Confederate Lieutenant Anderson Blanks has grown weary of the War Between the States. He is all too aware of the tenuous thread that ties him to this earth -- as he writes a letter home to his sister, he realizes he may be among the dead by the time she receives the missive. His melancholy mood is shared by other soldiers in the campsite; in the cool Virginia night, the pickets claim to hear ghosts in the woods, and their own talk spooks them. Andy knows the "ghost" is nothing more than a wounded soldier left on the battlefield, dying in the darkness. With compassion, Andy takes the picket's lantern and canteen in the hopes of easing the soldier's pain. After a tense confrontation with the soldier, Andy is shocked to discover none other than Samuel Talley, a young man Andy's father had chased from their plantation when the romantic relationship between the two boys came to light. The last time the two had seen each other, Sam had been heading west to seek his fortune, and had promised to send for Andy when he could. Then the war broke out, and Andy had enlisted in the Confederate Army to help ease the financial burden at home. Apparently Sam had similar ideas -- he now wears the blue coat of a Union solider. Sam is severely wounded and infection has begun to set in. Andy can't sneak him into his own camp for treatment because all Union soldiers are taken prisoner. But Andy's Confederate uniform prevents him from seeking help from the nearby Union camp, as well. It's up to Andy to tend his lover's wound and get Sam the help he needs before it's too late ... and before Andy's compatriots discover Sam's presence.

A Heart Divided

Andy wondered if it mattered much at all anyway, the color of their coats, but this wasn’t his war. He only fought because he had to—it was the right thing to do, it was noble…and he feared that would be lost somewhere along the way, too, once the war was over. What he fought for, what all the men out here fought for, it would be mangled by time and fate and only the dead would know for sure. 


Lovelace cleared his throat. “You want one of us to come with you?” he asked, his voice low, as if he thought he should ask out of obligation now but was afraid Andy might take him up on the offer. 


Andy shook his head. “I’ll be fine,” he said, shouldering the rifle into a more comfortable position. “Give me a half hour. If I’m not back, tell Lieutenant Bucknell.” 


Tell him I’m out chasing ghosts. See what he says to that.He smiled at the thought. 


“Be careful out there, sir,” Williams cautioned as Andy stepped into the woods. 


Chapter 3