The Dead Skunk
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Dead of Winter (9)
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And here's the post that inspired the chapter title "Dead of Winter."
I have to apologize for two things. First, I've been referring to the British general Sir Edward Kerrison as "Kennison." I think I've gone back and fixed that everywhere.
Second, I'm really glossing over two battles hereâone of which is actually the largest battle so far in this war, and certainly as important as any of the others in terms of its effect on the outcome. Mostly it's because they're fairly inconclusive battles. Also I'm tired.
Happy Halloween!
âHaving met nothing but skirmishers since crossing the river, it seemed that the way into Nova Scotia lay open; but recalling the disasters that have befallen our campaigns in Florida, I was not so sure of the way out. For this reason, I chose to engage the enemy at Moncton rather than leave a force in our rear that might prevent our escapeâŠ
âThe error in judgment that cost us the battle was my own, and in my defense I can only offer the confusion and ignorance that so often holds sway on the field. A scout reported a large number of laborers mixed together among the soldiers between the center and the outmost left flank. Taking this report at face value, I surmised that they were building some fortification or artillery emplacement. I further surmised that if we attacked this particular spot directly, we might wreak great harm on an enemy in no fit state to respond; whereas if we waited, who knew what formidable obstacle we might find in our path come the hour of battle?
âLeading the charge, I discovered the hard way that what my scout had taken for a mixture of soldiers and laborers (most likely because there were well-nigh as many Negroes there as whites) was in fact an infantry regiment fully prepared for battle[1]. They did not yield at the chargeânot an inchâand the entire right wing of their army began wheeling around to entrap us. I reluctantly ordered retreat.
âWe remain active in New Brunswick, but lack the resources for a second assault on MonctonâŠâ
Whole books have been written about the Battle of Lake Saint-Louisâthe actions of Winfield Scott and Walker Armistead, Sir Edward Kerrison and Sir John Slade, up-and-comers like Lt. Grissom and Lt. Kempt getting their first taste of real battle, the various attacks and counterattacks over eleven days of fighting, torrential rain, and more fightingâthe charge of the Royal Cheetahs that thwarted the First Ohio Cavalryâs raid on Ăle-Perrot, Queen Lottieâs Mastiffs[2] covering the retreat from Vaudreuil on July 3, the 9th New Jersey Infantry at the northeast end of Saint-TimothĂ©e standing up under a hail of rockets from the opposite bank.
Nonetheless I keep coming back to the words of Kerrison in a letter to his brother-in-law Edward Ellice, written ten years after the fact and near the end of his life[3]:
âLet today be remembered as a day of pride and sorrowâpride that this colony and this Empire will defend the rights of the humblest of Her Majestyâs subjects with the full might of the law, and sorrow at the manner in which we find ourselves compelled to safeguard those rights today.â
People whoâve never seen Havaparnurtee[4] always compare it to Mardi Gras or Glory Night. I think itâs a lot closer to Guy Fawkes Night. That holiday had an origin less bloody but equally vindictive in spirit, but when Britons the world over indulge in the nightâs festivities, how often do you think they spare a single thought for gunpowder treason or the beliefs that inspired it? Having seen the Fifth of November celebrated in Laurentia and Liverpoolâand I mean British Liverpool, not the one in CharlotteaâI can tell you youâre much more likely to hear âCall this a klat[5], mate? Letâs go find some true beer,â âWatch this one go off!â or (after it goes off a bit too close) âAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!â than to hear any cursing of the Pope.
Havaparnurtee in Florida is much the same, and has been for decades now. The people celebrating the holiday have long since forgotten its cruel origins. The only reference to the mass hanging any tourist is likely to be able to recognize is the piñatas shaped like hanging men, which blindfolded children gleefully attempt to whack open and send the candy spilling to the floorâand this wasnât a part of the celebration at first. The piñatas were originally only used by the Spanish community in St. Augustine, and werenât seen in Tallawaga, Trafalgar or Kowloon until the 1850s.
Even the dances have changedâfrom the stomp dances of my own ancestors and hornpipes inspired by British sailors, with the arms locked in position (or held behind the back while the legs kicked merrily away, and I give you one guess what inspired that) to the more familiar Balinese-and-Bengali-descended dances and Nartookee ecstasies Florida is known for today.
Most of the holidayâs other features are simply practical. The actual hangings were carried out over the course of an hour, starting at high noon (Morrison had wanted to hang them in thirteen groups of nineteen, but since not all of them died instantly, it didnât work out that way), but Havaparnurtee festivities traditionally donât start until at least 6 p.m., partly because (again, like Guy Fawkes Day) itâs not a bank holiday and people need to be at work, and partly because until the frescador was invented, nobody wanted to do much of anything in Florida at noon in July. As for the lanterns with fragrant herbs burning in them, those are to repel mosquitoesânot that they work very well.
