Chapter 5 Summary

Sergeant Jefferson Polly is a scout with Forrest's Cavalry. Jefferson is standing atop an Indian mound near the river when he discovers that Union reinforcements are arriving by steamboat. Jefferson says that Bedford had been born in Middle Tennessee and was known as a man who got most things he went after. Jefferson says that as a young man his father had been insistent that Jefferson attend seminary. He was dismissed from school for disobeying the rules and says that it was almost a relief when he and his roommate were caught with a woman in their room so that he no longer had to try to live up to his father's demands. He then travels around, doing various things and trying his hand at different jobs. He is on his way home to see if his father is still alive when he...