Kings Pinnacle (35 page)

* * * *

Alex

After the attack on their
campsite, the journey to Shelby’s Fort, to Fort Patrick Henry and
then on to Fort Watauga took Alex and his party only seven more
days in the saddle. Alex and everyone in his party were extremely
trail weary when they finally pulled up their horses inside Fort
Watauga and tied them up to a rail in front of the largest building
inside the fort. Fort Watauga was located beside the Watauga River
at a place called Sycamore Shoals, where the river could be crossed
by wading across the shallow rocky bottom. Although the Cherokees
now claimed the territory as a hunting ground, the settlement of
the area around Fort Watauga actually predated the claim by the
Cherokees. It was originally called the Watauga Old Fields because
it was a flat, clear area where ancient Native American tribes
gathered in council. It was discovered in 1759 by James Robertson
and Daniel Boone, who were exploring the area at the time.
Robertson stayed at the Watauga Old Fields and planted a corn crop,
while Daniel Boone continued on to Kentucky. Daniel Boone later
returned and moved his family to Fort Watauga for a while. But he
soon left again and founded Boonesborough, Kentucky, to open up
that territory to settlers.

The early residents who
settled in and around Fort Watauga had formed the Watauga
Association, which was in effect an independent regional
government. The land around Fort Watauga itself was a part of the
state of North Carolina, whose western border extended all the way
to the Mississippi River. The Watauga settlers did not get along
with the North Carolina tidewater gentry-led government of the
east, so they mostly ignored them. The leaders of the governmental
Watauga Association were James Robertson, who pioneered it, John
Sevier, and John Carter. The military, or militia, was under the
nominal command of Colonel John Sevier and Colonel Jonathan
Tipton.

Colonel John Sevier was at
the Nolichucky settlement overseeing the construction of Fort Lee
when Alex arrived at Fort Watauga. So, while the others explored
the fort, Alex reported to Colonel Jonathan Tipton, who was the
only officer present at the fort.

“Captain Alex Mackenzie
reporting as ordered,” said Alex, standing in front of Colonel
Tipton and handing him the sealed orders from General
Washington.

Colonel Tipton opened the orders and
read them through twice before he looked up at Alex
again.

“Welcome to Fort Watauga,
Captain Mackenzie. You may not be familiar with the military out
here on the frontier, but things are a little less formal and a
little less organized than they are back east and in General
Washington’s branch of the army. We spend most of our time out here
trying to keep our families fed and fighting the Cherokees, who are
aligned with the British. But we might be fighting the Cherokees
anyway, even if they weren’t aligned with the British, since they
believe we are living on their land and hunting on their grounds.
What are your plans, Captain Mackenzie?” asked Colonel
Tipton.

“Well, to be honest, I
haven’t thought too much past getting here as General Washington
ordered,” replied Alex.

“If you plan on putting down
roots here and being a part of the military as well as the
community, allow me to suggest that you start by applying for a
fifty acre homestead and building a cabin on it. The other thing to
remember is that if you hear shots fired, run as quick as you can
to get yourself and anyone else with you inside the fort,” said
Colonel Tipton.

“Good advice; I will do
that,” said Alex as he stood up to shake hands with the
colonel.

Straightaway, Alex applied
for and was granted fifty acres of land along Gap Creek, just south
of Fort Watauga. He and the group he traveled with decided to camp
on Alex’s homestead until they could build a cabin and explore the
land. They were all gathered in a camp on Alex’s land the next
morning.

“We’ll help ye build a cabin
in that clearing by the creek,” said Hugh.

“You and everyone are
welcome to stay with us; there’d be plenty of room,” said Alex
holding his arms out wide.

“Nae lad, Robber and I plan
on applying for a job at a gunpowder mill located over on the
Powder Branch since we are both experienced gunpowder mill workers.
The mill is owned by couple named John and Mary Patton and word has
it that they’re looking for bright, young, strong lads to work in
the mill. We’ll be bunking over at the mill if things work out like
we think they will. We also applied for and received fifty acres of
land each. Our land is located near the powder mill on the Powder
Branch. As soon as we can, we’ll put up a cabin on our land, and ye
can help us build it,” replied Hugh as Robert nodded his
assent.

“Jonas and I also applied
for and got fifty acres of land each. Our land is further south and
east along the Watauga River, and we plan on hunting and trapping
for a living on our own place. So, as soon as we get your cabin
built, we plan on moving on down the river a ways to our place,”
said the smiling Longhunter.

The men knew that Alex and
Martha wanted some time alone. They knew that the young couple
wanted to get to know each other better, spend some time together
without the intrusions of having other people around, and perhaps
start a family.

* * * *

Captain Ferguson

“
Captain Ferguson, our
position has become very precarious against the Continental Army
here at Monmouth. I want you to take your light cavalry unit and
attack the forward elements of the rebels. Force them back to the
main Continental Army lines near Monmouth Courthouse,” commanded
General Clinton.

“It would be my pleasure,
sir,” replied the cocky Captain Ferguson, who bowed to General
Clinton and then mounted up to rejoin his troops.

The rebels were positioned
behind a long hedge and well dug in. Captain Ferguson’s unit
attacked the front lines of the Continental Army three times and
was driven back by grapeshot and gunshot each time. On his fourth
attack, he successfully drove the rebels back to their main lines.
Several of his men were killed or wounded during the attacks, but
he accomplished his assigned mission without hesitation.

General Clinton was very
grateful to Captain Ferguson for giving him the respite he needed.
As soon as the sun went down, the two armies regrouped to decide
their next moves. General Clinton called his officers together and
asked for recommendations on how to proceed against the
rebels.

