Stonewall's Gold: A Novel of the Civil War

by Robert J. Mrazek

Overview

Winner of the Civil War Society's Seal of Approval
Winner of the Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction

Stonewall's Gold is an adventure story for readers of all ages in the classic tradition of Treasure Island and The Red Badge of Courage. Combining a fascinating and gripping narrative with a portrait of life in the Civil War-era South, it is also the moving story of a boy on the edge of manhood, taking on difficult challenges that force him to confront the world for the first time.

The year of 1864 is a difficult time to be living in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. The Civil War is drawing to a close and, under the orders of General Sheridan, Union troops have laid waste to the countryside. Against this bleak backdrop, Jamie Lockhart's mother takes on a boarder to help her eke out a living until her husband returns from the war.

Soon, someone begins desecrating local soldier's graves, and Jamie, an intrepid fifteen-year-old, discovers that their boarder is the culprit. Confronted, the boarder assaults Jamie's mother; defending her, Jamie kills him. In his personal effects Jamie discovers the item he was looking for in the graveyard, a cryptic map to Stonewall's gold. Thus begins Jamie's quest.

Along the way, Jamie is faced with the best and the worst in human nature, and meets a young girl and falls in love for the first time. He becomes privy to the hidden politics behind the war when he stumbles upon escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad, and he is also forced to confront the ugly realities of war and the absurdity of the lost cause in the final days of the conflict.

A ripping adventure yarn, a moving coming-of-age tale, and a fascinating portrait of the difficulty of life in the Appalachians at the end of the Civil War, Stonewall's Gold is a compelling novel that is certain to appeal to teacher and student alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312254223
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/14/2000
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Robert J. Mrazek lives and writes in Washington, D.C., and Maine. A former member of Congress, he coauthored the law that saved the Manassas battlefield from being bulldozed into a giant shopping center.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Constable Kilduff has told me to put the whole thing down in writing and that is exactly what I'm going to do. He said if I could offer enough evidence to prove it really happened the way I said it did then everything would come out all right in the end. He said he thought Judge Burwell would not go hard on a fifteen-year-old boy, even for the murders.

    When I'm finished writing it all down, he'll take it to the judge over at the courthouse in Harrisonburg. After that, Constable Kilduff said I would likely be able to start life again with a clean slate.

    Don't ask me why this happened to me. My mother said it was part of God's plan. If it was, I'd say He needs a lot more practice. Anyway, it all started in those last few months before General Lee surrendered at Appamatox.

    Jubal Early and his Shenandoah army were finished once and for all in the valley. A week after they got whipped by the Yankees for the last time at Cedar Creek, a long train of hospital wagons arrived in Port Republic and the wounded were laid out on piles of straw around Fairfield Hall. My mother and the other women went over there to help ease their pain and try to comfort the dying.

    Now those men were gone too. A lot of them were buried in the same fields around the hall. Most of the others had slipped across the Blue Ridge through Brown's Gap to join General Lee for a last stand around Richmond and Petersburg.

    General Sheridan had sent his cavalry raiding up the valley again in late October. They swarmed all over like locusts until that great leader finally figured out there was nobody left to bother with. Of course, that didn't stop them from burning or destroying almost everything in their path for the pure pleasure it gave them.

    On the day I turned fifteen, they came to our place. After piling straw around the barn, the soldiers drove our two milk cows inside, shut the doors and set it on fire. Then they killed the chickens and stole all the cured meat from the smokehouse. They were very good at their job. The whole matter took less than ten minutes.

    We had our first hoarfrost a few days later. By late November the ice in Dorsey's pond was already four inches thick and people were saying it was the coldest winter they could ever remember. In mid-December we began having fierce storms almost every day with snow squalls and ice rain.

    It wasn't much past four o'clock on the afternoon the stranger came. The sky was already turning dark. With another bitter night coming on I was making sure our last horse, Jupiter, was safely bedded down in the run-in shed near the back of our house.