The transportation of large bodies of troops in the United States was complicated by the fact that the nationâs railroad grid reached northern Vermont and eastern Maine, but did not yet run south of Augusta and was not yet complete between Richmond and Raleigh or Salem. Even without interference from on high, inefficiencies and backlogs tended to appear. And sometimes there was such interference, as when Berrien ordered Poinsett to concentrate âas many regiments as reasonably practicalâ on the National Mall in D.C. in the first week of July, so that he could address them on the evening of July 4.
The fact that the president was doing this at all, particularly at a point when the Texas mission had made his administration more controversial than it had ever been before, would inspire Speaker Webster to accuse him of âCaesarismâ for the first time, describing the moving of so many troops tot he capital as âan implied threat to our republican institutions.â If it was intended as a threat to use military force against the Democratic-Republican Congressional plurality, it was the most foolhardy act in an administration that was becoming known for such.
But the speech itself was not strictly partisan. Berrienâstill an excellent oratorâbegan with a moment of silence for the âTrafalgar martyrs whom all our force of arms could not save.â Mindful that many in his audience were from northern states and had no use for slavery, he spoke of âthis great warâ as a fight for ânational honor and respectâ and was effusive in his praise for âthe heroes who last year saved this great temple of republicanism from a second desecration, inscribed the names of Mount Hope and Falmouth into the pages of eternity, and fight for us even now in the fields of Florida and Canada.â Continuing in this theme for well over an hour, Berrien said, âGazing forward with my mindâs eye, I see an age when this republic shall stand supreme on this continent, with northern ice, southern jungle, and two mighty oceans for our outer defenses.â A towering ambition, certainly, but not one that the Dead Roses had ever spoken against. Nor did he breathe a word against the congressmen who even at this early stage were seriously considering his impeachment.
And yet the speech, and the show of fireworks afterward once the sun had set, did have one tragic effect. By concentrating so much warm human flesh and blood in a single space inside the District of Columbia (which has had a mosquito problem since the day it was first settled, and probably before), Berrien had inadvertedly triggered an outbreak of yellow fever.
This outbreak lasted for most of the rest of the month, and afflicted slaves and poor men in Washington and Alexandria more than anyone else. Estimates of how many died from it range from 465 to as many as 500âthe uncertainty comes from the age and infirmity of many of the victims, some of whome might have died at that time even without an outbreak. What is certain is that Congress chose to stick it out until three politicians, all in their seventies, had perished from the fever. The first, on July 10, was Representative John Quincy Adams, former president of the United States and an old lion of the House of Representatives. The loss of this elder statesmen, who had done so much to restore American strength and self-confidence after Bloody May and Roxbury, caused flags to be lowered at half-staff across the nation. Even in Deep South states where his abolitionism was despised, newspapers ran editorials praising him.
But the other two deaths that occurred over the next week would prove far more consequential. On July 13, Senator Philip Barbour of Virginia passed away. Two days later, Vice President David Daggett breathed his lastâŠ
[1] General Kearny has met the âKeyboard Regiment,â a Nova Scotian unit with many black soldiers in it.
[2] A volunteer regiment from Newfoundland.
[3] Kerrison was born in 1776 and died in 1853 IOTL. The stress of losing his right arm and two major battles has shortened his life a little ITTL.
[4] The first Wednesday in July. From the Hindi hava par nrty (literally: âdance on airâ).
[5] Klattauer (IOTL Pilsner)
I have to apologize for two things. First, I've been referring to the British general Sir Edward Kerrison as "Kennison." I think I've gone back and fixed that everywhere.
Second, I'm really glossing over two battles hereâone of which is actually the largest battle so far in this war, and certainly as important as any of the others in terms of its effect on the outcome. Mostly it's because they're fairly inconclusive battles. Also I'm tired.
Happy Halloween!
âHaving met nothing but skirmishers since crossing the river, it seemed that the way into Nova Scotia lay open; but recalling the disasters that have befallen our campaigns in Florida, I was not so sure of the way out. For this reason, I chose to engage the enemy at Moncton rather than leave a force in our rear that might prevent our escapeâŠ
âThe error in judgment that cost us the battle was my own, and in my defense I can only offer the confusion and ignorance that so often holds sway on the field. A scout reported a large number of laborers mixed together among the soldiers between the center and the outmost left flank. Taking this report at face value, I surmised that they were building some fortification or artillery emplacement. I further surmised that if we attacked this particular spot directly, we might wreak great harm on an enemy in no fit state to respond; whereas if we waited, who knew what formidable obstacle we might find in our path come the hour of battle?
