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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, October 20, 2023

The Long March - Where It All Began

(Source)
"Get the troops under canvas tonight, we might be here a couple of days. I want to send out patrols, give the new kids some experience with that. Ya know, hostile environment and all," the Captain mopped his brow, the inside of his cap was soaked with sweat.

The former Corporal, now Sergeant, nodded and asked, "Anything else, boss? Might be a good idea to dig fighting holes around the perimeter, keep those manned while we're here. Also good experience for the kids."

The Major nodded, "Good idea, Top. I'm going to put my head down for a bit, wake me if you need anything."

The Sergeant had taken over the role of sergeant major in the battalion. Regiment had offered one of their superfluous senior non-coms to the Major, he had declined. The man they'd offered had never been in the field, he needed fighters, not paper shufflers. Regiment refused to promote her past sergeant, said she was too young. But the Major called her "Top," for "Top Sergeant" as he considered her the senior non-com in the battalion, and in fact she was.

She looked at her commander, he looked worn and beaten. "Get some sleep, Sir. You look like shit."

The Major offered a sardonic grin, "Thanks Top."


His sleep was fitful. He kept having dreams about the events which led up to his current position, in life, and in the regulars. He awakened in the dead of night.

He sat up, he felt rested, not completely, but enough.

"I might as well get up," he muttered to himself. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice responded.

"Mornin', Sir. Or good evening, I'm not sure."

The Major rubbed his face vigorously before looking at his batman, Joshua.

"Why are you up?" he asked the man. He sometimes forgot that as a commanding officer, a field grade officer at that, he was entitled to his own personal servant. He still wasn't used to it.

"Just cleaning up your kit, Sir. Rubbed down and fed your horse, then fixed my own kit, now I'm finishing up yours."

The Major shook his head, "When do you sleep, man?"

"Here and there, I catch a nap in your wagon when we're on the move. My only job is to assist you, Sir.'

In truth, the army had decided, long ago, that commanding officers had enough on their plates without having to maintain their kit and take care of their own horses. As one general had put it, "Tired officers make mistakes, mistakes kill people. Give them a personal servant, we wouldn't be the first army to do that."

It still bothered the Major that he had a manservant, but it did help him get more rest. Which he appreciated.

Joshua went outside as the Major tried to focus his eyes, he was rested, but damn what he wouldn't give for eight hours in a real bed. As he contemplated that, Joshua came back in, holding a steaming tin cup.

"Like some tea, Sir?"

The Major smiled, "Bless you my boy! Why don't you take a load off, have a cuppa yourself?"

"I couldn't, Sir, I've got to ..."

"If I make it an order?"

"Be right back, Sir."

Joshua went back out and returned with his own tea. The Major gestured at the camp stool next to his field desk, "Sit, you deserve a break."

The two men sat quietly drinking their tea for some time. When the Major was done with his, he got up to go rinse it out.

"I'll do that, Sir."

"Sit, you're not done yet."

The Major rinsed his cup and hung it up on the small cup rack Joshua had rigged outside of the tent. He stood for a moment by the camp fire, the heat felt good. It was still cold at night even though the days were usually warm. Spring in the high country could be a mixed bag, though he was pretty sure the snow was done.

He went back into the tent and sat on his cot, Joshua looked up.

"Sir, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"How the hell did we get here, killing our fellow citizens? It doesn't seem right."

"Well, that's kind of a long story, but we have some time before reveille."


Ten Months Before ...

The Sergeant looked up from his desk as a messenger came running into the barracks. He saw that the man's horse was just outside, lathered, prancing, and tossing its head, the beast had been ridden hard.

He got up and went down the corridor to the Major's office, as he entered the outer office, the Sergeant Major looked up," F**king rioting in the provincial capital, looks like we'll be heading out before sundown. Get your people together, your captain is down at the stables. Let him know what's going on."

Turning on his heel, the Sergeant saw his corporal coming into the building. She had a questioning look on her face.

"Looks like the shit has hit the fan, get the word to our folks, then send word to the other platoons. Muster in 60 minutes, maybe less."

She nodded and headed upstairs where the Sergeant's platoon was quartered. He headed back to his office and grabbed his gear. He had a feeling things were about to get complicated.


The Ruler had been deposed, under rather questionable circumstances, the year before. He had been very popular among the common folk, the new Ruler was not. The elites liked him for the patronage and the sinecures that went with that. They had never been so well-off.

But there was an undercurrent of unrest in the working population, the people who had to get up each day and do the jobs that kept the country going. In order to pay for the wealth flowing to the elites, taxes had been raised, work hours had been increased, and there was talk of lowering wages.

The final insult was when the constabulary in the provincial capital closed down the newspaper for "printing treasonous lies," according to the governor. The people had rioted and two of the constabulary were killed, dozens more were injured. At least fifty of the common folk had been cut down in the street.

Word had come down from the national capital, "Crush the dissenters, get your province in order." The Governor was forced to act, so he did.

