"Ain't goin' to get no easier here, war or no." Ed Coffman poked at the fire with a broom straw to relight his pipe. "I already butchered my last sow, 'cause I can't feed 'er, and I got two horses going bad on me in the barn. I reckon it's time to decide."

"I got six little ones to feed t' home, and another on the way, I imagine," A. J. answered, staring into the fire box of the old stove. "They ain't no living to be made at farming, and the Union needs soldiers. I reckon I'll be mustering in down to Wheeling Depot soon. Don't seem like there's no other choice."

"How old's your eldest now, A. J.?" Neighbor James McHenry knew the family well.

"Little Homer'll be just eleven next month. It pains me to leave Becky with six kits and babes and another on the way, but I don't see no other way. It's a sorry mess, this war, but if the Union don't prevail, it'll be the end of us. We can't go on this way."

"I imagine I'll not be far behind you," McHenry nodded, "seeing as how we're in the same straits as you all. Mary's with child again, too, and us with seven youngsters at home. Still, our die is cast, now that Virginia's split from the Union, and Kanawh a's split from her."

"So your mind is a-made up too?"

"They ain't no going back. What about your family back in Ohio?"

"Ain't heard nothing since before Winter, but I know more of my brothers and cousins is joining up, and Becky's family, too. Her little brother Haddick's in the Ohio 116th already. With Sigel commanding and the Kanawha Volunteers goin' in now, the war won't last long. I don't imagine we'll serve the whole three years. Prob'ly be home before next Christmas, but they won't be no crops, and no hay put up, and no cows in the barn. I swear by the Almighty, I don't know what's going to become of us all."

"The three hundred dollars bounty will come in handy," Nelson Berson added, "but it ain't just the money. The Union must be preserved, and Lincoln was elected fair and proper. The rebels are doomed, I expect."

Berson lived a fair distance from Yoho's store, and had made his weekly trip to pick up his mail and hear the gossip about the war. "Who else is going down to Wheeling next week?" He looked around the room at the half dozen men lounging about.

Inside the small store and post office the stove glowed hot, and condensation trickled down the front windows, freezing at the sill. The odors of damp wool coats and soggy leather boots mingled with the aromas of barrels of coffee, flour, and spices.

"I'll be there," A. J. answered without looking up..

"I can't go just yet," McHenry put in. "I believe I'll wait until Mary's had the baby before I leave. Her health ain't all that good this time. Her brother's wife is to come over to midwife and stay with her for a spell then. Soon's it's done, you can expect to see me there."

"I'll be down directly, as soon as James is a-ready to leave," Ed Coffman added.

"What about you, Thomas?" Berson asked the younger man, hardly more than a boy, seated near the window, watching the storm blow outside.

"I'll be there. I'll do my duty to the Union and Lincoln. They say you have to be eighteen to enter, and I'll not lie. I won't go to war with that on my conscience."

"You're a good man, Thomas, as good as any. You have your duty to your mother and sisters first. Rebecca says you was a fine student, and Ed here could probably use the help in the store, once things starts to pick up again. There'd be no shame attached to you if you was to stay home, for a while at least."

The expectation that every man would sign up was nearly universal. Many people in the bordering states had mixed feelings and divided loyalties, and family on both sides of the conflict. Patriotism was still running at a fever pitch despite reports that the war was not going well for the Union, particularly in the west.

Following the fall of Fort Sumter President Lincoln put out the call for 75,000 volunteers. The standing Federal army was not much more than 5,000 regular troops when the war broke out, but there were many states' militias and regiments preparing to go when the call came. Ohio's governor had already appointed commanders of State regiments and had mustered them for service, complete with marching bands, artillery units, and cavalry brigades. West Virginia, by comparison had only just formed its government. A. J.'s brothers and brothers-in-law and cousins had joined the 116th and 123rd Ohio and were in the Shenandoah Valley already. Other cousins in eastern Virginia were with General Lee, east of the Valley, closer to Richmond.

(to be continued next month... )