The Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley Part 13

"How far do you count we are from the enemy's pickets?"

"Not above two miles, sir."

"Then we shall remain here, unless matters get beyond my control, until having heard the signal."

Having made this, to me, odd remark, the commander disappeared from view inside the shelter of boughs, and Sergeant Corney led me a dozen yards or more from what might by courtesy have been called "headquarters," when he halted to say, gravely:

"It appears that things are not just as they should be in this camp, lad."

"How do you mean?" I asked, in surprise.

"You heard what the general said?"

"Ay."

"Well, who of his men are making the trouble?"

Before I could so much as make a guess at the proper answer, I must needs be told that there was trouble, for, through having failed to understand exactly what the commander meant, I had not suspected that there was anything serious brewing. But Sergeant Corney, experienced as he was in such matters, seemed to know as if he had been informed in so many words that insubordination was rife in the camp, and at a time when it was in the highest degree necessary the men should move in harmony.

Since I could not even so much as hazard a guess, the old man, forgetting his weariness and the need of gaining repose, led me out to where he had been halted by the sentinel, and, finding him at his post, began his investigations by saying:

"We two have just come from Fort Schuyler, an' knowin' full well how strong a force is in front of the place, have a better idea of the kind of work in hand than you who haven't seen the enemy."

"Did the general send you over here to tell me that?" the man asked, in a certain tone of irritation, and Sergeant Corney replied, soothingly:

"Not a bit of it, my friend; but while we were having an interview with the commander it struck me that matters here were not just as pleasant as they should be, an' instead of awakenin' some one who might need more slumber, we thought to come to you for an explanation."

"Of what?"

"That we cannot say; but there is a question I would ask you, as between man and man, for mayhap the lives of us all depend upon the general sense of good fellows.h.i.+p. Tell me plainly, is there insubordination in the camp?"

"I know not if you may call it by that name," the sentinel said, somewhat moodily; "but certain it is we would have relieved the fort four and twenty hours ago had General Herkimer not held us back. With such a force as we have here, it cannot be a hard matter to do about as we please. Look you," the man continued, growing more confidential, "the general has no less than eight hundred men under his command, and what may not a company of that number do?"

"Very much, my friend; but your eight hundred would be weak indeed unless the advance was made at the proper time and in a soldierly fas.h.i.+on. So your people have been complaining because the commander holds them back?"

"Ay, and with good cause. When Colonels c.o.x and Paris say openly that it is cowardly for us to loiter here, surely there must be some reason in their words. A full third of this force believe we should have come in front of Fort Schuyler yesterday mornin', an' think you all those can be mistaken, an' only General Herkimer stand in the right?"

"Then it _is_ insubordination!" Sergeant Corney said, sadly, and the sentinel replied, angrily:

"It is only common sense and a desire to aid the Cause. If we are eager to begin a battle which will drive the Tories and their painted allies from the valley, surely that man is a criminal who would hold us back."

"If you had been where this lad and I have just come from, able to see what was seen by us, you would talk in a different strain," the old soldier said, hotly. "Why, man, Colonel Gansevoort himself sent us back to request that you remain here until he signals, so that everything may be prepared for your comin', and we, knowin' how important it was you delay until the proper moment, risked our lives twenty times over in the effort to bring the word."

"Then Colonel Gansevoort is as great a coward as General Herkimer, for we are of sufficient strength to march whithersoever we will."

Sergeant Corney turned as if to go, and then suddenly wheeling upon the sentinel, said:

"I do not read my Bible, as a man should; but yet I remember that in it can be found these words: 'Fools die for want of wisdom,' an' I'm allowin', my friend, if you have any desire to linger in this 'ere world, that you take the statement home mighty strong."

With this cutting remark, which for a moment I feared would provoke a downright quarrel, Sergeant Corney strode off into the darkness, I following meekly at his heels.

"Surely there can be nothing which would work harm in this desire of the men to go forward," I said, when the sergeant had come to a halt, throwing himself down under a tree as if to rest. "It should be a good sign when soldiers are eager to go into battle."

"Insubordination, wherever you find it, is the most dangerous condition of affairs that can be figgered out. When a man puts himself under a leader, whether to fight or to till the land, an' then sets up his opinions against those of the one who is supposed to know best, else he wouldn't be in command, matters have come to a mighty dangerous pa.s.s. Instead of helpin' the men inside the fort, this regiment is likely to bring them to grief, unless things are changed, an' that right soon. Now get what sleep you can, lad, before the encampment is astir," the old man added, changing his tone very suddenly, and before I could obey he drew out his rifle from the hiding-place where he had left it when we set off for the fort.

