Pickett's Mill  2004

Sarah Harper (Anne Burgamy) and I had heard such commotion about that we decided it was best to take refuge elsewhere until things calmed down. She, having been widowed 5 years earlier had been a little lonely and to help meet expenses had allowed me to take room and board with her for much of that time. We had learned to read each other's thoughts pretty well. Both of us had instinctively packed a poke with what we thought to be essentials in the event we had to make a run for it. We had the last of a few hoarded coffee beans, some bread and cheese, and some dried peas and beans for soup, not much else. We grabbed these bags and left knowing everything we left behind would be forever lost to us.

We did fine on Friday until after crossing the creek Sarah broke her big toe then our situation seemed to start drawing in and tightening the feelings of doom in the pit of our stomachs. Two women alone in the woods with soldiers - men of who knows what caliber - all about was a scary place to be.

After she hurt her foot we knew we couldn't go much farther so we stopped where we were to rest. i started milling about looking for enough wood for a small fire and hoping to find some poke, mushrooms, or wild onions to add to the bit of supplies we had when I discovered a bridge down stream. After some thought we decided that the best chance of hiding from soldiers and taking shelter was underneath the bridge so we moved there taking care to hide everything out of sight.

We were too hot to care much about food so we ate some bread and cheese and put down the floor cloths we'd grabbed from the floors as we ran out the door to sleep on. It was so miserable hot the rain that fell was welcomed for it cooled us somewhat, and we seemed no wetter from the rain than from our own sweat. Even though we were aware of our situation a sort of strange sense of safety came over us there lying on a soft blanket of pine needles with the birds calling the distance. We realized that God was our protector and that if he chose to bring us home there was nothing to do for it but go, and in placing our safety in His hands we found peace and comfort.

We woke the next morning later than we had imagined we'd sleep given the circumstances.  Since I'd gathered firewood under the bridge to keep it dry when it began to rain the evening before the prospect of building a fire to cook a bite of breakfast didn't seem too daunting a task until we realized that even underneath the bridge out of the rain the wood had still soaked up so much moisture it was difficult to get to burn.  After a good deal of effort I did manage to get it going enough for our needs.  I put some of the few coffee beans in a cloth and crushed them with two rocks, added them to the beat up coffee pot in my poke sack and added enough creek water for coffee.  Sarah fried up the bit of bacon we had brought which we ate with some more bread and cheese.

We were looking forward to the prospect of a hot meal that afternoon and had planned to make soup from the dried peas, beans, and barley in my bag and the few eatables I'd found in the woods.  This was not to be the case though because as we'd finished our breakfast a group of soldiers marched through nearby.  Only a few of them saw us, and I learned later they had looked at the bridge as somewhat of a puzzlement since they'd crossed through the stream not knowing there was a bridge nearby. Only by looking back directly at the bridge for that reason did some of them see us there.