Read Online Long Knife by JAMES ALEXANDER Thom - Free Book Online
Authors: JAMES ALEXANDER Thom
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Detroit and the Wabash posts …”
Governor Henry raised his hand. “One moment. I respect your appraisal, both of Kaskaskia’s importance, and of its vulnerability. But my doubts arise from our own circumstance. Such an expedition would require—what? Seven hundred? A thousand men?”
“Five hundred would suffice, I think. At the very least.”
“And how much provision? How much artillery? How manyboats? Horses? Perhaps we have all got unreasonably encouraged about the war, since Saratoga. You know, I presume, that Virginia is hard pressed—nay, unable—to spare men or goods, even
shoes
, for Washington, who’s wintering at a place in Pennsylvania called Valley Forge. Why, his own army is starving and naked. As I see it, moving against a fort no one ever heard of, nearly a thousand miles away, would require not only more men and matériel than we could justify, but more than we
have.”
“But to capture that country with a small force now would cost a fraction of its next year’s defense if we don’t.”
“I wonder if you heard me,” Governor Henry said. “It’s not that I don’t like your plan. It is simply not possible for Virginia to provide for it. The Assembly would never authorize the diversion of such a force.”
The frontiersman sat back in his chair for a moment, and the governor imagined he could actually see a rapid series of calculations pass behind the glittering dark blue eyes.
“That being so,” said Clark, suddenly leaning forward in earnest again, “militia should be raised just for the duration of such a campaign. They should be woodsmen for the most part. Hunters. Swift and quiet. It requires little to equip such a man for a campaign of, say, forty days or thereabouts. That, sir, with a few boats and some ammunition, would be enough, and it would not draw off much from your eastern war here. As for the Assembly, they need only be told that it’s for the defense of Kentucky, not for an offensive so far afield. For that matter,” he added, “I’d fear for the secrecy of any mission that had to be voted through a legislative body.”
The governor nodded at the astuteness of the remark. He sat now leaning forward, an elbow on his thigh, chin in his left hand, index finger laid over his mouth and the end of his nose, tapping one foot on the floor, and stared with his ever-fierce eyes at this audacious youth. Three words Clark had said kept sounding in his head.
Woodsmen. Swift. Quiet
. The governor realized that Clark was talking about warfare in the Indian fashion. And as he looked at the young man’s hard, lean form and eagle’s visage, he imagined a long file of such tall men in buckskin slipping silently through wilderness shadows, all their provisions on their backs, long rifles at their sides. The governor got up from his chair suddenly and began to pace, head forward, lips pursed, hands clasped behind his back.
For a long time Governor Henry had been encouraging General Hand, the commander at Fort Pitt, to launch an offensivewestward. Such an expedition, if done in the orthodox manner, would be ponderous, with cannon, with baggage convoys, with livestock led along to be slaughtered for meat … A slow affair, costly, almost impossible to do in secrecy … But this, now …
Woodsmen. Swift. Quiet
.
The governor turned back toward the hearth, and rubbed his hands before the fire. “George,” he said. “Have some more port. Then let us spread your maps on the table here. I should like to be made familiar with your whole conception before we broach it to Tom Jefferson and the others.”
Clark rose, lithe as a panther, smiling but careful not to seem exuberant. Good, he thought. And Jefferson will see it my way, I am sure.
He knew both of them were thinking of those lands above the Ohio, originally Virginia grant lands left under British control by the French and Indian War.
They’ll agree to any campaign which might strengthen our claim to that, he thought. “Thank
Governor Henry raised his hand. “One moment. I respect your appraisal, both of Kaskaskia’s importance, and of its vulnerability. But my doubts arise from our own circumstance. Such an expedition would require—what? Seven hundred? A thousand men?”
“Five hundred would suffice, I think. At the very least.”
“And how much provision? How much artillery? How manyboats? Horses? Perhaps we have all got unreasonably encouraged about the war, since Saratoga. You know, I presume, that Virginia is hard pressed—nay, unable—to spare men or goods, even
shoes
, for Washington, who’s wintering at a place in Pennsylvania called Valley Forge. Why, his own army is starving and naked. As I see it, moving against a fort no one ever heard of, nearly a thousand miles away, would require not only more men and matériel than we could justify, but more than we
have.”
“But to capture that country with a small force now would cost a fraction of its next year’s defense if we don’t.”
“I wonder if you heard me,” Governor Henry said. “It’s not that I don’t like your plan. It is simply not possible for Virginia to provide for it. The Assembly would never authorize the diversion of such a force.”
The frontiersman sat back in his chair for a moment, and the governor imagined he could actually see a rapid series of calculations pass behind the glittering dark blue eyes.
“That being so,” said Clark, suddenly leaning forward in earnest again, “militia should be raised just for the duration of such a campaign. They should be woodsmen for the most part. Hunters. Swift and quiet. It requires little to equip such a man for a campaign of, say, forty days or thereabouts. That, sir, with a few boats and some ammunition, would be enough, and it would not draw off much from your eastern war here. As for the Assembly, they need only be told that it’s for the defense of Kentucky, not for an offensive so far afield. For that matter,” he added, “I’d fear for the secrecy of any mission that had to be voted through a legislative body.”
The governor nodded at the astuteness of the remark. He sat now leaning forward, an elbow on his thigh, chin in his left hand, index finger laid over his mouth and the end of his nose, tapping one foot on the floor, and stared with his ever-fierce eyes at this audacious youth. Three words Clark had said kept sounding in his head.
Woodsmen. Swift. Quiet
. The governor realized that Clark was talking about warfare in the Indian fashion. And as he looked at the young man’s hard, lean form and eagle’s visage, he imagined a long file of such tall men in buckskin slipping silently through wilderness shadows, all their provisions on their backs, long rifles at their sides. The governor got up from his chair suddenly and began to pace, head forward, lips pursed, hands clasped behind his back.
For a long time Governor Henry had been encouraging General Hand, the commander at Fort Pitt, to launch an offensivewestward. Such an expedition, if done in the orthodox manner, would be ponderous, with cannon, with baggage convoys, with livestock led along to be slaughtered for meat … A slow affair, costly, almost impossible to do in secrecy … But this, now …
Woodsmen. Swift. Quiet
.
The governor turned back toward the hearth, and rubbed his hands before the fire. “George,” he said. “Have some more port. Then let us spread your maps on the table here. I should like to be made familiar with your whole conception before we broach it to Tom Jefferson and the others.”
Clark rose, lithe as a panther, smiling but careful not to seem exuberant. Good, he thought. And Jefferson will see it my way, I am sure.
He knew both of them were thinking of those lands above the Ohio, originally Virginia grant lands left under British control by the French and Indian War.
They’ll agree to any campaign which might strengthen our claim to that, he thought. “Thank
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