An Honorable Soldier in General Washington's Army: Chapter 3
by Tami B.
Disclaimer: The following work has been written solely for the enjoyment of fans and not for monetary profit. The rights to the characters initially created for the Daniel Boone series belong to 20th Century Fox and Fess Parker. All other characters are of the author's own creation. No copyright violation is intended.
After dinner, Adam helped Jemima and Israel with the supper dishes. Then they sat at the table with Mingo. Daniel and Rebecca relaxed together on the bench seat.
"Mrs. Boone, accolades to you for an excellent repast," Adam complemented.
"Thank you, Adam. That makes at least the tenth time you've thanked me this evening alone," Rebecca said.
"I want you to know that you're appreciated," Adam said earnestly.
"Oh, she's appreciated," Daniel admitted, gently seizing her arm. "We just don't tell her often lest she become arrogant and overbearing."
"Those are traits I can't imagine Mrs. Boone ever displaying or attempting to achieve," Adam surmised.
"You're quite right," Mingo chimed in. "Rebecca is and always has been a grand lady."
"Stop all of you," Rebecca said. "All this admiration is much too much. I'm a simple frontier woman with a wonderful family and good friends."
"I disagree with that statement, but I will yield to your evaluation to avoid a debate that I'm sure to lose," Adam said.
"Adam, you are a wise young man," Rebecca told him. "By the way, I'll mend your trousers tomorrow."
"That would be an imposition, Mrs. Boone. I can't ask you to do that," Adam argued grateful for his buckskin pants he was wearing now.
"You didn't ask. I volunteered," Rebecca said.
"Mingo is right. You are a grand lady in every respect," Adam said with gratitude.
"Don't start that again," Rebecca warned. "Israel, what are you doing?" she asked when she noticed Israel holding and massaging his thumb.
"Nothin', Ma," Israel said guiltily and throwing his injured thumb behind him.
"Israel Boone, show me your thumb," Rebecca demanded, approaching him.
"It ain't nothin', Ma," Israel said, continuing to keep his thumb out of sight.
"It's something or you wouldn't be hiding it. Let me see," Rebecca said firmly.
Reluctantly withdrawing his hand, Israel presented his slightly wounded thumb. Rebecca examined it with care.
"How did this happen?" she asked with compassion.
Daniel spoke up. "It seems Isra'l misunderstood which nail I told him to hammer. He chose the one on his thumb."
"Bad choice," Mingo said.
Despite her best efforts to stifle her laughter, Rebecca failed and everyone else including Israel joined her. "Thank heaven you didn't break it. Son, next time you hit the metal nail. Hammers weren't made for thumbs. Trust me, it will be a lot less painful," Rebecca advised, squeezing his good hand with hers.
"Yes, ma'am." Israel said, glad she didn't say he was too young to be doing that kind of work. He hated being treated like a little kid at times.
Rebecca returned to sit beside Daniel. "Some teacher you are," she commented.
Daniel shrugged and placed a loving arm over her shoulder as she nestled against him.
"Jemima, I think we've all been remiss in not acknowledging your effort in assisting your mother for tonight's meal of grandeur," Adam said.
Daniel and Mingo quickly spoke their gratitude as well.
Giggling, Jemima said, "Thanks to all of you."
"The colonel informed me that you attended Oxford, Mingo," Adam said as he redirected the conversation.
"That's correct," Mingo confirmed.
"My father held hopes that I would one day attend there," Adam explained. "I never developed an interest in it. After a concentrated education under the tutelage of Reverend Miles for many years, I preferred to receive an education outside the classroom. It's now called the Continental Army."
"What have you learned in the army?" Israel asked.
"In New York, Israel," Adam answered, "patriots are few and far between. In the army, I have found like-minded individuals who are fighting to liberate our nation from oppression and tyranny. Of course, some hold that objective more passionately than others. I believe in the cause with such fervor I changed my last name to Liberty."
"What was your last name before you changed it?" Jemima asked.
"Markes," Adam replied. "To me, it was a Tory surname that wasn't befitting a patriot soldier. The choice of a name was obvious. Since the day I joined the army, I've been known as Adam Liberty."
