Quantum Touch Collection - Books 1-3

Chapter 5-2

“Now General, picture that same vehicle traveling the seventy-five miles from Richmond to Appomattox in an hour.

“You can do that?” asked Lee.

“And faster, General.” Lee sat up straight, once again shaking his head, amazed. “We have vehicles that can go over 400 miles per hour. Not sustained speed, but that is the land-speed record. Of course, not on roads like those.” I pointed to the rutted, muddy trails off to our left.

“Land-speed record? Can you go very fast on water also?” At this, the students and I grinned at each other.

“Tell him, Mr. R,” said Clayton Waters.

I told the general about airplanes, the Wright Brothers, Lucky Lindy, planes used in warfare, and that in 1969, Neil Armstrong would be the first man to walk on the moon. Abruptly, Lee stood up. “Now, sir, you have exceeded your believability!”

“It"s true, General,” said Marty Rose, jumping up. “My dad"s a pilot in the Air Force. I have a picture of him with a plane here.” Marty handed the photo to Lee, who looked at the picture, back to Marty, again at the picture, and sat back down. The picture was there, the computer had pictures, why were the pages blank, and my ID?

The picture was there, the computer had pictures, why were the pages blank, and my ID?Turning to me, the general asked, “Air Force?”

“General, there will be an entire branch of the military devoted to flying airplanes, which is what we call them. Our Navy has ships that are large enough for a plane to land on. Even though they are from my own time, I find that remarkable.”

“Mr. Russell, I think that would be quite an understatement.”

At that moment, a bell rang clearly. The sound was muffled, as if it were far off. I told the general that the chime signaled the end of the class.

The kids had started to get up. “Kids, stay here. General, I"m not sure what is about to happen, but if you are willing, I have another group heading in, and I think they would benefit from our conversation.”

Lee waved to bring them in but asked, “Where are they coming from?” I pointed, went to the outlined opening and, without leaving the grass, held the door open. One by one, the next class came in and looked around. I told them to follow me. When we reached the clearing, I said, “All of you take a seat. General, this is my next class. Class, it is my honor to introduce General Robert E. Lee.”

“Right,” said Johnny Clayton. His deep voice resonated. Slim and muscular, Johnny can be imposing, especially on the football field.

Dan Wilkinson said, “It is, Johnny, so shut up.” He"s shy but gritty. Dan and Johnny are good friends.

“You shut up,” Johnny shot back.

“That"s enough. Sorry, General. They are likely as skeptical as you.”

“I can understand,” said Lee, nodding his head.

“Fourth-period students, General Lee and the third-period class have been discussing some of our inventions. We were about to ask the general some questions. Just so you know, today is April 10, 1865, and we are at Appomattox. Third period, I will give you all excuses for your other teachers.” I"ll have to figure out what I"m going to tell them.

I"ll have to figure out what I"m going to tell themI heard soft knocking in the background and looked up to see Ashley peering through the window of the outlined door. He never knocks, I thought. I wonder what he sees. I turned and said, “General, yesterday you met with General Grant and surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia.” Lee scrutinized me. His expression registered his surprise at how much I seemed to know. He sighed and nodded yes. “Are you at all relieved the war is basically over?”

He never knocks,I wonder what he seesLee marshaled his emotions and replied thoughtfully, “Mr. Russell, I am exceeding glad to end these hostilities. My boys fought well, but there have been fewer and fewer of us over these past years.” He spoke with a soft accent, adding “and the Union seems to have endless amounts of men and armament, food and supplies. For the past week, my soldiers have been living on fried bread and toasted corn, if they can find it. In fact, right now, General Grant"s men are provisioning all of my boys in the field.” Lee pointed across the valley, which the fourth-period class only then noticed.

Jack Massa asked, “General, don"t you know General Grant?”

“I have known him in many ways, young man. We have faced each other in the field for these past many months. I fought with him in Mexico, although we served in different units. We met briefly yesterday, and truth be told, I didn"t have a clear memory of having seen him before. He spoke a bit about those times. But I was not there to reminisce. Frankly, when I arrived, I was unsure how I would be received. I was, after all, the losing general and would be viewed as a traitor by many.”

“Were you? A traitor, I mean?” asked Sean Little.

“I was an officer in the United States Army until 1861 and was offered command of the Union army by Mr. Lincoln. But I am a Virginian, young man, and when the Virginia legislature voted to secede, I believed it my sad duty to follow my fellow Virginians into the Confederacy. Am I a traitor?” He watched a flock of birds leaving the treetops. “I suppose I am,” he said, stroking his beard.

Bob Bee asked, “How do you feel now?”

“Now? I feel tired and dispirited. I have been away from home for a long time. It is my ardent hope that this war will truly end soon and that the Union will be re-established. I have heard that Mr. Lincoln has spoken of reconciliation. I will do all I can to help that happen.”

