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Reclaimation of Number 21

Fiction by Charles
Just prior to the end of the civil war, there were nearly 6000 men who were not 
accounted for but assumed to be alive.   Under truce, a secret meeting between Lee 
and Grant was held on no mans land, in the spring of 65.  A commission was 
established between the two men, made up of 6 lieutenants from each side.    
They were to determine if the awols were able and fit.  If they were flagrant in their 
responsibility, and if so, determine the best way to reclaim their dignity for them.  
Out of the 6000 they identified 3400.  Of these approximately 2500 were, in the 
opinion of the commission, acting with the good of their families foremost,  who 
were already in destitution and near starvation.  All charges were dropped leaving 
them free men.  
Of these, almost 600 were so taken aback by the fairness and generosity of the 
generals, they left their families, going back into their respective units and it is 
estimated that 400 died in battle.  Approximately 1000 were found to be lacking in 
integrity and the following sentence was carried out on them.  
    They could as a first choice face a firing squad.  As a second choice they could go 
back into battle with false id.  They would be held in chains until the appointed time, 
which was when the LTs in charge decided the fighting would be fierce enough that 
the prisoners could not logically survive.  At that time they would be delivered to the 
battle lines of the North or the South with no thought given to their original 
allegiance.  Regardless of the decision made, from the time they were asked to 
decide, they were no longer an identifiable person.  They were no longer white 
black or otherwise.  They gave up their rights as human beings.  The only thing they 
had left in this life was how they died and their relationship with their God.  That 
evening one of the prisoners managed to get a knife embedded in the hot cooking 
coals.  He was found stripped naked on the field of battle two weeks later.  Across 
his chest was a scar which read:  

They say I am number 21
My life on this earth done  
I have lost the right to live  
Nothing greater can I give  
Dedicated to Him above  
I pledge my life, my love.

This notation found after the war recorded in the diary of Lt. Jeofrey Cook, 3 btlln, 6
infantry, Confederate army.  US of A.  The diary heavily stained and smeared, I like
to think, by his tears.

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