 The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the redemption of Wattie Moon, starring Lucille Ball. The time is 1863. The place, Cincinnati. General Ambrose Everett Burnside has just taken command of the U.S. Army's Department of the Ohio. When I entered upon my new duties that bright spring day in the third year of the war, the memory of my disastrous failure in the field at Fredericksburg a few months before was still haunting my thoughts. When my adjutant knocked at the door... Come in, come in. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Captain Camper. For the report you requested. Carol. We have an early visitor, sir, and most impatient, Colonel Hanson of General Hallickstaff in Washington. From Washington so soon? No. Show him in, Camper. Yes, sir. This way, sir. Good morning, Colonel. Good morning, General Burnside. You're looking well soon. And feeling miserable, as usual. What can I do for you? My mission, General, is a somewhat delicate one. For reasons of military security... These walls have no ears, Colonel. And all missions out of Washington appear to be delicate in nature. What is it this time? Graffed in the quartermaster corps? No soon. Espionage. We have reason to believe that a notorious Confederate spy is being sheltered in on near Cincinnati. Spies who allow themselves to become notorious should be easy to catch. Not this one soon. He's a will of the wisp. Oh, a woman? Yes, sir. She's been a thorn on our side for two years. But it's her most recent exploit that has caused our greatest concern, sir. You're acquainted, I believe, with Secretary of War, Stanton? I am. A pompous but able political wire puller, a most successful manipulator of men and events. General Burnside. After Fredericksburg, sir, I have nothing more to fear from man, guard, or cabinet officer. Proceed, Colonel. Well, sir, Secretary Stanton wants his woman apprehended. A few months ago, the Secretary was introduced by friends at a ball in Washington to a certain Lady Hull, ostensibly an English gentlewoman. And Lady Hull made herself most agreeable to Secretary Stanton. Before the evening was over, she asked Secretary Stanton. But your excellency, I couldn't think of causing you such inconvenience. No inconvenience, whatever, my lady, if you can manage to wait a few days. On next Tuesday, I am driving to Maryland to review the troops. President Lincoln will accompany me. If you wish, you may share our carriage. How charming. The President himself. You'll find him uncouth, but interesting enough. But, Mr. Secretary, however shall I journey from Maryland Heights to Warm Springs in Virginia? It will be my pleasure to provide you with a neutral escort through the opposing lines. After that, you may proceed without further inconvenience to your destination. Mr. Secretary, how can I ever thank you sufficiently? Now, my lady, it's nothing really. Nothing at all. Well, General Lady Hull was no Englishwoman. She was a southern spy with a packet of information for General Lee. And she wrote out of Washington, biggest life sitting between the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, right smack through the entire Army of the Potomac. You'll pardon me, Colonel, if I fail to suppress a small smile. In general, it's no laughing matter, I assure you. We know who she is. The story this time was too good for her to keep. Time and again she'd given us the slip under one disguise or another and kept mum. But this time, vanity loosened her tongue. She told the story and it reached us. Lady Hull lives or did live in Cincinnati. You know her real name? Yes, sir. Her name is Charlotte Moon. What did you say? Quiet. I said Charlotte Moon. Lottie Moon? Lottie Moon? You know the woman, sir? I knew her. I knew her very well indeed. Much too well. And in the General's memory, crowded still with the accusing ghosts of Fredericksburg, new shapes took form out of the past. A quieter time, some 11 years before. A quiet, verdant college town, Oxford, Ohio. Oxford, under its grand old forest trees, now listens to talk. Talk in exclamation points. And a subject, Miss Lottie Moon, aged 17, recently arrived with her father and sister from Tennessee. All how Oxford did whisper and rustle in the spring of 1852. 1552. 1552. 