This is the third story in my series. Once again, a work in progress.
EUAN THE HIGHLANDER
By Rod Redden
2009
PROLOGE:
The
snows of winter were starting to fall early this year. Though only late October
of 1814, there had already been at least two snow falls. Euan was glad that his
granddaughter had stayed with them to help take care of them. She was very
smart and had helped a lot during the fall harvest. Euan was finding it harder
to bend down and to pull up the root vegetables he had planted in the spring.
It was hard to believe that now as an old man, he was a farmer. He had done so
much in his life. He had traveled to many places, and seen many things that
most people would never dream of. Though like old soldiers like him, they
carried many deep and painful memories. Most of the memories were good, and
these were the ones that he liked to think of. Though recently he had begun to
have nightmares of old battles.
“Regiment
will advance in line, quick march”. Euan was lost in a
memory of the attack on Havana.
As a member of Gorham’s Rangers, he had been sent out as part of a picket line
in their advance. Around him were other rangers and Light Infantry. As the main
line advanced, it was Euan`s job as a Sergeant to make sure his section was
keeping up harassing fire on any defenders who were stupid enough to show their
heads above the parapet. It felt like hell in the darkness. The hot humid air
felt like it was sucking the energy out of his body. Trying to see where the
enemy was through the stinging sweat was nearly impossible. The smell of the
rotting bodies, the sound of the buzzing flies and those of battle were
beginning to make some men go crazy. He looked over to his left, and saw a
soldier face down on the ground. He went over and could see by his movements
that he was still alive. Though Euan was annoyed to see that his canteen was
open and spilling liquid out. It was a clear liquid, and Euan thought perhaps
that the soldier had put rum in his canteen rather than water. “For Christ sake
soldier get up”. As Euan rolled him over, the soldier`s face was a mask of
yellow and out of his mouth and nose spurted blood. Euan jumped aside as the
soldier emptied his belly onto the ground. The soldier wasn`t drunk but sick
with the yellow jack as the sailors called it. Though Euan had seen many
battles and many events, it was at this moment that he was the most terrified!
“AHHHHH CHRIST, SURGEON!
THIS MAN IS SICK, HELP ME!!!!!” The old man`s wife shook him awake and held him
in her arms as the nightmare subsided. “Easy Euan, your just having a bad
dream, it`s alright, I`m here.” Emily held her husband while his panic subsided
and he fought to gain control of his breath. As he was waking, he could still
see the glassy look in the soldiers eyes, pleading to Euan to help him. His
heart was beating fast and he awoke in a sweat. He felt ashamed that he woke up
screaming again. “I`m sorry my dear, did
I startle you?” “No my love, you were talking in your sleep again. It woke me
up and I knew you would be scared. You have that dream many times and I know
when you will wake up screaming. Perhaps you should not tell Anne so many
stories.”
“Ah but Emily, I have kept many of these
memories inside me for so long. I`m afraid that if I don`t tell anyone about
them, then I fear I will go to God and have to account for myself with him.” “Why
don`t you tell me then. I`ll get you a cup of tea and I`ll pick up my rug that
I will hook. We can have a nice long chat. Anne will do her chores, let us get
up and have something.”
As Emily poured the tea and
sat the earthen ware mug in front of him, she looked into his old eyes. “What
is it about that memory that bothers you so?”
“As you know Emily, I was in many battles. I
saw soldiers get blown up, or have their arms or legs torn off by cannon balls.
I saw men stabbed by bayonets and cut by swords and knives. I watched men get
shot, and I`ve done my share of the same. But each time I saw that, even the
time when I was young at Fort
Anne and watched the
cannon explode, it was always something that was done by a weapon. If you heard
a bang, you knew that death or maiming was coming to get you. When a warrior or
a soldier charged at you with a tomahawk, knife or bayonet, you knew that it
was fighting.
But when sickness or disease struck us, it
was as though God was taking sides. It was as though death was following you
and could take you at any moment. “But the same happens whenever we get sick.”
“Yes that`s true, but not in the numbers I saw then. They say that half of our
army at Havana
was lost due to disease, not from Spanish fire. More soldiers died from the
yellow jack than anything else. It was a miracle to survive a battle, but to
have survived that one; it put me off from wanting to fight for a long time.”
“Yes, but you did join the army again in
1775. If you were so bothered by fighting, why did you join up again?”
“Well I suppose I should tell you then.”
CHAPTER
1: LONELLINESS AT FORT
ELLIS
We stayed in Cuba for only a
year. We got word of the peace sometime about the end of 1762, knowing that the
peace would come sometime in 1763. Most of our time then was trying to stay
cool, and not to get sick. Our uniforms, designed for the cool weather of England, were
never practical in North America. Even in Nova Scotia in the
summer, we`d lighten our clothes to the bare minimum so that we would not suffer
from heat stroke. So many men died in Cuba from sickness and disease. The
weather was so hot, that it felt like the whole world was on fire. Every
breathe that you took, felt like you`d be sitting in a fire. Some of the
English lads went mad from the heat. Private Essex in the Light Infantry
battalion would sweat profusely, his jolly self as red as his coat. The poor
fellow survived but only just.
Gordon and I were also
bothered by the flies. Even back in Nova
Scotia we had black flies and mosquitoes but in the
tropics, they seemed to be even more. It was a huge will to live that you
needed. What drove me crazy was that the fighting was over, but still so many
soldiers were dying. But the views were always beautiful. Wonderful sunsets on
palm tree lined beaches almost took away from the horror that we saw each day.
The only other fighting that
took place near us was a small expedition by the French to seize Newfoundland to use as a
base for their fishery. It was also thought at the time that they would want
Louisbourg back, so the British government sent miners out to the great
fortress and began to blow it apart. No more would Louisbourg stand as a French
bastion in the North Atlantic. The only other
fighting that I ever heard about was an Ottawa
chief named Pontiac who led an Indian rising in the hopes that the French would
come back. It seemed the French had traded better with them than the English.
With the campaign over, Gorham’s Rangers
sailed back to Halifax
to Fort Sackville. Not only was this campaign
over, but it looked like the war itself was all but over. Captain Gorham, who
was now an acting Major formed us up and gave us the news.
“Gentlemen, you have given a lot of
yourselves to your King and country. His Majesty is most grateful for your efforts
and your sacrifices. Our valiant troops defeated the French and their Indian
allies. But now men, peace has come to us. It is my sad duty to inform you,
that Gorham’s Rangers, our beloved unit, is to be disbanded. Those of you who
wish to remain in the employ of his Majesty may seek enlistment in the regular
army. There may also be places in the colonial militia, but as I can see, the
army will also disband many other regiments. Those of you who wish to move back
to your homes in New England, you may catch a
ship for Boston.
Those of you who wish to stay in Nova
Scotia, may take your land grants and establish
settlements here. Thank you men, take care.”
With that, my service in King George`s Army
was at an end. Gordon and I just stood there. Several of the lads about us were
cheering, a few of us felt like mourning. We had served with Captain John Gorham
when he started the unit and then his son Joseph. I began as a soldier of 16;
both Gordon and I came into the unit as militiamen, having served in Phillips
regiment back in 1748. Now, here I was at the age of 29, most of my life having
been a soldier, now we were left with nothing.
“Well then Euan, I suppose it`s time that I
take up the cabinet making I was apprenticed to so long ago. I`m sure there will
be settlements that will need my skills. I fancy going back to Annapolis Royal. Why don`t you join me, we could work
together?
I looked upon my old friend. “Gordon, you`ve
been like my brother all these years, but for me Annapolis
Royal is just a place full of too many sad memories. If I was to
go back and live there, I`d spend my days pinning for Madeline. I`d be a
morose. I`ve heard tell that the settlement of Fort Ellis still has their fort,
I think I might just take up my old post of garrison commander in the militia
and take up some sort of farming. There are a lot of Scots Irish settlers there
now. But I do want to stay in touch with you. We`ll meet again.
With that, we shook hands, and I watched him
walk away down the path to Bedford
Basin and take a boat to
the ship heading for Annapolis Royal. I guess
he didn`t feel like walking anymore. That or he had his demons of our battle on
the Saint Croix river many years before made
him decide that sailing would be better.
I took a sloop to Truro Township,
which was what Cobequid was now being called. I then hired a Mik Maq guide with
his canoe to take me down to Fort
Ellis. As paddled down we
spoke at length of our lives. Since he didn`t speak English, I spoke with him
in French. “You were a soldier in the war yes?” he asked me. Cautiously I
answered “yes, and I`m sorry to say that I fought with some of your people. I
don`t want to fight anymore, and thus I`d rather live in peace with the Mik
Maq.” The man looked at me. “My brother was a warrior. He went off to join one
of Abbe Le Loutre`s war parties. He traveled to many English settlements to
attack them. He`d bring us back some trinkets that he found, but it always
bothered him what he was told to do. The Abbe said that it was fine to kill
women and children because then there would be no more white men. But my
brother hated it. He had no problem killing soldiers like you, but killing innocents
was wrong. It`s like killing a mother moose whose calf’s are watching. The calf
will not live long, but will be a tortured soul.”
I felt sick at heart. The warrior he was
telling me about was the warrior who I had held his hand as he died. The
warrior had spoken to me in French asking me to forgive what his party had done
on many attacks on settler’s farms. “I see you now as proud man whom I hope do
not want revenge. I will pray with you for the spirit of your brother. In time,
Raccoon and I would become friends. As I settled at Fort Ellis,
I became the chief source of supplies with the Mik Maq as no one else would trade
with them.
I settled back into the post commander for Fort Ellis.
The locals had made an agreement with the colonial government in Halifax that
they would do their militia duty by helping to maintain the fort and to act as
it`s garrison. When the weather was fine, and the farmers weren`t too busy with
their plowing, we`d use a Sunday afternoon once a month to drill. It went well
for the first few years when the threat of a Mik Maq attack still looked
imminent. But over time, the farmers found that planting and plowing took up
most of their time. Besides they felt that the British army would come to their
help in time of need. We had won the war, and thus they had no desire to fight
again. By 1766, the monthly drills stopped and I was left with a rotting fort
to watch over. I even rented out space in the bastions to keep livestock, at
least that way we could justify keeping the pickets up. The powder magazine
became a great vegetable storehouse and the glacis saw crops grown on it.