âLeading the charge, I discovered the hard way that what my scout had taken for a mixture of soldiers and laborers (most likely because there were well-nigh as many Negroes there as whites) was in fact an infantry regiment fully prepared for battle[1]. They did not yield at the chargeânot an inchâand the entire right wing of their army began wheeling around to entrap us. I reluctantly ordered retreat.
âWe remain active in New Brunswick, but lack the resources for a second assault on MonctonâŠâ
-letter from Gen. Stephen Kearny to Secretary of War Poinsett
Whole books have been written about the Battle of Lake Saint-Louisâthe actions of Winfield Scott and Walker Armistead, Sir Edward Kerrison and Sir John Slade, up-and-comers like Lt. Grissom and Lt. Kempt getting their first taste of real battle, the various attacks and counterattacks over eleven days of fighting, torrential rain, and more fightingâthe charge of the Royal Cheetahs that thwarted the First Ohio Cavalryâs raid on Ăle-Perrot, Queen Lottieâs Mastiffs[2] covering the retreat from Vaudreuil on July 3, the 9th New Jersey Infantry at the northeast end of Saint-TimothĂ©e standing up under a hail of rockets from the opposite bank.
Nonetheless I keep coming back to the words of Kerrison in a letter to his brother-in-law Edward Ellice, written ten years after the fact and near the end of his life[3]:
âTwice now, I have gone over my journals and records of my orders for June 26 through July 6 of 1838. The first was when I was summoned to account for my failure before the Commons the next year. The second was when writing the memoirs which I have of late completed.
âAnd yet, so much of that battle has faded into a blur for me. I remember Sladeâs capture of Beauharnois on July 1, Armisteadâs retreat to Saint-Timothy. I remember it because it was a moment of hope for me. But the failed attacks on Vaudreuil, one after another after anotherâthose I cannot keep straight in my mind.
âI remember the constant frustration of equipment that was almost adequate to the task. Our Woolwich rockets were almost as numerous and almost accurate as their Henry-Hunts, our revolvers almost as reliable as their ColtsâI recall at least that one of our soldiers lost the use of his hand when his pistol exploded, and I went to him after the battle and told him how I had coped with this injury.
âI remember how green our troops were. Never have I worked with so many men seeing their first battle, so many regiments that could not produce a proper volley to save their lives. There was no want of courage there, but our menâboth from the British Isles and the Canadian volunteersâmade so many mistakes that old hands would never have made.
âThe points I remember most clearly are the actions that I was most often called upon to defend. I arrived at MontrĂ©al in mid-April, seeing that this had become the primary front of the war; but it was not until the beginning of June that I had numbers sufficient to dislodge the army Armistead had brought, and by then he had not only been reinforced, but superseded in command by my nemesis from Mount Hope, Scott. I cannot deny that I wasted more than three precious weeks of warm weather in Canada standing on the defensive, waiting for Scott to make the first move; yet I wonder whether the outcome would have been any different, had I chosen to attack sooner.
âI have never spoken to a military officer or combat veteran who finds it at all strange or dubious that 44,000 men should endeavour and fail to dislodge 27,000 from their fortified positions. Wellington himself wrote to me in his laconic wayââThere was an attack. It failed. Such things happen.ââ
David Harvey Copp, âAt Lake Saint-Louis on the 150th Anniversary,â Learned Traveler, August 1988
âLet today be remembered as a day of pride and sorrowâpride that this colony and this Empire will defend the rights of the humblest of Her Majestyâs subjects with the full might of the law, and sorrow at the manner in which we find ourselves compelled to safeguard those rights today.â
-Gov. Joseph W. Morrison, Wednesday, July 4, 1838
People whoâve never seen Havaparnurtee[4] always compare it to Mardi Gras or Glory Night. I think itâs a lot closer to Guy Fawkes Night. That holiday had an origin less bloody but equally vindictive in spirit, but when Britons the world over indulge in the nightâs festivities, how often do you think they spare a single thought for gunpowder treason or the beliefs that inspired it? Having seen the Fifth of November celebrated in Laurentia and Liverpoolâand I mean British Liverpool, not the one in CharlotteaâI can tell you youâre much more likely to hear âCall this a klat[5], mate? Letâs go find some true beer,â âWatch this one go off!â or (after it goes off a bit too close) âAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!â than to hear any cursing of the Pope.
Havaparnurtee in Florida is much the same, and has been for decades now. The people celebrating the holiday have long since forgotten its cruel origins. The only reference to the mass hanging any tourist is likely to be able to recognize is the piñatas shaped like hanging men, which blindfolded children gleefully attempt to whack open and send the candy spilling to the floorâand this wasnât a part of the celebration at first. The piñatas were originally only used by the Spanish community in St. Augustine, and werenât seen in Tallawaga, Trafalgar or Kowloon until the 1850s.
