Following up the Advantage

On January 2, 1777, Washington and the Continental Army were back in Trenton, following up on their victory the day after Christmas. This time they prepared to face down an even larger British force. “At 10 a.m. we received news that the enemy were advancing, when the drums beat to arms, and we were all paraded on the south side of the [Assunpink Creek] bridge,” recalled Lt. James McMichael of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment.

At Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s headquarters, Dr. Benjamin Rush was just about to go to bed after a night of hard riding to deliver messages. Roused by the drums, he asked the general what he intended to do. “Why, fight them,” St. Clair answered, smiling. He then “took down his sword, and girded it on his thigh with a calmness such as I thought seldom took place at the expectation of a battle.”

After their success at Trenton on Christmas day, both officers and enlisted men were composed and even eager for the battle. And that day they acquitted themselves admirably against a much larger force commanded by British General Charles Cornwallis, greatly delaying his march toward Trenton and inflicting heavy casualties. After a valiant fight, toward evening the Americans were finally driven to a defensive position on the far side of Assunpink bridge, where they continued to ferociously resist attempts to drive them back.

With casualties mounting, Cornwallis called off the attack and settled his force for the night. Both sides realized that Washington’s force would not be able to hold its defensive line against the British force when dawn arrived. “We’ve got the Old Fox safe now,” Cornwallis told his council confidently. “We’ll go over and bag him in the morning.”

Under cover of darkness, however, the “Old Fox” pulled his force out of Trenton and by dawn was on his way to attack the garrison at Princeton. As he had at Long Island, Washington once again engineered an unlikely miracle and slipped stealthily out of the British noose. Cornwallis awoke the next day to find his foe attacking the British rear.

The Light of Faith

The cold and snow that has Tennessee in its grip so early this season have put me in a reflective mood. I think of those men, and women too, who endured so much and sacrificed so greatly to establish this nation. Today we have so many luxuries that it’s hard to imagine what they must have suffered, what faith it took to endure the bitter cold of all those winters with little food and clothing; minimal shelter or even none; barefoot often, and no prospect of success. Only another battle most of them could not conceive they could win. Had it not been for their commander, they would not have.

Many did not make it. They died of disease or in battle. They gave up the fight and ran away or went home when their enlistments expired in spite of all their officers could do to inspire them to hold on just a little longer. After all, the war had gone on for a year, then two and three and four, with no end in sight. Most likely only disaster lurked in the distance. And who could blame them for losing faith?

Those who held out to the end stayed because of their loyalty to their commander and their belief that freedom is the right of all people. And in the end they won an unimaginable victory. They established liberty in the land that great Providence had provided for them. It was not a perfect liberty and is not yet today. But because of them we see the goal before us and we strive to reach it. Without those who believed when faith and sight were not congruent, who thanked God for what they had not yet attained and kept moving toward it in hope that would not be quenched, we would not have come as far as we have.

Still today, it is our Commander who draws us forward by his own example. He does not falter or fail. He does not turn away from the battle, for he knows that the victory is sure. As sure as that one so many years ago. It was only that they did not see it then, but we see it today. And we continue in faith in our God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

In whatever situation you face, may you continue in the light of faith, and may your Christmas filled unimaginable blessing!

Giving Thanks

“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?” Job 38:22-23

So begins Chapter 1, Scene 2 in Crucible of War. The verse is quoted by Jeremiah Wainwright, the Quaker owner of the inn where Elizabeth, Tess, and Blue Sky wait out the anxious hours while Carleton and Andrews cross the Delaware River with Washington on Christmas night to make a daring attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton.

A violent nor’easter batters the region that night, while the army battles ice floes and the river’s swift current amid driving snow, sleet, and gale-force winds. Contemporary accounts tell of the ill-clothed and equipped men leaving bloody tracks in the snow from feet bound with rags, strips of leather, or nothing at all. Amazingly, several soldiers froze to death while waiting for transport across the river. And yet they persisted.

After much travail, the soldiers reached the New Jersey shore only to face a nine-mile march to Trenton through a storm that seemed to get worse by the minute. By the time they approached the village, much of their powder was wet, rendering many of the men’s muskets useless. Receiving this report, Washington ordered a bayonet charge—in spite of the fact that the Continentals had few bayonets among them. Still they went forward . . . and won an unlikely victory that changed the course of the Revolution.

On this Thanksgiving Day, while delicious aromas fill the house, and all is light and warmth inside, while outside a grey, rainy evening gathers, I think of those who through the years have sacrificed so much to preserve the blessings of peace and freedom we enjoy, but too often take for granted. And I think, too, of those in foreign lands, such as Sayed Mossa, Asia Noreen, and Aung San Suu Kyi who suffer imprisonment, abuse, and the threat of death because they dare to believe in our Savior Jesus Christ. Yet they speak out boldly for Truth.

May we never forget the price that has been paid for our freedom—both physical and spiritual. May those sacrifices be abundantly blessed and rewarded in heaven, if not on earth. This day I am mindful that we have a God who metes out both justice and mercy and who never forgets the blood shed by the saints. May He be greatly praised!

I hope you a most blessed and joyful Thanksgiving!

