Conceived in Liberty

by Howard Fast

  We desert with arms; whose arms? We desert in uniform. I look at Kenton’s uniform. His coat is cut from a blanket, sewed with strips of cloth, shredded all round the bottom. The blue skin of his knees shows through his breeches. His mittens are made of a piece of blanket. His neck is bound with a strip of our old regimental flag. But we desert in uniform.

  McLane comes in. He never suffers for food, the dashing Captain McLane. His men plunder the British food trains, the produce that the Quaker farmers haul in to the Philadelphia market. They eat well and they eat first. He comes in with a brisk stride and salutes. He wears a hunting coat of grey felt with red facings. He wears high, polished kneeboots and doeskin breeches. He wears a cocked hat of grey kid.

  He wears his sidearms, a sabre and a pistol, a bunched hand of lace where his coat opens. He walks up to the table, salutes and stands at attention. Hamilton has dropped into his chair by the window. He leans his elbow on the window-sill, and lazily rubs away the frost with his fingers. I watch, fascinated, as the scene outside comes into view—a sentry passing, a picket fence coming out of a mound of snow, two women picking their way along the road. Then Hamilton turns to us, watches us a moment, and smiles. His smile is reassurance. He’s slight as a girl, but the story goes that he is fearless. He doesn’t like McLane; the smile is causal contempt of McLane.

  Washington glanced at McLane fondly. “You may be at ease, Mr. McLane,” he said.

  Hamilton rose, walked across the room slowly, staring at a few sheets of paper he held in his hands. He paid no attention to McLane. He walked across the room to the farther wall, and there he turned, resting against the wall. He never looked directly at McLane; his eyes were shaded by long, girlish lashes.

  He said: “Mr. McLane, will you describe to the court the incidents that led up to your intercepting these men? Will you tell just how you happened to be returning along the King of Prussia Road at that hour? I believe it was early morning.”

  McLane said: “Your excellencies, I resent Colonel Hamilton’s implication. I was in the line of my duty.”

  Hamilton: “There was no implication intended.”

  The court: “You will answer his questions, Mr. McLane.”

  McLane: “Your excellencies know the work I have done in providing forage for the army. Lately, I have had information that the Quakers are given to travelling at night. They form their produce wagons into trains, start out at sundown, and trust to reach the British outposts, near Philadelphia, before dawn. I make it my practice to range during the early hours of the morning. On the morning of February seventeenth, I was damnably unlucky. I was returning with forty horses along the road from Norristown, when I noticed four persons on foot, bearing arms. I rode forward to investigate, crying for them to halt and stay where they were. They ran across a field, but luckily were bogged in a drift of snow. My men rode them down, but at the last moment, when they saw that escape was cut off, they turned and deliberately fired into my men, killing a trooper.”

  Hamilton said: “Thank you, Mr. McLane.” He walked over to us, turned his back on McLane, and asked softly: “The girl bore arms?”

  “No, sir.”

  He walked back to the table, rested one hand upon it, and faced McLane. “Mr. McLane,” he said, “you speak of four deserters. Were they all men?”

  “No, sir. One was a woman.”

  “Then there were only three deserters. To my knowledge, there are no enlisted women in this army.”

  “Yes, sir—three men.”

  “And you spoke of four persons on foot, bearing arms. Did the woman bear arms?”

  McLane seemed to hesitate.

  “Mr. McLane, I call you to answer! Did the woman bear arms?”

  “I don’t recall.”

  “Mr. McLane, what is the weight of the average musket?”

  The court: “Mr. Hamilton, will you keep to the point? You are not here to dramatize, but to help formation of a just decision.”

  Hamilton: “If the court will permit me to go ahead, I can prove this all to be to the point. Please answer my question, Mr. McLane.”

  McLane: “One stone—more or less.”

  “Or in pounds—fifteen, or twenty. Wouldn’t you say a musket could easily weigh twenty pounds, Mr McLane?”

