack, you sleep entirely to light to be sleep with all this movement going on.” Mama said. “I am not asleep Mama, I was just laying here a little longer before I get to it, as I am not used to folks moving around me this early, and no war going on around me too, Mama.” I said. “Well Mr. In-Charge, we want to get moving before what is left of the main house comes to life in the morning. As all of the help here on this plantation, based on promises from both you and Zeke, has everyone here is wanting to see this life where hard work will lead a better life for us all. So unless you intend to shoot your way off this plantation we need to be gone as soon as possible. Plus I have a quick job, a job that I needs for you to do right now! It is very urgent and it is up in the big house, so hurry and get your gun.” Now whatever sleep I was wishing on was over right now, if for nothing else I was curious about this job my mother wanted me to do.

When we went in the kitchen, I saw the fixings for sandwiches, but I by passed all that as I hurriedly followed my mother to Mr. Anderson’s office. “If we are interrupted by anyone, shoot to kill. I have the combination, this man took all of our valuables to keep us trapped here and others so we could not just up and leave. And believe me Mack when I say we knew within a week we wanted to leave this damned place, but we were in his nasty, dirty trap by then. Along with other folks’ stuff that he also took, but some folks he sent away by selling them or trading them away. I want you to clean out all we can carry, Anderson is a son of a bitch, and I know we will be followed because they will intend to rob and or kill us. I am not sure if Anderson is in on this plan, but I would presume so until otherwise notified. The men around here don’t do anything without Anderson’s ok first, though.” Mama said.

My Mama cleaned out the safe out of all of the valuables that she was after quickly, leaving most of the boxes or bags that we didn’t need to take, but Mr. Anderson was relieved of everything of value in the end, but his paper money. We did take all of his records to be destroyed at a later date, as we were in a great big hurry right now. So I got the money back I paid for the horses, plus all of the records of the transaction. When I saw all the thoroughbred horses moving out along with my two Clydesdales, I looked at Zeke. “I raised a good many of these horses, I am not leaving them behind to the tender mercies of that son of a bitch Anderson. Most of the guards are knocked out like the family, the rest are no longer worried about what happens around this place permanently.” Zeke said.

Well now this was all now something that I was now seeing in a whole new light, as the taking of all of the Anderson family’s valuables had indeed become some sort of free for all for everyone who was leaving this plantation. Though I had done what amounts to nearly the exact same thing when I had left the Army. So I definitely was in no position to say word one, about anything that was going on around here this morning. The difference is, though, I left other persons standing around to take the fall for my actions, persons who indeed deserved to take said fall. I am pretty sure that there were some Army folks who would love to have more than a few words with all of us Buffalo Soldiers. But seeing as we were now no longer available, they settled for the officers that were in charge when the shortages were discovered. Zeke had just killed those in his immediate way that they could not drug two nights ago. And with my Mama now cleaning out the man’s safe of whatever it was that she had wanted, I was now indeed really involved enough to shoot first, and be damned with all the rest. When the people stopped loading wagons the Anderson had lost a great many of their valuable personal possessions.

So now that I understood we were in real danger as we all rolled away from the Anderson Plantation for the last time. We looked like a real wagon train heading out. Yesterday we stocked up on all of the store-bought goods that we could get our hands on. By the time it occurred to the storekeeper who had damn-near emptied his store, he had too much money in his hands to stop the sales. He wasn’t happy, though. I think that is where the plan to steal from us began, though he wasn’t the only one doing that kind of thinking. With the haul that we had going on, it really wasn’t even a color issue, this was just pure greed. The first real flaw in their plan was that they had no real idea just how many men with guns we had amongst us. They thought they had seen all of the men carrying guns. To them this was going to be like taking candy from a baby, and they thought that they could get quite a bit of money selling everything, including us men and women also.

We had been gone just a little over three hours when the first groggy folks began to come back to life. They had been given Laudanum in their drinks two nights ago, plus given a dose on a rag as they slept at times, after they were asleep and just before we left to be sure they stayed asleep all through our getaway. These people woke up both dizzy and disoriented, they had soiled themselves as they had slept so long. They also truly had no idea where they were at first, or what was or wasn’t going on yet. They stumbled around for about a half an hour trying to clean up their soiled bodies, before it dawned on somebody that the household servants were not milling around as they should be. They damn sure should be walking around, and none of them had yet to see or hear anybody moving around the house but them, as in white people. It was now nearly 11am, almost five hours since we had left, and everyone still on the Anderson Plantation, were still all off in the head. As in seeing double to some extent, and very groggy too. “Boy, go down to the kitchen and see why we were not woke yet for breakfast this morning?” Mr. Anderson told his son.

