The War

This is the story of two people in love, Celyndia West and Thomas Johnson. The day is June 8, 1861, the time of the Civil War. The two lived near Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Celyndia and Thomas loved each other very much, but their families disagreed with their feelings. Ever since the Revolutionary War, when Henry Johnson had killed Lutheran West, the two families had hated each other. It was a tragic day for both families because just before Lutheran died, he shot Henry in the side, and Henry died of blood loss. The two families never forgave each other.

When Celyndia and Thomas met at a street market, however, it was love at first sight. They never told their parents about their love. Every night Thomas would sneak out to be with Celyndia, and in the day they would meet at the street market at which they had originally seen each other, where they would write and sing songs about each other. When Thomas came to see Celyndia at night, he would sing of her beauty.

Soon the Confederacy called Thomas to help in the war. Before he left on August 1, 1862, Thomas gave Celyndia his journal as an object to remember him by. Thomas left poor Celyndia weeping and praying to God for his safety. She couldn’t stand it without him. The same night Thomas left, Celyndia bought a ticket to South Carolina, where he was going.

She boarded the train the following morning. When Celyndia reached Charleston, she went to her lover’s campsite and saw that he and his companions had been ambushed. When she found Thomas, Celyndia saw that he was on the edge of death. Celyndia tried everything to help him, but she did it in vain.

Finally Thomas uttered something. “Celyndia, will you marry me?” With that he took a silver ring out of his pocket, and as she nodded with tears in her eyes, he placed it on her finger and died in her arms.

The families finally forgave each other after suffering the death of Thomas Johnson, a brave soldier.