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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 23 2002
Status: offline
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 Posted - September 16 2004 : 11:47:49 AM
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“Into The Belly Of The Beast” By Sgt. Munro
Near Pickawillany Town, The Ohio Country
29 March 1764 / 0530 Hours
Major Cooper knelt next to Ranger Hicks, who was setting up the grenade mortar. Rifleman Flynn was scanning the area beyond the knoll they were hiding behind. Ranger-Sergeant Thacher was busy opening the watertight crates containing the powder charges and grenades. One mile north of Major Cooper’s position, Captain Patarcity and the rest of the rangers were readying their part of the operation.
Looking at his pocket watch, in the pre-dawn light, Captain Patarcity said, “You men wait here with Sergeant Metz; Rangers Halloway, Smith and White will accompany me forward to bait our guests-of-honor at this ambuscade.”
Ranger-Sergeant Metz called to the men, “Rangers! Lead the way!”
The men answered, “Sua Sponte!”
…Just after sunrise, at the abandoned trade house, outside of the village:
She-nock-in-wak, a tribal chief of the Eel River Miamis was taking an early morning walk through the village with Chief Tamerois. Exiting the village, the two men walked toward the abandoned trade house, which was being guarded by ten warriors. The two men approached the war-captain in charge of the detail, and by way of greeting, Chief Tamerois said, “Good morning, brother. I hope the night passed quietly.”
“Yes, Chief Tamerois, my men are awaiting the next group of warriors to relieve us.” The war-captain answered.
Chief Tamerois then said, “What you men are guarding is the future safety of our homes and families. Soon we shall disburse it amongst our warriors, as well as the warriors of the Shawnee, and then we can drive the Shemanesse back over the mountains and into the great water beyond!”
Chief She-nock-in-wak then asked, “Tell me, Brother Tamerois, how much powder do you have in there?”
“We have twenty barrels of powder, three barrels of flints, hundreds of lead bars, as well as knives, tomahawks, storage horns, spare locks and other musket parts. We have enough to provision several hundred warriors.” Chief Tamerois replied.
“Most impressive” She-nock-in-wak said, “Now, all we need to do is gather the warriors.”
Tamerois answered, “In due time, my brother.”
At that moment, both Miami Chiefs noticed a white man, dressed in a green regimental coat emerge from the trees, forty yards distant. The man called to them, “Oh boys, lookee what I got here!” as he pulled another white man in similar dress from behind a bush.
The second man called out, “Hey! Where all the Indian women at?”
Chief Tamerois growled to the warriors, “Kill them both!”
Captain Patarcity was still holding Ranger Halloway, when he said, “Okay Jeffery, I think they bought it, let’s get out of here!”
The warriors chased Captain Patarcity and Ranger Holloway into the woods. Watching from his observation point, Major Cooper mused, “You have to love a man who keeps his sense of humor in dangerous times.”
As the warriors started to overtake the rangers, two more rangers appeared and fired. This caused the warriors to seek cover momentarily, and it allowed Patarcity and Halloway to retrieve their firelocks and cover the fallback of the other two. This leapfrog action continued for the next several minutes, as the rangers led the pursuing warriors to the ambuscade. Once at the ambuscade site, the other rangers, under the command of Ranger-Sergeant Metz, opened fire on the trailing warriors. The rangers were purposely avoiding lethal action, firing over the heads of the warriors, as per Major Cooper’s orders. The warriors were pinned down, and that was part of the plan.
The diversion went on for a couple of minutes, until the sound of explosions, coming from the direction of their village, caused the warriors to fall back.
Back at the knoll, Major Cooper scanned the area around the trade house, and said, “Alright, it appears that the area is clear. Sergeant Thacher, would
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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Into The Belly Of The Beast - 29 March 1764
