After the last two days, Ashley thought, can the South possibly want to continue this war?
Chapter 82
Jefferson Davis got his first hand view of the war at the Battle of Manassas. A graduate of West Point, and former United States Secretary of War in the Pierce Administration, Davis was no dilettante in military affairs. Known for his stubbornness, he was nevertheless a realist.
He witnessed the awesome destructive power of a Gray Ship and its terrible weapons. If he had known in advance of the Gray Ships’ existence, he would not have gone to war against the Union. In one battle he saw an army stripped of its artillery and ammunition, and its cavalry decimated.
Davis, in a horse-drawn carriage, approached the capital. He couldn’t take the train that had brought him to Manassas because the Gray Ship had destroyed it. On his way to Richmond he stopped to inspect what was left of Lee’s Army. His journey had taken three days. He met with Lee in the General’s new command tent, the other one having been destroyed by an object from the sky. Davis had received a detailed report of the attack on Richmond by a rider while on his way to the capital, and he shared the information with Lee. He always thought of Lee as a man of granite, a person whose resolve never weakened.
What Davis saw was a shaken man. Lee, with a military record of bravery and leadership, was always ready for whatever an enemy could throw at him. And he always prepared to strike back, only stronger. But Lee had no training, no experience, or even imagination for what he saw on the morning of July 22. It was an enemy that came out of the sky, an enemy that had no face, an enemy that hurled destruction in a way that was almost casual.
Lee was both a strategist and a tactician. He saw the big picture of vast armies and the small picture of a supply list. He was a planner who knew how to execute the plans he made.
But in the past few days Lee could come up with no plan, no strategy, not even a guess. He simply had no idea how to fight the Gray Ships and their strange captains.
Neither did Jefferson Davis.
Chapter 83
It is 10 a.m. Eastern Time on April 10, 2013 in Washington DC. The USS California has been missing for seven hours. President Obama is about to address the nation and the world.
“My fellow Americans,” the President began, “I’m here to talk to you about 630 people, 630 Americans, who are lost, 630 lives who have touched others. Moms and dads, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, boy and girlfriends. Now these 630 people have touched the lives of all of us, here in the United States and around the world. It has been just over seven hours since the USS California disappeared from our radar and satellite scopes. A massive search and rescue operation is now underway, one of the largest ever conducted, looking for our 630 friends. We’re using the most sophisticated technology available, and we will continue our search. For anyone listening to me I ask you, if you know anyone who is a friend or relative of a California crew member, please reach out. Reach out with a call, a kind word, a hug.”
An aide with a five-year-old girl in her arms approached the lectern from the left. She put the girl in the President’s arms.
“I hear you made a card for your mom,” said Obama.
She held the card up. It read, “I miss you Mommy.” At that the little girl broke down and cried.
Obama then cried. Not the cry of a skilled politician who knows how to turn it on for effect, but the cry of a father who feels helpless to make a child’s pain go away.
“God Bless the crew of the California, and God Bless America.” Obama concluded his address, his voice barely under control.
When the President went behind the curtain at the end of his talk, he looked at Bill
Daley, his Chief of Staff, and said, “I just hope to God that I didn’t make it look hopeless.”
“It just may be hopeless, Mr. President,” said Daley, tears running down his face. “You spoke for all of us.”
On CNN, the camera panned to Wolf Blitzer, the veteran anchorman.
“If what you just saw doesn’t summarize everyone’s feelings this morning, nothing does,” said Blitzer, his own voice choking. “As the minutes and hours go by, our hearts are with those families. We will break in with any new developments, any developments at all. In other news…”
Chapter 84
General Nathan Bedford Forrest, also known as the Wizard of the Saddle, was in Jefferson Davis’ office along with Robert E. Lee. Forrest was renowned as a daring horseman who used cavalry charges with strategic and technical brilliance. Forrest had requested the meeting. It was July 29, 1861, eight days after the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.
“Sir,” said Forrest, “the word is all over the South about the events at Manassas, at General Lee’s camp, and here in Richmond. If I may be so bold I would summarize the thinking of many people, perhaps most, that the South cannot win a war with the Gray Ships on the Union side.”
“I would agree with that summary, General,” said Davis. Davis looked at Lee, who nodded in agreement.
“What we have to do gentlemen, is to challenge our notions of an army, throw away the history books, and start anew. I recommend that we take every one of our armies, corps, divisions regiments, and brigades and break them down into cavalry battalions. We should then set up small headquarters throughout the countryside. An army may control a city, but will be useless against countless small battalions of raiders. Not only will an army be useless, but a Gray Ship will be useless as well.”
“What you’re talking about, Sir, is guerilla war,” said Lee.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about General, guerilla war. It’s the Spanish word for “little war,” and it’s been used for centuries. It’s a way for small units of soldiers to defeat large forces. I believe it’s the only way to wage war against a fleet of Gray Ships. We won’t fight the Gray Ships — we’ll ignore them.”
Lee didn’t like what he heard. There had been elements of guerilla warfare throughout the country even before secession. Kansas and Missouri were almost torn apart by raiding bands of “bushwhackers.” None other than the James brothers, two murderous lunatics, participated in those horrible attacks. Lee expressed his concern that these “battalions” could degenerate into bands of armed hooligans, subject to no authority.
“Gentlemen,” said Forrest, “it is not that we have much choice. If we continue a traditional war, the South will be annihilated. The Gray Ships will turn the tide of any battle before the first bugle sounds. They will target our artillery, our munitions, and our command headquarters. Future battles will have nothing to do with bravery or resolve, things that we have in abundance. No, gentlemen, future battles will be determined by terrible weapons falling from the sky. ”
“The alternative,” Forrest said, “is to take to the hills. We can enforce discipline on the guerilla battalions, although that may not be easy. But it is easier than continuing this conflict toward an inevitable defeat, a defeat that will leave us no possibility to negotiate. We will be forced into unconditional surrender. If we wage a guerilla war, the North will want to end it. The Gray Ships will be useless against small, fast moving cavalry battalions.”