Return to Tinnin. Jasper S. Lee
do us part."
Jasper took Ellen's ring from his pocket and repeated the same vows as Ellen. He placed it on Ellen's ring finger. The preacher said a short prayer to end the ceremony. The bride and groom kissed and hugged. The preacher now pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Lee.
Ellen glowed with pride. She walked over and hugged her mother and said goodbye. She also told her mother to tell Pa that she loved him. It appeared that everyone present was happy. Jasper slipped Reverend Autry $2 for doing the ceremony.
As the small group was still gathered, Ellen quietly requested her cousin Susan to ask her parents if the couple could stay at their house that night. Permission was given. Ellen and Jasper had no transportation, so they rode to Susan's home in the Ratliff's wagon with them--made the wagon kind of full. But, it was exciting to the newlyweds.
At Susan's home, the newlyweds brought in their luggage and went to the room that was theirs for the night. It was a small room, isolated away from other family, with a tiny, shuttered window. They got out of their wedding clothes and dressed to take a walk over to the Ratliff Store and otherwise look around the area. They held hands, hugged, kissed, and laughed. Anticipation of their future was exciting but nerve-wracking. They did not know where they would be the next night. A bit later, they joined Cousin Susan's family for supper.
As the morning sun rose, the newlyweds were up and about. They gathered their things together. As they were doing this, Ma arrived in a wagon with a few things that belonged to Ellen. These were going with her as the couple ventured west. Ellen and Jasper were without a destination; they were going wherever the situation merited. Ellen again hugged her mother and said thank you for bringing her things and goodbye.
Susan and her brother drove the newlyweds to the Clinton depot, where they were catching a train to Vicksburg. A lot of things were in disarray, as the Union forces had just moved through the area on their way to the East Coast. The railroad was still operating, however. Some of it had been patched up following damage by military forces. Anyway, it was deemed safe for travel to Vicksburg. Ellen and Jasper hugged Susan and her brother goodbye. They bought tickets and boarded the train.
In Vicksburg, they found a room in a home with a woman widowed by the war, a Mrs. Cornweller. She was a sweet lady of the Old South who could not figure out how the Confederates allowed the Union forces to take Vicksburg--a major shipping city of the South (her family had operated a dock). She talked about all she had lost in the war, particularly her husband. Their older children were gone from home and living in the Chicago area, and she was alone. She said something about not knowing how she was going to live. She began crying. Ellen hugged her and tried to offer comfort. Ellen encouraged her to have faith in a divine being. She suggested that Mrs. Cornweller might talk with her preacher. Mrs. Cornweller shrugged and muttered, "He is a damn Yankee!" Ellen asked what she meant.
Mrs. Cornweller tried to explain about the preacher at her church. She said he was originally from the North and had protected former slaves and befriended Union troops. He once said that he didn't think slavery was right and that he didn't feel that folks in Vicksburg and the South should go to war to defend it. The preacher even provided special care for an injured Union soldier from Illinois and had him to come to church when she was there. "How could he do that to me!" she exclaimed. She wondered aloud about how any preacher could aid a Union troop. She went on, "Surely, it was a great sin." (Ellen instantly thought about what Pa had taught her about the definition of sin varying. Wow! A perfect example of Pa's wisdom.)
She had curiosity, though, about the Union soldier, as she tried to stand close enough to hear what he said. Mrs. Cornweller said she overheard him talking about his home area in Illinois...the fertile, black soil was so very good for growing corn. He talked about the new equipment that farmers now used to save labor and get more work done. They were able to produce more corn with fewer hours of labor. Mrs. Cornweller probably didn't like it that the Yankees had moved ahead of the South in farming methods. So, Mrs. Cornweller really unloaded on Ellen and appeared to feel better afterward.
Ellen was somewhat shocked by what Mrs. Cornweller went on to say. She said that slavery wasn't that bad. Slaves had food, clothing, and other needs provided by their owners. She further said she could find evidence in the Bible that slavery was a Christian thing. Goodness, Ellen thought, how could anyone feel that way? This caused Ellen to question some of Christianity. But, ever-thoughtful Ellen did not challenge Mrs. Cornweller. The kind of talk just made Ellen more resolute in plans for her and Jasper to leave on their uncertain route for unknown places to the west of Vicksburg.
Jasper got a job at Shawver & Pollock, a commission merchant, located near the dock at the corner of Levee and Crawford Streets. He told a Mr. Shawver that George W. Shepard was his father-in-law and that he needed a job. Mr. Shawver remembered George W. Shepard as a good occasional customer. The firm hired Jasper to do a variety of work, such as unloading shipments, stocking goods, and loading purchases onto wagons. His pay was $1.65 a day.
Ellen helped Mrs. Cornweller straighten and clean her house and the yard around it in exchange for the cost of her and Jasper's room. The location was on the edge of the Vicksburg battlefield. The severe Siege of Vicksburg had occurred there a few months earlier. Destruction was all about, though some effort was underway to clean and reconstruct the area.
One afternoon, Ellen and Mrs. Cornweller took a stroll into some of the area of destruction. It was bad. Building scraps, discarded clothing, shoes, kitchenware, lead slugs from ammunition, and bones from animals or people were about. A couple of obviously human skulls were evident. Parts of a tiny skeleton that appeared to be that of a young human baby were partially covered with an old cloth. Seeing all this caused Ellen to think back on what Pa said about war. No doubt, war brought out the worst in human behavior. There should be a way to avoid something like this.
After a few days, it was time for Jasper and Ellen to move on. They had to work their way to the West. In spite of their challenges, Jasper always had patience, kindness, and consideration for Ellen; he loved her. She reciprocated.
They crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry from the Vicksburg dock into Louisiana. Ellen and Jasper looked around, and the land was very flat; they liked gently rolling hills. Fortunately, they were able to catch a ride on a wagon with a man who had brought people from Tallulah, Louisiana, to catch a ferry to Mississippi. He drove them to the train depot in Tallulah for 25 cents. They found that Union gunboats had set fire to and burned the depot of the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Texas Railroad Company. A shack-like temporary depot was being used--not much of a place, but it worked.
Ellen and Jasper caught a train for Monroe and Shreveport, Louisiana. The stop in Monroe let passengers who had reached their destination off and new passengers on. The land still looked too flat for Ellen and Jasper's liking, though there were a few hills off in the distance. It appeared that a lot of crop farming went on the area. Lots of mules and horses and not many goats or cattle were evident. Just maybe Ellen and Jasper would like a mix of hills and flat land.
They thought Shreveport would be their destination, but it was not to be. The Red River in Shreveport offered more flat land but not a very wide expanse compared with the Mississippi River Delta of Louisiana. More of the West was on their minds. They decided that they would sleep that night on benches in the Shreveport depot before boarding an early morning train to Athens, Texas. Ellen was fearful of sleeping in a depot. There might be some "bad" people who would beat them up and rob them; also, the good-looking, newly married woman might be assaulted. Jasper assured Ellen that he would protect her. They were not alone in the depot, as three other people also stayed in it that night. All of them seemed to be honest, law-abiding folks who did not pose threats of robbery or assault.
They had heard that the Athens area was nice hill country and a good place to put down roots. They boarded the train in the early morning for Athens, Texas. Along the way, Jasper and Ellen peered out the window of the train car. They liked the lay of the land and what they saw. It wasn't flat like the Mississippi River Delta in Louisiana or steep like the loess hills around Vicksburg. They saw a few homes and farms with animals and fields being readied for another crop year. It appeared to be an okay area to them.
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