“General, I suggest that we
rest the men for an hour and then resume our march to New York
during the night,” said Captain Ferguson. “This should put some
distance between our troops and the rebels. We should be able to
reach the safety of New York well ahead of them.”

“An excellent idea, Captain
Ferguson; let’s get that plan working,” replied the general and
immediately dismissed the staff meeting. He then put Captain
Ferguson’s plan into action by issuing the appropriate
orders.

The British Army did in fact
escape the Continental Army, arriving two days later at Sandy Hook,
New Jersey, where they were met by British Navy boats and
transported across the harbor to New York.

* * * *

Alex

“
Alex, lad, what’re ye up
to?” asked Hugh sitting on horseback and looking down at
Alex.

Robert and Hugh had first
ridden up to Alex’s cabin. They stopped there and asked Martha
where Alex could be found. She had directed them to a clearing out
behind the cabin after first insisting that they get down off their
horses and eat something. The men had settled into life around Fort
Watauga very well. They had lived there for over six months and
built good lives for themselves in that short time.

“I might ask you the same
question?” replied Alex.

“Weel now, Robber and I are
out on an exploration mission for John and Mary Patton, but I asked
ye first,” replied Hugh with a grin.

“I have decided to become
more proficient with a bow and arrow,” said Alex. He had set up
some archery targets and was practicing shooting at them at
distances of up to fifty yards.

Alex had made a six foot
longbow out of an elm branch and had fashioned several thirty inch
poplar arrows and fletched them. He had knapped some flint
arrowheads and attached them to the arrow shafts with strips of
gut. After fletching the arrows with some bird feathers, Alex had
tested his weapon. When Alex was a lad, he heard some of the old
men tell tales about their grandfathers who were Scottish or
English longbow men. They had made their longbows out of yew back
in Great Britain. But there were no yew trees in America, so Alex
had selected elm for his bow.

An English longbow could
penetrate a knight’s armor with an arrow at sixty yards, and it
could kill at one hundred yards, but the days of armor and longbows
in battle were long gone. By about 1600, firearms had largely
displaced bows for military use, and Alex had never learned to
fight with a bow and arrows. When Alex was a young lad, he and his
friends made bows and arrows to use for hunting small animals back
in Scotland. But he hadn’t touched a bow in many years. He had
become fairly proficient with the longbow when he was younger. Now
he was rapidly regaining some of that lost expertise.

“And just why are you doing
that?” asked Hugh.

“Well, the Cherokees who
attacked us east of Shelby’s Fort and my previous experiences with
the Iroquois taught me a lesson about warfare on the frontier here
in America. A bow and arrow make an excellent weapon under certain
circumstances, such as if you need a weapon that is silent.
Besides, the bow and arrow make a good backup if your musket is not
loaded. They are also lightweight and easy to carry,” replied
Alex.

“Ye may be on to something,
lad,” said Hugh.

“What are you and Robert
exploring anyway?” asked Alex.

“Weel now, Alex, since ye
asked, as ye know, the Pattons own a gunpowder mill where Robber
and I work. The making of gunpowder requires saltpeter, charcoal,
and sulfur. The saltpeter and charcoal are fairly easy to find, but
sulfur is rare, and most of it is imported from Sicily. For the
Pattons to get their hands on it, someone has to go back east and
buy it from the French merchants on the east coast who control the
sulfur trade. And then it has to be hauled all the way out here.
That’s a lot of work, a lot of expenses, and takes a lot of time.
The Pattons asked Robber and me to scout around the area and see if
we can find some natural sulfur deposits so that they won’t have to
go to so much trouble and expense to get it,” said Hugh with a smug
look.

“How do you find sulfur?”
asked Alex.

“Ye use yer nose to find
sulfur, lad. It has a very distinctive smell. It’s called brimstone
in the Bible. Ye can usually find it near a hot springs. Robber and
I are riding the mountain valleys south of here to see if we can
find any hot springs that smell like sulfur.”

“Your mentioning smell
reminds me of something I found. Do you and Robert have time to
look at something for me?” asked Alex.

“Of course, we do,” said
Robert, who was instantly intrigued.

“I found a cave just over
the hill that I want you to look at,” said Alex.

“Lead on, Macduff,” replied
Robert, quoting Shakespeare, whom he had read
extensively.

Alex mounted his horse and
led Hugh and Robert to a cave that he had found on his fifty acres
of land. The cave entrance wasn’t easy to discover. It was covered
over almost completely with foliage. Alex had found it as he passed
by at sunset one evening and saw the flight of bats streaming out
to forage for the night. He led his two brothers to the cave
entrance, where he had hacked some of the foliage aside. They tied
up their horses’ reins to some brush nearby and hiked into the
cave. Alex had previously made a torch to explore the cave and had
placed it just inside the entrance. He picked it up and struck a
spark to it with a flint and steel that he carried with him,
causing it to blaze up.

Inside the cave, the air
smelled very foul. As the three brothers walked deeper into the
cave, they got out their kerchiefs and tied them over their noses.
Robert finally stopped them and pointed to an area just off in a
corner of the cave.

“Bat guano, right there. It
must be several feet deep. There must be hundreds of years of
accumulation in just this one spot, and there must be a mountain of
bat guano all over this cave,” said Robert.

“Well, I guess that ruins my
cave. I never get it all out of here, and the smell is never going
to go away,” said Alex.

“On the contrary,” said
Robert. “It makes your cave very valuable. We can haul that guano
to the powder mill and convert it to saltpeter for making
gunpowder.”

Just as Robert finished his
sentence, they heard a sound coming from behind them in the cave.
They turned around and split up to begin searching the nooks and
crannies of the cave, trying to locate the source of the sound that
they had all heard.