High Bridge
Philip Sheridan described the Battle of Sailor’s Creek as. . . “one of the severest conflicts of the war, for the enemy fought with desperation to escape capture, and we, bent on his destruction, were no less eager and determined. The capture of Ewell, with six of his generals and most of his troops, crowned our success, but the fight was so over-shadowed by the stirring events of the surrender three days later, that the battle has never been accorded the prominence it deserves.” The men who fell at Sailor’s Creek were only 72 hours away from war’s end, and all who fought at that still remote place experienced some of the most ferocious fighting of the entire Civil War. For the victors there would be the numerous captured battle flags, and 56 Congressional Medals of Honor. For the vanquished there was only to be death, captivity, or survival.
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How many historians and Civil War scholars and enthusiasts have ever quietly longed to be able – somehow – to “go back”? To somehow return to be an actual part of those fabled days of American yore is the secret dream of so many. That is, to be more than the expert immersed in his study and dissertations, more than the avid reader, more than merely the silent, safely distant observer so many have become. For at least one man, it happened that he could go back. And to the certain chagrin of any number of these historians and authenticators, this happened to a man who really did not care. All he knew about any kind of history was merely enough to receive a passing grade in any particular required class – and even that he had long forgotten. It was all there for him – waiting for him actually. The inexplicable experience, the horror of war, the drama, the people, and the long roads. . . ready or not: There he found himself. “Across and beyond the sands of time,” the story of “High Bridge” describes the man’s compelling odyssey in 22 serialized chapters, unfolding two at a time.
