• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1437 0

now, his head pounding, and he reached out toward the candle, pinched the flame between his fingers. He expected darkness, was surprised that he could still see, the walls of the tent a dull gray. He wiped his hands on his face. So, another day has begun. He took a deep breath, stood up slowly, thought of Tilghman. I hope you are more wise than I am, Colonel. Perhaps you had some sleep. He stepped out into the dawn, still no breeze, a low mist hugging the ground. He could see campfires now, brought to new life by the men who rose early, the night sounds replaced by an army slowly coming awake. He saw Tilghman emerging from his tent, others as well, Hamilton, and now the different uniform, the young Lafayette. They began to move toward him, and he tried to summon the energy, fought to keep his eyes open, tried to think of the instructions, what might happen today. We should go to New York. We have waited long enough.

Tilghman was motionless, staring out, and Washington stretched his arms, thought of coffee, realized now that the others were staring away as well, at the road to the south. Now he heard the sound, the hoofbeats, then more, and he could see soldiers, the guards, emerging from the gray light. The horses were pulled to a stop, and one man dismounted, came toward him quickly, a civilian. The man held up a paper, said, “Your Excellency! I bring you a message from Philadelphia, from John Hancock, sir!”

Tilghman had the paper now, handed it to Washington, who broke the wax seal, held the paper out, fought the dim light, tried to focus on the words. He read for a moment, felt a low fire rising inside of him, his mind clearing, the orders forming, the instructions for the new day. He looked at Tilghman.

“Colonel, prepare the men to move. We will march south, through Philadelphia. According to Mr. Hancock, the British fleet has been sighted well up the Chesapeake Bay. It seems that General Howe is coming ashore after all.”

The staff was gathering close, and Washington began to give instructions to each man, Hamilton writing it all down on paper. They began to move away, and he turned, stepped into the tent, stood for a long moment, thought of Howe. Your men will be anxious to leave their ships, to march on dry land again. And if we are blessed, we will find good ground, we will stand firmly in your way, and give you a fight that will send you home. And perhaps I will have the opportunity to ask you myself. Why did you abandon General Burgoyne?

22. CORNWALLIS

AUGUST 25, 1777

HE STEPPED ONTO DRY LAND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN SIX weeks. Behind him, the men filed out of the flatboat in a wave of grateful relief, their sickness and misery already drifting away with the breezes that swept out across Chesapeake Bay. The shoreline was swarming with troops, and there was very little order, the officers allowing their men to drift away from the beach, every man thanking God and General Howe for finally putting them ashore. Within the first few minutes of their landing, whole companies had surged inland, a desperate exodus away from the water, as though the water itself was the plague that had so infected them.

They had made the landing at a place called the Head of Elk, the northernmost tip of the Chesapeake. Cornwallis had studied the charts and maps of the area, knew that the army would make their base on a piece of land that was still sixty miles from their goal. Philadelphia was no closer now than it was to Brunswick, the same camps where his army had spent so many months of useless waiting. A march southward across New Jersey might have taken two weeks, a confrontation with the rebels already decided a month or more ago. Now, they would begin a campaign across an unknown piece of ground, a countryside he had never seen, seeking an enemy who might appear around any curve, on any ridge.

Cornwallis watched the fleet of flatboats continuing to gather along the narrow beach, those still full weaving their way through the chaos of the empty boats, the sailors losing their discipline, shouts and curses, some