RATED NC-17
Marshall Santos is kneeling down beside a grave marker in Boot Hill Cemetery just outside Dodge City. He mulls over a few things.
"Around Dodge City and in the western territories, there is just one way to handle all the killers and the spoilers, and that is with a US Marshall and the smell of gun smoke. This is Mannysmoke, the transcribed story of the violence that moved west with young America and the story of a man who moved with it. I am that man, Danny "Matt Dillion" Santos, United States Marshall. Out here, I remind myself of how violence always ends, buried in the rim of a nation on the edge of the wild frontier. Some were slaughtered aimlessly, the rest I killed. I'm a lawman and a US Marshall. Law comes hard to the frontier and men like these did not want it. And there are more men alive today who will come to Dodge City that do not want it. They are the drifters and the lawless and they have to be dealt with. I am the first man they look for and the last one they want to meet.
Danny Santos's health was improving each day. Today he shaved and washed himself (thank goodness, she didn't know if she could stand to touch his skin one more time without exploring further). Doc, her brother was coming out to check on Danny again today. Rick told her that there was no reason for her to remain at the ranch any longer to nurse Daniel, and she could easily return to her teaching position tomorrow when the term began. In fact, the Marshall should be able to go back to town in the surrey today. Once there he can rest up another day or so at the hotel before returning to work. Doc said that he was not surprised at Daniel's quick recovery, as he usually recovered quickly when shot. Her brother continued, "Without Miss Abigail, Mrs. Cassie and you molly coddling him so much he'd be back in the saddle already, I'd wager."
Michelle's brother and Miss Abigail continued to argue constantly. At least now, they were arguing about medical techniques and advances since the "War of Northern Aggression," as Abigail called it. Michelle thought that someone should just lock those two up in a broom closet somewhere and make them see that they were perfect for one another. At least someone should endeavor to help them see the fact that no one else in town or even in the territory would put up with either one of them. The primary problem between the two was Abby's past service as a Confederate matron or nurse and her intense dislike of the fact that Rick was a Union Army doctor. Don't even try to tell Abigail that the war was over eight years ago! Michelle left Daniel's bedside as he lay dozing. She wanted to stretch her legs, Ray and Cassie were off romping in the hills somewhere and she saw this as a chance to collect her thoughts over the last few days. Daniel was now walking around quite a bit and she thought in the back of her mind that perhaps her brother was right because he did seem a bit stronger than he acted sometimes.
Michelle knew that one of Ray's prize broodmares was mating with one of Cassie's stallions. She thought that kind of funny, as she knew that Cassie and Ray were breeding so to speak each night. The two of them usually started up as soon as the sun set and Cassie and then Ray's keening, moaning, oohing and awhing started as well for hours on end while Michelle tried to sit quietly by Daniel's bed. Usually Michelle tried to read passages of the bible aloud thinking that what ever was going on in that other room, maybe reading the bible in another part of the house would counter the sinning so to speak.
What were these two up to and did they have to be so God awful loud? She knew sometimes people got carried away and had relations before marriage, it was understandable and part of life but to be so enraptured of one another, and night after night at that, it just seemed a bit odd.
Michelle kept thinking about Cassie's repeated eye rolls and her swooning every time Ray entered a room. What was so special about Ray, there was nothing visible to the eye? In fact, Danny seemed much more physically attractive than Ray, to Michelle anyway.
Ray was taller and broader than Danny was and to be honest Michelle preferred men that were not as stocky as Ray or as muscular. Daniel Santos had a thin athletic build that seemed to belong in the saddle, riding a horse. He was more rough, ready, and wiry than Ray. Cousin Ray also seemed to be feeling the constraints of domesticity of late. He was eating more, smiled all the time, and kept picking Cassie up and twirling her about the house and the two of them seemed to disappear for long periods of the day and reappear with grins on their faces and hay in their hair. It just seemed, well, unseemly!
