Shadowbrook
Page 1
Praise for Shadowbrook
“Sweeping … masterful…. Swerling tells of two men who straddle the white and red man’s worlds, desperate to preserve the best of each culture, but fearful they will lose everything they love…. Readers … will be captivated by Swerling’s intricate plot, colorful characters and convincing descriptions of colonial life.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This spellbinding historical adventure highlights an often overlooked episode on the road to American independence.”
—Booklist
“Vividly drawn characters…. A fine and warm-blooded book that offers more than a glimpse into a vital but nearly forgotten period in our history.”
—San Jose Mercury News
Also by Beverly Swerling
City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan
SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2004 by MichaelA, Ltd.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
First Simon & Schuster Paperback edition 2005
SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swerling, Beverly.
Shadowbrook: a novel of love, war, and the birth of America/Beverly Swerling.
p. cm.
1. United States—History—French and Indian War, 1755-1763—Fiction. 2. Indians of North America—Wars—1750-1815—Fiction. 3. Ohio—History—To 1787—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3619.W47S94 2004
813′.6—dc22
2003064127
ISBN 0-7432-2812-X
0-7432-2813-8 (Pbk)
ISBN 978-0-7432-2813-8
eISBN 978-0-7432-5360-4
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com
For Michael, R.I.P., and for Bill, as always
These Things Are True …
ABOUT EUROPEANS
Britain and France spent the first half of the eighteenth century fighting over empire. This story takes place during the decisive battle in that long conflict. In North America it was known as the French and Indian War, in Europe the Seven Years’ War. It was a death struggle fought in a New World, the glory and extent of which the opponents did not imagine, and home to a rich and remarkable culture they did not understand.
ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS
From the moment the Europeans discovered their paradise it was doomed, but the indigenous peoples—the Real People, as they called themselves—put up an immense struggle to hold back the tide. I have tried to be true to their history and customs, but this is a story and I am a storyteller. When I couldn’t find details of a ceremony or a ritual, I made them up. My one rule was that I always extrapolated from what my research uncovered; teasing out the weave, never creating from whole cloth. Moreover, I never added or embroidered something that was by its nature pejorative. The bad stuff—or what seems so to us when judged by the standards of our culture and our time—is all there in the record.
ABOUT WORDS
The linguists tell us that in the eighteenth century there were some hundred thousand languages and that now there are six thousand. Moreover, among all languages past and present, only two hundred or so have ever been written down. Native Americans had a complex and sophisticated system of pictographs, but essentially theirs was an oral tradition. Its strengths and its depth were wondrous, but much of it is lost. I worked with both Iroquoian and Algonkian dictionaries (all created in modern times to try and stanch the mortal wound) and have tried to give the flavor of the speech with some authenticity. I have, however, avoided the complicated accent marks that have been developed as pronunciation guides. They are beyond the scope of this tale and my ability. So too the grammar. I apologize for the inevitable mistakes.
ABOUT RELIGION
I know I have not been able to explain in proper depth or complexity the belief system of Native Americans. What the story contains is as true as my research allows; it is no doubt a vast distance from all truth. The rest, since it is part of my own Judeo-Christian heritage, is familiar territory. Here it is only necessary to say that Catholic theology is a long, ever-flowing river. What you see of the water depends on where you happen to be on the shore. The attitudes, customs, and practices, even some of the core beliefs described in this story, are accurate for the Church of that time and the religious orders as they were then. It is in many cases not the same now.
This Too Is True …
ABOUT US ALL
Love in all its many splendors has not changed in any fundamental way. Two hundred and fifty years ago it was as it is now—enough to move the world.
Contents
IMPORTANT CHARACTERS IN THE STORY
MAP
BOOK 1
Shadowbrook ·1754
BOOK 2
The World That Came from the Belly of the Fish · 1754-1756
BOOK 3
The New World and the Old · 1757
BOOK 4
Québec · 1758-1759
BOOK 5
The Covenant · 1759-1760
Epilogue: The World of Tears · 1763-1769
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Important Characters in the Story
The People of Shadowbrook, also known as the Hale Patent
AT THE BIG HOUSE
Quentin Hale: Also called Uko Nyakwai, the Red Bear, and very occasionally by his secret Potawatomi manhood name of Kwashko, Jumps Over Fire
John Hale: Quentin’s elder brother
Ephraim Hale: Father of John and Quentin
Lorene Devrey Hale: Ephraim’s wife, mother of John and Quentin
Nicole Marie Francine Winifred Anne Crane: A young woman of French and English ancestry, traveling through the American colonies on her way to Québec
Kitchen Hannah: The Big House cook
Corn Broom Hannah: A Big House maid
Six-Finger Sam: A general handyman
Clemency the Washerwoman: The laundress, and among the Patent slaves, the keeper of the oral history
Jeremiah: In charge of the stables
Little George: Jeremiah’s assistant
Runsabout: A Big House maid and mother of the twins, Lilac and Sugar Willie
Taba: A young Ibo girl bought at the New York slave market in 1754
AT THE SUGARHOUSE
Moses Frankel: The chief miller, in charge of the grinding of wheat into flour and corn [Indian] meal as well as the production of rum and ale
Sarah Frankel: The wife of Moses
Ellie Frankel Bleecker: Their daughter, a widow
Tim Frankel: Son of Moses and Sarah; never married
Deliciousness May: The mother of Runsabout and a Hale slave assigned to the Frankels
Big Jacob: Husband of Deliciousness and father of Runsabout; a Hale slave assigned to the sugarhouse and gristmill. He is also the horse trainer of the Patent.
