Historical Fiction

It’s a little know fact that most deaths in the civil war were because of disease. Most people went off to believe that those gun shots were the main reason. Let me tell you, they sure gave bad wounds, men sure wailed when they got shot, but they were nowhere near as fatal as the aftermath of the shot. My name is Violet Lee, not that it matters. As a nurse, most people just call me “ma’am” or “miss.” I don’t have a name here, I don’t need one anyway. As a nurse, I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to save lives. Not that I can’t make some friends along the way, I know that when I left my home in Kentucky that I shouldn’t be a social butterfly, but I couldn’t help it. Easter Mae, an older nurse from Maryland, calls it southern hospitality. Most don’t know what it is, Men think it’s nice to talk to someone while recovering in a short time. Doctors find it annoying. Easter Mae and I find it natural.
There were many days I could find myself doing nothing. In this time I would jabber and ramble on to Easter Mae. Even if she was busy, she would just listen. Or, at least pretend to listen. It was early morning, the sun was just about to come up. It was about eight or nine on October 7th. Easter Mae and I weren’t allowed to wander away from camp, just to make sure we wouldn’t get captured. We were two of the three nurses that worked under one littler known general, Alexander M. Cook, along with three surgeons of course. The few soldiers we were working on weren’t awake yet, but the remainder of the fleet was. A messenger had just came to our camp and informed up the union was getting dangerously close to Perryville, by home town and the border. We were to get closer, then just watch in case they were to attack. We were the trump card, this is usually what General Cook was used for. The other nurse was working on one of the two patients in intensive care. The others were all very stable, Just gunshot wounds that have a high chance of becoming infected, and if that were the case, then amputation.
I, naturally, was worried. I chattered to Easter Mae like no tomorrow. I didn’t have much family in Perryville anymore, my father died when I was younger, my Brothers were in the war, and my mother was in the care of my older sister who was in Illinois. I still had a few cousins, but other than that, it was all just memories. After being discharged I always planned on moving there and moving my mother back to me in Perryville, along with my sister, and starting a family of my own. It was rare that a girl my age was still unmarried. I had been working with medicine all my life, and against my mother’s wishes, I became a nurse. I was swamped with work, and finally decided to join the confederates as a nurse.
“Easter Mae, I’m beyond worried.” I began, “What if we don’t win? Everything I’m working for would be lost! Oh, Easter Mae, I must settle my nerves…” I sighed, then plopped down as gracefully as possible on a rock.
“My lord Violet! What are you worrying about?” She said down beautifully on the rock. “We’re butternuts, we won’t lose to some union soldiers.” Easter Mae always had a thick southern accent. Mine wasn’t as strong as hers but I had one. It reminded me of my mother. “Besides. Things are different in this stage of the game. The general even said, if we lose this, we will lose Kentucky.”

I swallowed hard, lose Kentucky?! I couldn’t bare it. I placed my hand on my chest and held back the tears. Easter Mae looked at me worried.
“Dearie, I didn’t mean that way! I meant that General Alexander won’t allow us to lose. He’d rather lose his own life than lose Kentucky. He used to live here as well you know!” she moved a lock a lose hair behind her ear. “honestly Violet, It’ll be alright.”
I believed her. Easter Mae was very wise, she had two or three kids at home with her older sister. Her husband was on the defensive line in Maryland, so he was fairly close to their home. She was a very religious woman, she will always have faith. But I don’t know that in this line that I can.
Later, General Alexander called that we were to hold our place until morning. I quickly went from free to busy in a matter of moments, when a gunman realized his arm was infected. The surgeon I work with and I had to quickly amputate it. It’s down to a ten minute process, the sad part is that they only have a few short hours in the recovery tent for rehab. This time it was young one, He was about sixteen and lost his left arm. He won’t be able to fight much longer, chances of him actually surviving are slimmer than none. We’re in the middle of a clearing, there isn’t much to clean wounds with in this stage of the war, and we won’t replenish supplies until sometime next week. Poor boy had so much to look for, but he wouldn’t be the first.
As he slept the later afternoon away, I worried. Easter Mae was cleaning up her tools, something done sparingly. Kentucky is a strong state, The fleet that spotted the union this morning was a strong one too, and we might not even have to attack, we only will if needed. It was all positives here, yet I still worried.
It was soon night fall, The nurses would sleep in our own tent. My stomach was churning the whole night through, Tomorrow we would be on watch, and (most likely) attack. Things don’t seem to be playing in my odds, I have no chance. I hope things will be okay. The last thing I can remember thinking about before going into my light, short sleep was my mother. I missed her, she was safe hiding in Union territory, But it just didn’t seem to be enough.
I slept for about an hour that night, I woke up again when Easter Mae and the other nurse woke up. We had to pack up and get ready, General Alex Said that changers are higher to attack than they are to not. The Doctors, Nurses, and wounded men all would be hiding in a wagon, until we were sent to bring wounded men in, or, it seriously wounded enough, start treating them on the battlefield. I have yet to be pushed into doing that, but Easter Mae has. She says it scary.
We load the wounded men into the wagon, there’s two, so there is plenty of space. The surgeons get out the necessary tools to amputate anything. I got into the wagon, my heart was pounding, Easter Mae and the other nurse Sat next to me, then the surgeons loaded on last. If the union were to play dirty enough and try to hunt down out medical and shoot at us, the surgeons would protect the nurses and other men.