She went to the breeding barn where she saw Ray holding his mare Alexandria. One of his young ranch hands, Max, was holding the stud stallion, Wellington. The introduction of the two animals was especially precarious but from what Cassie had told her (and she figured that Cassie should know by now what mating was all about) after the horses meet and the handlers force a false mount, the horses can be left alone and nature takes its course. She watched as Ray introduced his mare to Cassie's stallion and could not help but laugh. Usually the mares, even in estrus, try to bite or push the stallions away but this one, Alexandria, wanted the stallion close to her. Ray and Max left the barn and did not see Michelle. She had never seen horse breeding before and she had a teacher's interest. At least that was what she told herself. Maybe she could use this information in her lessons, who knew?
The horses started to walk around one another snorting and then swishing their tales. The mare started nipping at the stallion's mane and he started biting at her tail. She then started prancing around and lifting her tail and then her rump every time the stallion neared. Finally, Wellington's interest stayed in that area and the two began their ritual dance. The pronounced breath and the snorting sounds of these two animals doing what was most natural to them, affected her greatly. She heard that the breeding of two thoroughbreds was a beautiful thing to watch; it was civilized yet also exciting and thrilling. Primal, yet refined in the way the stallion mounted and then entered the female. She half snorted herself at this and was surprised when she heard a sound.
Michelle startled at the sound and then half sighed realizing that her afternoon alone was no longer a reality. She started to turn then felt a sure hand on her back, and then the sound of a ragged intake of breath that she recognized, on her neck. The man nuzzled the back of her neck with his mouth and breathed into her ear, "Does this excite you?" She leaned back and nodded yes. Then he began a measured physical attack on her body. His hand embraced her shoulders and waist all the while his mouth kissed the back of her neck, then the side of her neck and finally he blew slow but sure kisses into her ear and along the crown of her head.
His slow methodic movements entranced her and Michelle slowly raised her leg up reaching back and folding it through his own legs so that they were connected. She had seen the mare do this, raise her legs and touch the stallions and it seemed somehow part of, and appropriate for her own ritual-mating dance. He turned her then and she sighed as his mouth took hers. He covered her lips with his own and she opened her mouth immediately and took the lead. She was moving fast now because of a genuine need or because she was aroused by the sight and sounds of the animals mating, which she didn't know or care. She slid her tongue in between his teeth and heard his sharp intake of breath. She moved her hips close to his and pushed herself against up against him. Michelle seized his tongue and began to suck upon it, delighted as he began to move against her as well, almost as if he could not help the sensations that were also coursing through his body. She took hold of his arm, being mindful of the one in the sling, and pressed it against her breast and then took his hand and did the same. She felt wild, carnal and out of control.
He began to walk her backwards. He walked with her to one of the areas where horses stayed before entering the breeding arena. She looked back and the stall area was clean and filled with fresh mown hay. She sighed into his mouth and pushed her body up and towards him again seeking contact. Michelle was unaware of what she was doing and just tried to let the sensations of her responses to him and his to her wash over her. She lifted her leg and tried to encircle his waist but managed only to wrap around his hips a bit closer. As he reached down and pulled her leg higher, she moaned into his mouth. He was now undoing the buttons of her shirtwaist. She wore only a camisole today with no corset, so he had easy access as he dipped his head down to taste first one of her breasts, and then the other. She held his head hard against her, encouraging him to suckle from her breast harder and harder. She was breathing into his ears, tasting his neck, not at all conscious of his wounded shoulder. Michelle was oblivious to all around her but her primal need to have this man, right this instant. She took his hand and pushed it down to touch the front of her belly, then pushed it lower and held his hand over herself until he let it stay there of his own volition. She felt him touch her there cupping and pushing.
In the back of her mind, she realized that she was being the aggressor today and noted that she did not care at all. She moved closer to him as she felt him raise her skirt and petticoat. She sighed and kissed him harder pressing his hand as he raised it. She tried to raise herself against him as she had seen the stallion do, but he stopped her.
"Honey, my shoulder is still hurt, we can't do this standing up," Danny Santos said to her.
"Oh but we can we do it, right?" she said pushing his available hand ever upward.
