Pirates and Prisoners Chapter 2 Battles Ashore

[Jeff Thomas]

Chapter 2 Battles Ashore

“I’m getting tired of marching in circles,” Gus remarked, “especially when you can’t see ten feet through this fog.”
“
At night, no less.” Michael Carney answered. “But we have our papers,” he pointed to a piece of paper tucked into a seam in his hat.

“General Washington is looking out for us. He wants to ensure that we are recognizable to our fellow soldiers.”

“And visible to the British troops.”

“Not as long as this fog hides us.” Since he was a captain and Carney was a lieutenant, Gus considered it inappropriate to discuss his misgivings about this operation. The colonial army’s defeat at Brandywine led to the surrender of Philadelphia to the red coats. Capturing the enemy’s capital often signaled the end of a war. General Washington clearly didn’t believe that, but they all had good reason to fear surrendering to the Royals. “I wonder if they’ll just hang all of us and be done with it,” he thought. A lot was riding on this battle.

Gus’s regimental commander had outlined the plan to his troops. Washington had divided his army into columns. The columns would attack the red coats at Germantown in a coordinated movement that would destroy or capture a substantial part of the British Army. It looked like the battles at Princeton and Trenton almost a year earlier. Gus doubted that the new troops could carry out something that complicated.

But nobody asked him what he thought.

Gus realized that his company was far short of its objective. Darkness and fog hampered the advance, and the rising sun did not burn off the fog. Somewhere on his left flank, Gus heard the boom of a cannon. A second shot followed seconds later.

“What do you suppose they’re shooting at?” Michael asked, “I couldn’t see a target ten feet away.”

“Maybe the fog is dissipating where they are.”

A brief rattle of musketry followed the artillery fire, then silence. Gus tried to stay calm; he needed to ensure his men didn’t panic. But he feared that General Washington’s ambitious plan was already falling apart. But he took heart when the fog lifted slightly, and he saw British soldiers, probably their skirmish line, running to the rear.

He was startled to hear shouts, “For shame, I’ve never seen you run.” Gus saw a mounted British officer, accompanied by a small staff, yelling at his men.

“Good Lord, I think that is General Howe.”

At that moment, three cannons fired in quick succession. Grapeshot tore gaps into the Royals’ lines. The English officer turned their horses and joined the others running to the rear. Gus quickly changed his mind about the ability of the patriots to win the battle. Enemy officers falling back was always a good sign.

Gus ordered his men to advance in pursuit of the British soldiers. As they fell back, about a hundred took refuge in a large stone house. The men occupying the place did what they could to fortify it. Their efforts paid off as they held off several Patriot attempts to seize it. The main attack stalled again as Washington consulted with his officers to decide a course of action.

They decided to bring up a brigade from the reserve to deal with the problem of a fortified enemy position in what was now the Patriot rear. Gus pulled his men back to wait out of the way of the attack. Three light cannons began shelling the house, with no result. John Laurens, a brigade commander and Gus’s acquaintance on General Washington’s staff, suggested burning the house down.
Although already wounded, he and another man volunteered to try to torch the building. This also failed. Gus watched in horror as a redcoat bayoneted Laurens in his hip. Another continental soldier pulled him to safety.

“This was a waste of time,” Michael remarked. “We spent the day fighting over this stupid house. We should have followed General Washington’s orders and attacked quickly. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“Sometimes you can’t follow the plan,” Gus answered wearily.

Michael took the hint and stopped talking.

Gus could hear firing from all directions. The battle had become an uncontrollable desperate fight. Couriers brought fresh orders from General Washington: retreat but maintain order and discipline. Already exhausted and sore from marching and fighting, Gus walked another nine miles to get away from the red coats.

Gus and Michael were still marching across the Pennsylvania landscape two days after the battle. A few yards in front of him, a small dog pushed itself under a rail fence into the road. An infantryman stopped, picked it up, and scratched its ears. “Are you lost, little guy?”

“Smythe,” Gus yelled, “put that mutt down and stay with the march.”

The man started to put the dog back on the ground, glancing at the dog’s collar as he did so. “Sir, I think you should look at this. It’s General Howe’s dog."

