The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

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Excerpts from Brigadier-General Solomon Lovell's orders to his troops, Penobscot, July 30th, 1779:The General is much alarm'd at the loose and disorderly inattentive Behaviour of the Camp. . . . As the Success of Arms under God dependsprincipally on good Subordination the General expects that every Officer and Soldier who has the least Spark of honor left will endeavor to havehis Orders put in Execution and that Colonel Revere and the Corps under his Command incamp with the Army in future on Shore, in order notonly to strengthen the Lines but to manage the Cannon.Excerpts from a letter sent by General George Washington to the Council of Massachusetts. August 3rd, 1779:Head Quarters, West Point.I have Just received a Letter from Lord Stirling stationed in the Jerseys dated yesterday . . . by which it appears the Ships of War at New York haveall put to sea since. I thought it my duty to communicate this Intelligence that the Vessells employed in this expedition to Penobscot may be putupon their Guard, as it is probable enough that these Ships may be destined against them and if they should be surprised the consequenceswould be desagreeable. I have the honor to be with very great respect and esteem, Gentlemen Your Most Obedient ServantGeorge WashingtonFrom the deposition of John Lymburner to Justice of the Peace Joseph Hibbert, 12th May 1788:[I was] taken prisoner by the Americans at the Siege of Penobscot, and was in close confinement . . . we were treated very severely for adhering tothe British troops, called Tories and Refugees, was threatened to be hanged as soon as they had taken Fort George.
Chapter Nine"Where the devil is Revere?" Lovell asked. He had asked the question a dozen times in the two days since he had captured the heights ofMajabigwaduce and each time there had been increasing irritation in his usually calm voice. "Has he attended a single council of war?""He likes to sleep aboard the Samuel," William Todd said."Sleep? It's broad daylight!" That was an exaggeration, for it was only a few minutes since the sun had lit the eastern fog bright."I believe," Todd said carefully, "that he finds his quarters aboard the Samuel more amenable to his comfort." He was polishing his spectacles on theskirt of his coat and his face looked strangely vulnerable without them."We're not here for comfort," Lovell said."Indeed we are not, sir," Todd said."And his men?""They sleep on the Samuel too, sir," Todd said, carefully hooking the cleaned spectacles over his ears."It won't do," Lovell exploded, "it will not do!""Indeed it will not, General," Major Todd agreed, then hesitated. Fog made the treetops vague and inhibited the gunners on Cross Island and aboardthe British ships so that a kind of quiet enveloped Majabigwaduce. Smoke drifted among the trees from the campfires on which troops boiled water fortea. "If you approve, sir," Todd said carefully, watching Lovell pacing up and down in front of the crude shelter made of branches and sod that was hissleeping quarters, "I could advert to Colonel Revere's absence in the daily orders?""You can advert?" Lovell asked curtly. He stopped his pacing and turned to glare at the major. "Advert?""You could issue a requirement in the daily orders that the colonel and his men must sleep ashore?" Todd suggested. He doubted Lovell would agree,because any such order would be recognized throughout the army as a very public reprimand."A very good idea," Lovell said, "an excellent notion. Do it. And draft me a letter to the colonel as well!"Before Lovell could change his mind Peleg Wadsworth came to the clearing. The younger general was wearing a greatcoat buttoned against the dawnchill. "Good morning!" he greeted Lovell and Todd cheerfully."An ill-fitting coat, General," Major Todd observed with ponderous amusement."It belonged to my father, Major. He was a big man.""Did you know Revere sleeps aboard his ship?" Lovell demanded indignantly."I did know, sir," Wadsworth said, "but I thought he had your permission.""He has no such thing. We're not here on a pleasure cruise! You want tea?" Lovell waved towards the fire where his servant crouched by a pot. "Thewater must have boiled.""I'd appreciate a word first, sir?""Of course, of course. In private?""If you please, sir." Wadsworth said and the two generals walked a few paces west to where the trees thinned and from where they could gaze over thefog-haunted waters of Penobscot Bay. The topmasts of the transport ships appeared above the lowest and densest layer of fog like splinters in asnowbank. "What would happen if we all slept aboard our ships, eh?" Lovell asked, still indignant."I did mention the matter to Colonel Revere," Wadsworth said."You did?""Yesterday, sir. I said he should move his quarters ashore.""And his response?"Fury, Wadsworth thought. Revere had responded like a man insulted. "The guns can't fire at night," he had spat at Wadsworth, "so why man them atnight? I know how to command my regiment!" Wadsworth chided himself for having let the matter slide, but at this moment he had a greater concern. "Thecolonel disagreed with me, sir," he said tonelessly, "but I wished to speak of something else.""Of course, yes, whatever is on your mind." Lovell frowned towards the topmasts. "Sleeping aboard his ship!"Wadsworth looked south to where the fog now lay like a great river of whiteness between the hills bordering the Penobscot River. "Should the enemysend reinforcements, sir'" he began."They'll come upriver, certainly," Lovell interjected, following Wadsworth's gaze."And discover our fleet, sir," Wadsworth continued."Of course they would, yes," Lovell said as if the point was not very important."Sir," Wadsworth was urgent now. "If the enemy come in force they'll be among our fleet like wolves in a flock. Might I urge a precaution?""A