Night Watch: A Novel

Dearbhla makes the journey to Alexandria, Virginia, sensing that the Sharpshooter is wounded and needs her help. Dearbhla tried to stop the Sharpshooter from joining the Army, but he said he needed to fight to earn his freedom. Dearbhla sensed the Sharpshooter’s safety until May. Using a ritual with vines and fire, Dearbhla determined that the Sharpshooter was still alive but wounded. Eliza worried that the Sharpshooter had died, and Dearbhla helped make provisions to keep her, Eliza, and ConaLee safe. Eliza reads aloud to ConaLee. The Sharpshooter taught them carpentry, and Dearbhla and Eliza know how to preserve animal skins, meat, and plants.

Dearbhla grew up on a plantation as an Irish indentured servant, and her father and brothers left her. Dearbhla and her mother were close with the Black enslaved people on the plantation, especially Leena, who helped Dearbhla through her mother’s death. Dearbhla worked as a midwife for the plantation. Leena brought a boy to Dearbhla, the son of the former plantation owner and an enslaved woman. Dearbhla raised the boy with “wood sense,” gathering berries and helping the plantation owner’s family. Dearbhla helped deliver the plantation owner’s children, including Eliza. The boy became indentured to the plantation family at 12 years old, and he helped with the other children’s studies and chores. The plantation is now enemy territory, and the boy is the Sharpshooter.

Dearbhla told the Sharpshooter that he was her son and plans to claim the same in Alexandria. Dearbhla is forced to stop due to a storm, and she remembers the Sharpshooter bringing her and Eliza into West Virginia. He found them two cabins, giving Dearbhla space to make potions and tonics on her own. Dearbhla remembers how tall and stoic the Sharpshooter was, though he lacked her belief in spirits and magic. Dearbhla assured Eliza that the Sharpshooter was alive, and she thinks fondly of ConaLee.

With Dearbhla gone, Eliza sits outside with her rifle, watching the ridge. She thinks about how she and the Sharpshooter were like siblings, but they grew into lovers. ConaLee comes outside, and they make dolls out of leaves and corn. ConaLee plays with a mirror, and Eliza sees men coming up the ridge. Eliza rushes to get ConaLee into a hatch, dropping her rifle. When she goes back, two men are outside. One man has Eliza’s rifle, and the other chases Eliza.

Eliza runs to the chicken coop to grab a hidden knife. The man, Bart, catches Eliza and knocks her down. The other man, Reb, stands with the rifle pointed at Eliza, and Bart tries to get Eliza’s underwear off. Eliza stabs Bart in the heart with her hidden knife. Reb cracks Bart’s skull with the butt of the rifle and says that he does not like rapists. Bart was a Union soldier, and Reb, short for “Rebel,” was a Confederate soldier whom Bart captured. They robbed a bank, and Reb tells Eliza to split the money, putting some with Bart’s corpse and the rest in the lining of a jacket.

Reb tells Eliza to call him Papa, and he ties Eliza with rope. Eliza holds a nail in her hand to kill Papa. Papa digs a ditch and rolls Bart’s body into it, taunting Eliza while he works. Papa puts the bag of money and the rifle in the ditch with Bart. Papa sexually assaults Eliza, urging her to think of her husband. Papa says that he is not a rapist, but he likes making people do things. He says that he remembers everywhere he hid treasure and that he will be back to Eliza’s home one day.

Papa leaves, and Eliza retrieves ConaLee. Eliza blindfolds ConaLee and holds her over the grave to get the rifle. Papa left Bart’s horse, and Eliza tells ConaLee that it is a gift. From that day on, Eliza always carries the knife on her, and she cannot masturbate because she feels ashamed.

Dearbhla remembers leaving the plantation with the Sharpshooter and Eliza. The master of the plantation had the Sharpshooter whipped and branded for looking at Eliza. Leena’s son asked to hide at Dearbhla’s shack, but the overseer found out and attacked them. The Sharpshooter and Eliza killed the overseer and his companion, but another man escaped. Leena’s son, Dearbhla, Eliza, and the Sharpshooter fled.

Dearbhla encounters a woman on the road and offers her a ride. The woman is afraid that Dearbhla might be a man and says that Dearbhla is one day’s journey away from Alexandria. Dearbhla drops the woman off and thinks about how ConaLee looks like her father.

In Alexandria, Dearbhla circles the hospital, waiting to sense the Sharpshooter’s spirit. A soldier stops her, and Dearbhla gives him the identification papers for the Sharpshooter. The soldier checks but does not find the Sharpshooter. Disease ravages the hospital, and Dearbhla cannot enter. After giving the soldier a picture of the Sharpshooter, which he does not recognize, Dearbhla continues riding. She sees a Black family burying a small, dead child, which gives Dearbhla a feeling of dread about Eliza and ConaLee.

Dr. O’Shea, a surgeon in Alexandria, examines the Sharpshooter’s wound. The Sharpshooter’s right temple is destroyed, and his right eye cannot be saved. Dr. O’Shea takes personal interest in the Sharpshooter, and he asks the nurse, Mrs. Gordon, to stay and talk with the patient. The Sharpshooter floats in darkness, unsure of where he is. He can hear the doctor and nurse talking.

In June, he regains consciousness, grabbing Mrs. Gordon’s hand. Dr. O’Shea keeps a frame on the Sharpshooter’s head to keep him from moving. The Sharpshooter does not remember anything about himself, his family, or his injury. When the Sharpshooter must pick a name, he chooses John O’Shea, after Mrs. Gordon’s son and Dr. O’Shea.

John is disturbed by his wound and fears that he is a monster. The brand and whip scars on his chest are frightening, and Dr. O’Shea assumes that Confederate soldiers mutilated John. John reads from Genesis in Mrs. Gordon’s Bible, but he struggles with math. As John recovers, he uses canes to maneuver, and he begins reading to other soldiers. He refuses to read the news or reports from the war.

As John’s health improves, he moves in with Dr. O’Shea and his wife, working at the hospital as an orderly. John wears a tin eye patch to protect his wound and hide his scar, and he has a special talent for calming soldiers in “fits.” In early October, he sees an old woman talking with a soldier in front of the hospital, but he does not think much of it.