I laid myself down by his side; but it was not to sleep, for I realized that the old soldier would not have spoken in such a tone unless matters, according to his belief, had been in a most serious condition.

I was still speculating upon the situation, sorrowing because the men would, at such a time, while the lives of so many depended upon concerted action, set up their individual opinions against those who had been put in authority over them, when a bustle on every side told that the soldiers were awakening to a day of n.o.ble struggle for their country, or worse than criminal bickerings.

If Sergeant Corney had really closed his eyes in slumber, which I doubted, he was now awakened by the many noises, and a plan of action must have been presented to him in his dreams, for he spoke like one who is determined upon some decided course, as he said to me:

"Now, lad, we'll fill ourselves up with one good hearty meal, if it so be this mutinously inclined army has a proper store of provisions, and then it is for us to decide whether we stay among those who are like to come to grief if they have their own way, or push out for ourselves."

I did not understand fully what he meant; but it was sufficient for me that he was no longer in doubt as to what was best, and right willingly did I obey his orders, for my stomach was uncomfortably empty.

There was no lack of food in this command which seemed to be divided against itself, and the breakfast would have been to me most enjoyable but for the sauce with which it was served.

Every man's tongue was loosened as if its owner was the only man amid all the company who knew exactly which was the wisest course to pursue, and I dare venture to say never a commander had under him at a critical moment, such as this certainly was, so many pig-headed recruits.

Only once during the brief meal was Sergeant Corney asked for information, although the word had pa.s.sed around the encampment that he and I were but just come from Fort Schuyler, and then it was that the old soldier gave those insubordinate men such a tongue-las.h.i.+ng as they deserved and I dare say had never before received; but, storm as he might, it seemed as if all the arguments he brought up in favor of General Herkimer's carrying out the plans suggested by Colonel Gansevoort, only served to make those imitation soldiers more fixed in their opinions.

And for all this unseemly wrangling, when it was almost a crime to raise one's voice against an order of the commander, I lay the blame upon the two colonels, c.o.x and Paris, who, instead of holding their men firmly in check, as was their duty, openly declared that General Herkimer was in the wrong; thus fomenting what promised to be a most serious disturbance, and what was finally paid for over and over again in blood.

It was perhaps half an hour after daybreak when Colonel c.o.x, the same officer who by injudicious use of his tongue had well-nigh compa.s.sed the death of us all during the powwow with Thayendanega, approached General Herkimer while the latter was walking slowly around the encampment as if on a tour of inspection, and said, in a tone so loud that all in the vicinity might hear it:

"Are we to go forward, sir, as men should who set out to relieve a besieged fort, or must we loiter here until the enemy has worked his will?"

For an instant the general made no reply, and Sergeant Corney whispered to me, angrily:

"That man deserves to be shot, an' all the more so because he is high in command. I've seen troops in many a tight place durin' my life, but never before heard any thin' that quite come up to that."

When, after a pause of fully a moment, General Herkimer spoke, it was to ask:

"Do you know that messengers have come from Gansevoort, asking that we hold our hands until he shall give the signal?"

"I have heard that it is pretended such a message has come," Colonel c.o.x replied, in a most offensive tone, and I could see Sergeant Corney clenching his fists tightly, as if thereby the better to hold himself in check, for surely were we two ent.i.tled to make reply to such an implied accusation.

"The garrison will make a sortie immediately after giving the signal, and we can thus go into action with some hope of success," General Herkimer said, mildly and firmly. "To advance before Gansevoort is ready would be to imperil the lives of all this command."

"Speaking more particularly for yourself, sir, I suppose," Colonel Paris said, with a sneer, and it would have given me the greatest pleasure to have struck him down for that insult.

Then the three officers, still disputing, or, I should have said, the two colonels still insulting their commander, who continued to bear with them beyond that point where forbearance ceases to be a virtue, pa.s.sed out of earshot for the time being, and the men in the immediate vicinity took up the subject, until, to my surprise, I found that nearly all of them sided with the insubordinate colonels.

Five minutes later the three officers had approached so near where Sergeant Corney and I were sitting that we could hear their words once more, and then, to my indignation and the old soldier's anger, Colonel c.o.x cried, in a fury, as he planted himself directly in front of the commander:

"You are not only a coward, sir, but a Tory!"

I shall always hold that General Herkimer was a brave man, because, after a severe effort which was evident to us all, he so far mastered his righteous anger as to say, quietly: