In the morning, Chamberlain wanders through camp, judging his men’s readiness and generally lost in thought. He remembers dreaming of his wife, of her coming to him in her scarlet robe. “Away from her you loved her more. The only need was her.” He recalls her misspelling of the word “dreamyly” in her letters.
While encamped, Chamberlain’s men encounter some Southern prisoners as well as an escaped black slave. Tom Chamberlain talks with Southern prisoners and is confused to find out they aren’t fighting for slavery.
The slave is wounded, shot by one of the local women in Gettysburg when he asked her for directions. Chamberlain and his men react to the black man with a mix of curiosity, strangeness, and revulsion, which is ironic given that they’re fighting to free men like him. They fix him up and are surprised that he looks the same inside as a white man.
The slave cannot speak much English, but they determine he is thanking them and asking to go home, now that he is free. Since they don’t know how to send him home, they bind him up, give him food, and leave him behind as they have been ordered to move out. They will see no action this morning, but are being held in reserve.
They march close to Gettysburg with thousands of other soldiers and then find a spot to sit and rest since they’re not needed. Everything is quiet except for a message from Meade to be ready to fight as the enemy is there and that they will be punished by death if they don’t fight. Chamberlain reflects on the foolishness of threatening a man at a time like this.
Kilrain notes that the black man is still following them and wants to offer him a rifle. He realizes there is little hope the man will ever see “home” again.
Kilrain and Chamberlain discuss black men, the nature of man, why they are fighting, the aristocracy, and “divine spark.” Chamberlain relates the story of the Southern preacher and professor who visited Chamberlain’s Maine home and spoke of the black man as if he was an animal. Chamberlain tried to make them see how wrong they were, but the professor asked him, “What if it is you who are wrong?” Chamberlain ponders this, decides he is not, then notices the smell of death drifting down to them. He waits.
