Home from Hell

By MJP Padre and Phil Galli

Joshua lost him when he sacrificed his life to save Joshua’s at the battle of Chickamauga. In this book he will be coming home he will be home now to Oshkosh, Wisconsin with his family on his wife Mary’s family’s farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669806653

MJP Padre

MJP Padre is a novelist. He has COPD. He was diagnosed 7 years ago in 2015. MJ never smoked, his disease is from 2nd. Hand Smoke. He is gradually losing control over his body and life. He has just received a handi-cap plackard for parking his vehicle and has had some debilitating things happen in his life because of his sick lungs. The book is written with the help of hundreds of his friends in an international group of fellow COPD patients. He lives in Sacramento, California in the USA with his wife Sharon and their cat Molly.

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Copyright © 2022 by MJP Padre and Phil Galli.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 01/12/2022

Xlibris

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DEDICATED TO THE

FOLLOWING WHO SERVED

Col. Jack - AUS

Leon G. Fuller – Technical Sgt., United States Army…..World War 2

Edgar D. Bogart – Staff Sgt., United States Army

Clay Cowan – Sgt., United States Army

Jim Monteton – Specialist 4, United States Army

Bill Jang – Major, United States Marine Corps

Paul Reyes – Gunnery Sgt., United States Marine Corps

Steve Bogart – Major, California Center for Military History

John English – First Lieutenant, California Center for Military History

Bill Fordyce – Technical Sgt., United States Air force

Mike Hughes – Technical Sgt., United States Air Force

Sylvia Thweatt – Sgt., United States Air Force

Cary Cowan – Airman, United States Air Force

Greg Roy – Petty Officer 2nd. Class, United States Navy

Phillip Galli – Petty Officer 3rd. Class, United States Navy

Budd Werley – Petty Officer 3rd. Class, United States Navy

David Paige - Sgt. United States Army

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedicated To The Following Who Served

