*( The Song of Achilles is a must-read- it absolutely broke me and built me new. You can find it for free online. You have not read literature until you've read that)
*This whole vid- but specifically Hamilton kicking some dude in the face and shouting 'take their cannons' on 1:56- is the only thing that has kept me going this far (that, and the Song of Achilles- read it you won't regret it)
"We are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our deliverance must come." - George Washington to John Laurens, 1781
---
"Fire!"
BOOM!
The earth below me again shakes from another explosion. Fuses are lit, smoke covers the land like a thick blanket, shouts and orders echo in my ears.
It's been two weeks since we, under the cover of night, dug the first parallel. Since then, there has been nothing but relentless cannon-fire at the poor town. Though I've not handled any cannons, gunpowder coats my fingers, thicker than sand.
I'm quite sure I've digested some of that vile substance in my food.
Cancer
Shush.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
That hurts, you bitch.
They don't stop, they never do, but they quieten enough for me to think. I miss silence.
BANG!
Though you could seldom find silence here. Shouts and orders ring through my ears, soldiers running and digging and firing and scouting and hiding and lighting fuses and-
"To General Washington!" Someone shouts out, and I turn to the noise, running in their direction. A captain, covered in dirt and grime approaches me, a letter in hand. "I- Apologies, Colonel, sir, for my appearance-"
"That's alright- things happen, especially in such conditions." I don't have time for his excuses. I grab his letter. "Where is General Lafayette?"
He nods, before pointing "down Southward, sir. He's all around the place, and very loud- you cannot miss him."
"Cheers." I continue my trek through the bustling trenches, and the Captain wasn't wrong. After trudging further down, I start to hear loud shouting all over the place.
"Fire!"
"Captain, go get more cannons- you! Write to Greene that we need more gunpowder!"
"Keep firing! I want Yorktown burnt to the ground!"
"Mon Dieu, private, the only time to have your face in the dirt is when you're dead- he's hurt? WHY IS NO ONE HELPING HIM THEN?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Fuck, stop!
I cover my ears, though I know it won't help. I continue watching the raving figure in surprise, not sure how to approach him. That's undoubtedly Lafayette, but I've never seen him like... this. Behind him there's another figure, that seems strangely familiar.
"McHenry?" I ask loudly, finally putting a name to the similar face. He turns to me, and his face turns to shock. Lafayette doesn't hear, instead going off to more cannons.
"Layden?" We both laugh.
"I didn't realize you transferred to Lafayette's staff, sir!" My former colleague shakes my hand and pats my back.
YOU ARE READING
Becoming A Founding "Father"- Historical Hamilton
Historical FictionTime traveling to the 1760s is as fun as you would've thought it to be. Too bad that I didn't think about it, and now I'm stuck in a foreign time with some orphan child from the Caribbean and no knowledge on how anything works. ---- The fifth of Ju...