Even the dances have changedâfrom the stomp dances of my own ancestors and hornpipes inspired by British sailors, with the arms locked in position (or held behind the back while the legs kicked merrily away, and I give you one guess what inspired that) to the more familiar Balinese-and-Bengali-descended dances and Nartookee ecstasies Florida is known for today.
Most of the holidayâs other features are simply practical. The actual hangings were carried out over the course of an hour, starting at high noon (Morrison had wanted to hang them in thirteen groups of nineteen, but since not all of them died instantly, it didnât work out that way), but Havaparnurtee festivities traditionally donât start until at least 6 p.m., partly because (again, like Guy Fawkes Day) itâs not a bank holiday and people need to be at work, and partly because until the frescador was invented, nobody wanted to do much of anything in Florida at noon in July. As for the lanterns with fragrant herbs burning in them, those are to repel mosquitoesânot that they work very well.
Arthur Micco, Florida: A History Reconsidered
The transportation of large bodies of troops in the United States was complicated by the fact that the nationâs railroad grid reached northern Vermont and eastern Maine, but did not yet run south of Augusta and was not yet complete between Richmond and Raleigh or Salem. Even without interference from on high, inefficiencies and backlogs tended to appear. And sometimes there was such interference, as when Berrien ordered Poinsett to concentrate âas many regiments as reasonably practicalâ on the National Mall in D.C. in the first week of July, so that he could address them on the evening of July 4.
The fact that the president was doing this at all, particularly at a point when the Texas mission had made his administration more controversial than it had ever been before, would inspire Speaker Webster to accuse him of âCaesarismâ for the first time, describing the moving of so many troops tot he capital as âan implied threat to our republican institutions.â If it was intended as a threat to use military force against the Democratic-Republican Congressional plurality, it was the most foolhardy act in an administration that was becoming known for such.
But the speech itself was not strictly partisan. Berrienâstill an excellent oratorâbegan with a moment of silence for the âTrafalgar martyrs whom all our force of arms could not save.â Mindful that many in his audience were from northern states and had no use for slavery, he spoke of âthis great warâ as a fight for ânational honor and respectâ and was effusive in his praise for âthe heroes who last year saved this great temple of republicanism from a second desecration, inscribed the names of Mount Hope and Falmouth into the pages of eternity, and fight for us even now in the fields of Florida and Canada.â Continuing in this theme for well over an hour, Berrien said, âGazing forward with my mindâs eye, I see an age when this republic shall stand supreme on this continent, with northern ice, southern jungle, and two mighty oceans for our outer defenses.â A towering ambition, certainly, but not one that the Dead Roses had ever spoken against. Nor did he breathe a word against the congressmen who even at this early stage were seriously considering his impeachment.
And yet the speech, and the show of fireworks afterward once the sun had set, did have one tragic effect. By concentrating so much warm human flesh and blood in a single space inside the District of Columbia (which has had a mosquito problem since the day it was first settled, and probably before), Berrien had inadvertedly triggered an outbreak of yellow fever.
This outbreak lasted for most of the rest of the month, and afflicted slaves and poor men in Washington and Alexandria more than anyone else. Estimates of how many died from it range from 465 to as many as 500âthe uncertainty comes from the age and infirmity of many of the victims, some of whome might have died at that time even without an outbreak. What is certain is that Congress chose to stick it out until three politicians, all in their seventies, had perished from the fever. The first, on July 10, was Representative John Quincy Adams, former president of the United States and an old lion of the House of Representatives. The loss of this elder statesmen, who had done so much to restore American strength and self-confidence after Bloody May and Roxbury, caused flags to be lowered at half-staff across the nation. Even in Deep South states where his abolitionism was despised, newspapers ran editorials praising him.
But the other two deaths that occurred over the next week would prove far more consequential. On July 13, Senator Philip Barbour of Virginia passed away. Two days later, Vice President David Daggett breathed his lastâŠ
Charles Cerniglia, The Road to the Troubles: The American South, 1800-1840
[1] General Kearny has met the âKeyboard Regiment,â a Nova Scotian unit with many black soldiers in it.
[2] A volunteer regiment from Newfoundland.
[3] Kerrison was born in 1776 and died in 1853 IOTL. The stress of losing his right arm and two major battles has shortened his life a little ITTL.
[4] The first Wednesday in July. From the Hindi hava par nrty (literally: âdance on airâ).
[5] Klattauer (IOTL Pilsner)
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Oh good. For a moment there I was worried that Berrien might have actually managed to achieve something.
Caesarism is not quite "King Berrien " (aka: King Jackson).
Im guessing Clay is keeping his usual "dignified silence" and Calhoun can't rebuke a man who he practiclaly put in office. Even if he has separated himself from him, persay. Then again Calhoun is an opportunist. But Clay has been President, and it does technically look like Webster is really the only person capable of making a condemnation speech amongst the three.