Introduction

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

INTRODUCTION

Joshua Campbell as you know from reading the first 2 novels of this set, My Flock In Yankee Blue and Marching South With Sherman is a Chaplain in the Army of the Cumberland and at the end of the war now is known as the General Sherman’s Army. Joshua and his family were originally from a small farming community in Marshalton, Wisconsin and before the war and were very happy and content. When the war came Joshua who was an ardent Abolitionist was compelled to join his local militia group to go off to the war to free the slaves. He stressed over this and agonized over this decision as he knew he would be breaking up his family. His younger so James would be leaving his friends behind a year before he graduate from High School and spend his Senior year away from there and Michael Jr. was going to be off to Medical School and Mary would be moving into her parent’s home which was her childhood home and she would be getting back into the farming community she grew up outside of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After the first battle Joshua declared there was no God mafter he had experienced the hell of the hospital where he put to sleep many men before they had limbs amputated. He had many different experiences in the war losing a number of the boys from his parish who died of wounds or disease and this affected him deeply. He lost his 1st. Sgt. Hampton who taught him how to be a soldier and took care of his every need through sending over his young troops from his command to make sure that Joshua had all of his needs taken care of. Joshua lost him when he sacrificed his life to save Joshua’s at the battle of Chickamauga. In this book he will be coming home he will be home now to Oshkosh, Wisconsin with his family on his wife Mary’s family’s farm. The farm is quite large and is over 600 acres and they have many farm hands to help take care of it. Mary his wife, Michael Jr. who was a Doctor in his unit and Amanda who was James his son’s Fiancé until James died of pneumonia in the fall of 1863 right before Christmas will live on the farm until Michael Jr.. James is buried on the family farm under a big Oak Tree where all the rest of the family members who have passed away are buried. Since during the war Michael Jr. and Amanda have been corresponding by mail and they have an understanding that they are going to be married when he got home from the war. Others in the home are his Father – in - Law Michael Sr. who was a Cavalry Captain in the War with Mexico and served with Joshua in the army and lost part of his leg at the battle of Chickamauga and Joshua’s Mother – in - Law Mabel. Living in the home also is Jordan Ellis who was initially Joshua’s Chaplains Assistant but when he told Joshua that he really wanted to go into business after the war Joshua introduced him to Michael Sr. and he was assigned to Michael as his assistant with a promotion to Sergeant at Headquarters. When Michael Sr. lost part of his leg Jordan was given an honorable discharge and sent home with Michael Sr. to care for him and then was given a job helping in the business of running the farm when Michael Sr. got well. Then there is Coffee who had become Joshua’s Chaplain Assistant beginning in late 1863 after 1st. Sgt. Hampton was killed and took care of Joshua until the end of the war. He was an old soldier from the War with Mexico and had come to the Company as a replacement Sgt. to take over for a Sgt. Who had moved on during the re-organization of Sherman’s army. It was decided that once he had trained the platoon that he would become Joshua’s assistant and that another younger man would take command of the platoon. He did not know what he wanted to do after the war so Joshua has brought him home to the farm and he will stay until he decides what he wants in life. Some of the other men he served with in the war who have come home to Oshkosh and settled in Oshkosh are Dr. Richard Rice who was Joshua’s best friend during the war. Doctor Richard Rice and Michael Jr. will be opening a Medical practice in Oshkosh. In the book are Captain Alan Davis who commanded Company D of the 21st. Wisconsin Regiment he and Joshua were very close as they were from Marshalton before the war and Alan worshipped in Joshua’s church. Another person who Joshua had met before he went off to war was Pastor Jacob Chamberlain and his wife Sarah who were in Oshkosh. Since Joshua had seen them last they have had a brand new baby girl who Joshua will meet. Joshua will be doing Services for him as a Associate Pastor once things settle down for him in his coming home. They will be going back to Marshalton to visit old friends. There they will visit his Uncle John and his two Grandsons and Uncle John’s new wife Sharon. Uncle John was his father’s best friend. Joshua’s Father and Uncle John had brought their young wives west to settle here in the 1820’s and each of them settled 180 acres and began to farm and had two of the most successful farms in the area. Uncle John lost his wife to cancer right before Joshua left for the War. Uncle John had crawled into a bottle and became an alcoholic and in a lurch left town without telling anyone and left Jonathan and Arthur, his two Grandsons on their own. Johnathan who was the oldest was in the Militia and went with the army during the war. Arthur who was the youngest quit High School his senior year and started working the farm. The boys were granted ownership of the farm as no one knew what or where Uncle John had gone off to. At the last end of the war Uncle John came home with a wonderful woman named Sharon. He had hired on as a hand on her brothers farm and had been a daily worker as he had traveled in all directions after he left Marshalton. She was impressed with him and they became an item and got married. She talked him into coming back to Marshalton. John had been accepted by some of his friends and not by others. Sharon became known in town and well liked and people began to warm up to Uncle John again and things were getting better. Arthur ran the farm while Johnathan was gone in the war and every year he deposited an amount into a separate account that would be for Johnathan after he came home from the war. Arthur was engaged to Imelda when Joshua left for the war and they got married during the war. Ezra and Eldra Winkler were Imelda’s parents and friends of Joshua’s and Mary’s and were members of Joshua’s church. Arthur had been James best friend. Johnathan was Michael Jr.’s best friend and they had been able to see each other during the war and traveled home with the group from Marshalton which included Joshua and a couple of others. Joshua will also be able to visit with many others he used to know. He will get the opportunity to do a service in his old church which will be a blessing for him as there was something that happened in the war that has him very nervous about doing a service in front of his old congregation. When he lost his belief in Gods he joined the ranks and was killing men in combat and did not want any of the people he had served before the war to know this. He will meet Adam Scheuster who one time fell asleep drunk in the last pew of Joshua’s church one Sunday. Adam was the town drunk, someone said that he was trying to escape the horrors of the war he fought in Mexico and now fought the horrors of war in his mind. This time when they meet again Joshua will understand Adam better than anyone else in town. In Rawlings, Illinois the family will visit Robert and Eleetha who are Joshua and Mary’s oldest friend as the men went through Seminary together. They are Amanda’s Aunt and Uncle and this is where she has lived for a while as her family had died in a fever that had swept through her farming community. This is where James had gone to live when Joshua went off to war…….this was where he met Amanda and they had fallen in love…..this was where they both came to know the most intimate experience a man and a woman know……….this is also the place where James died. Then we have the ongoing relationship between Joshua and Bell and Pretty Lady who have become a part of his life. They were the ones he took care of who in turn would listen to his every sorrow and dream and prayer during the war. When he talked to them he knew that they understood better than anyone else as they had a very special relationship. His horse Pretty Lady had carried him many miles and Bell his Mule carried all he owned mile after weary mile all through the long war. Then we have Bart, a 10 year old little boy whose farm was burned out in Atlanta by Union Cavalry. He had been entrenched in the Marshalton Company D unit and hated all Yankees for what they did to his family and the war but he loved his Yankees of the 21st. Wisconsin Inf.… and particularly those of the Marshalton Company…Company D. They became his Uncles. It was so hard for him when they died one by one…for a little boy he saw too much of the war…….. (When Bart became very sick with one of the many fevers that infected the army and almost died Joshua prayed and told God that if God existed he would heal Bart and if he did then Joshua would believe in God again…..). It was either to leave him on his own in a country full of the Hell of War or pick him up and carry him along with the rest of the army….he became known as the Little General as once he was told about West Point and that Robert E. Lee had been at West Point that he was going to go to West Point and become a General someday just like Marse Robert. He was lost from his Mother and Grandmother and his older and younger sister. He was found dazed and hungry on the side of a road by himself. The people and the war had all passed him by. He was all alone as his male relatives all joined the Confederate Cavalry and went to war. He was given to Joshua to watch over until the end of the war by the Chief Chaplain of the Brigade, Chaplain Templeton.