1552. By at a meeting of the local ladies' aide, for instance? A hussy, that's what she is. A hussy? I've forbidden my willy to go near the moon house again. Charlotte is a bit high-spirited, I've no doubt, Miss Lottie. What a good girl at heart, surely. The moons of Memphis are very respectable folks. High-spirited fiddle sticks. Didn't she dress up like a man? And didn't she play poker with those no-good loafers at the mansion-house hotel? Did she, Miss Smithers? So my willy says. And my willy's a good, truthful boy. And that's not all. Her and that lawyer, Clark, well... If you'll just move your chair a little closer, Mrs. Watkins. Now, I wouldn't breathe this to a soul, but I would. And among the floating male population, drowsing in the sun outside Joe Follensby's livery stable. So she promises that fat-head willy Smithers she'll meet him outside Old Man Moon's barn at midnight, a week or so ago. Then she tells the same thing to Pudd Collins, death-rose boy. Well, willy and Pudd, they climb into barn and get the scrap and hammers and tongs. And there's Lottie up in the haymow pouring dirty water all over him out of a tub and laughing, fittin' a bush. Oh, she's a cute one, all right, little Lottie. He'll tell she's got that visited West Point fella and what's his name, Burnshide. And here she's got him on her string now, too. Well, wouldn't doubt it, but it'll take a real man, size man to break our Lottie to harness. Someone like Jim Clark, lawyer, maybe. How about it, Joe? Well, tell you what, boys, if I was 25 years younger and $25,000 richer, I'd like to take on that job myself. The next thing is I'll stick to handling horses. They got more sense. Get out there. If they say about me, I'll think what I like. Go where I like, too. Now, Charlotte, Charlotte, as your father, it matters greatly to me where you go and what you do. I can hear them whispering behind my back wherever I go. Let them whisper. Let them yell if they want. They can't run me. Clearly I can't control you anymore. I've done everything for you, given you everything. Everything but what I wanted. I wanted to go to New Orleans or New York even and be an actress, but could I leave this town? Oh, no. No, doll of mine is going to act on the stage. Don't you realize, Charlotte, that your ruin and your chances are making a good marriage by these goings-on? Ruin and my chances? Why, I could marry any man in Oxford just by crooked my little finger at him from Namby, Pamby, Ambrose, Burnside, down to that lout Willy Smithers, any one of them. Yeah, you certainly have a high opinion of yourself, young lady. Of course I have. Why not? Look. Look at your daughter. Stop it, Charlotte. Dancing and prancing and whirling about. Show it yourself. Don't I resemble my mother? And was she not beautiful? And didn't you break her heart? Well, not for me if any hearts are going to break. I'll do the breaking. Jezebel, Lilith, Scarlet Woman. You're obedient daughter, sir. And don't be ridiculous. Get out. Get out. All right. No, wait. I'd forgotten why I sent for you. Does it matter now? Yes. Then call to my attention that you've been seen in the company of J.C. Clark, the lawyer. Well... Dad, I won't hair, Charlotte. The man's no good. He's a gambler, a drinker, and a disloot fellow in every way. And he's W.H. I'm going to marry Jim Clark, father. What? Why? Oh, he objects to the arrangement about my mind's made up. He's coming in by stagecoach from Cincinnati tonight. And Joe Follinsby, the stage driver. He's a very good friend of mine. What are you going to do? I'm going to hold up the stage outside town. And then I'm going to give Jim Clark a ride here and remember the rest of his life. Charlotte! Don't get out of my way. Quiet, Prince. Quiet, boy. Quiet. Here she comes now. It's a hold-up. Get down off that wagon, friend. The structure ain't been a hold-up round here since you hear the big wind. Ain't nothing to hold up for. What's your dodge, boy? Get down, Joe Follinsby. Get down quick. Bloody mo... Well, I never... Get down! All right. All right. I'll get down. Now, what's this all about? Jim Clark in there. Oh, sure. Sound of sleep, I reckon. He's the only passenger. There's an outside lock to that, Coach Joe. Sure. Lock it. Go ahead. Lock it up. Now, look at here. Lock it up, Joe. Well, all right. Anything you say, Lottie. Well, anything you say. I know what you want the door lock for, though. Give me the key. Now, give me your whip, Joe, and that big horn. Lottie, now listen. The jokes are joking all that, but after all, I can't... It's your coach, isn't it? And you're a friend of mine, Joe. You meant what you said. Oh, sure. Sure. Give me the whip and the horn, and a hand up, Joe. Well, if this don't feed off. Say it's 10 miles into town, Lottie. What am I going to do? Right, friend town for me, Joe. Here we go. You little devil. Have a nice trip, Jim. You nearly broke my neck in