Re: A Curious Meeting a Carlisle

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
: : My dear Cousin Seamus,

: :   I received your latest message from Ft. Augusta and pray that within the next few days you begin your journey south to meet us when we arrive at Fort Loudoun.  From thence we can travel together, our small company of 77th Grenadiers and those that accompany you, on to Fort Frederick to aid the Patuxent band in defending the MaryLand frontier.  It is still my hopes that Many Flags and Three Tales will soon communicate with us since it was their message from their nephew Half Breed which decided our lot to make an expedition to the Fort at Frederick.  I have heard from the good Sgt. Toot and he has also not seen hide nor hair of our longhunter cousins.  I have heard the Allemangel area is still very much uninhabited.  If our cousins are there, the land is such that the lasses they visit may have them hidden within the hills and valleys of love.  Ahhh, it makes me think of my own sweet wife back in Scotland.
: :    
: :   Now, as to the main reason I send this message.  Brother Davey Gunn and I have met a curious fellow here at Carlisle.  As corporal of the Grenadiers, one of my duties is to be sure that supplies and foods from the locals are of good worth.  Those local merchants who sell spirits and ales within the confines of the fort are to be licensed by order of Col. Bouquet.  In checking these licenses at the gate last evening, a strange man approached us, Brother Gunn and I being on duty. The man had the proper papers to sell several jugs of whiskey.  He was a striking fellow in his looks.  Oh, not for handsomeness but for ugliness!

: :      And although he was short with a hunchback, rotted teeth, shabby clothes and a pocked face, he had two lovely lasses helping him with carrying his spirits to the fort.  He laughed in a most unsettling manner and would pinch the girls repeatedly, they in turn giggling and rolling their eyes at this man.  Brother Gunn and I checked his wares, finding them to be excellent, we paid the coin the man asked for them and asked him to make his mark on the procurement papers.  With quill in hand, the hunchbacked man properly wrote the word "Quasi"!  

: :     Yes, cousin, yes!  But, there is more.  Brother Gunn and I know your history, you being our own dear cousin, fathered by our Uncle Quasi in Ireland with an Irish lass (it was never known which one!), and traveling to America as a young lad, you made your way up in the world, reuniting with our Aunt Maggie's family (her sons Flags and Tales), and meeting up with his, your own MacWilliam family this past year when the 77th was sent to the colonies on this expedition. But ever since you have left Ireland, you have not seen nor heard of your father, our Uncle Quasi MacWilliam, brother of our father Hugh, and brother to Aunt Maggie and Uncle Angus.

: :     And now, we have met a man, resembling your father, using the name Quasi, and in the company of fine looking lasses, it certainly must be our Uncle and your dear father.  Before we had a chance to question this man, he hobbled out of sight around the corner of the fort with the two lasses in tow.  But, and this is the final clue to this mystery, as this hunchbacked man plodded away, I heard him mutter to his lasses, "Pax Aye, my dearies, come along!"  My ears rang with the battle cry of our own clan and I turned to Brother Gunn in amazement.  To be sure, he had also heard the words of our ancestors.

: :      I have talked with Capt. Croy and have asked leave to go into the town of Carlisle this evening to search for this man, he who I believe to be your own dear father, our own Uncle Quasi.  Capt. Croy has given his assent.  Brother Gunn and several of the lads will accompany me.  With all haste, cousin Seamus, make your way to Carlisle while I attempt to meet with this man.  I must be back to my duties, but this evening we will find this man who may be your long lost father.  What fate it is that we continue to hear of a man in this area resembling our Uncle Angus and now we have come across Uncle Quasi.  This America certainly holds surprises!

: : God Save the King,

: : Your Cousin,   Malcolm A. MacWilliam, 77th Grenadiers
: :  

: Cousin Malcolm!

: I read with great trepidation your news of the sighting of what...whom...may very likely be my father, Quasi. I cannot believe that you and Cousin Davey Gunn have seen him and actually talked with him! My head spins with thoughts like the great whirlpool below the Falls at Niagara...I am elated, and at the same time I am almost afraid. As you know, Quasi left us for an Irish lass(another one) when I was small. I have heard not a thing from him since. I am not sure I would recognize him if I did see him face to face. The only thing I know for a fact is the terrible scar on his left arm that stretches from his wrist to his elbow. I understand he got it from an accidental spilling of molten lead years ago. Malcolm...there cannot be more than one Quasi, can there? It certainly sounds like it is him; everything fits. Three Tales and Many Flags will certainly be surprised if it is,indeed, their Uncle Quasi. Cousin, I will finish up my business here as rapidly as I can, and will head to Carlisle within the week. I will be bringing a lad, young Timothy with me. I will tell you his story when I see you. I am trying to teach him what he needs to know to be a good soldier. He was raised a city boy, and he and his new wife have come to the frontier totally unprepared for life as it is out here. He is making great progress, being an eager student, and I am sure he will do well, once he learns how!
:  I must go now,Cousin, the garrison is falling out for drill and a parade. It is a good time to go hunting. 
: If you locate this Quasi, detain him for me until I arrive at Carlisle, if it is prudent to do so. I wonder if he cares at all about me?

: Cousin Seamus


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: