6/18/1862
by J. S. (8th grade)
“Attention!” The lieutenant calls his company to attention. Joby Roosevelt is part of that company. Joby stares straight ahead, seeing the close shore, the new dock, and the distant island of Belvedere. Then, all turn their heads with the arrival of the colonel. After the colonel’s daily speech briefing, Joby heads to his post at Battery Wallace. Before leaving, he waits for his best friend Robert Shaw, who, like Joby, is from the Mission District of nearby San Francisco. Being familiar with the area, Joby knows a lot of nearby sights and weather patterns. Robert asks, “So how long have you been on Angel Island? I know I should have asked you this a long time ago.”
“Oh, maybe four months,” Joby replies as they finally arrive at Battery Wallace after going up a long hill.
“All right, see ‘ya around, kid,” Robert tells Joby as he leaves for the Conference Room. Since he is higher ranking than Joby, he is allowed to listen in on the officers’ meetings in the Conference Room. Joby, being a lower-ranked soldier, must take his post in the watch turret. As the day goes on, there is almost no action. The battery receives word that the San Francisco Police have put down a Confederate rally in the city.
Back at Camp Reynolds, Joby gets a call from the colonel for him to come to his quarters. The colonel tells Joby about his plans to send his friend Robert to Massachusetts to become the leader of an African-American regiment; the Massachusetts 54th. Joby is saddened, but happy for Robert. Later on in their lengthy discussion, Joby discovers that he is to be a leader of his own; he will have his own company in Camp Reynolds. Joby then says his goodbyes and thanks as the colonel bids him a good night.
The next morning, the colonel announces Joby’s new position to the regiment, as well as Robert’s departure. All goes well, as they receive news after news of Union victory in the east. Since they realize that there is no real threat of a Confederate ship flowing through the Golden Gate anymore, all are free daily to explore the island. Joby, unlike most other soldiers, stays at Camp Reynolds working at the dock.
The next two years on Angel Island for the soldiers go by very quickly. Just before the batteries are declared obsolete and the Camp abandoned, the colonel alerts everyone to two bits of news: that General Lee has surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox, and Joby’s friend Robert has died. Sorrow-filled, Joby receives a letter from Robert’s wife, Anne, dated July 20, 1863 (two days after Robert died).
Since he has been discharged from the Union army, Joby takes the train across the United States to see Anne off to Europe. It is a very saddening experience, but Joby gets to know much more about the late Colonel Robert G. Shaw.
Over the next fifty years, Joby lives a quiet life in the same Mission District where he and Robert grew up. But, the end of his life brought reassurance. The Union had won the Civil War, the Gold Rush had brought a new economy to his native California, and San Francisco was rapidly recovering from the recent earthquake of 1906. All looked for a good future, and Joby never got to see his greatest legacy; his son Franklin and his later achievements in his lengthy life. (But that’s another story.)
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