    That's when Achilles began to growl. The big mastiff was so old that his muzzle had turned milky-white but his ears were still fine. I turned to look down the hill toward the woods and saw him riding up out of the gloom.

    His animal was making an ugly snuffling noise like it wasn't too happy to be out on such a miserable day. When he reached the top of the hill, the stranger rode slowly across the yard to the hitching post near the back porch. He never looked in my direction although Jupiter whinnied out a friendly greeting as they went by. Dismounting, he tied up his horse.

    His head was covered by a high-crowned beaver hat and he wore a long military greatcoat with its collars turned up to protect his ears from the cold. The insignia had been ripped off but I knew it was an officer's coat because my father was wearing one just like it when they brought him home after he was shot at Chancellorsville.

    A short-barreled carbine hung across the stranger's back, held on by a crude strap that ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip. What looked like cowhide breeches were stuffed into long cavalry boots. He must have been wearing spurs because they made an odd jangling sound with every step he took up to the back porch. He knocked loudly twice on the kitchen door.

    When my mother answered it, he said, "They told me in the village you had room, Miz Lockhart." His voice was loud enough to carry over the wind. It was deep and grizzly.

    I couldn't hear her answer but the next thing I saw he was heading inside. A few minutes later I walked over to look at his horse. It was short, stubby, and narrow-chested, about the only kind you saw anymore in the valley since General Hunter's bummers had come through back in the summer and stolen everything that wasn't nailed down. Aside from his satchel bag, the only thing the stranger's horse was carrying was a corked jug that hung from a length of twine tied to the pommel of his saddle.

    I know my mother would never have rented him our room if we weren't so hard up for the extra money. Not that it was any palace. When my grandfather built his fruit cellar into the side of the hill behind the house, he constructed a large room above it with a second-story loft. For years it was used as a place to store tools. Later, my father fixed it up as an office before he began teaching at the Mossy Creek Academy.

    My mother started renting it after the Yankees captured Winchester for the first time and prices at the store right away doubled for just about everything. Our first boarder was an old widower whose house took fire during the fighting at Tenth Legion. He stayed with us for almost a year until his daughter came up from Kentucky to get him. After that it was a mixed trade. Most of them were bargemen who had brought freight goods up the river and then got stuck in Port Republic when the fighting blocked their passage any further.

    As far as I was concerned we didn't need any more boarders now. No matter what the old men said down at the store I knew in my heart the war couldn't last much longer and my father would be coming home again soon. I couldn't wait for things to be just like they used to be.

    I finished currying Jupiter and headed inside. After hanging up my coat, I went through the back pantry into the kitchen. The stranger was sitting in my father's chair in front of the fire. He had removed his hat and coat to reveal a filthy red shirt covered by a rawhide vest that was held together by a leather watch chain. I saw that the sole of one of his boots was sprung wide open and he wasn't wearing any socks. But that wasn't unusual. Dr. Cassidy had said more than half the Confederate soldiers were completely barefoot.

    He was by far the hairiest man I've ever seen. The roots started growing out of his forehead just above the brows of his fearsome black eyes. Like some kind of pelt it rose straight back over the crown of his head and fell way down below his shoulders. It even sprouted out of the backs of his hands. There were tiny icicles frozen into the long black beard that began just below his lips.

    My mother was telling him exactly what I had hoped to hear. It was what she always said when she didn't like the looks of someone who asked to stay.

    "My husband is away at the moment but we've received word that he is on his way home. We expect him to arrive any day now. I regret that he is usually accompanied by another officer who will have need of our spare room."

    At this the stranger broke into a smile that shattered the ice particles covering his chin. I'll say this for him. He still had all his teeth.

    "I reckon I cain understand that," he said. "'Course, I don't need it for mor'n a week at most. If'n your husband come home I'd get right out for sure. Don't want to get in the way of no homecomin' party. No, sir. I just wisht I had somebody waitin' for me at home after all I been through. Now I was with the artillery myself. Back in sixty-two I fought right here under ol' Stonewall hisself. Right across them fields yonder," he said, pointing in the direction of the battlefield.