Two hours later, under a flag of truce, Gus presented the dog and a note from General Washington to a Royal officer. Several officers, including Gus, had made snide remarks about making the animal a pet.

“No, our enemies need to know we are honorable men fighting for a just cause.” He then dictated the note to Alexander Hamilton, his aide.

“General Washington’s compliments to General Howe. He does himself the pleasure to return him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription on the Collar, appears to belong to General Howe.”

Everyone knew Washington liked his dogs, but Gus thought it silly to stake one’s honor on one. Especially given the bloodshed of the previous few days.
#

After working the dinner crowd, Caitlin walked down the hill to Harold and Tabitha’s store. They were closed but seeing who it was, Tabitha opened the door for her.
When Captain Allen refused to take her on his ship, she felt angry and abandoned. Then he had offered to pay for her lodging if she passed information about the movement of ships and cargo in the Caribbean. Her first thought was to refuse, but she realized that even the enormous sum he paid her for finding the Royal payroll ship would not last forever.

So, she had settled in Antigua, where she could follow the movements of the Royal Navy.
Now she was glad she had stayed. Tonight, she’d overheard a conversation with two surgeons with the Sailors Home. “Collins will be dead by this time tomorrow. The stump of the leg we took off has gone to gangrene. We can’t take off more. To top it off, our supply ship is missing, likely taken by a privateer. We have nothing to give him. If a family friend didn’t bring him laudanum, he would suffer horribly. It is bad enough as it is.”

“I don’t know why you want this stuff,” Tabitha remarked as she sold the bottle to Caitlin. “It is just laudanum without the opium. What good does it do?”

“An old recipe from my grandmother; she used it to heal all manner of ills. I give my family’s former employer. He is a sailor hurt in the recent battles.”

“I see.”

Caitlin pocketed the bottle, thanked Tabitha, and left. She walked along the docks, noting the bustle as ships loaded or unloaded merchandise and supplies. It did not take long to reach the hospital attached to the Sailor’s home. The nightwatchman nodded as she climbed the stairs to the front porch.

“Miss Katherine,” he said, using the name she gave him the first time she visited, “I’m afraid I have bad news.”

“He’s dead, isn’t he,” that would indeed be bad news. She wasn’t done with him yet.

“No. But I do not believe he will live through the night. I know your family worked for him for years.” (Another lie she’d used to gain access.)

“I wish to see him.”

The man shook his head. “You don’t want to see him.”

Caitlin decided it was time to act like an angry family member. “I’ve respected your orders not to see him. I’ve been leaving this laudanum for him for weeks. Please let me say goodbye to him.”

The guard took a long deep breath. “All right, but I warned you.”

“Which room?”

“Number five, third on the left, if you can tolerate the smell.”

A minute later, Caitlin choked as she opened the door. The smell of gangrene filled the room.
After what she’d been through, Caitlin believed she had a strong constitution. She nearly vomited.

“Do you have my laudanum,” she heard a raspy voice, “give it here.”

It was hard to see in the dim light, but as her eyes adjusted, she could see a thin figure in the bed. She thought she was in the wrong room, or the doorkeeper was mistaken. Then she recognized Collins, only a shadow of his former self.

“Give it here,” he said again. “I’m in pain.”

Caitlin smiled, knowing that Collins couldn’t see it. “Yes. I have your drug. It is mine now.”

“Damn you, woman. I need it.”

“I’m sure you do,” Caitlin said, leaning over him. “I’m sure you want your painkiller. After what you did to me, I wanted something to kill the pain. I did not get it.”

“You!” Collins croaked. “Are you here to kill me.” Caitlin thought for a moment, savoring Collins' pain. He croaked again, she could barely hear the words. “If you are here to kill me, be done with it.”

“No, I’m not here to kill you.” She took a deep breath. “When I came here, I thought I wanted to kill you. But that is too good for you.”

“Give me my drug. I’m in pain.”

“Good. The rot in your leg will grow. I want you to die in pain.” She patted his shoulder, a gesture that would have been tinder in a different time and place.

“Enjoy the last day of your life. I know I will.”

As she turned to leave, Collins tried to yell for help. All he could manage was a feeble grunt.

[Belushi TD]

Gotta love it when someone gets their comeuppance!

Nicely written.

Belushi TD