A Country Divided : Through Blood United

The Battle of Gettysburg: The Battle Begins

Once I raised out of my bed the morning after being with John Buford, I caught the sight of a line of, well, something. I placed my hand over the sun that was just rising and squinted for a better view of the mysterious mob about a half a mile away.

I glanced over at Milo and Johnathan who were sleeping in the makeshift bed, the triplets sleeping together in the other. I hopped on my horse and yawned as I squeezed her with my foot and peg. Rosa, my young horse that I owned for almost 6 years, obediently galloped off in my chosen direction, and I helped guide her toward the strange blob of something that loomed in the distance.

As I rode Rosa, I quickly remembered that I got a new pair of glasses about a month ago because of my deteriorating vision. I never necessarily chose to wear them since they grew uncomfortable as they rested on my nose, and I hated how I looked. Whenever Johnathan saw me trying on my glasses, however, he always tried to compliment them since I always grew self-conscious.

For about the first time in a few weeks, I put on my glasses once more, and I hoped that they wouldn't fall off. Once I was finally able to get a good view of the blob in front of me, I was close enough to see what it really was.

It was a mob of Confederate soldiers marching through the valley in Gettysburg.

"Oh my god," I whispered to myself. My voice trailed off as I quickly turned Rosa and sprung into action like any soldier would do.

I mercilessly yanked on Rosa's reins, causing her to rear upward in surprise. I calmly pulled on her reins again so she'd come back down. Rosa obeyed and charged back toward the rest of the army at full speed. The camp was quiet since the soldiers either just waking up or sleeping soundly in their tents. During the process of galloping over to the camp, my glasses slid off of my nose, and I yelped in surprise.

"No!" I grumbled to myself as Rosa kept galloping forward.

I decided to report the matter to the general. I guided Rosa over to the general's tent, where he was just beginning to stir.

"Brigade General John Buford," I exhaustedly said as I pulled Rosa to a halt.

Buford crawled out of his tent and yawned. "What is it, Sergeant Vange?"

"I'm afraid," I replied hesitantly. "I'm afraid that your suspicion of the Confederates attacking is true."

***

As if I was right on cue, a medium-sized wave of Confederate soldiers charged for our temporary. I quickly predicted that a few brigades of soldiers were on the move toward our soldiers' camps.

"C'mon, General!" I shouted to Buford as he struggled to finish changing into his uniform. "We need to gather the troops! Time is of the essence! Or... however you say it!"

Buford chuckled as he mounted his horse and slid his sword into its sheath. "I'm ready, I'm ready! I'll wake the left side, you wake the right!"

"Yessir!" I shouted as I kicked Rosa, making her gallop toward the right side of the troops. I frantically scanned for the tent that I resided in with all of my friends, and one I finally spotted the familiar black spot on its side, Rosa galloped at full speed toward the large tent.

***

Once I reached the tent, I practically jumped off of Rosa and ran inside, almost stepping onto my sleeping friends.

I shook the triplets first. "Asher! Arthur! Atlas!" I shouted, my hands cupped to my mouth to make my shout louder. "Get up! There's a serious problem going on outside!"

Arthur was the first to wake, and he scratched his head in confusion as the other two triplets began to stir. "What is it, Vange?" I'm glad that he used my boy nickname.