The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

at their sterns. Away to port was Cape Anne where the breakers fretted at the rocks. "We must stay inshore," Captain Abraham Burroughs told ColonelHenry Jackson."Why?""Because the bastards are out there somewhere," the captain said, nodding to starboard where the fog bank had retreated southeastwards to lie like along dun cloud over the endless ocean. "We run into a British frigate, Colonel, and you can say goodbye to your regiment. If I see a frigate out there I runfor port." He waved a hand at the other two ships. "We ain't men-of-war, we're three transports."But the three transport ships carried Henry Jackson's regiment, as fine a regiment as any in the world, and it was on its way to Majabigwaduce.And in the distant fog, out to sea, in a place where there were no marks, a fishing boat from Cape Cod watched other ships loom from the whiteness.The fishermen feared the big vessels would capture them, or at least steal their catch, but not one of the British ships bothered with the small gaff-riggedfishing boat. One by one the great ships slid past, the bright paint on their figureheads and the gilding on their sterns dulled by the fog. They all flew blueensigns.The vast Raisonable led, followed by five frigates; the Virginia, the Blonde, the Grayhound, the Galatea, and the Camille. The last of the relief fleet, thediminutive Otter, had lost touch and was somewhere to the south and east, but her absence scarcely diminished the raw power of Sir George Collier'swarships. The fishermen watched in silence as the blunt-bowed battleship and her five frigates ghosted past. They could smell the stench of the fleet andthe stink of hundreds of men crammed into the cannon-freighted hulls. One hundred and ninety-six cannon, some of them ship-slaughtering thirty-twopounders,were on their way to Majabigwaduce."Sons of goddamned bastard bitches," the fishing boat's captain spat when the Camille's gilded stern gallery had been swallowed by the fog.And the ocean was empty again.The rebels had been in Penobscot Bay for nineteen days, and in possession of the high ground for sixteen of those days. There had been more thantwenty councils of war, some just for the naval captains, some for the senior army officers, and a few for both. Votes had been taken, motions had beenpassed, and still the enemy was neither captivated nor killed.The resurrection and return of the commodore had dampened Lovell's spirits. Of late he and Saltonstall had only communicated by letter, but Lovellthought it incumbent on him to visit the Warren and congratulate Saltonstall on his survival, though the commodore, whose long face was blotched red withmosquito bites, did not appear grateful for the general's concern. "It is a providence of God that you were spared capture or worse," Lovell saidawkwardly.Saltonstall grunted.Lovell nervously broached the subject of entering the harbor. "Captain Hacker was hopeful'" he began."I am aware of Hacker's sentiments," Saltonstall interrupted."He thought the maneuver feasible," Lovell said."He may think what he damn well likes," Saltonstall said hotly, "but I'm not taking my ships into that damned hole.""And unless the ships are taken," Lovell forged on anyway, "I do not think the fort can be attacked with any hope of success.""You may depend upon one thing, General," Saltonstall said, "which is that my ships cannot be risked in the harbor while the fort remains in enemyhands."The two men stared at each other. The guns were at work again, though the rebel rate of fire was much slower now because of the shortage ofammunition. There was powder smoke at Cross Island, and on the heights of Majabigwaduce and across the inlet north of the peninsula. Even moresmoke rose from the low ground close to the Half Moon Battery. Lovell, angered that Banks's house and barn had provided cover for the Scottish troopsthat had driven his men away so ignominiously, had ordered that the buildings should be burned as a punishment. "And the Dutchman's house too," hehad insisted, and so forty men had gone downhill at first light and set fire to the houses and barns. They had not lingered on the low ground, fearing acounterattack by McLean's men, but had just set the fires and retreated again."I shall present the circumstances to my officers," Lovell now said stiffly, "and we shall discuss the feasibility of an attack on the fort. You may dependupon it that I shall convey their decision to you promptly."Saltonstall nodded. "My compliments, General."That afternoon Lovell went to the Hazard, one of the ships belonging to the Massachusetts Navy and from where he summoned his brigade