Bull Run

The man who holds Carlotta in slavery brings her with him to Virginia from Mississippi. She and other enslaved Southerners at the camp do laundry and cook for the men who brought them there. Carlotta knows the Union soldiers are on the other side of the hills and plans to escape to their side. On the day when she plans to run away, another enslaved person tells her that the Northerners return those who escape. Carlotta cannot believe it because she thought “the Yankees had come to save [them]” (46). She decides to stop daydreaming and wait for the fighting to start.

Nathaniel reaches Centreville, Virginia, with the army. Initially, the men are cheerful and rowdy, stealing from the homes and taking down Confederate flags. However, when a regiment goes to Bull Run and retreats with wounded soldiers, Nathaniel gets even more customers who want their portraits taken. The soldiers want to “live on, framed and set upon a table” (47) if they die in battle. Nathaniel’s showing of the “human soul” photo that night comforts the troops and makes him a lot of money.