"Home By Christmas"

William and Martha Kidd

By Jerry Stewart 

    ON APRIL 12, 1861, AT FORT SUMPTER, SOUTH CAROLINA, WHEN THE FIRST SHOTS OF THE CIVIL WAR WERE FIRED,  NO ONE HAD ANY IDEA JUST HOW TERRIBLE AND DESTRUCTIVE THAT WAR BETWEEN THE STATES WOULD REALLY BE. IT WAS A WAR THAT PITTED AMERICAN AGAINST AMERICAN, NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR, AND, SOMETIMES, EVEN BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER. IT WAS THE COSTLIEST SINGLE WAR IN OUR ENTIRE AMERICAN HISTORY WITH WELL OVER ONE MILLION CASUALTIES. IT WAS TRULY A WAR THAT CHANGED TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICAN LIVES FOREVER. AND WILLIAM KIDD WAS ONE OF THESE AMERICANS.

    WHEN THE WAR BEGAN WILLIAM KIDD WAS 31 YEARS OLD. HE AND HIS WIFE MARTHA LIVED ON THEIR SMALL FARM WITH THEIR FOUR CHILDREN IN CLARK COUNTY MISSISSIPPI. AT FIRST HE STAYED OUT OF THE WAR, BUT THE NEW CONFEDERACY NEEDED HIM. SO, ON MARCH 15, 1862 PRIVATE WILLIAM KIDD BECAME A SOLDIER IN COMPANY F OF THE 16TH MISSISSIPPI REGIMENT. WHEN HE LEFT HIS BELOVED MARTHA, HE ASSURED HER HE'D BE HOME SOON. THE WAR WOULDN'T LAST THAT LONG...SURELY HE'D BE HOME BY CHRISTMAS. HOME BY CHRISTMAS. AND THAT'S WHAT MARTHA KIDD PRAYED FOR. THAT HER HUSBAND WILLIAM WOULD COME HOME TO HER...SAFE...AND SURELY BY CHRISTMAS.

   BUT THE WAR DID NOT END AND WILLIAM FOUND HIMSELF AND HIS REGIMENT NEAR A LITTLE TOWN IN MARYLAND CALLED SHARPSBURG, AND UNION TROOPS WERE VERY CLOSE BY. IT SEEMED CERTAIN A BATTLE WAS EMINENT. ON THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 17, 1862, WILLIAM KIDD MADE HIS WAY TO A SMALL CREEK NEARBY, THE ANTIETAM CREEK, TO SHAVE. HE TOOK WITH HIM A SMALL POCKET MIRROR. AS HE LOOKED AT HIS FACE IN THAT MIRROR, LITTLE DID HE KNOW THE HORROR HE WAS ABOUT TO GO THROUGH AND THAT HE WOULD NEVER SEE THAT FACE AGAIN...EVER. FOR HE WAS ABOUT TO FIGHT IN WHAT WOULD BE KNOWN LATER AS THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM...LATER GIVEN THE DISTINCTION AS THE SINGLE BLOODIEST ONE DAY BATTLE IN ALL THE CIVIL WAR.

   NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO WILLIAM KIDD THAT DAY, BUT SOMETIME DURING THAT BLOODY BATTLE HE WAS HIT SQUARE IN THE FACE WITH A CANNON BLAST AND DRIVEN TO THE GROUND. THE WAR RAGED ON ALL DAY UNTIL FINALLY, WHEN THE FIGHTING STOPPED, OVER 5,000 SOLDIERS FROM BOTH SIDES LAY DEAD ON THE BATTLEFIELD WITH OVER 20,000 WOUNDED. IT MUST HAVE BEEN A HORRIBLE SIGHT. THAT NIGHT AS THE DOCTORS COMBED THROUGH THE SEA OF MOTIONLESS BODIES, LOOKING FOR THOSE SOLDIERS STILL ALIVE, THEY CAME TO WILLIAM. HE TRIED TO MOVE BUT HE COULDN'T. HE TRIED TO SPEAK BUT HE COULDN'T. THEY LOOKED AT HIS WOUND. HALF OF HIS FACE HAD BEEN BLOWN OFF...HE HAD LOST A LOT OF BLOOD. HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AND LEFT THERE ON THE BATTLEFIELD TO BE PICKED UP LATER WITH THE OTHER DEAD SOLDIERS.  

    ALL THAT NIGHT WILLIAM LAY ON THE COLD GROUND IN GREAT PAIN AND WONDERING, WONDERING JUST WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO HIM. WOULD HE LIVE OR DIE? WOULD HE EVER SEE HIS BELOVED MARTHA OR HIS CHILDREN EVER AGAIN? WOULD HE SURELY BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS?

  THAT NEXT DAY WHEN A UNION BURIAL DETAIL CAME TO PICK UP THE DEAD, ONE OF THE SOLDIERS GAVE WILLIAM A KICK AND...HE MOVED. AMAZINGLY, MIRACULOUSLY, HE WAS STILL ALIVE. THEY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. HE WAS IMMEDIATELY TAKEN AS A PRISONER OF WAR AND MOVED TO THE HOSPITAL IN BALTIMORE FOR MEDICAL ATTENTION. IT DIDN'T LOOK GOOD. HIS RIGHT EYE WAS GONE. HIS NOSE WAS JUST HANGING, AND A GAPING HOLE WAS IN HIS FACE. IT SEEMED LIKELY EVEN NOW THAT INFECTION WOULD SURELY SET IN AND HE WOULD SOON BE DEAD.

