Pharaoh's Army

"Pharaoh's Army"

In the sweat of thy face

shalt thou eat bread

Till thou return

unto the ground,

For out of it we was taken.

Dust thou art,

And unto dust

shalt thou return.

Heavenly father,

Pick this child up

on the healing side.

Put the grave behind

For the promise

on the other side,

That she might live

and abide with you.

When sister died,

There weren't none but

women and old men to bury her.

All of the able-bodied men

Had gone off

to fight the Civil War.

I know something

about the Civil War.

The story

I'm about to tell is true

As best I remember it.

We buried sister

in the spring of 1862.

Later that night,

Some Yankee bastards

dug her up

And tossed her out

like a rag doll,

On account of Paps

siding with the south.

In these

Cumberland mountains

Down near

the Tennessee line,

Half the folks

sided with the south,

The other half

sided with the north,

The neighbors turned

against their neighbors,

And it was rough

through here.

Giddyup.

Whoa.

We heard.

We can bury her again.

Israel can stand guard.

We're gonna

take her home.

There'll be hell

to pay.

So we brung sister

back home to our place

Up at the end

of Meshack Creek.

Ma was mad about things.

She held it in,

And we went on

With the work

of feeding ourselves.

Mama!

Mama!

Whoa!

Mama, men coming.

Yankees.

They'll steal

everything we got.

Will they hurt us?

Maybe not.

Go on! Go on!

Are you Sarah Anders?

I am.

Ma'am, they say

your husband's fighting

Against his country.

We have orders

to resupply

With contraband

from the enemy.

That means we'll take

forage provisions from you.

We got some hungry boys

down in Cumberland Gap.

I apologize

for your hardship.

How many you got here

with you?

How many?

Me and my boy.

Where is he?

Boy, you go stand

by your mother.

Come here.

Come here.

Ma'am, I will not hurt you

or your boy

If you give us no trouble.

All right.

Take no prisoners.

You got a nice place.

I got a piece

of bottomland

Across the River.

Ohio River.

Brown County, Ohio.

Raise hogs, corn,

sorghum, mostly.

You should stay there.

Ma'am?

Captain?

Uh, there weren't no hams

in the smokehouse.

And there's no cows or pigs

in the stall.

Just cow sh*t and pig sh*t.

Well,

see what's in there.

Mmm. Bread.

She don't own nigs.

He work like them.

What you think

he is fighting for?

Keep us from stealing

his chickens?

That's a good reason.

Sh*t!

Johnny dog.

Neely,

meet the elephant.

Sh*t...

That a fresh grave?

I'll tell where

our cow is.

Well, I've seen

all kinds of hiding places.

She's up there.

Rodie!

Newt!

Captain?

A cow is

up there somewheres.

Neely, Chicago,

come on up.

Captain,

we take the mule?

Uhh...

No.

Ma'am, I apologize for

the things this war makes.

Ugh...

Aah!

Newt!

Oh! Oh, no!

Newt!

I fell off!

I fell off!

I fell off!

Roll him on his side.

Rodie, keep

that leg still!

All right, somebody...

Somebody get him

something to bite.

Oh, no! No!

Here, Newt,

chew on this.

You all ready?

1, 2, 3!

Oh, no!

Let's get him

to the house.

It hurts! It hurts.

Spin him!

There's a damn dog

under the bed.

Well, I'll kill

the sum'b*tch!

Neely,

rip up that pillowcase!

Yes, sir.

Ma'am, you got

some liniment oil?

No.

You got some whisky?

No.

Well,

can you boil water?

Get the turpentine

out of the harness shed.

Rodie,

get some water.

Neely, light

that damn fireplace.

Hold still!

What's she got

up there?

A ham and a rifle.

Captain?

All right,

all right, soldier.

All right, all right.

Settle down.

It burns, don't it?

Well...

You want a chew?

No.

Look, he's sweating.

We can't move him

until the fever breaks.

You can sleep in there

if you want to.

I told the men

to sleep in the barn.

I'm gonna keep ahold

of this musket of yours.

I don't like this

at all...

Staying here.

We've got

plenty to eat.

Yeah...

Maybe them buzzards

will, too.

Is he gonna die?

Like Jesse?

If the skinny Yankee

gets well,

He might be the one

shooting at your pap.

You wash your face?

One day your pap will

come around up the creek.

Until then,

you're the man around here.

You need to sleep.

Got to bear up.

Captain?

It's me, Rodie.

Damn, Neely.

Captain,

the woman's gone.

The woman's gone?

Mm-hmm.

You should try

and get some sleep.

I'll look for her.

Yes, sir.

Elephant...

Elephant.

Who's there?

It's me.

Corporal Neely said

you was gone.

Am I under arrest?

Who's buried here?

Excuse me for asking.

First Yankee that dies

in Altmara,

I'm gonna go down,

And I'm gonna dig up

the son of a b*tch.

We buried her in Altmara.

The Yankees living down there

wouldn't abide that...

Her mixed in

with their damn Yankee kin.

Your daughter?

They dug her up.

We brought her back here.

Her pap don't even know.

She smelled so bad.

There'll be hell to pay.

Rodie?

Yeah?

Use the damn outhouse.

Sir?

There's a woman about.

Yes, sir.

It burns like hell,

don't it?

Damn, it hurts.

Well, it's

supposed to, now.

Is that fresh milk?

He can't keep

the hard stuff down.

Thank you, ma'am.

Whoa, whoa.

Well, the Yankees could

steal what we had,

But not what

we hadn't got yet,

So I was

determined to put in

Next year's corn crop.

I was young

but I was stout,

And I could handle a mule

as well as any man.

Your reins are too tight.

That's why she's drifting.

Whoa, whoa.

You need three fingers

of slack right here.

I got a matched pair

of sorrel mules back home

That turn on a skinny dollar.

Must be about 10, huh?

That old, huh?

Put some salt in his feed,

And you might get

A couple more crop years

out of her.

Come on, come on!

The Yankee captain

Asked if he could turn

a few rows.

I didn't see

the harm in it.

It made my job easier,

you see.

And that morning

was the first

I seen mama

wear her green dress

To the plow field.

Hyah! Hyah!

How's Newt?

You ain't been in

to see him?

Cain't.

Bad luck.

This is not bad luck.

He is not dead.

It's a gut wound.

Ain't nothing you can do.

What's he doing out there?

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

He is a widower.

He's, um... Brushing

off the cobwebs.

He ain't

much of a soldier.

Whoa, whoa.

Thank you, sir.

Where's your husband

fighting?

The army of Tennessee.

Was he at Shiloh?

Yeah.

That was a bad mess.

You was there?

No... No.

No, we never been

in a big scrape.

"meet the elephant,"

boys call it.

Ma'am, last night,

What you said

about your little girl.

I'm real sorry.

Sorry don't do nothing.

Don't stop you

from taking our cow or ham,

Killing our chickens.

Well,

you have a corn crop.

Some have it worse.

So that's it?

You's out here

blistering up your hands

To make you feel better

about stealing from us?

If I was you,

I'd take advantage.

These blisters can't

hold out much longer.

Come on.

Ahem.

What?

Hell, Neely,

they were starting to smell.

Go ahead. Smell.

You can't leave dead chickens

in a rucksack for 2 days!

Corporal!

Uh... Uh, captain?

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