Henry's Secret

By P.W. Sonstein

Within days before the surrender of the Confederacy at Appomattox, Henry, an eighteen-year-old former slave and recent recruit in the Army of Northern Virginia, is ordered to accompany Major Frank Gardner on a mission to hide dozens of gold ingots acquired in secret trade with the French government to be held until the South rises again. The mission is completed; however, Major Gardner dies shortly thereafter, leaving Henry, sworn to secrecy, as the only person with knowledge of the hiding place. He keeps the secret for sixty-five years, only leaving clues on a 1929 silent film.

In 2021, Christine Morgan is an associate attorney in a prominent law firm in Washington, DC, whose weekend hobby is visiting yard sales, searching for unusual items. She purchases a Cine-Kodak silent movie camera that when cleaned reveals an undeveloped film cartridge inside. The contents of the film draw the attention of Andy, who has sold her the camera.

After viewing the exposed film together, Christine and Andy begin a dangerous adventure through Northern Virginia, searching for clues not only relating to the hidden gold but also inadvertently becoming involved in a US government sting operation that involves a group of anarchists whose goal threatens the country, as well as Christine and Andy, who are not the only ones trying to solve Henry's secret.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887319421

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Author's Note

About the Author

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Henry's Secret

P.W. Sonstein

Copyright © 2023 P.W. Sonstein

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2023

ISBN 979-8-88731-941-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88982-156-4 (hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88731-942-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Prologue

April 10, 1865

Outskirts of Farmdale, Virginia

Dawn arrived in the same dreary fashion as the nightfall that preceded it. A steady drizzle fell, and a damp mist hung in the air, giving the camp depressing feelings of heaviness and gloom. The grassy farm field that held the makeshift military encampment seemed more like a cranberry bog with knee-deep water in some places; the remainder, mud and blood-covered grass.

The slate-gray sky predicted another day of early-spring rain showers. The previous two days of persistent storms and heavy rains had turned the entire camp into a virtual swamp. On a positive note, however, the combination of the thick, briar-filled woods to the east and the adjacent fenced cornfield to the north served as shielding and a temporary, safe haven for one of the last remaining brigades of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

The normal sounds of early morning in a military encampment—horses shuffling about and nickering, birds chirping, and soldiers talking over campfires, drinking tins of black coffee—were unfortunately too often interrupted by the moans, cries, and screaming of men who had or were presently having injured limbs amputated by the field surgeons attending them. Amputation was the only way in the field to prevent infection and, ultimately, death. It was a necessary evil in saving lives. However, saving their lives made the remainder of their life severely limited and left the majority of them disfigured or disabled and less able to function in the Southern agricultural economy.

The latest battle with the Union army had not been easy or forgiving to the Confederate soldiers who took part in the fight. Many were seriously wounded, and far worse, their collective will and their physical ability to continue to fight were quickly eroding.

It had been two days since the sound thrashing that the Yankees laid upon General Lee's once seemingly undefeatable Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Sailor's Creek. For two days, from the sixth to the eighth of April, cannons boomed continuously, stopping only for groups of soldiers on either side to gather up their dead or wounded.

The Confederate brigade had retreated in order to have a temporary respite from the fighting and to attempt to restore their courage and their will to carry on in battle. Rumor had quickly spread around the encampment that as a result of the Battle of Sailor's Creek, close to eight thousand Confederate soldiers were dead or captured or had perhaps surrendered, based on which story one believed.

The fact was known by all present, though, that six of the supposed captured officers were Confederate generals. If their leaders had given up the fight, the Battle of Sailor's Creek was looking to be one of the final nails in the coffin of the Army of Northern Virginia and, possibly, the Confederacy itself.

Whispered conversations among many of the remaining junior officers in the camp spoke of the real possibility of General Lee surrendering to the Union army any day now. Two of the higher-ranking officers, those closest to Lee, kept to themselves knowledge of the fact that their commander in chief had dispatched a courier on horseback the night before to inform President Jefferson Davis that defeat and, likely, surrender were close at hand and that preparations must be made to deal with the business of what the fate would be of the Confederate states after the surrender.