“It
must have been hard here in Nova
Scotia to settle wasn`t it” Emily stirred in some
maple syrup into her tea. “It was hard for us in the Mohawk valley after the
French and Indian war with all the trouble the colonists caused. Then with all
the taxes we had to pay” Euan smiled, “Yes Emily it was a bit hard. The
planters started to call this place “Nova Scarcity” It also didn`t help that
the British government had put lots of taxes on the products the settlers
needed to build their new communities. But I never complained. I knew it cost a
lot of money for the government in London
to pay for the war. There were ships to be built, regiments of infantry and
horse to rise and ammunition and supplies for them all. The American colonists
seemed pleased with Britain`s help to drive off the French and Indians, but
they then believed that since they had raised regiments for their defense and
had already raised expeditions to help Britain in the wars, they believed that
it was their right to be heard in parliament in London. But I always felt that
the colonists had too much of a good opinion of themselves.
I`d say that the religious dissenters who
left England
and Scotland
were a great deal to blame for this feeling. The English government pushed for
the Church of England to be the only faith in her rule. The Irish for the most
part were Catholic, though I was raised Presbyterian by my mother. My father
had only gone to church in military church parades. The Irish and Scots who had
arrived in the colonies had usually sold themselves into Indentured servitude
as I had almost done. I believe that a lot of their angry feelings towards England came
from that. Though the Scottish settlers who were highlanders usually didn`t
have many problems.
When I was in Fort Ellis,
a lot of the settlers had either come from Ulster, Yorkshire
or had come from New Hampshire.
One of the difficult aspects of my job as the
militia commander was to also act as sheriff for the township, and to also
attend the township meetings. After the war finished, a large meeting house was
built on the hill overlooking the fort. I thought it was a good place to build
it as it could be used as a place of defense if war came to the area again.
Chapter
Two EUAN`S HARSHIPS
As the 1760`s rolled along, the Planter and
Ulster settlers hacked their homes and farms out of the forest. Some were
successful, while others suffered. Euan had to act as a mediator many times in
the meeting hall. For a man who had been a soldier and had learned to obey, he
found it difficult to reason with many of the settlers.
“Meeting will come to order. Is there any
business which needs to be attended to” Euan looked out over the collected
townspeople. As he thought, the new taxes had brought a wave of anger. “Sgt.
Kenny, why are we required to pay taxes on so many of our goods? The cost for
these items is high enough what with us being so far from Halifax. How are we to pay for these items?”
Euan groaned. “If you have failed to notice, I`m also paying the same taxes.
The taxes are being charged to help London
recover the cost of the last war.” One of the townspeople was being very
belligerent to Euan.
“Well then Mr. Kenny, why are you still here.
The Mik Maq don`t look like they are going to attack us any day now, why should
we have to keep paying your room and keep? And for what am I supposed to pay a
stamp for on my paper? All of our documents, permits, trade contracts with the
Army and Navy, any newspaper we get, our own wills and even our playing cards
we are supposed to pay this tax?” Euan was getting infuriated with this cheap
meddling settler. “I was put in this command for my services to the crown. I am
not an officer but only a sergeant. I have commanded men in battle and have the
authority to command a small detachment in the fort. As part of your duties
which you agreed to when you settled here, you must serve in the militia or
help with the upkeep of Fort
Ellis. Since most of you
feel it necessary to work most of the year on your farms, I am charged with
your defense. Thus I am here at the fort until I am called back up into the
British Army or until this fort is closed. I am also your sheriff, government
representative and militia commander. I follow the orders I have been given.
That is why I am here.”
“Well we don`t have much say in what happens
here. I say we should have more representation in the colonial legislature. I
say we should elect someone to represent us in Halifax.” At this Euan smiled. “You do
realize gentlemen, that this colony is the only one in the British
Empire that has a colonial legislature? The colonies to the south
do not have that privilege.” At this some of the more hot headed members of the
townspeople began to grumble.
“Aye, but yet we still have to pay these
taxes without our own member. And the colonies to our south want more say in
our affairs.”
Euan glared down at them. “And what affairs
would those be? You own land, which our countrymen back home do not. There are
scores of English, Irish, Scots and Welsh who don`t own anything more than the
clothes on their backs. Here you may build a home, a farm and trade with the
merchants in Halifax.
You may build ships, harvest timber for the Navy, or grow vegetables for the
garrison to enrich your incomes. I`d say you have it pretty well here. If your
only complaint is the taxes we all have to pay, then I think you are a selfish
man.” At that point, the insolent bugger decided to take a swing at me. I
pulled out a small pocket pistol I had and put it under his chin. “You know, I
could pull the trigger and dress the ceiling with your brains and I would get
away with it as I`m the chief constable here. As such, and assault on me is an
assault on the British government. I`d suggest you heed what I have said. If
you don`t want to pay taxes, bugger off, I`m sure there`s another farmer will gladly
take your place. In fact, I know some Acadian families who would just die to
have your farm, as it was probably there`s before the expulsion.” All the
while, his eyes were wide in terror and I noticed that his breeches looked a
little darker in the front. From that point on, I never had a problem with him.
“But why did you threaten to kill him dear”
Emily looked horrified that her sweet husband could do such a thing. “I was a
bit rash at the time, as I had to keep order in the settlement and since I was
the only loyal government member in the area, I had to suppress any sedition.
Now also about this time, there had been Irish settlers who had been sent to Nova Scotia as well. I
had an interesting visitor one summer. Col. McNutt sailed up the river and
landed at Fort Ellis to speak with me.
“Now Sgt Kelly, I`ve been charged to settle
these lands with Irishmen like yourself. There is to be a new township named Londonderry established by my settlers. I need you to
assist me in putting these plans into place.” “But sir, I`m only a sergeant
from the rangers. What can I do to settle Irishmen in the woods?” “Oh, I`m sure
you`ll find a way. Now, first, we have to make sure that we can settle these
Ulstermen in an area they can farm and manage. I`m sure that the area of land.
Chapter
Three SETTLING THE IRISH IN LONDONDERRY
So in the late summer of 1760, I went out
with a ranger patrol to scout out the river that was to be called Great
village. What I saw didn`t impress me. It was more of the same trees, rocks and
mountains. The area on the coast was the best place for a settlement, but Col.
McNutt, seemed to like one area in particular. It was a valley full of
When the Irish did land in Nova Scotia, McNutt had neglected to explain
something to them. As Irishmen, they could not actually be granted the land. So
these poor souls had been cheated out by him.
Before they had left Ireland,
he assured them that they could own their own land as Nova Scotia was a colony, and not part of Britain. He
used his Irish charm to speak with as many high officials as he could. Since Nova Scotia needed an
English speaking and preferably Protestant settlers, Governor Lawrence granted
him the land to bring over Irish settlers. McNutt no doubt made a pretty penny
for his work. He was a greedy bugger though. He`d get land grants from the
government, then would sell the land to settlers. He went from each colony and
did the same tricks. His plan had been to bring over seven thousand people
over, but only about three hundred made it.
The settlers had sold most of their
belongings back in Ireland,
paid for a crossing on ships and landed in an area of burnt out Acadian farms.
Once they got here though, they set about to build a new community. The cellars
of the old Acadian homes became the foundations of their own homes. Since the
fields were still in good shape, they were able to plant there crops. But all
the while, they lived in an uncertain situation as they were more or less
squatters on the land. It wasn`t until the war broke out in 1775, that Governor
Legge signed their grants in order to give them their land, with the hope that
it would diffuse any rebellion.
Now in all this, I had an interesting visit
one day at Fort Ellis. Distinguished gentlemen by the
name of Sir John Oldmixon came to our area in order to establish a mining
interest in slate. It seems that he had been speaking with rangers, Mik Maq and
anyone who he could find to tell him of an area which contained slate rock. Now
in more civilized areas, slate was used on the roofs of homes. Sir John had
learned that there was a large quantity of slate rock in the woods near Fort Ellis.
So he embarked from Halifax
and sailed around Nova Scotia
and up the Shubenacadie
River to our outpost.
The day he landed was one of great excitement.
Now usually the appearance of a ship on the river would bring people running to
the fort in anticipation of supplies being off loaded. The Planters, Irish and Yorkshire settlers were all given a year’s worth of
provisions. But the chance to trade was never to be passed up.
Sir John stepped off the schooner and walked
up our modest wharf. “Who is the commander of Fort Ellis
pray tell?” “Tis I sir, Sgt. Kenny, late of Gorham`s Rangers and now Sergeant
of militia.” “Well, Sergeant, I`d be pleased if you would call out the militia
to help off load my supplies and I`ve a mind to offer some of your fellow
settlers a chance at increasing their wealth.” “Yes sir, we shall have your
schooner unloaded by nightfall.”
So all that day, I gathered men and boys of the
settlement and we began to offload the supplies. Another aspect which one may
tend to forget is the fact that the gentlemen and ladies of a settlement would
be anxious of any new developments outside of their own world. So, once the
schooner was off loaded, we retired to the meeting house, and had a town
meeting along with a meal. “What news is
there back home in England?”
Sir John looked pensive and began. “The news
back in England
is the concerns here in the colonies. The Stamp Act has caused a major problem
for the government. The colonies to the south of here are in an uproar at the
cost the tax has on their commerce. What they don`t seem to understand is that
now that British North America is so vast, the defense of the whelm demands
that large amounts of troops need to be garrisoned in the colonies. And what
with Pontiac`s uprising, we need to keep troops here to quell any Indian
uprising.” The crowded room reacted in fear. “There is an Indian uprising, oh
dear lord in heaven, we need soldiers now!” Sir John became most distressed.
“No, no, no, there was an uprising, but it has been quelled now. It happened
back in 1763. One of the Ottawa
chiefs, Pontiac attempted to push the British army out of our forts in the
interior. These were the lands the French had controlled and took over. The Indians would approach the forts in the
guise of playing their stick ball but then would rush the gates and kil the
guards. Eventually the Royal Highland Regiment, Montgommeries`s Highlanders,
and some rangers defeated them at the Battle of Bushy Run. Thus, the British
government is fearful that other tribes may rise up and cause havoc on the
frontier.” Sir John then turned with a quizzing look at me. “Your surname is
Kenny, by chance are you a relation to Captain Lindsay Kenny?” “I am sir, but
he`s an officer in the 40th Regiment in garrison at Fort Anne, in
Annapolis Royal”. “Really, well I heard of a Captain Kenny who is an officer in
the 77th Highlanders who was at Bushy Run. Damm fine bit of
soldering he did. It seems that the commander decided to beat the Indians at
their own game. Captain Kenny was sent out with his troops playing his pipes
and attracting the attention of the Indians. When the Indians went to attack
them, Captain Kenny kept on playing and brought his men back where upon the
main force then ambushed the ambushers! He lived to tell the tale and I believe
he has survived.”