A few minutes later, after returning from the kitchen, he said. “Father, they are all gone, they left a note saying only that the platter of ham and sliced bread was for our breakfast. As far as I can tell we are the only people in this house right now. But a lot of things are missing furniture, paintings, the stoves in the kitchen, I will finish getting dressed and see if they are out in the fields, by chance, but I doubt it though.” Young Anderson said.

The poor man walked outside with his head nearly clear from all of the Laudanum he was drugged with last night. His parents were in the kitchen standing around the crates the food was left on with no chairs to sit on by the time he ran back in the back door. “There is nobody working in any fields around here. There also are no wagons here that I can find. The buggy is still in the barn, and the cotton from the last week is still in sacks in the fields, but no cotton wagons. They took every horse worth taking with them. What they left behind were those barely able to walk or worse. They took all the chickens, and they slaughtered all of the hogs, and the few cows that we had. From the dying coals they cooked a lot of meat. And the smokehouse is empty but still warm. I found several of the guards dead also, left hanging in the smokehouses. The rest seemed to have disappeared. So I am not sure if they left with them willingly, or unwillingly, or just plain deserted their post.” Young Anderson said.

“I need you to hitch up the buggy to the best of whatever is left out there, we need to go out to a certain spot to see if we have lost anything out there also.” Mr. Anderson told his son.

After grabbing a few sandwiches, the family went out to where their treasure was buried. “Oh shit, they tried to make it look right, but somebody has just dug this spot up, dammit! Grab a shovel and let us see if anything is still left down there.” Mr. Anderson said. Two hours later they were headed back to the house, after they had filled in the hole and left with the paper money that had been left behind purposely. “They left us a nice nest egg, but they took all the gold away with them, both the gold bars and the double eagles, and that is worth much more than the printed money that they obviously left behind. We will put all this in the safe, and tomorrow we will go to town as we have to hire somebody to pick all of the cotton that is still out in the fields, and to get this money in the bank, as we can’t afford to keep it here now, with no support. Now let us take this to my office.” Mr. Anderson said. Imagine his great shock when the safe door opened up. “Well I will be damned! How in the fuck did these people get into my damn safe?! They left the paper money again, but they took all of the jewels and all the gold bars and double eagles again. They also took all of my records! All of the records, hell I don’t even have the deed to this house! Or any other record of importance, yes I know I can get some of the records back. But I can’t get back any real level of comfort back ever!” Mr. Anderson yelled.

The next morning they all headed to town and stopped at the bank to put their paper money in the bank, which didn’t make the bank manager happy, even though it was his paper, though the Anderson family only took out a small amount of the money that they put in back out in gold. Next stop was the store, which looked as though the man was closing down. “What happened to your store, Bob?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“Well, I thought I was selling to you until the other darkie came in and paid for everything they had bought. They outfitted more than just a few wagons. Zeke said you were stocking both your place and another plantation, though he couldn’t remember the name of the plantation. He came with a list, though, I knew the list had to have come from you, as darkies can’t read and write.” Bob said.

“Well Bob, I had no idea what was going on yesterday, and I woke up to an empty plantation this morning. I need all the men around here that you know of that are looking for a job to bring in my crops, as soon as possible.” Anderson said.

“Karl, are you serious?” Bob asked.

“Hell yes, those wagons they loaded up are mine, they took them plus damn near everything else in the house, including every scrap of food in the house. They moved all this out, right under my very nose.” Karl Anderson said to Bob. What Anderson didn’t yet understand as they had been drugged for the better part of two days, to clean out the house.

“I wish that I could go after them myself, but I have to get that cotton crop in, dammit!” Karl said.

“Well Karl, I happen to know a group of men, say about 15 men, are hot on the trail to recover my supplies that were bought by those darkies. I expect them to get back any day, surely within the week. So I am sure that you stand a good chance of recovering most of what you lost. You know they will keep all the darkies, plus they will expect you to donate to their cause too.” Bob said.

“How well do you know these men who you say are after your lost goods?” Carl Anderson asked Bob.

