The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [222]
“See? It’s the good doctor himself. Rather impressive portrait. I thought it quite the appropriate souvenir. Slipped a few volumes from his library too.”
Cornwallis felt his disgust growing.
“Major, there are penalties for looting and pilferage. Have you not been informed?”
“Oh, sir, this is hardly pilferage. The man is a confirmed enemy of the king. Before this matter is concluded, Benjamin Franklin will likely face the noose. And if he doesn’t, consider, after all, how much longer can the old bird live? It will be a fitting gesture to offer these, um, souvenirs to His Majesty himself! I assure you, sir, I will see to it!”
“General Cornwallis. I must insist!”
The voice came from the rail of the ship, and Cornwallis saw Lord Howe, waved toward him, saw sailors preparing to remove the plank. He had no energy for a discussion with André.
“Board now, Major. If your conscience allows you such things, I am not to dispute it.”
He crossed over to the deck of the ship, saw André leading his horse toward the flatboat, the animal weaving beneath André’s spoils of war.
AS THE SUN ROSE HIGH, THE BREATHLESS AIR BROUGHT THE DUST UP from the sandy roads in a choking haze. Progress was slow, the men encumbered by the line of wagons that was twelve miles long. Cornwallis stayed in the saddle, his uniform wrapping him in a bath of sweat. He moved alongside his column in a slow grinding rhythm, the horse fighting its way through deep sand. The roads led north and east this time, through the heart of southern New Jersey. He did not need the maps, knew that if the rebels did not interfere, they might still go far enough north to reach the good road that led through Brunswick and Amboy, the same road he had already traveled so many times before. But that route was more populous, and there was always the danger of militia, a sudden gathering of farmers to peck and harass their flanks. To avoid the nuisance, the column was prepared to follow Clinton’s second route, the open country farther south, that would take them to Sandy Hook. Cornwallis had no interest in passing through Brunswick again, crossing the muddy Raritan again. The memories were still fresh in his mind, the misery of rain and snow, the rebels slipping away from his grasp countless times. No, if we must march across this dismal place, at least we shall see someplace new.
36. WASHINGTON
HE HAD NOT RIDDEN THROUGH PHILADELPHIA, HAD NOT CONSIDERED making some grand show of the British evacuation. The city was now under the command of Benedict Arnold, the man nursing a wound in his leg received during the last great fight with Burgoyne. Arnold commanded a sizable militia, but Washington had no fears for the city, knew that once the British had ferried across the Delaware River, Clinton’s intentions were plain. The move had surprised only one man, the one who still insisted that the British would strike southward: Charles Lee. Even as Clinton led his army deeper into New Jersey, Lee challenged every inclination Washington had to attack them, to take advantage of the drawn-out line of march, the slow progress of an army so encumbered by its excess of equipment. Lee held surprising influence over many of the junior officers, and some of the senior staff as well, including Stirling, and even Henry Knox. Washington could not just ignore Lee’s suggestions, nor would he simply impose his will on his officers, or on the army. Before any significant move, any major decision, he continued to rely on the councils of war. Washington believed the structure and authority of his command was still fragile, the effects of the intrigue of Conway, Mifflin, and Gates. Lee had already proven he was capable of dissension, but unlike Gates, he was still popular with the troops. If Lee’s unusual ideas about strategy exploded into outright disobedience, it could endanger the entire fabric of the army. Washington had no choice but to give Lee his due, to form a strategy that would accommodate the man’s ambitious temperament.
Washington’s troop strength had grown during the last few weeks