Gettysburg
“Mercy Master”
By: Raymond Page
Abstract
It is April 1865 and Robert E Lee has just signed the unconditional surrender of the Confederate States of America (CSA) to the Union. What seemed to be the beginning of a new “Birth of Freedom” from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address quickly turns grim as President Abraham Lincoln the 16th President of the United States is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth as a part of an even larger conspiracy than America has ever known. Mike Armstrong is a double agent working for the British Government who is sent to spy on the capabilities of the Union. He is unexpectedly wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg nearly losing his arm. He falls for an American nurse named Brooke and he now must choose between his original assignments of sabotaging the Union or his new love interest.
For Armstrong it is a simple choice as he has found the love of his life and betrays his native British Government with severe consequences. The war is over, the South has surrendered and Mike Armstrong has a new wife and child appearing to be living the “American Dream” even though he is not a citizen. Things take a dark turn one day as his wife Brooke and young child are murdered the same day as the assassination of President Lincoln. Armstrong survives the slaughter of his wife and child and vows to avenge their deaths along with the suspected British involvement in killing Lincoln. With the Help of two “Freed Man’s Bureau” Agents James Lebron and Griffin Blake, Armstrong will set out to prove that Lincoln’s Assassination was part of a bigger plot for elements inside the British Government to re-colonize the United States.
July 1st 1863
Mike Armstrong has been sent by Royal Magistrate 1 (MI1); a secret British intelligence agency to spy and sabotage the Union war effort. Armstrong has papers forged to help him go undercover as a Union Officer during the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. He is wounded on the first day of the battle as a piece of shrapnel nearly severs his arm. As Armstrong lays dying on the battlefield, he begins reflecting over his life and assignment by the British Government. Armstrong is about to take his last breath when suddenly a stretcher and 2 soldiers appear and carry the wounded Officer to a field hospital set up. Armstrong undergoes 2 hours of surgery to successfully save his arm from being amputated. He wakes up after the Battle of Gettysburg has been won and the Union victory is now within grasp.
“Where am I?” said Armstrong still delirious from the medications received. “Is this Heaven… or is this Hell!?” “Be still!” said the young nurse. “We wouldn’t want those stitches popping out and you start bleeding all over the place again!” “What is your name?” asked Armstrong curious about the mysterious woman standing next to his bed. “My name is Brooke, I am a volunteer from the local Ladies Aid Society (the future Red Cross founded by Clara Barton).” Armstrong, still deciding if he was staring at an Angel and had died on the Battle Field is at a loss for words and is only able to smile in reply. He is released from Bellevue Hospital in New York City September 1863 and by New Year’s Day January 1, 1864 he is wed to his wife Brooke, the nurse who tended to his arm at Gettysburg.
Mike and Brooke welcome a new baby boy named Paul in January 1865 with the end of the bloodiest war in American history in sight. Mike’s arm has healed miraculously without amputation and he works as an overseer on a plantation once ran by former slaves who have now been emancipated with the end of the war.