“But
why did they rise in the first place?” Sir John relaxed a bit. “It seems as
though the Indians believed that if they could push us out, the French would
come back and trade with them. Since trade is something the government can
understand, we`ve been increasing our commerce with the natives of the
interior. If you have noticed, I have goods to trade with the Mik Maq further upstream.
Now, about the colonies to our south, well,
they seem to be getting a bit big for their breeches. The merchants have cried
most foul about the taxes that have been imposed. Just recently, there have
been riots and disturbances in the major towns and cities in the 13 colonies.”
“ You mean there is a mob bent on destruction?” At this point, one of the men
turned to his wife an exclaimed, “my dear, if you are going to get in to such a
state, we shall have to leave. Let Sir John finish!” Sir John looked over with
a kind face and replied, “you have no fear of a mob marching through the woods
now do you? What usually happens is the merchants, traders and large landowners
get all in a tempest and protest and demonstrate. Since they go about the town
they excite the masses and with vigorous speeches, they whip the crowd into a
frenzy who then go about and smash up the tax collectors homes or
establishments. It is for this reason that I have chosen Nova Scotia for my quarry. For the most
part, you planters seem pleased with your lot, and I would like to enrich your
lives with a bit more shillings and pounds to help you in your livelihoods.”
Now upon hearing this I inquired, “has the militia been called out by the
governors to maintain order?” Sir John looked at me and with a pained
expression went on to explain, “since the only people who can usually afford to
be officers in the militia are the merchants and landowners, the governors have
felt it wise not to activate the militia for fear of giving them an armed
force. The problem the governors is that if they call out the militia with
these men as the officers, these same officers will then leed the militia to
force out the governors. The stamp tax collectors have been threatened, and
many have resigned their positions in fear.”
The room was now hushed, hanging on every
word Sir John was speaking. “As you may be aware, our trade is like a triangle.
Our colonies provide the basic materials for goods to be made. These goods are
shipped to Europe to be traded for gold or
silver. This gold and silver is then given to merchants who travel down to Africa to buy slaves from the slave factories on the Gold
coast. Those slaves are then sent to the sugar islands to produce the sugar.
The sugar is then sent back to Europe and our
colonies here which is turned into food or rum. We also trade with Moors for
coffee, and our new colonies in India
are able to bring in tea and more goods from China. We also trade for spices,
fish, grains and lumber. With this vast network of trade, I hope to turn Fort Ellis
into a thriving port with which to ship slate for the roves of Europe.
Chapter
Four INTO THE QUARRY
“Now if you say that the governors are
reluctant to call out the militia, who then is to protect the colonies in time
of war?” “Well, the government in London
has been sending over regiments from England and Ireland to
garrison the colonies. What with the fear of another Indian uprising, and
disgruntled merchants, there are now several regiments that have been sent
over. I dined with many of the officers of the 4th, as well as the
officers of the ship on several occasions. “But with so many soldiers, where
will they stay. Not every fort here in the colonies has the barracks.” “You are
a perceptive soldier aren`t you Sargeant Kenny? Yes, this has become another
sore point. There has been another act of parliament known as the Quartering
Act. The local authorities have to furnish quarters and provisions for these
troops as well as carriages and wagons. Now this last part has been a boom for
carriage makers eager to gain business with the army, but since most governors
want to keep the public funds high, they have simply quartered men in Inns,
public houses and even the homes of regular colonists. This last point I may
remind you is probably not the best way to keep the colonists happy for having
the scum of London
and Manchester
sharing the homes of Puritan New Englanders is a recipie for disaster I should
say. But Parliament has spoken and we do what we are ordered eh?
By 1770, I knew that my meager subsistence
from the government as a commander of militia would not keep me fed much
longer. So I signed on to work in the slate quarry on the Saint
Andrews river. My job was to keep the fort in shape to store slate
roof tiles and to keep the jetty in good condition so that the boats could come
in and land supplies and load tiles for market. And that`s how I was spending
my days until the next rumblings of war began.
“Was it dangerous working in the quarry?”
Emily stoked the fire and checked the kettle.
“Well, it could be but we didn`t have to go
underground. It was all above ground. The hard part was chiseling out the slate
in one piece without making it rough, or cutting your self. At first, I thought
that I would have just stayed in Fort
Ellis and tended to the
boats coming down river, but the quarry needed more men to cut the rock out,
and to also help maintain the road.
Chapter
Five THE SONS OF LIBERTY
BEAT TO ARMS.
I remember the day we got word of what
happened in Lexington
and Concord. I
had traveled to Halifax
to help ship the slate for sale to Boston
and London.
When we arrived, I noticed that there seemed to be more soldiers going about
work in the batteries, and when we landed, I saw that some of the militia were
drilling on the Grand Parade. I wondered what all the fuss was about. So, I
went into a pub on Water street
and ordered some grog.
“Hey, sailor, what`s all the fuss about in
town, are we about to be invaded?” The man had a hard look about him, with a
face weather beaten from working on ships, and his clothes were salted stained.
“Why cully, his nibs is getting a bit uppity what with all that happened in Boston. Didn`t you hear,
the colonists fought with the Lobsters back in April, close to two hundred
redcoats now lie on the roads of Massachusettes. It seems General Gage in Boston got word that the
Sons of Liberty had hoarded powder and shot in the countryside. So, the army
marched out to go get it. But Paul Revere ran ahead of them on his horse, and
alerted every place he came across. When the soldiers got to Lexington common, they found on the green,
the town militia formed up. Now most of those farmers knew that it wouldn`t be
a good idea to try and fight against the British, but somehow, someone fired at
the British, and the line opened up on them, and then charged them. After the
officers got in control, they continued to Concord. There, the colonists had started to
rally and pushed the British all the way back to Boston. George Washington they say is their
commander, and this rebel army is now besieging Boston. Governor Legge is probably messing in
his breeches now because of all those Planters he brought up to here. If my kin
were somewhere and there was fighting to be had, sure I`d be wanting to go off
and fight. As it is, I`m just waiting for the next press gang to come through
the door and pick me up. The Royal Navy will no doubt be going to war again. If
I were you, I`d find a new place to have rum.”
“I`m not a sailor, but a militiamen, I wonder
why the militia hasn`t been called out yet?”
Chapter
Six THEY HAVE RISEN!
After I finished my rum, I left the pub and
went in search of the militia commanders. Since I was still technically under
orders, I should report to the autorities. I walked up to Fort George
and was challenged by the sentry. “Halt”! The redcoated soldier held his musket
at the port. “I`m Sargeant Kenny of the Fort Ellis
garrison. I`m here to report for duty.” “Corporal of the Guard” he shouted. Out
from the wooden gate in the earthwork walls marched a soldier who I had not
seen for many years. “Sgt. Essex I presume, what news do you have?” Ah Euan,
yes, I remember, the last I saw of you was in the horrid beach of Havana.
What brings you to Halifax?”
Euan relaxed a bit, “I came here on business with my employer but I`ve just
found out about what happened in Boston.
What`s to be done?”
Essex
looked at his sentry. “Private Cooper, this man is allowed to enter, carry on”.
Essex walked me to the guard room and poured
me a cup of tea. “Now I didn`t tell you this, but hear every word I say.
Governor Legge is terrified that the planters in western Nova Scotia and at Fort Cumberland
will rebel. The militia hasn`t been called yet because Legge is first going
about the colony and gathering what weapons he can. If a fort doesn`t
have a strong garrison, the guns are stripped and any powder and shot found it
being brought here. Your one of Gorehams men are you not?”
“I was, but Gorhams Rangers was disbanded over
twelve years ago. I`m a militiaman now, and because I haven`t been paid, I took
on a job working in a rock quarry near Fort Ellis.”
Essex looked at him keenly. “Well Euan, Gorham
is now raising a new regiment. The Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers is being raised
for the defense of this colony. You
should see about joining up. You might be able to regain your rank of
Sargeant.”
When Essex and myself finished our talk, I
was left to wonder if I would stay out of the conflict, or join the British
army again. There was never a question as to my loyalty. The British, despite
what they have done to Ireland,
was still my savior. The army saved me from starving on that cold wet ground in
Clare. If I had had the chance, perhaps I would have joined the Wild Geese, but
I was never approached by any of their recruiting agents. I guess being
Presbeterian and my father having served in the British army, they felt I
wouldn`t want to join a Catholic army.
Now there I was in Halifax, at the dawn of the Revolution and I
was about to find my old commander, when I heard a sound I hadn`t heard in
years. A piper was playing, wearing tartan. He was leading a group of soldiers
in Highland dress. The officers had fine red
coats faced blue, and at first I thought them to be the Royal Highland
Regiment. But as they marched closer, I saw that their coats had no lace. The
officers of course had gold lace and the Sargeant-Major had silver lace. The
chosen men had red coats faced blue. One thing I noticed was that there was no
drummer in this party. I followed this group of soldiers until they halted in
the grand parade. I was next astonished to see that my father, Lindsay was one
of the officers standing behind a recruiting table. As our group of men came
into the parade, he stepped out, and with a hearty voice broke out, “Who will
serve the king? His Majesty has seen fit to raise a corps of men known as the
Royal Highland Emigrants. Each man who enlists in this regiment, will be given
a red coat, belted plaid, hose, bonnet, a broadsword, musket and shall have the
choice of the lassies in the town as what woman can resist the charms of a Highland soldier?
You shall also be given land at the
conclusion of this war, once our deluded subjects to the south realize the
folly of their actions. Come here now and claim your enlistment bounty. Now my
lads, who will serve the king?”
I marched up and took the quill. An older
corporal noted my name, and my father came over. “Ah, Sargeant Kenny, good to
see you well. I beg to inform you that we have all of our NCO`s but we are a
bit short of drummers. Shall you enlist with the pay of Corporal as a drummer?”
