My Boy Jack

“My Boy Jack” is the story of Jack Kipling, and it is a tragic one. Son of the famous Rudyard Kipling, all Jack wants to do is join the army and do his part in World War I. He cannot pass the physical, however, as he is practically blind without his glasses. But with the British casualties rising and some help from his influential father, Jack joins the army at age seventeen.

            Truly it is a classic tale of triumph. Jack initially struggles with army life, unable to perform as well as he should. But perseverance and constant training pull him through and viewers proudly watch as he claws his way to success and earns his rank of Lieutenant. He is introduced to his platoon and leads them respectfully and proudly, slowly working their way to becoming an efficient group of soldiers.

Daniel Radcliffe as Jack Kipling

            Jack visits home after many months of training. He asks his father to write him a letter. The main assault on the German line will fall just around his birthday, but should it come before he would not be able to participate, being only seventeen. And his father, so proud of his son, does as he asks and writes a letter to allow him to participate in the assault.

            The day after Jack’s eighteenth birthday, he is part of the run on the German trenches. The Kipling home receives a telegram that he is missing. Months go by as they try to discern what may have happened to their beloved Jack. Continually searching through photographs of wounded soldiers and listening to accounts of others, Jack’s family is desperate to learn what happened. They refuse to give up hope.

            It is not until a member of Jack’s platoon arrives that the Kipling family is finally told what became of their son and brother.

            There is a certain horror in discovering that Jack has died. The film is moving in a way that leaves viewers with the same desperation as Jack’s family, determined to believe that there is still hope. This film is well done and a good view for anyone interested in World War I and Rudyard Kipling’s daring son, but one can expect a few tears for the eighteen year old boy who lost his life in a German trench on September 27, 1915.

The Four Feathers

            A.E.W. Mason’s The Four Feathers is a heart-wrenching and adventurous tale. The 1939 film adaptation is well done, but in truth it falls short of the novel’s portrayal of events. Mason’s characters seem to be made of more flesh and blood than those of the film, with more depth and more feeling to their personalities.

            The film never actually addresses young Harry Feversham’s reluctance to go to war. He feared that he would be a coward. Always that fear haunted him, that one day his mettle would be tested and found wanting. And so, when he had one the heart of the girl he loved, he resigned his commission. This in itself might never have been thought cowardly, had a telegram not arrived the night before Feversham announced his resignation, informing him that his regiment was shipping off to Egypt.

            In the film, Harry Feversham’s father, General Feversham, passed away. Feversham used his death as an explanation, saying that his duty to his father was now over. In actuality, Feversham uses his engagement to Ethne Eustace as the reason for his resignation, as his father is still alive.

            After going to Ramelton to be with Ethne, Feversham is told that a packaged was forwarded to him from his old address. The package contains three white feathers, a symbol of cowardice from three men of his old regiment: Trench, Castleton and Willoughby. Feversham’s best friend, Durrance, knows nothing of these events. He does not discover the truth until much later.

            In the film, Durrance is one of the three who send Feversham a feather, and Feversham’s disgrace is his motivation to follow his old regiment to Egypt and find opportunities to express his bravery and make his accusers retract their feathers. However, it is Ethne who is Feversham’s guiding star. Having added her own feather to the three originals, Ethne shows Feversham that she believes him a coward. And Feversham, devastated by the pain he has caused her, makes a decision to return the feathers through acts of bravery. No hope that she will wait for him gleams in his soul, but he retains some belief that they will meet “afterwards.”

            In the film, Feversham poses as a mute Arab and helps Durrance after he becomes blind, guiding him back to safety. He then gets himself sent to prison in order to help rescue Willoughby and Trench, in the process inciting a prison rebellion that tips the scales in a key British battle. The whole process is very quick, very exciting and very gratifying.

            But Feversham’s tale is not so glorious, nor so brief. Three years spent in the desert, posing as a Greek, picking up the language, and waiting for any opportunity in which he might redeem his honor. His first opportunity comes from retrieving a packet of letters in a heavily guarded city and giving them to Willoughby, who retracts its feather and returns home a year later to deliver it to Ethne.

            His second opportunity, some months later, is revealed upon discovering that Captain Trench is in prison. Feversham makes careful plans in order to first get into prison and then to arrange an escape for both of them. His plan might have succeeded if Captain Trench had not come down with fever three days before their planned escape. But Feversham’s man comes through, and he is able to get himself and his second accuser out. Captain Trench then accepts his own feather, and follows Willoughby home to give it to Ethne.