“Excuse me, General, but didn"t you own slaves?” asked Matt Christopher. Sorrow again visited Lee"s face. He said, “It does return as always to our peculiar institution, doesn"t it?” It seemed almost like he was talking to himself. “At one time, my family did own slaves. But I released them years ago, before this war.”

“But I don"t understand. That"s what the war was all about,” said Cheryl See. “If you didn"t own slaves, why did you fight to hold on to s*****y?”

Addressing Cheryl and then scanning the intent, upturned faces, Lee said, “This war was also about allowing people to live without the government in Washington giving orders to the states. Even Mr. Lincoln said if he could keep the Union together without freeing the slaves, he would do that.”

“But General,” said Eric Silver, “he freed the slaves.”

“He did that, but only when this war has ended will we truly determine the outcome. I believe s*****y to be wrong, but what will these people do if they don"t have the homes and food they received before? Where will they go? We will see if Mr. Lincoln has done more good than harm.”

“What will you do now, General?” asked David Jewels. David"s freckles bounced on his cheeks, his messy, blond head keeping step with each word.

“I will return to my family and my home. But first I must return to Richmond to speak with President Davis about ending the hostilities and reuniting our country. He will not be happy. A number of my men have offered to continue the fight, a guerrilla war from the hills. I hope I have convinced them otherwise. I hope Mr. Lincoln will soon complete what we began yesterday.”

“But Lincoln was assassinated,” exclaimed Amanda Lesetto. The class grew silent. Lee"s jaw dropped; a sharp breath joined a mournful stare at Amanda.

“Sorry General,” I said. “Amanda, we were not going to mention the near future.”

Lee asked, “Is this true?”

“General, do you really want to know?”

“Now that the subject has been opened, please.”

With a chest-heaving sigh, I told him that in four days, President and Mrs. Lincoln would go to Ford"s Theater in Washington to see “Our American Cousin” and that the president would be shot by an actor, John Wilkes Booth, who hated that Lincoln had defeated his beloved South and was even talking about allowing the former slaves to vote one day. I added that attempts by his fellow conspirators to kill Vice President Johnson, Secretary Seward, and Secretary Stanton would fail, but the president would die the next morning.

“Then we of the South cannot look forward to what I had hoped would be a congenial reconciliation of this nation. It is a sad day now for many reasons—for all of us.” The general stood and looked toward the valley and away from us.

A new question came from Johnny Clayton. “General, what was the worst battle, do you think?”

With his thumb and forefinger, Lee stroked his mustache. Turning back to us, he said, “At Gettysburg, I think I made a mistake, and a costly one it was. Too many were lost there, on both sides. So many of my best commanders. If only General Stuart had been nearby, perhaps the outcome might have been different. We fought at Sharpsburg in Maryland; some call it Antietam for the creek that runs through the field. We fought at Fredericksburg. We fought in the Shenandoah. I think the hardest loss for me was at Chancellorsville, when General Thomas Jackson fell.” He hung his head.

Eric Silver asked, “Do you mean Stonewall, sir?”

“Yes, his men called him that and named their brigade the Stonewall.” He had looked up at Eric"s question. “I felt as though I had lost my right arm when he died.”

Stonewall“General, what does the E stand for?” asked Pat. “You know, Robert E. Lee;” she emphasized the general"s middle initial.

“Ah, yes,” he said. “Well, the E stands for Edward. But why do you know my name that way? Of course, these days I"m known as General Lee,” a playful twinkle in his eyes. “But most people I know have called me only Robert Lee.”

“General, historians refer to you using your initial,” I said. “It has a sort of melodic sound—Robert E. Lee.”

Lee smiled. “You know, Mr. Russell, I, too, have worked with students. I held the post of superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, which is also my alma mater, as you appear to know.”

From the trees, a horse whinnied. Walking toward us was a horse, gray with a black mane and long black tail, and a soldier. “Old Traveller, my horse, is always ready to tell me when I need to pay attention to the needs of the moment,” said the general.

The scene surprised and confused the approaching soldier. Walking up to Lee, he whispered, “General, I"ve been worried. You"ve been gone for two hours.” He peered at us, curious.

Lee waved toward us. “I would like to introduce Colonel Walter Taylor, my adjutant and close confidant throughout these years of war. Colonel, this is Mr. Russell and his students from New Jersey. I will tell you about them later.” Turning to the class again, he said, “Mr. Russell, young people, it seems my time with you is over. Our conversation has been very enlightening for me, I assure you.”

“General Lee, it has been our pleasure and honor to have met you. Thank you for your time.”

Various members of the classes offered thanks in a variety of ways. David Jewels said, “See ya, General.”

The general c****d his head. “I wonder.” At that, he and Colonel Taylor headed back into the woods, and we left the clearing, squishing toward the door. Suddenly, our shadows danced in the newly arrived sunlight.

The bell rang. I opened the door, and as I stepped through ahead of them, Dan Wilkinson, his textbook open, said, “Mr. R, take a look at this. The words are back.”