He lowered them to the ground strewn with the hay. She felt as if her body was on fire. He laid down on top of her and then rolled her to the side of his good shoulder and started raising her petticoats all the while watching her flushed face which was breathing out the words "now, yes, yes" to him. Her breasts now lay naked and exposed and he bent down to kiss them as his fingers found the opening to her pantalets. He placed his fingers through the opening and her hips shot straight up into the air in invitation. She was moaning again loudly and the sounds of her breath were ragged in between her vocalized sounds as were his own. Her body was already craving more of his touch and he did not disappoint. He bent down and ever so slowly, pulled down her pantalets. Too slowly, it seemed because in her urgency, she ended up helping him. Then she put her hand on his pants and began to fumble with his buttons.
"Slow down darlin, we've got time, let's not hurry this okay?" Danny said. Finally, he managed to pull off the pantalets and began to stroke his fingers up and down her legs. She was burning up with desire. He sensed it and lowered his head to kiss her thighs. She was rising up to him now, pulling his head to her without understanding what she wanted or how to ask for it.
He began to kiss her inner thighs then and finally, as he began to slowly kiss the area around her most special vessel, she cried out, "Danny make love to me now." She was throbbing and felt swollen and was moaning so loudly that the horses' sounds seemed quiet in comparison. Her moans were echoing throughout the barn and neither of them noticed or cared.
He smiled while realizing that he was just barely in control of this situation himself. Danny continued to lick and kiss at her most secret place and nearly lost himself as her hips shot off the floor when he began to gently pull at her with his mouth; she continued to writhe underneath him searching for something greater than even the gift that she was receiving. He reached up and touched her face and she began to suck on his fingers. He moaned deeply as she reached down to grab at his shoulders to pull him up to her. He winced as he moved and came up to her and placed his buttoned jeans against her most intimate of places and she began to move. Tentatively at first, then faster, she moved underneath him and to undo his pants. She'd only undone two buttons when he thought he might go mad and the two of them began to rub against one another in a ritualistic dance that left him breathless and left her out of control and dizzy with passion. Danny began to undo his remaining buttons and leaning down started to kiss her inner thighs again. He started to move his mouth up to the apex of her thighs once more when they both started from the sound of a scream.
Daniel registered in his brain the fact that horses do not make sounds like that, and he turned around to see the irate face of Doctor Rick Bauer and the shocked red face of Miss Abigail Blume. Michelle looked up at them both and could not focus as she was still in a daze. She was having the hardest time regaining her focal point. All she knew was that the wonderful things Danny had been doing to give her pleasure stopped suddenly. Her face had a definite pout upon it. Danny winced in pain as he tried to quickly shield her exposed body from both her brother and Abby's gaze.
Then he heard Doc Rick Bauer's words, "Sir, I find this appalling and I am grievously offended and you as my friend, Daniel, have overstepped your bounds. You, sir, will marry my sister or we are no longer friends. What is more, I will telegraph the US Marshall's Office in Washington, DC and inform them of your unethical behavior if you fail to marry my sister immediately."
In the early 1860s, Southern women went into the Confederacy's hospitals in an effort to contribute patriotically to their newfound country. It was one of the only ways to actively contribute to the new nation because they were unable to take an active public role at this time in history and the war provided a limited opportunity outside their typical domestic situation. Affluent women who entered hospital service went beyond what was expected of a proper southern lady and were challenged not only by their shocking brutal hospital experiences but also by fellow Southerners, men and women alike. The Confederacy passed the Hospital Act of 1862, specifically for women's employment in military hospitals. This Act, which passed in the fall of that year, was the direct result of an informal study done at field hospitals earlier that summer. The study showed conclusive results, injured soldiers treated by females had a mortality rate of 5% and those by male attendants 10% or more.
The "Hospital Act" improved conditions and organization within the hospitals and responded to a growing number of women volunteering in the hospitals by offering paid employment. The hope was that despite societal prejudices against women working as nurses, the passage of this law would incite more women to come forward. However, they did not and just as the Confederacy was always in short supply of skilled surgeons, doctors, and undertakers, so too were they short of female nurses. Doctors attributed the shortage to the prejudice that the majority of soldiers represented danger to the women matrons. This false belief existed due to the fact that the majority of wounded were enlisted men who were usually poor and illiterate. Intimate contact with these strange men below a woman's station was deemed unfit for any self-respecting woman.