  “I don’t make a practice of weighing muskets.”

  “But I do. Here is a woman, half-starved, weighing eighty or ninety pounds, and you don’t know whether she was armed.”

  McLane said: “Your excellencies, I object to being baited this way by Colonel Hamilton. I am not on trial here.”

  “Then you’ll admit the woman was not armed?” Hamilton asked.

  “Your excellencies——”

  “Answer Mr. Hamilton’s question.”

  “The men were armed.”

  “And the woman wasn’t. And the woman is dead, shot by your men. You omitted that from the story, Mr. McLane. Will you explian why you omitted that fact—why your men shot an unarmed woman who was certainly not a deserter?”

  “We had no knowledge that she was a woman at the time. She was dressed as they were.”

  “But unarmed. How many of your men fired, Mr. MacLane?”

  “I don’t know—a dozen perhaps.”

  “Did you give the command to fire?”

  “I did. It was in the line of duty. They were armed men, resisting arrest.”

  “Yet the one shot that took effect brought down an unarmed woman. How do you account for that?”

  “I can’t account for the marksmanship of my men, and I see no reason why I have to. They were on horse, firing at moving figures——”

  “Mr. McLane, you indicated that the man in your brigade whom these deserters killed was shot before you opened fire. You admit that when twelve moving men, on horse or on foot, fire at targets that are not stationary, one hit out of a dozen attempts is a reasonable score. You indicate that your return fire was given immediately after these deserters opened fire, and that at the time the deserters were moving. Let me make myself clear: three moving men fire at your brigade, and one of their shots takes effect. Does that suggest anything to you?”

  “That General Wayne’s men are better marksmen than mine? My men are cavalrymen, not marksmen.”

  “Or that your men fired, killed the woman—that the three men halted and fired from a stationary position.”

  The court: “Mr. Hamilton—you will not attempt to influence the court by conjecture.”

  Hamilton turned to McLane, said quietly: “Mr. McLane, who fired first, the deserters or your men?”

  McLane said: “Your excellencies, do I have to answer that question?”

  “You will answer.”

  “I gave the order to fire when I saw the men were about to escape in the forest.”

  “And who fired first?”

  “My men.”

  “Yet you stated, Mr. McLane, that these three men returned your fire simply to resist capture. You said that they returned the fire when they saw their position was hopeless. Also, your implication was that they had fired first. Deliberately, Mr. McLane, you portrayed these men in an act of treason and murder.”

  “Your excellencies, must I be baited like a common criminal?”

  Washington said: “Mr. Hamilton, you have no right to ascribe intentions to Captain McLane. He is not on trial.”

  “But these three men are on trial for their lives.”

  Wayne said: “Your excellency, an act of treason reflects upon my command. I demand that it be substantiated.”

  Hamilton: “Mr. McLane, did these three men fire deliberately, when about to be taken, or was their action simply a burst of fury at the killing of the woman?”

  “They killed one of my men. They were deserters.”

  Conway leaned across the table and said: “Colonel Hamilton, what are you driving at? We are not trying officers or gentlemen. We are trying three deserters. Look at them. You profane the name of soldier when you call them soldiers.”

  Wayne cr
ied: “If Colonel Conway desires to indulge in personalities at the expense of my troops, he can answer to me. Whether or not these men are soldiers ——”

  “Gentlemen,” Washington said coldly.

  Wayne stood up, trembling, facing Conway. Washington said:

  “Be seated, General Wayne. You forget yourself.”

  Hamilton said: “If Colonel Conway wishes to make any remarks, I’ll answer them personally. There are five thousand men like these in camp, and if I can’t address them as troops of the line, I’ll resign my commission.”

  Washington’s voice was like ice. He said: “Mr. Hamilton, you are not here to engage in personalities. If you are through, you have the court’s permission to leave.”

