Jimmy Shepherd - Warrior

By John Thompson

A young boy leaves his dead family in Leeds and voyages alone to America. He joins the army in the Civil War fighting in all the major battles in Virginia and later joins the famed US Cavalry in Arizona. Thrill to his adventuresand be astounded at his survival of near death incidents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781446699300

John Thompson

USMC Master Sergeant John Thompson, Ret., is the cofounder and former COO of Lima One. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with his wife, Sandy, and has two grown children.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

  The loudest noise ever heard in this normally quiet corner of Maryland. The roar of cannons, the crackle of small arms fire, the screams and vivid cursing of the wounded, the crushing of grass and twigs under the heavy onrushing tread of infantry boots. There was also the confused shout of orders to move forward, to hold the ground, to fall back, all accompanied by the various signals blown on the bugles.

  The smoke hung like a pall over a coffin at a funeral, thick black smoke from discharged firearms, especially the artillery pieces. The smoke drifted in the breeze looking almost peaceful but the strong smell of spent black powder negated that peaceful appearance. These were the sights, sounds and smells of all out war, a war fought on a matter of principle by ordinary men from all walks of life. Most only had a vague idea of why they were fighting, emancipation for the slaves many said, some did not know what emancipation meant, and did not care as to them they were fighting for their families and the hope of seeing them again.

  The place was a large area in Maryland which would become known as the Battle of Antietam, named after Antietam Creek which ran through the battlefield. The men on the ground were not interested in the name of the place, they wanted to simply survive, none of them had ever seen carnage like this.

  The date was September 17th, 1862 and would prove to be the bloodiest day ever on American soil with 10,000 dead and 13,400 wounded. The battle of Antietam would never be forgotten by those who took part in it, nor by those whose loved ones died in it. It brought total war on an industrial scale to North America.

  Jimmy Shepherd, a 17 year old lad from Leeds in England was with the 61st New York regiment, who had been added on to the 41st New York regiment to form a fine band of brothers mostly from the working class of New York. The officers were also from New York and the Company Jimmy was with was led by Capt [Captain] Clive Barker. Capt Barker worked for a shipping company on the long shore, and was what could be termed a junior executive. He had been in the same outfit as Jimmy since war was declared last year and the two could almost be termed as friends, despite the difference in class. Jimmy had risen to Cpl [Corporal] following the Battle of Fair Oaks and indeed, he showed stout leadership qualities and abilities getting the maximum out of the men in his section without all the dramatic histrionics that many NCOs show. [AUTHOR’S NOTE NCOs are Non-Commissioned Officers which are Lance-Corporals, Corporals, Sergeants and various types of Sergeant -Majors].

  They were in the middle of the battlefield, although they did not know it at the time, advancing westwards towards the Confederate positions, although this battle was especially noted for the confusion of various units as battle lines at first were not clearly drawn.

  They came upon a force of 2,600 Confederate troops dug in along a dirt road used by farmers, known as the Sunken Road, later as Bloody Lane. The Johnny Rebs had piled fence palings on top of the embankment to strengthen their position. They met the advancing Union troops with a withering volley of musket fire which downed many.

  Both sides dug in and for four hours exchanged volley after volley, gradually the Union side got on top and drove out the Rebs. a request for reinforcements was denied by Gen [General] George McClellan who refused the request and so the Union troops withdrew despite having pierced the front line of the Confederates. In all, 5,500 soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded, all for nothing.

  So, what about Jimmy, you may ask, he was leading his section in the middle of the line and all of them hit the dirt on the first volley with no casualties. They had a few wounded and four killed in the next few hours, as did most platoons, but Jimmy was not hit, only bruised by the ground being hard.

  An odd thing did happen, two Reb snipers drew a bead on Jimmy, he saw them, the first one fired and Jimmy could actually see the Minie ball rushing towards his head. [AUTHOR’S NOTE a Minie ball was a hollow based bullet which had a greater range and more penetrating power than a standard musket ball, the wounds were far more grievous.] The ball stopped in flight just before it hit Jimmy and dropped to the ground. Jimmy did not have time to wonder what happened as the second sniper’s Minie ball was winging its way towards Jimmy’s head. Again, something weird happened, the second ball, which Jimmy could see as if in slow motion, came towards his head then suddenly shot upwards and disappeared from view, never to be seen again.

  Jimmy looked back towards the Reb lines and could just about make out a beautiful woman with long black hair and a green dress but she kept fading in and out of Jimmy’s view and Jimmy thought the strain of battle was making him see things that were not really there. The fighting continued so Jimmy put these thoughts away for another time. …

1. THE TRAGEDY OF LEEDS

  It was 1st June 1854, Jimmy Shepherd’s eleventh birthday, but like most small boys in Victorian England it was not a cause for celebration. Jimmy was on his way home from a twelve hour shift at Marshall’s Mill in Holbeck and he knew there would be no birthday presents or birthday tea waiting for him but he did not mind, he was used to doing without.

  Jimmy was a muscular lad with a pleasant face and demeanor. He had a shock of wild curly blond hair, which stood out in the crowd. Jimmy was also physically fit from his work which was all manual work and so he was easy on the eye.

  It was payday today for which Jimmy received the princely sum of five shillings for his six days of twelve hours per day shift. This was not a day of rejoicing as Jimmy’s wage paid the weekly rent of five shillings, Jimmy literally had no money of his own.

  Jimmy accepted his situation which was similar to that of most working class folk in Leeds. Leeds was a large industrial center full of textile mills, engineering works, food manufacturers and the like.

  The factory owners were wealthy, the workers were poverty stricken.

  Jimmy had five sisters all below eight years of age, his mum was worn down with worry and his dad could not work, as in his last job as a builder just over a year ago he had fallen from a roof and badly smashed his right leg. This was the days before workman’s compensation or unemployment payments. He who could not work, could not eat. The family lived in a single room in one of six houses in Wade’s Yard just off Briggate.

  To call it squalid would be a compliment. There were three rooms in each building, eighteen in all. There were no toilets or running water. There was one toilet in the yard for over one hundred people and one cold tap. There was no sewage system, just an open channel. To describe it as stinky would be right especially in summer.

  The weekly rent was five shillings and as Jimmy was the only bread winner his five shillings was taken by the rent leaving zero for food, clothing or anything else. This desperate plight was echoed throughout Britain. Yes, it had a vast empire but the wealth only went to the privileged few, the working class had to continue on very little.

  Food was provided by charitable organizations run bt upper class ladies who provided to keep the poor from starvation and clothing came from the various churches in the form of free hand me downs from the rich and middle class castoffs.

  The government feared revolution as had happened throughout Europe and so tiny bits of legislation began to help the poor a little bit.

  What of Jimmy? He worked a twelve hour shift at Marshall’s Mill in Holbeck. It was a fax mill which spun the raw flax into yarn for sending over to America to be made into garments. This was a lucrative trade and even with having two thousand employees and seven thousand  steam powered spindles Mr Marshall was raking the money in. Jimmy worked as a scavenger, crawling about beneath the machinery picking up loose scrap cloth and mopping up oil spills. Jimmy was known as a loyal hard working lad and , although his job was dangerous he went about his tasks with a cheery demeanor. 

  Mr Marshall was a kindly employer, a man who believed in