Florence Nightingale, a member of British nobility, elevated the respectability of infirmaries and nursing with her efforts in the Crimean War (1853-1856). Her book, "Notes on Nursing," was widely read by Americans and helped reform the image of women tending to common soldiers, introducing the ideas that upper class women were capable of aiding those in need. The honorable Lady Nightingale's reputation and her various publications proved to be a major help in recruiting nurses in the North. Sadly, her work was of nominal assistance in the changing of opinions and enlistment of women in the South.
The occupation of field nurse or matron drew a wide range of women from many walks in life. Unskilled women made up a large number of those who became cooks, laundresses, and haulers (those who carted away amputated body parts). Matrons were usually higher-class women with some education. These women usually were spinsters or widows. The unmarried woman or would-be spinster was freed by the war from the supposed barrenness of her attributes, giving her new founded independence and usefulness.
The married woman who became a matron nurse could keep herself occupied. The number of married women nurses was small and of these most had failed marriages or desperately needed the small pittance paid to nurses. Some older nurses considered young and unmarried women who came to work in the hospitals a nuisance. A nurse who was pretty and intelligent such as our Miss Abigail Blume would have fought off the prejudices of both other nurses and the field doctors. Not to mention the overwhelming battle fatigue, and sights, smells and signs of death.
The majority of women nurses who went on to publish their papers following the War were widows. During and after the war, widowhood grew to an esteemed position in the South.
It is estimated that disease took over one-fourth of the Confederate Army. The four most deadly hospital diseases were erysipelas-a contagious infection and most common of the four, pyaemia and septicemia--formations of blood clots in the veins and infections of said areas, and hospital gangrene-which was thought to be some form of malarial fever.
Surgical treatments were simple ones, either amputation of limbs or resections (an operation which leaves the limbs but removes the damaged bone). If surgeons had the time they might attempt to perform abdominal, thoracic, or head surgery on higher ranking officers but these attempts more often than not proved fruitless. Anesthesia consisted of either chloroform or ether and hospitals routinely turned to liquor in their absence towards the end of the war. Due to necessity, surgery was performed in well-ventilated areas often outdoors under tents. Nurses documented that their patients seemed to improve faster in fresh air although the physicians at the time thought that it was because the fresh air kept the smells down and therefore the patients were in a better humor and more prone to get well.
Working in hospitals exposed the women to many diseases. Many caught typhoid, got jaundice, malaria and had almost monthly fights with "the old greybacks" which were lice. As time progressed, the women grew used to the aforementioned sights, sounds, and smells of death. Nurses kept good notes and records from this time, and these proved useful for future medical research over the next 50 years. The women wrote in detail about damaged arteries, gashes in the body, and various other wounds. The most useful information they provided for posterity was the information documenting those patients who the surgeons marked as doomed and hopeless but who somehow managed to survive anyway. Many reports and documented depositions from patients showed that the difference between life and death for many patients was the attention they received from the female matrons.
The rewards for the "Dixie Belles," who braved their good reputations and loss of status and dignity were many. They proved themselves useful, independent, valiant and strong and started to gain for the first time a sense of self-accomplishment. However, following the war, the women who served on the front in field hospitals were told to return home. Former female nurses or matrons were rebuked for their service from both family and Southern society. Many women sought gainful employment as nurses for years but more than likely ended up marrying or going west. These women grew hardened in a very short time. The women were angry at the southern system for denying them gainful employment and recognition for their hard work in the form of pension and back pay. More often than not however, they misplaced their anger to all things Northern.
These women made a difference but few ever understood their true impact. Nurses from the South spearheaded efforts to document and write (and in some cases rewrite) historical accounts of the war, many of the nurses were responsible for establishing the CSA and CDA. Five years following the war, "veterans" hospitals were established to house those seriously injured and chronically incapacitated. Because of a shortage of male nurses, a call went out for female nurses. This forced a societal and cultural change in views of the nursing profession. In turn nursing schools began to proliferate, and these schools in turn began to allow women students.
Much of this information came from reading Anne Smittle's thesis on Southern Women in Confederate Hospitals.