            Feversham’s third opportunity never came, because Castleton was killed early in the war. He returns to Ramelton to see Ethne, who is engaged to his friend Durrance, gone blind by sunstroke some time after Willoughby retracts his feather. Durrance, meanwhile, has pieced together the entire story and is determined that, although he loves Ethne, she does not love him and so should marry Feversham.

            It is a rather bittersweet tale, much less exciting than the film portrayed it to be, but just as satisfying and perhaps rather more fulfilling. A lesson hides beneath the surface of Mason’s story. It was not Feversham’s fear that sent him spiraling into disgrace, but rather his fear that he would be afraid, which is a much different thing altogether.

Zulu

“Zulu” is not cinematic. It is not blessed with amazing acting. Its special effects are sketchy at best. But “Zulu” is surprisingly resounding nonetheless. Two lieutenants, Chard and Bromhead, are informed that there tiny contingent of 140 men in Natal has been isolated by the destruction of the main British force. 4,000 Zulu warriors will be upon them in mere hours.

Michael Caine and Stanley Baker as Lieutenants Bromhead and Chard

            Despite first impressions and a number of minor power struggles, Chard takes command of the garrison and uses all the knowledge at his disposal to lead his small force to some kind of victory. Using the wounded men in the hospital as well as the healthy men at the walls, the British manage to repel the Zulus’ onslaught time and again. A final confrontation soon after dawn leaves the British alone. Aside from the dead at their feet, the Zulus have disappeared.

            After two days of fighting, the British soldiers are exhausted. They are ready to break. Three hours following their heartening victory, they allow themselves to hope that the entire ordeal may be over. Just as they begin to relax, thousands of Zulus appear on the hilltop, chanting incomprehensibly at the British soldiers below.

            The exhausted men can only cry out in anguish that the Zulus are taunting them, demanding that the job be finished and be done with it. But one among them announces that the Zulus are not taunting the beleaguered soldiers. In fact, they are saluting their bravery. After an inexplicably long chant and shaking of spears, the Zulus withdraw from the hillside, leaving the soldiers in complete bewilderment. Beneath the confusion, though, lurks a gleam of pride, and the British soldiers stand a little taller, despite their fatigue.

The Pure Land

            The Pure Land is the little known story of Thomas Glover, a Scottish enterpriser who makes his way to Japan to make a life for himself. This novel is action-packed, but at the same time is very languid and smooth. The reader feels almost as though they have traveled with Thomas Glover on his life-long journey of joy and suffering, success and failure.

            Alan Spence introduces his tail with the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, following his main character’s son as he walks through the devastation that was the atomic bomb. Tomisaburo’s reminiscence of his father opens the main story about a restless young man, ready to get out of his tiny town and see the world.

Given employment in Jardine & Matheson, Glover travels to Japan to make business. The reader follows Glover’s first days in Nagasaki, adjusting with him as he becomes assimilated into the culture. Meeting several pretty girls along the way, Glover quickly establishes himself as Jardine’s top dog. He works hard to earn respect and quickly ascends the hierarchy of power within the company, taking over his own warehouse.

The longer Glover stays in Japan, the more involved he gets with the politics of the land. The tiny archipelago is governed by the Shogun, who has illegitimate rule over the titled but powerless Emperor. Each side has its own views on foreigners and their right to trade in Japan, and both sides are willing to resort to violence. To make matters worse, Britain itself sails into the harbor to batter helpless towns into submission, demanding that the country allow foreign trade.

After losing his first wife in the unnecessary massacre of a small town, Glover tirelessly devotes himself to overthrowing the Shogun, whose policies were the instigator of Britain’s fury. Despite many words of caution against it, Glover begins dealing in arms. As long as both sides can pay, he deals with both sides. But as the months wear on, his business with the wrong side becomes more and more shady. Members of different clans approach Glover with requests to travel to England. They need to see this new world, and see it they do. The men return with tales of awe and the thirst to make their own nation as powerful and as progressive as Glover’s.

There’s a certain amount of excitement in Spence’s story. The reader is often sucked into the events, fervently glancing over their shoulder for any of the Shogun’s men as they help the rebellion. Dull fear sits in their stomachs as they read about shadows following Glover down the street and threats made upon his life. Adrenaline courses through them as they are dragged through a battle to decide the fate of a nation. And satisfaction glows within them when the Emperor is restored to his rightful throne.