    "Well, I'm truly sorry but — "

    "Ma'arm, I surely would like a place with a real bed. I'll pay three hundred dollars the week if'n you let me stay. How's that sound?"

    Of course, he was talking Confederate. Three hundred was barely enough to buy a good pair of pants but it was five times what she would have usually asked and I could see she was already spending the money in her mind on things we needed to last out the winter.

    Then he said, "'Course, I'll get out the first minute your husbin come walkin' through that door."

    I was about to ask him what was so special about any old bed in Port Republic when I heard my mother tell him, "If we have to ask you to leave, I will return the unused portion of the rent. And you're welcome to take meals with us although I'm afraid there isn't much to put on the table these days."

    "That's mighty kind of you, ma'arm," he said.

    "You'll find a pitcher and bowl on the washstand in your room and the pump is in the well house by the side porch," she went on. I doubted he would soon be taking her up on that knowledge. His fingernails were caked with dirt and he looked like he hadn't washed in a month.

    "The necessary can be found in the grove of black walnuts beyond the run-in shed."

    "Yes, ma'arm," he said, looking around at everything as if he now owned the place. "My name's Blewitt. Corporal Blewitt."

    The black eyes stopped on me and his nose curdled up as if he smelled something bad. I figured it was probably himself.

    "An' how old are you, boy?" he demanded.

    "Fifteen."

    "Fifteen!" he repeated, making his eyes go wide. "Mite small, ain't you?"

    I said nothing in return. It was regrettably true. My mother always said, "God may have made you small so far, Jamie, but he also gave you common sense and a good brain." Personally, I'd give a good chunk of it back to Him if He would make me around six feet tall.

    "I'll say this," Corporal Blewitt added. "You as pretty as a girl."

    My face got hot and I was about to take his and the Lord's name in vain when my mother said, "Jamie, please go tend to Corporal Blewitt's horse while I finish preparing supper."

    "Mighty obliged, ma'arm," he said.

    Putting on my coat again in the pantry, I was about to walk out the door when I heard him say, "They tell me you a Yankee lady."

    There was a pause and then she replied as if all the life had gone out of her.

    "Who told you that?" she asked.

    "Fat boy runs the store."

    "I'm originally from New York," she said so low I could barely hear. "I've lived here for sixteen years."

    I went outside and led his mare back to the run-in shed. She seemed grateful when I took off the saddle. In the light of a guttering candle I saw why. The saddle was U.S. Army issue but in very bad condition. Someone had made a hasty repair to the girth buckle and it had chafed a big raw spot on her belly. I also found a cluster of scabby wounds along her flanks where the man had dug in his spurs.

    Right from there I hated Corporal Blewitt. I would hate anyone who could be so heartless to an animal that carried him everywhere without complaint and asked nothing more than to be treated decently. After cleaning and dressing all the raw spots, I began grooming the rest of the mare's mangy coat. Jupiter came over and showed his pity for the fellow creature by gently nuzzling her face and neck. When I was finished I gave them each a handful of ground-up cob corn.

    It was starting to rain hard again as I headed across the yard in the dark. The stranger was at the wood pile gathering an armful of split hickory for the potbellied stove that kept his room warm. We ignored each other. When I got back to the house my mother was slumped over the kitchen table, her face cradled in her hands, sobbing. I put my arms around her shoulders.

    "Don't worry," I said. "The war will be over soon and then Pa will be back. You'll see."

