Norma Jean Lutz - Elise the Actress: Climax of the Civil War

While the Brannon and Harvey families are fictional, the situations they faced in Cincinnati during the Civil War are very real. Famous people as well as ordinary soldiers and civilians wrote diaries, letters, and memoirs that give us a great deal of information about life during the four-year war. Food was often in short supply, and widows and their children had to depend on help from others to survive.

In northern states like Ohio, feelings against the Rebels, as Southern soldiers were called, ran high. Like Milt Finney, some people in the North had sons who chose to fight for the South. They faced prejudice every day.

By the end of the war, people in both the North and South were bitter about the suffering they had experienced. Most historians believe that President Lincoln had the best chance of bringing forgiveness between the North and the South when peace was declared. Because of his assassination, we will never know if the hard times people in the South experienced after the war could have been avoided.

2005 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-59310-657-7

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5 4 3 2 1

C HAPTER 1

Music and laughter floated throughout the expanse of the large Brannon house. The guests whod come for the New Years Eve celebration were dancing and singing and visiting. If Elise Brannon stood still and closed her eyes, she could almost forget for a moment that a war existed. The War Between the States was now going into its fourth long year.

But at this moment, she had no time to close her eyes because there was too much to do. Elise and her friend Verly Boyd were in the kitchen just off the ballroom. Berdeen OBanion, their Irish maid and nanny, expected both Elise and Verly to help take the large serving trays full of food and pass them among the guests.

Handing a tray to Verly, Elise said, Can you handle this one? Its pretty heavy.

Verlys blue eyes shone as she smiled. I can handle it just fine.

Elise picked up another tray and said, Forward, march. Im right behind you.

Careful youll be, lassies, Berdeen said as she held open the door that led from the large kitchen into a pass-through and out into the formal ballroom.

Before the war, Mama would have hired extra help for such an occasion, but Elise didnt mind helping at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed it.

As she moved among the crowd, she heard her papa saying, I never thought Id live to see the dayCongress finally allowing the contrabands to fight in their own war for freedom.

And good soldiers theyve made, I hear, another man put in.

To which Elises papa retorted, Ive been trying to tell people that for many years. Now they can see it for themselvesclear as day.

Elise knew that contraband referred to the freed slaves. Ever since President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation a year ago, freed slaves had been longing to don uniforms and join the fighting. At last it had happened. Elises papa, Attorney Jack Brannon, had long been a fighter for the abolition of slavery. Elise was overjoyed that his dreams were at last coming true.

As Elise moved through the little knots of people gathered in the vast ballroom, she also heard men discussing President Lincolns speech at the battleground in Gettysburg last November. Others discussed the ineptness of Union generals. Conversation of the women covered men who were off in battle and the work being done at various hospitals to aid the war wounded.

Verlys papa had died in the first fighting at Bull Run, and now her brother, Alexander, was off fighting, as well. She and her mother had been forced to sell their home and move into Aunt Ellas boardinghouse. Mrs. Boyd supplemented their meager income by taking in sewing. All these troubles had made Verly understandably sad.

Through the crowd, Elise could see her friend smiling shyly as she offered her tray of sandwiches to the guests. At least the festivities had managed to cheer Verly and keep her smiling.

After her tray of meat and cheese was emptied, Elise went over to Verly. Its time to gather our troupe and go to the playroom, she said.

Oh, good! Verlys eyes lit up. Thisll be such fun!

After taking their trays back to the kitchen, Elise said, Were going to the playroom now, Berdeen. Will you come and help?

Aye, lassie. I mun put the fresh teakettle back on the stove, and Ill be with ye.

Verly, you go gather the others. Berdeen and Ill go up the back way. Well meet you upstairs.

Verly gave a little giggle. Meet you upstairs.

A few moments later, Elise entered the playroom, where her brothers and the other children of attending guests were gathered. From the table, she picked up Mamas little portable writing desk.

Make a straight line, she said, making checks on the paper lying atop the wooden frame she was holding. Lets have the oldest at this end, down to the youngest. She watched as they scrambled a moment to line up, some having to ask the age of the others.

But I dont want to be on the very end, protested Elises eight-year-old brother, Peter. I always have to be on the tail end.

It doesnt mean anything bad, Peter, Elise said in a gentle tone. It simply serves to make our presentation more organized. She took him by the arm and guided him to the end of the line.

I dont mind being on the end, Verly said. Ill trade places.

Hurrah for Verly, Peter said. Lets trade.

But Elise shook her head. Its important that one person be the organizer, Peter. Stay where youre placed.

Peter groaned, and Verly reached out to pat his arm in sympathy.

Just then Berdeen, who was keeping watch in the hallway, stuck her head in the door. Be ye nigh ready?

Berdeen had promised she would help get the adults seated and quiet just before Elise and her troupe were ready to come downstairs to perform their recitations.

A few more minutes, Berdeen, Elise said.

Elise hoped that the humorous recitations shed chosen would brighten the evening for everyone. The other youngsters were agreeable. Earlier in the evening, theyd all been given scripts and poems to present, and each had had a chance to practice. Now the room fairly bristled with excitement. Even Elises older brother, Samuel, had acquiesced to her leadershipwhich was a surprise. At eleven, a full year older than Elise, Samuel could be pretty bossy at times. But as he said, this program was all her idea. Because Samuel followed, the other two older boys, Cleve and Adam Scott, did the same. The Kilgour sisters were also cooperative. With a little luck, Elises plan would come off smooth as silk.