At 0430 on the morning of April 12, 1861 Beauregard’s guns opened fire on Fort Sumter.
On the USS California, Captain Ashley Patterson checked her watch. At exactly 0430 she heard the first cannon volley. This isn’t Gone with the Wind she thought. This is happening. She observed the action through a powerful telescope equipped with a night vision lens. She glanced at Ivan Campbell, the ship’s navigator, who stood next to her. Neither officer spoke. People often feel a sense of elation when a prediction comes true. The two officers didn’t feel elated. They were watching a grim confirmation of their strange new reality.
The bombardment lasted 34 hours until April 14, when Major Anderson, outmanned, outgunned, and short on supplies, agreed to abandon the fort. There were no casualties on either side as a direct result of the engagement. Two Union troops were killed when a gun exploded, ironically, during the surrender ceremony.
The Civil War had begun.
Ashley Patterson had a simple disturbing thought. Now what?
Chapter 13
After breakfast in the wardroom, promptly at 0900, Captain Patterson called everyone to stand. Seaman John Thurber entered the room. As ordered, he wore an officer’s khaki uniform, without any insignia on his lapels. Ashley turned to the Bradley and said: “Commander Bradley, please conduct the commissioning ceremony.”
In a dry, desultory voice, Bradley read the oath of a commissioned officer in the United States Armed Forces. Ashley pinned Thurber’s new bars on his uniform. Lieutenant Thurber saluted Ashley and she returned the salute. There was polite applause.
“Would you like to say a couple of words, Lieutenant?” said Captain Patterson.
Lieutenant Jack said, “Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and thank you Captain Patterson for acknowledging my vast military experience with this promotion.” That brought a hearty laugh from all present, except Bradley.
“Lieutenant Thurber you will be assigned to the Communications Department. You will answer directly to Lt. Commander John White. ”
“Aye aye, Captain,” said the ship’s newest officer.
Bradley raged in silence. With this guy’s background, he thought, he should be assigned to me. As XO, I’m the ship’s chief administrative officer. The Navy’s darling gets her way again.
Ashley changed the subject. “We’re going to head north. Because we’re now at war, as strange as that may sound, we need to make contact with the Union government. The history books tell us that a man named Gideon Wells is the Secretary of the Navy, which was a cabinet position in 1861. He’s the man we need to see. After all, he’s our boss. Father Rick, our Civil War maven, tells me that Wells was a friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln.”
“How will we arrange a meeting Captain?” asked Ivan Campbell.
Ashley said, “I’m going to send a delegation to simply walk into the Navy department and ask to see Wells. The leader of our delegation will introduce the group as representatives of the Gray Ship. That should open doors.”
“Ivan, you’ll lead the delegation,” Ashley said. “Take Father Rick and Lt. Thurber with you. We need to show Secretary Wells that we know something about history - not to mention time travel. Your objective will be to invite the secretary to visit the California.”
Bradley seethed. I should lead that delegation, he thought.
Chapter 14
The Executive Officer sat alone in his office sipping coffee. Things are starting to look clear, he thought. We’re going to make contact with the Union high command and we’ll be thrown into battle against the South. Like many on the ship, he had been reading up on the Civil War, and he knew what was coming. In July, about three months from now, we’re going to throw our weight behind the Union forces at the Battle of Bull Run and turn a Confederate victory into a Confederate rout. It may even force a surrender and a quick end to the war. Dashing Ashley (the new nickname he used for Captain Patterson in his thoughts) will have another chapter in her story and another resume stuffer for her admiral’s bars, bars that I should wear.
He never liked Ashley Patterson, and since she embarrassed him in the wardroom incident about Seaman Thurber’s promotion, his dislike was turning to hatred. When she named Ivan Campbell to lead the delegation to the Navy Department, that cemented it. I’m second in command of this goddamn ship, he thought. I should be the one to make contact with the Secretary of the Navy.
Bradley realized that his career would soon be over, in 1861 or 2013. He was 45 years old and had been passed over twice for captain. Even though he had licked his drinking problem long ago, there were still black marks on his record. Because the captain is responsible for his annual fitness report, that wardroom incident probably tolled the end of his days in the Navy. I’ve been an officer since that bitch was in elementary school, he thought. Now she’s a media darling, outranks me, and will probably be the final nail in my career coffin. I may as well be in the Confederate Navy.
Bradley sat bolt upright, spilling coffee all over his desk.
The Confederate Navy? As a Southerner and as a history buff, he always felt that the Civil War was a big mistake. But now that there’s a war, is he on the right side?
The Confederate Navy, he kept thinking. If he were a Confederate officer he’d no sooner be a traitor to his country than Robert E. Lee or anyone who fought for the South. Not only would he become a captain, he thought, he could see a clear path to admiral. If Dashing Ashley and her new friend Lt. Thurber can figure out a way back to 2013, he would be perfectly content to finish out his career in the nineteenth-century. He had no wife, no kids, and very little that he wanted to return to. Eighteen sixty-one sounds like a good year to me, he thought.
Bradley knew something that the Confederate command didn’t.
He knew the secrets of The Gray Ship.
Chapter 15
The ship slowed to a position 10 miles southeast of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, after a journey of 14 hours. It was April 13, the day after the Battle of Fort Sumter.
The California carried a 40-foot motor launch with ample room to accommodate Secretary Wells and his delegation.
Captain Patterson ordered the boat lowered at 0400, well before sunrise. She had given up on the idea of total secrecy. She knew that there had been many sightings of the Gray Ship. The launch would find a place to tie up around dawn. The Marine corporal and the petty officer who was the boat captain were both armed and would provide security. If they were questioned, they would say they were from the Gray Ship.
Ivan Campbell, Father Rick and Lt. Jack Thurber boarded the launch at 0410. It was pitch dark, but the temperature was mild and the winds calm. Marine Corporal Robert Falanga tossed off the lines to a sailor on the ship. Petty Officer Michael Donizzio, the captain of the motor launch, maneuvered the boat away from the base of the ladder. Donizzio pulled the launch away from the California and steered toward the mouth of the Potomac River.
Campbell turned to Father Rick and Lt. Thurber and said, “I think this is a boat ride we’ll never forget.”
Father Rick looked at him and said, “Is that because we’re motoring up the Potomac River in 1861 to visit the Secretary of the Navy and invite him to take a look at 2013?”