The compelling question that lingered was about the collective fate of the government of the South upon the cessation of hostilities. A survival plan for the leaders of the Southern states needed to be prepared. Lincoln preached peace and forgiveness to his citizenry for those who opted for cessation but still had to keep the fight going strong in order to achieve a superior negotiating position and keep those who thought him weak at bay.

Most important to Lincoln personally was the task of avoiding the scorn of his own supporters—those who wanted the total decimation of the Confederacy and its leaders. The Union had been on the brink of breaking apart thirty years prior to his presidency. It was luckily saved from that fate then, and he wanted to be the one who saved it this time.

While Lincoln spoke of peace with the South, Lee had already given thought to moving his remaining armies west to provide an escape route for his officers if surrender did not imply forgiveness and flight to the wilderness or to Mexico became necessary.

Unknown, however, to all the officers, even those closest to Lee, was the fact that a second rider had been dispatched by him the previous day to the encampment of the Tenth Virginia regulars to deliver a secret letter, one of even higher and more importance, to Major Frank Gardner, a Virginia Military Institute graduate, a trusted officer, and a member of a well-respected and influential Virginia family. This message ordered Gardner to perform a task that was extremely dangerous and would charge him with the duty of initiating the plan to ensure the future of postwar South and its leaders.

Major Frank Gardner's Virginia roots were deep. He was born into a distinguished military family. His grandfather Frans Gardner was a general in Washington's army in the revolution against Britain's colonization of America. His father and uncle both fought against the English again in the War of 1812. The family had been active in Virginia politics since their arrival in the colonies, but Frank Gardner was, more important than anything else, an experienced officer in the Tenth Virginia brigade and a respected and trusted soldier in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Gardner was intelligent and possessed a tactical military education, having graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. Graduating as an officer gave him a distinct advantage and immediately placed him inside the right military and political circles. Whether the Confederacy survived, he would clearly be a worthy candidate for high political office in postwar South.

Lee knew that Gardner had the intellect, the boldness, and the means to undertake the task that he was being asked to complete. Lee also knew that Gardner had family throughout the state of Virginia and knowledge of and access to many places to hide and secure something of great importance.

There existed a chain of command from Jefferson Davis on down in the Confederacy. Perhaps the most important link in Lee's governmental chain of command and a necessary link to complete the plan was Judah Benjamin. Benjamin—Confederate secretary of war, former Confederate secretary of state, and former senator from Louisiana before the secession of the Southern states—was one of the most, if not the most, trusted advisers to both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.

The Louisiana Hebrew, who fared surprisingly well in the highly anti-Semitic South, had been an accomplished lawyer and well-liked politician before the war. However, unknown to most of the government of the South, other than Jefferson Davis and a few of his most trusted associates in government, Benjamin secretly managed the Confederacy's economic affairs and foreign contacts. Davis had been taught, first by his family and later by his political associates, that when it came to managing finances, one must always seek the advice and counsel of a Hebrew.

Benjamin already knew from his own observation and from various sources, both in the North and in the South, that the Confederacy's defeat and surrender were both inevitable and imminent. He also knew that there were those in the North, many of whom he remembered from his days of arguing policy and relations with foreign governments while in the United States Senate, who could not wait to pillage the Southern states and take with them whatever they wanted and do away with whomever they deemed to be a threat to their way of thinking.

Prior to the secession of the Southern states, it was already becoming clear in the Senate where allegiances lay. Judah Benjamin had personal aspirations as well as personal fears regarding a postwar South. He had already begun planning his own personal future, and those plans did not include being a resident in the reunited states after the surrender of the Confederacy.

He had thoughts about a plan for the future of the South, but his personal postwar plans differed greatly from those of the Confederacy. However, given his loyalty to his former ally and friend in the Senate, Jefferson Davis, he awaited his orders to initiate the survival plan.