Rumor had it that a gathering was taking place in the second largest town in the province, the militia there had been called to arms, not by the government but by the people themselves.

The regulars were called out, the Governor ordered the generals to "seize the town, arrest any who oppose you, and seize all arms." A simmering powder keg was about to erupt.


The Captain was leading his horse, he preferred to be on foot with his men, only mounting to go up to battalion or up to regiment, which was rare.

"Sir, you really should ride, all the other company commanders ride," the Sergeant admonished his commander for at least the third time this day.

"Man's gotta stay fit, Sarge. Riding is fine for the fancy folk, probably don't want to get their boots dirty."

"Sir, you have a batman ..."

"You're right! Ethan! Get over here!"

The Captain's batman hustled over, "Sir?"

"Get on the horse, Ethan. You work your ass off taking care of me, you should ride."

The Sergeant shook his head. Ethan, grinning from ear to ear, mounted the horse, which not being used to him, pranced a bit before settling down.

Ethan raised his arm as if about to give a command, standing up in the stirrups he shouted, "Soldiers!"

His eyes suddenly went blank and he doubled over, toppling from the horse into the road. The crack of a rifle shot echoed through the nearby hills.

The Captain grabbed the reins of his horse, the animal was rolling its eyes and trying to rear up, "Easy boy, easy."

The Sergeant stopped staring at Ethan's corpse long enough to shout, "AMBUSH! Take cover to the right!"

As the platoon scrambled over the edge of the road into a slight ditch, more rifle shots could be heard. The Captain let his horse go, the animal, unused to combat, ran off as the company commander slid into the ditch next to his sergeant.

"Damn it, Ethan was a good kid."

The Sergeant shook his head as he scanned the nearby hillside. Damn, the militia had actually dug an entrenchment. "I know he was, Sir. A lot of good kids are going to die today. Looks like the militia want a war."

The Captain nodded, "Well, they've got one now."



46 comments:

  1. Your Muse is firing on all cylinders Sarge........... :)

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  2. Ruler has what may become a terminal case of "No Sense, No Feeling". In another time it was called it "a case of the big head".

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  3. A superb chapter of what is hopefully going to be a great book ... and enough clues to keep the suspense tingling.
    Thank you for this great ouverture of the weekend.

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  4. Well, this seems like a vaguely familiar historical situation of multiple points in history....Fortunately for writers and historians, rulers never learn, so there is always fresh fodder for writing.

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  5. Another fine chapter in what will make an excellent book in my library.
    I did notice one thing. Either 1) Rank is very temporary in this army or 2) there are 2 separate officers in this episode or 3) maybe there was a slight change made late in the evening. But the story starts with a Captain, then switches to a Major through most of the middle paragraphs and then reverts to Captain in the last few paragraphs. Kinda confusing.
    Still...Looking forward to future chapters.
    juvat

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    1. I realized that I should have named the characters rather than just giving them ranks. The bounce into the past was confusing because the new Major was the old Sergeant, the old Captain was resurrected (actually just hadn't been killed yet), so yeah, it was a bit of the "fog of war" there. I'll try and clarify things as we go forward. (Or at least try not to confuse everyone.) But your 2nd conjecture is true, two separate officers in this episode. (Which is a problem with flashbacks ...)

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  6. When the townspeople are building defenses before the govt arrives things are not well.
    I like the background story..

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    1. They knew something was up. Word travels fast in the countryside.

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    2. Seems like the townspeople prepared for the people coming to kill or enslave them; prudent measures, says I
      BG

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  7. Keep them coming. I would say more prophecy than history.

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    1. Or history as prophecy. The parallels between our current time and our founding have been convergent for some time now. Stockpile powder, see to your firelock and personal affairs.
      Boat Guy

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    2. Thanks, let's hope none of this comes true.

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    3. BG - Keep your situational awareness up!

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    4. Head on a swivel, we all need to do that. Just sayin'.

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    5. I believe it was Twain who said, "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme". Might be mistaken attribution.
      Well done again, Sarge!
      --Tennessee Budd

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    6. Whoever said it knew what he was talking about!

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  8. Here's a post idea- battlefield promotions and commissions- frequent or no? Due to heroism or attrition? Famous ones? I finally got around to watching The Pacific and noticed that even with the decimation of some of those units in the Pacific Island Campaign, the Privates came home as Privates.

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    1. That would be an interesting topic for a post.

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  9. Zeus on a pogo stick! Is there any "civil unrest," "civil war," or "insurrection" in the past 600 years or next 25 years that you haven't tapped into?
    I like the unintended consequences of Ethan climbing onto the horse. Excellent work.

    A big bowl of cioppino and a loaf of fresh Italian bread for Muse!

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  10. Funny, when people in the US today build defenses and preparations, they're called nuts and preppers (in a bad way.) But our government is doing the exact same thing that the government in the story has done.

    Not saying there are parallels here, but, well...