Spence wraps up his main story with a journalist interviewing the illustrious Glover, now far too old to be avoiding samurais and begetting children, of which he has two who carry his name and at least one that is not officially his. The man who helped overthrow the Shogun, found Mitsubishi, and made a fortune twice has been reduced to imminent death and few manners. He looks back on his life with a sort of bittersweet reminiscence, with more than a few regrets.

Of course, Glover’s is not the only story told in Spence’s novel. The reader is soon enlightened as to the fate of the mother of Glover’s son, who disappears after Glover returns to Scotland for a brief stay to oversee the building of warships. The beautiful girl went into a nunnery, and lived out her days in peace.

Her son, however, was granted no such serenity. Always plagued by being half-Japanese, half-English, Tomisaburo is often tormented and singled out. Worse yet, he lives to see the tragedy that is the atomic bomb. Several days later he commits suicide upon his father’s samurai sword.

Despite the rather sad ending to a historical tale, Spence leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction. So much awful things occur in order to make Glover the man he would become, and the novel is written so that the reader can take it in stride, as Glover did, and grow with the telling.

The Lady With the Lamp

“The Lady With the Lamp” is an emotional portrayal of the life of the amazing Florence Nightingale. Though the real Florence did not quite have the stunning beauty of the actress who portrayed her, the tale told by this film is poignant and touching.

Florence Nightingale

            Meeting Florence as a young woman in her prime, the viewer immediately sees that she has a strong character, rather out of place in male-dominated London. As she grows more and more restless, Florence meets the rather remarkable Richard Milnes, to whom she tells all her frustrations. She heard a call from God, and neither society nor her family can stop her from pursuing her calling. She wants to help people.

            Despite opposition from her family members, Florence goes to nursing school to better understand how to care for the sick. Returning home, she takes over the hospital in town, disgusting and poorly maintained. Slowly but surely she betters the patients’ care and increases their survival rates. But even as she succeeds in cleaning up the abomination that London saw fit to call a hospital, still she is not satisfied that she has fulfilled her calling. She takes her rebellion a step further, determined to follow British soldiers to Scutari.

            Florence Nightingale’s remarkable story is told with all its heartbreaking qualities, including turning down the man she loved in order to better fulfill her call from God. “The Lady With the Lamp” is a good film for all who want to know more about the remarkable young woman who followed her heart against all opposition.

The Man Who Would Be King

The film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King is lively and exciting. Two rogues, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, decide to make their way to the fictional country of Kafiristan. They make friends with a local warlord and help vanquish his enemies. During one scuffle, Danny is hit by an arrow. It actually gets stuck in his strap, but to the natives it looks as though he was shot, pulled the arrow out, and lived in a miracle unseen by any of the Kafiristanians.

            As so often happens with events that people don’t understand, the people decide that this phenomenon was produced by magic. They decide that Danny is the son of Alexander the Great, a god in their country. Danny and Peachy, seeing a divine opening in the way to becoming rich men, decide to let the people think as they please.

Sean Connery and Michael Caine as Daniel and Peachy

            Of course, the priests of the land must determine that Danny actually is Alexander’s son. They attempt to shoot him as proof, but Peachy stops them and Danny’s Mason medal becomes visible in the struggle. This causes all of the holy men to stop, as the high priest shows a carving made by Alexander some two thousand years before. It is the symbol of the Masons, and definite proof that Danny is Alexander’s son.

            All should be well, but power tends to corrupt, and corrupt it does. Danny decides not to leave with Peachy and riches, as was originally planned, but instead to stay and marry and be king. While attempting to marry Roxanne, she bites him, causing him to bleed. The high priest sees this and exclaims that he is not a god.

            Daniel is sent out to the middle of the bridge he ordered built. It is cut down and he falls to his death. Peachy is crucified, but does not die, and is sent home in a crippled and broken state. The film is a sad account of the bond between friends and the destructiveness of too much power.

Flashman

George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman is a strange portrayal of life in the army. His main character, Harry Flashman, couldn’t quite be considered the protagonist, even in his own tale. Flashman is an extremely difficult character to like, a coward to the core and a liar to boot. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Fraser’s portrayal of British presence in Afghanistan is surprisingly interesting.

                The story is narrated by none other than Harry Flashman, now in his eighties and looking back on his exploits with no remorse. Expelled from one of Britain’s best schools, Flashman decides to join the army, carefully selecting a regiment least likely to be involved in any combat. The tale is ridiculous and would be humorous if Flashman weren’t so uncouth and disreputable. Drawn into a duel, sent to Scotland, slept with the wrong girl, forced into marriage, ordered to resign, shipped to India. It truly is a comedy of errors, made all the better by the dry tone of an old man looking back on his younger days.