there. Why? You needed a lesson and not breaking appointments with Lottie Moon. So that's it. I think we need to have a little talk, young lady. In my office, Yonder. We can talk right here on the sidewalk. Oh, no, we can't. Come along in my office. Well, do you want me to carry you in? Yes. Yes, I do. All right, I will. Ouch! Wild cat! You can't get away with this! Ouch! That's better. No more tears. That's how it is, my dear. I'm not going to marry you. But, Jim, you said you loved me. Heaven helped me, girl, so I do. That's why I've never given either you or your father cause to complain of my conduct. Have I ever kissed you, even touched you, Lottie? No. And that's what I don't understand. Can't you see, girl? We're two of a kind. Both outlaws. We're both strong. You'd run me or I'd run you. Either way, life would be devilish unpleasant for both of us. It wouldn't work. That's why I didn't show up last Tuesday. I was furious, Jim. I threw a tea pot at my sister, Ginny. Yes, I can imagine. I often throw things myself. Jim, if you won't marry me, I'm going to marry Ambrose Burnside. What, that little tin soldier from West Point? He's mighty handsome in his uniforms. He used to be a tailor's apprentice over in Indiana before he went to the point. Do you suppose he makes his own uniforms? You don't like the idea, do you? Me marrying someone else. You don't like it at all. I see. It's a threat. Don't you think I'd marry him, Jim? Don't you think I'd dare? Yes, I suppose you would. But it won't work, Lottie. I'll not be held up at the point of a gun. We'll see about that. Yes, we'll see. Now, look here, Lottie. You better get out before I forget to be strong and sensible and take that silly coach horn with you. I'll leave it here. If you ever change your mind, Jim, you just sound that horn. I'll come running. A romantic notion, my dear. To think how ridiculous I'd appear to the good people of Oxford. You don't care what good people think. Neither do I. I'll leave the horn. Goodbye, Lottie. My regards to your soldier, boy. Goodbye, Jim. Oh, Walter. Yes, sir? Come in, please. Yes, Mr. Clark. Bring me the file on Arthur's will. Take this coach horn out back. No, no. Leave it here. Just for now. You are listening to the Cavalcade of America starring Lucille Ball in the Redemption of Lottie Moon. Sponsored by the DuPont Company. Makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Among DuPont's better things for better living are DuPont vegetable garden dust and DuPont floral dust. Home gardeners know how much trouble insects and plant diseases can cause. The harm they do now will reduce the yield for the rest of the season. That tender new growth is just what bugs like best. So to protect your garden, start a regular effective program of spraying or dusting. To make the job easier for you, DuPont has combined into one compound, chemicals which help control both insects and plant diseases. If you grow vegetables, you'll want DuPont vegetable garden dust. If you grow flowers, you'll want DuPont floral dust. Both of them are chemical aids to help you to enjoy better garden. Both are among DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. We continue our DuPont story, the story of Lottie Moon and General Ambrose Burnside. Young Burnside, a visitor in Oxford, had never heard of Lottie's infatuation for Jim Clark. He proposed, she accepted, and a great day came. What time is it now, Myron? It is now exactly 12 minutes past 2. Oh. That's the third time you asked me in the last five minutes. I'm sorry, Myron. Anybody think you were going to face a fire race squad instead of the prettiest gal in the state of Ohio? Lottie is beautiful, isn't she? Oh, ravishing. How an old sober size like you ever landed her on that hill? She's unpredictable, and absolutely unpredictable. When I asked her to marry me, she said, why not? When I asked her to name the day, she said, any day is a good day. I couldn't tell why she was laughing. Oh, she's young, my friend. She'll settle down. I hope so. I'm giving up my career in the Army, going into business. You lucky dog. When I'm back there in the barracks, you'll be reveling in the joys of your felicity and making money hand over fist. Perhaps. What time is it now? Comrade, the moment for the attack has arrived. It's 2.15. Myron, do you think she'll be there? Of course she will. Hey, look, she's coming in the church now. Praise our old man for the honor of the corps. Now, to the right by file, mark. Ambrose Everett, you take this woman Cynthia Charlotte to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish from this day forward, as long as you both shall live. I do. Cynthia Charlotte, do you take this man, Ambrose Everett, to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish from this day forward, as long as you both shall live? Cynthia Charlotte, do you take this man to be your wedded husband? Say, I do, Lottie. Lottie, what is it? Those searing words out of the past echoed in my mind as Colonel Hansen spoke that name, Lottie Moon, in Cincinnati, 11 years later, in the midst of a cruel civil war. And the name wiped out for the moment even the remembered cries of the wounded at Fredericksburg. And Colonel Hansen continued. We must find this woman, General. Yes, we must, and quickly. For two years now she's been the go-between for a Confederate information ring in Toronto and the rebel army of Northern Virginia. She was under traces, or she may not. And either event she'll try again. Yes, she was never one to give up easily. Call upon my headquarters here for any assistance you require, Colonel, and keep me informed, I shall, General. Good day to you soon. Good day. Oh, excuse me, Colonel. All right, Captain, come in. Come in. Thank you. General Burnside, sir. Yes, Captain. A woman to see you, General, an old friend, she says, Mrs. J. C. Clark. What? She wouldn't dare. Yes. Yes, that's exactly what she would do. Captain Kemper, admit the woman and post a squad of men at each entrance to the building. Do you understand? Yes, sir. And she and I are not to be disturbed. I'll show her in. Please come in, ma'am. Thank you. Well, Mrs. Clark, what can I do for you? You... you don't remember me, Ambrose? Of course I do, Lottie. I thought maybe you'd rather I pretend not to remember. You haven't forgiven me. It happened so long ago. So many terrible things have happened since then. Yes, yes, this awful war. That's why I came to see you. It's my sister. She's in Richmond and she's ill. Very ill indeed, near death. I must get to see her, to nurse her. And you need a pass through the Union lines. Yes, that's it, Ambrose. Oh, you were always so kind. I have so little right to ask. Why didn't you apply to Secretary of War Stanton, Lottie? What? Or President Lincoln himself. I understand you're on excellent terms with both those gentlemen. So you know. Yes, Lottie. I've heard about Lady Hall. It was a chance I had to take seeing you. My only chance. But not my last chance. Not while I have this. A gun. Well, well. Still a child, Lottie. General Burnside, you will sign an order permitting me to move through Union lines as I please. Or I'll kill you here and now. There's soldiers guarding every exit to this building. Kill me and you'll hang. You'll sign that order or I'll put a bullet through your heart. I'll not hang. And I'll not go to prison as a spy. I'll kill myself first, after I kill you. Don't you think I'd do it? Suppose we find out. I will not sign the order. The choice is yours. Eleven years ago, Lottie, you used the threat of marriage with me as a gun in the ribs of Jim Clark. He gave in to you. Everyone has always given in to you. Up until now. I've never regretted my choice. I suppose not. But I've heard your voice through many sleepless nights. I'm going to marry a real man, you said. No man has ever had a sharper spur to ambition and accomplishment than you gave me then, Lottie. No, listen to me. Only a few months ago, I took command of the finest army in the history of the world, the army of the Potomac. And then at Fredericksburg, I led that army into a trap. I watched my regiments being blown to pieces by 300 hidden cannon shredded to bits by the fire of riflemen concealed in the sunken road. I sent Mars Irish Brigade up the slopes of Mary's Hill against the rebel cannon. And I watched half of those men fall in the tall, dry grass of the slope and the plain below. Then I sent Hancock's division after Mar. And I watched the flower of my army done to death. Then the tall grass caught fire. The grass caught fire, Lottie. And I could hear the shrieks of the wounded. I could see those boys writhe and shrivel in the flames. And I had sent them there. I wanted to lead my own old corps, the ninth corps against that hellish wall of fire, but my officers would hear none of it. So I withdrew back across the rapper Hancock to defeat, to disgrace. After what happened to me is I watched that sea of burning grass below the hill. Do you think I'm likely to yield to your childish demand? I tell you there's a part of my mind that would welcome a bullet from that gun. The choice is yours. I... I can't do it now. I could never have