Chapter 46: Winnie

Being seduced means being made a fool, and it happened to me more than once. You would think I would learn but I didn't. When a young lady suggested love making, my brain stopped working and other glands took control. This time it happened at a tavern in New Brunswick. I had been in town almost a week, dressed as a farm laborer and spending most of my time and some of General Washington's brass in trying to find out what the British were planning. I had not shaved for a while and probably had not bathed for a month, but when this pretty little bar maid suggested that she would like to see me after closing, I did not hesitate for a minute to think why such a dainty thing would take any interest in a smelly hulk like me.

I walked into her room, randy and eager, tall and stupid. She sat on her bed, wearing just her shift and a smile. I closed the door, and someone hit me in the back of the head with something awfully hard, perhaps a bludgeon of some sort. I fell to my knees and he hit me again.

When I awoke with the taste of iron in my mouth, they had dumped out my pockets and taken my belt. My head was wet so I assumed someone had dumped some water on me, and the girl, whose name I still had not learned, was watching me with a worried look.

"He's awake enough," one of the men behind me said. "Let's go."

"Come along, Winnie, the captain wants to see you, too."

"Let me g'a dress on," the girl said, but one of the Redcoats took her by the arm and dragged her from the room, sputtering.

"What y'got on'll do jus' fine," he said with a laugh. "For what 'e wants."

A strong man twisted my arm behind my back and another bent my other wrist, and they walked me down the stairs and out to a wagon. The girl sat behind the driver, and I was dumped into the back after my hands were tied behind me.

We quickly arrived at the officers' quarters next to the barracks, and they hauled me down to a basement cell while the girl was hurried up the steps and inside. For the next hour or so, two lieutenants took turns kicking me and beating me with a thick rod and a length of chain while a sturdy captain watched, poked me with his toe on occasion and smoked a pipe. They knocked me down quite a few times and then got me back to my feet so they could whack me down again. It was tiring.

I maintained that I was a farmer from Maryland, just looking for work, and that I had no connection to any army or militia. They were not convinced. After a while the three of them tired of their game and left, after promising to hang me in the morning and locking the door behind them.

I assessed my condition and found one eye closed, at least one finger broken, a tooth loose and several ribs badly sprained, not too bad for a couple of hours of serious questioning. Of course, I was also bleeding and bruised in several areas. Getting hit in the face with that chain was the worst part. I had several deep cuts on my forehead and cheekbones from that.

They left me on the stone floor with both my hands and feet tied, and thirst soon became a more serious problem than my many sore places. Then the door opened and the girl was pushed into the cell. I suppose it was the only locked room they had. She still had on just her shift and some short boots, and she looked frightened or unhappy or both.

"What's going on?" I asked, and she cowered away from me.

"Le'me alone, y'rebel," she said crossly.

"See if you can get us some water," I said. "Please."

She knocked on the door, a portal slid open and she made her request. It was answered with a laugh.

"Why are they holding you?" I asked. "Don't you work for them?"

She just shook her head.

"Have they hurt you?" I asked, trying to find a comfortable way to sit. She perched on the edge of the wooden shelf that served as a bed. I was on the floor, back against the damp wall.

"They want me to do something," she said.

I waited.

"There's a boy, an ensign. It's his birthday. They want me to lie with him, but he was so drunk that he passed out when he saw me."

I waited some more.

"So they want me to do him in the morning. They say he always talks about me."

"You think they'll leave you alone till then?"

She nodded, and we both heard boisterous noises from the floor above.

"Come on, lass, untie me. Maybe I can get us out of here."

She shook her head. "You're a rebel. They g'me a crown for tricking you."

The room was barely lit by flickering light that came through a dirty and barred window high on the wall. The girl squinted at me.

"What'd they do t'you?"

"Cuffed me about some," I said, feeling at my loose tooth with my tongue.

A while later, we both heard booted feet coming down the wooden steps and the young woman stood, smiling. I admired her slim body and proud chin. The key rattled and the door swung open. Two young officers, their coats unbuttoned, jumped into the room, grabbed the girl and almost ran for the stairs. A corporal appeared and relocked the door to my large cell.

I heard the girl scream, "No!" and "Don't!" and then for the next hour or so there was laughter, grunting, squeals, cheers and thumping from the room above punctuated by an occasional high-pitched, "Please, please."

I may have fallen asleep, but I knew when the door opened and the young woman was shoved back into the room, her hands tied before her, blood trickling from her mouth and nose and her thin shift torn in several places. Her back was almost bare. She huddled on her knees and sobbed, her body heaving.

I crawled over to her and whispered, "It'll be all right, don't cry."

She turned toward me, tears mixing with blood on her twisted face. "They took turns," she gulped out. "Took turns, right on the floor, and urged each other on. The captain, he left."

I touched my forehead to hers.

"They made me do awful things. I thought they was my chums, the King's men."

"You'll be all right," I assured her.

"Five a'them," she sniffed. "One or two did me again, over and over. They held me down, all different ways. Oh Lord." She spat and then buried her face in her bound hands.