Chapter 2

"Andy, Andy, wake up, you're having a bad dream," the young soldier said to his bunk mate.

"Lucian, I'm OK," his bunk mate said.

She couldn't possibly tell him the contents of the dream. She was surrounded by Confederate soldiers who had discovered her true identity. They were about to assault her when her bunk mate woke her up.

He was one of only two people in camp who knew her true identity. To everyone else, she was Sargeant Andrew Meuller of the 20th Ohio regiment, a soldier promoted through the ranks because of his bravery at Antietam Creek, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and just a few weeks before at Gettysburg.

Gangly and boyish, her superiors and fellow soldiers thought. But her bravery exceeded any man in the entire division, maybe even the corps. The same people who thought the "skinny farm boy" from Ohio wouldn't last a week now gladly followed "him" during the heat of battle.

It was a far cry from Anna Mueller, eldest daughter of German immigrants. She took to doing "manly" things from the earliest of childhood. She was the closest thing her father had to a son.

When war broke out, she wanted to do what many young men in her community wanted to do, serve her country. But that wasn't allowed since she was just a girl, just 18 when the war began.

She wasn't the type to take no for an answer. She forged her father's signature on documents, then convinced her best friend, Lucian Roberts, to participate in her ruse.

"You realize, if anybody finds out, we'll both probably be lined up against the wall and shot," her young friend told her.

It did not deter her plans. And as her best friend, he decided to go along with the scheme.

He wasn't really surprised by her determination. She could outwork any farm boy in their community. She could outhunt them and outshoot them, too.

She turned out to be a much better soldier than he was, not that he minded.

He was the perfect partner in the scheme. He wasn't attracted to his friend. He bunked with her in a tent. He made sure the coast was clear when she went to the river to bathe.

She saved him and a number of their comrades on numerous occasions. He owed her his life, and more.

They had a partner in their scheme, a nurse who traveled with the regiment named Corrine Burke. She walked in on "Andy" dressing one morning. She was shocked, but decided to play along. In time, "Andy" won her admiration. Corrine made sure to treat any battlefield wounds "Andy" had in order to keep "his" secret.

"Rumor has it, we're getting another commander," Andy told Lucian after "he" recovered from "his" dream.

"Really, Lincoln wants to get rid of George Meade like he did the rest?" her companion asked.

"He's not pleased we didn't follow up on the Rebels after Gettysburg," Andy told him. "He's keeping Meade as commander of the army. But rumor has it, he's bringing in some hot shot from the West named Grant to put over him."

Her friend rolled his eyes.

"Yet another attempt to find someone to whip Bobby Lee," Lucian said.

*****

Richmond seemed like another world to the Walker family arriving from their former country home along the James River.

Carolyn Walker and her three daughters marvelled at the large boarding house that was now their home.

It was run by Clara Bedell, who didn't fit the description of a person running a Southern boarding house.

"I know I'm not a gray-haired spinster," the young woman said as she led them to the part of the house they would call home.

She was a dark-headed woman in her younger 30s. Like their mother, she was a widow, her husband killed at Sharpsburg, or "as the Yankees call it, Antietam."

She was left with two young girls to raise. She was resourceful and moved into the boarding house that at the time was owned by her ailing aunt, who fit the description of the gray-haired spinster. She died the previous winter, leaving the home to her niece.

She made the boarding house pay like never before. It became home to people like the Walkers. Refugees whose lives had been torn apart by war.

"There is a school run right down the road run by the Methodists," she said. "But a friend of mine, Hannah Belew, runs a school for girls just a few more blocks down the road."

The teacher, Mrs. Bedell told Mrs. Walker, made sure girls received more of an education than "just learning how to catch a man." She also taught manners.

"She does a wonderful job refining women," Mrs. Bedell said. "And if you ask me, your Emma might need some refining, but that's just an observation."

"Oh, she's in an awakward stage right now," Carolyn Walker said.

"She spent a lot of time with our brothers," Rebecca said. "She has had to take their place with the crops and chores."

Emma shrank, wanted to hide in the corner as they talked about "her."

Mrs. Bedell noticed her blushing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," she said, holding her face in her hands. "She really has amazing blue eyes to go along with her golden hair. And dimples, you are gorgeous. With some work from Hannah, she'd make you the Belle of Richmond, and you'd break the hearts of every young boy wearing gray."

"Oh, would she?" Rebecca said, winking at her "sister," who stuck out her tongue at her.

"Maybe sending BOTH of them to your friend would be a good idea," their mother said.

"She's not just good at refining young Southern women," Ms. Bedell said. "She teaches them mathematics, the sciences, the classics, an education that most don't think women should have. I feel they'll benefit greatly from that."

Ms. Bedell led them to the to rooms they would be occupying. Their mother and younger sister would share one room. Emma and Rebecca would share another.

"You two won't be able to be modest around one another," their mother cautioned them.

"That's OK," Rebecca said. "As far as I'm concerned, Emma really is a girl."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to be," said Emma, who had not been very talkative since they left their home a few days before.

Just as they were getting through with their tour, they heard a band playing "Bonnie Blue Flag."

"Must be another regiment marching through town," Ms. Bedell said as they stepped out onto the balcony of the boarding house with some of the other boarders.

They watched as the regiment marched down the street. Emma noticed a few boys in the regiment who seemed to be about "her" age.

People lined the streets, cheered, waved flags and twirled parasols.

"It used to be I was among them," Mrs. Bedell whispered to Carolyn Walker. "I don't cheer any more. I pray for their souls and wonder which of those boys won't be coming back."

"I do the same thing," Mrs. Walker said. "I am so tired of this damn war."