The following is a passage from the novel, "Then...A Patriot I'll Be". It touches on the unbearable heat that Revolutionary War soldiers were forced to endure during the summer of 1776...
The true severity of the heat showed its grizzly face one day at the very end of July. It was one of the hotter days that I remember during my New York City deployment. As usual, I had been assigned to my post on the top of the earthen wall in preparation for an attack. The heat was so unbearable, that several of the troops stationed atop the walls were simply falling asleep at their posts due to the warmth from the mid day sun. The sergeant had ordered me and another fellow to stand down from our posts and follow him. Apparently, he needed some extra men to assist with the water crew, as the temperatures were so intense that day. I wasn’t happy to be given the burden of carrying around a yoke on my shoulders weighed down with water buckets, but I figured that it would get me off the walls and out of the sun’s grasp for a few hours. I ventured into the fort where I met up with the remainder of the fill in water crew and retrieved the necessary supplies to carry the water from a small freshwater river nearby to the trenches that I had been stationed at.
Making our way back into the trenches from the river, we proceeded to get to the business of dispersing water to the parched and dehydrated troops that were on post atop the walls. This employment went on for about one hour, when I came upon a small group of soldiers that were at their positions, lying as stoic as one would expect a soldier on post to be. “Step down for water lads”, the sergeant that was with me yelled to the group. Usually, the response was instant, and a stampede of soldiers would come running to collect their bounty of cool refreshing water before there wasn’t any left. After a moment of not getting any response, the sergeant again bellowed, “Come get some water before it is offered up to someone else”. Still, there was no response. Now the sergeant was getting upset and felt a bit disrespected by the soldiers ignoring of his commands. He climbed up onto the walls and pulled on one of the men’s shoes. The shoe came off in a hurry, but the man that it belonged to still didn’t budge. “Put that damn yoke down Mr. Crane and come up this wall at once”, the sergeant ordered to me! I instantly released myself from the yoke and climbed up onto the wall.
There before us were three men, that appeared to be sound asleep, although I was pretty sure right away that they weren’t. “Give me a hand waking these drunken miscreants Mr. Crane”, the sergeant once again commanded. “They’ll soon learn the punishment for passing out drunk at their posts”! The sergeant then picked up one of the “sleeping men’s” muskets and nudged him violently with it. Of course, the man didn’t budge one instant. I dropped down on my knees and attempted to roll the man over. Upon performing this action and seeing the man’s horrific opened eyed gaze, it was obvious to me (as well as the sergeant) that this man had died while on post. His body was already stiff from death, and from noticing the pool of perspiration still present around him, it was obvious that the man had died due to the heat. The sergeant performed the same task on the man next to the deceased one, and the outcome was identical. That man had perished due to the heat as well. There was one more body left to flip and discover that he was also indeed dead. I leaned over and moved this third body onto its back to take a look at its face to know for sure that he was dead. As I turned him over, I noticed his face. It looked as the other ones had at first, but then I noticed something. I could see this man’s lips moving slightly. Upon putting my ear to his mouth, I could hear the faint breaths that he was taking. “This man is still alive”, I yelled to the officer that was with me! The sergeant crawled over to this man and noticed immediately that he had somehow survived long enough for us to notice him.
The two of us dragged him down from the wall and propped him in a sitting up position at the base of the man made trench. “Get this man some water”, the sergeant ordered to me! Of course, I brought the bucket to the man and pulled out my own silver tankard from my haversack. I filled it handsomely with the water and put it to the dying man’s lips. Tipping the cup, the water flowed into his mouth and down his gullet. His eyes flickered as if the water was beginning to save him from the brink of death. I pulled the tankard away to allow him to swallow what was in his mouth, and poured the remainder of its contents over his head in an effort to cool the poor man down. Finally, the man groaned as the cool water flowed down his shoulders and wetted his overheated body. Thankfully, it appeared that we had got to him just in time and saved him from the certain death that his mates had suffered. Then, the man took a small breath, and closed his eyes. The sergeant and I looked at each other shocked as the man let out a deep guttural growl from the inside of his throat and flopped over onto his side; now as dead as the other two of the men we had found.
I fell back onto the ground with my back propped up against the base of the wall, exhausted. Deeply saddened by what I had just witnessed, I almost began to tear. However, I held it in as to remain stoic in the presence of an officer. I was admittedly bothered that we weren’t able to save this man. Perhaps if we were to have found him earlier, he would have fared much better. During my reflecting of what had just happened, the sergeant crawled over to my position, seemingly as tired as I now was. He then told me that we had done all we could for the man before us, and that I should be proud of my actions. “Now continue the water detail for the remainder of this section of wall Mr. Crane”, he told me. “From there, you are excused to return back to your station and rest at your post”. The sergeant did not follow me for the remainder of my water duties that day. He had to perform the grizzly task of putting together a burial detail to commit the bodies of the three deceased men to the earth.
 |
| Monument Representing the Modern Day Site of Fort Washington |
No comments:
Post a Comment