End of Introduction

I hope you enjoy the book

CHAPTER 1

June 1865 – Washington, DC

Friday, June 9th

It is all over for us. Yesterday we had our final formation and we were paid and mustered out. We are civilians again. We are truly starting new lives. During the last month we have gone through the final surrender of Johnston’s army and had an influx of his soldiers into our camp. They are hungry and some of us helped to feed them and they appreciate it very much. In some cases our men and their men hold grudges and tempers flared and others from both sides whom had cooler heads stepped in to remind them that the war was over and that once again we are one nation under the same God and this settled the squabbles and no one was killed. Richard and I and the Medical staff have taken care of all of our wounded and sick as well as the Confederates who have come into camp to the best of our abilities. Those who needed more medical care have been placed in the Hospital’s that have been set up here in Washington. We are in Washington because of the Grand March. We were pushed hard a couple of days to get here to Washington for the Grand March. We averaged over 30 miles per day and traveled over 100 miles. Apparently our Corps Commander and another Corps Commander had a bet as to whose Corps could get to Washington sooner. This was plain abusive. We had men falling out from exhaustion and had to be taken in the medical wagons as we were only stopping for short breaks and only a couple of hours sleep each night. For those soldiers who had fallen behind they were getting almost no sleep as by the time they caught up to their main unit the morning had come and we were up and moving again. There was not much water to be found on the march and men were dropping because of thirst and we had some men with Heat Stroke and Exhaustion. When the rest of the total army arrived a couple of days later and it got around what had happened General Sherman almost courts martialed our General and the other General.

The troops in both Corps wanted them court martialed. The parade was very interesting. All of the Army of the Potomac was there and they were decked out in brand new uniforms as their fight had ended in the beginning of April and they had all been re-supplied. We had finished after them and had immediately been marched off and had not been re-supplied. The folks who attended the parade were able to see the difference in an army that was looking wonderful for parade and a real army in the field that was all ragged and dirty with uniform parts all torn up and shoes with big holes in them and men’s socks hanging out and hair that had not been cut or beards that had not been trimmed. They saw cannon that did not shine like new and bayonets did not glisten in the sun. When we came marching down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House and the men and women saw us they gave us a very hearty welcome that the boys were very surprised at. They were impressed and proud of our Army who had taken the war to the Southerners and won the war from them. They did not see us as a rag tag group of men. Instead they saw us as a conquering army in the same sense as Caesar and his armies that he led through Rome in victory.

