“Hey, Micah! Why the crowd? Why is everyone so excited?”
“Hello, Lewis … hey there, Frank,” the boy responded. “I’m not really sure. That soldier is from somewhere up north. I think someone said he was from Philadelphia. He’s supposed to have a message from the Continental Congress that they’ve been reading in towns all up and down the coast. He’s about to start reading it for us here in just a bit.”
“I’ve never seen a Continental Army uniform before,” commented Frank.
“Me, neither,” responded Micah. “Kind of spiffy, ain’t he? Especially with that pretty curled-up hair and queue. He’s a honest-to-goodness gentleman, I reckon.”
Lewis and Frank chuckled.
“Look!” said Micah. “I think he’s about to start.”
The soldier stepped forward onto the top step that led up to the front door of the general store. He tugged at his silk necktie and cleared his throat.
“Ladies and gentlemen! If I may have your attention! I am Lieutenant Horace Allred of the First Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Army. I have been dispatched to Georgia to read the following statement in as many communities and settlements as possible. I urge you to listen carefully to the following proclamation approved in Congress and signed by the representatives of Georgia.”
The officer held up the paper and began to read:
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
Lewis leaned over and whispered to Frank, “What is this all about? What are states? And what in tarnation are ‘usurpations?’”
“Shh,” Frank responded. “I’m trying to listen. This is important.”
Over the next several minutes the Continental officer read off a long and disturbing list of all of the offenses committed by the British against the people of the Americas. Some of the people at the gathering shouted and shook their fists as each charge against Great Britain was listed. The crowd grew angrier and angrier as each statement was read. Finally, the officer reached the climax of his presentation.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The entire crowd stood and stared in absolute silence. Lewis still did not understand what he had just heard. But, clearly, it was something very important.
“What does that mean?” Micah wondered aloud. “He used too many fancy words.”
“It means we just declared to England that we are our very own country,” replied Frank.
“How do you think King George will like that?” asked Lewis.
Frank frowned and shook his head. “He won’t.”
***
The distant sound of hoofbeats echoed down the road from Wrightsborough.
“Two riders are coming from east,” Chris declared. “Sounds like they’re riding fast.”
Robert stood to his feet and watched the trail in that direction. “It must be Frank and Lewis. They should have returned home from town a long time ago.”
Moments later the boys came into view, lying low over the necks of their horses and riding fast. It didn’t take them long to reach the cabin.
“Why are you boys riding those horses so hard?” scolded Robert as he looked down the trail. “Were you being chased?”
“No, sir,” answered Frank. He removed his cocked hat and wiped his brow with the sleeve of his work shirt. “We have big news and had to get back home with it as fast as we could.”
“What news?” asked Chris.
“We live in a new country now!” squeaked Lewis. “The Continental soldier said so!”
Robert gazed at the boy, confused by his statement. He looked to Frank.
Frank nodded. “It’s true, sir. We saw the paper and heard a Continental officer read it at Mr. Schwarz’s store in Wrightsborough. The Continental Congress has issued a Declaration of Independence from England. They did it on July 4 in Philadelphia. They absolved the states of all allegiance to the British Crown.”
“States?” asked Chris.
“That’s what we call the colonies now … states. And all of them together are now the United States of America,” Lewis answered.
“How can the Continental Congress speak for Georgia like that?” challenged Robert.
“All three of the Georgia delegates to Congress signed the document,” Frank answered. “It’s a done deal. The Declaration has been read in cities all up and down the coast. We’re just the last to hear about it, since we’re so far out on the frontier.”
A cloud of foreboding silence hung over the group.
Robert took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, that’s it, then. Georgia is going to war with England.”
“No doubt the Indians will be stirred up, as well,” added Chris.
Robert nodded grimly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AN OLD FRIEND
The Indian raids along the Georgia frontier began on the last day of September. These raids were more than just the usual efforts to harass settlers and steal livestock. The Creek Indians, supplied and encouraged by the British, attacked homesteads all along the frontier. They killed men and boys in the fields and murdered families in their beds. Blood flowed on the frontier. The Creeks stole property, burned homes and barns, and took captive the women and children that they did not see fit to kill.
There were reports that white men were among the raiding parties. There were r
umors that Redcoats had taken part in some of the atrocities.