Plotting

After creating a preliminary list of my characters’ inner and outer quests, I decided that a simple breakdown of each act would be the most useful. Making this too detailed would waste time since plots tend to morph quite a bit as the story develops. So I stuck to a brief outline that includes the inciting incident that sends the characters on their quest in Act 1, the main crisis points in Act 2, and the denouement and setup for the next volume in Act 3. Here, with the spoilers removed, is a very rough plot breakdown for Crucible of War.

Act 1: Beginning the Quest

• Battle of Trenton and return to camp.
• Encounters between Carleton and Elizabeth, Andrews and Blue Sky

Act 2: Crisis Points
1. Battle of Princeton

• Elizabeth returns to New York.
• Washington and army block British at Princeton, then withdraw to Morristown.

2. Build-up to New Campaign
New York

• Elizabeth and Tess renew relationship with Howe and his officers.
• Pieter returns to NY to court Elizabeth.

Morristown

• Reconstituting the army and planning campaign 1777.
• Carleton rebuilds his Rangers from renegades.
• Red Fox and/or Spotted Pony return to the Shawnee to seek reinforcements.
• Carleton decides to refit several of his merchantmen in France as warships to engage in the naval war.

New York

• Complications with Pieter and Howe.
• Elizabeth carries intelligence to Congress, meeting with John Adams and others.
• Progress of negotiations with France and Spain.

3. 1st Crisis and Turning Point

• Pieter learns the truth.

4. 2nd Turning Point—Campaign 1777

• Red Fox and/or Spotted Pony return to Morristown with a mixed party from the tribes.
• Battles of Bennington, Brandywine, Germantown.
• Elizabeth’s covert activities increasingly put her in danger.
• Elizabeth learns her parents and Abby are returning to Boston.

5. Main Crisis and Turning Point—Saratoga

• Carleton and his Rangers join General Gates at Saratoga.
• Americans defeat Burgoyne, ending the British quest to split the colonies along the Hudson.

Act 3—Denouement

• Tess leaves for Boston to prepare for the Howards’ return.
• Howe prepares to move against Philadelphia.
• Andrews and Blue Sky face a painful decision
• Carleton and Elizabeth take leave of each other and Elizabeth returns to NY.
• Setup for vol. 5.

As you can see, this is very sketchy, but for now I don’t want anything more detailed. All I need is something to help me keep the overall sequence of events straight. BTW, I did remove a number of important details in order to avoid spilling some major plot points, especially the ending. For now you’ll just have to guess what those might be! All I can say is that they involve Carleton and Elizabeth’s relationship and also Andrews and Blue Sky. There are yet more major changes in their lives coming up.

Right now I’m focusing on getting all my notes and existing scenes in correct chronological order. Things are kinda scattered, and it’ll be a lot easier to move forward after I sort everything out. Once that’s done, I’ll start fleshing out the sections of notes into full-fledged scenes and create transitions. I can’t wait until I have the rough draft finished! This process is like trying to extract your brain through a pinhole in your forehead with tweezers! For me the real fun begins when I have something I can edit. But it’s going to be a while yet before I get to that point, so I’d better get to it!

The Quest

A couple of weeks ago while I was struggling, yet again, to get a real handle on Crucible of War, I realized that my problem was plotting the story. I have a collection of scenes and notes, but weaving them together into a coherent whole wasn’t happening. I’ve lived with my characters long enough now that I know their souls quite well, though, of course, as is true with real people, they still surprise me from time to time. That’s what keeps things interesting. At this point in the series, however, the overarching story has become too complex for me to do my usual seat-of-the-pants plotting as I write each volume.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was nothing for it except to buckle down and—gasp—outline the plot! Although I generally resist being that organized, obviously I wasn’t going to make much progress until I did. Sooo I took the plunge. First I decided it would help tremendously to have the main characters’ inner and outer quests up at the top of the document where I can easily refer to them as I develop each act. It helped that I’d already outlined the specific goals, motivation, and conflict for each main character in this volume as well as for the book, which made this part a relative piece of cake. Here’s what I ended up with.

• General George Washington
  outer quest—keep his army together and strike a decisive blow against the British.
  inner quest—to earn the respect of friends and foes alike, to protect his reputation, and to return in triumph to the peaceful life of a Virginia planter.
• General William Howe
  outer quest—wear the Americans down through a series of blows that will finally force them to surrender.
  inner quest—build his reputation and maintain his position, all while indulging in gambling and the charms of his mistress as much as possible.
• Jonathan Carleton/White Eagle
  outer quest—to define his identity as Shawnee warrior/white officer, to help the Americans win independence, and to successfully advocate for his people .
  inner quest: to build a life with Elizabeth, to finally learn to trust her completely, to come to know the depths of her soul.
• Elizabeth Howard
  outer quest—to overcome Howe, defeat Britain, and help gain independence for the Americans.
  inner quest—to build a life with Carleton, to nurture his soul and heal his deepest wounds.
• Charles Andrews/Golden Elk
  outer quest—to help the Americans gain independence, and then go home to his adoptive people in peace.
  inner quest—to become a true Shawnee husband to Blue Sky, father to their children, and member of the tribe.

It’s a beginning. I’ll refine this and make it more specific to this volume as I develop the story. In my next post, I’ll go into the actual plot outline, which I’ve organized in 3 acts.