a war when we need them right here?
SECOND YOUNG WOMAN
Well, if I was a man, it would be over me dead body they’d be reaching for their tea! Imagine, poor men leaving their wives and homes to go fight while the rich men pat their bellies and wave them off with their silk hankies!
FIRST YOUNG WOMAN
Ay! And you can bet your sweet life on that, too.
The camera moves on, and we see a NEWSBOY selling a paper to a wounded SOLDIER. The SOLDIER is tall, gaunt. He carries a bundle stuck in his crutch. He looks up toward the camera and then quickly away.
INT. THE PEACOCK INN—JULY 13, 1863
The Peacock Inn is a shabby-genteel restaurant-tavern on Bedford Street, run by JOHN and ELLEN JOHNSON, who live upstairs with their daughter, CLAIRE.
CLAIRE JOHNSON (15) and her best friend, PRISCILLA SKINNER (also 15), are sitting at one of the rectangular tables. They are sewing a quilt.
CLAIRE is thin and pretty, with skin color light enoughto pass for Caucasian. She has soft brown eyes, sharp features, and chestnut-colored hair, which she has combed up until it almost forms a halo around a sweet face. She is wearing a flower-patterned cotton dress and a neat apron.
PRISCILLA is dark, obviously African American, and is dressed similarly. She is also pretty, with a round face that is quick to smile.
PRISCILLA
So, if you were feeling sick, would you let a doctor examine you?
CLAIRE
Are you feeling sick?
PRISCILLA
No, I was just wondering. What would you do if he asked you to undress?
CLAIRE
I’d do it—as long as he had his eyes closed and his hands behind his back and he was at least a hundred and twelve! And you?
PRISCILLA
I’d faint dead away, and then he could do whatever he wanted to me.
CLAIRE
Priscilla!
ELLEN JOHNSON (37), CLAIRE’s mother, enters with a mop and bucket. She looks somewhat older than her age but is attractive, and the resemblance between her daughter and her is clear.
ELLEN
And what are you girls up to?
CLAIRE
Priscilla’s got her squares wrong. I’m straightening them out for her.
PRISCILLA
They aren’t wrong, Mrs. Johnson, just different from what Claire had in mind. You know how bossy she can be.
ELLEN
(looking at the quilt)
So what did you have in mind?
CLAIRE
Priscilla was telling me how the slaves make quilts in the South that are really like maps. They have a star and paths that lead to the star.
ELLEN
(looking at PRISCILLA)
Priscilla, you were born in Brooklyn. How do you know about what the poor slaves are doing?
PRISCILLA
From my great-aunt Esther. She was born in Virginia. When the man who owned her died, her father ran off north with the whole family.
ELLEN
This the old woman who lives uptown in Broadway Alley?
PRISCILLA
Yes.
ELLEN
Sweet lady, she is. I don’t think the rowdies will get that far uptown.
ROBERT VAN VORST (15) enters. He is white and slightly overweight but handsome and well dressed, with dark hair combed straight back and a high forehead.
ELLEN
Are we having a convention? Everyone’s here!
ROBERT
I’ve just been down to the Grand Street draft office, inquiring whether I might apply for a commission. They obviously need good men, and I’m willing to go.
CLAIRE
I heard they were rioting near the waterfront.
ROBERT
Slackers. They’re actually protesting against the draft! Can you believe it? Father said that there was a police lineup across from the Tribune . They’ve thrown rocks through the windows of the stores along the side streets.
ELLEN
It’s not safe to be out and about. John says they were ugly this morning. He said the Dead Rabbits were running around as if they owned the streets.
ROBERT
Well, then, the army will just have to deal with gangs like the Dead Rabbits, won’t they? They’re mostly young drunks and old people, anyway. If I were commanding a battalion, I’d send a half dozen of my best men to put down the gangs.
ELLEN
Robert, they’re not having fifteen-year-olds commanding battalions.
PRISCILLA
I think they could, because you just have to tell the men
SECOND YOUNG WOMAN
Well, if I was a man, it would be over me dead body they’d be reaching for their tea! Imagine, poor men leaving their wives and homes to go fight while the rich men pat their bellies and wave them off with their silk hankies!
FIRST YOUNG WOMAN
Ay! And you can bet your sweet life on that, too.
The camera moves on, and we see a NEWSBOY selling a paper to a wounded SOLDIER. The SOLDIER is tall, gaunt. He carries a bundle stuck in his crutch. He looks up toward the camera and then quickly away.
INT. THE PEACOCK INN—JULY 13, 1863
The Peacock Inn is a shabby-genteel restaurant-tavern on Bedford Street, run by JOHN and ELLEN JOHNSON, who live upstairs with their daughter, CLAIRE.
CLAIRE JOHNSON (15) and her best friend, PRISCILLA SKINNER (also 15), are sitting at one of the rectangular tables. They are sewing a quilt.
CLAIRE is thin and pretty, with skin color light enoughto pass for Caucasian. She has soft brown eyes, sharp features, and chestnut-colored hair, which she has combed up until it almost forms a halo around a sweet face. She is wearing a flower-patterned cotton dress and a neat apron.
PRISCILLA is dark, obviously African American, and is dressed similarly. She is also pretty, with a round face that is quick to smile.
PRISCILLA
So, if you were feeling sick, would you let a doctor examine you?
CLAIRE
Are you feeling sick?
PRISCILLA
No, I was just wondering. What would you do if he asked you to undress?
CLAIRE
I’d do it—as long as he had his eyes closed and his hands behind his back and he was at least a hundred and twelve! And you?
PRISCILLA
I’d faint dead away, and then he could do whatever he wanted to me.
CLAIRE
Priscilla!
ELLEN JOHNSON (37), CLAIRE’s mother, enters with a mop and bucket. She looks somewhat older than her age but is attractive, and the resemblance between her daughter and her is clear.
ELLEN
And what are you girls up to?
CLAIRE
Priscilla’s got her squares wrong. I’m straightening them out for her.
PRISCILLA
They aren’t wrong, Mrs. Johnson, just different from what Claire had in mind. You know how bossy she can be.
ELLEN
(looking at the quilt)
So what did you have in mind?
CLAIRE
Priscilla was telling me how the slaves make quilts in the South that are really like maps. They have a star and paths that lead to the star.
ELLEN
(looking at PRISCILLA)
Priscilla, you were born in Brooklyn. How do you know about what the poor slaves are doing?
PRISCILLA
From my great-aunt Esther. She was born in Virginia. When the man who owned her died, her father ran off north with the whole family.
ELLEN
This the old woman who lives uptown in Broadway Alley?
PRISCILLA
Yes.
ELLEN
Sweet lady, she is. I don’t think the rowdies will get that far uptown.
ROBERT VAN VORST (15) enters. He is white and slightly overweight but handsome and well dressed, with dark hair combed straight back and a high forehead.
ELLEN
Are we having a convention? Everyone’s here!
ROBERT
I’ve just been down to the Grand Street draft office, inquiring whether I might apply for a commission. They obviously need good men, and I’m willing to go.
CLAIRE
I heard they were rioting near the waterfront.
ROBERT
Slackers. They’re actually protesting against the draft! Can you believe it? Father said that there was a police lineup across from the Tribune . They’ve thrown rocks through the windows of the stores along the side streets.
ELLEN
It’s not safe to be out and about. John says they were ugly this morning. He said the Dead Rabbits were running around as if they owned the streets.
ROBERT
Well, then, the army will just have to deal with gangs like the Dead Rabbits, won’t they? They’re mostly young drunks and old people, anyway. If I were commanding a battalion, I’d send a half dozen of my best men to put down the gangs.
ELLEN
Robert, they’re not having fifteen-year-olds commanding battalions.
PRISCILLA
I think they could, because you just have to tell the men
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