I only use Clay, Webster and Calhoun given they seem to be the most prominent in OTL at this time.
He dies about a decade earlier. Thats....well. Poor bugger.
So, If Berrien gets impeached, then that means Webster is the Acting President, which means they need to hold an election again in november of that year, IIRC?
Wait...no, its the President Pro-Tem who is first inlne...
According to Wikipedia: Presidential Succession Act of 1792
The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 (Full text), sections 9 and 10 of a larger act regarding the election of the president and vice president, provided that the president pro tempore of the Senate would be first in line for the presidency should the offices of the president and the vice president both be vacant. The speaker of the House was second in line.[6] Section 9 provided that the statutory successor would serve in an acting capacity until a new president could be elected.[7][A] If such a double vacancy occurred, Section 10 directed the secretary of state to notify the governor of each state of the vacancies and of the special election to fill them. This special election would take place no fewer than two months later.[9] The persons elected president and vice president in such a special election would have served a full four-year term beginning on March 4 of the next year; no such election ever took place.[10]
Ooooh. Interesting times ahead..
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Well, it looks as if he just helped Daniel Webster become President, so there is that...
Good updates here indeed. Seems like the British are holding on in the north, although not getting too far. The added details of the Florida national holiday are a nice touch, looks as if the state goes all out in annoying the US at every opportunity.
Nope. I thought that as well, but it's the President Pro-tem of the Senate who is next in line, according to the 1792 succession act.
The Speaker of the House necame first in line in the 1947 Presidential act of succession.
Unless @Lycaon pictus changed it in this TL already...
Not seen it crop up and, if I've read what you wrote correctly, then it's going to be a temporary position while a new election is held, should the impeachment go through. So, either Berrien gets a new VP and it'll sort itself out that end, or the US is going to have to elect a new President while fighting a war on four fronts.
So basically in Canada both sides launched offensives that failed to greatly move the front? The union failed to break out of new Brunswick and invade the Maritimes, and the Empire failed to push the union back into Upper Canada. And the Loyalists are getting into guerilla action.
With Dagett dead Berrien's resignation will be much more of a bitter pill. Though with Adams dead I think Clay will come out on top in the DRP leadership making an ITTL Corrupt Bargain letting Berrien walk along with the suspect members of the Cabinet in exchange for the Quids supporting the new DRP administration. Which will serve to strengthen the radicals on both ends of the spectrum propelling the country toward the Troubles.
With Dagett dead Berrien's resignation will be much more of a bitter pill. Though with Adams dead I think Clay will come out on top in the DRP leadership making an ITTL Corrupt Bargain letting Berrien walk along with the suspect members of the Cabinet in exchange for the Quids supporting the new DRP administration. Which will serve to strengthen the radicals on both ends of the spectrum propelling the country toward the Troubles.
Pretty in-line with Webster
Hopefully we see more of Charles Francis in the future, at least - and maybe George Washington Adams has a happier life. It would be a nice trade-off to poor JQA dying earlier
It could be that a new act has already been passed - though I'm not entirely sure what could have inspired it.
Indeed! I wonder who the President Pro-temp is - just incase the previous Act has not been replaced. In either case, they're going to be a DR since that party seems to be firmly in control of Congress at this point.
Webster is one of the Three I don't generally look at. I don't have a reason why that is....Pretty in-line with Webster
Ramini wrote a really excellent biography of him a few decades back - it's long but very readable, and I can't suggest it enough.
I may have a look at it then. Can always add to my bookshelf.
*looks up author.*
Goddamn....he has a love affair with Jackson doesn't he...
It's his era of study; he's considered one of THE big names in Jacksonian Era history and he did complete a pretty famous 2 part biography of Jackson; but his depictions f Jackson in his biographies of Clay and Webster aren't overly laudatory of King Andrew. Not sure if this is different in his Jackson biographies because I haven't read them
I wonder if Caesarism will take off as a term ITTL?
Well the Florida holiday certainly isn't surprising. In addition to Fanin and his men being executed I imagine it was also born from the jubilation at the American invasions being pushed back time and again. Would love to see some later 19th Century Americans reacting to a celebration. I blinked at the translation of the name, dark but fitting I suppose.
Another indication the war is coming to its climax.
Good writing on the American trap and how it went wrong. interesting imagery on the Stablers having to defend their product blaming the disaster on operator error.
I take it the secret weapon for the next campaign against the Republic also comes from the Stablers?
Berrien talked some 500 people to death. Almost impressive, if they weren't all on his side in this war. Future POTUS may thank him in decades and centuries to come, for setting the bar so low for worst president ever.
Well the Florida holiday certainly isn't surprising. In addition to Fanin and his men being executed I imagine it was also born from the jubilation at the American invasions being pushed back time and again. Would love to see some later 19th Century Americans reacting to a celebration. I blinked at the translation of the name, dark but fitting I suppose.
