Alternate Generals III

Caroline Pineraft Bearkiller wishes me to greet you in her name. I don't think this means anything but good ma

Your dusty brother,

Thomas

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Joshua Parker to Thomas Parker, aboard United States, Norfolk, May 15, 1814

I am sorry to say that our respected mother appears to have opened both of your last letters to me that reached her and is somewhat distempered about Caroline Bearkiller. She certainly wrote me in strong terms on the subject. If she has not written in such terms to you, I will spare you knowledge of them for now.

It was easier for us to return than it was to go out, because of the odd sort of peace that has come to Europe. The Austrians and the Russians have recognized Napoleon's son as emperor, but since he is a baby, there is a Council of Regency that includes his mother, the Dowager Empress Marie Louise, who of course is an Austrian princess. There is also a Superior Council of War, with old Boney himself in the rank of Marshal as its Chairman and some marshal named Davout as the Minister of War.

The French would not have welcomed the Bourbons back unless that was the only way of wi

The British were said to be very reluctant parties to the armistice, and may yet balk at a peace treaty on these terms. There are also rumors that the Austrians hope to push the British toward agreement, by letting the French hold on to Italian territories that they would otherwise be returning to the Habsburgs. The British do not want the French all over the Mediterranean.

It's not every day of the week that one sees so many shiftings of alliances and so many friends become foes and the other way around.

The British have of course abandoned the blockade of France. They have also withdrawn Wellington's army to just beyond the Spanish border, because the Spanish have not signed a peace with the French. I do not know whether Wellington's orders are to prevent a French invasion of Spain or a Spanish invasion of France!

With no blockade off France but little of fair winds in mid-passage, we were forty-one days from Nantes to the Capes of the Chesapeake. We took only two prizes, the British now having most of their trade between Canada and the West Indies in convoys too heavily escorted for our privateers. Even the close blockade now consists of squadrons of frigates with the occasional ship of the line, and they will scatter small craft up and down the American coast again only when they have taken or rendered useless all of our heavier ships.

We were able to run into the Chesapeake at night in bad weather, with only one exchange of broadsides. Constellation was not so lucky, being taken by the British 74 Triumph. As of this writing, Legion and Malin are also safe in Baltimore, which should make the place secure against anything but a major expedition. Of course, the only way the French crews in Boston can come down to Baltimore is overland, so it looks as if the ships will be flying the American flag for a while longer. We are also said to be launching two ships of the line of our own later this year.

Ships that come from the south say the British appear to be gathering an expedition against Sava

Commodore Decatur has appointed me his secretary, as a new purser has come aboard. I also learn that the frigate armed en flute reached Philadelphia, and if the Quakers are honest I shall see a handsome sum in addition to my prize money.

This letter is going south in a coasting vessel, so that I shall not add to it anything that might be useful to the enemy if the letter should fall into the wrong hands.

Do be careful with your Cherokee wench. Even if her people do not pr

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Thomas Parker to Joshua Parker, Sava

Esteemed Brother,

Don't call Caroline Pineraft Bearkiller a wench. I've already knocked one man down for doing that.

I am leaving this letter where it will be safe if we hold off the British but I do not survive the Battle of Sava

That's not enough to hold the city against an attack from the sea and a second one from overland by way of Mobile or the Floridas. The British are sending regulars and some Dons from the Floridas, with the Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles to make a bad bargain worse.

The Cherokees can't hold the land route all by themselves, either. If they stay away from their crops and villages too long, they'll starve during the winter. Or their white neighbors will try to take over their land.

At least Old Hickory will do something about ungrateful bastards like that if he catches them! Nobody could ever call him an Indian lover, but he can tell people who've helped him from people who've hurt him. And people who've hurt him are safe, maybe, in the next territory.

Brother, you seem to have come home from the sea with more money than anybody in the family has seen in quite a while. Do you think you could loan me some of that pirate's gold to buy land for Caroline and her kin? A proper purchase with a legal title and everything will make it easier for them to keep off trespassers. Also, if I don't end the campaign in this world, Caroline will have something to call her own. The Cherokee sometimes make all kinds of noise about one of their women going with a white man.

Now please don't ask any questions where you wouldn't want Mother to hear the answers, even if you find me alive and in a state to answer them. Just say yes or no, and we'll part friends as well as kin.

Your grateful brother,

Tom

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