Edinburgh, Scotland
March 3rd, 1787
I moved through the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. The once great town is partially in ruins. It's great city subjected to attacks by Royalist forces. I'm moving now to meet with General Henry Moore and Sir Henry Clinton, the commanders of the 2nd Regiment of Militia Line Infanntry.
The entire town is mobalizing for it's attack into Royalist British soil. I head into the castle, a relic of it's medieval past. Scottish history is intertwined with warfare against the British and it is no irony that the rebel force is based here.
I head into the Private chambers where the two are going over maps and planning the Assault. When they notice me, they nod their heads, though Sir Clinton gives me a look, possibly due to my young age which he can more than likely sense.
Moore beckons for me to take a seat and I do so. He allows Clinton to take over the planning as he comes to sit with me. I have my parchment and pen, ready to write. He offers me a drink, a mug of rum. I'm surprised that he'd offer me a drink but I accept. He pours himself one.
Moore: I never thought I'd be fighting in my own country, especially against my own people. I served my country faithfully in the American Revolutionary War. I probably even served with your Father. I was at Bunker Hill, that was a real bloodbath. But Yorktown, that was something else.
I was planning to retire you know, but then the king and his taxes destroyed all hopes of that. But I have to say, this war has been brutal and we've only been through a battle. It's interesting to say that my last battle in the war in America was Yorktown and my first battle in this was York.
We were much more ill-equipped then than we were now. And it's only been three months. We didn't have artillery or a trained military. Sure we has a lot of prior service members, guys who had served in America. But that wasn't enough for all the new blood to learn from. We had to start fresh. Most of our experienced guys were fighting for the crown.
Me: What happened at York?
Moore. York was going to be a big one, we all new it and I'm sure the Royalists did too. York is right smack dab in between Scotland and England. At the time, York was Nuetral but if we were going to gain a foothold, York had to be taken.
We raised four Battalions of Militia and a couple companies of Cavalry. We didn't have an artillery Corps. Yet so we were automatically outgunned by the British Royalists. Not to mention they had superior tactics because Royalists were all military whereas we had militia.
We assembled at Dawn miles outside York. Our plan was to seize the town and dig in before the Royalists ever got there.
However scouts came in and brought us bad news. The Royalists had already taken York and had dug in weeks before we had arrived. The crafty bastards.
We reached this large raging river, the only thing connecting was this bridge. That was the only gateway between us and them.
We went over our options, one of them considering blowing the bridge and crossing by long boat. But we heard that the British were sending an entire regiment to crush us and end this rebellion, so we dug in.
There was a large plot of forest flanking both sides of the bridge with the pathway clear to cross.
We put two companies of our best shots in those woods overlooking the bridge. The rest of the detail was dug in, waiting for the Royalists to cross and engage us. We were going to ambush the bastards.
Finally, we could see them coming. A sea of red heading our way. I felt a tinge of relief, then I remembered they were the enemy now.
We wore Scotland colors, blue and white. Scouts told us they had an entire regiment, an artillery company and a Batallion of cavalry.
This didn't sit well because they outnumbered and outgunned us. That's when the cannonballs came soaring.
The ground ripped before is, behind us in within us.
I told my men to stand firm but that's kind of hard to do when there's balls of iron flying at you every which way. But the boys held their bearing, I think they were to angry to flee.
The Royalists must have thought that we were gonna wait them and take the defensive, because their regulars began marching towards the Bridge. I had ordered a company to wait at the other end of that bridge. Bait to draw them in. And take it they did.
By companies, the Royalists began moving across that bridge. The company opened up on them and the battle for the bridge began.
My boys opened up and the Royalists began taking casualties. They too exchanged fire with our men, using a tactic we called fire and advance.
One line would fire and while they were reloading, the line behind them would move forward in front of them and fire, this keeps a constant rate of fire and helps to suppress the enemy and cover ground closer for us to attach bayonets if need be or break their spirits.
Our boys started to take casualties but they didn't falter. They stood their ground and returned fire. I wondered why the Royalists didn't fire their cannons at them, they were openly exposed. But I remembered, they probably needed that bridge just as much as we did to get across and wouldn't risk destroying it by accident.
