Tuesday, December 1, 2015

MEETING ACROSS TIME


A Short Story by Martin Wade

 

Present Time

Eric McPherson is a Logistics Engineer working for a defense contractor in Northern Virginia.  Eric and his family live out near the Shenandoah Valley, in an unincorporated area just outside of Marshall, Virginia, located near the intersection of I-66 and State Highway 17, approximately 50 miles to the west of Washington, D.C., the Nation’s Capital.  They had chosen an area where he could easily afford to purchase a house and property outside of the National Beltway, I-95 that runs North and South along the East Coast.  They could afford the amenities that came with country living as opposed to living in a planned development with the neighbors close by

The family of four consists of Eric’s wife, Elisabeth, daughter Erika, and son Eric, Jr.  The house sits on ten acres of land with a small barn for his wife and daughter’s horses plus he had a workshop and space for his other toys such as several ATVs, snowmobiles and dirt bikes for the entire family of four to play with all year long.  Living near the Shenandoah Valley, gave the family had plenty of forest area for camping, hunting and target shooting in the National Forest and there had been dining table discussions about purchasing a piece of land with a cabin just over the Appalachians in West Virginia.  Out here, in Marshall, Eric’s family would have space to grow.  

Living in Marshall got him far enough away from Crystal City and Washington, DC that he just forget about the weekly grind for a few days plus the added days off during holidays and vacations.  Eric also serves as a Captain in the Virginia National Guard where he spends one weekend each month as well as two weeks every year in training.  His education as well as previous military experience and present job backed up his position as Brigade Transportation Officer, which meant that he was responsible for planning and executing unit movements for the Brigade.  The unit to which Eric belonged was able to trace it roots in the Army back to the Revolution and the War against the world’s superpower, England.

The Revolution

Captain Eric McPherson and his unit, the 45th Highland Fusiliers (Light, Dismounted)[1], had been posted to the Colonies in 1773 as additional support for the Royal Governor, John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore.  There were elements in the Colonies talking treason against King George III, revolution was in the air with the outcome the birth of a new nation.  Rebellion could not be allowed as it would set a precedence that might be followed by the other British Colonies around the world.  This talk of revolution must be crushed and the instigators brought to Court for trial and punishment.

The British controlled New York City, Boston, and the coastal cities while the Rebels more or less controlled the countryside.  The Battle of Bunker Hill had shown the British that this was not going to be a quick quashing of the rebellion and there was always the possibility that the French and Spanish would enter the war on the side of the colonists, hoping to gain some leverage with the new country should the rebellion prevail.   On September 26, 1777, General Howe and his troops captured the Rebel Capital of Philadelphia and the British believed that the mopping up of the rebellion would now begin.  The Commander of the Rebel Forces, George Washington skirmished with the British until December when he took his army into Winter quarters at Valley Forge about 20 miles from Philadelphia. 

The British knew that many of the rebel troops were lacking proper winter uniforms; enlistments were expiring, the men were low on food and morale and some were deserting.  This rebellion should soon be over.

The Revolutionary War actually kind of whimpered up and down the Eastern Seaboard from April 19, 1775 at Concord/ Lexington, Massachusetts to October 19, 1781 with Lord Cornwallis’ surrender of the British forces at Yorktown, Virginia.  The British Army and their Hessian[2] Allies had won the majority of the battles against the Colonial Forces and felt that the Colonial Forces were pretty much on the ropes right up to the end until, cut off from re-supply, the British were forced to surrender to General Washington and the Americans. 

22 October 1777

(Insert map of area circa 1777 with route of march shown)[i]

Captain McPherson had received his orders.  He was to take a platoon (about 30 men) of his company on a two-day march from their encampment in Fairfax, Virginia to a location near LeHewtown (now Front Royal) fifty-two miles away, at the entrance to the Shenandoah Valley where the rebels presumably had a stockpile of cannon, rifles and ammunition.  Tory[3] spies had passed on information that the cache was lightly guarded because of the distance from any British garrisons so Captain McPherson had decided to take his men out under cover of darkness and do a fast march to the North before turning toward the West and their objective.  Captain McPherson asked the First Sergeant to handpick the men who would be on this mission because there were so many volunteers it appeared the entire company had stepped forward.  It was decided that the patrol would consist of Captain McPherson, a Lieutenant, a senior NCO, 2 junior NCOs and the remainder would be made up of lower ranks as well as four Tory scouts.

Once the men were chosen for the mission, Captain McPherson passed orders to the NCOs to have all uniform brass left behind or dulled with mud and dirt.  There was some grumbling because the troops knew that if they dulled their brass, it would have to be returned to inspection ready form when they returned to Fairfax.  All bayonets, canteens as well as any “noise-makers” would have to be muffled for the early departure from camp.  McPherson also ordered that the men turn in early and be ready for muster at 0200 hours and that all red coats and uniform caps would be left behind.  Dark jackets would be worn to better blend in with the local forests and be less conspicuous in the open even though an obvious military movement, they might be mistaken for a rebel force by the casual observer.  However, there was the possibility they might be mistaken for a Tory force if spotted by the rebels.

