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The
Hornet’s Nest by Jimmy Carter Rating: • (Read only if your interest is strong) |
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Stung by Curiosity The first novel written by an American
President was reason enough for me to pick up a copy of The
Hornet’s Nest by Jimmy Carter. With wooden characters, a slow-moving plot
and weak dialogue, it didn’t take many pages for me to conclude that Carter
writes like an engineer. It must be difficult to work as an editor for an
ex-President, but a strong editor might have pared down the 465 pages to a
manageable 300. The fact that Carter did the cover art himself reminded me of
his problems as President in doing things himself. All this said, I learned
things about the American Revolution in the South that I was ignorant of,
despite having been exposed to Marion Francis more than four decades ago.
Here’s an excerpt, all of Chapter 35, set in 1779 (pp. 323-329): Ethan
Pratt had seen the Quakers, Morrises, and many of his other neighbors swear
allegiance to the crown, believing that the war was over and that the
Declaration of Independence had been in vain. Along with a few other families
along the more remote frontier, the Pratts still tried to avoid an alignment
with either Whigs or Tories. Knowing
that Campbell had moved up the river with more than five hundred troops, the
Georgia militia leaders had to face reality and made no attempt to defend
Augusta. From his home in Wilkes County, however, Elijah Clarke assembled as
many men as possible, using lists that had been carefully maintained by Aaron
Hart. With about 180 men gathered, Clarke nodded to Dooly, who spoke first. "Men,
all the Continental troops have left for South Carolina, and we hear that
General Howe has resigned in order to defend hisself against a court-martial.
General Lincoln is in command of what troops warn't killed or captured, and
has set up headquarters in Purysburg." Someone
shouted out, "Where in hell is Purysburg?" Dooly
replied, "It's across the river in South Carolina, about thirty miles
above Savannah. He's put out a call for militia from the Carolinas and
Virginia to join in keeping the British from moving north toward Charles
Town." "Why
don't we join up with him?" Elijah
Clarke spoke for the first time. "Bullshit! We ain't ready to give up
Georgia, and I sho' as hell won't put my men under another general that don't
know his arse about fightin' in the woods." There
was a general murmur of agreement, and Dooly continued. "We've
got two things to do now. One is to convince all our neighbors that we're
going to fight on, and not to give up to the British. The other is to divide
up into small groups, guard every trail coming into the backcountry of Wilkes
and Burke counties, and kill as many Redcoats as we can." Elijah
said, "What we need to do is carve out some territory here where we feel
the most at home. All of us needs to study it and figure out how to guard
every trail against any bugger that tries to come in without our permission,
jest with one or two men." Aaron
Hart said, "You mean a sanctuary." "I
don't even know what that means. I'm talkin' about like bein' inside our own
hornet's nest so anybody that messes with us will live-or die-to regret
it." The
men were excited by the idea and began to look at some of the maps they had
prepared and used for military training. Within a couple of hours had
identified an area big enough to include several separated forts with good
trails connecting them, with maximum natural protection from impassable
creeks, swamps, and hills. Just by felling a few trees, it would be easy to
close any of the old trails they would not be needing. Elijah summarized
these decisions and added, "This has got to be our special place, but
there's two things to remember. We’ve got to let Redcoats, Thomas Brown and
them other savages, and everybody else know, by God, that if they come in here
ag'in us, they'll be dead men. There cain't be no exceptions. The other thing
is that this is not just for hidin'. It's for attackin' as long as we're able
to fight. Mine and Dooly's farms happens to be on the edge of this area, and
my fort will be useful sometimes as a meetin' place. We'll be able to move
out fast, to our own farms or toward Augusta or across the river to Carolina,
and to come back—sometimes in a hurry!" It
was inevitable that the protected area would be called the Hornet's Nest. Georgia's
leaders began rallying supporters in the backcountry region. Their first
efforts were to convince as many settlers as possible that the revolution was
not lost, and to use either promises or intimidation to secure their support.
The militia commanders issued edicts in north Georgia that all property
owners had to swear allegiance to the Continental government or lose their
estates, and a few settlers began to reject their recent oaths of allegiance
to the crown. This was not enough for Elijah Clarke and his most militant
followers, who wanted to give a vivid warning to those who remained
subservient to the British. One
of the defecting Whigs was a prominent landowner, Zachariah Timmerman, whom
John Dooly had warned personally to renounce his oath of loyalty to the
crown. He immediately went to Augusta and surrendered to Colonel Campbell.
The British spread the word about Timmerman's wise action and placed him
under the care of a corporal named MacAllister, a favorite of the colonel.
Within a week, an American raiding party entered the compound, attacked
MacAllister, killed, disemboweled, and decapitated him, and took Timmerman
just outside the town, where he was hanged, with a note pinned to his chest
that said, 'Justice." This was a harsh reminder to doubtful Whigs, but
MacAllister's name became a battle cry for the furious British troops. General
Prevost, now occupying Savannah and serving as acting governor, seemed to
have little interest in Augusta. Knowing of Brown's intense interest in the
area, however, he directed that the Florida Rangers refrain from any
movements northward along the Savannah River, and Brown was forced to comply.
This meant, in effect, that few if any Creeks or Cherokees were available to
join the British in the region, despite the earlier arrangements that had
been made with Emistisiguo and even John Stuart. All British efforts would
now be focused on Charles Town. Deprived of any dependable assistance except
for his own troops, it was clear that Colonel Campbell and his five hundred
men would be hard-pressed to hold Augusta against a concerted attack from the
west. Colonel
Clarke was eager to retake Augusta but realized that Georgia's combined
militia were not adequate. He sent Aaron Hart with a request to General
Lincoln for assistance. The predictable reply was that holding Charles Town
was his preeminent goal, which would require all available troops when the
time came for its defense. However, he recognized the tactical importance of
Augusta as a staging area from which the British would surely move by land
toward the South Carolina coast, and promised to send 1,200 troops from
Charles Town toward the Georgia city, commanded by a general named John Ashe,
from North Carolina. The general was inexperienced but politically influential
in his home state, and eager to demonstrate his military effectiveness. These
plans had to be delayed when British Lieutenant Colonel John Boyd moved from
Carolina into north Georgia with seven hundred men, reported his presence to
Colonel Campbell, and began to terrorize Whig families in the area. The
written intelligence report to General Lincoln stated: "Like plundering
banditti, they appropriate every species of property to their own use, abuse
the inhabitants, and wantonly butcher anyone who opposes their rapacious
demands." Lincoln
sent orders to Clarke to rally all the Georgians possible, and sent South
Carolina's Colonel Andrew Pickens to help the Georgians defend themselves
against Boyd's predatory troops. When
Campbell ordered Boyd and his seven hundred men, many recruited from among
local lories, to concentrate on destroying the few remaining Georgia militia,
the British forces camped at a farm on Kettle Creek to rest, slaughter some
cattle, and graze their horses. It was a prosperous farm, with canebrakes and
a swamp on two sides. Colonels Clarke, Dooly, and Pickens, with 350 men,
found Boyd's campfires from the previous day and closed in to within a mile
of the farm. Dooly was on the right flank and Elijah Clarke was on the left,
each with 100 men, and Pickens was in the center with 150. At daybreak, the
Americans launched a simultaneous attack. Boyd fell, mortally wounded, and
the remaining British troops fled across the stream. Clarke forded the open
creek under fire, and his horse was shot, falling on him. He narrowly escaped
drowning but was able to join in mopping up the battlefield and in the
subsequent celebrations. Following
the debacle in Savannah, Kettle Creek was one of the most startling victories
of the war, and news of it swept through the colonies. The psychological
impact was enormous, coming at a time when the general presumption had been
that the British were invulnerable and the revolution in the south was
doomed. Many Whigs renounced their oaths of allegiance to the crown and returned
to their homes, and a greatly encouraged General Lincoln dispatched General
Ashe on to Augusta and even began preparations to retake Savannah. Most
of Boyd's men went back home to North Carolina, but two hundred reached
Augusta, where Campbell's regular troops treated them with contempt. One
hundred British had been killed and seventy-five taken prisoner, five of whom
were former Whigs whose names were known by Colonel Pickens. They were hanged
as traitors. The Americans suffered nine killed and twenty-three wounded and
captured, including a small man named Stephen Heard, who had been a large
landowner and a prominent Whig politician in Savannah. When Colonel Campbell
heard about the hangings at Kettle Creek, he decided to execute Heard as a
public demonstration of British justice. Heard had a giant house slave called
Mammy Kate, who learned that he was in Augusta and sentenced to be hanged.
