Friday letters: Soldiers moved beyond war; we can too

My family lovingly tells and retells a story about Darius W. Clark, nick-named “Tank.” He fought as a sergeant with G Company of the 16th Tenn. Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in action. His wounds were serious enough that he was sent to the “hospital.” I put that word in quotes, because what they had for a hospital lacked any resemblance to what we expect of a hospital today.

Tank’s wound never healed. And it continued to keep him from being the effective soldier that he once had been. Finally, he was told that he was holding back the healthy men in battle, and that he should return home. Of course there was no “ticket” and no horse, so he walked — and walked. His home was Decatur, Ala., on the Tennessee River. He got as far as the river, but couldn’t get across. There was no bridge, and the ferry charged money, of which he had none.

Tank sat there trying to decide what to do, when a Union soldier approached him. The two looked at each other. Tank urged the young man to go ahead and shoot; he was ready.

Instead, the other man paid Tank’s passage on the ferry, and he was able to get home.

That’s the story, as my family tells it, but I think there is more. Those two men realized that their war was over. And the man with the power laid down his gun to help his former enemy. I hope to see that spirit continue here in South Carolina.

Tank never forgot that war. He carried that wound the rest of his life, and his bloody hoe handle reminded him, as he worked the fields at home. But he never forgot his former enemy, who became his friend, and he told the story over and over.

Camden

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 7:38 PM.