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Still Standing: Surviving Custerā€™s Last Battle - Part 1

 

Excerpt from Still Standing: Surviving Custerā€™s Last Battle - Part 1

By Don Solenberger & Judith Gotwald

 

Chapter 2

 

The boys stooped low and ran away from the River Raisin towards the farmhouse and barn. They didnā€™t stop until they found shelter in the barn and closed the barn door behind them. Autie pointed toward an empty horse stall and the boys took refuge together behind a second closed door. ā€œYouā€™ll be safe here for now,ā€ Autie said in a hushed voice. All three collapsed into the hay.

ā€œWhere are you headed?ā€ Tom ventured.

The Negro boy was still hesitant to speak, but he weighed the facts. These boys had helped him, and he didnā€™t have anywhere else to turn.

ā€œCanada,ā€ he said. ā€œFreedom. Canā€™t be far now. I be runninā€™ foā€™ weeks.ā€

Sam gasped for breath. He was both scared and excited.

Autie decided to take charge.

ā€œTake it easy. You are safe for now. Iā€™m George Armstrong Custer. This is my brother, Thomas. They call me Autie. They call him Tom. What do they call you.ā€

ā€œSam.ā€ His one-syllable name was about all he could manage at the moment.

ā€œSam, you are indeed close to Canada. Why, if you can swim you are home free.ā€

ā€œCanā€™t swim,ā€ Sam admitted.

ā€œWe can swim,ā€ Tom piped in. Autie shushed his younger brother. ā€œThat wonā€™t help him now, will it, Tom?ā€

ā€œWhere are you running from?ā€ Autie asked.

ā€œKentucky.ā€

ā€œThatā€™s horse country.ā€ Tom said with excitement. ā€œCan you ride?ā€

ā€œFoā€™ sure!ā€ Sam said. Sam gained energy and confidence with the opportunity to speak with authority on a topic that clearly interested his newfound friends.

ā€œWork horses mostly, but since I small, Master has me ride the ļ¬ne horses now and agā€™in. I keeps them in shape.ā€

Autie looked at the slave boy with a peculiar envy. Up until now, he had not given slavery much thought. His father and friends often discussed slavery around the Custer dinner table and at farmersā€™ meetings, but they seemed to be mostly concerned with farming economics, not the hearts and souls of the enslaved laborers. Autie was face to face with a slave for the ļ¬rst time, a boy near his own ageā€¦and this slave had access to the ļ¬nest horses!

He shook off his irrational envy and returned to the problem at hand.

ā€œShouldnā€™t we tell Pap and Ma?ā€ Tom asked.

ā€œPerhaps, perhaps notā€”at least not yet! Tom, remember that prank we are planning to play on Bos tomorrow?ā€ Tom nodded. ā€œWell, it might work even better with Samā€™s help!ā€

Autie told the boys his plan, working out the details as he went.

Sam would spend the night in the barn. Both Autie and Tom would take some extra food from the dinner table to avoid being noticed.

ā€œSee that horse there?ā€ Autie pointed to one of the six in the stalls on the other end of the barn. ā€œThat horseā€™s name is King. He belongs to John Stanford, a rich man, lives on a big farm north of here along the Detroit River. Heā€™s expecting us to return his horse by tomorrow night with new shoes. ā€

ā€œItā€™s my turn to ride the horse home,ā€ Tom reminded him.

ā€œWhen we go to pull that prank on Boz tomorrow, letā€™s use Mr. Stanfordā€™s horse.ā€

ā€œYouā€™ll do nothing of the sort.ā€ The sound of their fatherā€™s voice paralyzed them. They looked up at their fatherā€™s face looking down over the wall of the stall at the three of them. For once, Autie was speechless.

ā€œWhatā€™s going on here,ā€ Emanuel Custer demanded.

Accustomed to obeying orders, Sam was the only one who could speak.

