The Travels of Increase Joseph: A Historical Novel about a Pioneer Preacher

21. War Troubles

a Chapter 21 War Troubles July 1863 I ncrease Joseph and thirteen-year old Little Joe continued making the rounds with their sacred tent. People throughout the region learned about the teachings of this white-haired man in black from stories in the Milwaukee Sentinel . Substantial numbers of people didn't agree with him, especially the big land owners and even more so the fundamentalist preachers. But the sacred tent was usually full, standing room only. Everyone it seemed, whether they agreed with this spiritual leader or not, wanted to catch a glimpse of him and hear him preach. Each week he set up his tent in a new community , and then stayed on for three and sometimes even four nights before returning to Link Lake to tend to his farm and replenish the supply of tonic. It would be a rare week that they didn't sell out the supply of tonic they carried. But Increase Joseph was worried, not only about the war but about his father and mother back in Plum Falls, New York. Each year he wrote a letter to them at the end of the harvest season, where The Travels of Increase Joseph 159 he reported in some detail on the activities of the Standalone Fellowship and their successes and challenges in Wisconsin. In early spring, usually in April, he got a reply from Plum Falls, an update on his parent's health (which had not been good in recent years), and a brief report of life in the community he left more than ten years earlier. He stopped by the Link Lake Post Office regularly inquiring about a letter from New York. But each time he received a curt, "No letter, Preacher Link." Then, in early July, when he was walking by the Mercantile store where the post office was located, the postmaster beckoned him inside. "This letter came for you yesterday," he said. Increase Joseph didn't recognize the handwriting as he put the envelope in his pocket. When he got back home, he slit open the envelope with his pocket knife and began reading. "Dear Increase Joseph Link, It is my sad duty to inform you that your father died on June 15 and shortly after the funeral your mother suffered a stroke and also passed away. The home farm has been sold. The receipts were used to pay your father's debts and funeral expenses for the two of them. You have my deepest sympathies." Sincerely, Trutweiller T. Trutweiller, Attorney at Law Increase Joseph dropped the paper to the floor and looked out the cabin window toward Link Lake. Tears began flowing down his face. Meanwhile, the Link Lake Gazette carried weekly stories about the bloody Civil War, with details about the battles - Bull Run, the fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor in 1862, the maul- 160 Apps ing of Grant's army at Shiloh, and the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the war. Causalities on both sides mounted. Death and dying were constantly on Increase Joseph's mind. All around Link Lake, men and boys marched off to war, with a few month's stop at Camp Randall in Madison where they trained, learned how to march, learned how to take orders, and left behind what they knew about logging and farming and small town storekeeping. Of course everyone knew that the Standalone Fellowship members were at home, working their fields and trying to carryon normal lives. Most of the members stayed close to Link Lake, for if they traveled, even to Willow River, only fifteen miles away and someone recognized them as Standalones, they were called traitors, unpatriotic scum, lowlifes. Store keepers wouldn't sell to them, nobody would talk to them. Link Lake itself had several storekeepers and a few residents who were not members of the Fellowship . Until the Civil War, they generally got along with each other. But now relationships were strained even between people who had lived and worked together for years. Increase Joseph talked about this in his weekly sermons at the round church. He told people to be patient, that the war would soon be over and everything would return to normal. But the war went on with no end in sight. "No matter what," he told his followers, "we must not retaliate if our neighbors do not think well of us. They have a right to...