A Soldier of Virginia - Burton Egbert Stevenson
A SOLDIER OF VIRGINIA
A TALE OF COLONEL WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT
BY BURTON EGBERT STEVENSON
1901
TO THE MEMORY OF THE GALLANT MEN WHO FELL WITH DUST OF FAILURE BITTER ON
THEIR LIPS THAT OTHERS MIGHT BE TAUGHT THE LESSON OF THE WILDERNESS
CONTENTS
I. LIEUTENANT ALLEN GROWS INSULTING
II. THE STORY OF FONTENOY
III. IN WHICH I INTRODUCE MYSELF
IV. THE ENDING OF THE HONEYMOON
V. THE SECRET OF A HEART
VI. I AM TREATED TO A SURPRISE
VII. I DECIDE TO BE A SOLDIER
VIII. A RIDE TO WILLIAMSBURG
IX. MY FIRST TASTE OF WARFARE
X. THE FRENCH SCORE FIRST
XI. DREAM DAYS AT RIVERVIEW
XII. DOROTHY MAKES HER CHOICE
XIII. LIEUTENANT ALLEN SHOWS HIS SKILL
XIV. I CHANCE UPON A TRAGEDY
XV. WE START ON A WEARY JOURNEY
XVI. THE END IN SIGHT
XVII. THE LESSON OF THE WILDERNESS
XVIII. DEFEAT BECOMES DISHONOR
XIX. ALLEN AND I SHAKE HANDS
XX. BRADDOCK PAYS THE PRICE
XXI. VIRGINIA BIDS US WELCOME
XXII. A NEW DANGER AT RIVERVIEW
XXIII. THE GOVERNOR SHOWS HIS GRATITUDE
XXIV. A WARNING FROM THE FOREST
XXV. I FIND MYSELF IN A DELICATE SITUATION
XXVI. A DESPERATE DEFENSE
XXVII. I COME INTO MY OWN
XXVIII. AND SO, GOOD-BY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"I DO NOT LOVE HIM, TOM"
"FOR SHAME, GENTLEMEN!"
"STEWART, LISTEN!"
THE SAVAGES POURED OVEB THE THRESHOLD
A SOLDIER OF VIRGINIA
CHAPTER I
LIEUTENANT ALLEN GROWS INSULTING
It was not until he sneered at me openly across the board that I felt my
self-control slipping from me. "Lieutenant Allen seems to have a poor
opinion of the Virginia troops," I said, as calmly as I could.
"Egad, you are right, Lieutenant Stewart," he retorted, his eyes full
on mine. "These two weeks past have I been trying to beat some sense
into the fools, and 'pon my word, 't is enough to drive a man crazy to
see them."
He paused to gulp down a glass of wine, of which I thought he had already
drunk too much.
"I saw them this forenoon," cried Preston, who was sitting at Allen's
right, "and was like to die of laughing. Poor Allen, there, was doing his
best to teach them the manual, and curse me if they didn't hold their
guns as though they burnt their fingers. And when they were ordered to
'bout face, they looked like nothing so much as the crowd I saw six
months since at Newmarket, trying to get their money on Jason."
The others around the table laughed in concert, and I could not but
admit there was a grain of truth in the comparison.
"'Tis granted," I said, after a moment, "that we Virginians have not the
training of you gentlemen of the line; but we can learn, and at least no
one can doubt our courage."
"Think you so?" and Allen laughed an insulting laugh. "There was that
little brush at Fort Necessity last year, from which they brought away
nothing but their skins, and damned glad they were to do that."
"They brought away their arms," I cried hotly, "and would have brought
away all their stores and munitions, had the French kept faith and held
their Indians off. That, too, in face of an enemy three times their
number. The Virginians have no cause to blush for their conduct at Fort
Necessity. The Coldstreams could have done no better."
Allen laughed again. "Ah, pardon me, Stewart," he said contemptuously, "I
forgot that you were present on that glorious day."
I felt my cheeks crimson, and I looked up and down the board, but saw
only sneering faces. Yes, there was one, away down at the farther end,
which did not sneer, but looked at me I thought pityingly, which was
infinitely worse. And then, of course, there was Pennington, who sat next
to me, and who looked immeasurably shamed at the turn the dispute had
taken. He placed a restraining hand upon my sleeve, but I shook it off
impatiently.
"Yes, I was present," I answered, my heart aflame within me, "and our
provincial troops learned a lesson there which even the gentlemen of the
Forty-Fourth may one day be glad to have us teach them."