“Three of them are my brothers-in-law, a couple of my sons, the rest are some of their so-called tough friends.” Bob said.

“Any day, you say? I promise you that most likely you have seen the last of those 15 men. I know you heard about ole Pogey getting knocked-out, at my place the other day?” Karl asked.

“Yes” Bob said.

“Well Mack Shaft is the person that did it. That man is quick as a rattle snake, and the man is plumb mean as all outdoors, good luck to your team. I hope you wife’s family won’t be to upset with you, if, and or when these people disappear.” Karl said to Bob.

“Please don’t say that, my men will take them, the darkies will run at the first shot, I tell ya.” Bob said.

“Don’t hold your breath, and I hope none of the men you sent owed you any money? If I was you I would just write it off as an uncollectible debt if you don’t see them in the next week or so.” Karl said.

Bob walked off in a huff and was mumbling to himself about how stupid some men can be. He was confident he would get his supplies back and be well ahead of the game. Anderson just hoped the men that Bob said needed work came to him the next morning to begin helping him to get his various crops in.

Buck’s band of wagons was chasing some part of the train, but had no idea which part, as they were now in Tennessee. There had been some drama the second night of the trip. While the former slaves were not being treated as Buck knew they should be, as the men were sleeping out in the elements completely uncovered, giving up the places under wagons and blankets to the black women and children, as we still had not got into a routine enough yet to set up our Army tents. The men understood the extra time needed to do this was being sacrificed because some of the travelers had to learn to do for themselves. After the first week went by, Buck was told that those not used to the work, were not really interested in learning anything to help out in the daily work, other than supervising those actually doing the work. Buck had the answer for this issue though, because there was no way that he was going to bring this headache anywhere near Mack.

Buck called every former slave over with the excuse of helping with the meal planning for tomorrow. “Listen, I told the people you work for they had to treat you like they would want to be treated. I understand they have not made it clear that they would pay all of you, is this true? Well, besides what you are doing I will pay you starting tomorrow afternoon when we stop for the day to put up these tents, to get as many of the women and children inside and if at least one is left over the men can rotate one day inside of the tent, and the next outside of the tent, though all of us men will help sent up all of the tents. The ladies will cook all our meals, and wash our clothes when possible. If you’re so-called employers want you to continue to work for them after tomorrow, then they need to bring money to me to hold for you, as I will show you your money once a week until we get where we are going. I will have all of your names in a book that you can see what you will have when we get where we are going. If I tell you that they didn’t pay, you don’t have to do any work for them no matter what they say.” Buck said.

Needless to say Buck just let the powers that be know, if he didn’t have cash on the barrel head that he could add to the figure that he expected to owe these people himself, the former slaves would not be doing any work for them, at all. Buck also explained that because the workforce was now taking on the additional work, as these men had to help take down a tent city each morning, the same tent city they put up each night, as this way the people who were not sleeping in the tents, could be under wagons instead of sleeping uncovered, each night. So some of the work they had been doing so far would now have to be performed by the employers themselves, period. Buck also explained the new paid duties the womenfolk had been hired to do, so less of them would be available to babysit and or any other extra duties, past cooking.

“All this has to be done, while not slowing us down too much each day. I am sorry if having to get your hands dirtier than you would like upsets you, but your workforce has never had a chance to earn their own money, and as free persons they will all need to know all there is to about being free. They have the work part down pat, but they need to know how to handle themselves, and manage their own money. That is part of why they are being given extra work with both sides paying them. They want an allotment of men that could work for themselves, and the Buffalo Soldiers wanted them to know that they could stand alone, working for themselves.

To say the former plantation owners were enraged is a huge understatement. Many of them wished they had never come on this damned trip, and now they were being forced to pay a workforce they never had to pay before. The paying issue was leaving a sour taste in many a mouth within the upset travelers circle. So it was a brand-new day when half the normal allotments of men were taking down the tents the former slaves had used the night before. While the women divided their workforce cooking breakfast to the former plantation’s families and the former slaves, plus help with the tents, and child care. Needless to say some folks were upset as the only thing keeping them from all eating together was the fact they had two different fires going. The plantation group now had to come to the cook fire to get their food themselves, instead of being waited on hand and foot. Many of these wives had not done too much serving of food, since they were taught how to do this type of work as young girls.