Saturday, June 10th

Bart, Coffee and I slept in this morning. We had a light breakfast as we were going to go into the city and look around and see the monuments and the White House. But the first thing we did like the other 73,000 men in Sherman’s Army is that we took the bars of soap we were given yesterday and went to the River and took long wonderful baths. Then we went down to the docks and stood in line for 3 hours to get on the ferry that transported men to the city to see the sites. The only problem is that you only had an hour to see the sites and you had to be back on the ferry or you would be left there and hope to get on another ferry back. This left us with basically no time to see the city and all we saw were the docks as men were so crowded into that area that it was hard to get out of there. We just gave up and went back to the ferry and waited and came back to camp. From all of the energy we used up we ate a quick meal and all of us are in bed…I am up writing but am on my way to bed as my eyes are starting to droop.

Sunday, June 11th

Johnathan and some of the boys who have decided to go to California have gotten together and acquired 100 of the Morgan Horses from the horse herd to take with them as the Army is giving them away like they did after the war with Mexico. They will have a good start on a good herd out there. They will ride with us back to Wisconsin and spend the winter at Marshalton and then in the spring head for California. They still have to decide where in California where they are going to go and find out what crops grow there and what kind of livestock thrive there. Of the original 135 of the boys and men from our militia in Marshalton only 18 of us are left. All of the others have either died in combat, died of disease, were wounded and sent home, transferred or have been in prison camps in the South and we do not know what has become of them. We are hoping that they are on their way home.

Monday, June 12th

Chaplain Templeton led the service today. He spoke about the beauty of Peace and how important the next couple of years will be in rebuilding this nation and that we need to remember those who will not be going home with us and take some time once we get home to go visit the families of those we have lost and tell them about our friends who are not coming home with is. He said that the families will want to visit with someone who knew them and who can tell them about the soldier and share stories and laugh at some of the funnier things that the soldier was involved in. Some might want to know how their loved one lost their life and whether or not they were brave or gallant. They may want to know if we were with them in their final moments and said anything about a loved one in the end or what their last words were. He said that it will be a very difficult chore but one that will bring peace and closure to the families and that is a wonderful gift.

Tuesday, June 13th

Bart has spent the day saying goodbye to all of his Uncles whose groups of men from different towns and cities are leaving soon to go home. He has made a lot of friends and has come back today a little down. He said that his life will not be the same without all of his Uncles from all over the place. He has a couple of addresses of some of his Uncles and that they promise to write each other. He said that all of them want to know how he does at West Point and when he becomes an officer. He does not know how much of an impact he made on the lives of the men in this Brigade. He could take a man who was having a bad day and with his humorous child’s antics have the man laughing in no time. The men doted on him and he loved them un-conditionally. When his home was burned down and he was orphaned when he got lost and his Father and all of his male relatives were gone he hated Yankees. After a while with some interaction with the men in the Brigade he realized that not all Yankees were bad men. So he decided that these were his Yankees and he grew to love them as they came to love him and they all told him to call them Uncle. They made him toys and a wooden rifle, pistol, sword and got him a canteen. The tailor made him uniforms and the Leatherman made him boots and leather gear for his uniform as well as a special leather kepi. When they found out that he wanted to become a General like Robert W. Lee they did not laugh at him, they encouraged him in his dream and began to call him the Little General. He has his Horse Mayo Hahn which is an Indian name that means Morning Killer who he named himself. They are inseparable. The leather maker made him a custom saddle and he has ridden across much of the South except for when we were in the Swamps of South Carolinas where there were snakes and Alligators in the water and on shore and this is where he traveled and slept