War 1812 (22 page)

Several men had rigged fishing poles and were pulling in fish almost as quick at they threw out their lines. Seeing the fish lying on the bank, the captive women began picking them up and cleaning them. Soon, frying pans were sizzling with lard and were ready for the fish to be fried. After the fish were cooked, a batter of corn meal was mixed up and a spoon at a time dropped into the sizzling grease. Almost as soon as the batter was dropped, it sunk to the bottom of the pan and then floated to the top. The women expertly tipped the corn dodgers, flipping them over and then in a minute or less, picked up a crispy, tasty corn dodger from the boiling grease.

“I’ve had a lot of fish before,” General Harrison volunteered, “but nothing this tasty.”

Seeing the commodore wiping his hands on his pants leg, Jonah said, “Is this as good as what you are accustomed to, Commodore?”

Taking a sip of coffee, Perry wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and then after a small belch replied, “You may find this amazing, Mr. Lee, but it’s a rare occasion when we poor sailors eat fish. I don’t know the reason for it, but there seems to be an aversion to them.”

This did surprise Jonah, but before he could discuss the matter further, a lieutenant from the infantry walked up and requested to speak to the general. While there were several gathered around, everyone knew he was talking about Harrison.

Hearing the request, Harrison called out, “Bring the man forward, sir.”

The officer left then quickly returned. As the lieutenant came closer to the fire, one of the British prisoners was with him. The lieutenant came to attention and quickly came to the point. “Sir, this is Sergeant Calloway. He is the senior British soldier. He wants to know if they are to be offered parole.”

“Parole,” Harrison repeated.

“Yes sir.”

“Do you trust him, Lieutenant…?”

“Anderson, Lieutenant Anderson, from Ohio.”

“Yes, well, thank you for your service, Lieutenant. Now, do you trust the man to speak for all the British?”

“Yes sir, I do. I think they were moving slowly expecting to be overtaken.”

“I see,” Harrison said, and then gave his attention to the sergeant. “If I take your parole, Sergeant, can you guarantee your soldiers will abide by it?”

“Yes, your Lordship. My soldiers and the women will abide by it. I can’t speak for the Indians.”

“You may address me as General Harrison. We have no lords in this army.”

“Yes sir.”

“Now tell me, Sergeant, why can’t you speak for the Indians?”

“Well, your Lord… I mean, General, they ain’t under my command. They seem to come and go as they please; the braves that is. They mostly come when it’s time to eat. They will fight iffen they’s fightin’ to do. I don’t ‘magine they’d know or understand the meaning of parole. Iffen it was me, your Lordship… General, I’d post an extra guard on the horses and let ’em slip away tonight. Otherwise, they’ll be more trouble than they’re worth. Course, as well as you fed ’em they may decide they like being took and hang around. It’s been a time since we have eaten this good.”

“Yes well, I’ll take your word of honor as to parole. Your women have already proved their worth with this fine meal.”

“Thank you, sir, and they are mighty comforting on cool nights, too.”

This caused Harrison to flush and Commodore Perry to chuckle.

“Yes, Sergeant, but I don’t think that will be necessary,” Harrison replied. “Now your word, Sergeant.”

“You have my word, my Lord…er, General.”

Harrison thanked the sergeant and then dismissed him. He called to his adjutant. “Make sure to double the guard on the horses and ere, Major, pass the word I’ll discipline any man fighting with the British soldiers or otherwise engaged with the captive women.”

“Yes sir.”

“Major, before you go, do you have the inventory from the wagons?”

“Yes sir. There were ten cases of muskets, twelve barrels of gunpowder, a case of flints, the six-pounder as you saw but no shot for it. There was no food and nothing else of military significance.”

“I see, Major, but exactly what do you mean of military significance?”

The general has put the major on the spot,
Jonah thought. He knows the men have pilfered the wagons but doesn’t want to tell.

“I think what the major means, General, is the rest were personal belongings that the captives had. Cooking materials and stuff,” Jonah volunteered. This brought him two different looks; one of annoyance from Harrison while a look of gratitude filled the major’s face.

“Is that what you mean, Major?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, dammit man, say so. Don’t depend on the man from Washington to do your talking.”

Jonah felt the sting from Harrison’s barbed words and started to reply but knew it would only make it worse for the major.

“I think Mr. Lee spoke from personal knowledge,” Colonel Johnson volunteered. “Being at the point, we had the opportunity to observe the wagons prior to the main body’s arrival.”

Jonah was thankful of the colonel coming to his defense. He also noted two things: the colonel said observe, not inspect. Therefore, his statement had not been a lie. Also, he hadn’t missed the opportunity to drive home it was his men who were first on the scene. The general grunted something that Jonah couldn’t make out, but the group broke up and the generals went to their respective tents.

When Jonah got back to his campsite Moses was drinking coffee. He poured a cup for Jonah, handed it to him, and picked up his friend’s long rifle. He oiled the weapon and then took a rag and wiped the excess oil from it.

“You did a good job cleaning the mud off,” Moses said.

“I had some gun oil and felt a light coat might help. Thank you,” Jonah said absently; his mind on Harrison once more.

Was his presence and the knowledge he was from Washington any help? Colonel Johnson had commented how he appreciated Jonah being there, as now he had someone to help motivate the general to seek out the British.

“I don’t know that I’ve been much of a motivating force,” Jonah had replied.

“Sure you have, sir, otherwise we would still be at Camp Seneca.”