*****

The courier reached Gardner's camp on the afternoon of April 8. The rider's horse was exhausted, as was the rider. Both needed to rest. At the lookout post, the dispatch carrier was stopped by sentries and asked his business. He informed them that he had an urgent letter from General Lee for Major Frank Gardner. The soldiers looked quizzically at one another. Major Gardner was not the senior commander of the Tenth Virginia army. Why would General Lee write a letter, let alone an important letter, to him and not to the colonel?

One of the sentries asked to see the letter. The rider stood fast.

My orders are to deliver this letter to Major Gardner only, he said, stressing the last word.

Had these sentries been Mississippi or Alabama boys, thought the rider, I would probably have a musket ball in my leg.

However, these were fellow Virginia farm boys, and their recognition of his local accent persuaded them to allow him in and direct him to the major's field tent.

Frank Gardner sat in a field chair just outside his tent. The rain had stopped for the time being, and the sun periodically poked its way from behind the clouds. This was both a blessing and a curse. The warmth of the sun reduced the somber mood in the camp but also enhanced the variety of obnoxious odors emanating from the swamp where the camp was located. The stench—a combination of unburied bodies, horse manure, blood, urine, and vomit—permeated the camp.

Gardner had been raised in a well-known, well-to-do, privileged family. He was more accustomed to the smell of juniper, roses, and apple pies cooking in the kitchen. His time in the military institute had prepared him for the logistics of warfare, but not for the realities that such combat brought.

Gardner pushed back his strawberry blond hair under his hat and took out a cigar from his leather cigar case, trying to draw some essence of civilized behavior out of the horrors he had observed since the war had begun in earnest. He had just struck a match against the bottom of his boot when a boy of no more than fifteen and not wearing any uniform approached him and hesitantly and almost question-like asked, Major Gardner, sir?

Gardner took a deep draw from his cigar, looked the boy up and down, and said, Do I know you, son?

The young courier drew close to Gardner and whispered, Sir, I have an important dispatch for you from General Robert E. Lee.

Gardner stood up, exhaled the smoke from his lungs, looked the boy in the eyes, and said, Really now?

With a sense of both surprise and disbelief, he watched the boy take out an envelope with a red seal, which Gardner recognized immediately.

He took the envelope from the boy and said, Thank you, son. Now go to the provisions tent and tell the cook to fix you a hot meal on my orders.

Gardner sat back down and used a bayonet to slit open and separate the seal from the document. He unfolded the three-page letter and began to read the familiar flourished script. At first, he frowned at what he read. But as he read further, his eyes widened. He slowly bent his head, not believing what he was reading.

This letter is preposterous. I cannot believe this to be true, yet I must believe what it says and do what it asks of me. It is from General Lee.

As he finished reading the letter, he took another long draw on his cigar.

He hesitated for a few moments, rubbed his unshaven chin, blew out a cloud of blue smoke, and thought, Now how in the hell am I going to accomplish this?

He sat deep in thought, so deep that he failed to hear the approaching footsteps.

Ahem.

Gardner looked up. When he did, there stood his commander, Colonel Warren, along with a teenage Negro boy who Gardner assumed was his attendant. Gardner immediately stood up and saluted.

At ease, Major, said the stern-faced Warren.

Gardner took a quick glance and observed that the young boy had most of the elements of a Confederate regular's uniform, although missing regulation boots. Gardner had not yet heard of the previous month's law that allowed slaves to enlist in the Confederate army, although without rank or pay.

Gardner brought his glance quickly back to the colonel. For the moment, he forgot that he was holding General Lee's letter in his hand with the seal prominently displayed.

I understand you hail from Rockingham County or thereabouts, Major. Is that right?

Gardner nodded affirmatively.

Warren looked straight at the letter and then directly into Frank's eyes. With a degree of solemnity, he began.