Another indication the war is coming to its climax.
Good writing on the American trap and how it went wrong. interesting imagery on the Stablers having to defend their product blaming the disaster on operator error.
I take it the secret weapon for the next campaign against the Republic also comes from the Stablers?
Berrien talked some 500 people to death. Almost impressive, if they weren't all on his side in this war. Future POTUS may thank him in decades and centuries to come, for setting the bar so low for worst president ever.
Hm. The Union is mostly just holding ground in Canada. The Americans haven't had much luck in this war have they?
Of course I find myself in the odd position of rooting for the British very hesitantly given that they are actually less racist in this era and under a more progressive administration. I do wonder if status quo ante bellum is the end result of all this
Of course I find myself in the odd position of rooting for the British very hesitantly given that they are actually less racist in this era and under a more progressive administration. I do wonder if status quo ante bellum is the end result of all this
Its understandable. Even if it is through a fair bit of apathy the British have created an oddly diverse and 'equal' society for colonized north America ITTL in Florida. Even their ally in the Republic is showing a good deal more consideration for its First Nations citizens beyond what OTL USA and Canada dud OTL. So its not hard to see them as the 'good guys' here; particularly when the Quids came to power and started this war mainly over slavery.
Seems likely it will end like that.
Lycaon pictus
Donor
The Stablers aren't the only ones building weapons. And I hate to say it, but most of the people who died in the outbreak were either slaves or poor.
If the Sun Never Sets on Your Empire⊠(1)
Lycaon pictus
Donor
July 7, 1838
Portsmouth
âItâs been an honor serving you, Captain,â said Commander Farquhar.
âI couldnât have asked for better seamen,â said Cochrane.
âThank you, sir.â
âThink nothing of it. They donât give new warships to just anyone, you know.â
Lieutenant Charles Douglas nodded. Today was the day he and Commander Arthur Farquhar left HMS Illustrious behind for good. But that wasnât what made this a sad day.
Sinepuxent had been one year ago today.
Everyone called that battle a victoryââWe made their sailors watch their own alma mater go up in smoke! Another glorious triumph for the Royal Navy! Come cheer up, mâlads, âtis to glory we steerâŠââbut no matter how hard they tried, they couldnât make it feel like one. Seven ships of the line destroyed, including three first-rates. A second-rate captured. A third-rate run aground and captured in the aftermath. The last time Her Majestyâs Navy had suffered losses like that, it had been His Majestyâs Navy, and the him in question had been George II, great-grandfather to the reigning queen.[1] And in the year since that âvictory,â somehow no one had suggested attacking Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
Douglas had been worried, as they made their way home, that the Admiralty wouldnât understand what had happened, that Captain Cochrane might be court-martialed and shot like Admiral Byng for fleeing the Americans. But it turned out that if you returned from a battle with a quarter of your original fleet, without your commanding officer or any of your first-rates, their Lordships might be willing to concede that perhaps you had in fact done your utmost to defeat the enemy even if things hadnât quite worked out that way.
âCaptain Farquhar? Is that you?â
Farquhar and Douglas turned. A short, thirtyish man in a wide-lapelled black coat was striding up to them, a fiftyish man one pace behind.
âCommander Farquhar. I am not yet on board. And you, sir?â
âIsambard Kingdom Brunel, very much at your service, and this is John Patch of Nova Scotia, likewise.â John Patch nodded. âIâve been supervising the preparation of this fleet. In particular, Mr. Patch and I have been focusing on the construction of your own vessel. Let me show you gentlemen to it.â
They walked past the bomb-ships being made readyâMeteor, Sulphur, Erebus, Terror, and beyond them the razeed giant that had once been HMS Hood and was now HMS Typhon, and the almost-as-large Campe. The ships were studded with little hooks for the battle swathes. As it happened, the crews were practicing the lowering, soaking, and raising of those swathes, so the names on the sterns were sometimes obscured, but Douglas had learned them last week.
âPity about Fury and Hecla,â said Brunel. âI had them refitted for an Arctic expedition a couple of years ago, but they were lost. But I think we have sufficient to give the Yankees pause. And have you seen the rocket-ships?â He gestured off in the direction of the Isle of Wight. âBasilisk. Hailfire. Tambora. All equipped with Woolwichâs new rockets, and special launching-chambers to keep the rigging from getting scorched. Duncannon wanted everything to be ready to attack on July 4, weather permitting. Now even I cannot work miracles, but soonâwithin the weekâyou will be ready to launch. AndâŠâ They were now coming past the Campe. Brunel pointed in the much smaller ship in that vesselâs shadow.
