A Flight of Arrows (47 page)

“What will you call him, Papa?” Anna Catherine interjected. “Lydia wouldn't tell us.”

“That's what we mean to tell you now.” Reginald Aubrey's gaze traveled around the room, taking in each of them, but he couldn't keep his gaze long off the scrunched little face cradled in the crook of Lydia's arm. “We've decided to name him after the greatest man we know, a warrior both in body and in spirit.”

Reginald bent to take up his newborn son from Lydia. He straightened, turned, and placed the baby into Clear Day's arms. As the old man raised startled eyes to him, Reginald said, “Will you stand in the place of one we wish was here with us?”

Beside her husband's uncle, Good Voice leaned close, looking eagerly at the baby's face, while Autumn Moon looked at the faces of the adults around her with wide, wondering eyes.

“His name is Caleb,” Reginald told them in a voice gone husky.

Good Voice caught her breath. It was custom among the Haudenosaunee to requicken the name of a dead one, bestowing it upon another who would take his place in the clan—and his spirit. She knew that wasn't what was happening here, that her husband's spirit wasn't waiting to enter a new life but was safely worshiping in the presence of Jesus. Even so, the naming of this new child touched her more deeply than Aubrey could know.

“Caleb Aubrey,” Anna Catherine said, smiling through gathering tears. “Papa, it's perfect.”

“Iyo,”
Good Voice said, and in her eyes joy and sorrow mingled. “It is a strong name.”

“Iyo,”
Two Hawks whispered and shared a look with his brother, who had been staring at the infant's tiny face, a lifetime of wondering in his gaze.

Eyes lowered to the baby in his arms, Clear Day said, “I speak for my nephew when I say that we will teach this little one, all our little ones, to walk a good path.”

“We will point the way for them,” Good Voice said. “And for their children, should we live to see them, then trust their way to Heavenly Father's guiding.”

“For seven generations?” They turned to see Lydia watching from the bed, blue eyes ringed with the shadows of her labor but shining all the same.

Good Voice looked down at the newborn in Clear Day's embrace, and the sorrow fled her smile. “For as long as our names last on this earth,” she said, then raised her gaze from her husband's namesake and fixed it on Reginald Aubrey, “your God shall be our God, and our blood shall be one.”

The Oneida Nation's contributions to American independence didn't end with the Battle of Oriskany. British and pro-British Indian raids continued on the New York frontier long after August 6, 1777. Settlements at Schoharie, Cherry Valley, German Flatts, and everywhere in between were devastated. Though by spring of 1780 the Oneida town of Kanowalohale still stood, its inhabitants knew its threatened destruction was inevitable. That summer the town was abandoned. Elders, children, women, and those warriors not busy scouting for the Continental army moved what could be carried and what livestock could be driven to Fort Stanwix, abandoning most of their possessions, homes, and crops. Soon after, Joseph Brant led a party of three hundred warriors to Kanowalohale, burned the town, then advanced to Fort Stanwix, where the Oneidas took refuge inside the fort. After briefly firing on the fort, Brant's warriors rounded up the livestock outside its walls and left. Still committed to the Patriot's cause, the Oneidas chose to relocate temporarily to Schenectady, farther from the troubled frontier. While warriors assisted the Continentals, or risked roaming the wilderness hunting for desperately needed meat, their women and children lived in an old barracks in town, lacking firewood, their clothing in tatters, traumatized by loss and destitution. Unable to face a harsh winter with no provisions, many Oneidas moved again to Saratoga for the winter of 1780–1781, where at least they could obtain food, shelter, and warmth.

General Philip Schuyler tried to help. Due to widespread raiding in the Mohawk Valley, food was in short supply, farms ruined, livestock slaughtered or stolen. The year 1781 saw Schuyler personally funding purchase of food and clothing for the people. Through all this hardship, most
Oneida warriors remained true to the Continentals, gaining exemplary reputations among Patriot soldiers. Here are just a few of their contributions post-Oriskany:

Despite devastating material losses and deep emotional scars sustained over breaking with their Iroquois brethren in their loyalties, Oneidas would continue to risk their lives and their families' safety to support the Continental army as soldiers, scouts, and guards until the war's ending. Notable individuals encountered in my research, like Skenandoah, Louis Cook, Two-Kettles-Together, and Ahnyero/Thomas Spencer, were far too many to list, much less to have worked into a novel of this limited scope. For readers interested in learning more about this pivotal time in history and the role the Oneidas played in it, I've provided a list of my most helpful resources at the end of this section.

