Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (156 page)

a spider full of bacon
—A “spider” is/was a large frying pan with a big handle and three long legs, so that it could stand in a bed of coals, thus performing the function of a griddle, for frying bacon or cooking pancakes or corn dodgers (aka “journeycake”). In addition, it was placed under a joint of roasting meat in order to catch the drippings, and also to sauté vegetables (in said drippings).

girdle and creamed crud—
These are the Scots dialect versions of (respectively) “griddle” and “creamed curd.” You would have to ask someone Scottish why this is.

toe gunge (from Claire's shopping list)
—“Gunge” is American slang from the 1960s referring to any disagreeable but ill-defined substance; Claire would know it.

can of ale
—Before there were aluminum beer cans, there were small cans (also called “cannikins”) made (usually) of tin. These were not disposable, however.

imminent versus immanent
—Similar, but not the same:

“imminent” means—“about to happen.”

“immanent” means—“existing or operating within; inherent.”

metanoia
—“A transformative change of heart,” particularly a spiritual shift or conversion.

reducing a dislocation or fracture
—The proper medical term for putting a dislocated joint or a broken bone back in place.

Stephen Moore
—Office manager of the
Outlander
production offices, and a Most Capable Gentleman he is, too!

Gillebride MacIllemhaoil (translated into English spelling as “MacMillan” for convenience)
—Gillebride is the talented musician/singer who played Gwyllym the Bard in season 1 (episode 3) of the
Outlander
TV show and generously allowed me to use him as a bear-hunter and one of Jamie's valued tenants.

Chris Humphreys (aka C. C. Humphreys)
—Chris is a wonderful historical novelist and a good friend of mine. If you're looking for something to read after
Bees,
I'd advise checking him out.

Most of the Gaelic (and many of the French) expressions in this book were provided with the kind assistance of Catherine MacGregor, Ph.D.

Translated Gaelic verse forms were taken (with permission from the Carmina Gadelica Society) from the
Carmina Gadelica,
a compilation of oral “hymns, prayers and incantations” from the Highlands and Isles of Scotland, made in the early nineteenth century by the Reverend Alexander Carmichael. (Some editions of the
Carmina Gadelica
are available online, if you'd like to explore further.)

Newspapers of the period were printed by individuals, and their names reflected the political sympathies, ideological principles, and personalities of their proprietors, as they do today.

The Impartial Intelligencer
*1
was a real newspaper, published in North Carolina during the 1770s. Lest anyone think that Fergus and Marsali's
L'Oignon
is a fanciful improbability, I mean…amid a plethora of the more staid “centinals” [sic], “gazettes,” “journals,” and “advertisers,” we also find in eighteenth-century North Carolina:
The Herald of Freedom; The Post-Angel, or Universal Entertainment; The North Carolina Minerva, or Anti-Jacobin
(NB: the
“Anti-Jacobin”
*2
was evidently added in 1803, so is not technically an eighteenth-century paper, but still).

Golf has been played in the British Isles since the fifteenth century, and therefore golf balls are quite familiar to William (section 3).

“enough spin on the question as to take the skin off Percy's hand if he tried to catch it”
—This is a reference to cricket, not baseball.

Sergeant Bradford
—I'm sorry that I don't know Sergeant Bradford's first name. He is the delightful reenactor who (in 2019, at least) took visitors to the Savannah Museum of History through a walk-on tour of the Battle of Savannah, both museum and battlefield, including the chance to fire period weapons (unloaded, alas) from the redoubt. He gave me/us a wonderfully detailed account of the battle, with side notes on many of the political and military figures involved, as well as the squashed-miter shape of his distinctive uniform cap.

Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea)—
One of the most interesting personalities of the Revolutionary War period, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds, very effectively. An important military leader among the Iroquois (though he was eventually denounced as a traitor for selling lands to the British and thrown out of the Iroquois confederacy), he was also college-educated and traveled to England (upon invitation) to visit the King—who, not unreasonably, wanted to establish a cordial relationship with the Iroquois and other Native groups so that they would help in the suppression of the American rebels.

Patrick Ferguson
—Definitely a real person, Major Ferguson was given the job of building a Loyalist militia in the South and using it to force the submission of local rebels. Sometimes this worked better than others…

Frederick Hambright
—One of the militia commanders (actually a second-in-command to William Chronicle, who was killed early in the battle) who took part in the Battle of Kings Mountain was one Frederick Hambright, who had been a colonial officer prior and local patriot. I generally walk the battlefields I write about—often more than once. I'd walked Kings Mountain perhaps fifteen years ago but had a chance to do it again, more recently. On this occasion, I arrived late in the day and, having passed through the entrance lobby, was greeted by a park ranger whose name tag read
Hambright.
He told me that there was only an hour before the park closed, and I might not make it around the (circular) trail. I assured him I could—it's less than a mile—and I did. I met him again on the way out and paused to say goodbye. We chatted for a bit and he told me that one of his ancestors had fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain. I thanked him and assured him I would mention his ancestor in the book—which I hadn't yet begun writing. I remembered, though; I mean, “Hambright” isn't a name you'd forget.

