“Put in ‘Battle of Bull Run,’ ” said Jack. Father Rick typed it in. Some of the familiar history of the historic battle was there, the problem of inexperienced troops and officers. But then came a an amazing change. The article discussed the missile attack, indicating that it probably came from the Gray Ship, the mysterious USS California. Instead of the old entry that Father Rick remembered, the article then summarized and concluded with the words, “The Battle of Bull Run, or First Manassas as it was called in the South, was a resounding Union victory, and hastened a quick ending to the Civil War.
“Try Gray Ship and Gray Ships.” said Ashley. He entered the terms. Pages of entries on various historical websites, besides Wikipedia, discussed the Gray Ships, and how it was the greatest example of PsyOps, or psychological operations, in the history of warfare. One article concluded that there was only one Gray Ship, and that was the USS California.
“I have to talk to the crew,” Ashley said as she stood up.
“I have a special project for you guys for the next few hours,” Ashley said. “I don’t expect you to write a History of the World from April, 1861, but it would be great for the entire crew if you could summarize the parts of history that have changed from what we know it to be. We made it back to 2013, but it’s a different 2013.”
Chapter 98
The boatswain’s pipe got everyone’s attention, as it was designed to do. “Attention all hands, attention all hands. Stand by for Captain Ashley Patterson. The Captain will be on both TV and loudspeaker.”
“Good afternoon everyone,” said Ashley.
“The last time I spoke to you I said we were going home. Well, I guess I got that right.” Those who still had voices screamed and cheered. She then announced that their visit to Charleston had been cancelled as well as their deployment to the Persian Gulf. She said they would tie up to the pier in Norfolk at 0800 the next morning, and that the word had been put out to their families. More cheers.
“When you return to your families, your homes are likely to be surrounded by TV, radio, and newspaper reporters in brigade strength. Don’t be surprised if they aren’t sympathetic and understanding of what you’ve been through in the past four months. They think you’ve been gone for only seven hours.”
“A few of you have asked me what to say when questioned by the press, by the Navy, or by anybody. I have one suggestion and one suggestion only. Tell the truth, the truth as you saw it, the truth as you understand it. Everybody will want an explanation of what happened. They don’t know our dirty little secret. We want to know what happened too! There is no official position of the USS California. I have my story and you have yours.”
“To repeat,” said Ashley, “the people who will question you for the next few days or weeks or months, have not gone through what we’ve been through, the fear, the boredom, the anxiety, the sadness, the anger. And God knows they didn’t go through two weeks of barfing and dry heaving as we hunted for the wormhole.” That brought laughs and groans.
“Speaking of telling the truth,” Ashley continued,” I’m going to tell you the truth. I have never served with a finer group of human beings than the crew of the USS California. We’ve all been through four months of living without a future, wondering if our lives would ever return to normal. What you people showed me was courage, patience, dedication, and maturity. You people are what this great Navy is all about.”
Ashley then said something that the crew of a warship would never expect to hear, especially from a commanding officer.
“I love you.” And especially you, Jack. Ashley thought
Chapter 99
Father Rick and Jack Thurber sat in the ship’s library for the next four hours collaborating on their outline of the new history of the World since April 1861. They agreed that the outline would be a randomly picked list of major world events and the characters who shaped them. The details were from articles in wikipedia.com.
The American Civil War — 1861
The American Civil War was one of the shortest wars in world history. It began with the South firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861 and effectively ended three months later with the Battle of Bull Run, known in the South as the Battle of Manassas. Total casualties on both sides were 942. The turning point in the war was the appearance of a strange Union vessel that came to be known as the Gray Ship, also known as the USS California. After her heavy weapons turned the Battle of Bull Run into a complete rout of the Confederate forces, the ship then opened fire on the Army of Northern Virginia, which was camped near Richmond. The ship then fired a missile at the Richmond Armory, completely destroying it along with a valuable cache of weapons and munitions. Part of the Richmond waterfront was also destroyed.
The Confederate administration briefly considered waging a guerilla war against the Union, but the plans were abruptly abandoned. Robert E. Lee would later write in his memoir that the nation could thank a persuasive colored woman for the South’s capitulation. No historian has been able to decipher what he meant, or who the woman was. The Confederate States of America declared a truce, and Davis presented a plan of peace to Abraham Lincoln on August 5, 1861.
Slavery
On August 5, 1861, the same day that he delivered a plan for peace to Abraham Lincoln, Confederate Jefferson Davis freed all of his slaves. The next day he announced that slavery was abolished in all of the Confederate States. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution formally abolished slavery in all of the United States. It was ratified unanimously by a vote of the state legislatures.
The Presidency
Barack Obama, a former United States Senator, took the oath of office for his first term on January 20, 2009. He was the third African American to be elected President of the United States. In 1921 Virginia Governor Ashley Bardwell had become the first black president and also the first woman to be elected. Her parents were once slaves, owned by Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In her memoir Ashley Bardwell wrote that her parents named her after a sea captain who they had never met.
Abraham Lincoln died of natural causes in 1899 at the age of 96. The most important part of his legacy was his diplomatic and fair treatment of the Confederate States after the brief Civil War in 1861. He was also instrumental in reconciling the racial animosities that existed because of slavery. He appointed seven former slaves to high posts in his second administration.
The Gray Ships
The Gray Ships are shrouded in historical mystery. They were sleek modern vessels that supported the Union in the American Civil War. Much about them is still unknown. Many accounts held that the Gray Ships were not a fleet, but only one vessel, the USS California, and that the ship changed appearance and names every night as a ruse to confuse and strike fear into the Confederacy. It, or they, suddenly disappeared on August 10, 1861 and there were no further records of a Gray Ship sighting.
Japan
In November 1940, the Roosevelt Administration negotiated a treaty with the Japanese Empire. In exchange for Japan’s abandoning its claims in China and Korea, the oil embargo would be stopped. Japan also agreed to remain neutral in case of hostilities between the United States and Germany. Yoshuri Yamato, one of the Japanese negotiators, was an historian and an expert on the brief American Civil War. Relying heavily on the memoirs of Robert E. Lee, he wrote a book entitled, Strategic Capitulation: When Peace Overpowers War.