Now it had been some time since I had been a drummer, not since I was a young
boy, but the thought of having to fight as a ranger again, gave me pause to
think that maybe I could enlist as a drummer to avoid the worst of the
fighting.
“Yes sir, that would suit me. It has been
some time since I drummed, but I`m sure that I can learn the new beatings well
enough.
“Well then, sign your name and join us. You
shall not regret being a highlander.”
Now I did take the king`s shilling that day
and enlisted in the Royal Highland Emigrants. Though I did feel slightly guilty
at joining a different regiment from that of my other commander. But I looked
at it in that I hadn`t been under Gorham`s orders for so long that perhaps I`d
take orders from a new officer. As I was feeling slightly older, I felt that
being a drummer would be a better way to do my duty. So after I enlisted, we
were marched off to Fort
Needham and found
ourselves a camp on the glacis. Our tents were left overs from the last war,
and what was worse, our rations were as well! The barrel of salt pork was a
green color and the bread was so old, that you`d swear that it must have been
wood.
“You mean to say they fed you rotten food?”
Emily was agashed! “Pretty much yup, most of the army`s stores were from the
Seven Years War, and with many new troops, supplies were getting low. No to add
insult to injury, we were left to wear what we had for some time. The officers
had their redcoats, plaids, bonnets and hose, but we were still clothed in what
we wore when enlisted. Even the Corporals and Sargeants looked bedraggled. Only
the recruiting party had decent uniforms. I lucked in and was able to keep my
clothes box which I had taken with me on my trip. All I owned fitted into that
box which I had made way back in Annapolis Royal
so many years ago. It served me as a Drummer in the 40th, then as a
Ranger in Gorham`s and then as a lonely militiaman. But now, here I was
technically a highlander, without my uniform. So I dug out my old Gorham`s
Rangers coat again. My clothes at this time consisted of my original grey coat
of Gorham`s, then the black and blue uniform of the 1758/59 campaign. I had
only three shirts, and two pairs of breeches. My clothes were mended and faded.
I had hoped on enlistment to get some new clothes, but we were left to fend for
ourselves.
The only thing we were issued with were some
weapons. Even the ones which I still had were pressed into service. My tomahawk
was put into the belt which I still had from my rangers days. My drum which
they issued to me had actually been one which the 78th Frasers had
left in stores from the last war as it had been damaged. Most of the new
recruits to the Royal Highland Emigrants didn`t look like Highlander soldiers.
We didn`t look like soldiers at all! There were many times where we were
mistaken for militia by the officers of the garrison, and due to our poor
apprearance, we were excused senty duty and were placed on a lot of fatigue
duties which was most trying for the mind and soul. When clothing did arrive,
we were issued green coats and breeches, but even those were being sent to
Gorham`s Royal Fencible Americans and Legge`s Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers.
Major Small was spending a lot of his own money just to give us blankets and
basic clothing. Everytime a shipment of military uniforms came in, he fought
like mad to secure us some of them. But the other regiments got them. Those
first two years we were neglected by the army which we had volunteered to
serve. It wasn`t until the fall of 1776 when the ship (see book) arrived. The
uniforms on board were intended for the first battalion up in Quebec, but Major Small took them and
reordered uniforms for the first battalion which arrived the next spring.
Most of our duties were taken up as labourers
to repair the fortifications around Nova
Scotia. We had to help rebuild the defenses of Halifax by digging up new
batteries and repairing Fort
George. Fort Sackville
was also worked upon and Fort
Needham was where we were
stationed while in the town.
Now when we had started to get out uniforms
issued, we could then take on more soldier like duties. Since I had had
experience in artillery on the boats with the rangers, I was tasked with
helping to train up the other soldiers on gun duty. Now you`d think that being
a drummer kept me occupied, but our regiment needed to be trained up so that we
could begin to help the army.
After we had finished our gun training, those
companies of the Royal Highland Emigrants were then assigned to privateer ships
which Governor Legge gave letters of mark in order to defend the coast. Even
from the start of the rebellion, the rebels began to sail boats up to other
colonies to spread the rebellion or to pillage for funds to buy more arms and
equipment for their army. Most of the Scottish soldiers were grumpy that they
were being used on ships rather than as infantry, but to me, being on the ships
was much more preferable than being stuck on the land doing nothing.
“Why in the hell are we being used as Marines
when we should be charging the enemy on the land?” One of the members grumbled
one day while we were on board ship. “Well what would you rather be doing,
digging up more trenches, or cruising for rebel ships? I mean if we catch one
of those buggers, we can get prize money!”
Chapter
Seven: THE BRITISH ARRIVE FROM BOSTON
In April of 1776, two hundred ships arrived
in Halifax
harbor. It was the British army, with Loyalist families fleeing Boston, leaving that town
to the rebel army. Thousands of people landed off the ships into our small
town. There had not been so many people here since the British expedition to
Louisbourg in 1757-58. The civilian refugees were most distressing. Stories of
how the Boston
mobs had ransacked the homes of loyal families spread terror into the merchants
hearts. The whole town was in a tizzy about rebels marching through the woods
and burn the town. Now mind you, a lot of those people were gullible enough to
forget that we still had Fort
Anne, Edward and
Sackville to guard the approaches to Halifax.
They were all a forlorn looking group of
people. Those who had the means had been able to pack ship their belongings on
the ships, but the vast majority of refugees had just come with the clothes on
their backs. Children were crying and wailing, women looked fearful and the men
had vengeful looks on their faces. I knew war was horrible, but I could read on
the faces of these people, that this war, was going to be different. What was
once our friends and neighbors yesterday became our enemies over night.
I spoke with a few of the civilians one
afternoon over a pint of ale. “I tells ya, the things I saw my neighbors do
just chilled my blood. There was one fellow who had been a ranger in the last
war. The pub he was in was a patriot pub and the locals began to agitate into
forming their own regiment to go and help General Washington in Boston. They pestered
this poor fellow, but he was just travelling through, heading back to Nova Scotia in fact.
They dragged him out of the pub when he refused to take up the American dollar
and proceeded to tie him to a tree and began to flog him. They told him they
would stop only if he enlisted. He stated that he only wanted to go home, that
he had had enough of fighting the French and Indians. They crowd back off, and
built a fire where they placed a pot of tar and began to boil it. They then
brought in a bunch of chickens and plucked them all clean. Then, when the tar
was hot enough, they poured this mixture over him and then rolled the poor bugger
in the feathers. They then kicked his behind all the way down to a boat which
rowed him out to the ship heading for Halifax.
Damm poxy scumm.” “But did anyone know of his name?” I had asked. “Come to
think of it, it was a Scottish sounding one. Campbell, Fraser, now what was
it?” With a horrible sick feeling I put forth “Would it by chance be Gordon?”
“Yes, that was the man, Gordon Jefferson. I heard he had been in Gorehams
Rangers, and had appreciated as a cabinet maker and had sailed to Boston looking for work.”
At the sound of my friends name, I vomited my stomach all over the table. “Hoa
hoa, here`s an admiral of the narrow sea, who can`t hold his ale, toss him out,
now lets here that song Toss the pot toss the pot let us be merry and drink
till our cheeks are a red as a cherry.”
I ran down the street to the waterfront
looking for the lodgings of injured sailors. Sure enough, there I found my best
friend, Gordon, laying still with tar bits on his skin, the feathers had mostly
come off, but the scars and broken bones could still be seen. “Oh my God
Gordon, what the hell!” I ran in and picked him up, his eyes empty souless
pockets. It was though he couldn`t get the sight of his torture out of his
mind. I rocked him and called out his name and finally, he turned his head to
me and said “Euan, make me better, and enlist me back into the Army, I want to
kill everyone of those bastards who did this to me.” “I swear Gordon, they will
pay, we`ll get you mended and you`ll get vengeance on those poxy kerrs.
Over the weeks of mending, Gordon and I
caught up on old times. “I thought you had gone to Annapolis
Royal and learned a trade?” “Well I had and I met a girl there as
well. I thought I had settled down, but with the end of the war, money was
tight. We went off to Boston
to seek employment. Now we never married, so my girl became a servant girl in a
merchant`s house while I worked for several carpenters and cabinet makers. But
in Boston, the
life was not so good either. With all the taxes that the British government was
leveling on the colonies, people began to get restless. There always seemed to
be demonstrations. There were boys who called themselves the Sons of Liberty
who seemed to revel in causing mischief. They would harass soldiers, tax
collectors and merchants who still sold British goods. One evening a crowd
gathered near the home of a tax collector and began to rain his house with
stones, sticks and bottles. Eventually, he pointed his fowling piece out of the
window and fired down to scare off the crowd. He did so, but his bird shot hit
a young boy in the chest. The lad bled to death in the snow. When brought to
trial, the merchant was found not guilty as he was defending his house. The
December of 1770, another mob decided to provoke a British sentry outside the
customs house. Now the young soldier who was English had enlisted in the army
to escape poverty from England.
But the mob didn`t know that. They saw one of the hated redcoats, to them, he
was a symbol of tyranny. So they first began to shout abuses to him. Now being
a professional soldier, he ignored them. When this didn`t result in a reaction,
the mob began to pelt him with snow balls, stones and dung. At this he called
out to his officer, who then called out the guard. As the soldiers formed a line,
the officer ordered his soldiers to load their muskets and fix bayonets. This
enraged the mob even more. A young black fellow was in front and seemed to be
really upset with the British. The officer and soldiers were nervous and
anxious, but were trying to remain calm. Someone in the crowd shouted “FIRE”
which in all the shouting, the soldiers couldn`t tell if their officer had
given the order, so they presented and fired on the crowd. The volley cut down
seven people including the black man and the crowd quickly dispered. The
officer stepped in front of his men and with his sword, beat up the muskets. I
had been watching from nearby tavern and was shocked that the crowd was stupid
enough to provoke armed soldiers. The officer then began to berate his guard.
“I didn`t give you an order to fire, why did you let fly?” “We thought it was
your voice sir who yelled fire.” After another trial, this officer and guard
were found not guilty and were removed from the garrison. But the damage had
been done. Paul Revere published a print showing smiling soldiers firing down
on unarmed Bostonians. The public began to show their displeasure more.
Militias began to drill on village greens, more sons of liberty formed and the
city began to divide itself along factions of Loyalist or Patriot. I wanted to
stay out of the troubles, but everyone had to choose sides.