âBehold HMS Telchine,â he said. âStill a bit of an experiment, but I hope sheâll prove the first of many more.â
Farquhar pointed at something sticking up out of the hull between the mainmast and mizzenmastâsomething Douglas suddenly recognized as a steampipe. âI see the Navy has built a steam-frigate.â High time, thought Douglas. France, Italy, and Denmark have steam warships older than some of the boys serving on them. âBut how did you fit those carronades amidships?â
Brunel laughed. âYou didnât really think weâd be content to copy a French design from eighteen years ago, did you? Maybe under Gray, but with His Cleverness in the PMâs chair? Come aboard, gentlemen. Let me show you.â
Once on boardââCareful not to touch that pipe when the engine is running, it does get hotââBrunel led them to the stern and gestured over the side. Coppered contrivancesâcertainly not gunsâwere barely visible on either side of the keel, pointing to the rear. They were something like metal helixes, something like the blades of a windmill.
âScrews,â said Brunel.
âA boat-builder in Hannover named Ressel[2] has been experimenting with these for years, on riverboats,â added Patch. âMr. Smith[3] and I have been doing our own experiments, and weâve taken his work a little further. I must confess, we still havenât found the best possible designâthere are many possible lengths and conformations. Herr Ressel himself is still at it.â
âBut they should still turn a ton of coal into more speed than paddle-wheels would, and theyâre a lot harder to damage down there,â said Brunel. âAnd as you saw, they save a lot of room amidships for more guns.â
July of 1838. The news was still on its way across the sea that the last Spanish outposts on Mindanao had fallen in mid-November but that they still clung on in the Visayas and on parts of Luzon, along with Governor-General Ricafortâs[4] desperate pleas for help that would come too late.
Spain was mobilizing its army, but not for the Philippines. Carlos had ordered 100,000 men to invade Morocco between TetuĂĄn and Melillaânot to fight the Sultan, but to fight the Berbers and Bedouins that were still technically his allies, as Abd al-Qadir who led them was technically his vassal. The Spaniards were armed with the latest in guns and a substantial portion of Britainâs stockpile of Congreve rockets, sold off to fund the making of newer weapons. They would spend the summer solidifying their grip on the more clement coast. In the fall, they would invade the Atlas Mountains.
From the west, the Portuguese would come. After three years of standing on the defensive, Portugal was sending 50,000 men via the accursed slaver ports[5] of SĂŁo JoĂŁo de Mamora[6] and Casa Branca.
Abd al-Rahman, as always, had an excellent excuse for being unable to either control or support his alliesâhe was contending with a particularly severe rebellion in his own lands, one which had seized his capital and driven him to Meknes and the protection of the Black GuardâŠ
[1] The Battle of Cartagena de Indias, in 1741.
[2] Josef Ressel, originally from Bohemia.
[3] Francis Pettit Smith
[4] Mariano Ricafort PalacĂn y Abarca.
[5] Really bad newsâwhat with the greater British presence off the North American coast, theyâve had to cut back on anti-slave trade patrols, which means the slavers can make enough complete voyages to be profitable again. The ships are berthing in Tangeria, which is collecting a share of the profit, which itâs sending to Lisbon, which is sending it to London in the form of interest payments to the Royal Bank on the loan Portugal took out to finance this war in the first place.
[6] Mehdya
Portsmouth
âItâs been an honor serving you, Captain,â said Commander Farquhar.
âI couldnât have asked for better seamen,â said Cochrane.
âThank you, sir.â
âThink nothing of it. They donât give new warships to just anyone, you know.â
Lieutenant Charles Douglas nodded. Today was the day he and Commander Arthur Farquhar left HMS Illustrious behind for good. But that wasnât what made this a sad day.
Sinepuxent had been one year ago today.
Everyone called that battle a victoryââWe made their sailors watch their own alma mater go up in smoke! Another glorious triumph for the Royal Navy! Come cheer up, mâlads, âtis to glory we steerâŠââbut no matter how hard they tried, they couldnât make it feel like one. Seven ships of the line destroyed, including three first-rates. A second-rate captured. A third-rate run aground and captured in the aftermath. The last time Her Majestyâs Navy had suffered losses like that, it had been His Majestyâs Navy, and the him in question had been George II, great-grandfather to the reigning queen.[1] And in the year since that âvictory,â somehow no one had suggested attacking Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
Douglas had been worried, as they made their way home, that the Admiralty wouldnât understand what had happened, that Captain Cochrane might be court-martialed and shot like Admiral Byng for fleeing the Americans. But it turned out that if you returned from a battle with a quarter of your original fleet, without your commanding officer or any of your first-rates, their Lordships might be willing to concede that perhaps you had in fact done your utmost to defeat the enemy even if things hadnât quite worked out that way.
***
âCaptain Farquhar? Is that you?â
Farquhar and Douglas turned. A short, thirtyish man in a wide-lapelled black coat was striding up to them, a fiftyish man one pace behind.