My orders from the commander in chief of the Army of Northern Virginia, unfortunately, are to disband this regiment posthaste and, specifically, to have you make your way back to Rockingham County on a mission of importance. You will be informed of the details as you proceed.

Gardner was, for the moment, overwhelmed by surprise and disbelief. First, a letter from General Lee, and now orders from his regiment's commander that spoke of disbanding his unit.

Does this have something to do with General Lee's letter? Gardner thought.

Colonel Warren interrupted Frank's thoughts.

You will meet a contact who will be waiting for you with further orders and instructions. Young Henry here knows the location of the meeting place and will travel with you by wagon out of uniform so as not to raise suspicion should you run into any Yankee patrols.

The letter from General Lee slipped out of Gardner's hand and landed on the ground with the seal plainly visible. Warren's and Gardner's eyes met.

I see that you already have word of your part in this mission. This is a golden opportunity for you, Major.

Frank thought, This must be a well-known plan. Warren seems to know what I know from this letter and has orders of his own.

Your family reputation is well-known throughout Virginia. Accomplish this task, and when the South surely rises again, the Gardner name will rise with it. You and young Henry here leave just after sunset tonight. He will accompany you everywhere you go. You will both have pistols but no rifles. We need all we can use here, Warren said, looking out over the encampment.

All Henry knows is that you and your task are most important to the war effort, and he must return you to Rockingham County safely and with great haste. If you were to meet up with Union scouts or regulars, he could panic and disclose your mission. A condition of his enlistment was, he would be sworn to secrecy under penalty of death. If you suspect any violation of that oath, enforce the penalty before he says a word. Good luck and Godspeed.

With that, Warren briskly walked away. Henry, his eyes lowered, stayed.

Anything I can help you with, Major, sir? Henry asked with some hesitation.

Just make sure to get a strong draft horse and a wagon with good wheels.

Already done, sir—loaded with enough food and water for the ride.

Gardner looked at young Henry.

Then I will meet you at the sentry post at sundown, he said. One more thing. He turned to go back into his tent. As of tonight, you call me master at all times. I know you think you're a soldier, but no one else can think you are other than my slave.

Henry didn't like that, but he agreed, because he figured it had to be part of the disguise. He also thought, I'll do whatever he says, b'cause I don't wanna end up on the business end of one of those pistols.

Gardner gathered up his personal items. He checked to make sure his canteen was still at least halfway full of the whiskey he kept there in case of injury and checked the strap and cork. He placed his other personal items in a sack, lay down on his cot, and began to think about how he was going to, with little assistance other than from a skinny young slave, meet up with none other than Secretary Judah Benjamin, who according to Lee was leaving for England shortly.

Rereading the contents of the letter and the plan it described, Gardner was, with Benjamin's assistance, to gather up something of great value that would determine the future of the Confederacy, hide it somewhere safe, where only he and Henry would know, and wait for further orders after the South surrendered to the Union.

Surrender? Gardner knew that the war was not going well, but he had no idea that surrender was that close at hand. Frank knew little of what would happen to the South following a surrender to the Union.

Gardner did not know if the young boy knew anything other than to do as he was told by him. He focused on the task ahead. Frank was already thinking about and visualizing in his mind's eye the familiar countryside of Rockingham County and how he and Henry would survive the two-day trip. He stuffed General Lee's letter in his satchel.

Henry waited patiently outside the tent. He thought, I got an important job to do, but it's a secret. I can't tell nobody. My mama would'a been proud of me if she was livin'.

April 11, 1865

Rockingham County, Virginia

General Lee's letter said that Gardner would meet his first contact in a tavern on the main road to Petersburg on the twelfth of April at 4:00 p.m. The tavern was known as the Black Raven and was run by a family loyal to the Confederacy. Henry knew of its location well, as did Gardner. It was also known to be visited by Union spies from time to time, urging Frank to use caution and quick wits so as to avoid suspicion. In other words, it was a place to keep spirits high