Benjamin Lincoln and narcolepsy
—General Benjamin Lincoln was an important player in the Southern Campaign of the Revolution. He has the unfortunate distinction of having surrendered to the British four times, the last time (the Siege of Charles Town) having to surrender an entire army as prisoners. He's also thought to have suffered from narcolepsy—an affliction wherein the sufferer frequently falls asleep without warning. This naturally can't be documented for sure, but mention of it is common enough that I allowed him to be napping when Roger went looking for Francis Marion, just before the Battle of Savannah.

Francis Locke
—The commander of the “Regiment of Militias” in North Carolina during the American Revolution. As you will have noted, reading this book, there were a
lot
of independent militia companies, owing to the irregular terrain and spotty distribution of people. It was Locke's notion to bring all of these companies together so that they could work in concert—a notion that probably was better in concept than execution. The Regiment of Militias (or part of it) fought in only two small actions during the Revolution. As Jamie notes, distance and difficulties of communication made the regiment unsuitable for small emergencies and unwieldy for large occasions.

Francis Marion
—aka “the Swamp Fox.” Francis Marion was a notable person in the Southern Campaign. Beginning as an independent commander of his own company (which might have been described as militia, but which also might have been described as freelance guerrilla raiders; he really did pursue and kill freed slaves who fought for the British, which—as Claire notes—is not something Disney chose to include in their show about him), he later fought in a more orthodox fashion, as part of the Continental army, where he served as a lieutenant colonel and then a brigadier general.

Casimir (Kasimierz) Pulaski
—A dashing and effective Polish cavalryman who volunteered to fight with the Continental army and became a general and the army's Commander of Horse. Pulaski was killed in a risky charge during the Battle of Savannah—save that he didn't die immediately. And there begins a series of mysteries that endures to the present day.

Pulaski was seriously wounded by grapeshot—shot in both the head and body (you see Roger attempting to stanch the bleeding on the battlefield, before Pulaski's men came to get him)—but didn't die immediately. He was seen briefly by a Continental surgeon, but then, at his own request—reportedly—he was put aboard the navy cutter
Wasp
(which was lurking nearby) and was taken out to sea, under the care of a different doctor. He died aboard the ship a day or so later, and his body was taken ashore. Reportedly, he was buried somewhere nearby, though his (presumably his) bones were later reburied under a monument in the city of Savannah (the monument is still there).

This rather odd behavior
might
be explained by a twenty-first-century discovery, made when what were assumed to be Pulaski's bones were removed temporarily during a renovation of the monument—and said bones were discovered to be those of (apparently) a woman.

Well, stranger things have happened;
vide
the recent stir when the lead coffin of (presumably) Simon Fraser, the Old Fox, was opened and proved to contain the body of a young woman. In this instance, though, it's possible that the feminine-appearing bones may really have been those of Casimir Pulaski, as recent DNA analysis appears to indicate that the bones belonged to an “intersex” person or hermaphrodite.

If
the bones are indeed Pulaski's and
if
he was in fact intersex or female, that's a very good explanation for why he wanted to be taken aboard the
Wasp,
rather than being treated by an army physician ashore, where his secret would have been discovered and made public.

Haym Salomon
—“The Financier of the Revolution.” A Polish Jew with a talent for banking, Salomon was one of the most important contributors to the success of the American Revolution, as time after time he succeeded in obtaining loans that kept Washington's army afloat.

St. John's Island—
Was later named “Prince Edward Island,” as it's called today. This is where Jocasta MacKenzie Cameron Cameron Cameron Innes and her fourth husband, Duncan Innes, moved after the beginning of the Revolution.

The City Tavern
was an actual tavern in Salisbury and was actually called “City Tavern.” (For the benefit of sharp-eyed readers who will be thinking to themselves that “city tavern” shouldn't be capitalized…) The Salisburyites were apparently a pragmatic lot, given the names of local attractions such as “Town Creek” and “Old Stone House (1766).” “Great Wagon Road” is about as romantic as it got in that neck of the wood—and Salisbury didn't name the road, just abutted it.

Colonel Johnson
of the Southern Department (Indian agents)—There were
two
Johnsons who headed the department, one succeeding the other, though I don't think they were related.

a vos souhaits / a tes amours
—The traditional French Canadian blessing upon hearing someone sneeze. Translated literally, it means “to your dreams / to your loves.” (A little more graceful than “Gesundheit” or the onomatopoetic “Blesshu” perhaps…)

stercus
—“Excrement” (Latin).

filium scorti
—“Son of a bitch” (Latin).

cloaca obscaena
—“Obscene sewer” (Latin).

“tace
is the Latin for a candle”—
This is a common tag in eighteenth-century conversation among the upper classes (who spoke Latin).
“Tace”
is the imperative meaning “keep silent,” and the candle is symbolic of light. Ergo, the expression means (essentially) “keep it dark”—in other words, “be discreet and don't say anything regarding what we've been talking about.”

pozegnanie
—“Farewell” (Polish).

Gáidhlig
phrases and figures of speech are defined in the text.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

—

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

—

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Shreddies
—RAF-issue underwear. So called, apparently, because the woven pattern of the cloth from which they were made strongly resembled the appearance of a Shredded Wheat biscuit.

Part Three's Heading
is derived from a quote by the novelist Florence King:

“In social matters, pointless conventions are not merely the bee sting of etiquette, but the snake bite of moral order.”

—Florence King

Black Freemasons
—At one point, Claire wonders whether there are black Freemasons. In fact, there were. Prince Hall, a well-known abolitionist and black leader, established Prince Hall Freemasonry (Boston).