Chapter 15

In mid-century, the tensions rose in America over the trade in human chattel, a criminal and ugly trade. Various provocateurs like John Brown committed acts to terrorize the slave holders and convince them to give up their human property. They responded by attacks against the more radical of the abolitionists. Battles raged in many of the territories. The two sides became more and more certain of their own moral superiority, reaching an almost religious certainty, which of course led to increased violence. There is no violence more certain than a clash of the righteously religious.

The situation reached a climax when Southerners fired on Fort Sumter. Within weeks the Union was at war with the rebel states. My partners and I were worried since we had many dealings with the South, but all were confident that the war would be resolved in months. Such confidence was soon shattered. The war dragged on for four long years.

I spent the Civil War years in Boston. In one sense, it was a good time. The Union navy cut off trade with the South by blockade. That meant even more goods traveled over means which I had investments in. I made good money in the war. There were also many widows of the war, women used to feeling a man and desiring that experience again and again. There were also many women whose men were away at war and they too felt a longing which only a man can fill.

But not all was perfect. In 1864 the war was not going well and many soldiers were leaving the Army of the Union during the cold dreary winter to return to their farms. Their wives and children could not keep the farms up alone for such an extended period. Many men had only enlisted for one year and though the army attempted to keep them, the men would walk out once their enlistment was up.

One day, I was walking along on my way to a meeting of partners when a group under a Union captain detained me. I told him I was too old to serve, and if he only knew my real age he would have fainted.

He said, "Sir you lie. I can see you are not too old to serve in the army, coward."

I was quite wroth but it did no good and at gunpoint, they took me to the center where men were being 'drafted' that is detained and taken off to the war. I was able to get a message to a partner by bribing a private. My partner, a man well known and respected in Boston, showed up with a young man of sixteen years who scarcely looked old enough to fight.

It seems his family had come on hard times. My partner had promised him the sum of $500 and his family the princely sum of $2,000 if he would enlist in my place. Since the law allowed this, the young man took my place. I sought out the colonel in charge and upbraided him, with my partner averring that he had known me as a business partner for almost twenty-five years, looks not withstanding. The colonel was apologetic, but I don't think he changed the practice of the captain, seeing that many men of the Union Army were returning to their farms. Men from the city were sore needed to fight the insurgency of the South. After that, I took care to carry my papers showing that I was a British Citizen.

Then in 1865, the might of the Union wore down the South. Sherman's march to the sea cut the rebel states in twain. The Union controlled the Mississippi cutting off the western states of the rebellion. His army out-manned, his resources dwindling, Lee finally surrendered ending the bloody conflict.

I could say that the war had nothing to do with me, being a British subject, and in one way that is true. But I had known many men who did not return. I knew many families in grief at lost loved ones. Surely war affects all of us, those fighting and those left behind. If there be no good reason to fight, then those who lead nations into war by lies and deceit should be punished for crimes against humanity.

The end of conflict created opportunity which my partners and I were quick to pounce upon. The shipping of the South had been ravaged, the ports burned. Sherman had destroyed the rails of the south.

We assayed the landscape and saw the potential of one harbor untouched by the war, Charleston. We then proceeded to buy up all of the damaged railroad trackage in the war from Charleston all the way to Texas. The goods began to flow on this main line from west to east and east to west. Once traffic was sufficient, we sent spur lines north and south to important cities eagerly rebuilding after the cessation of hostilities. At one point half the tonnage of the south traveled on our rails with Charleston being the port to handle much of that trade. Our foresight left all of us quite wealthy and happy for our investment brought prosperity back to the interior of the rebellious states much sooner than it otherwise would have.

I had spent much time in America and my investments were growing apace. There did not seem to be any storms on the horizon, and so my continued presence in America was not needed. I decided it was time to die again. A letter was set back to the estate informing them of the passing of the Lord and the arrival of his son from America, also named Jeremy by tradition, to assume his duties as Lord Northam.

I was greeted quite well by the local people, happy to once again have the Lord in residence. Once again, I was at the center of public entertainment as mothers with marriageable daughters found my company indispensable to any party.

One afternoon, I went to the cemetery and found the stone marking for Elizabeth Woodhouse. She had passed on not many years after I had returned to the Americas. I stood for hours recalling our times together. It had been said that a person never forgets their first love. I don't know if it is true for all, it has been for me. I still love dear Elizabeth, the woman who taught me to be a man. I shall love her with my last breath.

There was a new vicar, an upright young man who let it be known when I first met him that he was a stern upholder of the right. I almost laughed at his certainty. I quoted my beloved Voltaire to him, "Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one." The poor man sputtered a bit before excusing himself. I sensed some trouble when I again pursued my favorite game.

To test the waters I stopped by the Vicarage one afternoon. I asked that I might borrow it to meet with someone. He began an interrogation which I quickly stopped. He rose up and declared he could not be party to any such thing. I invited him to consider his position, but the holy zeal of youth filled him. I realized that with no lord present he was quite used to being the spiritual father and therefore, above question. I would quickly disabuse him of that. The Church of England is subservient to the State as he would find out.