Chapter 16

The following historic characters appear in the next few chapters:

Thomas Jefferson

President of the North America Confederation, 6'-2" tall, 170 pounds, 57 years old, red hair fading to gray, hazel eyes

James Madison

Secretary of State, 5'-1" tall, 140 pounds, 49 years old, balding with only a fringe of hair going gray

Henry Dearborn

General, Secretary of War, 5'-10" tall, 150 pounds, 49 years old, blue eyes, gray hair

Edmund Randolph

Jefferson's Cousin and adviser, 5'-9" tall, 47 years old, brown eyes, dark blond hair going gray

Up early the next morning, we had breakfast, took care of the horses, and were at General Clark's quarters well before the appointed time of 9:30. The General was not in a good mood, we were told by Captain LeGras.

"What's wrong?" I asked, innocently.

"For the past two nights someone has eaten the food set aside for him, and no one seems to know who did it, or how the party gained entry to the pantry to pilfer it, as both the kitchen and the pantry are locked, and only we Aides have the keys at night. The situation has really upset a number of Senior Officers," he explained. We didn't say anything, but looked at our Sisters who were politely ignoring us.

Even though we arrived at General Greene's office early, it was just before 10:00 that we were all admitted.

"Let's go into the conference room again," General Greene told us as we entered. There were several other Officers in that room when we entered it.

"If all of you will have a seat, my staff will go over what they propose to meet the requirements of your unit," the General told us. A Lieutenant Colonel stepped up to a map now on the wall at the end of the table, as we all finished taking our seats. It showed the land west of the mountains and east of the Mississippi River but only as far south as the Cumberland. It contained a lot of empty space.

"In regards to where to station your operational forces, we went over all of the known locations where there are forts or stations that could accommodate you, or could be quickly expanded to accommodate you," he began in old English, which we could easily follow. It seemed that the Army had adopted old English rather than the Gaelic that many of its members spoke. I wondered how well that worked in battle or other places?

"Due to the considerable area to be covered north of the Ohio River, and the relative sparsity of suitable locations there, we have chosen Fort Washington on the north bank of the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Licking River for the location there. The town that has grown up around the fort is currently called Losantiville," the Colonel told us before pausing for a breath.

"In regards to where to locate your forces in Kentucky, there are few good choices in the area where you will need to operate," he told us indicating the area along the border with Virginia and the Ohio River.

"Of course there is Fort Henry at Lexington," he continued, "but it is currently at capacity, and it would require considerable time to construct additional facilities there in addition to expanding the fort. There are a number of other locations available, but most are not in the area of greatest vulnerability." He paused here again to indicate the area along the border with Virginia and the Ohio River.

"There are a number of forts or stations located in this area, but they are mostly small and in private hands. After considering the available choices, we recommend the new government fort at Mount Sterling in Montgomery County as the most suitable. It is located on the Hinkston Fork of the Licking River, and is some twenty-eight miles east of Fort Henry.

"It is also central to quite a number of other stations in the surrounding area. There are several stations located around Lewisburg, Flemmingburg, Lynn, Grayson, and Mount Olive in addition to those located further south and east along the Licking and Levisa Rivers," he told us indicating the settlements that he had named and sweeping his hand southeast along the lines of the rivers indicated in blue.

"Finally, there is Gilmore's Station, which we have acquired recently, about twelve miles east of Mount Sterling at Peeled Oak," the Colonel finished indicating the station on the map.

"We will need to check out both of these locations before accepting them, but will tentatively agree on them for now," I told them, before asking, "What about the location for the Ranger Training Camp?"

"Gilmore's Station at Peeled Oak would be an excellent location for that, which is why I mentioned it," the Colonel told us pointing again to the location of the station, but he seemed to hesitate to continue.

"Nothing has been said about a location for the supply depot!" Gwyn pointed out loudly.

"We hesitate to mention this," said a full Colonel who had been seated at the table answered, rising from his seat for the first time. "We are well aware that you will need a location where the necessary supplies can be procured, which would obviously be near Lexington or possible Louisville, but while Louisville is on the river, it is a long way from Lexington and Fort Henry.

"The problem that arises again is that Fort Henry is at capacity. There is another location near Lexington that we would like to use, but we don't control it at this time," the Colonel told us, but was sweating heavily when he finished. Both Gwyn and Sererena smiled at him before casting the air change spell to bring cold winter air into the room while making a great show of it by drawing the glyph in the air with a flourish. The temperature there dropped fifteen degrees almost instantly.

"Is that better, Colonel?" Sererena asked with a smile. "We wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable." Everyone in the room was just staring at the Cousins in amazement.

"Thank you, Colonel," General Green told his Chief of Supply before asking, "What location were you considering?"

"We were thinking of Hickory Hill outside of Lexington, the property that was confiscated from that scoundrel Wilkinson, sir," the Colonel answered.