Lilac and Sugar Willie: Slave twins, children of Runsabout, but assigned to the sugarhouse. They are four years old when Quent returns to Shadowbrook in 1754.
T THE SAWMILL
Ely Davidson: The sawyer
Matilda Kip Davidson: Ely’s daughter-in-law
Hank Davidson: Ely’s son
Josiah, Sampson, and Westerly: Brothers aged fourteen, twelve, and eleven; Hale slaves assigned to the sawmill
Solomon the Barrel Maker: A cooper, and a Hale slave born on the Patent
Sally Robin: The beekeeper and supplier of honey and various unguents and medicines used on the Patent; Solomon’s woman since she was purchased at the New York Slave Market in 1720
AT DO GOOD—THE INDIAN TRADING POST OF THE PATENT, MANAGED AND STAFFED ENTIRELY BY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, ALSO KNOWN AS QUAKERS
Esther Snowberry
Martin Snowberry: Esther’s husband
Judith Snowberry: Their daughter; later Judith Snowberry Foster
Prudence: Their slave
Edward Taylor: Treasurer of the community
Hepsibah Jane Foster: Daughter of Judith
Daniel Willis: A Friend from Rhode Island who has come to bring an antislavery message given him by the Light Within
The People of the Town of Albany in New York Province
John Lydius: A trader and sometimes arms dealer
Genevieve Lydius: John’s wife, a métisse who is half Piankashaw Indian and half French
Peter Groesbeck: Landlord of the Albany tavern at the Sign of the Nag’s Head
Annie Crotchett: A prostitute who plies her trade at the Sign of the Nag’s Head
Hamish Stewart: A one-eyed Scot, a Jacobite Stewart of Appin, and survivor of the infamous battle of Culloden Moor.
Assorted randy barmaids, crafty millers, entrepreneurial widows, drunken tars, layabouts and ne’er-do-wells; along with the many God-fearing huisvrouwen and burghers left from the days of Dutch rule.
The People of the Potawatomi Village of Singing Snow
Cormac Shea: A métis, son of a Potawatomi squaw and an Irish fur trader
Ixtu: The village Teller
Bishkek: The manhood father of the métis Cormac Shea, and of Quentin Hale
Kekomoson: The civil sachem of Singing Snow at the time of the story
Sohantes: The wife of Kekomoson
Shabnokis: A squaw priest of the powerful Midewiwin Society
Lashi: Bishkek’s youngest daughter
Pondise: Her son
The People of Québec in New France
THE FRANCISCANS
Père Antoine Pierre de Rubin Montaigne, O.F.M.: Father Delegate of the Franciscans in New France
Mère Marie Rose, P.C.C.: Abbess of the Poor Clare Colettines of Québec
Soeur Marie Celeste, P.C.C.
Soeur Marie Françoise, P.C.C.
Soeur Marie Joseph, P.C.C.
Soeur Marie Angelique, P.C.C.
THE JESUITS
Monsieur Louis Roget, S.J.: Provincial Superior of the Jesuits of New France
Mansieur Philippe Faucon, S.J.: A Jesuit priest and an artist who documents the Canadian flora, called Magic Shadows by the Huron
Monsieur Xavier Walton, S.J.: An Englishman and a Jesuit, also a surgeon
THE CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT
François Bigot: Intendant of Canada, the steward and paymaster of the entire province
Pierre François Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil: Governor-General of Canada after June, 1755
AT PORT MOUTON IN L’ACADIE (NOVA SCOTIA)
Marni Benoit
Military Figures
Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville: A French officer; his death heralded the beginning of the Seven Years’ War.
Tanaghrisson, the Half King: Born a Catawba, raised a Seneca; at the time of the story spokesman for the Iroquois Confederacy in the Ohio Country
George Washington: A colonel in the Virginia Militia. Twenty-two years old when the story opens in 1754
Pontiac: An Ottawa war sachem
Shingas: A war sachem of the Lenape, also known as the Delaware
Scarouady: Spokesperson for the Iroquois Confederation in the Ohio Country after the death of Tanaghrisson
Thoyanoguin, also known as King Hendrick: A war sachem of the Mohawk, also known as the Kahniankehaka. Members of the Iroquois Confederacy, they were called the Guardians of the Eastern Door.