What People are Saying About This

James M. McPherson

A rattling good adventure story. (James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Battle Cry Of Freedom)

Nelson DeMille

Well-researched, well-written, and well-done. (Nelson DeMille, author of Plum Island)

Robert K. Krick

Stonewall's Gold is a superb piece of literature, rich in texture and of surpassing literary merit. This book is destined to become one of the great classics of Civil War literature. (Robert K. Krick, author of Stonewall Jackson At Cedar Mountain and Lee's Colonel)

Winston Groom

A rollicking good read for young and old, reminiscent of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. (Winston Groom, author of Shrouds Of Glory and Forrest Gump)

Gary W. Gallagher

Engagingly written and true to the historical temper of its settings, Stonewall's Gold offers compelling characters, a tidy bit of mystery, and a memorable window on the massive trauma that engulfed mid 19th century Americans. (Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War)

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The author opens the novel by saying this manuscript was found in the archives of the Rockingham County courthouse in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Why does he create this fictional frame? Why does he choose this location? (p. ix)

The author follows with a brief history of the Civil War. What purpose does this serve? Does it help to locate the story? (pp. ix-xi)

CHAPTERS ONE THROUGH FIVE

What sort of boy is Jamie Lockhart? What are your impressions of him? What do we actually know about him? (pp. 1–7)

Why do you think the author choose to begin the tale with Sheridan's burning of Jamie's family home? (p. 2)

What is Jamie's relationship with his mother? (pp. 1–7)

What is your impression of the stranger who comes looking for a room? How does Jamie view him? What do we actually know about him? (pp. 3–7)

How does Jamie feel about the war?

What do you learn about the Civil War and Virginia in the first chapter?

How does Jamie feel about his horse, Jupiter? (p. 8)

What do you think of Jamie's reading tastes? What books does he like? What books does he dislike? (pp. 9, 11)

What are the attitudes toward slavery expressed by the characters in Stonewall's Gold?

Why do you suppose Corporal Blewitt never leaves his room? (p. 18)

Why do you believe Jamie follows Corporal Blewitt to the graveyard? (p. 20)

Why is the corporal exhuming, or digging up, the bodies? (p. 22)

When Jamie threatens to expose the corporal, he says, "That's when anger caused me to blunder," (p. 27) . What does he mean by this? How is it a blunder?

Why does Jamie kill the corporal? Does he have any choice? (p. 29)

Why does Jamie's mother try to cover up the death? (p. 30)

Why does Jamie think to look in the tobacco pouch? What does he find there? Do you believe it's strange for the corporal to have the pouch? Why is the tobacco stale?

Why does Jamie pursue the mystery of the map? (p. 36)

What transpires in Ike Trumbo's bar? Why does it occur? (pp. 40–44)

CHAPTERS SIX THROUGH TWELVE

Why does Jamie trust Major de Monfort? Is he wise to do so? (p. 46)

What do you think the major's cryptic message about Calvary means? (p. 50)

How do McQuade's men find Jamie? (p. 58)

What advice does the major give Jamie? Does Jamie heed that advice? What happens to the map? (pp. 50, 58, 62)

Do you believe Captain McQuade's story about the origins of the gold and the map? What do you suppose Jamie believes?

"Captain McQuade never talked about his own plans" for the gold (p. 74). Why is this and what do you imagine the Captain's plans were?

How does Jamie respond to Jupiter's death? (p. 79) Why does he respond so strongly? What does it tell you about his relationship with his horse? What does it tell you about Jamie? Why does he retract his oath not to escape?

How would you describe Captain McQuade's men? What about Claude Moomaw?

What about Laddy and Thurman? What about Dex? (pp. 79–85)

What are your first impressions of Kate Dandridge? (pp. 84–85, 88–92)

How do Kate and Jamie escape from the cellar?

CHAPTERS THIRTEEN THROUGH SEVENTEEN

What do we learn from Royal Bevinger on his deathbed? (pp. 102–104) Does it change your impression of Captain McQuade?