General Elphinstone

                Flashman arrives in India better than many. He is immediately liked by his superiors and butters them up with all his sickening flattery. He has a fairly easy few weeks, whoring and learning the language. He even gets invited to dinner with all the important people in Calcutta, who talk endlessly of his usefulness. Just when he thinks he’ll get a comfortable, safe job as a governor’s aide somewhere in India, the tides turn with surprising abruptness and he’s sent instead to be General Elphinstone’s aide in Afghanistan.

                Britain’s hold in Kabul is fairly stable when Flashman arrives. But it quickly disintegrates in the face of the inept British commanders. Elphinstone, known to his men and everyone else as Elphy Bey, is a feeble old man about ready to croak. This is the general put in command of Kabul, essentially dooming any chance of success.

                The fact that Flashman is what he is, and is very honest about it, gives his derision of the British command all the more credit. He describes events in Afghanistan bluntly and with great detail. But the situation never seems dire and the descriptions never gory. In his dry, ironic voice, Flashman relates all that happened to him and his dealings with various people along the way, hiding none of his own vices in the story and therefore feels no inclination to hide those of others.

Harry Flashman

                The story unfolds, a strange assortment of comedy and grief, told by a coward and confirmed by historical events. As we follow Flashman from the army to captivity and back again, there’s really no feeling sorry for the rogue. All one can do is read on in horror as Flashman receives honor and credit truly undeserved. But then, given the state of the British army at the time, it seems unrealistic to expect anything less.

   When Flashman returns home to his forgotten wife, he is presented to the queen and given a medal. High praise indeed, and Flashman cannot wait to tell his wife. It is difficult to feel sorry for him when he discovers his wife is lying to him and most likely sleeping with a man he told her not to. After all, he certainly had his fill of women while he was abroad.

                All in all, Fraser’s story is full of humor, horror, and downright pigheadedness. It presents an interesting view of the British occupation of Afghanistan, and brings forth a few laughs along the way.

Massacre at Cawnpore

Vivian Stuart's Massacre at Cawnpore catches the reader by surprise. No matter what one's prior knowledge of the event, nothing can prepare the readers for the bloodshed described with a terrifying clarity. Stuart attaches her readers to a fictional member of the garrison at Cawnpore, Colonel Alex Sheridan, then drags them through the mud, under the burning sun, between musket fire, dodging cannon and the occasional bayonet on the way.
            Perhaps most disturbing about Stuart’s tale is the gradual jading of the readers. In the beginning of the tale, every death is described, given a name and a grieving family. But as the story progresses, death turns into a daily occurrence. Names are no longer given and casualties are presented as numbers rather than as people. The strength of the garrison slowly dwindles. Soldiers no longer have the strength to condemn General Wheeler for trapping them in their situation. They are dying off one by one, picked off by musket, cannon and heat alike.
            Despite the horror surrounding them, they fight on. After all, there are hundreds of women and children to be protected. Had it only been the men they might have been able to put together one last sortie and break through to Lucknow, but that was impossible with so many helpless people at their backs. And so they fought on, until they could fight no more. The Nana Sahib then offers them surrender, and Wheeler has little choice but to accept.
            With no option but to trust the Nana’s word, the exhausted defenders of Cawnpore pack up their things and make for the river. Just when they think they have made it to safety, the Nana’s men slaughter most of what was left of the men, taking the women and children hostage. Stuart has us follow Alex Sheridan, now delirious with lack of blood as well as grief and a concussion, makes his way to Allahabad. We join the march to take back Cawnpore, and just when we think the suffering is finally over, the Nana orders the hostage women and children murdered.
            And this is where Stuart springs empathy back upon her readers. After an entire novel of making her audience accustomed to death and tragedy, this last violence truly shatters whatever composure may be had. Told simply and unadorned, without names or details, the true massacre at Cawnpore is a horror so real that there is nothing to be done but mourn.
            Truly heart-wrenching and poignant, Stuart’s portrayal of the horrific tragedy at Cawnpore is enough to stir even the stoutest of hearts.

