The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

More documents

Recommendations

Info

From Lieutenant George Little's deposition to the Massachusetts Court of Inquiry, sworn on September 25th, 1779.:By order of Capt Williams I went with 50 Men on Board the Hamden to man her as I suppos'd to grand Attack the Enem'y About the Same time theComodore Boats being Imploy'd In Bringing off Loggs to Build a Brest Work on his fore Castle - I have Offten Herd Capt Williams say that from thefirst Counsell of war that the Comodore being always preaching Terro Against going in the Harbor to Attack the Enemeys Shiping.From Brigadier-General Lovell's despatch to Jeremiah Powell, President of the Council Board of the State of Massachusetts Bay, dated August 13th,1779:I receiv'd your favor of Augt 6th this day wherein you mention your want of intelligence of the State of the army under my Command. . . . TheSituation of my Army at present I cannot but say is very critical. . . . Many of my Officers and Soldiers are dissatisfied with the Service tho' thereare some who deserve the greatest credit for their Alacrity and Soldier like conduct. . . . Inclosed you have the Proceedings of five Councils ofWar, You may Judge my Situation when the most important Ship in the Fleet and almost all the private property Ships are against the Seige.
Chapter ThirteenA Royal Marine at the taffrail of HMS North fired his musket at the small group of Americans who had gathered at the top of the beach. The musket-ballfluttered close above their heads to bury itself in the trunk of a spruce. None of the Americans seemed to notice, but kept gazing fixedly towards the harborentrance. A marine sergeant shouted at the man to save his ammunition. "The range is too long, you stupid bastard.""Just saying hello to them, Sergeant.""They'll be saying hello to you soon enough."Captain Selby, the commanding officer of HMS North, was watching the approaching rebel ships. His view was veiled by wisps of fog and sheets ofrain, but he recognized the meaning of the enemy's furled mainsails. The rebels wanted a clear view forrard, they were ready for battle. He walked alongthe sloop's deck, talking to his gunners. "You'll hit them hard, lads. Make every shot count. Aim at their waterline, sink the bastards before they can boardus! That's the way to beat them!" Selby doubted the three sloops could sink an enemy warship, at least not before the rebels opened fire. It wasastonishing how much punishment a ship could take before it began to sink, but it was his duty to sound confident. He could see five enemy shipsapproaching the harbor entrance and all of them looked bigger than his sloop. He reckoned the enemy would try to board and capture the North and sohe had readied the boarding pikes, axes, and cutlasses with which his crew would fight the attackers.He stopped at the North's bows beside a great samson post which held one of the seventeen-inch hawsers linking his sloop to the Albany. He couldsee Captain Mowat at the Albany's stern, but he resisted the temptation to make small talk across the gap. A fiddler was playing aboard Mowat's sloopand the crew was singing, and his own men took up the song.We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,We'll range and we'll roam over all the salt seas,Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old EnglandFrom Ushant to Scilly 'tis thirty-five leagues.Was it thirty-five leagues, he wondered? He remembered the last time he had beat up northwards from Ushant, the sea a gray monster and the Atlanticgale singing in the shrouds. It had seemed further than thirty-five leagues. He watched the enemy and distracted himself by converting thirty-five landleagues to nautical miles. The numbers fluttered in his head and he forced himself to concentrate. A touch under ninety-one and a quarter nautical miles,say an easy dawn-to-dusk run in a sloop-of-war given a fresh wind and a clean hull. Would he ever see Ushant again? Or would he die here, in this foghaunted,rain-drenched, godforsaken harbor on a rebel coast? He still watched the enemy. A fine dark-hulled ship led them, and close behind her was thelarger bulk and taller masts of the Warren. The thought of that frigate's big guns gave Selby a sudden empty feeling in his belly and, to disguise hisnervousness, he leveled his glass towards the approaching ships. He saw green-jacketed marines in the frigate's fighting tops and he thought of themusket-fire that would rain onto his deck and then, inexplicably, he saw some of the enemy's sails flutter and begin to turn away from view. He lowered theglass, still staring. "Good God," he said.The American frigate was turning. Had she