  Hamilton stood there, biting his lips. For a moment, I thought he’d walk out. Then he said:

  “I beg your pardon sir, humbly. I have no interest in these men. I was asked to take up their rights. That’s my duty, I think.”

  Wayne said: “Your excellency, I add my voice to Mr. Hamilton’s. I beg your pardon.”

  “Go ahead, Mr. Hamilton,” Washington said shortly.

  Hamilton said: “Mr. McLane, if your wife were shot down and you had a loaded gun in your hand, and the man who committed the crime were before you, what action would you take?”

  McLane stood in silence.

  Washington said: “Captain McLane will not answer. If you can’t confine yourself to facts, Mr. Hamilton, I’ll dismiss the witness.”

  “But, your excellency, what are the facts? I have proven that Captain McLane’s men fired first. These men could have escaped. Mr. McLane himself has admitted that they might have escaped. They saw this woman shot——”

  Lord Stirling said, wearily: “Are you making out a common camp follower as someone to be compared to an officer’s wife? If you are, sir, I am not the only person at this table who will take offence.”

  “Sir, I made no such comparison. If Lord Stirling wishes to pick a quarrel ——”

  “I shall not warn you again, Mr. Hamilton,” Washington said shortly.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I beg you to allow me to go on.”

  “Very well.”

  “Mr. McLane, did any of these deserters show signs of sorrow at the death of the woman?”

  “I believe one of them did.”

  “Would you describe his actions?”

  “He tore loose from the men who were holding him and ran over to the woman.”

  “Could you say which one?”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “Would you look at those three men, Mr. McLane? Colonel Conway remarked that they profane the name of soldier. Obviously, they are half-starved, half-naked. They don’t look strong enough to tear loose from two or three men. Only a fit of intense feeling could impel them to such strength. You would grant that the feeling was intense, Mr. McLane?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “But you must know. You saw it happen.”

  “Then I grant it.”

  “Thank you. That will be all, Mr. McLane.”

  “Have I the court’s permission to go?” McLane asked.

  Washington asked: “Do any of you gentlemen wish to question Mr. McLane.” There was no answer. “You may go,” he said.

  McLane stalked out. Hamilton walked to the window, walked back slowly. The room was very silent. The ticking of the clock sounded like a beating drum.

  Washington said: “Have you any other witnesses, Mr. Hamilton?”

  “Have I the court’s permission to examine these men?” Hamilton asked, nodding at us.

  “You have.”

  “Allen Hale,” Hamilton said. I stood up. Kenton and Charley were looking at me curiously.

  “Come forward,” Mercer said.

  I went up to the table.

  “Your name is Allen Hale?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Your regiment?”

  “The Fourteenth Pennsylvania.”

  “Are you a Pennsylvania man?”

  “No, sir. I was born in New York.”

  “Where?”

  “The Mohawk Valley.”

  “And you lived there all your life?”

  “There and in the Lake country.”

  “Where is the Lake country?”

  “Westward, near the Finger Lakes. We call it the Valley land.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  “And when did you enlist in the army?”

  “At the end of May, in seventeen seventy-five.”

  “You’ve served two and a half years. How long was your enlistment?”

  “Three years—”

  “And what made you desert, when there were only a few months left to serve?”

  I shook my head; it felt heavy, clogged. As out of a dream at the dugout, to find myself standing here, the round table of officers, Hamilton watching me with violet eyes from under long lashes, playing a game.

  “I thought I’d desert,” I said.

  “But why?”

  “I thought to desert—I had no thought of living out the winter. I was fair in hell, and sick for the sight of the Valley country. I thought to go away. There were a good lot of men deserting, and talk went that there’d be no army in the spring.”

  “And you expected to reach the Mohawk Valley?”

  I nodded.

  Expressively, Hamilton looked at my feet, at the clothes I wore. He said:

  “When you enlisted in the army, did you enlist in a Pennsylvania regiment?”

