Going West
Solomon Compton nearly emerged from the woods when he saw a Confederate Army veteran rummaging through his campsite. That campsite consisted of a pup tent, a few belongings, and the remains of a camp fire. This was on the grounds of a small plantation that had been devastated, deserted, and overgrowth with weeds. Solomon quietly backed into the woods, and put down a cloth bag he had been carrying. He was a black man who still wore the uniform of a private in the Union infantry. He had with him a Henry Rifle. In an era when most soldiers carried muzzle loading rifles that took a minute to load standing up exposed to bullets, it took that amount of time to load sixteen bullets into a Henry Rifle. One could load a Henry Rifle while kneeling behind a tree stump or a boulder, protected from enemy bullets. The Henry Rifle was a lever action rifle. One man with a Henry Rifle could fire as many well aimed bull...