"Teach us?" cried Allen. "Curse me, sir, but you grow insulting! As for
your learning, permit me to doubt your ability to learn anything. I have
been trying to teach you provincials the rudiments of drill for the past
fortnight, without success. In faith, you seem to know less now than you
did before I began."
"Yes?" I asked, my anger quite mastering me. "But may not that be the
fault of the teacher, Lieutenant Allen?"
He was out of his chair with an oath, and would have come across the
table at me, but that those on either side held him back.
"I suppose you considered your words before you spoke them, Lieutenant
Stewart?" asked Preston, looking at me coldly, and still keeping tight
hold on the swearing man at his side.
"Fully," I answered, as I arose from my chair.
"You know, of course, that there remains only one thing to be done?" he
continued, with a glance I thought compassionate, and so resented.
"Certainly," I answered again. "I may be able to teach the gentleman a
very pretty thrust in tierce."
Upon this Allen fell to cursing again, but Preston silenced him with a
gesture of his hand.
"I am very willing," I added, "to give him the lesson at once, if he so
desires. There is a charming place just without. I marked it as I passed
to enter here, though with no thought I should so soon have need of it."
Now all this was merely the empty braggartry of youth, which I blush to
remember. Nor was Allen the blustering bully I then deemed him, as I was
afterwards to find out for myself. But I know of nothing which will so
gloss over and disguise a man's real nature as a glass of wine too much.
"I shall be happy to give the lesson at once," I repeated.
"Yes, at once!" cried Allen savagely. "I'll teach you, sir, to keep a
civil tongue in your head when you address an officer of the line."
"It seems that we are both to learn a lesson, then," I said lightly. "It
remains only to be seen which is the better teacher. Will one of the
other gentlemen present act as my second?"
"I shall be happy to do so, Lieutenant Stewart," cried my neighbor,
stepping forward.
"Ah, Lieutenant Pennington, thank you," and I looked into his face with
pleasure, for it was the one, of all those present, which I liked the
best. "Will you arrange the details for me?"
"May I speak to you a moment first?" he asked, looking at me anxiously.
"Certainly," I answered, and together we walked over to one corner
of the room.
"Believe me, Lieutenant Stewart," he said, in a low voice, "I deem you a
brave man, and I honor you for defending the credit of your countrymen.
I little thought, when I invited you to dine with us to-night, that there
would be an issue such as this, for it can end in but one way. Allen is
the best swordsman in the regiment, and a very devil when he is flushed
with wine, as he is now."
"You would have me decline to meet him, then?" I asked, looking at
him steadily.
"A word of apology," he stammered, but he did not meet my eyes. His heart
was not in his words.
"Impossible," I said. "You forget that it was he who insulted me, and
that an apology, if there be one, must come from him. He has insulted not
only myself, but the whole body of Virginia volunteers. Though I were
certain he would kill me, I could not draw back in honor. But I am not so
certain," and I smiled down into his face. "There be some good swordsmen
even in Virginia, sir."
"In faith, I am wondrous glad to hear it!" he cried, his face
brightening. "I could not do less than warn you."
"And I thank you for your interest."
He held out his hand, and I clasped it warmly. Then we turned again to
the group about the table.
"Well," cried Allen harshly, "does our Virginia friend desire to
withdraw?"
"On the contrary," answered Pennington quietly, "he has positively
refused to withdraw," and as he spoke, I saw that the others looked at me
with attentive eyes. "There is a little green just back of the barracks.
Let us proceed to it," and he led the way toward the door.
Allen and I followed him, and the whole rabble of officers crowded after.
In a moment we were at the place, and I walked to one side while the
seconds conferred together. The full moon had risen above the treetops
and flooded the clearing with still radiance. The tall, coarse grass
waved slowly to and fro in the faint breeze, and away off in the forest I
heard a wolf howling. The note, long and clear, rose and quivered in the
air, faint and far away. And as it died to silence, for the first time
the thought came to me that perchance my skill in fence might not avail.
Well, thank heaven, there was none to whom my death would cause much
sorrow, except--yes, Dorothy might care. At thought of her, the forest
faded from before me, and I saw her again as I had seen her last, looking
down upon me from the stair-head, and her kiss was warm upon my lips.
"We are ready, Lieutenant Stewart," called Pennington, and I shook my
forebodings from me as I strode back toward him.
"Lieutenant Allen instructs me to say," began Preston, who was acting as
his second, "that an apology on the part of Lieutenant Stewart will avert
consequences which may, perhaps, be unpleasant."
"Lieutenant Stewart has no apologies to offer," I said shortly. "We are
wasting time, gentlemen."
"As you will," and Preston turned back to Allen.
My coat was off in an instant, and I rolled the sleeve of my shirt above
my elbow, the better to have it out of the way.