  “No, sir. There were few Pennsylvania men outside of Boston. I enlisted in the Fourth New York Regiment.”

  “Where is that regiment?”

  I answered: “Dead.”

  “You mean there’s no one left of that regiment except yourself?”

  “Five more men.”

  “Was there any desertion in the Fourth New York?”

  “Some few men. The rest sickened or died in battle.”

  “I see. When you deserted, three men, why did you decide to take a woman with you? Did you think a woman could make the trip you were planning?”

  “I had no thought that a woman could go the distance. She was noways a strong enough woman.”

  “Then why did you take her?”

  “She pleaded to go along. She said she’d take her own life if I left her behind.”

  “Was she your wife?”

  “She was no fit woman to be a man’s wife,” I said dully. “She was a woman of the camp.”

  “But she loved you enough to take her own life if you left her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now, on the morning when you were taken, where were you?”

  “On the highroad to Norristown.”

  “And you saw Captain McLane’s men. Did you recognize them immediately?”

  “We knew they were part of the army from their number.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “We made across a field—to run for the shelter of the forest.”

  “Were you together when you crossed the fields?”

  “Bess fell, and I was helping her to rise. Charley and Kenton were a dozen paces beyond.”

  “Then they could have escaped?”

  “They might, had they not waited.”

  “What happened then?”

  “Some of the cavalrymen took the ground. They fired a volley at us. They had a bullet in Bess, and she fell from my hand—”

  “Some of the cavalrymen dismounted before they fired? They took time to aim?”

  “I don’t know—they weren’t much at shooting.”

  Hamilton smiled. Then his face sobered, deliberately. He said: “What did you do then?”

  “When I saw Bess shot, I guess I went crazy. I guess I didn’t care much about anything, and I let go with my gun. Kenton and Charley fired. I guess we were all crazy—thinking about going back.”

  “And when you fired, did you aim?”

  “I reckon no. I shot as I held my mus
ket, at my side. They did too.”

  “Your friends?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you. That’s all.” I walked back to my chair, slumped into it. Kenton and Charley were sitting like stone figures, staring straight ahead of them, but looking at nothing. They didn’t look at me.

  Hamilton turned to the table. He said: “Your excellencies, there’s nothing I can say more. These men are deserters; but they are not murderers; they did not commit treason. They fired in a fit of passion. Their crime was not premeditated or deliberate. I don’t have to tell you what they suffer. God knows, you’re aware of it. This is a winter of hell. We’re quartered in stone houses; we eat and drink and sleep and wear decent clothes. But you’ve seen them crowded like beasts in their huts. You know.”

  Washington said: “Mr. Hamilton, we are not in a civil court. We are trying these men for a military offence. They opened fire in an act of mutiny, and killed a man.”

  “But their act was self-defence. By all the laws of humanity, they’re innocent. They had been starving for weeks. They were half-insane.”

  “Nevertheless, they killed a man.”

  “Your excellencies, I am not the court. All I can do is to plead a case you have given me. But I know that in the place of these men, I would have done the same.”

  He walked to the window then, dropped into his chair, and stared out. The men at the table were talking in low tones. I heard Wayne say: “You’re not dealing with soldiers, sir, but with beasts. No discipline. You’ll touch off a powder keg.”

  “Then touch it off I will. If there’s one man left, he’ll be under my command.”

  Lord Stirling: “I’d have them drawn. I’d teach them a few of His Majesty’s lessons.”

  “Sir, His Majesty is not commanding my army,” Washington snapped.

  Kenton and Charley both sat motionless, like men in a dream; they seemed to have no interest in the court-martial. They sat staring at nothing at all. I listened to the clock, watched the pendulum. I counted each movement. I felt drowsy, tired. I felt that I would like to sleep. Gradually, the room had become warmer. There was a rug on the floor. I thought of stretching out full-length on the rug and sleeping. I half-closed my eyes. The drone of voices was like bees humming.