Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (37 page)

Approaching the fort he hailed the sentry at
the gate, telling him of what he had seen to the west. Shortly a
young Lieutenant came out and Ian related everything that he had
seen to him. After suggesting that he dispatch messengers to rally
support from the militia or the army, he departed. Running through
the night he arrived at Albany before dawn.

Scouting the perimeter of the encampment of
the Continental Army he decided to approach and see if he knew
anyone there. Easily noting where the sentries were, he approached
one with his rifle slung across his back and hailed him. He
identified himself as a hunter who worked with Darren Roberts and
was waived through. Entering the camp he saw activity that made him
think that they were aware of a force coming from the north. He
asked for Darren then and it turned out that the third man he met
knew him and directed him to the part of the camp where he would be
staying. As he rounded a row of tents, he spied Roberts coming from
a tent.

“Darren Roberts! Are your feet thawed out
yet, man?”

Roberts wheeled and hollered “Ian McCloud!
We thought you had gone south to hunt in warmer weather. How have
you been, man?”

“Good, really. Darren, I have just come in
from the far west. There is a column of two thousand or more
redcoats heading toward Fort Stanwix. They came in from Lake
Ontario.”

“What? We have to tell General Schuyler
about that! They are coming at us from the north too. Follow
me.”

It took some ten minutes to get to the
command center and while they were waiting to see Schuyler, they
caught up on events.

“So you were at Trenton and Princeton
then?”

“Yes. It either was raining or sleeting the
whole time. Miserable weather to hunt game and damned miserable for
marching and crossing rivers!”

Laughing then, Darren slapped Ian on his
back and said “Man, it is still good to see you. Where did you
winter?”

“Morristown, in New Jersey. The game was not
too bad to find at first. Got worse later in the winter, but always
lots of rabbits.”

Shaking his head in admiration he said “If
there is anything breathing, you will find it. Here we are” he said
as he spoke to the guard who told them to return later being as
General Schuyler was having a staff meeting.

Ian spoke then “Tell General Schuyler that
there is a British Column approaching Fort Stanwix and will be
there by now.” The guard’s demeanor changed to one of genuine
concern as he said “Wait, please” and disappeared through the flap
of the large tent.

As quickly as he had gone he returned and
beckoned, holding the tent flap aside. They approached a table with
seven officers seated and General Schuyler standing at a hand-drawn
map of the Hudson Valley mounted on an easel. “Darren Roberts,
hunter/scout General Schuyler. This is Ian McCloud. He hunted and
scouted with me under General Knox. Ian, this is General
Schuyler.”

Ian nodded curtly at Schuyler who nodded in
return, and then he said “I saw a column of some two thousand
British regulars with some light cannon, maybe eight. I made them
at four-pounders. They were only a day away from Fort Stanwix,
approaching from the west along the Mohawk River.”

“What? You are sure about the numbers
then?”

“Yes sir. Do you know of any similar
movement from the North, from Montreal?”

“Yes, yes. They took Fort Ticonderoga, but
we had only a small force there. Our forces have been retreating
this way ever since and fighting as best they can. We have left no
horses for the British so they are having a hard time coming this
way.”

“Then you are defending Albany. Sir, do you
know if Howe has sent a force this way from down in New York?”

“No. That is a major worry too. Darren, I
would like for you two to go and see if we are being approached
from the south and if you can, alert the militia down that way to
come help us here.”

Ian spoke then “Sir, this might be their way
of isolating New England from the southern Colonies.”

Turning to the officers Schuyler said “He is
right about that. Britain controls the seacoast. If they seize
Albany they can control the Hudson Valley too and isolate the
southern colonies from the northern ones.” Turning to Ian and
Darren he said “Do not delay. Leave now and report back when you
can. We need support here so I am giving you written orders to send
any militia or Continental units that you encounter as soon as
possible.”