What is Helen Kerfoot like? Who are all the people who crowd her household? (p. 110)

What route do Kate and Jamie take to Sudley Springs? (pp. 112–113)

Once Jamie and Kate have escaped Captain McQuade's men and reprovisioned at Helen Kerfoot's house, Jamie's attitude changes tremendously. How does the author communicate this? (p. 118)

Why do you think the author tells the story of the hanging of Johnny Bellayne? What does the story teach us? (pp. 119–124)

What transpires at the inn at Sperryville? Does it alter your impression of the war? (pp. 126–128)

CHAPTERS EIGHTEEN THROUGH TWENTY-ONE

What is Mr. Gamage like? Who does he quote? Why? What does this say about him? What about the password "Montague"? (pp. 132–134)

What is Jamie's attitude toward Kate? What do you believe is Kate's attitude toward Jamie? (p. 137)

Why does Mr. Gamage detain Jamie and Kate? (pp. 139–140)

What is Major de Monfort's condition when Jamie is reunited with him? (pp. 144–145)

Why do you imagine Major de Monfort denies being in Mr. Gamage's house while Jamie and Kate were detained? (p. 149)

How do Alain de Monfort and Katherine get along? What is Jamie's reaction to it and why? (p. 154)

How does Major de Monfort help Jamie reconstruct the map? (pp. 157–158)

How do they decode the map? (pp. 158–160) How effective is it in practice?

How does Jamie feel about leaving the shack that they occupy during the snowstorm? (pp. 162–163)

CHAPTERS TWENTY-TWO THROUGH TWENTY-SEVEN

What convinces Jamie the war is over and why? (p. 166)

Who makes the decisions for the trio as they scout for the gold and why? (pp. 172–173)

Where do they find the gold? How does it resemble the "Mouth of the Devil"? (p. 178)

What are the major's plans for the gold? Why? (p. 183)

What do we learn about Gamage and James Donaldson? (pp. 184–186)

How do you suppose Jamie feels about the major's plan and his personal revelations? (p. 185)

What happens during the gun battle between Captain McQuade's men and the major and Kate? (p. 189)

Who kills Dex and why? (p. 189)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT THROUGH EDITOR'S POSTSCRIPT

Why does the captain join Jamie and Kate rather than trying to take the gold? (p. 191)

How do Jamie, Kate, and the captain elude the Yankees on their way to Richmond? (pp. 191–196)

What do the Confederate soldiers think of New Yorkers? (p. 197)

Why do you suppose Captain McQuade decides to lead the Confederate soldiers into battle against the Yankees? What are the ramifications of that decision? How do we feel about McQuade in the wake of this? (pp. 199–200)

Why do the Confederate soldiers charge the Yankee line? Why do you think the author includes this scene?

How is the skirmish between the Southern soldiers and the Union Army indicative of the modern view of the Civil War?

How does Colonel Twombly react to the shipment Kate and Jamie are carrying? Does he believe them? What changes his mind? (pp. 205–206)

What did Colonel Twombly do before the war? Does his life story mirror that of the author's? What is the point of the statement, "He told us what it was but I can't remember now"? (p. 207)

In the end, what happens to the gold? (pp. 208–209, 214)

Why do you think Jamie's mother doesn't recognize him? How is Jamie different at the end of the story? (p. 212)

What do we know of Captain McQuade's plans for the gold? (p. 215) What do you imagine they were?

Why does Jamie want to find Frederick Douglass? (p. 215)

What do we learn in the Editor's Postscript? Do you imagine Jamie and Kate saw each other again after the conclusion of Jamie's narrative?

Why do you think the author included the Editor's Postscript? What purpose does it serve? One reviewer believed the Editor's Postscript was real—does it seem real to you?

Editorial Reviews

A superb piece of literature, rich in texture and of surpassing literary merit. This book is destined to become one of the great classics of Civil War literature.” —Robert K. Krick, author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Lee's Colonel

“Tailor-made for young adults who enjoy historical adventures.” —Booklist

“A priceless novel . . . Mrazek joins a handful of writers who have mined the vast field of the Civil War to produce a must-read book . . . A great tale.” —The Washington Times

“More than a fast-paced adventure story; it is also a tale of the horrors of war, and of the last days of the Confederacy.” —School Library Journal

“Mrazek's exceptional coming-of-age tale will equally delight young adult and adult readers . . . Echoing The Red Badge of Courage, Treasure Island, and Morte d'Arthur, this tenderly rendered first novel . . . irresistibly combines the classic motifs of Civil War, buried treasure, and romantic heroism . . . [The book] possesses a compelling narrative drive.” —Publishers Weekly