  BACK AT HOME AS MARTHA PRAYED FOR HER HUSBAND, SHE HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAD HAPPENED. NEWS TRAVELED SLOWLY IN THOSE DAYS. THERE WERE NO PHONES, NO TELEGRAPHS. BUT, SOON SHE WAS TO HEAR THE OFFICIAL WORD...WILLIAM HAD BEEN KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. HE WOULD NOT BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. BUT EVEN WORSE...HE WOULD NOT BE HOME...FOREVER.

  THERE ARE NO WRITTEN ACCOUNTS OF JUST WHAT HAPPENED OVER THE NEXT MONTHS, BUT IT APPEARS THE WORD OF WILLIAM'S SURVIVAL NEVER GOT TO MARTHA. WILLIAM WAS RELEASED BY THE UNION ARMY AND ON NOVEMBER 9, 1862 HE WAS SENT TO THE CONFEDERATE HOSPITAL IN RICHMOND VIRGINIA. FINALLY, HE WAS RELEASED TO GO HOME. I'M SURE THAT MORE THAN ONCE AS WILLIAM STUDIED HIS FACE HE WONDERED, "WHAT WOULD MARTHA THINK WHEN SHE SAW HIM? WOULD SHE RECOGNIZE HIM? WOULD SHE BE DISGUSTED OR REPELLED BY HIS TWISTED FACE? WOULD SHE STILL HAVE HIM?"

  WELL, HE WAS SOON TO FIND OUT. ON NOVEMBER 12TH HE WAS FURLOUGHED FROM THE HOSPITAL...FREE TO GO HOME. BUT HE WAS HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM HIS HOME AND A TERRIBLE WAR WAS STILL RAGING. HE HAD NO WAY TO GET ALL THE WAY BACK TO MISSISSIPPI BUT BY HORSE OR BY FOOT, AND ALL ACCOUNTS TELL US HE MADE MOST OF THAT LONG TRIP BY FOOT. A MAN SERIOUSLY WOUNDED AND STILL RECOVERING WALKING HUNDREDS OF MILES HOME TO MISSISSIPPI.  

    WITH EACH STEP HE TOOK HE MUST HAVE BEEN EXCITED WITH THE PROSPECT OF HOLDING HIS BELOVED WIFE, MARTHA, HIS CHILDREN, AND JUST BEING HOME. BUT AT THAT SAME TIME HE SURELY MUST HAVE FEARED HOW THEY WOULD REACT. AFTER ALL, NOW HE WASN'T THE SAME MAN WHO'D LEFT ONLY A FEW SHORT MONTHS AGO.

    AFTER DAYS AND WEEKS OF WALKING, WILLIAM FINALLY FOUND HIMSELF IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY...HE WAS ALMOST THERE. THEN, HE COULD SEE HIS LITTLE FARM. HIS HOME. AS HE NEARED THE HOME, HE WAS SEEN. MARTHA AND THE OTHERS WONDERED WHY A SINGLE SOLDIER WAS COMING THERE WAY. “HOLD IT”, MARTHA THOUGHT...”HIS WALK”, SHE RECOGNIZED IT. “OH IT COULDN'T BE”. AS HE CAME CLOSER MORE AND MORE SHE THOUGHT, "THAT LOOKS LIKE MY HUSBAND...WILLIAM". FINALLY, SHE WAS CERTAIN...SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY...HER PRAYERS HAD BEEN ANSWERED...WILLIAM HAD COME HOME.

   THE ACCOUNT OF JUST HOW WILLIAM WAS RECEIVED, WHAT MARTHA AND THE CHILDREN DID WHEN THEY SAW HIM IS NOT RECORDED. BUT ALL ACCOUNTS TELL US IT WAS A JOYOUS REUNION. THERE IS NO WORD OR EVEN A HINT THAT ANYONE IN THE FAMILY DID ANYTHING BUT JUST HUG UP WILLIAM AND RECEIVE HIM BACK TO HIS HOME. THE ONLY WRITTEN ACCOUNT TELLS US THIS, "HIS WOUND LEFT A VERY UNSIGHTLY HOLE IN HIS FACE. HE HAD NO NOSE, ONE EYE WAS GONE, AND HE HAD NO RIGHT CHEEK BONE. MARTHA WAS HANDY WITH A NEEDLE AND THREAD AND SHE SOON FASHIONED AN EYE PATCH OF SOFT VELVET. IT WAS THREE INCHES IN DIAMETER WITH A STRING ATTACHED ON EACH SIDE TO TIE AT THE BACK OF HIS HEAD".

   WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WILLIAM AND MARTHA KIDD? THEY LIVED TO SEE A LOT MORE CHRISTMASES. THEY HAD FOUR MORE CHILDREN, EIGHT TOTAL. 

   YES, WILLIAM AND MARTHA LIVED A LONG LIFE TOGETHER AND SAW MANY MORE CHRISTMASES. BUT I'M SURE THERE WAS NOT ONE CHRISTMAS THAT WENT BY THAT THEY BOTH DIDN'T THINK OF THAT CHRISTMAS LONG AGO IN 1862, WHEN A LOVING WIFE PRAYED FOR HER HUSBAND'S SAFE RETURN. AND A SOLDIER WHO MIRACULOUSLY MADE IT HOME...BY CHRISTMAS.