The General's Christmas

The General's
Christmas

by C. Fennessy

Copyright 2014 C.Fennessy, Smashwords
Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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authorized retailer. This is a work of historical fiction. Some
names, characters, places, images, and incidents either are the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and
any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter11

Epilogue

Prologue

The characters of Anna and Elizabeth Clark
and their father are fictional, as well as the character of
Corporal Bates, the traitor. All of the other characters are real
people who lived and fought during the Revolutionary War. The
details about Washington's camp at the Widow Harris' house and the
crossing of the Delaware are reported in historic detail according
to a number of reliable sources. The details of the attack on
Trenton are from the Trenton Historical Society's Web site.
Throughout the book, the character of each person was imitated by
accounts from historical sources. This book endeavors to depict the
struggles and sacrifices made by the men who changed the course of
American history, one night on Christmas Day, 1776.

Chapter 1

Low clouds heavy with snow
hung from the overcast sky. Crows’ calls echoed from the bare
branches of the maple and black oak trees in the hedgerows. Brown
leaves, curled and crisp, cart-wheeled over the glazed grass.
Patches of lingering snow clustered around clumped weeds and the
withered blackberry bushes beside the old wooden barn.

Inside the barn, Anna Clark
gently squeezed a cow's teat, squirting fresh warm milk into the
steaming pail in the cold. She gently massaged the teats in a
practiced manner, while thinking about the dress she was sewing for
her sister Elizabeth's Christmas present. The cow’s warm breath
formed frosty nebula in the cold, damp air. Anna was grateful for
the warmth of the cow’s body despite its musty odor.

"Papa, someone's coming!" her sister
Elizabeth cried from the hen yard, and then ran to the house.

Anna looked out through the partially open
barn door, but could see no one. She left her milking stool and
went to the door. Naturally shy, she stayed behind the barn door,
peering outside.

A group of horsemen in dark blue and black
uniforms galloped toward the house. Papa had warned his daughters
about soldiers and had told them to hide if they came.

Anna ran back into the barn, searching for a
place to hide. She spotted the ladder to the loft and deftly
climbed up. In the loft, a wide crack between the boards facing the
house provided a panoramic view of the soldiers' arrival.

The captain of the party of five slid off his
horse and looked around.

"Sprechen sie Deutsch?" the
captain asked her father, who stood waiting for them.

"No, I don't speak any language but English.
What do you want?"

The brawny soldier with a wrestler's body and
a long mustache looked at the thin, wiry man before him. His eyes
then drifted to the young lady in a bonnet and cloak standing in
the doorway of the field stone house.

"Elizabeth, go inside! Lock the door!" her
father ordered.

She disappeared and bolted the door shut.

The Hessian captain gazed around at the farm.
The fields were barren and gray, with the remains of dried corn
husks scattered among the earthen ruts. Two dark horses stood in
the corral near the barn and hen house. A small wooden building
used as a smoke house for curing meat stood between the house and
barn; beyond it were an outhouse and a well.

"We come for food," said the soldier in a
thick German accent.

Mr. Clark shook his head,
"No, I'm afraid I can't give you any food. The British came by here
a few weeks ago and took half of everything. We just have enough to
feed ourselves this winter, and barely enough to get by. You'll
have to go somewhere else."

The Hessian had only
comprehended the word
no
. He turned to the other four
soldiers and gave an order in German.

They dismounted, and two men
headed for the barn and two toward the house.

"I told you! I can't spare any food!" Clark
insisted.

The soldiers ignored him and began their
search. The two at the house beat upon the door with their guns and
shouted in English, "Open!!"

The door remained bolted, so they began
kicking and battering it with their muskets.

"Stop! I told you, I can't give you
anything!" shouted Clark. He grabbed the big, burly man by the arm,
shouting, "Tell them to stop!"

The burly soldier delivered
a fast, powerful punch to Clark's face. He reeled backwards,
sprawling upon the ground. The burly captain shouted more orders in
German.

Two soldiers opened the
corral and led the horses out. They walked them to the barn and
opened the door.

"
Schau mal!"
they shouted.

Inside the barn they found a
wagon and sacks of wheat, oats, corn, and a small barrel of
molasses. One soldier hitched up the horses while the other loaded
the sacks of grain and the barrel of molasses into the wagon. The
captain searched for weapons and tools. He passed by shovels, a
plow, and two rakes, but he took the long-handled ax. They loaded
some bales of hay and extra tackle for the horses, including two
saddles. The captain looked up toward the loft and decided to have
a look.

He reached the top of the
ladder, peering into thesemi-darkness. The loft was filled with
hay, and two bales stood against the wall next to a small pile at
the far end.

"Captain! This man is trying
to stop us!" shouted one of his men. The captain looked down and
saw Clark shouting and attacking the looters at the barn
door.

"Tie him up! We can use him back at camp,"
the captain ordered as he descended the ladder, abandoning his
search of the loft.