lost her rudder? Selby gazed in puzzlement and then saw that all the rebel ships were following the frigate'sexample. They were falling off the wind, their sails shivering as the crews loosened sheets. "They surely aren't going to open fire from there?" hewondered aloud. He watched, half-expecting to see the hull of the leading ship vanish in a sudden cloud of powder smoke, but none showed. She justturned sluggishly and kept on turning."The bastards are running away!" Henry Mowat called from the Albany. The singing on the sloops faltered and died as men stared at their enemyturning away. "They've got no belly for the fight!" Mowat shouted."Dear God," Selby said in astonishment. His telescope showed him the name on the stern of the ship that had been leading the attack, and which wasnow the rearmost vessel of the retreating fleet. "General Putnam," he read aloud. "And who the devil is General Putnam?" he asked. But whoever hewas, the ship named for General Putnam was now sailing away from the harbor, as was the rebel frigate and the three other ships. They were allstemming the flooding tide to return to their anchorage. "Well, I'll be damned," Selby said, collapsing his glass.On board the North and on board the Albany and on the sanded deck of the Nautilus the seamen cheered. Their enemy had run away without firing ashot. Mowat, usually so grim and purposeful, was laughing. And Captain Selby ordered an immediate extra issue of rum.Because it seemed he might see Ushant again.The Americans on the beach were Generals Lovell and Wadsworth, Lieutenant Downs of the Continental Marines, and the four majors who would lead themilitia companies uphill. Only now it seemed there was not going to be any attack because Commodore Saltonstall's ships were turning away. GeneralLovell stared openmouthed as the ships slowly wore around just beyond the harbor entrance. "No," he protested to no one in particular.Wadsworth said nothing. He just stared through his telescope."He's turned away!" Lovell said in apparent disbelief."Attack now, sir," Downs urged."Now?" Lovell asked, bemused."The British will be watching the harbor mouth," Downs said."No," Lovell said, "no, no, no." He sounded heartbroken."Attack, please!" Downs pleaded. He looked from Lovell to Wadsworth. "Avenge Captain Welch, attack!""No," Peleg Wadsworth supported Lovell's decision. He closed the telescope and stared bleakly at the harbor mouth. He could hear the British crewscheering aboard the sloops."Sir," Downs began to appeal."We need every man to attack," Wadsworth explained, "we need men attacking along the ridge and we need cannon-fire from the harbor." The signalfor Colonel Mitchell and Colonel McCobb to begin their advance was the sight of the American ships engaging the British and it seemed that signal wasnot going to be sent now. "If we attack alone, Captain," Wadsworth went on, "then McLean can concentrate his whole force against us." There was a timefor heroics, a time for the desperate throw that would write bright glory on a new page of American history, but that time was not now. To attack now wouldbe to kill men for nothing and give McLean another victory."We must go back to the heights," Lovell said."We must go back," Wadsworth echoed.It began to rain even harder.* * *It took over two hours to get the men and the pair of four-pounder cannons back to the heights by which time dark had fallen. The rain persisted. Lovellsheltered under the sail-canvas tent that had replaced his earlier shelter. "There must be an explanation!" he complained, but no news had come from thefleet. Saltonstall had sailed towards the enemy and then, at the last moment, had turned away. Rumor said that strange ships had been sighted on theriver's sea-reach, but no one had confirmed that report. Lovell waited for an explanation, but the commodore sent none and so Major William Todd wassent in search of the answer. A longboat was hailed from the nearest transport and Todd was rowed southwards to where the lanterns of the warships
Page 2 and 3:
THEFORTA Novel of the Revolutionary
Page 5 and 6:
A voice in the darkness, a knock at
Page 7 and 8:
A Note on Names and TermsIn 1779 th
Page 9:
Chapter OneThere was not much wind
Page 12 and 13:
ecome a base for Britain's Royal Na
Page 14 and 15:
"I bloody hope so," Moore said with
Page 16 and 17:
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 and 68: could conceal men from the guns of
Page 69 and 70: Chapter Nine"Where the devil is Rev
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: timber splinter to drive cloth into
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
show all

The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?