The Other World

[Wednesday, February 8, 2006]

(10 p.m.) Joseph, do you have more in mind?

We could talk a bit about the railroads and how that’s what won the war for the Union. Or we could talk about marching through Georgia.

Well, which do you suppose I’d be more interested in? Besides, I know how the railroads won the war – they made it possible for the northern industrial power to express itself to overcome the huge geography that had to be held and conquered. Let’s talk about Georgia.

Now bear in mind, I wasn’t in on the long maneuvering that led to Sherman capturing Atlanta finally in September. Where I was I’ll tell you later, but for now let’s just say that Gettysburg put me out of action for quite a while. That is going to be hard to sort out for you because of conflicting timelines – the ones when you did help fix my back and the ones when you didn’t. Remember this morning I said there was some kind of information could come through only at certain times? This is one of ‘em, and this ain’t yet the time – though it’s getting closer! It ain’t that it’s a secret we want to keep, it’s that you have got to be able to understand it, to swallow and digest it, and by our judgment you can’t yet do it. Now sometimes it’s just as well to put something across knowing that later you will get it, but sometimes no, because the errors in transmission will overwhelm the message, and this is one of those. Continue reading 28 – Marching Through Georgia

[I have a friend who remembers a life that ended in the old West, after the Civil War destroyed his life in the South. That Confederate soldier, named Hank, never overcame his bitterness. Curiously Jim and I, in this lifetime, perhaps serve as a bridge between Hank and Joseph who, so far as I know, never met in their lifetimes.]

[Sunday, February 5, 2006]

Anybody care to fill the final three pages of this journal book for me / with me?

This is Joseph [Smallwood]. I liked what you said to your friend [Jim] and I would like to add something for him to tell his friend Hank. Continue reading 27 – Fellow soldier

[Thursday, February 2, 2006]

Now, I don’t want to give the impression I was thinking this all out. I couldn’t think! All I could do was feel, but this one thought was sort of mingled up in it. Everything else was groaning and campfire light and smoke – for some reason the smell of smoke was real strong – and rain.

Things are confused. I see myself lying out in the ground by a smoky fire, but I see myself lying on a cot inside a tent – my tent, maybe – begging the boys to help me find some comfortable way to lie down or sit or something! After a while they quit with the wine and went back to whiskey and this time it was better and I could hold it down. Continue reading 26 – Joseph’s miracle (2)

I don’t claim that this is believable. I merely claim that it is true. In July 1994, when I knew a lot less about this stuff than I do now, I interacted with Joseph after he had been wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. I wrote about it in Muddy Tracks, but here Joseph tells it from his side.

[Thursday, February 2, 2006]

(4 a.m.) I reckon you can hear it now, maybe. We’ll give it a try anyway and if it don’t work out, nothing much lost.

I was wounded at Gettysburg, you know. At least you sort of know. Back in ’94 you contacted me – the uncompleted me, a version of me that was in the battle at that time. Continue reading 25 – Joseph’s miracle (1)