She filled a large basket with clothing and some pies and cakes as gifts for
the British guards, entered the compound, and got permission to visit her
master so that he could dress appropriately during his last hours of life.
Wanting as much of a pageant as possible for the public execution, the
British agreed. Mammy Kate went into the guardhouse, put Heard in the basket,
arranged the pile of clothes under a blanket on his cot to resemble a
sleeping man, placed the basket on her head, and carried him out of Augusta.
Back home again, he set her free and gave her a home and a surrounding tract
of land on his small plantation. After
a few days, General Ashe arrived across the river from Augusta with his large
North Carolina army, and Colonel Campbell abandoned the town and moved down
the river to Hudson’s Ferry to join troops of the main British force. He was
surprised to learn that they faced a dangerous situation. "The British
still held Savannah securely, but General Prevost had sent most of his men
back to St. Augustine, and their upriver forces were now almost surrounded by
General Lincoln's troops across the river in South Carolina and Ashe's army
to the north. Although
welcomed to the region by the Georgia militiamen when they met briefly after
his forces crossed the Savannah into Augusta, General Ashe quickly made it
obvious that he resented any suggestions from Elijah Clarke and John Twiggs
about how his troops should be deployed and used. Looking at rudimentary
maps, Ashe's staff decided that an open meadow on high ground north of Briar
Creek would offer them every advantage Enemy troops would have to cross the creek
to reach them from the south, the Savannah River provided protection from the
east, and there were relatively flat fields and woods to the north and west
that would provide access for supplies and give the Americans plenty of room
for maneuvering. When Colonel Clarke sent an offer of
assistance, General Ashe replied flatly, "Ten Glarke that I'll take my
position upriver from the British, which will prevent them moving back toward
Augusta. I've studied the maps and am familiar with the area we'll be occupying,
so I can handle any developments. The militia forces can come in to join me
if they wish. I'll let them know when I decide to move south to take
Campbell's army." Lt
was obvious that Ashe and his staff were supremely confident of their ability
and wanted to have a direct confrontation with the despised British. His
ambition was to equal or exceed what the militiamen had done at Kettle Creek. In
the meantime, Colonel Campbell learned that Thomas Brown was in the area
arid, without consulting General Prevost, sent for the Ranger commander. They
discussed alignment of military forces, and Campbell asked for advice. It had been
raining for several hours, and Brown replied, "Colonel, my men and I
know this region well. There is a ford near Ashe's camp that I'm sure is well
guarded, but it can't be used except when the water is low. If this rain sets
in, the lower reaches of Briar Creek will be flooding. Give me a chance to
assess the situation, and I'll be back with you tomorrow morning." As
soon as their meeting was over, Brown sent for Newota. The
heavy rains continued, and when Briar Creek began to rise, General Ashe was
even more convinced that the British would not be likely to make any troop
movements during the inclement weather, much less to cross the swollen
stream. If you’re intrigued by a novel written by
an American President, have an interest in the American Revolutionary War, or
enjoy historical fiction no matter how poorly written, by all means read The
Hornet’s Nest. Unless your interest is strong in any of those areas, take
a pass (but at least peek at the cover art). Steve Hopkins, December 22, 2003 |
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ã 2004 Hopkins and Company, LLC The
recommendation rating for this book appeared in the January 2004
issue of Executive
Times URL
for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/The
Hornet's Nest.htm For
Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins &
Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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