The captain decided to inspect the house for
goods, and to find out what became of the lovely young Mädchen.

The two soldiers at the door
of the house had managed to break it open. The captain walked in
and heard the girl screaming as she tried to fight off one of the
men. The captain smiled with amusement and the looked through the
house, taking food, blankets, and tools. While his men loaded these
onto the wagon, he saw one soldier pinning the young girl’s arms
behind her. They had removed her bonnet and pulled down her long,
wavy, golden hair. The captain guessed her age to be about
16.

"My lovely young girl," he said in German,
stroking her face gently. She turned away, squeezing her eyes
shut.

"Let her go," he told the soldier, "and go
help the others load the wagon."

The soldier obeyed and
searched his captain's eyes as they feasted upon the
girl.

Outside, Clark was tied with
a gag in his mouth. He stood helplessly as Elizabeth screamed from
inside the house. He tried to break free, but they held him fast,
striking him and shouting at him in German. He looked back at the
barn, searching for Anna. Had they killed her? Where was she? He
agonized at Elizabeth's cries, helpless and tortured.

Inside the house, Elizabeth
pounded her fists against the captain as he tried to kiss her. He
grabbed her arms but she twisted one wrist out of his hand and
clawed at his face. Angry, he slapped her face once, and then
again. She screamed and pulled away from him, running to the door.
Grabbing her hair, he yanked her back. She kicked back viciously
several times, finally striking home. He yelped and bent over,
swearing in German while she flew toward open the door. He grabbed
her hair again, and dragged her back inside slamming her head
against the wall. She slid down the wall, unconscious.

"Captain!" cried one of the
men as he struggled to hold Clark. The captain looked down at the
girl on the floor, now bleeding from her nose and lips. He swore at
her, and limped painfully out of the house.

The wagon was heaped with goods, and one of
the soldiers' horses was tied to the back. Two others lifted their
struggling captive onto the horse and tied his hands to the
saddle.

One soldier found a lantern
in the barn and went back to the house. He lit the flame inside the
lantern and tossed it through the open door. Glass smashed, and it
burst into flames, streaking across the floorboards.

"No!" Clark screamed through
his gag, "For God's sake!
No!!"

The captain gave the order to start the
horses, leaving the house to burn with the girl inside.

Up in the barn loft, Anna
came out from under the pile of hay where she had been hiding in
terror, listening to her father's pleading. Peering through the
cracks, she saw her father tied onto one of the horses.

"Papa!" she shouted, but
they were already too far away. She saw smoke and looked toward the
house. Thick, gray puffs billowed from the doorway.

Anna hurried down the ladder. She grabbed up
her skirt and ran as fast as she could to the house.

The smoke blotted out
everything except the heat of the flames.

"Elizabeth!" she shouted, "Elizabeth!"

Searching through the rooms, she found her
sister on the floor.

"Elizabeth! We have to get out!"

The girl lay unconscious. Anna pulled on her
arm with all her weight.

"The house is on fire! We have to leave!"
Anna shouted.

When Elizabeth didn't respond, she grabbed
her sister by her armpits and dragged her across the floor. Flames
engulfed the living room, blocking the front door. Anna lifted her
sister off the floor as far as she could and dragged her quickly
through the flames.

Once outside, she stamped
out the flames on her skirt, then inspected her own clothing,
brushing off glowing sparks. Anna feared that her sister was dead.
She sighed with relief when she detected mists of warm breath.Anna
stroked her sister's hair and gently touched the ugly red welts
upon her cheeks. Anna took off her cloak and covered her sister.
She cradled the girl in her arms, rocking her gently, bursting into
tears, crying,

"My poor girl! You're safe now, you're
safe!"

Chapter 2

"Corporal Baylor!" a deep voice called.

George Baylor lay down his
writing quill and went into George Washington's "office", a large
table in the home of Widow Harris, who lived in a two-story,
wood-framed colonial house near the Delaware River.

"Sir?" Baylor addressed
him.

"When the messenger comes, see that these
letters are delivered immediately. And I shall need a reply
forthwith."

"Yes, Sir."

"And tell General Greene that I'd like to
speak with him."

"Yes, Sir," Baylor nodded
and left the house to find the colonel and the
messenger.

George Washington ducked slightly as he
returned through the door to his wooden table before the hearth. A
tall man of six foot three, and solidly built, he sat down
gracefully and sighed. Looking out the window, he watched campfire
smoke climbing lazily into the metallic sky. Bare black branches
crawled like spider veins toward clouds, heavy with rain or
snow.

The scene before him was a
landscape in sepia brown and gray. The solemn silence, broken only
by the crackle of his warming fire, accompanied his grim mood. He
watched the men huddled around fires. Some wore blankets, some wore
shoes held together by rags, and others had rags tied around their
bare feet with bare toes sticking out. Most wore scraggly beards
and scarves tied over their heads against the December
wind.