ā€œI Sam, sir. I wants to go North.ā€

ā€œWhere did you run from?ā€

ā€œKentucky, sir.ā€

Emanuel Custer had the same reaction as his younger son.

ā€œThatā€™s horse country. How are my boys planning to help you?ā€

ā€œDonā€™t know ā€™xactly, sir. We jusā€™ talkinā€™.ā€

ā€œArmstrong, tell me what is going on.ā€

Autie breathed deeply to muster his courage. He rose to his feet in respect for his father.

ā€œFather, we came across Sam by the river. He was hiding in the bushes along the orchard. There were boats coming near enough to see us, so we ducked low and ran for the barn. Other than that, sir, we donā€™t know much more.ā€

Emanuel turned to Sam. ā€œHow about you ļ¬ll in the details.ā€

Sam was practiced at telling his story. Heā€™d told it a dozen times in the last few weeks as he moved from one safe house in the Underground Railroad to another.

ā€œWell, sir,ā€ he started, ā€œa whiles back, some slaves run for freedom. They gets away. That makes all the masters plenty sore, grumblinā€™ ā€™bout losing their ā€™vestments. Houseboy hears Master planninā€™ to sell soon as harvest work be over. He wants besā€™ dollar to buy new slaves over the winter and get ā€™em ready for spring plantinā€™.ā€

Autie listened. Sam sounded like any number of farmers talking shop with his father. But they were talking about ļ¬ring and hiring. Sam was talking about buying and selling and it was Sam who was being bought and sold.

Sam continued his story. ā€œMaster wants rid of us before we gets thinkinā€™ ā€™bout runninā€™. But, sir, he too late. We already thinkinā€™ ā€™bout runninā€™. Off we goes that very night. They be ten of us. We runs together the ļ¬rst few nights, but gets torn apart one way or ā€™nother. I stays in barns, houses, sheds, caves. Last few days I stays in a fancy house not far from here. Jesā€™ Mama, my sister, Myra, and me. Mama and Myra stays in the house. I stays in the barn.

ā€œLast night I hear a ruckus. Men banginā€™ on the door of the house. They sound angry. I watch from the barn. When one starts my way, I takes off out the back door. I runs to the water. It plenty dark. Canā€™t swim, but I wades along the edge, hidinā€™ my trail ā€™jes likes the others teaches me. Cum sunrise, I see boats on the water. I think besā€™ to hide ā€™til dark. I spends most of the day hidinā€™ in the bushes. Thatā€™s when yoā€™ boys ļ¬nds me.ā€

Emanuel looked the boy over. He guessed he was about twelve years old with a small, sturdy build and clearly no stranger to hard work. His skin was as dark as any he had ever seen. His eyes were as bright as lanterns in the shadows of the barn. His clothes were a bit ragged and appeared to be getting a tad small, but he was clean. The last people to keep him had taken good care of him, he thought. Emanuel saw that he carried nothing with him.

ā€œYou must be hungry.ā€

ā€œYessir,ā€ Sam answered softly.

+ + +

 

Emanuel Custer quickly assessed the situation he was facing with his sons, Tom and Autie, and a runaway slave boy named Sam.

Emanuel turned to Tom, ā€œTom, you run and ask your mother for some bread and meat. If she wants to know why, tell her Iā€™m working hard and I am hungry.ā€

Tom lost no time. He ran out of the barn, stopping only to swing the doors shut and headed straight for the Custer kitchen. Emanuel Custer continued his plan.

ā€œSam,ā€ he said. ā€œYou stay here with my son, Armstrong. But I donā€™t want you staying here all night. It wonā€™t be safe for you to move around until it gets a bit darker. When it gets to be supper time and everyone is home sitting at their dinner tablesā€”then you can come into the house.ā€ He stopped and thought for a few seconds. ā€œIn fact, Autie, wait a bit longer until your brother, Boston, goes to bed. Heā€™s too young to know about this. I will come get you when it is safe.ā€

Then he turned to Sam. ā€œYouā€™ll be safe in our home.ā€

ā€œWhy is that, Pap?ā€ Autie interjected. ā€œSeems to me like the barn would be safer.ā€

ā€œIt would be except for one thing,ā€ his father explained. ā€œWeā€™re Democrats living in Whig territory. I can guess which house in Monroe kept Sam. You can be sure it was a Whig house. They protect runaway Negroes. Most people know it, but nobody talks.ā€

Emanuel continued. ā€œThey donā€™t talk because this isnā€™t our battle, Autie. We donā€™t hold to slavery. But thereā€™s plenty of Democrats that do and we are Democrats. Theyā€™ll be sure to help if some Southerner happens along and wants a hand ļ¬nding a runaway. If anyone comes looking for Sam, they are bound to be Democrats. The Whigs will make excuses. If they are running for office, they might pretend to help so as not to appear to be breaking any laws. But they wonā€™t take looking for Negroes seriously. If any search party stops here you can be sure that they will be Democrats and they wonā€™t hesitate to check the barn, with or without my permission, but theyā€™ll take the word of a fellow Democrat that there are no runaways in our house.ā€

Autie had just started thinking about politics. Heā€™d spent many a night lying in bed, listening to his father and his friends argue the pet peeves of the prairie farmers at the kitchen table. But the things they talked about had not seemed real. He still thought like a child. There was right and there was wrong and not much in between.

ā€œFather, this is wrong. Sam canā€™t hurt anyone.ā€

ā€œThatā€™s not what this is about, son. Sam may not want to hurt anyone. But Sam doesnā€™t have a say. He is a slave boy. He will do as he is told. Heā€™ll do it as a boy and heā€™ll do it as a man. Heā€™ll do it until one day he is tired of doing it. Pushed hard enough thereā€™s no telling what heā€™ll do when he grows to be a man. Thatā€™s just the way it is.ā€

Sam sat quietly in the hay, listening awkwardly to the discussion about his future.

ā€œThis does not seem right,ā€ Autie muttered.

ā€œAutie, you listen to me.ā€ Emanuel said sternly. ā€œThis isnā€™t our battle. We will not send Sam back into slavery, but all we can do is set him in the right direction. You and Tom keep quiet about this. Keep Boston in the dark. He would be sure to babble.ā€

With that Emanuel left the barn. He passed Tom on his way back to the barn with the provisions. ā€œIs your mother in the kitchen?ā€ he asked. Tom said ā€œYes, Pap, she didnā€™t ask any questions.ā€

ā€œThomas, Iā€™ve told Armstrong my plan. You listen to him. Keep quiet. Follow Armstrongā€™s lead. Iā€™ll go talk to your mother.ā€

The two continued in opposite directions. Tom looked into the sky. It was late in the afternoon, but there was still plenty of daylight left. He thought for a moment about the chores that were going undone, about the tools he and Autie had left in the ļ¬elds. Normally, such carelessness would not go unpunished, but Father had said to follow Autieā€™s lead. Thatā€™s what he set out to do.

Autie, Tom, and Sam huddled in an empty horse stall. The walls of the stall gave them a sense of protection. For now, this was their world. Four wooden walls, a pile of straw, a loaf of bread and slab of meat.

The boys quickly became friends. Sam told them all about life on a Kentucky horse plantation. Tom and Autie listened wide-eyed. While they wouldnā€™t want to be slaves, the thought of being around the ļ¬nest horses in the world was beyond their imagination. For the next few hours, nothing separated the boys. They were equalā€”just boys sharing adventures.

As the hot summer air began to stir with the evening breezes, Emanuel Custer appeared again at the barn door carrying a large straw hat.

ā€œItā€™s suppertime, boys. Iā€™ve talked to your mother. She is prepared to help. She fed Boston early and put him to bed. He went kicking and screaming but he is asleep now. Autie you take Sam

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