The time came, General Alexander got onto his horse and pointed his arm to the sky.

“Company!” He began, he studied the vast majority of soldiers and two wagons. “Move out, begin to attack when you spot those Yankees!”
The soldiers cheered and began marching. The weakest were in the front of the fleet, and stronger in the back. In the far back, surrounded by a few soldiers, were us, the medicals. My heart was thumping, if we were to win this battle for Kentucky I would talk to Alexander about being discharged and then count my blessings, After this war, I’m done. No more, a Young woman like me shouldn’t be here, I should still be in the hospital.
But what I should and shouldn’t be doing don’t matter. I had to survive this. Not like it would be hard, only cheep soldiers would strike a nurse in the battle field.
And then it started, my eyesight became blurry, my legs like jelly. Gun shots began, the general on the union, I don’t remember his name, yelled out. The surgeons began to hop out of the wagon to gather wounded men. Us three nurses still sat in the wagon, we couldn’t see the battle, we were hidden. But from how many men were being dragged back to the wagon, it looked like we were winning.
And boy, was I wrong. Everything ended in an instant. The surgeon I work with ran up to me. His voice stern and serious, “Violet Lee, we have to get onto he warzone. Too many men are being shot out, We have to begin out there.”
I swallowed hard and quickly got out of the wagon. I followed my surgeon, he led it right into the middle of the fighting, and began to amputate a man’s leg. Everything was loud, I could barely hear the commands the surgeon gave me. I couldn’t pay attention to my work. I looked around, I didn’t want to but I did. No young lady like myself should even have to see this. Men getting killed because of a sly disagreement! The surgeon was saying something to me, but I can’t understand, something caught my eye, it was her.
It was my mother, She was standing there in the middle of the battle, smiling like she always was. I began to rise from the kneeling position on the ground. I felt the surgeon tug on my dress, but that didn’t matter anymore. My mother wasn’t in Illinois. She was here, in the middle of absolute madness. I began to walk towards her, stepping over men’s guns and bodies.
“Mom!” I called out, I didn’t get a response from her, she was staring at something else.
“Mom! Mom!” I yelled it louder, I was prepared to scream for her. I ran up to her, grasped her shoulders tightly, she was taller than I remembered.
“Mom, What are you doing here?! You… You… You have to get home! Or to the church, someplace safe! Come on mom, I’ll take you to Mrs. Beatle’s house, you’ll be okay there. “
Mom didn’t reply, she looked at me as if I was insane. Her eyes were wide, I felt a sting in my back, there was someone yelling my name. Then there was another sting, a little lower than the last. Then mom began to cry, she finally spoke to me. “I’m sorry miss. I’m not your mom.”
There were tears in his and my eyes as everything came back. I wasn’t holding on to my mother, I was grasping the shoulders of a young man. He looked down, as did I. My dress was stained red. I was shot at while in a hallucination of my own. He looked up at me, I knew deep down that I won’t survive. I was shot three times. Blood was spilling out of me, my time was ending. The man knew I didn’t have a chance to survive even in the least. I hung my head, and closed my eyes.
There were a bunch of people calling my name now, I could hear Easter Mae hysterically screaming. I didn’t dare look back, they would give me false hope, they would tell me I would survive. I didn’t have a chance. I looked up to the man, he was readying his gun. I hung my head again, I could hear him cock the gun.
Someone was running up to me now. The man looked at me, “I’m sorry.” He stated as he aimed. I inhaled, then everything just ended.