After 1755 A.D. Valley Forge

Kairos lifetime 117: Michelle Marie Lancaster

Recording …

People walked through the streets despite the cold weather.  The town square appeared full of revelers.  They had plenty of guns in the street as well.  Men shot at targets or just up into the air making a loud bang every so often.  Booths held all sorts of food and beer.  And music sounded like an undercurrent to the revelry.  A dozen-piece orchestra played, and a choir sang on the steps of the church.

Katie grabbed one woman’s attention to ask what it was all about, but before she could frame her question the woman shouted, “Happy New Year.”

“What year?” Katie asked instead.

“Seventeen seventy-eight, of course,” the woman said and hurried off on her errand.  The sky looked overcast, like it might snow in the frigid weather, but for the present, the people were out in the square celebrating the turn of the year.

Lincoln, having read up on the subject, carefully asked two men what colony they were in.  He mentioned they had been traveling through the wilderness for some time.

“The great state of Massachusetts,” the man said.  “We are smack in the corner with the wilderness of New York in that direction and Connecticut below us.”  He pointed to the west and south to show what he meant.

“Connecticut is always beneath us,” another man interjected, slapped his friend hard on the shoulder, and laughed, like he made a great joke.  The first man rubbed his shoulder as they walked off.

“Where are you headed?”  A different man walked up and asked as he eyed them suspiciously.  The man wore deerskin clothes and a bearskin coat.  It made him appear Native American, though he was clearly European.

“Pennsylvania,” Lincoln answered.  Katie and Lockhart began to pay attention.  Tony spoke up to get between Lincoln and the questioner.

“We heard General Howe and the British took Philadelphia.  General Washington is going to need all the help he can get.”

“I don’t imagine your black boy and his woman will be much help,” the man said, pointing at Decker and Nanette.  Nanette had to put her hand out to keep Decker from responding, though she could not prevent Decker’s growl.

“None of your concern, William Talbert,” yet another man said as he entered the conversation.  He shooed off the suspicious one and turned to the travelers.  “Colonel Daniel Morgan,” the man, dressed in something like a uniform, introduced himself.  ‘My regiment of four hundred riflemen, are camped east of town.  We are always looking for new recruits.  I see you have some unfamiliar weapons.  Are they any good?   Are you any good with them?”

Lockhart looked at Katie and she nodded in a kind of permission, like she knew this colonel by name and knew he was one of the good guys.  “Decker,” Lockhart said, knowing Decker had some steam to vent.

“My pleasure,” Decker responded.  He lifted his rifle and aimed at the clay pots men had set up on a fence rail with a barn wall twenty paces behind it.  Decker sat on his horse so he could see and aim over the heads of the men.  He sat about a hundred yards further away than the line the men used for their rifle practice.  He considered getting out his scope, but it was not that far.  One shot, and a clay pot busted to pieces.  He shot three more times without reloading, and the three other pots on the rail broke.  Two got knocked off the rail.  The third cracked in half.

“Huzzah,” Colonel Morgan said in his surprise.  He turned to Decker and said, “That is a remarkable rifle.  May I see it?”

Decker shook his head.  “Not allowed,” he said, and looked at Lockhart to explain, or not.

“That rifle comes from about three hundred and thirty years in the future,” Lockhart said honestly enough.  “It is not our intention to change history.”

Katie spoke up.  “But we are headed to Valley Forge in support of General Washington if you are going that way.  There is safety in numbers and maybe we could share some thoughts with you privately on the road.”

“The future you say.” Colonel Morgan looked at Lockhart and took a minute to look at the others as a new uniformed man jogged up to join the group.  The new man looked carefully at the travelers before he spoke.

“Your rifle demonstration was most impressive.  May I see the instrument?”

“Not allowed,” Colonel Morgan said as he introduced his subordinate.  “Captain Price.  General Washington sent him and his men to fetch us from the Northern Department after Burgoyne surrendered.  George, I need you to move a few of your tents to make room beside the headquarters tent.  These people have valuable information, and I don’t intend to let them far from my sight.”

“Colonel?”