The British mustered early and departed the encampment at about 0300 under the watchful eyes of their sentries and the unseen eyes of rebel spies who immediately sent out messengers that the British were on the move.  Where the patrol was going, the watchers were not certain.

As the platoon of Fusiliers marched away from camp toward present day Vienna, VA and ostensibly onward to the Philadelphia, the occupied rebel capital, they were being shadowed by Washington’s scouts attempting to find out where the unit was going and their mission.  As the unit continued its march to the North, along a carriage road past small farms and hamlets that dotted the countryside,  the rebel watchers began to peel off to join other units that were fighting the British elsewhere in the former colonies. 

Captain McPherson increased his pace to where the troops were moving along at a slow trot as he started his swing to the northwest toward Leesburg.  He then adjusted the route of march toward the west, passing through the Sully (Chantilly) Plantation with its broad cultivated fields, and then slowly, as the rebel scouts dropped away, the platoon made a turn to the southwest, passing just to the west of the village of Newgate (now Centreville).  Captain McPherson and his men had to avoid all of the crossroads that dotted the countryside because he had no way of knowing which were held by Tories and which were Rebel.  Although the patrol was required to take cover on several occasions to avoid detection by rebel units, the route of the march while purposeful to the West was also hindered by the fact that the forested areas made it as difficult to traverse as the rolling hillsides and farms made the march easy.  He also had to stop the march every couple of hours for rest and water in order not to wear out his men.  After ten hours of travel, Captain McPherson halted his men for the night near the present day Haymarket.  They would enter the Shenandoah around late morning tomorrow and he wanted his men rested for the completion of the mission ahead.

23 October 1777

The British broke camp around 0230 in the morning and followed the path through the woods on a southwestern orientation bypassing numerous small farms, houses, and inns that dotted the countryside.  As the force moved westward, the scouts kept reporting that there were no rebel forces in the area and the trailing observers were no longer in sight along the line of march so Captain McPherson continued his movement toward the Shenandoah Valley.  He now headed straight for his objective in the Valley about 20 miles away.      

Captain McPherson sent out his Tory scouts to check out the terrain ahead because he personally was unfamiliar with the area having been stationed down in the Alexandria/Fairfax area since the early ‘70s.  Prior to this mission, his troops generally patrolled the area to the northeast of Fairfax toward Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

McPherson had called a halt near present day Old Tavern, the men were relaxing, drinking water and eating some jerky when one of the scouts came back into the company with a prisoner that he had found alongside a strange thoroughfare not one mile ahead.

 

23 October 2015

(insert map of area circa 2015 with route of march showing)

Eric McPherson was driving East on I-66, a major East-West route in Northern Virginia, heading to his job in Crystal City, VA, about 50 miles away.  He was drinking his second cup of coffee and listening to talk radio as he drove.  Eric usually left home about 0500 hours in order to reach his job no later than 0830. 

I-66 is not a straight East-West route, there are numerous sweeping curves and low hills passing through forests and small farms as it goes from the Shenandoah Valley towards Washington, DC.   

As Eric headed East on 66, he did not yet know it, but his day was about to get quite interesting. 

It was as Eric was coming out of one of the curves and over a small hill that he noticed a movement of men to his right, (the South side of the highway) and nearly drove off the highway when he realized that this apparently was part of a small military unit.  The men he saw appeared to be Revolutionary War reenactors, although he didn’t recall having seen any reenactments in this area in the five years he lived here and wasn’t aware of any battle sites from that time in the local area other than Civil War.

As he brought his vintage 1977 British Triumph TR-7 sports car to a halt on the side of the highway with other vehicles flashing by at speed, he noticed that the men had disappeared.   Eric was standing by the side of the road, wondering where the battle had been and when the site had been located because he could not remember having seen anything about it in the news.  He was still pondering the question when a man stepped out from behind a tree, silently aimed a pistol at him, and motioned him into the woods.

Eric McPherson was nonplussed as he walked ahead of his captor down a path.  “What the Hell was going on here?” he was asking himself when they came to a clearing where a group of men were seated, relaxing, rifles within easy reach.  One man standing in the center of the group was obviously in charge.   Next to him was another man who was either second in command or somewhere in the chain of command.  All talk ceased as Eric was brought into the center of the circle and he was motioned to halt.

Being in the National Guard, Eric immediately recognized that this was most certainly some kind of military organization, but he was not certain what type of organization or who they were.  At first, he thought it might have been one of those militia groups that the Guard had warned were operating in the area but as he took in the situation, he noticed that the rifles were a type of flintlock that he’d seen at the NRA Museum in Fairfax, he thought it was called a ‘Brown Bess’[4].  In addition, the clothes these men were wearing, with the exception of the jackets and hats looked like military uniforms from the Revolutionary Era.

