Virgin Caine was a railroad man, a good job in the pre-war south. By the early months of 1865, though, Union troops had burned their way through the Shenandoah Valley, "the breadbasket of the south." In other areas, so many men were away in the army that it was impossible to conduct any agriculture, so people (especially those between Richmond and Danville) were hungry. Stoneman;s cavalry ripped up the tracks again, and Caine was out of work. Very likely he sent his wife to Tennessee, far from where the fighting was taking place, and went into the army.
He may not have heard about the fall of Richmond until May 10, perhaps because he had been captured and sent to a prison camp (where prisoners weren't released until they signed the oath of allegiance--sometimes as late as the end of June. He went to Tennessee, where he and his wife were able to settle, apparently on family land. They were near the Mississippi River and saw the steamboat Robert E. Lee, which many southerners regarded as a symbol of hope. But Union troops were now occupying the south, and the reconstruction policies were rough at best. To make any money at all, Caine had to sell wood from his property, probably not getting what it was worth and concerned that the best wood was being taken.
He mourns his brother, who was killed during the war, but he is determined that he will stay alive by working the land and survive the occupation, even though he realizes that southern independence and the south in which he grew up are gone forever.
Virgin Caine was a railroad man, a good job in the pre-war south. By the early months of 1865, though, Union troops had burned their way through the Shenandoah Valley, "the breadbasket of the south." In other areas, so many men were away in the army that it was impossible to conduct any agriculture, so people (especially those between Richmond and Danville) were hungry. Stoneman;s cavalry ripped up the tracks again, and Caine was out of work. Very likely he sent his wife to Tennessee, far from where the fighting was taking place, and went into the army. He may not have heard about the fall of Richmond until May 10, perhaps because he had been captured and sent to a prison camp (where prisoners weren't released until they signed the oath of allegiance--sometimes as late as the end of June. He went to Tennessee, where he and his wife were able to settle, apparently on family land. They were near the Mississippi River and saw the steamboat Robert E. Lee, which many southerners regarded as a symbol of hope. But Union troops were now occupying the south, and the reconstruction policies were rough at best. To make any money at all, Caine had to sell wood from his property, probably not getting what it was worth and concerned that the best wood was being taken. He mourns his brother, who was killed during the war, but he is determined that he will stay alive by working the land and survive the occupation, even though he realizes that southern independence and the south in which he grew up are gone forever.