"May I have your sword, lieutenant?" asked Pennington, and he walked with
it over to where Preston stood. He was back in a moment. "Allen's sword
is fully an inch the longer," he said. "I have insisted that he secure a
shorter weapon."
"Nonsense!" I cried. "Let him keep his sword. I am two or three inches
the taller, and the advantage will still be on my side."
Pennington looked at me a moment in something like astonishment.
"Very well," he said at last, and stepped over and spoke another word to
Preston. Then he came back and handed me my sword. "You are a gallant
man, Lieutenant Stewart," he said as he did so.
"No more than many others in Virginia. 'T is that I mean to prove
to-night," I answered lightly, and I saluted my adversary and felt his
blade against my own. The first pass showed me that he was master of the
weapon, but I was far from dismayed. I saw his eyes widen with surprise
as I parried his thrust and pressed him so closely that he gave back a
step. I smiled dryly, for I knew my advantage. The earliest lesson I had
learned at the foils was that victory comes only to the man who keeps his
coolness. I had drunk little wine, while Allen had drunk much, and his
bloodshot eyes told of previous nights spent over the cups and dice. No,
decidedly, I had little to fear. Allen must have read something of my
thought in my eyes, for his face flushed to a yet darker crimson, he
pulled himself together with an effort, and by a trick which I had never
seen, got inside my guard. His point was at my breast, but I leaped back
and avoided it.
"Ah, you break!" he cried. "'Tis not so easy as you fancied!"
I did not answer, contenting myself with playing more cautiously than I
had done in my self-satisfaction of a moment before. Out of the corners
of my eyes, I could see a portion of the circle of white faces about us,
but they made no sound, and what their expression was I could not tell.
The night air and the fast work were doing much to sober my opponent, and
I felt his wrist grow stronger as he held down my point for an instant.
It was his turn to smile, and I felt my cheeks redden at the expression
of his face. Again he got inside my guard, but again I was out of reach
ere he could touch me. I saw that I was making but a sorry showing, and I
tried the thrust of which I had had the bad taste to boast, but he turned
it aside quite easily. And then, of a sudden, I heard the beat of a
horse's hoofs behind me.
"For shame, gentlemen!" cried a clear voice, which rang familiar in my
ears. "Can the king's soldiers find no enemies to his empire that they
must fight among themselves?"
Our seconds struck up our swords, and Allen looked over my shoulder
with a curse.
"Another damned provincial, upon my life!" he cried. "Was there ever such
impudence!"
[Illustration: "FOR SHAME GENTLEMEN!"]
As he spoke, the horseman swung himself from the saddle with an easy
grace which declared long training in it, and walked coolly toward us.
"Lieutenant Stewart," he said to me sternly, "I did not think to find
you thus engaged, else had I thought twice before placing a sword in
your hand."
"The insult was one which could not be passed over, Colonel Washington,"
I answered, as I saluted him. "It was not to myself only, but to all the
Virginia troops who serve his Majesty."
"So," sneered Allen, "'t is the hero of Fort Necessity! I can well
believe him averse to fighting."
My cheeks were hot with anger and I saw Washington flush darkly, but he
gazed at Allen coldly, and his voice was calm as ever when he spoke.
"It shall be my privilege at some future time," he said, "to call the
gentleman to account for his words. At present, my sword is pledged to
the king and may be drawn in no other service, more especially not in my
own. I trust, Lieutenant Stewart, you will have the courage to sheathe
your blade."
I hesitated. It was a hard thing to ask a man to do.
"Yes, put up your sword!" cried Allen scornfully. "Allow yourself to be
reproved like a naughty boy by this hero who knows only how to retreat.
On my soul, 't was well he arrived when he did. I should have finished
with you long ere this."
Washington looked at me steadily, without showing by the movement of a
muscle that he had heard.
"And I promise you, Lieutenant Stewart," he continued, as though there
had been no interruption, "that I shall be happy to act as your second,
once this campaign is closed."
My cheeks flushed again, this time with pleasure, and I picked up my
scabbard and sent my blade home.
"I must beg you to excuse me, Lieutenant Allen," I said. "Colonel
Washington says right. My sword is not my own until we have met the
French. Then I shall be only too pleased to conclude the argument."
Allen's lips curved in a disdainful smile.
"I thought you would be somewhat less eager to vindicate the courage of
Virginia once you had pause for reflection," he sneered. "Provincials are
all of a kind, and the breed is not a choice one."
I bit my lips to keep back the angry retort which leaped to them, and I
saw Washington's hand trembling on his sword. It did me good to see that
even he maintained his calmness only by an effort.