The day the army marched out to Lexington and Concord, the whole city
seemed to be filled with nervous excitement. The army tried to march out at
night, but word was spread that they were marching. Paul Revere was caught by a
dragoon patrol while engaged in shouting about the countryside. I heard later
that when the army tried to disperse the militia on Lexington green, a shot was fired and the
British fired a volley. They killed and wounded several people and then they
marched onto Concord,
which by this time had been blocked by armed men. From that point on, the
British had to fight their way back to Boston.”
“By why did the army march out of Boston
in the first place” I asked? “They were afraid that the patriots would try an
armed insurrection. There were reports of other places resisting the government
and it was felt that if the militia were disarmed, then the trouble would go
away. But the authorities and army commanders didn`t understand how angry the
public had become. Some of the soldiers were men we had seen at Louisbourg and Quebec, the 43rd.
A lot of them were killed and wounded. The militiamen had hidden in the trees,
along the walls and had just shot at the soldiers. After they came back to
Boston, the militiamen blocked the town and began to build forts in Charleston
on Breed`s Hill. All spring and into the summer hundreds if not thousands of
colonists rushed to Boston
to join their army. We even heard Colonel Washington joined to command them. There was
also General Lee which was a surprise as he had been a good British officer,
fighting here in America
and then Portugal.
I heard he had also served in the kingdom of Poland and when the colonists
began to get restless, he wanted to join back up with the British but they
wouldn`t let him, so he came over here and became a general in the rebel army.
By June, the British commanders decided they
had had enough of rebel tricks and decided to force the rebels off of Breed`s
Hill.
On June 17, 1775, the British light troops and Grenadier
companies formed up to push the rebels from their positions. The way the
officers were talking, you`d think they were going fox hunting. “Right oh,
we`ll march at them with colors flying, fifes and drums playing and bayonets
fixed. That should make them fly like geese.”
I thought that was a pretty stupid assessment
seeing as these rag tag farmers had shot up the last attempt at a force of
arms. Off they marched and the public harassed them saying the militiamen were
not the enemy and that they were not a threat. They were rowded across the
harbor and the Royal Navy began to bombard the village of Charleston
and the heights. The artillery commander sent guns over as well but somehow,
the wrong ammunition was sent. So, instead of having fire support, the
Grenadiers and Lights marched right into the direct fire of militia. And rather
than flee, they let the British advance until they were close and blasted the
Light Infantry away. The next assault was by the Grenadiers and they too were
pushed back. Finally, a third assault went at the main redoubt and rather than
face the enraged cold steel of British infantry.
It was another disaster. General Howe thought
that just by a frontal assault would win the day as he believed that an
unprofessional force would break. But he forgot that many of the rebel officers
had fought against the French and Indians using tatics the British had taught
them. Even the British troops were not properly trained and had not formed up
well. It was a major learning event for all involved. It was after this battle
that I was attacked as I hadn`t made up my mind as to which side I would be on.
So when I was placed on board ship and sent here to Halifax, I knew that I would join the British
army again and exact my revenge. I don`t want to fight my own countrymen, but
they forced me.
Chapter
Eight. The War comes North
Now
during our raising, an American army under Johnathon Eddy made a move into
western Nova Scotia.
Knowing that a lot of the settlers had been New Englanders, he hoped to raise
them up to drive the British out of Nova
Scotia and spread the fires of liberty. The rebels
had sailed up from Boston
and had gathered up some Malicite warriors as well as a few settlers and
proceeded to advance first on Fort
Cumberland. It had
escaped the wrath of Governor Legge`s weapons sweep due to Goreham`s insistence
of keeping at least one fort in the area armed. Though, the guns in the fort
were the smallest caliber and were not suited for bombardment of ships. The
soldiers like ourselves lacked proper uniforms or even weapons. Most of the
serviceable muskets had been taken by the British army for their own regiments.
We always had to make due with the leftovers.
Finally, with the prospect of the war coming
to Nova Scotia,
the authorities began to issue us with uniforms. We were issued with green
coats faced red, and some of us were given plaids, though others still had
breeches. Our muskets were an odd assortment. Some had the long musket the army
had used earlier in the 1700`s. I even remember some having dog locks! Our
first action was to be retaking Fort
Cumberland from the
rebels.
We were all waiting at Fort Edward
and were loaded on board transports and smaller privateering vessels. The naval
commander, Captain (blah blah blah) sailed his ships forth down the minas basin
towards Chignecto. Our vessel was delayed by what we were told bad tides.
Though from my days as a ranger on the privateer boat we had, I could tell this
was a lie. All the big navy ships were able to sail out. The Royal Navy cleared
the channel and sailed away. The next morning, our boat put to sea, and while
on the way, we got word that the action was nearly over. It seemed, the Royal
Navy commander wanted all the glory for the navy and the Marines. Afterwards,
we heard that he was court martialled but was able to beat his charges.
Sometimes, during that war, I often wondered who are enemies really were. The
colonial rebels, or the English aristocratic officers.
Since the task of the storming the area
around the fort was completed, our job was to chase the rebels back to their
own area. We sailed up the Saint John
and looked for any sign of rebel activity. It reminded me of when I had been a
ranger in the summer of 1758. It was the same type of job. Only this time, as a
drummer, I was used as the ships alarm. When the duties of the ship were to be
done, I had to beat them out. To simplify matters, we used the regulation army
beatings as most of the crew were either Royal Highland Emigrant members or
militiamen who had experience with boats. Whenever we went ashore, I carried a
blunderbuss instead of my drum. I remember going ashore in one settlement that
would one day become Gagetown. From down the river, we had viewed smoke
drifting up from the trees. Since we were the only known Crown forces in the
area, we knew that the smoke told us something suspicious. I volunterred to
lead a shore party and we set off in a dory. Quietly as we could, we rowed to
shore, and then stalked like we were hunting ducks. With my blunderbuss at the
shoulder, I led the boys in a line. I peered around a tree in an area where a
small beach opened on the river. There, we saw a small party of Indians and
white men. A few men were lying close to a fire with blankets their only
shelter from the elements. The Indians had built themselves lentos and birch
bark wigwams. Taking a look at the area, and with the small number of
ourselves, I decided that we should fan out and try to surprise the small
encampment. I signaled the boat and when they heard us firing, they would sail
in and fire a broad side from the swivel guns.
We moved in and once we were all in position,
as one we began to yell and fire on the encampment. The boat moved in and fired
their guns. The whole camp was a scene of confusion and shouting. The Indians
jumped up and ran into the bush. Two of our party blocked their path and fired
on them. Some of the warriors fell, the others fell back to the beach. After
about fifteen minutes, we walked out onto the beach. In all, there were only
about ten rebels and Indians. I went forward to the Indians, and spoke in
French to them. It turned out that they were Maliceets. The white rebels we
herded together and held at gun point. I questioned the maliceets and found out
that they had been part of the force to attack Fort Cumberland,
and they were trying to make it to Quebec
where they knew an American army was. I walked over to the small group of men.
There were six whites. There had been four warriors but two had been killed by
our fire. I looked at the rebels. Their appearance was pitiful. Only one of them
had a uniform and that was from Glover`s Marblehead Regiment, a so called
regiment in the continental line. He wore a short brown sailor coat with red
cuffs and was dressed in slops. He had a bandage on his head. The others were
wearing frock coats, and one poor lad just had a shirt and breeches. He was
wrapped in a blanket and was sick from the cold. “we give up tory. Prison might
be better than freezing on this riverbank.” “Well, I replied, we`ll see what
the British officers want to do with you. You will be our prisoners and fed,
but you shall be clapped in irons until we reach Halifax. We buried the two warriors, and since
we had little room for prisoners. We took the Maliceets guns, but let them keep
their knives. “If you want muskets, you will have to swear loyalty to King
George and trade us for new guns” I told them. We rowed back to our boat,
having burned the shelters. Back on board the boat, we got more of the story.
“My name is Ebineezer Thompson. I`ve been a
fisherman from Glover Mass. I was made a Sargeant and to lead my boat crew
to help Johnathon Eddy attack the fort. We all thought our cousins in the area
would join us in driving the British into the sea. But no one was interested in
fighting a war. They said that it was too much work to establish their farms
and then give it all up to fight for something they didn`t believe in, or think
was important. A lot of the planters told us that they were happy with their
lot, and our attack was most unwelcome. Eddy then found out that there was a
smallpox epedimic in Halifax so we broke off our attack and have been trying to
make it back to the main army ever since.”
Later on, Thompson was given the chance at
enlisting in our regiment or prison. He chose to enlist and joined our boat
crew. The poor fellow who had been in a shirt and breeches died from the
elements. He had been a ploughboy and had felt it was an adventure. He`d lost
his musket on the pursuit up the river. He`d dropped it the river as they fled.
His coat had ripped to pieces in the woods and when we caught them, he had
developed a cold.
War is such a stupid thing Emily. Too many
country people joined up to fight for something that they had a vauge idea of,
and who had never seen what war really was.
So that`s how it was for us during the next
two years. Garrisoning forts in Nova
Scotia, acting as Marines on privateer boats, and
patrolling the rivers for rebel parties. It was a far cry from what Major Small
wanted for us. Being a Highland regiment, he`d
envisoned us to fight with the main British army, not in the way we were being
used. Then in 1777, it all changed.
CHAPTER
NINE, WITH THE ARMY IN NEW YORK.
We got word at Fort Edward
that our beloved regiment was going to send companies down to New York to join in the new campaign against
the rebels. We were going to Pennsylvania
, to assist the main force going up north. Burgogyne was advancing south from Quebec, another army was
moving north, we were heading south with the objective of capturing their
capital of Phildelphia. Brandywine was the big
battle that we would be at. And to top it off, my old regiment, the 40th
were there, defending the Chew House. As you may know Emily, the British
officers really didn`t clue on to how we should have fought the rebels. The
rebels wanted to be like the British army; standing in lines firing away
volleys until the line broke, and then charge with the bayonet. But the land in
America
wasn`t the same as back in Europe.