"Ah ... yes!" General Greene answered before turning to address us.

"James Wilkinson, late General in the Army, was hung for Treason just over twelve months ago. He was in league with the Spanish to try to take over all of the land east of the Mississippi River, west of the mountains, and north of the French controlled area of Louisiana and West Florida. Most of his property, both that near Lexington and at other places, was confiscated by the government and is now under the control of the President and his Cabinet. It is possible that we could acquire it on loan when we see the President this afternoon," he finished, calmly.

"This afternoon!?" the four of us shouted in surprise.

"Yes, I was able to get an appointment with President Jefferson on short notice for this afternoon," General Greene acknowledged.

"How many of us is he expecting?" I asked, recovering quickly.

"Just the four of you plus myself, General Clark and our Aides," the General replied modestly.

"That's fine, but we will require horses for Seamus and the Ladies," I told him.

"Actually, I was thinking that it would be more dramatic if you had them suddenly appear after we were admitted to see the President," General Green suggested with a smile.

"More dramatic ... yes!" I agreed and looked over at Seamus who smiled. He could see what I was thinking. If they wanted dramatic -- we would give it to them and more than they were expecting.

"We will meet back here at 1:00 this afternoon and proceed to the President's residence from here. Will you be riding your horse, Captain?" the General asked.

"Yes sir. I'll bring General Clark's horse, and his Aide's also if you would like," I told him.

"I'm sure that Captain LeGras will appreciate that," the General answered. "I have arranged for the four of you to have your meal early at the Officers' Mess. Do you have any other questions currently?" he asked.

"No, nothing that can't wait, sir," I assured him.

"Fine. We will see you at 1:00 then," he replied, and we were dismissed.

Since it was still too early for lunch, we transported to our room in the visiting Officer's barracks before discussing the events of this morning.

"Did the location of Fort Washington sound familiar?" I asked Seamus once we were all seated.

"The part about it being opposite the mouth of the Licking River did sound like the location was in Cincinnati," Seamus answered.

"That Colonel was certainly pointing to the protrusion where Kentucky follows the river and where the Ohio and Indiana borders are in our Reality, and that would be where Cincinnati is located," Sererena reminded us.

"It will be easy enough to check once we return to Fort Henry," Seamus told his older Sister. "What about this Mount Sterling that is the other proposed location?"

"No idea. We have never been there that I know of. We'll just have to take a trip there and see what it looks like," I told him before turning to Gwyn.

"Will you and Glanda be able to operate out of someplace like this Hickory Hill?" I asked.

"I think so, Mark. If it is near Lexington, we will be able to deal with the local merchants there. We can set up a place in Louisville as well if we need to. A defensive shell would do there if needed. We can also use defensive shells for storage of supplies wherever we set up. We just need to have a large enough piece of property," she told me.

"How do all of you feel about the General's plan to have you appear in the President's office or wherever the meeting takes place?" I asked them.

"They want dramatic. We can give them dramatic, and maybe more than they were counting on," Sererena said with a mischievous grin.

"We were thinking the same thing, Sis," Seamus told her. "Like the entire group of us appearing together," he finished.

"Humm ... how about in two separate groups?" I asked.

"How do you mean?" Gwyn asked.

"Something like this," I started. "I transfer here to get you three, and we transfer to the President's office or wherever the meeting is. Then one of us transfers to Fort Henry to get the others, once they are all over their initial shock," I told her.

"Either way, we need to alert the others to be ready to do the transfer," Sererena suggested.

"All right. Do you want to volunteer to alert the others before we go to eat?" I asked her. Sererena didn't answer; instead she just disappeared from where she was sitting.

"We should ensure that our uniforms are clean and reasonably wrinkle free if we are going to see the President," Gwyn told us after that. We all checked our spare uniforms to ensure that they were ready and in like new condition. Sererena reappeared while we were doing this.

"They will all be ready shortly after 1:00," she told us before working on her own uniform. The four of us were at the Officers' mess well before meal time and had a quick lunch. Seamus and I transferred to the stable to ready the horses, and then to our room to change uniforms. Our Sisters had already changed.

"I'm not sure how long it will take to get in to see the President. Hang loose here, and I'll be back to get you," I told them in the shade of the veranda on the side of the barracks before collecting the horses and riding over to the Headquarters.

Arriving there just before 1:00, I found the two Generals and their Aides just coming out of the Headquarters. The horses for General Greene and his Aide were already there under the care of a Sergeant. We proceeded from the brick building of Fort Jefferson, across Washington City, and up to a cluster of large brick buildings belonging to the government.

At one end of the street was the large house where the President and his staff resided. At the other end of the street was the impressive building where the Congress met. Both of these buildings and the other surrounding government buildings on the street were reminiscent of the Virginia Capital at Williamsburg with a bit of Philadelphia architecture thrown into the mix.