Despite the attacks, the Hammocks tried to continue a normal life and take care of their farm. The days were filled with hard work. The evenings were reserved for converting the their home into a defensible fortress against future Indian raids. Since most of the work was indoors, they were able to accomplish the task at night by candlelight.
Their main strategy was digging protective trenches in the cabin floor. The men used shovels and picks to dig a trench just beneath the outer walls of the cabin that was two and a half feet wide and approximately three feet deep. This trench gave the men below-ground access to six firing holes that they cut in the second row of logs in the wall, about one foot above the ground.
The holes were nine inches square, and just large enough to fire a rifle or musket. The longer east and west walls had two firing ports each. The more narrow north and south walls had a single hole. At the location of each firing hole the men dug notches in the ground that went an additional three feet back into the room. These notches made it easy for a shooter to simply step backward and pull his weapon inside for loading, or to allow another shooter to rotate into his place.
The women and children helped complete the project by hauling the freshly dug earth in buckets and pails outside the cabin and piling it up against the first two rows of logs. And there was a lot of dirt. It provided a protective layer that was two feet high and almost a foot thick all around the base of the cabin.
The final interior modification was a central cellar hole for the women, infants, and toddlers. It would provide them all with adequate space to be below ground and out of the line of musket fire. Robert insisted that they dig the pit all the way to six feet in depth. It formed roughly a six foot square, with a narrow stairway descending into one side of the hole. The bottom of what they called, “the pit,” contained a small bed and various necessities for the children.
Milly wept as she watched the floor of her cabin disappearing. She wailed, “My house will never be the same again. And that hole in the middle looks like a huge grave!”
“That hole is going to keep us out of our graves,” responded Robert. He cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t worry, my love. One day soon this will all be over and we will fill in all of these trenches.”
Once the pit was in, the men decided that it would be a good idea to connect it to the outer trench along the east and west walls. So they dug an additional three-foot cut in both directions and made the connection. They took the dirt from these final short connecting trenches and scattered it evenly on the roof of the cabin in the hope that it would help prevent the wood shingles from catching fire.
Their final security measure was the addition of two sets of iron brackets on the inside of the door posts. Robert had them forged by the Quaker blacksmith in Wrightsborough. The brackets were nailed securely on each side with eight-inch nails, forming a perfect slot into which the men could drop heavy timbers behind the closed door. These timbers were huge blocking bars that prevented the door from opening inward.
When they were finished the cabin was barely livable. The only practical functions that the dug-out cabin served were for sleeping and defense. They placed narrow sleeping pallets inside all of the trenches, spaced strategically between the firing holes. The one positive aspect of sleeping below ground each night was the pleasant temperature. Everyone was actually amazed at how cool the trenches were. They enjoyed the most comfortable August and September nights of sleep that they had ever known.
Life gradually found its new routine. The Hammocks and Chandlers worked, cooked, ate, and enjoyed what little leisure time they had outdoors. At night they took refuge in their cabin bunker.
Two joyful incidents broke the monotony of farm life in September. Esther gave birth to a son, Daniel, on September 9. Three days later Robert and Milly welcomed Lucy into their large and growing family. Both babies were born at night in the little bed which now rested in the bottom of the “pit” in the center of what was once the cabin floor.
The Indian raids continued all over the Georgia frontier. Amazingly, the Hammock and Chandler families remained untouched by all of the violence.
***
It was February 11, 1777. Robert, Chris, and Frank were in the barn sharpening the axes and saws at the end of a long work day when the warning bell on the front of the house began to ring loudly. Then a woman screamed.
“That was Esther!” Chris proclaimed.
Then they heard Lewis’s shrill voice from the front of the cabin. “Indians!”
The men grabbed their weapons and ran as fast as they could toward the door of the cabin, scooping up and herding little children as they went. They were inside their fortress with the timbers dropped behind the heavy oak door in less than a minute.
Once inside Frank realized that he was still holding the axe that he had been sharpening in the barn. He tossed it in the corner of the trench and grabbed his musket, thrusting it through his assigned firing hole and sighting his weapon toward the south. His heart broke when he heard the Hammock girls weeping in the pit behind him.
“I don’t see anything to the west!” Robert exclaimed. “Anybody else see them?”
“There’s no movement to the south!” responded Frank.
“North looks clear!” answered Chris.
Lewis didn’t answer.
Robert snapped at him, “Lewis! Do you see anything?”
“No, sir!”
“Who sounded the alarm?” demanded Robert.
Lewis answered, “I did, Papa.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw an Indian, plain as day, walking up the road from Wrightsborough. He was a red man, for sure. I saw a bald head and feathers sticking out everywhere. When I yelled out I saw him run into the woods.”
Robert wanted clarification. “So you just saw one Indian?”
“Yes, sir.”
Robert tried to assess the situation. “Well, if there’s one there ought to be more. But that sure is a curious direction. I wouldn’t expect the Creeks to approach us in the open and from the east. Still, let’s keep a sharp eye out. Everyone stay still, watch, and listen. And Milly, get those children to be quiet! I can’t hear thunder over their loud whining and wailing! There’s not a thing to be crying about … not yet.”
So they waited. The children gradually ceased their crying. Seconds seemed like hours. The men were anxious and shaky. They jumped at the sound of every bird and squirrel that moved outside.
Moments later they heard a voice call from the woods to the east. “Hello in the cabin! Is anyone home?”
The men all looked across the room at one another. All they could see was one another’s heads above the tops of the trenches, and their faces displayed the total confusion that each was feeling.
Frank asked, “Mr. Robert, does that voice sounds familiar to you?”
Robert shrugged. He walked over to Lewis’s position and placed his mouth up to the firing hole. “We’re in here! Step out in the open where we can see you! Nice and slow!”
Forty yards from the cabin a lone Indian stepped out from behind a poplar tree. He held his weapon at the ready, but did not strike any kind of threatening pose.
The man called to the house, “I was hoping you folks might help me with some directions. I’m looking for Robert Hammock. Do you know where his place is? The people in Wrightsborough said it was over this way.”
Robert mumbled, “He does sound familiar. But how do I know that Indian?”
“And how does he know you?” questioned Chris.
Suddenly Lewis shrieked at the top of his lungs, “It’s Wappanakuk! Papa! It’s Wappanakuk from North Carolina!”
Quick as a flash, Lewis and Frank jumped out of their trenches, ran to the door, and tossed the security bars from their brackets. They threw open the door and Lewis shot through the opening like a rifle ball. Frank was right behind him.
He yelled with joy, “Wappanakuk! I can’
t believe you came!”
A look of recognition washed across the Indian’s face. He threw back his head and gave an enthusiastic native shout, “Ayeeeee!”
Lewis ran straight to the Waccon warrior, who received him with a warm embrace. Wappanakuk stepped back away from Lewis and gave the boy a thorough examination.
“Tarowa Yetashta, I cannot believe the man that you are becoming! Do you still wear my family’s beads?”
Lewis reached inside his shirt and proudly displayed the strand of colorful Waccon beads around his neck.
“I and my family are honored, Tarowa Yetashta. But just look at you! You have grown to be almost as tall as me. How old are you now?”
Lewis held his head high and thrust out his chest proudly, “I am twelve years old, Wappanakuk.”
“You are not quite the little warrior anymore. We may have to change your name.” He winked at Lewis.
The other family members finally reached the reunion that was ongoing in the clearing beside the cabin.
Robert exclaimed, “Wappanakuk, I simply cannot believe that you are here! Why have you traveled so far?”
“To visit my friends in Georgia, of course.” He smiled. “I was growing restless at home, anyway. So I thought that I might go on a journey. I was desiring to see your family and to find out about your life in Georgia. And you have other friends! I do not recognize these faces.”
“Wappanakuk, these are our neighbors Christopher and Esther Chandler and their newborn son, Daniel. They are staying with us for a while.”
“I am pleased to meet you both,” Wappanakuk declared, shaking Chris’ hand.
“Wappanakuk, we have heard many stories about you around our evening fires,” Chris stated. “It is good to finally meet you.”
Wappanakuk grinned and rubbed the heads of the smaller Hammock children. “I barely recognize the little ones. They have grown so much in two years. And I see there are more.”
Milly answered, “Yes, we have had two daughters since our arrival. Elizabeth was born soon after we got here and baby Lucy was born in September.”
Little Warrior: Boy Patriot of Georgia (Patriot Kids of the American Revolution Series Book 2) Page 7