A storm springs up in the swamp, and Swamp Thing feels violence and death. He goes to a nearby moss-covered gate and realizes that whatever happened, happened there. He sees Civil War soldiers fighting, and the Union soldiers overwhelming the Confederate defenders. One Confederate, Lt. John Wyatt, runs but the Union soldiers hunt him down and prepare to bayonet him. Suddenly they disappear, and Wyatt's companion private Eli Boggs says that if Wyatt keeps crying then he'll draw the Union soldiers down on them. Wyatt wonders where they are, and says that his wife is having their first son and he's going to head to the hospital even if it's toward Union lines. After a moment, Boggs goes after him. Swamp Thing looks on and says that it can't be.
Will is working in the swamp when Wyatt and Boggs grab him and put a knife to his throat around. When he says that he's from Philadelphia, they figure that he's a spy and Boggs prepares to kill him. Wyatt points out that will is unarmed and just wants to get to his wife before she gives birth. Will figures that they're part of a reenactment group, but quickly realizes that they're not. In the shadows, Swamp Thing realizes that what is happening is beyond his control.
Boggs talks about how the Yankees probably burned down Wyatt's house. Will tells them that the war has been over for 125 years, and they arrive at the Kipp house. Wyatt goes in, gun drawn, and looks around. He realizes that it isn't his house, and Boggs brings Will in. The lieutenant demands to know where his family is, Boggs offers to torture Will for the information, and Will says that the mother belongs to his stepmother. He tells them that the Civil War is over and it's the 1990s, and offers to prove it. Will shows them a book about the Battle of Houma, and a deed showing that his family purchased the house from Louise Wyatt in 1965. The record says that Wyatt was ordered to hold the gate to Houma but then ran. Wyatt doesn't remember, but says that they were caught in a crossfire, and the record says that Wyatt died two miles from the gate.
Swamp Thing views more of the battle at the gate and sees Wyatt survive. Wyatt and Boggs took cover, and the swamp intervened.
At the house, Boggs figures that the whole thing is a trick. Wyatt insists that he isn't dead. There's a picture of Wyatt's mother and father, and Will takes him down to the roof cellar. There's a paper that says the house was supposed to be a historic landmark. However, when Wyatt apparently died a coward, the status was revoked. Wyatt finds a newspaper with his own obituary among the papers.
Upstairs, Boggs accidentally turns on a radio and smashes it as Will and Wyatt come back upstairs. Wyatt sends Boggs outside to stand watch, and wonders why what he did to deserve such a punishment. He explains that he came back there to see his wife Mary give birth to a boy after five girls, and wonders what happened to them. Will suggests that they check the old cemetery out back, and find graves to Mary and her son James.
When Boggs hears something, he takes Will out and ties him to a tree. The private goes to investigate, and Swamp Thing tells Will that he doesn't believe the soldiers won't hurt him. Boggs wasn't supposed to there but accidentally came through with Wyatt. Swamp Thing warns that the forces of history are in control, not him, and matters must be played out. He figures that Will is supposed to let Wyatt know that he wasn't a coward, and warns will that he can't protect him.
Swamp thing slips away and Boggs comes back. Wyatt joins them and tells Boggs that he doesn't want Will harmed. A man, Kenny, arrives by boat to see where will is. Boggs grabs him and takes him inside, and asks if the black Kenny is Will's property. The private reminds Wyatt of their orders to kill Northern colored. Wyatt orders Boggs to his post, and the private goes outside. He sees Kenny's boat and gets an idea.
Will asks Wyatt what they can do to help, and Wyatt wants to know why he's there. He wonders if God is punishing him, and Will says that something went wrong. He figures that Wyatt was supposed to die there, and suggests that he was sent back to change history. Wyatt thinks of all the people who had to live with his supposed disgrace, and insists that he didn't desert. Will tells him that it's his chance to find out the truth and erase the shame, and suggests that Wyatt has descendants in the area. Kenny remembers that a woman, Emily Wyatt, checked in at the hospital that night to have her first boy. Wyatt realizes that Emily is his descendant, and now Wyatt can see his great grandson.
Swamp Thing calls up a storm and Yankees appears in the mist. Boggs runs inside and tells Wyatt that it's a trap, and wants to kill Will and Kenny. Wyatt asks him if he's sick of killing, and Boggs tells him that he hasn't even pulled the trigger. The lieutenant realizes that Boggs deserted, and Boggs aims his rifle at him and says that he won't live to tell. He takes Wyatt's gun and prepares to kill Kenny first. The phone rings, and Kenny and Will jump the distracted Boggs. Wyatt picks up his rifle and shoots Boggs when he prepares to shoot them. Boggs disappears, and Wyatt says that he's going to be there for his great grandson's birth.
The three men go to the hospital and Wyatt sees his great grandson Robert. Wyatt figures that he's everything he and Mary ever dreamed of, and that Robert won't have to live down the Wyatt name anymore. He tells the others that he's going back.
In the new history, Wyatt and his regiment held the gate, enabling Confederate troops to mount a successful counterattack. If not for Wyatt and his regiment, Houma would have fallen into Union hands.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 2, 2017