Chapter 51

At 10:00 on Monday morning, the 23rd of March, Seamus, Ken, Kell, and I transferred to Fort Jefferson in Washington City located on the Land Between the Rivers in Western Kentucky. This time there were no extra guards around General Greene's Headquarters when we arrived. There was only the one near the door when we entered in our Army uniforms. We quickly made our way to the Chief-of-Staff's office. Colonel Harrower was somewhat surprised to see me again.

"More news?" he asked expectantly.

"Yes, the British have surrendered," I told him to a shocked expression.

"So quickly?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes, but not all that quickly," I said.

"Just a minute, while I alert the General," he told us excitedly and hurried into General Greene's office after knocking. The door quickly reopened, and we were told to enter.

"Good morning, sir!" I said after we had stopped in front of his desk and saluted.

"Good morning Colonel O'Connell, and also you other gentlemen!" the General said with a large smile.

"SO, the British have surrendered!" he said next, quite happily.

"Yes sir. All of the British Commanders of the major Atlantic ports have signed the surrender documents as well as Admiral Ball, the Commander of British Naval forces in North America, and Admiral Lord Keith who was the Commander of a new fleet sent here to destroy the French fleet in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. They also had with them some sixteen thousand troops to reinforce the British Army for their expedition to extend the Georgia colony to the Mississippi River and to help their Navy drive the French out of New Orleans," I informed a very startled General Greene.

"But ... but how could you defeat a British Navy fleet?" the General asked when he found his voice again.

"We commandeered a ship named Rattlesnake and sailed against their fleet," Seamus told him. "We sank or scuttled ten of their first rate ships in addition to damaging a number of other ships. Rattlesnake was a rather appropriate name for our ship."

"How large was this ship?" Colonel Harrower asked in surprise. "There were no large warships in the colonies."

"Rattlesnake had been a privateer during the war. She had been captured by the British and taken into their service because of her speed. They had her up for sale when we confiscated her," Seamus added.

"A privateer!" General Greene demanded, startled. "How large was this ship?"

"She IS about ninety feet on her deck and about two hundred tons burden according to Captain Graham, her new skipper," I told him.

"Two hundred tons!?" Colonel Harrower asked. "A first rate ship of the line would be nearly ten times as large. How could you engage even one first rate ship and survive, let alone ten?" he demanded in a startled voice.

"Magic!" Kell told him but didn't amplify on that.

"Are you sure that these were first rate ships?" the General asked. "They carry around a hundred guns each as I remember. How many guns does this Rattlesnake carry?"

"She had fourteen guns when we seized her although she had twenty gun-ports," Ken told him, enjoying his amazement.

"Fourteen guns! What size guns? Those first rate ships carry thirty-two and twenty-four pounders," Colonel Harrower demanded.

"Nine pounders," I told him, but added, "We put all but four of them in the hold, and those four were never fired."

"You must be mistaken. You couldn't have engaged even one first rate ship with nine pounders," Colonel Harrower insisted in a knowledgeable voice.

"The ships were Queen Charlotte, Royal George, Royal Sovereign, Prince George, Prince of Wales, Queen, Saint George, Neptune, Atlas, and Formidable. At least that is what Admiral Ball, who was there along with the nine British Generals to observe, told us during the battle," Ken informed a seriously shocked Chief-of-Staff.

"My God!!" Colonel Harrower exclaimed when he could speak again. "Those would all be first rate ships with names like that, and all would carry a hundred guns or so," he acknowledged in a shaking voice.

"Did you bring a copy of the surrender documents with you?" General Greene asked excitedly when his Chief-of-Staff had finished.

"Yes, we brought a number of copies of the printed documents with us. The original signed documents will remain in our custody at least until all of the British have left North America," I told him before handing over five printed copies of the surrender documents. The General and the Colonel both quickly started to read the documents. They did not appear happy with the documents after the first few words, however.

"These documents say nothing about the Confederation Army or our Government, and only that the British have surrendered to Clan O'Connell!!" the General roared at us when he had finished reading the documents.

"That is correct! We, Clan O'Connell, are the ones that undertook the overthrow of the British Empire in North America. There was NO American Army or American Government participation. We, the O'Connells with just the members of our Clan, are the ones that quarantined all of the British supplies, isolated all of their Headquarters and leaders, and then isolated the Philadelphia Squadron of the Royal Navy in addition to defeating the new Royal Navy fleet that had been sent here," I told him. Both General Greene and Colonel Harrower stared at us in silence for a short time.

"But we have given you the use of facilities belonging to the Army and the Government in addition to support for them and the people assigned to you since you arrived here," General Greene protested.

"All of that was and continues to be for O'Connell's Border Rangers who have kept the frontier safe since they were set up, and we have learned that their very existence prevented the launch of two major expeditions last summer. But none of that has anything to do with Clan O'Connell itself. There was no support supplied for our operations against the British on the Atlantic coast. Even the Intelligence that we received here was old and outdated. We did our own reconnaissance of all of the east coast ports. Even the uniforms that we wore a part of the time were paid for by us," I told him in rebuttal.

"Still, this is totally unacceptable and perhaps bordering on treason, Colonel!" General Greene roared, but before he could go any further there was a knock at the office door before a slightly built young Captain entered the office.

"What is it, Samuel?" the General roared, still very much upset.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but a messenger has just arrived from President Jefferson. He requests your immediate appearance at his house on an urgent matter, sir," the young man informed all of us.

"This is Samuel Porter, my new Aide, Gentlemen. Thank you. Samuel. We'll be on our way to see the President in just a minute or two," the General assured his Aide.

"Your horse and Colonel Harrower's will be ready in a few minutes. Should I accompany you, sir?" the young Captain asked.

No, that won't be necessary, Samuel, or the horses either," the General told his Aide in a kinder, gentler voice. "We will have Colonel O'Connell and his relatives take us there," he finished as he turned to look at me. "Well?" he asked. Seamus and I cast the transfer spell as soon as the General and the Colonel had their coats and hats on, and had adjusted them. We appeared in the entry hall of the President's house a second later, startling those there.

James Madison, the Secretary of State, arrived from elsewhere in the house just after our arrival and was surprised to see the General there already until he spotted us four O'Connells.

"Mr. Dearborn will be here shortly. In the meantime, Gentlemen, come into the Cabinet's Conference Room. There is trouble brewing," he told us. President Jefferson was already in the conference room when we all arrived there. He appeared to be wearing the same or similar clothing to that he had worn on our previous visit. He seemed rather distraught when we entered but looked up and smiled on seeing Seamus and me.

"Well Nathanael, I believe that you have brought with you just the people that we may need for this new problem," Thomas Jefferson said before turning to us O'Connells.

"Colonel O'Connell, I don't believe that these other two gentlemen were with you during our previous meeting," he said.

"No sir. May I introduce my two other Brothers: Kennard Curran O'Connell and Kellen Conroy O'Connell," I told him before turning to Ken and Kell.

"This is Mister Thomas Jefferson, President of the North American Confederation," I informed them.

"It is our pleasure to meet you, sir," both Ken and Kell told him. Tall, thin, dour Henry Dearborn arrived just after that, and Mr. Randolph also joined us.

"It appears that we are all here now, so we will proceed. Gentlemen, I have called all of you here because of some disturbing news that arrived by courier this morning from New Orleans. The message that he brought informed us that the British have sent a massive fleet to North America. The French believe that they intend to attack their fleet in the Gulf of Mexico and attempt to capture New Orleans. Additionally, they indicated that the fleet is accompanied by some sixteen thousand troops who are intended to be used to attack our frontiers!" Mister Jefferson finished and laid the dispatch in French on the table.

Seamus, Ken, Kell, and I were all smiling at this news. Mr. Madison, Mr. Dearborn, and Mr. Randolph were all frowning while General Greene and Colonel Harrower looked confused. No one spoke for a number of seconds following this announcement.

"Mister President, we, the O'Connells, have already dealt with that fleet. We destroyed or disabled their ten first rate ships, caused a number of other ships to go aground, and scattered the remainder of their fleet last Saturday, in addition to taking Admiral Lord Keith prisoner. He was one of the signers of the surrender documents that evening along with Admiral Ball and the nine British Generals Commanding the major east coast ports," I informed him.

"That is the reason that we are here today," Seamus added. "To announce that the British have surrendered." The faces of Misters Jefferson, Madison, Dearborn, and Randolph registered surprise and amazement at this news. General Greene, however, still didn't look at all happy.

"Yes, they surrendered, but to Clan O'Connell!" he protested in a loud voice. "The Army and our Government aren't mentioned at all in the surrender documents," he continued in a milder voice on seeing President Jefferson's disapproval of his outburst.

"Exactly what is in these documents?" Mr. Jefferson asked mildly. I handed him a printed copy of the surrender documents while Seamus handed the others their copies. They spent some time reading the documents.

"What have you to say about General Greene's accusations, Colonel O'Connell?" President Jefferson asked after a few minutes.

"Sir, Clan O'Connell undertook the removal of the British from North America at the request of our benefactor. When we arrived here, we saw that stopping the British attacks on the frontier would be necessary before we could concentrate on removing them. This led to the formation of O'Connell's Border Rangers which took up our time until the end of the year.

"In Mid-January, we started on the planning and reconnaissance necessary to accomplish the removal of the British. We started the actual operation to remove them on the 9th of March. Last Saturday, the 21st of March, they signed the surrender documents, and will shortly begin removing their troops. All of this was the work of Clan O'Connell. There was no support or assistance provided either by the Army or the Government beyond introducing us to the first partisan leader and giving us advice on the wording and some of the provisions that they desired in the surrender documents.