    And in an era of high powered weapons of accuracy, one shouldn't make oneself or others a target.

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    1. While I don't see anyone building defenses, that might be worth looking in to. As to prepping, not sure what use that is in the event of a civil war. But you never know. In the countryside it makes sense, in the urban areas? I wonder.

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    2. For a civil war.. the closest I can think of is Selco and his time in the Balkans, they had a wall around their place where they were out of sight.
      Here is a pdf of his stuff if you're interested
      https://ia801005.us.archive.org/34/items/TheSHTFAnthologySelco/The%20SHTF%20Anthology%20-%20Selco.pdf

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    3. When I clicked on the link it downloaded the pdf ....

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    4. I recall you hate survivalists Old AFSarg so I tread carefully. As a bit of a history and Architecture buff (they have a LOT in common) the proximity of recent active warfare shows in civilian buildings. As you've noticed the rather stout stone-concrete even heavy wattle and daub buildings are pretty bulletproof. Our country aside from the Civil War hasn't had real shooting here. The whole "Balloon Style" 2X4 construction is post Civil War.

      As a Cowboy action shooting buff, we've built "Log walls" and tried out period flintlock-cap and ball and cowboy loads against them. They did pretty darn good aside from rounds like the 45-70 and such. When tested against centerfire hunting ammo a 10 inch log isn't bulletproof.

      In the short era I was a police cadet where we rode with police officers in Yakima WA (to get sign off for Academy) I was issued a rubber banded bundle of Yellow #2 pencils, sharpened. When we went to a shooting (mostly not criminal) we'd look for bullet holes in walls and put the pencil through it as to see the path of that bullet. Repeat until you found the slug, or it went off into the wild blue yonder.

      Even the puny 22LR could find its way through a couple of vinyl siding-dry wall walls and off to the wild blue. 2X4's 16 inches on center isn't much resistance.

      Brick Veneer *might* stop 22 LR. Will not stop even old school 38 special. In one case we tracked 7 each 9mm full metal jacket bullets through several walls, some brick veneer and found at least one in a freezer buried in a turkey.

      You can harden a home against other attacks (slow down home invasions, thrown objects through windows) but against firearms I'd say 90% of American homes are at best concealment NOT cover in shooting situations.

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    5. Rob - First I've heard of that, more stuff to read.

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    6. Rob the 2nd - I got a 404 at that link, but I found another.

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    7. Michael - "Hate" is rather strong, I just find most of them to be somewhat deluded. But yeah, the average American home is a good place to stay concealed, mostly worthless in a firefight.

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    8. "Mostly worthless in a firefight" a bit of an understatement give how many blind spots most homes have, allowing rude folks to close. That and the fire issue. A "mostly peaceful flaming bottle of protest" is a terrifying situation outside the home, FAR WORSE inside as flashover is quick.

      Side effect of doing the police thing nearby an Indian Reservation, you see that stuff often. Feuds are nasty and seem not to get in the news.

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    9. The news doesn't care about the Res, no money in that. Big reason why the MSM is not on my go to list for information!

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    10. I see it down here, the up-armoring of abodes. More a country thing than a city thing. And carefully placed concrete planters are a thing around buildings.

      And, really, if you're doing your preps where people can see, it kind of defeats the purpose.

      A lot of people do 'hurricane preps' that are just a tad suspiciously over the normal 2 weeks max.

      It is what it is. Buy low, use old first, replace and most anyone can build up a 2-4 week supply of canned and dried foods.

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    11. Concrete planters, we have them to deter truck bombs.

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    12. Raised bed gardens I've installed for friends. Keeps the ram the house folks honest, gives an ad hoc firing position. Gives you groceries and I think pretties up the yard far more than smooth mowed grass. Personally, I have an extended driveway and HD chain just past the gate at the road. I'd do drop in 4X4's but in New England the freeze and thaw would destroy the pavement of your driveway.

      I'll stop before discussing hardening the windows and sliding glass doors without looking like Mad Max today.

      You guys do hurricane preps, we do Nor'easter preps.

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    13. Ah yes, Nor'easters, seen a few of those.

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  11. There is a terrible beauty in the horrors of war, thank you. Your Muse is on a roll. Praise, treats, libations, as she desires. I'll guess both Sarge and the Captain are going to have to deal with the consequences of this shot -- as will the sniper, having revealed his (or her) skill.

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    1. "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." - Robert E. Lee

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  12. And I presume intent. Unintended discharges happen, with unintended consequences.

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  13. Thanks for the background, Sarge. One thing. Horses are not mentioned in the previous (chronologically later) articles. Perhaps discouraged from being on a horse implies rank, and therefore a prime target.

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    1. Also the later fighting was in the forest, horses aren't much use there. Also yes, "Hey, a guy on a horse, must be an officer." will get you killed. In the book I'm reading on Antietam at the moment, a number of officers left their horse behind so as not to be targets. It did negatively impact command and control however. Then again, dead officers can't control a battle either!

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