"Oh, come, Allen," cried Pennington, "you go too far. There can be no
question of Lieutenant Stewart's courage. He was ready enough to meet
you, God knows! Colonel Washington is right, our swords belong to the
king while he has work for them," and the young fellow, with flushed
face, held out his hand to Washington, who grasped it warmly.
"I thank you," he said simply. "I should be sorry to believe that all the
king's officers could so far forget their duty. Come, lieutenant," he
added to me, and taking me by the arm, he walked me out of the group,
which opened before us, and I ventured to think that not all of the faces
were unfriendly. "I have a message for Sir Peter Halket," he said, when
we were out of earshot. "Show me his quarters, Tom, and so soon as I have
finished my business, we will talk over this unhappy affair."
I led the way toward the building where the commander of the Forty-Fourth
was quartered, too angry with myself and with the world to trust myself
to speak. Why should I, who came of as good family as any in Virginia, be
compelled to swallow insults as I had to-night? I almost regretted for
the moment that I was in the service.
"But the time will come," I said, speaking aloud before I thought.
"Yes, the time will come, Tom," and Washington looked at me with a grim
smile. "The time will come sooner than you think, perhaps, when these
braggarts will be taught a lesson which they greatly need. Pray heaven
the lesson be not so severe that it shake the king's empire on this
continent."
"Shake the king's empire?" I repeated, looking at him in amazement. "I
do not understand."
"No matter," he said shortly. "Here we are at headquarters. Do you wait
for me. I will be but a moment;" and he ran up the steps, spoke a word to
the sentry, and disappeared within.
CHAPTER II
THE STORY OF FONTENOY
My heart was thick with wrath as I walked up and down before Sir Peter
Halket's quarters and waited for Colonel Washington to reappear. I asked
myself again why I should be compelled to take the insults of any man. I
clenched my hands together behind me, and swore that Allen should yet pay
dearly. I recalled with bitterness the joy I had felt a week before, when
I had received from Colonel Washington a letter in which he stated that
he had procured my appointment as lieutenant in Captain Waggoner's
Virginia company. I had been ahungered to make the campaign, and had
donned my uniform with a light heart,--the same I had worn the year
before, now much faded but inexpressibly dear to me,--mounted my horse,
and ridden hotfoot to join the force here at Winchester. I had been
received kindly enough by my companion officers of the provincial
companies, many of whom were old friends. The contempt which the officers
of the Forty-Fourth felt for the Virginia troops, and which they were at
no pains to conceal, had vexed me somewhat from the first, yet it was not
until to-night at the officers' mess, to which I had foolishly accepted
Pennington's invitation, that this contempt had grown unbearable. I had
chanced to pull Pennington's horse out of a hole the day before, and so
saved it a broken leg, but I saw now that I should have done better to
refuse that invitation, courteously as it was given, and sincere as his
gratitude had undoubtedly been.
So I walked up and down with a sore heart, as a child will when it has
been punished for no fault, and prayed that we provincials might yet
teach the regulars a lesson. Yet they were brave men, most of them, whom
I could not but admire. A kindlier, gallanter roan than Sir Peter Halket
I had never seen, no, nor ever shall see. I noted the sentries pacing
their beats before the colonel's quarters, erect, automatons, their guns
a-glitter in the moonlight, their uniforms immaculate. I had seen them
drill the day before, whole companies moving like one man, their ranks
straight as a ramrod,--tramp, tramp,--turning as on a pivot moved by a
single will. It was a wonderful sight to me who had never seen the like
before, they were so strong, so confident, so seemingly invincible.
I turned and glanced again at the sentries, almost envying them their
perfect carriage. Had they been men of iron, worked by a spring, they
could not have moved with more clock-like regularity. And yet, no doubt,
they had one time been country louts like any others. Truly there was
much virtue in discipline. Yet still, and here I shook my head, the
Virginia troops were brave as any in the world, and would prove it. From
the officers' quarters came the sound of singing and much laughter, and I
flushed as I thought perchance it was at me they laughed. I have learned
long since that no man's laughter need disturb rue, so my heart be clear,
but this was wisdom far beyond my years and yet undreamed of, and I shook
my fist at the row of lighted windows.
"What, still fuming, Tom?" cried a voice at my elbow, and I turned to
find Colonel Washington there; "and staring over toward the barracks as
though you would like to gobble up every one within! Well, I admit you
have cause," he added, and I saw that his face grew stern. "You may have
to bear many such insults before the campaign is ended, but I hope and
believe that the conduct of the Virginia troops will yet win them the
respect of the regulars. You seem to have lost no time in getting to
camp," he added, in a lighter tone.