Battlefields weren`t fought in wide open fields, it would be more like small
clearings or in farmland bordered by low stone walls. The patriots thinking
they were soldiers would think they were hunting or target shooting and would
fire away. There was never any fire discipline, it would be just several
hundred men firing. Some of the balls would find a mark, but when the British
regiments would line up and fire, big gaps would be blown into the American
lines. And then, they would all scatter liked frightened partridges. But Brandywine was different. Here, the Americans decided to
fight the same way as the British. This time, they would deploy skirmishers to
hide behind fences and trees, and then their regular regiments would march
forward in ranks. The tricks they had used against the French, they were now
going to use against us. I was with the colors and officers holding the Highland regiments together. A few pipers were playing
and we were yelling our clan war cries and shooting down any Americans who
ventured towards us. It was a very interesting
day. The weather, was warm for September. It was September 11, and that morning
dawned foggy. The patriots had tried to fortify meeting house hill, where most
of their artillery was. Now here was where British officers could do their job.
Fighting a European style battle meant that they could flank and out maneuver
the patrioits. Howe was slow though, and it took us 6 hours to finally attack.
Since the 84th was a small detachment, we brigaded with the 71st
Highlanders. The English regiment drum major decided that all of the British
drummers would be brigaded together, but our commander ordered myself, and the
Peppard boys to stay with the Scottish units. I was still a drummer, so when we
attacked, I grounded my drum and drew my hanger and my old plug bayonet. I
remember when the charge began. A piper who was a Mackenzie struck up Caber
Feidgh and we ran screaming at them. I cried out my Irish cry “the red hand of Ireland” in
memory of my mother’s and grandmother’s people. I remember seeing a rifleman
trying to fire and in his haste, he failed to prime his rife. I swung at him
low hitting his stomach first with my sword and then I stabbed him in the back
with my old bayonet as though it was a dirk. One of my officers lay wounded on
the ground, and seeing that he had a highland pistol, I grabbed it and looked
for a rebel to shoot. A young drummer thrust at me with his little sword so I
shot him in the face, the poor little fellow screamed terribly but I was so
enraged with the battle that I didn`t think of it. The American gunners tried
to fire into us, but we were so enraged, we cut most of them down. The horses
were shot up as well by the advancing infantry. The patriots tried to retake
the hill, but the British line, carefully advanced and blasted back the rebels
with concentrated musket fire. Washington and Lee tried to rally their troops
and drive us, but we were too strong for them. Finally at nightfall, we camped
on the battlefield. The Americans ran pell mell back to Philidelphia. A few
days later, we surprised a whole division of American troops at Paoli Tavern.
General Grey ordered us to remove the flints from out muskets and any
highlanders to advance with broadswords and dirks. The American General Wayne
was an idiot. He didn`t have proper sentries posted and thus, in the night, we
advanced quietly. When we got to the camp, we then began to bayonet and slash
at any rebel who was stupid enough to be asleep when they could hear us killing
their comrades. Eventually many awoke with us at them, and they surrendered. We
took many prisoners that night. The American’s called it a massacre but that
was their way of covering up for their stupidity. We captured over a thousand
men that night. The wounded we carried away to home where they could be treated
and recover. The rest we marched into the prison hulks in New York. Some of them we recruited into our
regiment, some of them being almost boys. We got a lot of Germans who joined
us. They had been part of a rifle regiment, but were poorly supplied. One man
we met was George Miller. We found the young man dressed in black with
moccasins in rags on his feet. Though he was to be a rifleman, he only carried
a musket, and his was out of bullets. His brothers were unhappy that he joined
us, but I suspect that the patriot’s version of a new country didn’t appeal to
him. He stayed with us until he took a grant in Douglas
township.
The next battle we took part in was Germantown. Once again, Washington tried to
fight us in a European style battle. This time, the British were able to occupy
many stone houses. The American general Stevens, was drunk and ordered his
troops to attack the Chew House where my old regiment the 40th had
taken position. The rebels tried storming the house several times only to be
beaten back by musket and bayonet. Even when the patriots brought up a gun to
fire at them, the 40th boys didn’t give up. Finally the rebels fell
back, leaving around fifty men dead. After the battle was over, we found that
around a thousand American had died, and we captured one entire regiment. But
as I said before, the British officers didn’t fight right and try to capture
the entire rebel army. So many times, the war could have ended if the generals
had fought harder. For the rest of the fall and winter we patrolled and
skirmished one of our main ones was White Marsh. Howe tried vainly to defeat
the Americans before the dead of winter. He couldn’t get Washington to commit, so instead, both
armies retired into winter quarters. We went back to New Jersey while the main British army went
back to Philadelphia.
The Americans went to Valley Forge, and nearly
died there. In the spring of 1778, we’d meet them again.
Our next battle was at Monmouth. Oh that was
a hot day in June. Clinton
was our new general and he decided that Philadelphia
was not a priority for the British army. So we began to march back to New York. Washington decided to
attack us. The 84th detachment was caught by surprise! We were able
to fall back, but the head was taking its toll. I remember leading our group of
soldiers back towards out camp to entrench. As we climbed a hill, I looked at
the sun, and from there, I began to go crazy from the heat. I was the right
marker for the fifes and drums. We were brigaded with Delancy’s Brigade that day
and I remember hearing one of the Sargeants yell, “where is the drummer taking
the music?” I had lead them away from the camp and towards the enemy. The drum
major yelled halt and when I stopped, I dropped. I remember two of our ladies
rand up and began to wipe my face with water. The other drummers got me to
drink from my canteen, but I was taken to my tent and let to rest and recover.
Many other soldiers had problems with the heat that day. Most of the casualties
that day on both sides were due to the heat. That was the same battle where the
Americans had their Molly Pitcher, who was some German woman married to a
Scotsman. I head many years later that she was giving men water and when her
husband fell at his gun, she took over from him. He died from his wounds in the
heat. She watched him pass on while manning his gun. It was also the battle
where General Lee fell from grace. The stupid bugger withdrew his force in
front of us! We tried to charge and break the American lines but Washington and Green made
it. Afterwards, Lee was court martialled and dismissed from the patriot army.
How the mighty sometimes fall. Lee was an American general only because the
British would not let him serve again in British army. How things might have
been different if Horse Guards had allowed him to command British troops,
though with how he handled American ones, it could have been worse for us.
Emily stoked the fire and
checked the kettle. The sun was up and it would be time to venture outside to
see what chores needed to be done. Emily also wanted to go into the barn and
check to see if the savory was still there. It would not do if the bloody mice
got into her herbs and spices. She really wanted Euan to make her Fricot for
supper. Euan stepped out of their home and split some more wood for the days
fire. When they had finished up their chores, they sat back down for another
cup of tea and remeinicing.
“Euan, where abouts in New York did you stay?” “Well, the British
army had their main camp at Fort
George, but there were
encampments all about the city. Most public greens had been taken over by the
British army. After Brandywine, and our
campaign was over, we moved back into the city. The British officers always
believed that if they took and held the cities, the countryside would fall. But
they never did realize that it was the countryside they needed to control, not
the cities. When they did realize their mistake, it was usually too little, too
late. I well remember one such action we did.
I remember being marched down with a large
force to the harbor to board ships to take us up Long
Island sound. The generals had reports that the town of Fairfield was supplying
the rebels with food, clothing and ammunition. It was decided that we would
destroy the town to deny the rebels supplies in the coming winter.
We boarded HMS Rose. Elements of the 84th
were sent as part of the expedition. Since it was an action to set out and
destroy a town, it was felt that not many troops were needed. Delancy`s
Brigade, and the Queen`s County Loyal Militia were to draw out the patriot
militia and any other Continental forces in the area. Our main force consisted
of Hessians, British regulars, and Light Infantry. We sailed up the coast
quickly and scrambled down the sides of the ships into longboats. We rowed
ashore and were surprised when a gun fired on us. It made a great splashing
plume in the water, but didn`t cause us any harm. HMS Rose, turned broadside
and opened up with her guns. The area the gun had been places was torn apart
with explosions and was smashed up by round shot and barshot. The trees were
snapped in two and the earth plowed up. We jumped out of our boats and I beat
the assembly to arms. We began to march up the beach onto the main street. The
towns people fearfully watched us as we advanced. We came to a junction which
had been barricaded with fallen logs and some wagons. There were a few armed
men and boys who began to fire on us. Some of them must have had rifles, as
some of our men were dropping down. Men fell with gunshots to their legs,
stomachs and a few in the chest. The officers decided that such a small
position would be handled solely by the 71st and 84th
contingent. We`d advanced with our muskets loaded and just at the extended
range would fire off a volley. But the riflemen at the crossroad kept us back.
For two hours, we went back and forth. All the while we sent runners back to
the beach pleading for support to drive them off. Finally, a force of Hessian
Grenadiers charged with us with bayonets and broadswords and we cleared them
out. We chased them right up to their green where the Light infantry had
skirmished from behind houses. As we marched on the grass, the lights dashed
out to act as a screen. As they did, the militia fired a volley which cut many
of them down. As our main force came onto the green, our commander stepped out
and began to read a proclamation from General Clinton telling them if they
would submit to British rule, we would protect them from the ravages of the
rebel army. I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed some
old cogger had a fowling piece trained on him. He fired and an officer dropped.
At that our commander yelled “Charge your bayonets” “Charge”. Every British
soldier and Hessian ran like devils at the militia. They were knocked about and
cut down quickly. The soldiers then began to storm houses and drag the
inhabitants out. Most of the men had fled to join the militia. One house I
entered, I found a woman tending her husband who had been shot in the arm. I
had grounded my drum and walked up to the door and banged on it with the hilt
of my sword. “Open up in the name of the King.” As the women stepped back
towards her husband, I couldn`t help but feel that I knew this woman from
before. “Scotsman, why are you coming into my home, I have done nothing to
invite violence here.” Her voice was French accented and I felt that I had
heard it before. On a chance I answered her in French. “If you done nothing,
your house shall be spared, but as I see that your husband is wounded, perhaps
he has fired on us.” The woman stared at me. “Euan, why had you come here?” It
was then that I realized that the woman was in fact Madeline, but now she was a
grown woman. Two other soldiers came from behind me and dragged the wounded man
out. At this, Madeline began to scream, “for the love of God, he is my husband,
and father to my three children. Do not take him.” I looked at her and replied
in French, “Madeline, no harm shall come to him or you if you tell me why you
are here and if you have been supplying goods to the rebels. If you give me
something, I shall mark your home with a cross which will keep it from being
burnt.” I walked out and saw two Hessians beating the man. I took my sword and
smacked each of them across the face. “This man is my prisoner as is his house.
