Carter Druse
Druse is a private enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War despite being a Virginian. Like so many actual families, the Druse clan is torn apart by loyalty: Carter’s father enlists on the side of the Confederacy. Because of his familiarity with the Virginia territory in which his regiment is station, he is given the position of standing sentry on watch for any Confederate troops on the surrounding hilltops that might discover the Union soldiers hiding in the valley below preparing for a secret ambush.
The Horseman
After having fallen asleep while on duty, Carter wakens and looks across the valley to spot what looks like a statue of a soldier astride a horse on the cliff above. Shaking aside his drowsy phantasms, he realizes that it is not a statute, but an actual Confederate on a horse. Realizing that this can only mean be a scout who is, like himself, familiar with the terrain, he has only once choice if he is to save his fellow Union soldiers from being spotted and slaughtered. So he raises his rife, sets his sight on the target and fires.
The Union Officer
An unnamed Union officer is conducting his scouting. As he pauses to consider whether it is advantageous enough to continue forward, he looks up and sees an amazing sight: a man aboard a flying horse. Both fall through the air straight upright and the sight is so fantastic that he briefly wonders if it a horseman come to warn of the apocalypse. His search for the falling horse and horseman fails to turn up evidence of their existence. When he later returns to camp to report to his commander on his scouting expedition, he leaves out the part about the flying horse.
The Sergeant
A sergeant within hearing distance of Druse’s sentry point crawls over to ask about the rifle shot. Druse tells him about the horse on the cliff across the way. When the sergeant presses him on whether there was a ride on the horse, Druse finally answers that was and that the horseman was his own father.