I Remember Nelson

"I Remember Nelson" was a short, less-than-brilliant film plagued by the common problems of made-for-TV movies. From the perspective of a common gunner on the HMS Victory, the film attempts to portray how this great man was remembered by his common sailors. All in all, it falls short of the mark, delivering a rather choppy version of events made worse by bad acting and even worse effects. Disregarding these faults, the story itself is interesting. Being privy to Nelson's final words and seeing his last moments brings forth empathy, despite the less than astounding theatrical performance. The film brings the ordinariness back to Nelson, cutting through the aura of brilliance and exposing the mortal within. Whatever the repercussions the death of this great man on a global scale, his last breath is still that of a dying man, great or small, important or obscure.

Ramage at Trafalgar

            Dudley Pope’s Ramage at Trafalgar is a well-written fictional account surrounding the pivotal victory in England’s defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Pope creates a likable character that his readers are quickly drawn to. Despite being the 16^th book in a very long series, the tale is isolated and interesting without relying on previous events.

Horatio Nelson

            Pope first introduces Lord Nicholas Ramage at the reading of his uncle’s will. Ramage is quickly established as an intelligent and sensible man, without the pomp and arrogance of his contemporaries. His wife, Sarah, is also present at the reading. Recently married and obviously quite happy, the Ramages have a surprisingly modern relationship. Sarah seems to possess certain frankness that is absent in most women of the time, making her more relatable to Pope’s readers.

            Pope takes his story a step further. On top of creating likable fictional characters, he personally introduces his readers to the legendary Horatio Nelson. Bringing this naval hero down from legend is a difficult task, one that Pope does with surprising skill. He even gives a good look at Nelson’s mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, widow of his friend Lord Hamilton and mother of his “goddaughter,” Horatia Nelson Thompson.

Pope’s characters voice their opinions concerning Nelson and his mistress. Nicholas holds the greatest respect for the commodore, and Sarah likes his wife so much, she stands up for Lady Hamilton at dinners where gossip runs rampant.            

            Beyond the social atmosphere is the actual battle of Trafalgar. Pope creates an advantageous read by creating a character with authority and feeling to observe and participate in such a monumental event in history. Having Nicholas Ramage pick a fight with a French frigate is adventurous in and of itself. He creates a somewhat suspenseful turn of events, having Ramage’s frigate, the Calypso, break through the line following one of his own ships of the line. The short scuffle with the French frigate is exciting and well written, including the nerve-racking turnabout to use the Calypso’s sister ship as a shield against the French ship of the line intent on blowing Ramage’s boat out of the water.



The HMS Victory



            But perhaps most important concerning Pope’s fictional work is the witness to the death of Nelson. By creating a character with a vested interest in all that occurred, both in battle and afterwards, Pope gave true insight into what it was like to come to the realization that the great Nelson had died. The undeniable certainty, knowing what it means to have Nelson’s flag hauled down from the Victory’s mast. How unfair, how cruelly ironic, that the great commander had been shot down in his moment of triumph, his greatest foe defeated.

            Pope gives his readers a lens to the past, blurred by the tears of Nelson’s admirers and faithful soldiers. Through it, one can truly appreciate the man behind the medals and titles.

Master and Commander

Master and Commandergives a cinematic look into the duty of a British ship during the war with Napoleon. Led by the strong and stubborn Captain “Lucky Jack” Aubrey, the HMS Surprise is given orders to hunt down the French ship, Acheron, to prevent her from stretching Napoleon Bonaparte’s reach to the far side of South America.

HMS Surprise

            Aubrey quickly realizes that he’s outgunned and outmaneuvered by the French ship, as it sneaks up behind the Surprise in a fog and delivers a pounding to the British ship. Aubrey manages to lose the Acheron in the fog with a clever ruse involving a miniature ship with lanterns aboard floating away from the Surprise. After repairing his ship, Aubrey resumes the pursuit, seemingly more because of the insult to his person and ship rather than his duty to his country.



            The wisdom of this chase is questionable, as the Acheron hides in a bay in the coast and sneaks behind the Surprise once again. Aubrey and his crew manage to escape yet again, and “Lucky Jack” vows that there will not be a third such encounter. His brilliant idea to capture the French vessel is inspired by his friend, Stephen, explaining how a stick bug evolved to look like a stick in order to evade predators.



Jack Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe



            The fascinating deception that Aubrey pulls off is truly quite amazing. Disguising his ship as a whaler, Aubrey basically orders his ship to sit and wait, drawing the Acheron to him before running out the guns and beating her into submission.

