The Rangers Are Coming (23 page)

              The Humvees, Bradley’s and Artillery were slipped north on back roads and open fields.  The vehicles were filled with Rangers.  The rest of the Rangers were moved by the Chinooks in night flights to the rally points surrounding the valley.  In less than a week, the brigade was in position.

              Arcadia was with Washington on the first of June when he sent a pair of marked riders into Boston to deliver a message to General Howe.  The men, actually Rangers wearing colonial uniforms said they were ordered to wait for a response.

              General Howe was typical of British field commanders and had a very low opinion of the sustained fighting power of the colonial militia.  So, he was surprised to read the contents of the dispatch.

             
To General Howe, Commander of British Forces in Boston

              From:  General George Washington, Commander in Chief, Colonial Forces of the United Colonies of America.

              Sir,

              Your assault on the Massachusetts towns of Concord and Lexington last month signals to the combined wills of each of the 13 American Colonies that a breach of relations has occurred between these Colonies and the British Empire. 

              Therefore, we are resolved to meet the troops under your command in battle, outside of Boston.  It is our intention to inflict such severe damage to your forces that the British Government shall have no choice but to sue for peace and surrender control of the colonies so they may form an American nation.

              I should caution the Honorable General, that we possess sufficient forces to defeat any army you should choose to put into the field.  We therefore offer you a single instance amnesty, in which the British evacuate the Americas in all respects without incurring injury or death.

              Should you elect to ignore this offer of mercy, then you must be prepared to suffer the consequences of your poor judgment.

Sincerely,

G. Washington.  Commander Colonial Rangers

              Howe read the dispatch twice and then called for his adjutant to read it as well.

              “This fellow Washington has a rather inflated view of the quality of his troops,” said Howe.

              “If I may, sir, Washington is obviously staking his entire army on this single engagement.  When you defeat him, it will set the talk of treason in the colonies back 20 years.  The King would certainly applaud the destruction of the entire rebel forces in a single blow.  I would suggest you take your entire command to the field and thrash this rascal.”

              “It is very seductive,” said Howe, “What is our total force available for service?”

              “Over 6,000 regulars, sir.”

              “Give the order to march in 48 hours.”

              “Yes, Sir!”

              “Get those marked riders back in here.”

              When the Rangers came into the office of General Howe, he pulled himself up to his greatest height, since the men facing him were unusually tall and broad.

              “You may tell your General Washington that His Majesties’ Regular Army will march out of Boston in 2 days.  We accept his offer of battle.”

              “Since that is the case, General,” said one of the Sergeants.  “General Washington says that he will be encamped 20 miles west of Boston.  He also instructs us to convey one other statement.”

              “Which is what,” asked Howe?

              “The Rangers Are Coming.”  The soldiers saluted smartly and left the office.

              The two men high-fived each other as they went out the front door of the building.

              Four days later, General Howe had positioned his force in a bivouac on a large, long meadow, surrounded by forest that led up to the brow of a wide hill.  He looked down into the valley and saw six large tents.  He was confused.  He had expected to see long rows of tents and men scurrying here and there.

He formed up his companies in wide lines, several deep.  He deployed his six-pound cannons behind his main line.  The entire 6,000-man regiment was at the ready.  He waited for the colonials to take the field.

What did happen, were 200 men in garish green uniforms oozing out onto the field surrounding the tents.  They all screamed in unison, “Rangers,” followed by a string of obscenities of the most personal nature, especially toward General Howe, who sat on his horse at the top of the hill with his other officers. 

“Order the advance,” growled Howe, “Open fire with the artillery.”

The artillery was clearly out of range for the troops or the tents, and the men hooted in laughter.  The British lines marched down the hill.  Just about the time when the British were within musket fire of the Rangers, they wheeled to the left and right and the tents were pulled off the six Bradleys.  The cannons began firing, and the British started dying.

At the same time, the Ranger artillery began shooting, taking out all of the British Artillery in two barrages.  To the shock of the British, the forest next to the meadow on both sides was suddenly alive with machines and men.

Howe ordered his cavalry to attack the right flank and the 600 horsemen were mowed down with 50 caliber machine guns on the Humvees.  Now accosted on three sides, the British lines broke and they began to retreat.  Artillery fire began again along the tent lines of the British.  Howe realized he was trapped.  He knew things were getting very bad when, one after another, his senior officers were suddenly just bloody gore as their heads disappeared from their bodies.

The British fired point blank into the ranks of the onrushing Rangers, but not a single one went down.  Now struggling to reload, the redcoats were slammed by the Rangers with short bursts of gunfire from their assault rifles.  The circle grew smaller and smaller until less than 500 British soldiers remained on their feet.  A smaller number of Rangers dropped their rifles, pulled their knives and waded into the redcoats. 

General Howe watched in horror as his soldiers were overwhelmed by essentially unarmed, green clad soldiers.  The ways the men moved were amazing to see, as they bobbed and weaved, and struck out with their legs in whips that cut down the redcoats.

Washington spoke into his command circuit to his troops.  “I want 20 left alive.”

The Rangers quickly separated 20 men from the clot of soldiers in the middle of the meadow, and efficiently dispatched all the rest. 

              The entire battle had last 22 minutes.

              General Howe sat alone on his horse, wide-eyed and alone on the hill.  From the forest to his left a single ATV came roaring out of the bush,  It pulled up to General Howe, and George Washington, wearing his fatigues, helmet and full battle armor stepped out of the ATV and walked slowly toward Howe.  When he got closer he said, “Get off your horse, General Howe.”