majors, thecommanders of the militia, Colonel Revere, and General Wadsworth. The council of war would be held in the comfort of the brig's stern cabin wheregawking soldiers could not linger nearby to overhear the discussions. Captain John Williams, the Hazard's commanding officer, had been invited toattend as a courtesy and Lovell asked him to explain the navy's reluctance to enter the harbor. "Not everyone's reluctant," Williams said, thinking of hisown first lieutenant, George Little, who was ready to mutiny if that meant he could sail the diminutive brig into Majabigwaduce's harbor and take on theBritish. "But the commodore is being prudent.""In what way?" Wadsworth asked."You can get a ship in easy enough," Williams said, "but it would be a devilish business to get her out again.""The object," Wadsworth pointed out quietly, "is to stay in the harbor. To occupy it.""Which means you have to destroy those guns in the fort," Williams said, "and there's another thing. The fleet is running short of men.""We impressed men in Boston!" Lovell complained."And they're deserting, sir," Williams said. "And the privateer captains? They're not happy. Every day they spend here is a day they can't capture prizesat sea. They're talking of leaving.""Why did we bring all these ships?" Wadsworth asked. He had put the question to Williams, who just shrugged. "We brought a fleet of warships and wedon't use them?" Wadsworth asked more heatedly."You must put that question to the commodore," Williams said evenly. There was silence, broken only by the endless clanking of the Hazard's pump.The damage the brig had taken when Lieutenant Little had sailed her so close to Mowat's sloops was still not properly repaired. The brig would need tobe hauled ashore for those timbers to be replaced, caulked, and made tight, but the pump was keeping her afloat easily enough."So we must capture the fort," Peleg Wadsworth said, breaking the gloomy silence, and then overrode the chorus of voices which complained that sucha feat was impossible. "We must take men to the rear of the fort," he explained, "and assault from the south and east. The walls there are unfinished andthe eastern rampart, so far as I can see, has no cannon.""Your men won't attack," Revere said scornfully. For a week now, in every council of war, Lieutenant-Colonel Revere had urged abandonment of thesiege, and now he pressed the point. "The men won't face the enemy! We saw that yesterday. Three quarters of the small-arms cartridges have gone andhalf the men are hiding in the woods!""So you'd run away?" Wadsworth asked."No one accuses me of running away!""Then, damn it, stay and fight!" Wadsworth's anger at last exploded and his use of a swear word alone was sufficient to silence the whole cabin."Goddamn it!" he shouted the words and hammered Captain Williams's table so hard that a pewter candlestick fell over. Men stared at him inastonishment, and Wadsworth surprised even himself by his sudden vehemence and coarse language. He tried to calm his temper, but it was still runninghigh. "Why are we here?" he demanded. "Not to build batteries or shoot at ships! We're here to capture their fort!""But'" Lovell began."We demand marines of the commodore," Wadsworth overrode his commanding officer, "and we assemble every man, and we attack! We attack!" Helooked around the cabin, seeing the scepticism on too many faces. Those who favored abandonment of the expedition, led by Colonel Revere, werefervent in their view, while those still willing to prosecute the siege were at best lukewarm. "The commodore," Wadsworth went on, "is unwilling to enter theharbor while the guns are there to harass his shipping. So we assure him that we will silence the guns. We will take men to the rear of the enemy's workand we shall attack! And the commodore will support us.""The commodore'" Lovell beganWadsworth again interrupted him. "We have never offered the commodore our wholehearted support," he said emphatically. "We've asked him todestroy the ships before we attack and he has asked us to destroy the fort before the attacks. Then why not make a compromise? We both attack. If heknows our land force is making an assault then he will have no choice but to support us!""Perhaps the regular troops will arrive," McCobb put in."The Diligent has sent no word," Lovell said. The Diligent, the fast Continental Navy brig captured from the British, had been posted at the mouth of thePenobscot River to serve as a guard boat that could give warning of the approach of any shipping, but her captain, Philip Brown, had sent no messageswhich suggested to Lovell that any reinforcements, for either side, were at least a day away.