Major General William Johnson, of the New York Militia (Yorkers): An Indian trader born in Ireland, in America since 1738 and married first to a German indentured servant, later to a Kahniankehaka squaw; adopted as a chief of that tribe
Major General Edward Braddock: Commander of His Majesty’s forces in America at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War
Général Jean Armand, baron de Dieskau: Commander of the French and Canadian forces at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War
Général Louis Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran: Successor to Dieskau
General John Campbell, earl of Loudoun: Successor to Braddock
Major General Jeffrey Amherst: Successor to Loudoun
James Wolfe: A British colonel at the Battle of Louisbourg in 1758; a British Major General at the Battle of Québec in 1759
Book 1
Shadowbrook
Chapter One
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1754
QUÉBEC, NEW FRANCE
MISERERE MEI, DEUS … Have mercy on me, Lord, according to the greatness of Your mercy.
The five women had no mercy on themselves.
They beat their backs with knotted cords. Each wore a black veil, pulled forward so it shadowed her face, and a thin gray robe called a night habit.
The blows rose and fell, hitting first one shoulder then the other, and every third stroke, the most sensitive skin on the back of the neck. Occasionally a small gasp escaped one of the women, barely audible above the singsong Latin chant. De profundis clamavi ad te, Dominum … Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord. Domine, exaudi vocem meam. Lord, hear my voice.
The narrow rectangular space was lit by twelve tall white candles. The white-washed stone walls reflected the elongated shadows of the women, who knelt one behind the other on the bare stone floor. Occasionally, when the woman in front of her managed to find a new burst of strength, a spurt of blood would spatter the one behind.
The knotted cords were carefully crafted, fashioned to a centuries-old design. The length must be from shoulder to thumb of the woman who would use it, the rope sturdy and two fingers thick. The seven knots were spaced evenly from end to end. It was called the discipline and was given to each nun on the day she made her vows as a follower of St. Francis, a Poor Clare of the Strict Observance of St. Colette.
Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui … It is not in death that You are remembered, Lord. In inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi … In the eternal fire who will recall You?
An iron grille in the front of the cloister chapel enclosed the holy of holies, the small ornate tabernacle containing the wafers that had been consecrated in Holy Mass and were now the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The grille was covered by heavy curtains so those on the other side in the visitors’ chapel could not see the strictly enclosed daughters of St. Clare.
In the middle of that Wednesday night only one person was present in the public section of the chapel, a man who knelt upright with his arms outstretched in the position of his crucified Lord. He could hear the soft, sighing sounds of the knotted ropes punishing soft female flesh. His shoulders twitched occasionally in response.
Antoine Pierre de Rubin Montaigne of the Friars Minor was also a follower of St. Francis, a priest of what the Church called the Seraphic Order, men who had originally vowed to own nothing and beg for their daily bread. The rule had been modified over the five centuries since Blessed Francis preached the glories of Lady Poverty, but its priests retained the humble title “Father.” Rubin Montaigne was Père Antoine to all, most especially the women on the other side of the altar screen.
In the nuns’ chapel the pace of the scourging had become more urgent by the time of the great cry of the Miserere: Have pity on me, Lord, for I perish. The cords flicked through t
he air too quickly to be seen, white blurs in the candlelit gloom.
Père Antoine, Delegate of the Franciscan Minister General in Rome, the ultimate authority for members of the order in New France, had decreed that in addition to the traditional scourging that took place every Friday before dawn, the Poor Clares of Québec would take the discipline every Monday and Wednesday after the midnight office of Matins. They would offer this special penance until the territory the British called the Ohio Country, but which had long been claimed in the name of Louis XV, was made secure, truly part of New France. When Holy Mother Church moved south to convert the native tribes, these nuns and their scars would be the jewels in her crown.
Turn Your face from my sins and all my iniquities shall be forgotten …
None wielded the discipline with greater vigor than Mère Marie Rose, Abbess. The shoulders of her night habit were stiff with the caked blood of past scourgings. When they buried her the garment would serve as her shroud, and she had already issued instructions that it should not be laundered. She would go to her grave with the evidence of her fervor.
Iniquitatem meum ergo cognosco … My sins are known to You.
For my sins, for the sins of my daughters, for the glory of God. The words filled the abbess’s mind, blended with the pain, the chant uniting the two, pulsing in her blood. Miserere … Have mercy, Lord. On the king. On this New France. On our brave soldiers.
The shoulder muscles of Père Antoine were on fire. His arms felt like lead weights, but he did not allow them to drop. The pain was a kind of ecstasy and he exulted in it. For the Church. For the Order. For the conquest of the land below the pays d’en haut and the defeat of the heretic English.