Jonah had taken solace in the colonel’s words. I must be a thorn in the general’s side, he decided. Not sure he liked the role, but if it would help win the war, he was glad to do it. Moses, Jonah realized, was packing a small sack and had his bedroll under his arm.

“Where are you going?”

Moses smiled then replied, “There’s a lot more squaws out there than there is braves. One or two have expressed the desire to have someone watch over them and protect them from these heathen Kentuckians.”

Nodding his head in understanding, Jonah said, “I’m sure you have offered your services as protector for the remainder of our travels.”

“As I should,” Moses answered.

“Well, be careful, the general has promised to discipline any soldier getting in trouble over the women.”

“There will be no trouble,” Moses said. “Besides I ain’t no soldier. I’m the scout for the president’s man.”

This caused Jonah to laugh. “Well, there’s that.”

Moses had no sooner disappeared than Clay Gesslin and James Hampton walked up. Hampton dropped a bottle in Jonah’s lap before he could speak.

“Major Martin’s compliments.”

Picking up the bottle, Jonah said, “This is French wine.”

“That it is,” Hampton agreed. “Part of them non-military stores that were confiscated. Now, pop the cork so we can enjoy it, else we’ll take it to the general’s tent.”

A ‘pop’ echoed above the crackle of the fire, and the men filled their cups.

Chapter Twenty-Six

T
he sky was full
of ragged clouds, and there was still a bright moon as Harrison’s army rolled out of their blankets. Men walked into the shadows to answer nature’s call. One or two fires still had small flames that flickered about, but most had died down to embers. As the embers were stirred, small firefly-like sparks drifted up toward the night sky. More firewood was added and soon the landscape was dotted with fires.

Jonah rose from his blankets. Moses had not returned during the night, but he’d likely show up soon. Hampton was curled up next to the remnants of their fire but Gesslin was nowhere to be seen.
Probably rousted out by his sergeant,
Jonah thought.

Bumping Hampton’s legs with his foot, Jonah called to his friend. “Get up and piss, the world’s on fire.”

“Let it burn,” Hampton growled.

Jonah walked off to relieve himself; when he returned Hampton was sitting up. “Damn sorry way to treat a guest at your fire,” Hampton muttered as he fed twigs into the embers. Somebody could be heard approaching, and both men turned toward the noise.

“Damned if you couldn’t sneak up on a body if you were a mind to,” Hampton said to Moses as he became visible.

“If I was a mind to, your hair would be hanging from my long rifle,” Moses said with a smile. He then removed a sack from his shoulders and laid out leftover corn dodgers and bacon. He picked the coffee pot up that had gotten knocked over during the night and filled it with water from a canteen, and then, setting it on the fire, got water boiling for coffee to be made.

“Did you keep watch over our captives?” Jonah asked.

“Two of them I did,” Moses replied matter-of-factly. “I could have watched over more, but I didn’t want to appear hoggish to our Kentucky friends.” This caused Hampton and Jonah to chuckle.

“This bacon is still warm,” Jonah volunteered.

“Course it is so are the corn dodgers,” Moses answered. Once the water was hot, Moses added grounds.

Seeing Hampton watching, Jonah explained, “Moses likes to boil the water before adding coffee, says it improves the taste.”

“Does it?” Hampton asked.

“Well, anything is an improvement over my coffee, but yeah, I think it does.”

“I’m ready to try it out,” Hampton said, smacking as he did so. “Anything is better than this taste I’ve got right now.”

“Too much wine,” Moses said, and then looking down and seeing a cigar butt, added, “And tobacco.”

After breakfast Hampton stood, belched and said, “I better go check in with the chaplain.”

By that, he meant Major James Sugget. Officially, he was head of the scouts. Jonah was certain the word ‘spies’ could have been used just as well. Moses had retrieved their horses, and he and Jonah were packing up when Gesslin rode up.

“The colonel is sending us out to ride point; said to see if you want to come along. It appears the general is achy with his rheumatism and is in a foul mood.”

Smiling, Jonah said, “I ought to hang back just to ruin his day, but that’d ruin mine as well. Give us a minute and we’ll be ready.”

As the point riders rode out, the sun came up, but it was late morning before the nip was out of the air. Another group of British stragglers were seen. These men were half-starved. Seeing the Americans, the soldiers laid down their weapons and held up their hands.

The first question asked when Gesslin rode up was, “You got any rations, yer Lordship?”

Feeling sorry for the ragged, half-starved soldiers, the Kentuckians pulled out what they had only to see it disappear immediately as the men wolfed it down.

“Hicks,” Gesslin called to one of his men.

“Yes sir.”

“March these men back to the main group.”

“Yes sir!”

“Ere… yer Lordship!” The apparent leader of the group was speaking again.

“Yes.”

Holding up his worn out boots and bloody ankles for Gesslin to see, the man asked, “Couldn’t we just wait right here, sir? We done surrendered like and, of course, we’d give our parole. Besides, the man could be thar and back quicker without us holding him up.”

Several men laughed causing Gesslin to turn quickly and stare. Then, unable to control himself, started laughing also. “All right,” he said. “Find you a comfortable spot and light.” He then looked at the British soldier who’d been talking and asked, “You’re not a lawyer, are you?”

“No suh!” The reply was quick. “I’m a McAllister, sir… Sergeant McAllister.”

This caused the men to laugh so hard one of the Kentuckians fell off his horse. Gesslin didn’t even try to hide his laughter this time.