Find somewhere else to loot and pillage.” The Germans stood up and spat at
me,cursing my name in their language. I picked up the man and dragged him back
inside. After getting out some linen from my haversack, we bound up his wounds
and that night, I heard of Madeline`s Plight.
Now even though Madeline and I had played
together as children, she was not happy at seeing me again. “Why are the
British here again? You`ve burnt me out of my home once before. I didn`t see
you try to stop the soldiers then?” “Aye, Madeline, what happened in Nova Scotia was wrong,
and it never should have happened. But the Acadians wouldn`t stay loyal to King
George, and thus, the governor was afraid of the French at Louisbourg and Quebec coming down to
attack us. This time, we are fighting our own countrymen. All because these New
Englanders don`t want to pay taxes.” Madeline gave him a great expression of
loathing. “The Americans want their own country. They are tired of having to
bow to an English master. My husband is from Derry
in Ireland.
Unlike you, he stayed to the true faith. He`s been more loving to me knowing
what happened to me. My mother didn`t lift a hand to help me, nor did your
father. I watched from the ships rail as my mother waved me goodbye. None of my
family survived the fever on the ship. Somehow, I survived it and the ship I
was on landed here in Fairfield.
I awoke in an Irish mission. The father took me in and I stayed there until I
met my husband Danny. You are only welcome in this house because I fear that if
I refuse, the British will burn this down as well.”
“Madeline, I would have married you in Nova Scotia to spare you
this sorrow. You could have stayed with me at the fort and could have stayed
with your mother.” “Asking me to marry you when I could see soldiers coming
about to burn us out was not the best way to ask the woman you love to be his
bride. I would be more like a slave to you rather than your wife. You could
have stopped the soldiers then but didn`t. My love for you died that day. I
prayed to God that he would take you away. But here I see, God has forsaken my
prayers. Your still alive an well. Damm you. When the American army comes back,
I hope they kill you.”
The next morning, I awoke to a woman
screaming. Madeline was hysterical. Her husband`s wounds were too much and he
had died in the night. She came running down the stairs with a pistol in her
hands. I awoke and looked up to see her click back the hammer and aim at me. I
rolled out of the blanket I had and drew my sword. She pulled the trigger but
it only went click. It turned out in her state that the priming in the pan had
fallen out. I pushed the pistol out of the way and pinned her to the wall with
my arm.
“I will not make war on a woman. I am sorry
that your husband has died. I wanted to protect you both as a young man and
now. But I see where your sympathies lie. I shall not darken you door anymore.
She hawked and spit in my face. “You can go to hell with all the other
redcoats.” As I walked out the door way, picket parties were going up and down
the street looking for weapons. Other soldiers came up and proceeded to smash
anything they could and steal what valuables they could find. The Hessians and
a few of the other soldiers also molested many girls and women. I could hear
the screams, and was ordered to beat tattoo through the town to bring the
soldiers back. It was then that I could see flames rising from many homes. Our
officer led us up the street that Madeline`s house was on. As we came up the
street, flames were shooting out of the roof, and all the windows had been
smashed. Smashed china and trinkets were strewn about. There was no sign of
Madeline. The next morning, we boarded the boats to take us back on the ships
to New York.
All along the horizon, you could see the fires burning. I never saw Madeline
again. I had hoped that she would have married again, but with how the soldiers
acted, I fear that she suffered a sad fate.
It was just after that time that I think we
met Emily.
Chapter
Ten Meeting Emily
The raid on Fairfield was in July. For the rest of the
summer, we went on patrols and did garrison duties in New York. I remember in September seeing a
woman sitting outside our tent lines with three small children. I remember
thinking the woman must have been an Indian due to her complexion. Being a
drummer on sentry duty, I had lots of time to look about. I always noticed this
woman standing there asking passing officers if she could be their servant. Her
children would mostly stay silent but there were times when they would cry out
in hunger. I gathered up what scraps of food I could find and put them in my
haversack. One afternoon when I was not on duty, I walked out of the camp up to
this woman and asked her if she spoke English. You answered me.
Emily wept at the memory. It had been so many
years that she had remembered how Leon, Michael and Alica had tried to survive
that summer of 1779.
“My mothers people had lived in the Mohawk
valley since the great creator made the land. I had grown up helping my mother
plant corn, sweet potatoes and chasing away the birds to keep our crops safe.
My father was a warrior who had fought against the Ottawa warriors and their French masters. My
first husband was a medicine man but even though he helped all of the people of
our clan, he showed little affection to me. We had three children together,
because he wanted his blood to continue. But in July, the Americans came. We
heard the army approaching many days in advance because they would fire cannons
into the woods. One summer morning, we were out in the corn field and heard a
cannon fire close. We got scared but stayed where we were because we didn`t
know where else to run. Being a medicine man, my husband didn`t have a gun, but
did carry a knife for use in making potions. Just then, a group of blue coated
soldiers rushed us. I grabbed my children and ran back to the long house. I
heard my husband try to fight off the soldiers and heard cries of pain. All of
our warriors were off fighting with the British. I took the children and climed
up into the rafters of the long house and looked out a hole I made in the
birchbark. I saw a men riding horses carrying torches. They were starting to
burn the cornfield. The other soldiers started to gather up the men of the
village. The grouped them all together. One blackrobed man was speaking to the
sky. After he stepped away, the soldiers fired at the men, all of them fell,
and the soldiers walked forward and began to stab them with their bayonets. My
children were huddling in fear. Some of the other women began to run into the
forest but the horse soldiers were using their swords to cut them down. Some
used pistols and muskets. Then the soldiers began to set fire to the
longhouses. At this, I took my children to the back and checked that there were
no other soldiers about. We jumped down and ran into the woods. I could hear
guns firing at us and saw the bullets strike the trees. We found other women
and children. Most of them decided to try and walk to the British fort at
Niagra. To make it harder for the soldiers to follow us, I took my children
south along the Mohawk river. We`d hide as
much as possible, taking birds eggs from nests to eat. We must have walked for
about ten days when we finally made it to New York. When we got closer to the city, we
saw many soldiers dressed in red. I remembered from my father that the soldiers
in red were good to the Mohawk. I saw many women outside the British camp. Some
would take the soldiers shirts and wash them, others would sell liquor, others
had some food to sell. Others took the soldiers to different places and make
love to them. I figured that if I could get work washing clothes or being a
servant to an officer,we would not starve.
That`s how I came to see the handsome soldier
in the kilt.
Euan smiled. He remembered well seeing the
woman he would fall in love with. He was the duty drummer with the guard that
day. When he was in the guard room, he could hear a woman begging and children
wailing.
“I remember hiring you to wash the shirts of
my section. I remember that you thought I wanted you as a lady of the night,
but I only wanted a woman to love. I remember going out in the fields and
picking flowers for you to bring everyday. Every day that I was not on duty or
not, I would walk about the fields near our camp and find flowers that you
could put in your hair. And every day that I brought you some, you would give
me the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.I even went on charge once because
I had cut some roses from a window box. Everyday, I brought you the flowers. I
did this everyday for the months before we back to Nova Scotia. I remember being afraid that we
could not take you, as you would have to be married to me. I went to my company
commander and asked for permission to marry. Since I had served in the British
army since 1744, I was granted permission as I had not gotten into too much
trouble while a soldier. And so it was in the late summer of 1778 that we sailed
up to Fort Anne. We were married by Reverand
Frampton, the military chaplain at Fort
Anne, with the 84th
Regiment providing us with witnesses and helping us celebrate our marriage.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was
shining, the smell of the grass and flowers fragrant. Gordon was our best man.
I had cleaned up my uniform and had an actual bearskin drummers hat for the
occasion. I wore my Louisbourg medal which was given to me for my action in
saving the guns with Gordon. I also received a merit badge from the Royal
Highland Emigrants which I also wore with pride. To prepare for getting
married, I remember that you converted as an Anglican Emily.” “Yes, dear, I
wanted to be with you in life and death, knowing that if I was not Christian, I
could not be buried with you.” “You wore a beautiful dress that day. A white
ball gown with a shawl over your hair and if I remember correctly, you also had
flowers woven in as well?” “Yes my love, the ladies of the regiment saw that
the only thing I had to wear were the clothes when you found me. The officer`s
wives and ladies were very generous to have it made for me. They were the best
clothes I have ever had.
Since it was rare for soldiers to get
married, the regiment made a great deal of it, I suppose to instill in the men
a sense of morals, respect and dignity. It was one of the few chances for those
in the garrison to eat fresh roast beef, and to have decent wine and beer. We
even had cake which really was a luxury for people of our station in life. When
the ceremony was over, I remember that our battalion guns and my company fired
a feu de joi in celebration of our marriage. I tell you dear, that day was one
of the happiest days of my life. I just wish we could have spent more time
together before the war came back.
“For me, life in Annapolis
Royal was not always happy,” Emily began. Whenever you were not
about, when I went down to the shop to pick up things for Lindsay and madame,
the shop clerks were rude to me, mistaking me for being a Mik Maq. They also
thought I didn’t speak English. I found their treatment interesting as they
forgot that it was Mohawks like me who had kept the Mik Maq away many years
ago. It took an event to change their minds.
The war was never far away from anyone in Nova Scotia. American
Privateers were always lurking around ready to attack any British ships or
settlements. In 1778 alone, Parrasboro, Liverpool,
Annapolis Royal and Charlottetown were all attacked. Most of the
towns attacked had either weak garrisons or were completely defenceless because
of Governor Legge`s insistence of stripping the guns, ammunition and arms of
all the outlying settlements to defend Halifax. Even though the Eddy Rebellion
had been quelled, that silly bugger never did send armaments to the areas that
were under threat of attack. The idea was the Royal Navy would be strong enough
to drive off any American attack. But that was before the French came into the
war, and the Royal Navy was hard pressed to protect her most loyal colony.
“What was like up here in Nova Scotia Emily
while I was away?” Emily gave him a pained look. “Your memory isn`t what it
used to be is it? But I`ll tell you again. After the regiment sailed away, the
only ones left here to defend the forts were men who were too old or lame to
join the army. I stayed at Fort
Anne and helped take care
of your father on his wife. So many soldiers and ships were away that the damm
Americans came at us again. Poor old Lindsay, he had to try and defend Fort Anne
almost alone. There was one night when an American Privateer came sailing up to
the fort. They snuck up the river, and quietly rowed ashore, thinking that the
forts guns would blow them out of the water. Little Ernie was keeping me up
that night and I was trying to put him back to sleep when I saw some men
running up from the river, I tried to run upstairs in the officer`s barracks to
wake up Lindsay but some armed men broke open the front door and came at me.
