Just a Piece of Red String IV

Union occupation of Natchez, Mississippi, included the contraband camp called The Corral, near the Devil's Punch Bowl on the Mississippi River. Stelcie Dundee visits there to see Beulah, TaSondryana, and Amarichi. After unearthing hidden valuables and personal items from buried wooden boxes, Stelcie takes Beulah some mysterious items including a juju amulet, a linen pouch, and yellowed folded paper holding baby teeth, a lock of black hair, and a piece of red string. Written on the inside of the paper were Cain, Gad, David, and Solomon. Stelcie encounters Gay Anne at St. Mary's Chapel. Near Richmond, Sawyer Dundee as a member of Mosby's Rangers participates in the military engagements of the Calico Raid, Berryville, Brown's Crossing, and Mosby's brief capture near Rector's Cross Roads. Sawyer slowly regains his memory. Solomon Witcher travels to St. Albans, Vermont, for the Confederate raid to rob banks and flee into Canada but meets unexpected danger. Egiap, in the Old Capitol Prison, confronts another prison inmate named Sibby to save a friend. Egiap is transferred to Fort Delaware Prison, where she works in the infirmary as she did in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D. C. Solomon at his new assignment at the CSA Treasury Department in Richmond is invited to a Christmas "starvation party" by a young woman called Coco. Back in Natchez, Stelcie learns that Beulah is not at The Corral and does not know where Beulah is. Stelcie sees the horrible conditions at The Corral. In early 1865 Stelcie greets the county tax collector at the Dundee homestead. Zethro, placed on a labor gang works in Natchez, Grand Gulf, and Vicksburg. He, seeking to reunite with TaSondryana, escapes and travels to Natchez. Before Zethro leaves Vicksburg, he has what seems supernatural experiences at Bobb House (today McRaven House). South of Vicksburg, Zethro falls in with Abdoulaye, who travels with him for a time. Abdoulaye relates his story of surviving the trans-Sahara slave trade. Sawyer reaches his new assignment of personal bodyguard to Jefferson Davis in Richmond. There he sees a performance of the Dr. Andekian Onesiphoros Traveling Show. The traveling show in its attempt to reach a town in southern Georgian journeys across the swath of destruction and desolation delivered by Sherman's March to the Sea. Sawyer and Solomon meet in Richmond; and when the Confederate government is forced to evacuate Richmond, remain steadfastly loyal to the cause.