"I like it," Israel said.
"As do I. Your vote of affirmation is appreciated," Adam said.
"What's it like to be in the army?" Israel asked.
"Israel, quit interrogating Adam," Rebecca scolded.
"It's all right, Mrs. Boone. I don't mind unless everyone else is bored with my dominating the conversation," Adam said.
"Not at all," Daniel said. "Talk away."
Before he began, Adam looked around the room to ensure that all were in agreement to hearing his experiences in the army. "I joined last year when I was fifteen. I hadn't been there long when a Prussian arrived by the name of Baron Von Steuben. He was a likable chap with a quick smile. Along with myself and nearly a hundred veteran soldiers, we were to learn how to be proper soldiers. I felt a little out of place since I was a novice to everything. The general told me I was destined to be an honorable soldier in his army, but first I had to learn how to be a soldier. The baron began to teach us how to stand - head up, chin in, shoulders back, chest out, stomach in, arms and hands rigidly at the side. Once we succeeded in standing like soldiers, he then taught us how to march like them. This became laborious, but at the same time enjoyable," he said with a chuckle.
"How was it fun?" Jemima asked him when he paused. She rested her chin on her fists with elbows braced against the tabletop. Her interest piqued.
"Being a foreigner, he tortured the English language with his mispronunciations. To order us to step forward, he would say, 'Vorwaarts, march!" Adam said, providing the proper accent and much enthusiasm.
Laughing, Israel said, "That's funny. What else did he say?"
"To stop on command, he would say, 'Halt! Vun-doo!'," Adam answered. "Vun means one and doo is two. He then taught us how proper soldiers change direction on command - 'Left oblique, march! Right vlank, march! Golumn left, march! We marched around the parade ground to the baron's count of 'Vun-doo-dree-four'," Adam said.
"I know what he said!" Israel said eagerly. "One-two-three-four."
"Very good, Israel," Adam commended him. "We began to mimic the baron to his delight. Imitation is a form of flattery. That's how we meant it and that's how the baron received it. At the end of four weeks, we were a precision marching unit. Our task was then to train a hundred others and they would in turn train a hundred more and so on. By the time the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse occurred, we were spirited and morale was high because now we acted and looked like real soldiers. The general was proud with every right to be."
"What's the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse?" Jemima asked.
"In short, the general heard that the Redcoats were headed for Monmouth Courthouse with their ultimate destination being Sandy Hook to board ships bound for New York. The general determined to stop them. I was assigned to the Marquis de Lafayette's command where I became an express rider. When I wasn't riding I marched-" Adam stopped when Israel waved his hand towards him. "A question, Israel?" Adam asked.
Nodding his head, Israel asked, "What's an express rider?"
"That's a man who delivers messages from their commanding officers to other generals. I most often took missives to the general," Adam said then continued where he left off. "We marched through the heat and rain. Finally, we began to set up to strike the British General Clinton's left flank that would surely leave his army devastated. More regiments joined us and General Charles Lee took over command from the Marquis de Lafayette. We reached a field to cut off their advance to Sandy Hook. Soon the battle began with our side mainly on the defensive. With no orders from Lee, everybody else gave orders. Some were followed. Others weren't. The situation became chaotic. Next thing I knew, a retreat was ordered from Lee, so we retreated.
"If Lee had coordinated the battle, we would have surely routed the lobsterbacks. When the general arrived and learned what had happened, he was incensed. So were we. We could taste victory and it was denied us. The general ordered some of us to hold off the enemy while he reformed the regiments behind us. We did, but at a tremendous loss of life. Once the general had them deployed, our artillery was unleashed followed by the rifles of the infantry. By this time, I had rejoined the Marquis de Lafayette's command. The battle ended by nightfall with no clear victor. We settled in for the night to resume the fight the next day. Unfortunately, the lobsterbacks slipped past us in the night. However, the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse was a victory in the sense that we didn't desert the field of battle, but the objective to stop the Redcoats failed. There was pride among us because we held our own against the best soldiers of Europe. Lee was court-martialed and rightly so. If you'll pardon me for being frank, he was incompetent and deserved to be drummed out of the service." After taking a sip of his coffee, he continued, "I've droned on long enough. My apologies, if I bored anyone."
