Captain Carter ordered Jason into his tent, and motions for Jason to sit on a little stool across from his makeshift desk. The Captain sat down behind the desk. “The reason Ah asked you in here, is because Ah thought you might have some questions, as to the circumstances of your brother’s death. Ah don’t know how much you already know, so Ah will tell you what Ah know. Gabriel Duke died with valor and honor, a soldier without fault. I am honored to have served with a solder so brave. I not only saw him fall at the Battle of Fishing Creek, but in that event, his very bravery saved my life, sadly at the expense of his own.” The captain then related this story.
He analyzes his hand. He discards and draws newcards. ate dictates how heplays the new hand.
questions, as to the circumstances of your brother’s death. Ah don’t know how much you already know, so Ah will tell you what Ah know. Gabriel Duke died with valor and honor, a soldier without fault. I am honored to have served with a solder so brave. I not only saw him fall at the Battle of Fishing Creek, but in that event, his very bravery saved my life, sadly at the expense of his own.” The captain then related this story.
“In January of 1862, we were under the command of General Felix K. Zollicoffer. We were in east Tennessee, north of Knoxville, around Cumberland Gap. Union forces under General James H. Thomas were advancing to an area known as Mill Spring. Just on the other side of the Cumberland River, a tributary that empties into the Cumberland, called Fishing Creek. The Union forces were endeavoring to flank the forces of my brother Lt. Colonel Moscow Carter, to whose regiment your brother and I were assigned. We were given orders to hold that creek at all peril, since relinquishing it would allow flanking of our entire Regiment.
“We were still armed, with the old Harpers Ferry flint-lock muskets. Rain all day, had rendered the flintlock muskets unreliable. If the powder in the flash pan got the least bit damp, it would misfire and a man would have to clean the pan and re-prime, a tedious task in the heat of battle. That God cursed gun is what killed your brother! A Yankee soldier was fording the creek. I was lying in the creek bed wounded. The Yankee was taking aim at me when Gabriel yelled and stood up to avert his attention. Gabriel pulled his trigger first, and I had never known him to miss, but his musket misfired. The Yankee had a Springfield Arsenal rifled-musket with a Caplock mechanism. It fired as it should, killing your brave brother Gabriel. Ah was captured, but Ah later was able to escape and return to duty, my wound not being of too serious a nature.”
He got up and walked over to the chest at the end of his bed. He said, “I noticed the musket you were issued is the very same kind that got your brother killed. Ah feel it would be a grave tragedy to see that bit of history repeat itself.” He reached into the chest and retrieved a Harpers Ferry musket with a cap-lock, a box of percussion caps, and all the tools and accessories including a bayonet and frog for it.
“I can’t accept your rifle-gun Captain”
“Take it Jason, Ah have this.” With that he reached behind him and picked up the most beautiful rifle Jason had ever seen. He had heard about them, but never had seen one. “This is the legendary Henry Repeating Rifle. It loads a brass cartridge directly into the breech, and it holds fifteen more in a tube under the barrel. Cranking this trigger-guard back and forth loads another round into the breech. A good rifleman can fire 120 shots in less than four minutes, and that includes reloading. That, Jason, is about one shot every three seconds, or less, compared to about 30 seconds per shot, from a muzzle-loaded weapon in skilled hands. The Henry gives one man the firepower of ten men. The valiant Colonel John S. Mosby called it ‘The damn Yankee rifle you load on Sunday and shoot all week.