"There was nothing to keep me at Riverview," I answered bitterly. "My
absence is much preferred to my presence there. Had I not come to
Winchester, I must have gone somewhere else. Your letter came most
opportunely."
"You are out of humor to-night, Tom," said Washington, but his tone was
kindly, and he placed one hand upon my arm as we turned back toward the
cabin where my quarters were. He was scarce three years my senior, yet to
me he seemed immeasurably the elder. I had always thought of him as of a
man, and I verily believe he was a man in mind and temper while yet a boy
in body. I had ridden beside him many times over his mother's estate, and
I had noticed--and chafed somewhat at the knowledge--that women much
older than he always called him Mr. Washington, while even that little
chit of a Polly Johnston called me Tom to my face, and laughed at me when
I assumed an air of injured dignity. I think it was the fact that my
temper was so the opposite of his own which drew him to me, and as for
myself, I was proud to have such a friend, and of the chance to march
with him again over the mountains against the French.
He knew well how to humor me, and walked beside me, saying nothing. I
glanced at his face, half shamed of my petulance, and I saw that he was
no longer smiling. His lips were closed in that firm straight line which
I had already seen once or twice, and which during years of trial became
habitual to him. My own petty anger vanished at the sight.
"I have not yet thanked you, Colonel Washington," I said at last, "for
securing me my appointment. I was eating my heart out to make the
campaign, but saw no way of doing so until your message reached me."
"Why, Tom," he laughed, "you were the first of whom I thought when
General Braddock gave me leave to fill some of the vacancies. Did you
think I had so soon forgot the one who saved my life at Fort Necessity?"
I opened my mouth to protest, but he silenced me with a gesture.
"I can see it as though it were here before us," he continued. "The
French and Indians on the knoll yonder, my own men kneeling in the
trenches, almost waist-deep in water, trying in vain to keep their powder
dry; here and there a wounded man lying in the mud and cursing, the rain
and mist over it all, and the night coming on. And then, suddenly, the
rush of Indians at our back, and over the breastwork. I had my pistol in
my hand, you remember, Tom, but the powder flashed in the pan, and the
foremost of the savages was upon me. I saw his tomahawk in the air, and I
remember wondering who would best command when I was dead. But your aim
was true and your powder dry, and when the tomahawk fell, it fell
harmless, with its owner upon it."
For a moment neither of us spoke. My eyes were wet at thought of the
scene which I so well remembered, and when I turned to him, I saw that he
was still brooding over this defeat, which had rankled as a poisoned
arrow in his breast ever since that melancholy morning we had marched
away from the Great Meadows with the French on either side and the
Indians looting the baggage in the rear. As we reached my quarters, we
turned by a common impulse and continued onward through the darkness.
"This expedition must be more fortunate," he said at last, as though in
answer to his own thought. "A thousand regulars, as many more
provincials, guns, and every equipage,--yes, it is large enough and
strong enough, unless"--
"Unless?" I questioned, as he paused.
"Unless we walk headlong to our own destruction," he said. "But no, I
won't believe it. The general has been bred in the Coldstreams and
knows nothing of frontier fighting. But he is a brave man, an honest
man, and he will learn. Small wonder he believes in discipline after
serving half a century in such a regiment. Have you ever heard the
story of their fight at Fontenoy, ten years since, when they lost two
hundred and forty men? I heard it three nights ago at the general's
table, and 't was enough to make a man weep for very pity that such
valor should count for naught."
"Tell it me," I cried, for if there is one thing I love above all
others,--yea, even yet, when I must sit useless by,--it is the tale of
brave deeds nobly done.
"'T was on the eleventh day of May, seventeen forty-five," he said, "that
the English and the Dutch met the French, who were under Marshal Saxe.
Louis the Fifteenth himself was on the field, with the Grand Dauphin by
his side and a throng of courtiers about him, for he knew how much
depended on the issue of this battle. A redoubt, held by the famous
Guards, bristling with cannon, covered the French position. The Dutch,
appalled at the task before them, refused to advance, but his Grace of
Cumberland, who commanded the English, rose equal to the moment. He
formed his troops in column, the Coldstreams at its head, and gave the
word for the assault. The batteries thundered, the redoubt was crowned
with flame, but the Coldstreams turned neither to the right nor left.
Straight on they marched,--to annihilation, as it seemed,--reforming as
they went, over hill and gully, as steadily as on parade. At last they
reached their goal, and an instant's silence fell upon the field as they
faced the French. The English officers raised their hats to their
adversaries, who returned the salute as though they were at Versailles,
not looking in the eyes of death.