Within a half hour, Ian and Darren set out
on horseback toward the south, traveling down the Hudson Valley.
That night they camped, having spread the alarm at many farms and
homesteads along the way. Ian said “I can travel faster alone,
Darren. I could take the orders and you could alert families along
the way.”

“Well, that would be faster because we are
taking a lot of time stopping and telling folks, but what other way
can we get the militia out in force? We’ll split up then
tomorrow.”

Later after Darren had dropped off to sleep,
Ian quietly saddled his mount and left camp, walking the horse some
distance before mounting up to ride in the moonlight. He found a
small farm some three miles further along and taking the saddle
from his horse, he let the animal into a pasture adjacent to a
creek and to the house. Leaving the saddle on the porch with a note
rolled up and stuck through a cinch buckle it explained that he
would return for the horse later. He rocketed away to the south
then and was within forty miles of New York City by sunrise, having
never seen any redcoat units nor even a single campfire. Coming
upon an encampment of the militia numbering nearly one hundred men,
he hailed the camp and shortly was allowed to enter.

Soon he had explained the situation to Will
Sims, the head of that unit. “How many redcoats are coming to
Albany, McCloud?”

“I saw around two thousand west of there,
headed to fort Stanwix and at Albany, Schuyler said Ticonderoga had
fallen. He thought that the ones coming south from there were a
larger force.”

“We will head that way and bring as many as
will come. I’ll dispatch a message to Benedict Arnold’s force. Tell
Schuyler that we are pretty sure that Howe has taken a large force
to take Philadelphia, and we have warned them there already.”

“That might be a good thing, really. The
assembly will evacuate and the British will get a city with only
civilians and Tories.”

“I see what you are saying. They won’t risk
leaving New York City short on soldiers to send them this way too
with so many already gone to Philadelphia.”

Ian nodded and smiled saying “You read my
mind, Will.” He handed over General Schuyler’s orders for relief to
Sims then, and shook hands with the man. Saying his good byes then,
he trotted off toward the north. Once out of their sight, he
rocketed away and near mid-day he was once again where he had left
his horse. The family was not even at home, so soon enough he was
mounted up and heading back toward Albany.

As he rode along at an easy canter, Ian
thought if enough militiamen turn out, we have a good chance of
crushing the entire northern British Army here. Howe will have
gained Philadelphia with the Congress safely evacuated and will
have traded his northern army for it.

Unknown to Ian there had been an incident
where a preacher’s daughter in upper New York had allegedly been
killed by Indians in the employ of the British forces. The Indians
were burning and pillaging the countryside of southwestern Vermont
and upper New York south of Ticonderoga as Burgoyne’s forces
advanced on Bennington, in Vermont. They were hoping to raid a
large cache of supplies that Tory spies had said were there, and
they were desperate for horses and anything else they could use.
All of New England was in a state of alarm and outrage. Militiamen
from all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and Maine were heading toward southwest Vermont and
New York. James Barrows had heard and had bid good bye to Melissa,
heading toward Vermont himself.

As the family gathered in the parlor of the
chalet in Zurich, Celeste handed Celine to Louis and took a seat
facing everyone. “Ian is north of New York City a good distance
away, and has been helping them prepare for a big battle at a place
called Saratoga. He was a lot further west before that, in the
wilderness staying there with Indians.”

Little Aimee said “What are Indians?”

“They are the true native Americans, Aimee.
They have always been there. Cosette and Stuart are still in New
York City with the Millhouse family. The city is still occupied by
thousands of British soldiers.”

“So Ian never returned to New York City
then?”

“He did return and that was him on the park
bench wearing a disguise” she said. Sophia and Marie both groaned
and everyone shook their head. Marie said “So close! How
frustrating this is!”

Mustafa asked “How is it you are just now
getting this?”

“It is getting easier and clearer since I
imprinted
.” She then stood and smiled radiantly saying
“There is more and it is good news.” Everybody leaned forward then
in anticipation.

“I can now see Henri and Jennifer!”