precaution," Lovell repeated as if the word was unfamiliar."Permit me to explore upriver, sir," Wadsworth said, pointing north to where the Penobscot River flowed into the wider bay. "Let me find and fortify aplace to which we can retreat if the enemy comes. Young Fletcher knows the upper river. He tells me it narrows, sir, and twists between high banks. If itwas necessary, sir, we could take the fleet upriver and shelter behind a bluff. A cannon emplacement at the river bend will check any enemy pursuit.""Find and fortify, eh?" Lovell said, more to buy time than as a coherent response. He turned and stared into the northern fog. "You'd make a fort?""I would certainly emplace some guns, sir.""In earthworks?""The batteries must be made defensible. The enemy will surely bring troops.""If they come," Lovell said dubiously."It's prudent, sir, to prepare for the least desirable eventuality."Lovell grimaced, then placed a fatherly hand on Wadsworth's shoulder. "You worry too much, Wadsworth. That's a good thing! We should be worriedabout eventualities." He nodded sagely. "But I do assure you we shall capture the fort long before any more redcoats arrive." He saw Wadsworth wasabout to speak so hurried on. "You'd require men to make an emplacement and we cannot afford to detach men to dig a fort we may never need! Weshall require every man we have to make the assault once the commodore agrees to enter the harbor.""If he agrees," Wadsworth said drily."Oh, he will, I'm sure he will. Haven't you seen? The enemy's been driven back yet again! It's only a matter of time now!""Driven back?" Wadsworth asked."The sentries say so," Lovell exulted, "indeed they do." Mowat's three ships, constantly battered by Colonel Revere's cannon on Cross Island, hadmoved still farther eastwards during the night. Their topmasts, hung with the British flags, were all that were presently visible and the sentries on Dyce'sHead reckoned that those topmasts were now almost a mile away from the harbor entrance. "The commodore doesn't have to fight his way into theharbor now," Lovell said happily, "because we've driven them away. By God, we have! Almost the whole harbor belongs to us now!""But even if the commodore doesn't enter the harbor, sir'" Wadsworth began."Oh, I know!" the older man interrupted. "You think we can take the fort without the navy's help, but we can't, Wadsworth, we can't." Lovell repeated all hisold arguments, how the British ships would bombard the attacking troops and how the British marines would reinforce the garrison, and Wadsworthnodded politely though he believed none of it. He watched Lovell's earnest face. The man was eminent now, a landowner, a selectman, a churchwarden,and a legislator, but the schoolmaster in Wadsworth was trying to imagine Solomon Lovell as a boy, and he conjured an image of a big, clumsy lad who
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THEFORTA Novel of the Revolutionary
Page 5 and 6:
A voice in the darkness, a knock at
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A Note on Names and TermsIn 1779 th
Page 9:
Chapter OneThere was not much wind
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ecome a base for Britain's Royal Na
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"I bloody hope so," Moore said with
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Chapter TwoLieutenant-Colonel Paul
Page 18 and 19: magazines that would keep the ammun
Page 20 and 21: "So you will take the oath?" McLean
Page 22 and 23: Excerpts of a letter from the Selec
Page 25 and 26: inflate a company into a battalion
Page 28 and 29: "The world would be better without
Page 30 and 31: So now one less man would sail east
Page 32 and 33: Chapter FourThe fleet sailed eastwa
Page 34: "We were maltreated in Boston," Cal
Page 37 and 38: Tyrannicide had also confirmed that
Page 39 and 40: From the Oath demanded by Brigadier
Page 41 and 42: "Plug it!" Little shouted at the ma
Page 43 and 44: "You promoted me to general yesterd
Page 45 and 46: "Long as it takes."They had to wait
Page 47 and 48: Chapter SixThe daylight was fading.
Page 49 and 50: "He's a patriot!" Lovell said in a
Page 51 and 52: "What are you doing?" Revere again
Page 53 and 54: A rowboat banged against the Centur
Page 55 and 56: Chapter SevenThe first shots crashe
Page 57 and 58: sir," McClure shouted over the musk
Page 59 and 60: Solomon Lovell's heart seemed to mi
Page 61 and 62: From Brigadier-General Lovell's des
Page 63 and 64: emembered the tall American in his
Page 65 and 66: "We thought him indestructible," De
Page 67: could conceal men from the guns of
Page 71 and 72: "Then they will have something to f
Page 73 and 74: They would attack the battery.In th
Page 75 and 76: Hundreds? He wondered. Maybe two hu
Page 77 and 78: Chapter TenThe sun had not risen wh
Page 79 and 80: Praise the Lord, Wadsworth thought,
Page 81 and 82: marsh. The rebels patrolled that gr
Page 83 and 84: Letter from Brigadier-General Lovel
Page 85 and 86: on their flank?" Easily, Wadsworth
Page 87 and 88: Commodore Saltonstall declared he w
Page 89 and 90: ecome mired in pessimism and it nee
Page 91 and 92: Chapter TwelveAnd, suddenly, there
Page 93 and 94: at their sterns. Away to port was C
Page 95 and 96: need men willing to make that attac
Page 97 and 98: timber splinter to drive cloth into
Page 99 and 100: Chapter ThirteenA Royal Marine at t
Page 101 and 102: The fifty men filed through the aba
Page 103 and 104: dared to hope that the British woul
Page 105 and 106: From a letter by General Artemas Wa
Page 107 and 108: the powder charges were being carri
Page 109 and 110: fire, of the sparks flying and fall
Page 111 and 112: Historical NoteThe Penobscot Expedi
Page 113 and 114: on which Carnes was expertly equipp
Page 115 and 116: About the AuthorBERNARD CORNWELL, "
Page 117 and 118: CopyrightT HE FORT. Copyright (c) 2
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