Mama Bear stepped forward as her husband turned away from their grandson. She took his hand and placed a small, dark leather bag in his hand. "I made you strong, good medicine for your journey. Bring it back and we'll renew it together."
She pulled up the hand with the bag, kissed the back of it, then drew him into her strong embrace. She patted his back lightly before releasing him. She stepped back and Alex gazed around at his folks then up behind them at the valley ridge.
Alex pulled up into the saddle and touched his hat, turned his mount and gave it a gentle heel and trotted off across the yard and down to the road.
"See ya when I see ya." He called with false cheer as he headed off.
===
Early in March '65 while the family was eight miles away at Sunday church, the Mayberry's, senior Fields' and Nancy Bird and Lou's houses were set afire. During the winter there had been some raids throughout the valley but, by fate or by luck, Lou and her family were not disturbed. It had been only a matter of time it would now seem.
By some grace, the family was gone when raiders came for their stock. There were no killings but the next worst thing visited the family - the violence of fire. Frustrated at the disappointment of an unsuccessful mission, the Yankee partisans had gone house to house and fired the families' homes. Joe T. had insisted that they take the last of their stock with them to meeting. Most of what they had was lost in the hateful burnings but something had been saved - foundation stock, a mature jack stud, and three young mares, plus work stock - a team of four-year-old big matched mules.
That night after the family had put out the remainder of the dying fires, extinguishing their past, Lou counseled them about a future. The atmosphere was filled with gloom and poisoned by destruction.
"Grand, Uncle Joe T., we gotta leave. It won't work here any more. The war is lost. It's just a matter of time and not much time. Major Stevenson told me that Jeff Davis will order the last company of infantry to make a bayonet charge even if they're cornered on the tip of Florida!" Her bitterness was directed towards the stubborn Mississippian in Richmond. "It's lost and this valley is going to be unfit for us to live in. We could make a stand and Alex would come home to graves as well as burned houses. We're going to leave!" Her determination grew and replaced the confusion of the day's cruel gift. "We moved with General Wheeler through some great farm land over in middle Tennessee on the Elk River. We got enough wagon parts to repair those old frames in the barns. We've got one and there's the rickety old freight wagon in Grand's barn. We fix them up and take whatever we can salvage."