âCommander Farquhar. I am not yet on board. And you, sir?â
âIsambard Kingdom Brunel, very much at your service, and this is John Patch of Nova Scotia, likewise.â John Patch nodded. âIâve been supervising the preparation of this fleet. In particular, Mr. Patch and I have been focusing on the construction of your own vessel. Let me show you gentlemen to it.â
They walked past the bomb-ships being made readyâMeteor, Sulphur, Erebus, Terror, and beyond them the razeed giant that had once been HMS Hood and was now HMS Typhon, and the almost-as-large Campe. The ships were studded with little hooks for the battle swathes. As it happened, the crews were practicing the lowering, soaking, and raising of those swathes, so the names on the sterns were sometimes obscured, but Douglas had learned them last week.
âPity about Fury and Hecla,â said Brunel. âI had them refitted for an Arctic expedition a couple of years ago, but they were lost. But I think we have sufficient to give the Yankees pause. And have you seen the rocket-ships?â He gestured off in the direction of the Isle of Wight. âBasilisk. Hailfire. Tambora. All equipped with Woolwichâs new rockets, and special launching-chambers to keep the rigging from getting scorched. Duncannon wanted everything to be ready to attack on July 4, weather permitting. Now even I cannot work miracles, but soonâwithin the weekâyou will be ready to launch. AndâŠâ They were now coming past the Campe. Brunel pointed in the much smaller ship in that vesselâs shadow.
âBehold HMS Telchine,â he said. âStill a bit of an experiment, but I hope sheâll prove the first of many more.â
Farquhar pointed at something sticking up out of the hull between the mainmast and mizzenmastâsomething Douglas suddenly recognized as a steampipe. âI see the Navy has built a steam-frigate.â High time, thought Douglas. France, Italy, and Denmark have steam warships older than some of the boys serving on them. âBut how did you fit those carronades amidships?â
Brunel laughed. âYou didnât really think weâd be content to copy a French design from eighteen years ago, did you? Maybe under Gray, but with His Cleverness in the PMâs chair? Come aboard, gentlemen. Let me show you.â
Once on boardââCareful not to touch that pipe when the engine is running, it does get hotââBrunel led them to the stern and gestured over the side. Coppered contrivancesâcertainly not gunsâwere barely visible on either side of the keel, pointing to the rear. They were something like metal helixes, something like the blades of a windmill.
âScrews,â said Brunel.
âA boat-builder in Hannover named Ressel[2] has been experimenting with these for years, on riverboats,â added Patch. âMr. Smith[3] and I have been doing our own experiments, and weâve taken his work a little further. I must confess, we still havenât found the best possible designâthere are many possible lengths and conformations. Herr Ressel himself is still at it.â
âBut they should still turn a ton of coal into more speed than paddle-wheels would, and theyâre a lot harder to damage down there,â said Brunel. âAnd as you saw, they save a lot of room amidships for more guns.â
July of 1838. The news was still on its way across the sea that the last Spanish outposts on Mindanao had fallen in mid-November but that they still clung on in the Visayas and on parts of Luzon, along with Governor-General Ricafortâs[4] desperate pleas for help that would come too late.
Spain was mobilizing its army, but not for the Philippines. Carlos had ordered 100,000 men to invade Morocco between TetuĂĄn and Melillaânot to fight the Sultan, but to fight the Berbers and Bedouins that were still technically his allies, as Abd al-Qadir who led them was technically his vassal. The Spaniards were armed with the latest in guns and a substantial portion of Britainâs stockpile of Congreve rockets, sold off to fund the making of newer weapons. They would spend the summer solidifying their grip on the more clement coast. In the fall, they would invade the Atlas Mountains.
From the west, the Portuguese would come. After three years of standing on the defensive, Portugal was sending 50,000 men via the accursed slaver ports[5] of SĂŁo JoĂŁo de Mamora[6] and Casa Branca.
Abd al-Rahman, as always, had an excellent excuse for being unable to either control or support his alliesâhe was contending with a particularly severe rebellion in his own lands, one which had seized his capital and driven him to Meknes and the protection of the Black GuardâŠ
Diego Marquez Rodriguez, The Spanish Empire After Napoleon
[1] The Battle of Cartagena de Indias, in 1741.
[2] Josef Ressel, originally from Bohemia.
[3] Francis Pettit Smith
[4] Mariano Ricafort PalacĂn y Abarca.
[5] Really bad newsâwhat with the greater British presence off the North American coast, theyâve had to cut back on anti-slave trade patrols, which means the slavers can make enough complete voyages to be profitable again. The ships are berthing in Tangeria, which is collecting a share of the profit, which itâs sending to Lisbon, which is sending it to London in the form of interest payments to the Royal Bank on the loan Portugal took out to finance this war in the first place.
[6] Mehdya
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