Again, Eric thought to himself, “What the Hell is going on here?” 

Captain Eric McPherson looked at the captive and was curious about his method of dress, but asked the scout if he had checked for firearms or other weapons and was not very happy when the man stated that he had not, but refrained from knocking the man down.  “First things first!  Who is this person and what is he doing here?”  Captain McPherson turned to Eric and opened his mouth to ask the question when Eric beat him to it.  “Just what is going on here, who are you and what are you doing?” he asked?

Captain McPherson looked at his prisoner and said, “I was just about to ask you the same thing!   I want to know your name, what unit you are with, why you are dressed in such a manner?”

Eric looked at Captain McPherson and  said , “My name is  Eric McPherson, I work for a Defense Contractor  in Crystal City and serve as a Captain in the Virginia National Guard.

Captain McPherson looked at Eric and stated “You mock me, sir, for my name is Eric McPherson, I am a Captain in His Royal Majesty’s 45th Highland Fusiliers.  Virginia is a colony in rebellion against the Crown and I am here to help put down the insurrection and bring the traitors who fomented this problem to justice.

Eric looked at the man incredulously and asked, “Exactly where do you think you are and what year do you think this is?”  “In the Colony of Virginia”, Captain McPherson replied, “October, in the Year of Our Lord Seventeen Hundred and Seventy Seven”. 

“Well, we have two out of three correct,” said Eric.  “You are in the Commonwealth of Virginia and this is October, but the year is 2015.  We are 237 years out of synch”.

Captain McPherson was incredulous with what he had just heard and was just about to respond, but decided to consider the situation in which he found himself.  If this person was correct, Captain McPherson realized that he and his men were truly in unfamiliar territory, but that could not be as he had left garrison just yesterday morning.  He realized that he was staring at Eric and found himself curious as to why they happened to have the same names, so he asked, “how could we possibly have the same name spelled exactly the same?”

Eric knew a little bit about his ancestry because his Grandmother had been interested the family history and created a family tree.  He showed Captain McPherson his Virginia Driver’s License and explained that apparently one of his ancestors had been a British soldier who had decided to stay in the new Nation after the surrender at Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris in September 1783, as had numerous other soldiers including some of the Hessian mercenaries.  The Hessians had moved up toward Pennsylvania where other Germans had migrated from Europe while the former British soldiers had spread out through Virginia, North and South Carolina and areas toward the West in what became the Northwest Territories.  However, what was apparently happening here was impossible and could not be happening.  Was this British Captain his ancestor?  How did the British happen to be here in 2015, or had he, Eric, been transported back to 1777? 

Captain McPherson was thinking that what Eric had just told him was impossible because the American War of Independence was still very much in play and the question was still to be decided.  Captain McPherson was about to ask some more questions of Eric to get to the bottom of this situation when a soldier came into the clearing and moved to the Captain whispering something in his ear. 

The Captain turned, ordered Eric released, and motioned to his men to pick up their rifles and prepare to move out.  Eric was led to the edge of the clearing and pointed in the direction of the highway and given a push into the woods.  He turned and looked back to the clearing and saw the last of the British soldiers disappearing into the woods to the East.

23 October 2015

Eric McPherson returned to the highway as three Virginia State Police Officers were beginning to walk along the highway looking for the owner of the car.  They inquired as to why he had left his vehicle and he told them that he had an upset stomach and went into the woods to throw-up.  He was not about to tell anyone of the encounter with the British troops.  As he continued his journey to the East and Crystal City, Eric noticed that his coffee was still hot and good to drink.  How long had he been away from his car?  How long had the encounter with the British troops lasted?  Had it really happened?

25 October 1777

Captain Eric McPherson and his patrol returned to their barracks at Fairfax having taken a direct route back from their interrupted mission.  All members of the patrol, including the Tories, had decided as a group not to discuss with anyone about what had happened other than to report that when they arrived at the designated site in the Shenandoah Valley, the cache was gone, and not to be found.  Their secret would go with them to the grave.  The question with each member of the patrol, whether he died in battle or of old age was, had it really happened?
 
 

 



1.       The 45th Highland Fusiliers (Light, Dismounted) is a fictional unit in the British Army.
2.    Hessians were mercenary soldiers, nominally from the Germanic province of Hesse, contracted to the British by their King.
3.    Tories were colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the Revolutionary War.      
4.       The “Brown Bess” was introduced into the British Army in 1722.  One of the rifles used during the Revolution were the Long Land Pattern (1722-1793).  This rifle was 62.5 inches long overall and weighed 10.4 pounds.  The other was the Short Land Pattern (1740-1797) which was 58.5 inches long and weighed 10.5 pounds.  The usual load was .69 caliber and could be loaded with “buck and ball”, a combination round.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



[i] This entire exercise takes place within the 33-mile distance from Fairfax, Virginia to Marshall, VA.  The distance from Fairfax to LeHewtown (Front Royal) is only 50 miles.  The Shenandoah Valley is about 68 miles away from DC.