    Howe dismounted and looked into the grim faced figure of George Washington, who took off his green gloves and said, “This is the army of the United States.  You should have surrendered when I gave you the chance.  The British are finished in North America.  There will be no reinforcements.  As you can see, we possess weapons and firepower that is superior to any other army in the world.  The same is true at sea, any troop ships attempting to land in America will be sunk.  This war for the colonies is over.  We will declare our independence shortly.  I have dispatches for your King, which includes an unconditional release of the colonies by formal treaty.  You will also surrender all your holdings anywhere in North America, as well as all your holdings in the Caribbean.  You needn’t feel lonely we are making the same demands to the French and Spanish.

“This is outrageous,” said Howe, “the British Empire is the greatest in the world.  You don’t seriously expect us to accede to these demands.”

“I do, indeed, General, 30 minutes ago, you had 6,000 soldiers, now you have 20.  But I can see that additional examples have to be made.”  Washington spoke into his clear mike, Ranger Pierce, report to me.”

A few minutes later, a strange looking man came out of the forest.  Howe could barely recognize him.  He wore the same uniform as Washington with an outer layer of strips and long straps.  “This is the sniper who killed all your officers.  Robby, how far is it to the flagpole with the British flag at the end of the camp?”  Robby held up an instrument, “456 yards, General.”

“Shoot it down.”

Robby dropped to his knees and held up a lethal looking rifle with a long barrel.  He sighted through the scope, made an adjustment on the back of the rifle and took aim.  He fired.  A second or so later, the flagpole just below the flag shattered and the Union Jack crashed to the ground.

“I can assure you, he is equally as accurate from three times that distance,” said Washington.  He spoke again into his mike, “Alpha battery, target the center of the British encampment, standard HE.”

A moment or two later, Howe heard six thumps from some distance away.

“This artillery is seven miles away,” said Washington.

The explosions in the direct center of the British camp were tremendous and flattened an area 200 yards across.

              “First platoon, Company A, front and center.”

              A group of soldiers came running up from the scene of the final stand of the redcoats.  They came smartly to attention in perfect order in front of their general.

              “There’s still a row of tents standing at the front of the encampment, take them down.”

              The soldiers spread out into a line and raised their weapons.  The air was full of a tremendous burst of gunfire from the assault rifles.  The tents, 200 yards away were shredded into pieces.

              “These Rangers just fired about 500 rounds of ammunition in 10 seconds,” said Washington placidly.  “Tell me General Howe, is your pistol still loaded?”

              “Yes it is,” said Howe.

              “Then be so good to shoot one of my men.  Aim right for the heart.”

              Howe turned finally with a chance to do something.  He aimed his flintlock at one of the unconcerned soldiers and fired.  When the smoke cleared, the soldier was still on his feet and grinning at him.

              “Our combat battle armor will stop any musket ball you can fire.”

              “One final demonstration,” said Washington.  He spoke into his mike, “Blackhawk, fire mission, mini-guns.”

              Moments later, a black helicopter came zooming over the battlefield.  It began firing thousands of rounds of ammo across the remnants of the encampment.  “The rate of fire of this machine is 3,000 rounds per minute.”

              Just then, the Humvees and the Bradley’s pulled up to encircle the two generals.

              “This is more of our firepower and capabilities, General Howe.  I won’t waste the ammunition having them put on further demonstrations.  Take your soldiers and march back to Boston.  Take the first ship available for England.  Take these documents and this instrument.  It will show you the entire battle just as it occurred.  Just push this button here and press start.  They wouldn’t believe you anyway.  Our ambassador in London will contact your prime minister to complete the details.  That is all, General Howe.  You are excused.”

Howe mounted his horse, had his men gather up twenty horses that were still alive and they rode off at full gallop.

Washington’s radio chirped.  It was Arcadia.  “Congratulations, George.  For your information, two more troop ships were approaching New York harbor.  We sunk them.”

                                                                     
22

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
             

              The news about the spectacular defeat of the entire British Army outside of Boston spread through the colonies like a summer storm.  The appearance of a previously unknown Continental Army with lethal capabilities came as a big surprise to almost everyone in America.  George Washington was hailed as the greatest military leader in history.

              Thomas Paine, already writing his little book Common Sense, was moved to publish his book six months in advance of its original publication in January 1776.  As before, the book galvanized public opinion on the prospect of a free and independent American nation.

              Arcadia met with the Colonial leaders at a previously arranged meeting in Philadelphia.  All of them were there, except James Madison, who was delivering the terms of the new state of affairs to the British in London, and George Washington, who was already transporting his army to Canada to attack Quebec.  However, Jefferson with a completed copy of his Declaration of Independence and John Adams with the revised Constitution were there, along with Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

              Messages had already been sent for the colonies to send their delegates to the Second Continental Congress to convene at the end of May in Liberty Hall, and they were on the way.

              Arcadia called the meeting to order and began by saying, “A second time window opened last month and elements of the new American Navy came through.  It comprises four destroyers, one submarine, and a large cargo ship.  They’ve been working their way north to engage British ships carrying troop reinforcements.  They caught two of them near New York and sunk them.  One of the ships will stay on station along the east coast to keep the British from sending anymore troop ships.  Commercial traffic is not being affected at all.”

              “We are now ready to convene the new Congress, but the circumstances of that meeting will be dramatically different from the way it originally happened.  As we have long planned, this Congress will be given circumstances that are much different than they originally had.  No longer are the British a force in the Colonies.  Our estimates are that fully 70% of the population now favors complete independence and is waiting for Congress to act.  The Congress is free to make whatever decisions it wishes, and is going to be brimming with enthusiasm to proceed without delay.”