That company held their ground for a good two hours. They had killed a lot of Royalists but they had taken heavy casualties.
Just as they reached the end of the bridge, our guys in the woods opened up. Fire came at them from both flanks and up front.
They were devastated. They didn't know what to do, but somehow they managed to keep their cool. The Royalists must have said "fuck it" because we stopped taking cannon fire.
The woods were suddenly peppered. They didn't know where our guys were but the cannon fire was cutting down the forests and giving my men a barrage of artillery fire I don't think they had ever seen.
One of my guys told me that if the cannonball didn't get you, it was the splinters or a falling tree.
That cannon fire suppressed us just enough for the British to get closer. I thought it was gonna be over by then and they would reach our defensive line.
But a scout came and reported something that changed everything. A mile away was an area where the water only reach waist level. The men could easily wade across and flank the enemy from the right.
Instantly, I ordered Clinton to take half of our force and get across that river to flank the enemy.
I would then destroy the troops on the bridge and move in to take the Royalists.
But first we needed to win the battle at the bridge and make it into open field. The bridge was confined but somehow the British were still putting up a fight.
Finally the unthinkable happened. The guys guarding the bridge had run out of ammunition.
We had to win that fight over the bridge, losing it wasn't an option. I ordered the men to charge and get bayonet to bayonet with the Royalists.
They did as I asked. They attached their bayonets and the three companies charged across that bridge and clashes with the Royalists.
The fighting was fierce and we moved in to help. I took out my sword and ordered the charge of our force.
We hit the bridge and it was already a bloodbath. I ducked and dodged under Royalist swords. Slicing and stabbing, killing a few. The water beneath us ran red with all the blood dripping and flowing into it. Some royalist charges me, his musket bared with the Bayonet reading to stab into my heart.
I parried with my blade and hit him in the chin. He stumbled back into the bayonet of a fellow Loyalist.
I gave a war cry and ordered my men to push the Royalist dogs back, telling them that they would torch and kill our families back home if we didn't.
Fear is a huge driving factor, it keeps you going. I didn't know if the royalists would really do that, maybe they wouldn't. But the men used that as motivation and we began pushing the Royalists back. Soon enough, we were at their end of the bridge. We had destroyed four of their companies and were on their side.
What was left scrambled back to link up with their main force. We formed up our lines and were ready to duke it out. Line to line. Once they were formed up and so were we, we marched on each other and the musket battle began.
We began to take the brunt of the force and it was there that I found out why the Americans feared going muzzle to muzzle with us. I never thought I'd be at the opposite end of a British musket.
But there I was. Boys fell to the left and right of me. I cursed myself, thinking how foolish I had been to lead my men to this slaughter.
Soon enough, the artillery started landing. The Royalists used this to their advantage and began advancing.
We took potshots at them and moved back ten paced after each volley. Royalists fell but that didn't matter, they kept coming. Their waves seemingly endless.
Finally, the barrage stopped and at first I thought they had stopped so as to avoid friendly fire. But then I saw an entire line at the rear of the royalists fall and that's when I knew what had happened.
We had successfully flanked the Royalists. Clinton's force had arrived and were attacking from the rear.
With this came motivation and we advanced. The Royalists were caught in our trap and we finished off what was left. Not one surrendered and not one survived.
The battle had taken place for over 7 hours, it was near evening when It was Over.
However, we were too exhausted to make the move towards York. We seized what equipment we could, salvaged 40 12 pound cannons and headed back to Edinburgh. The battle had been won but we had made no ground. We had crushed the royalists and gained equipment to keep the fight going.
Me: How did your superiors feel about not moving in to seize York?
Moore: They understood, they knew we couldn't take it. We had lost to many men in the fight and even if we hadnt, the British had been there a week already. We'd never make it through their defenses. Washington himself couldn't take New York from us, how could an under supplied rebel army take York. Especially since they had a week to prepare for us. No, we began recruiting and planning for our next fight. One that would definetly gain us a foothold in the war.
Me: is that were you plan to go now?
Moore: Yes, the Irish have agreed to lend us ships for the attack.
Me: where do you plan to go?
Moore: I hear Wales is nice this time of year.
YOU ARE READING