done it. You're stronger than me. You're stronger than Jim Clark ever was. I'm beyond pride and strength or fear of weakness, Lottie. I've grown older. I grew older rapidly in the evening of battle. When icy sleet put out the fires, and many of those burned and broken men froze to death at last on the hill. On the hill I tried to take at the peak of the ambition your words had forged in me so long ago. I knew some of the men who died on that hill. There were two boys from Oxford, from the college. Did I kill the membros? Who can tell? It's not a simple thing, this war. It's difficult and hard to understand. To me it was... it was an adventure to fool Secretary Stanton, to ride through your army in high style. I never thought about... about killing men. You were a child in Oxford. You were a child in Washington. You were an actress, seeking applause. Yes. I know that now. Can... Can you ever forgive me? I forgave you then, my dear, in the freezing wind by the river's edge, as I tried to pray to find God. And now what will happen to me? I can spare your prison. I can command here and I have no wish to. There was more suffering. I can spare you. But I can do it only if you promise never to attempt to pass through the union lines again. Will you promise that? Yes. Yes, I will promise. But how can you trust me? I think you two have grown suddenly older. This choice is mine. Come over here to the window, Lonnie. Down there is the Ohio. A barrier between brothers at war. See the barges waiting for troops. More troops for other flaming hills. When will it end? When will it ever end? Pray God it will end before our country's light blood all runs out. Our thanks to Lucille Ball and our cavalcade players for tonight's story. Now, Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. Every time you buy something, you cast a vote for the manufacturer of the product. It's your vote that keeps him in business. It's a healthy, heartening thing that this vote has cast every day of every year for sound, well-made products. Where an old product is best, Americans loyally stay with it. On the other hand, when a new product comes along that is better, everybody is eager to give it a fair trial. That is why America is still the land of opportunity. That's why more than two million new businesses have started in the United States since the war ended only five years ago. And speaking of new products, DuPont now has a new automotive product for you. DuPont spray glaze. DuPont spray glaze is not a wax. You don't put it on your car yourself. You go to your car dealer or to a garage or service station in your neighborhood. There, your car is cleaned with a DuPont cleaner which removes all film and chalk pigment. Then, especially trained man, pressure sprays it from top to bottom with DuPont spray glaze. Even the hubcap, even the bumpers. Your car, new or old, gets a hard, long-lasting protective coating with a high, brilliant luster. One garage in Oxford, Pennsylvania, tells us that a car they spray glazed more than six months ago looks as good today as when it was sprayed. Car dealers, garage men and service station men have known the DuPont number seven line of automotive polishes and other specialties for a quarter of a century. They recommend them because they have found, from long experience, that these DuPont products serve you well. Probably there is a dealer near you who is already spray glazing cars. If there isn't, there soon will be. For garage and service station owners, are alert and eager to bring you new products of merit. As in the case of spray glaze, newest of the DuPont companies, better things for better living through chemistry. Next week, Cavalcade presents the distinguished Hollywood star, Edward Arnold. Our DuPont play tells a present-day, true-to-life story of a deeply moving experiment, an experiment in humanity. Be sure to listen. Tonight's DuPont play was written by George Faulkner and was based on a short story by Walter Habighurst and a portion of the book, The Ohio Story by Frank Seidel, published by World Publishing Company. Lucille Ball will soon be seen in the forthcoming Columbia picture, Fuller Brush Girl. In tonight's cast with Miss Ball, you heard Barry Kroger as Burnside, Les Damon as Hanson, and Stott's Cotsworth as Clark. Music for the DuPont Cavalcade was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Voorhees. Directed by John Zoller. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the stage of the Belasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Don't forget Starlight Concert tonight on NBC.