The sun was up over Harper's Creek, and striking the fields with long lines of gold on the dew. Thomas Reed was just getting out of bed when he appeared on the porch of the farmhouse belonging to his family, and was fastening the top button of his battered cotton shirt. There was the smell of wet soil and smoke in the distance. He had just passed the age of nineteen the previous week, but the world had no time to celebrate birthdays. His father was already a soldier in action and his elder brother Samuel had enlisted in the Union army a year ago. This left Thomas to take care of his mother, the farm and the mule who never heard anybody but him. His mother came in the door with a cup of coffee.
