Numbering all the Bones

A small group from Pond Bluff travels to the prison the next day to seek the release of Neddy along with the new mother and her child. At the prison headquarters, Eulinda, Sancho, and Moll are compelled to wait in the buggy where they are harassed by guards and Moll is robbed of goods that she intended to sell to prisoners. Mistis is allowed to enter to find Janie Hunt, the young mother, and Hampton and Sancho go into the stockade to locate Neddy.

Eulinda describes riding home with Janie, who is 17. Janie carries on a conversation with Moll, who is pregnant. Eulinda can tell from the look on Hampton’s face that he has seen Neddy, though he does not speak about it on the ride home. Janie is surprised to hear that her benefactor, Mistis, is a slave owner. Mistis tells Janie, who is concerned about the Kelloggs as slave owners, that it would be impossible for them to release their slaves in this area and that she is in fact a Secret Yankee.

In Hampton’s study, Eulinda asks him what happened inside the stockade. Hampton tells her that Neddy refused to acknowledge Hampton, that he identified himself by another name, and that he would not leave the prison. Eulinda cannot understand why her brother would not leave the horrors of Andersonville. Hampton warned Eulinda this might be the case. He asks, “I was always good to Neddy, wasn’t I?” (60-61). Eulinda seeks out Sancho, who confirms what Hampton told her. Neddy sent along a request to Eulinda through Sancho: “when the war is over, if’n he doan’ get in touch with you, you’re to go in there and find his bones” (62). He explains to Eulinda that, if Neddy does not survive, he wants her to locate his body, on which she will find the ruby ring.

Eulinda, who confesses on several occasions that she is not the most intuitive person, expresses an awareness that things are not quite right at Pond Bluff. She has a sense that Hampton has lost control not only of his cognitive processes but of the plantation itself. This is confirmed by Moll, who reminds her that a lawyer from Atlanta visited the plantation. Hampton signed papers, ceding ownership of all his property—including his slaves—to Mistis. In that Mistis is regarded as completely untrustworthy, this causes all the enslaved people of the plantation to become quite anxious.

Alone with Hampton in the house when a post rider delivers a letter, Eulinda hears Hampton gasp and fall into a chair. When she rushes to him, her tells her to take his horse and ride for Dr. Head, his physician. As she is riding and reflecting on the situation, she thinks, “I realized how much I loved Mr. Hampton, how much he meant to me” (70). The doctor diagnoses a new problem, perhaps a heart condition. The physical problem was the result of a letter from Hampton’s son Julian, who is in a Union prisoner-of-war camp in Elmira, New York. The possibility of Hampton’s death sets Eulinda and all the slaves on edge.

Roper and Homer, two slaves from Pond Bluff who were building the prison, return to the plantation, describing the resourcefulness of the prisoners. They also say that Wirz has committed at least one summary execution.

Late in April 1864, Janie takes Eulinda aside. Janie tells Eulinda that she is going North and asks if Eulinda would like to accompany her.

Janie explains all she has observed about Eulinda. She also says her husband, Captain Henry Hunt, is planning a prison escape. Janie tells Eulinda that Mistis is planning to send Janie and the baby North on a blockade running ship carrying a load of contraband cotton. Janie created a counter plan about which Mistis knows nothing. When Janie invites Eulinda to go, Eulinda declines, saying there are things she must do “here, in this part of the country” (77). Janie surprises her by saying, “I know you’re not afraid. You have inner strength and purpose. I can see it in the way you hold yourself, in your eyes” (77).

Eulinda agrees to meet Henry at a designated point and take him to a rendezvous with Janie’s wagon. The plan is carried off just as established. Henry climbs into the wagon at the appointed spot and they continue to Atlanta where they complete their flight to the North. The next day, agents from the prison come to the plantation to ask if the Kelloggs saw Henry. Genuinely surprised, Mistis and Hampton deny any knowledge of Henry and the agents leave.

Primarily to avoid Mistis, Eulinda begins to spend time in the kitchen, learning to cook. Mistis approves since soon Moll would have to take time off to care for her coming baby. This gives Eulinda time to reflect on what she needs to do, since she is unsure of how to become true. She says, “I peeled a lot of potatoes, fried a lot of bacon, and cooked up a whole mess of chickens in the months that followed, and still I didn’t find out” (85).

Eulinda spends most of her time in the kitchen, where her acumen increases greatly. Because Hampton misses her, he often comes to the kitchen after breakfast to have tea and visit with Eulinda. Hampton frequently shares news with Eulinda about the war during his visits. She realizes he wants her to share these tidbits with the other slaves.

Mistis tells Eulinda’s that she will have to move to the slave quarters on the plantation in anticipation for Annalee to return. Annalee, Hampton’s white daughter, is returning from school in Atlanta and needs a bedroom and a receiving parlor, Mistis says. Eulinda realizes without doubt that she is a Black person and her previous privileges as the “bright-yellow” daughter of a white plantation owner are gone. Recognizing the end of the war is drawing near, the slaves begin to discuss what they will do once it is over. When Eulinda is asked about her plans, she responds, “Wait for Neddy. Or go to the prison and look for him” (92).

In April 1865, Hampton tells Eulinda to summon the enslaved people and he tells them the war is over and they are free. He encourages them to live properly and says that all those who want to remain at Pond Bluff can work with pay.