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Tell Mother I Die for My Country Poor Booth, to think that he fell at last. Many a true heart in the South weeps for his death. Kate Stone The cavalrymen waiting in front of the hotel were slumped in their saddles, half of them asleep.They had been riding for over twelve hours without rest. Cavalrymen knew how to sleep astride a horse. It was something they learned early in the war. Their brief respite was suddenly broken when the three officers came out of the hotel with UTillie Jett in tour.The four men mounted their horses and the troop started back in the direction of Port Royal. Richard Garrett's farm was located ten miles to the north of Bowling Green. They would backtrack to the Garretts' with Jett leading the way. When the troop arrived at the lane leading into Garretts' place,Doherty gave the signal to pull up. Conger and Baker tookJett and proceeded ahead of the column so as not to alert anyone to their presence. On reaching the gate that blocked the lane leading up to the farmhouse, the men dismounted and waited for Doherty and the rest of the men to come up. The three men conferred briefly and Doherty gave the signal for his men to split into two groups and surround the house. Doherty then told his men to draw their pistols and proceed carefully. Booth and Herold were believed to be in the farmhouse.'Jett and William Rollins were left under guard at the gate. It was a few minutes after 2:00 A.M., Wednesday morning. The scene was cast in total darkness.The moon was new and at its lowestillumination of the month. The darkness favored the prey more than it did the predator.' Doherty tethered his horse to a tree as Conger and Baker climbed the steps leading to the porch. They began pounding heavily on the front door. After several minutes the door opened, revealing the di~n light of a candle. An old man peered through a crack in the door. He started to ask the men what they winted. ~ e f o r e h e could get the words out of his mouth he was rudely grabbed by the front of his nightshirt and dragged outside. "Where are the men that were here today?" One of the soldiers barked. The old man was flustered and shaken. He said that the men who had been there had gone to the woods. 202 Blood on the Moon "Liar!" someone barked back. "Where are they?" Richard Garrett could do little more than stammer. One of the officers yelled to the soldiers who were waiting near their mounts. "Bring a rope, hang the damned old rebel and we will find the men afterwards. We'll stretch the truth out him." Baker yelled to no one in particular.' As one of the men prepared to toss a rope over the branch of a large locust tree in the front of the house, Jack Garrett stepped forward. He had been sleeping in the corncrib while his brother kept watch over the two men in the barn. Hearing the commotion at the house he came over to see what was the matter. He had feared that the two men had gotten out of the barn and were trying to steal the Garrett? horses. When he saw the Yankee cavalry he knew there was trouble. His poor father stood trembling in his nightshirt , about to be strung up from a tree in the front yard. Garrett suddenly realized the two fugitives were something more than they had let on. The suspicions that had caused him earlier to padlock the two men inside the tobacco barn were verified. With the Yankee cavalryin his frontyard,Jack Garrett had more to worry about than his father'shouse being torched. His father was about to be strung up. He had to act quickly. "Wait!" He hollered. "I will tell you what you want to know." Garrett tried to free his father from the cavalryman's grip. "Don't injure father,"Jack said."The men you want are in the tobacco barn."' Conger quickly motioned to Doherty, who waved his men toward the barn not more than a hundred feet from the house. Garrett's youngest son, William, now appeared and Baker told him to get the key to the barn. The younger Garrett returned with the key. Baker grabbed the candle from the old...

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