“A gripping, well-researched, and vivid debut.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Stonewall's Gold hits paydirt . . . A novel of suspense and intrigue woven into the fabric of Civil War history.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A simple tale almost magically rendered . . . On the surface it is a whopping good adventure yarn, but Mrazek's attention to detail and research of the era turn the story into a beguiling sketch of the lives of average Americans during our nation's saddest period.” —The Denver Post

“A remarkable book that is a welcome addition to the huge, ever-growing body of Civil War literature . . . The twists and turns in the plot are enough to keep you turning the pages, but it's the author's ability to recreate the haunting sights and sounds of war-torn Virginia in the midst of the Confederacy's death throes that lifts this book to the level of literature. Indeed, it evokes the sense of the young man rising to a new level of maturity through a trial by fire, like Stephen Crane's classic Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage.” —The Hill

“An amazing debut novel—literate, exciting, poignant, and engrossing. Right up there with Cold Mountain.” —Nelson DeMille, author of Plum Island

“A rattling good adventure story that also has important things to say about the hard, vicious nature of the Civil War during its final months in the Shenandoah Valley.” —James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

From the Publisher

Read this book for the sheer pleasure of the storytelling. A simple tale, almost magically rendered...it settles on you with the warmth you once felt from a favorite bedtime story.

Denver Post

A priceless novel. Mrazek joins a handful of writers who have mined the vast field of the Civil War to produce a must-read book...a great tale.

Washington Times

Treasure Island meets Cold Mountain...for adolescents to senior adults...a novel of suspense and intrigue woven into the fabric of Civil War history.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

YA-In the last winter of the Civil War, 15-year-old Jamie Lockhart kills a man who attempted to rape his mother, and finds in the dead man's tobacco pouch a small piece of cloth that looks like a crude map. Searching for clues about it, Jamie hears the words "Stonewall Jackson's gold" and is off on a far-fetched adventure-to seek the treasure buried behind enemy lines and take it to Richmond, VA, where his father is fighting with Robert E. Lee. Jamie is captured by a desperate band of men who, knowing he has knowledge of the gold's whereabouts, take him with them to search for it. The renegades take shelter at a large estate, killing its owner. The owner's daughter is determined to avenge her father's death and becomes Jamie's ally and friend, and together they plot to escape and find the gold on their own. Aided by a mysterious one-armed major, they ultimately find the gold. Only when they are on their way to Richmond with it, does Jamie find that the major has another destination in mind. This is more than a fast-paced adventure story; it is also a tale of the horrors of war, and of the last days of the Confederacy.-Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA

School Library Journal

This first novel by ex-Congressman Mrazek is a deft and fast-paced historical adventure, involving a ragtag group of villains, double agents, and a tough-minded young hero and heroine contending for a cache of gold. Set in the waning months of the Civil War, in the devastated Shenandoah Valley, the story traces the growing involvement of 15-year-old Jamie Lockhart in the search for several crates of Confederate gold, seized by the Union in 1861, and then quickly stolen by a group of Confederate officers, who hide in the expectation that the war will soon be over and the Confederacy none the worse for its disappearance. The last survivor of that group leads a band of cutthroats in pursuit of Jamie, who has accidentally discovered the only map to the gold. Another group soon enters the fray, determined to use the gold for the benefit of newly emancipated slaves. Arid Jamie wants to deliver the gold bars personally to Robert E. Lee. Along the way, he joins forces with the bright, independent, and bloody-minded Katherine Dandridge. Just 18 years old, she is determined to track down and kill the Confederate deserters pursuing Jamie after they ruthlessly shoot down her father. Confederate and union raiders, newly escaped slaves, and a seemingly demented actor soon enter the fray, which turns even bloodier. Jamie and Katherine survive, older and wiser for their struggles, and with secrets of their own. A gripping, well-researched, and vivid debut. .

Kirkus Reviews