“An order.  Run.”  Colonel Morgan turned to the travelers who dismounted to walk their horses.  He waited until Captain Price was out of earshot.  “The future you say,” he repeated.

“You seem easily convinced after one simple rifle demonstration,” Lockhart said, some old police suspicion creeping into his voice.

Colonel Morgan nodded and confessed.  “Before I took the rifle company north to join Gates, I had a long talk with Missus Lancaster, General Washington himself sitting right there, listening to it all, not blinking an eye at a word she said.  She said she had friends from the future that might show up in time for what she called the Battle of Saratoga.  She did not explain what she meant by that, but she said lately you have been showing up at critical points in history.  I understand basically what she meant by Saratoga now, and how important to the war effort the British surrender is.  But now I wonder why you are here… now.”

“Michelle Marie Lancaster,” Lincoln interrupted.  “The Kairos in this day.  Her husband is gone.  A Shawnee raid in the western territories out by Fort Duquesne, that’s Pittsburg.  Just before the start of the Revolution.  Sorry.”  Lincoln honestly tried not to say too much.

“She is a beauty, and French besides,” Colonel Morgan said with a smile spreading across his face.  “I imagine she can have any man she wants.”  He coughed and looked serious again.  “She did say to look for you, and described you a bit, just in case.  And you are from the future?  She said the dark man was a colonel?”

“Lieutenant colonel, sir,” Decker said.  “And it is African American.”

“So she said,” Colonel Morgan answered.  “She did not explain that either, though it was a designation I never heard of.”

Katie butted in. “Like Polish American or German American.  Like Asian American or Native American.”

“So you say.  I would guess as many as one out of twenty, maybe one out of ten men in Washington’s command are African American.  Some are free men.  Some are slaves fighting for their freedom.” Colonel Morgan shrugged. “I understand the darkies, being men, wanting to fight, especially if they are fighting for their freedom.  What I don’t understand is how a woman becomes a major, and marine besides.”

“We work with the navy,” Katie said.

“I know what a marine is,” Colonel Morgan said.  “I know some ship captains who believe it is bad luck just having a woman on board.”  He paused before he said, “This way.”  He began to walk, and the travelers followed.

“We learned a few things in the future,” Katie said.  “Times change.”

“They must,” Colonel Morgan agreed.  “Don’t get me wrong.  Though I only spoke with her a couple of times, I don’t imagine there is anything Missus Lancaster could not do if she set her mind to it.”

“You would be surprised at some of the things she has done,” Lockhart said.

“I am sure I would,” Colonel Morgan agreed, and slowed as they came to the place where the road left the town.  “I don’t suppose you might tell me how this war turns out.  Missus Lancaster appears to be working hard for the patriot cause, so maybe that says we get something out of it.”

“Can’t tell,” Katie said.

“Dare not tell,” Lockhart echoed.

Colonel Morgan nodded again.  “She said I was not supposed to ask, but I thought it was worth a try.”  They came to a stop at the edge of a camp where three men were taking down a tent to move it.  Some tents were in among the trees.  Most of the tents were spread across a field, no doubt a farm field in winter.

“This is more than enough room,” Tony said as he brought Ghost to the front and people got their tents to set up the camp.

Colonel Morgan had to think a minute before he spoke.  “We travel roughly twenty-five miles a day.  We might make thirty on our own, but sometimes we hardly do twenty because of the wagons and the women.  I suppose your women can travel with the wagons…”

“We need to stick together,” Elder Stow interrupted.

“We carry our own tents and necessities,” Tony added.

“But we can maybe share a cooking fire in the wilderness.”  Katie suggested., “Along with the stories and things that we are allowed to tell you, if you want.”

  Colonel Morgan agreed, and on his own he decided it would be best to limit contact between these people and his riflemen.  He watched Sukki put her hand over the fire that had been allowed to dwindle while the men moved their tents. The fire sprang up almost too much and too fast, but Sukki managed a couple of logs before the whole fire became ash. He watched Nanette toss a cloth ball at the ground and say the word “tent.”  The cloth ball expanded and shaped itself into a tent for two, and Colonel Morgan went into his own tent thinking, Yes.  Limit contact.