Speaking of historical characters, the dialogue attributed to recognizable individuals in these pages was taken from many sources—journals or recorded words wherever possible. Where dialogue is of my own creation,
I've taken care to put words in the mouth of an individual I felt they would have said under the circumstances in which they appear. That being said, this story left the fate of some historical characters hanging post-Oriskany.

General Nicholas Herkimer, gravely wounded in the battle, reached his home at the Little Falls Carry on the Mohawk River, where his injured and infected leg was amputated. The operation was poorly done; Herkimer died of his injury on August 16, 1777.

Captain Stephen Watts was left for dead in the western ravine but survived, his wounds untreated, for three days before he was found by a patrol and brought to St. Leger's siege camp. He also lost a leg but recovered to serve in a limited capacity during the rest of the war. He died in 1810.

Kanowalohale was rebuilt and reoccupied, in conditions described as deplorable, in 1784, after the war had ended. Soon after, like the Haudenosaunee nations that supported the British, the Oneidas began to lose their homeland piecemeal to white settlement pressures and their own attempts to adapt to European ways of living. Beginning in 1823, Oneidas purchased land in and relocated to Wisconsin, until what once had been a near six-million-acre homeland in the new state of New York dwindled to thirty-two acres. In more recent decades, Oneidas have begun reclaiming portions of their ancient homeland through land purchases and court battles. The Oneidas now encompass three distinct groups, the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, the Oneida Nation of the Thames (Ontario, Canada), and the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

The great rift in the Haudenosaunee was slow to mend, but mend it did. In the early 1800s the council fire was rekindled among the Six Nations survivors, and the Iroquois League was reformed. The Central Fire now burns among its traditional keepers, the Onondagas, and each nation sends their representative sachems to the council. The Haudenosaunee are sovereign nations and have fought as such in nearly every American war
since the Revolution—as allies of the United States and warriors protecting their homeland and people.

An additional historical note: During the Revolutionary War, Fort Stanwix was renamed Fort Schuyler in honor of General Philip Schuyler, in command of the Northern Department of the Continental army during most of the period this novel covers. After the war the fort reverted to its original name. To avoid confusion, I chose to stick with its original name of Fort Stanwix.

As for that flag hoisted inside the fort during the siege, legend has it that it was the first time what became known as our national flag was flown. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. I chose to portray it so.

For details of the Battle of Oriskany and the events of the months leading up to it, I drew upon many written sources, which sometimes disagreed on dates, times, participants, and other particulars. I chose to follow most closely the account found in
Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley
by Gavin K. Watt, because his prose most excited my imagination and helped me see the events of history from an emotional as well as historical perspective—important in the writing of a novel. But many other resources contributed to my vision of the New York frontier of 1776–77. Most helpful were:

Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution
by Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin

With Musket & Tomahawk
by Michael O. Logusz

The Battle of Oriskany and General Nicholas Herkimer
by Paul A. Boehlert

Liberty March: The Battle of Oriskany
by Allan D. Foote

Fort Stanwix: Construction and Military History, Historic Furnishing Study, and Historic Structure Report
from the Office of Park Historic Preservation, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

Days of Siege: A Journal of the Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777
, by William Colbrath and Larry Lowenthal

Along with my heartfelt thanks to the authors of the above works, and to the Oneida Nation, I'm grateful once again for the team I'm blessed to work with at WaterBrook Multnomah, the many people whose keen eyes and dedication to their craft helped make this novel what it is—Shannon Marchese, Nicci Jordan Hubert, and Laura Wright, my talented and hardworking editors.

Kristopher Orr, you created another gorgeous cover, bless you!

To Wendy Lawton, my agent—thank you for being a friend and prayer warrior as well as a cheerleader and shepherd of my writing career. I've lost count of the times you've done exceedingly abundantly above all I could ask or imagine.

Thanks, Jeane Wynn, for your encouragement and for helping me get the Pathfinders series into readers' hands.

Jodi Eleck, thanks for letting me borrow Autumn Moon's beautiful name.

Doree Ross, Nancy Jensen, and Capri Mulder, thank you for the blessing of your friendship and for doing the intense, demanding, and love-soaked work of raising up sons and daughters who desire to follow God's good path through life. My heart is full because you've let me come alongside you to pray for them through struggles and victories, and to watch them launch into their adult lives, bright arrows for Him.

And to a brave and faithful warrior I'm honored to know, Andrew Budek-Schmeisser, who inadvertently wrote some of the final words of this story—thank you for allowing me to put those words into the mouth of Daniel Clear Day: “He…make [s] our stride long enough, our legs strong enough, to carry us through. And when we reach our limits, He puts us on His back and He carries us.” He does indeed, Andrew, and you are a shining example of that.

Thus saith the L
ORD
, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

—Jeremiah 6:16