Several of them said “What?” at the same
time, and Marie stood up, coming to Celeste beaming with joy “Your
gift, Celeste…it is growing since you
crossed over
?”

Nodding her head as she smiled at everyone
she continued “At first I just got little bits and pieces and I
didn’t know what to make of them. But recently I have been getting
clear pictures of both Henri and Jennifer in Paris. Henri has been
meeting with an American named Benjamin Franklin helping him to get
France to enter the war on the side of the Americans.” Here she
became very somber looking as she continued. “Jennifer has been
relaying messages between Henri and the bank’s courier center in
Paris. These are very important messages, and the subject is a very
grave one.”

Everyone leaned forward again as she said
“Two vampires that have been looking for Ian and Henri have left
London and are in Paris now.”

“We should all go there now. We can leave
today” said Mustafa, his eyes like glowing topaz. The others looked
at each other, eyes glowing. Celeste said “There is more. Cosette
knows that a coven has been started in New York City and there was
a dead man found not far from the Millhouse home who had been
killed by a vampire.”

The room fell silent then, even little
Celine was quiet, staring intently at her mother. The sound of a
bird outside drifted into the room then as Celine stretched out her
little arms toward Celeste, saying “Mama.”

Celeste stepped over to Louis and took
Celine and held her to her breast, while looking down at her saying
“What do you see, sweetheart?”

Celine stretched her little arm and placed
her hand on Celeste’s cheek and had a very somber look on her face
then. Celeste’s face became blank as her mind’s eye looked across
time and space to see what could not be seen. She then seemed to
return to the room where they all were gathered and said “There are
two vampires in New York City that started a coven. One wears a
silver hook where his right hand should be and the other is a
pretty red headed woman with green eyes.”

***

French Foreign Minister Charles Vergennes
took one last look at the letters he had received from Harold
Laforge. He had taken a chance by not burning them, but he burned
them now. There had been no change in the instructions he had
received. He was ordered to advise King Louis XVI to formally enter
the war on the side of the Americans and he had sat on the fence as
long as he dared. Not willing to lose his private bank account in
Lausanne and his position as Foreign Minister, he prepared to see
the King that very morning, and this time it was to urge him to
enter the war formally and not just speak favorably toward that
idea. He had long since memorized the eight reasons why France
should support America and rehearsed what he would say to the King
this morning when he arrived.

As his carriage took him to the palace, he
thought
who knows but what we might indeed gain Louisiana and
all of its land clear to the Pacific Ocean. The Americans did
defeat the British yet again in Vermont, capturing one thousand
prisoners. They are fighters and are determined. This could go very
well for France but for the money it is costing us to pursue this.
There will be a great celebration when the British finally
surrender over there. I wonder how long it will take for them to
realize that they will be fighting forever if they don’t end it. I
wonder what the Laforges get out of all of this. How did they get
to be so powerful?

***

The British under John Burgoyne suffered a
great loss at Pennington, Vermont. Militiamen materialized from the
countryside to swell the American ranks and the British forces were
forced to surrender. A messenger was dispatched to Albany by the
New Hampshire general assembly and John Stark was named to replace
General Schuyler. There were hard feelings about the loss of
Ticonderoga by a subordinate of his that fueled the decision and
Stark was a favorite of the New England Militia. This helped to
swell the ranks of the militia, causing them to flood into the
region to fight against the British and their Indian allies.

In due time, the remainder of Burgoyne’s
forces attacked the Americans at Freeman’s Farm near Saratoga in
mid-September of 1777. The American forces lost some three hundred
men and The British some six hundred when darkness ended the
battle. There was no real wide spread action after that until early
October when Burgoyne’s forces tried to overrun the Americans at
Bemis Heights near Saratoga. General Burgoyne knew that General
Clinton was not coming to help him from New York City because so
many had been sent to Philadelphia. He had to fight or retreat to
Montreal with winter coming, so he chose to fight.