"Your rendition of your experiences was anything but a bore," Mingo said.
Rebecca was grateful Adam had left out the bloody and gory details. Not that she was squeamish, far from it, but she preferred polite talk. This young man's conduct was exceptional.
"What else do you do in the army besides marching, delivering messages, and fighting Redcoats?" Israel asked as if that wasn't enough.
"We have to forage for food because there's usually not much to eat. For fun though, we play a card game called whist. Have you ever played?" Adam asked, thinking it better not to let Israel know just how rough living could be when one was a regular.
Shaking his head, Israel then said excitedly, "Can you teach me?"
"I may. With your permission, Colonel, Mrs. Boone," Adam said to Israel's parents.
Daniel and Rebecca gave their consent.
"Yippee!" Israel cheered.
"Mingo, Jemima, would you care to join us? This game is played in partnerships," Adam explained.
Both agreed to play although Mingo knew the game. Retrieving his set of cards from his pack, Adam sat back down at the table and explained the rules. "First of all, most of the fellas bet in this game, but since this is a friendly game we'll just play for fun. I'll deal out all of the cards face down," Adam said, after he shuffled the cards and then passed them around.
"Can I look at them?" Israel asked.
"Israel, may, may I look at them," Rebecca corrected. She'd allowed his first 'can' to go by but not this one.
"All right. May I look at my cards?" Israel asked.
"Yours and no one else's," Adam said with a smile.
"The last remaining card I'll turn up to establish the trump suit," Adam said, turning the card over revealing a six of diamonds.
"What's a trump suit?" Israel asked.
"That's the suit that beats everything," Adam answered.
"Oh, like Pa," Israel concluded.
Chuckles went around the table to the married couple on the bench seat.
"Play begins with the player on the dealer's left ," Adam said.
"That's Mingo," Israel said.
"You're an intelligent lad, Israel. You make your parents proud," Adam complimented him. "We all must follow the suit Mingo leads with. If you can't then you can play a trump card - diamonds in this case or some other card. The trick is won by the highest card in the suit or by the highest trump card played. The winner of the trick leads next. Six tricks are called a book and a book is worth one point. Each additional book is worth one point. The partnership that scores seven points wins the game. Everybody ready to play?"
Israel and Jemima nodded their heads then Mingo led out strong with an ace of spades. Play moved to Israel, but he was stymied as to what to play. Was he supposed to play the same suit as Mingo or something else? He just didn't know. "Pa, would you help me please?" he said, turning towards his father with a pitiful look.
"Well, Isra'l since you asked so gentlemanly, I accept," Daniel said, coming to Israel's side as Rebecca sat at the end of the table opposite of Mingo. "Since nothing except a diamond is going to beat Mingo's card, you should just play a small numbered spade."
Finding one, Israel pointed to it. "This one?" he asked.
Daniel nodded and Israel slapped his card to the table wearing a grin. He liked this game. Jemima and Adam followed with a small numbered spade of their own. Adam retrieved the six of diamonds and placed it in his hand.
"Hey!" Israel shouted to Adam. "You're cheatin'!"
"No, he's not, Israel," Mingo said. "Since Adam dealt, he gets the card; otherwise, he'd be one card short."
"Oh," Israel said sheepishly. "Sorry, Adam."
"Quite all right, Israel," Adam said.
Mingo next led with a king of spades. Israel and Jemima followed with a small numbered spade. Adam used his six of diamonds and took the trick to Israel's delight. At the end of round one the score was Israel and Adam two points and Mingo and Jemima one.
"We have doo points and you doo," Israel said, pointing to Mingo and Jemima, "have vun point," Israel said, trying his best to imitate the baron's accent.
Laughter arose as play continued. At last, the game to an end with Israel and Adam the victors. Being a good sport, Adam wished his friends better luck next time while Israel chose to crow, but Daniel quickly stifled that unacceptable behavior. Since it was growing late, Daniel sent the children to bed including Adam. The young soldier didn't mind. It had been an eventful day and he was ready for a good night's sleep in a home filled with warmth and acceptance.
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