After recovering from his wounds received in the Korean War, US Army veteran Chris Jones lands a job as a park ranger with the State Department of Natural Resources in Florida. The Silver Star winner is eager to start his new task of opening up Dade Battlefield, the site of an 1835 battle between the Seminole Indians and the US Army. Unfortunately, Chris also lands smack in the middle of a feud. There are those in the nearby community of Bushnell who want the park out of state hands and returned to the local Battlefield Historical Society, and they're determined to have their way. It doesn't help matters when Chris falls in love with June Trammel, one of Bushnell's less-than-upstanding citizens, and begins to encounter the racism prevalent in the small Southern town. Then something peculiar happens. One night, while out walking on the battlefield, he encounters a group of soldiers dressed in uniforms from the 1830s. These are no reenactors, but ghosts from the battle itself. Why have they come back to haunt the field, and what do they want? As tensions in the town reach a breaking point, Chris must determine how he can bring peace not only to the community, but to the haunted souls walking Dade Battlefield.

The Button

By Thom H. Weekley

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Thom H. Weekley
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-8823-4

Contents

Chapter 1. American War Hero.........................................................1Chapter 2. First Days on the Job.....................................................6Chapter 3. December, 1835—The March to Fort King...............................19Chapter 4. The Lodge Meeting and Making a Date.......................................23Chapter 5. December, 1835—Crossing the Hillsboro River.........................32Chapter 6. Night out in Sumter County................................................34Chapter 7. December, 1835—Crossing the Withlacoochee River.....................38Chapter 8. A Better Weekend..........................................................42Chapter 9. Bivouac In The Piney Woods................................................47Chapter 10. The Strange Illusion.....................................................50Chapter 11. Chris and June Get Closer and the Confrontation..........................54Chapter 12. Holiday Fever............................................................64Chapter 13. Trip to Tennessee and Christmas..........................................71Chapter 14. Ghosts at the Park.......................................................79Chapter 15. The Ku Klux and a Sinful Hero............................................85Chapter 16. A House, a Wedding and a Honeymoon.......................................93Chapter 17. The Trial................................................................99Chapter 18. Glory Days...............................................................107Chapter 19. The Second Seminole War..................................................112Chapter 20. That Old Dog Still Has A Bite............................................117Chapter 21. The Holidays.............................................................122Chapter 22. The Vision...............................................................126Chapter 23. The Awakening............................................................132

Chapter One

American War Hero

January 23, 1953: Uijonbou Ridge near Munsan, Korea

The Browning Automatic Rifle chattered out lethal doses of lead to the advancing Chinese regulars charging up the hill as the soldier peered through the BC scope mounted on top of the barrel. His name was Pfc. Chris Jones and he was one of the last men dug in along that ridge. His partner, Corporal Alfred Baily had been hit by a stray Communist bullet and lay dead beside him, eyes wide open as if he never knew what hit him. The gun continued to grind out bullets and the Chinese kept coming in massive waves of men. Lance Corporal Edwin E. Lee came up to Jones in an attempt to get him to withdraw like the other men, knowing that the defense of the hill was impossible. But Jones had been given strict orders to hold the hill or die, and that was just what he expected to do.

"Come on, Chris, the other men are waiting on you. Those commies are going to overrun this hill and there is no sense in dying just because some lieutenant ordered you to stay up here."

"I was told to hold this position and that is what I'm going to do. Besides, you men are going to need some cover fire or you will never make it down the hill," Jones said as he let out another burst of fire from the BAR, "so you guys better skedaddle if'n you are going."

"Oh, all right. Don't say I didn't warn you, though." He turned, ran down the trench and waved the other men out the back side and down the hill, each man carrying his M1 Garand rifle.

An A frame plane dropped a load of napalm along the enemy line, but it didn't seem to do much good. More men just took their places and stormed up the hill toward Jones' position. Jones kept firing, mowing them down like wheat stalks, but the others just jumped over the dead men and kept advancing.

Down at the bottom of the hill, Captain Blaine Billings was organizing a group of new recruits to join the fracas at the top of the hill when he saw the men retreating back down. "Corporal, where the hell are you going?" he yelled.

"Captain, those commies are charging up the hill in human waves. It was near 'bout impossible to stop them with the firepower we had."

"You were told to hold that ridge or die trying. That's machine gun fire up there. Who is that soldier?"

"It's Pfc. Chris Jones, sir. He was covering our escape back down the hill. He said he was going to stay up there no matter what."

"You turn your asses around and lead these men up that side of the hill. I'll lead these men up this side. We have someone up there that deserves our assistance. Now get going!" the captain ordered.

Back on top of the hill, Jones kept firing the BAR, holding the ammunition belt with his left hand and pushing the firing trigger button with his right. The communist soldiers just kept coming. Finally one soldier jumped into the trench on Chris' left and stormed at him with the bayonet of his empty rifle. Out of the corner of his eye, Jones saw the soldier coming at him and turned just in time to get kicked in the head. Back he went and the last thing he saw was the soldier poised to jam the bayonet into his rib cage.

A burst of fire came from behind the soldier, sending a bullet through the back of his head and out the front. Blood and brains covered Jones' body so that it was impossible to see who was hurt worse. The soldier keeled over, but the bayonet entered Chris' body right under the right clavicle and sent blood spurting back through the hole where the knife entered.

Seeing the carnage at his feet, Captain Billings ordered, "Get the medic up here. This man will need a blood transfusion, if not more. He is worth saving."

* * *

One year later....

"Clara, show Private Jones in ..."

He was George Mason, Superintendent of Parks in Florida, at the State Capital in Tallahassee.

"Private Jones, come in and sit down. Make yourself at home."

"Yes sir,' Jones replied as he sat in a leather chair opposite Mason's desk.

"Says here in your record that you won a Purple Heart and a Silver Star in Korea. Is that so?"

"Yes sir."

"I, myself, fought in World War II. I landed with the First Airborne behind German lines at D Day. We landed five miles from our drop point and had to hoof it back to the coast to blow up gun emplacements aimed at our troops landing on Omaha. What was left of us got captured by a German patrol. They put us in a grain silo and left us there over night until they decided what they were going to do. Finally, I guess they planned to hightail it away and one of them threw a concussion grenade inside the opening at the top of the silo."

"The next thing I knew I woke up in England. I was the only one in the group who survived the grenade. General Patton himself pinned my Purple Heart to my bed pillow in the infirmary. Told me, `Son, I want you to come back to France with me and kill some of those Hun bastards.' My teeth were so loose in my mouth that I had to dine on milk toast and sugared milk for a week before I could even eat soup. I went back eventually and was put in a regiment under the command of General Patton. They told me to take the point in a patrol that was headed toward a German line at the Battle of the Bulge. I told them, `Not me. You get some other son of a bitch to take the point. I done fought enough of this war.' They then sent me back to Miami, Florida to a mental institution because I had "battle fatigue."

"Sounds like you just had a bout of good sense, Mr....