Three sailors were holding cutlass and told me if I screamed, they would take
the baby. Three more ran up the stairs and broke into the room Lindsay was in.
I heard him yell and then the click of a lock, his pistol misfired! The men
dragged him out of bed and threw him down the stairs. They dragged him out and
kept kicking him demanding to know how many soldiers were in the fort. He
passed out from the beating and they took him and threw him into the ditch.
They then went about and stole all the silver, money and anything else of
value. The whole town was in an uproad as the pirates looted the stores.
Finally about daybreak, they rowed back to their ship and sailed off. It took
Lindsay a long time to recover. I was lucky in that Madame Kenny, Alica and I
were not violated. Little Ernie was so scared. He screamed so much. I guess the
noise of him kept the pirates away. They didn’t find the powder or arms as they
felt the local milita might come to the fort with all the noise. After that
night, I vowed to know how to use a musket. Too many times my life had been
affected by the Americans. I`d show them next time not to mess with me! The
next morning, I gathered the women of the town and got one of their husbands to
show us how to load and fire the muskets. I made sure each family had a loaded
firelock over their fireplace to drive off the next attack. I took any spare
musket I could find in the fort and loaded them with buckshot and ball. I also
insisted that we have the militia have someone on watch from then on in the
fort. I also got the ladies to wear red coats and take out their brooms if we
saw another ship coming. We’d act like we were soldiers drilling with our muskets.
If those stupid Americans had tried to land, they would have found out who we
were, but many women were prepared to fight to protect out homes and virtue. So
many of the families in Granville were upset. They felt betrayed by what they
felt were their neighbors to the south. Many felt they were safe as they were
New Englanders, but from then on, any sympathies they had for their cousins
evaporated. One of the farmers was so upset, he got a bunch of other men
together to build a boat and get it ready for sea, in order to pay the
privateers back in kind. The military governor wasted no time in granting
letters of marque to any ship captain who would take the war to the New England seaports.
Chapter
11: General Clinton calls us South
I remember well training
up Leon and Michael as drummers before I
was made an infantry corporal. In the winter of 1779, I remustered to fight
with a musket again.
The next campaign for us was to go into the Carolinas and Virginia
to try and defeat the Americans there. The generals believed that there were
still plenty of loyalists down there. But they forgot the fact that many had
been killed, wounded or dispirited at the defeat of Moore`s Creek Bridge. From
what I heard about that, it was like Culloden all over again. Why in God`s name
did they send Highlanders with broadswords against entrenched infantry with
muskets? When we went south, most of our troops were from the Grenadier and
Light Infantry companies but in all, there were five companies which went the
army. Since I was now an infantry corporal, I had a musket and bayonet with
cartridge box, a broadsword, and I was able to keep my very old plug bayonet as
a dirk. I had heard we were to be issued with Highland
pistols but we never did see them. We were one of the few Scottish regiments to
keep our kilts. For those of us who had served in the 42nd, 77th
and 78th Regiments, we were used to the woods of America in
kilts. The flies were killers, but I still felt cooler in my kilt rather than
breeches.
Old Corporal Nickerson`s son was one of our
pioneers. Old Nickerson lived out his days fishing out of a skiff in Cobequid.
He never died at sea, he went to sleep one night and went off to find a patch
of heaven. Jack was a smart fellow, and he always made sure our camps were set
up right, we had our rations, and we had everything we needed to fight. His
other son joined the Royal Artillery but the last I had heard of him, he ended
up in Yorktown.
Our first action was at the siege of Charleston, South
Carolina. We arrived in the summer, which was as hot
as it had been in Cuba.
The town had been surrounded by the British army. The French had attempted to
lift the siege but the Royal Navy had been able to beat them off. The American
defences were in terrible shape. After months of bombardment, the earthworks
were falling apart, many homes were destroyed or damaged and the garrison was
in rags and hungry. When the 84th Regiment companies arrived, we
took part in storming the trenches.
“Alright you lot. We`re to go in with the
bayonet to break through their defences and show what Highlanders can do. Each
of you is eager to fight, and we`ll make those buggers pay for sending their
ships up to Nova Scotia.
Those of you with broadswords, sling your musket and draw them. Those with a
musket long and a fearsome blade, we`ll make them bloody Yankees run!” We all
cheered and with one of our pipers playing Athol Highlanders we ran at the
lines, screaming our battle cries. You could hear Gaelic, French, German,
English and Spanish. Even though we were a highland regiment, most of the newer
recruits were from anyone who was fit enough to fight. The going was rough, due
to the sandy soil. We slipped and fell but kept going. The Americans were
firing at us to try and halt our charge, but we still smashed into their
trenches. I remember hurtling over the top and turning around to slash down at
an American officer. I was full of anger and hatred and split the man`s head
like it was a watermelon. The unlucky fellow had not parred my stroke with his
spontoon. The others stabbed down with their bayonets or slashed and stabbed.
Pretty soon the Americans came up! The terror we inspired in them must have
been absolute. Seeing several hundred men in kilts running screaming at you
with long sword blades would make most men either empty their bowels or run
light frightened rabbits.
After they gave up, we marched them out. In
all, we were told that the Americans lost five thousand men at Charleston. Washington had suffered a blow, but dammit,
it wasn`t enough to cause him to surrender. The war had to keep going on.
The war in the South was more of a civil war.
The loyalities were really divided between even families. The colonial
authorities honestly believed that the population was loyal, with only a few
pockets of rebellion. In fact, most of the backwater areas were all for
independence. It was a war of raids, counter raids, skirmishes, and big battles.
The climate was harsh, hot and humid in the summer and cool and wet in the
winter. It was the area of the swamp fox, Francis Marion and our own Tarelton`s
Legion. The war was fought mostly by Loyalist units fighting their former
neighbors. It was the scene of the The Battle of King`s Mountain, Eutaw Springs
and Yorktown.
In the South, we also saw a lot of blacks who
were running from rebel slave plantations. The British government had issued a proclamation
that any slave whose master was in rebellion could run to the British lines and
enlist. The runaway slaves who tried to enlist in the rebel army were not so
lucky. It was possible that they would fight, but never gain their freedom.
Many blacks understood this and thus flocked to our side. The last time I had
seen so many Africans was when I had been in the Carribean and Cuba. I
remember meeting one man who would become one of my friends.
Jack as he was called was an African man
about my age who had been captured by slavers near the colony of Gambia. He`d
been just a boy out collecting wood for his mother when the slavers captured
him. His whole village was taken. Jack never saw his mother, father, or his
brothers and sisters again. He`d ended up in South Carolina working on a plantation. He`d
been lucky in getting a place in the masters house. This meant that he didn`t
have to work out in the fields, but life was still harsh. You never had your
own freedom he told me. His master wasn`t cruel, but he wasn`t very kind
either. Perhaps that was how he felt you had to treat slaves, not as real
people but as something like livestock.
Jack was a smart lad, and eventually one
night, he was able to run away and stumbled into the picket line we had strung
out on a road. “Halt in the king`s name” I challenged. “Please sir, don`t shoot
me, I`ve come to answer the King`s call for slaves to fight for our freedom. I
let him walk up to me, and I shook his hand. Pleased to meet you sir, what`s
your name? The poor fellow began to cry. “Red-coat, you are the first man to
treat like a fellow man. My name is Jack, and I want to fight these Americans.
They say they are fighting for liberty, but where`s the liberty for the slaves?
At least the king says we can be free if we fight for him.
It wasn’t just blacks who were fighting for
their liberty. Many American wanted to stay loyal to the crown. I remember once
when we were sent out on a flying patrol. We’d have a troop of Loyalist
cavalry, a company of infantry and a small gun with us. We came across a hamlet
which the rebels were in the process of plundering. We could hear the women
scream and the children crying. The men had been dragged out of their homes,
and were in the process of being tarred and feathered. As well, some had been
beaten and were about to be executed. We charged into the village scattering
rebels like a bunch of chickens. We rounded them up and brought them back to
the hamlet. It seems that the leader of this little rebel group had developed a
feud with a Loyalist family over the sale of some livestock. When the war broke
out, the rebels had decided to get back at this man by stealing his cattle, or
killing his sheep. It was like the thieving raids back in Scotland. I
walked up to this rebel leader and proceeded to knock him about. “You don’t
make war on women and children you bastard!” I landed a blow from my musket
butt with each word I spoke. The Loyalist family lost all there possessions.
Everything the rebels couldn’t throw in their packs was smashed. We went over
to the wife and children and asked them what they wanted done. The wife grabbed
my pistol which I had hanging, walked over to the rebel leader, put the muzzle
onto the man’s privates and fired! The inhuman howl he gave in pain shocked us
all. “That’s for ravaging me you bastard”! The other soldiers were very angry,
and we proceeded to put every rebel on the ground and with our broadswords
chopped down on their backsides. We then pegged their hands and feet to the
ground. “The flies will get at you and you’ll not be sitting pretty on your
horses no more.” The war in the south bred such brutality. If we found rebel
groups plundering or abusing civilians, we either killed them, or maimed them
in such a way as to make them unfit to fight.
“War is bad, no matter who your are fighting
for” Emily replied. “From what the Reverened used to tell us in the longhouse,
an eye for an eye as the Lord says. I could never understand that. If you have
to fight, it’s to protect what’s yours, but they way the rebels fought, they
weren’t protecting what was there’s. It was all ours. So many warriors wanted
to fight all the colonials. At least the British began to understand and trade
better things with us. Now with the American’s fighting with us in Upper Canada, we have to
fight the same people again.”
For me, the final fight I took part in was
the Battle of Eutaw Springs It was another hot, humid day full of mosquitoes,
and alligators. Those were nasty brutes. If we saw one, we killed them right
away before they got us. Eutaw Springs was our biggest victory. We fought the
rebels to a standstill.
Ian tackles his first Bacon-Double Cheeseburger
Leena tackles a cheeseburger
and she liked it!
I just have to make sure everyone gets 2 donuts. I have to divide them between 6 people! I used a Brewt to make my Timmies.
