New York - The Novel

to hope for a settlement. But in the streets of New York, it was the Liberty Boys who decided what should happen.
    The preparations for war continued. The British might be up in Nova Scotia, but everyone knew they’d be back. Patriot troops were pouring in, and the Liberty Boys took a gleeful pleasure in finding the houses of departed Loyalists in which to quarter them. The Tory stronghold of King’s College was practically turned into a barracks. On the common above Charlie White’s home, a field of tents appeared. When Charlie White and his men insisted that every spare man be sent to help build the new ramparts along the river, even John Master, after some protest, agreed to send Solomon.
    “If it makes you feel any better,” James told him, “General Lee doesn’t believe we can hold the city. The British ships can enter the harbor and blow us to bits if they choose. But he thinks we should put up a damn good fight first.”
    “And Washington?” his father asked.
    “His instructions are to hold out.”
    “The word is,” John told Abigail with some amusement, “that the Provincial Congress is planning to leave the city as soon as the British appear.”
    “Where will they go?”
    “White Plains, probably. That’s twenty-five miles north.” He grinned. “From there, I should think, they could safely jump either way.”

    In mid-June another letter arrived from Albion, this time carried on a merchantman from the West Indies. He gave details of the huge forcenow approaching, and some brief words on the British commanders: General Howe in command, with his brother, Admiral Howe, in charge of the navy; General Clinton, raised in New York as a boy, an able commander; Cornwallis, also able, though hot-headed. He also gave Master an interesting piece of information. The Howe brothers would in addition be paid a huge stipend to negotiate a satisfactory peace. “So they are to pursue both war and peace at the same time.”
    Did I ever mention another curious circumstance, that the Howe brothers are also cousins to the king? This comes about because the king’s great-grandfather had a bastard half-sister—to whom he was so close that many said she was his mistress too. However that may be, this lady married and her daughter, having become Lady Howe, gave birth to our general and admiral. The king likes them and calls them cousins. So you may say that this American expedition is quite a family business.
    His letter assured Master that the force would be so overwhelming that victory would be speedy, and that, for whatever reason, it was generally assumed in England that the American colonists would be too soft to fight. His letter ended with a surprising piece of news.
    I must also tell you that my son Grey accompanies the forces coming to America. Somewhat against my better judgment, he has prevailed upon me to buy him a commission in the army. I pray he will come through safely, and hope that he may have the opportunity of calling upon you. Who knows, perhaps he and James may even serve together, side by side.
    When her father showed her the letter, Abigail read it with some astonishment.
    “It seems, Papa,” she remarked, “that Mr. Albion does not know that James has become a Patriot. Yet you have written to him several times since that occurred. Did you not tell him?”
    “I must have forgot.” He smiled at her a little ruefully. “I was hoping that James might change his mind.”
    “Oh Papa,” she said, and kissed him.

    It was in the last week of June that she witnessed a conversation between her father and her brother that made her feel proud of both of them.
    Since May, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia had been meeting to discuss a general declaration of the reasons for their actions, and their future intentions. When all Thirteen Colonies had been asked to send delegates, the moderates of the New York Congress had done so, without great enthusiasm. Yet in the event, the men who gathered to consider the question were no wild radicals, but a sober group of merchants, farmers and lawyers, often with personal ties to Britain. Many were graduates of America’s finest universities—Harvard, William and Mary, Yale and the College of New Jersey at Princeton. One southern gentleman had been educated by the Jesuits in France. But three delegates had been at the Scottish universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews; two more were graduates of Cambridge, one of Oxford; and six others had either