            The movie was engaging and suspenseful, as well as clever and intelligent. The sound and effects were astonishingly realistic, adding to the overall feeling of dashing headlong into the Pacific Ocean after a ghost of a ship.

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor

Although this made-for-TV movie is slightly lacking in both effects and actor talent, the story of the great American traitor is told in its entirety fairly eloquently. Many Americans know Benedict Arnold only as a traitor. Few know the circumstances that drove him to treason.

Arnold is clearly depicted as a fiery and stubborn man, quick to anger and even faster to challenge offenders to a duel. His actions at Saratoga make him a hero, but his praise is bestowed upon his superior officer, Horatio Gates, whose orders he had to defy to win the day. Shot in the leg and permanently crippled, the wound is clean but bitterness festers in his soul.

The film portrays Arnold’s increasing frustration with Congress and his country with surprising skill. When George Washington makes Arnold the military governor of Philadelphia, his anger is appeased somewhat, and he sets about doing what is asked of him: diffusing tension between Loyalists and rebels. The movie makes his unconventional solution to this problem, a banquet, amusing as well as tense, probably an accurate depiction. The only point on which a viewer may be critical is Arnold’s excessive and, to be honest, sickening flirtatious nature when around the future Mrs. Arnold. Yes, he was infatuated. No, the producers did not do well in attempting to duplicate his 18^th century pick-up lines.

As a whole, Arnold’s bitterness was well-shown throughout the film. Knowing the inevitable conclusion only made it more horrible to watch General Washington hand over West Point to his most trusted officer. Mrs. Arnold’s influence was certainly marked. Had it not been for her, Benedict Arnold may very well have died an American hero. But then again, the film made a psychic out of Arnold’s British commander by having him comment that Arnold’s betrayal had united the country in a way that would ensure its eventual victory over Great Britain.

All in all, “Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor” was an interesting watch if not brilliantly filmed.

The Fort

In Bernard Cornwell’s The Fort, the fledgling nation of the fragile United States of America is portrayed in a less than favorable light. This historical novel describes in painful detail the biggest naval blunder in American history. The Penobscot Expedition is little-known, and not discussed in most history books. Cornwell drags this small battle from the shadows of the past.

A small contingency of 700 Scotsmen arrived in the wilderness of what is now Maine in the summer of 1779, with the single purpose of standing between the rebels and Canada. Then part of Massachusetts, Majabigwaduce would be a name to make American leaders cringe in the years to come. The state government of Massachusetts, determined to deal with the British infestation without interference from the Continental Congress, assembled the largest rebel fleet to date. Forty-two ships set sail to ‘captivate, kill or destroy’ the redcoats. This astonishingly sized naval force was powered by only 900 men, many of whom were forced into service so that their state need not borrow soldiers from the nation.

Led by possibly one of the most incompetent commanders in history, General Solomon Lovell, one could argue that the expedition was doomed from the beginning. Lovell was no general. A community man, well-liked and personable, but a military man he was not. He had no control over his troops, commanded no respect, and often backed out of a necessary fight. His second-in-command, Brigadier-General Peleg Wadsworth, was beyond exasperation by the end of the less-than-successful undertaking.

Lovell’s co-commander, Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, would be Massachusetts’ scapegoat when all was said and done. Combative and gruff, Saltonstall was not known for his disposition. However, any participant in the Penobscot Expedition, were they here to tell us, would vouch for the commander of the ships. It was Lovell’s lack of action that cost the Americans precious time. Instead of attacking immediately upon arrival, the general ordered his troops to make camp. This gave the Scotsmen plenty of time to build up their pitiful Fort George. As days passed without an assault, the walls of the fort grew higher and more defensible. As time wore on, Saltonstall refused to enter Penobscot Bay, defended by three British sloops of war, until the fort was taken by Lovell and the soldiers.

Saltonstall was not unreasonable with this demand. His logic was infallible. If the fort is taken, the ships are doomed anyway. Had he attacked the ships before the taking of the fort, the guns atop Dyce’s Head would surely have reduced his ships to so much timber. Lovell’s concerns were unfounded. His worry was that the sloops of war in the bay would attack his men in their ascent to the fort. Of course, in the end they argued so long that their time was squandered and British reinforcements arrived.

Cornwell does a spectacular job comparing the two commanders, Lovell of the land battle and Saltonstall of the sea. He presents both men in this high-pressure situation and truly unweaves the tangled mess that surrounds both the men and their expedition. His readers are confident in their knowledge that Lovell condemned the mission to failure. However, Massachusetts saddled Saltonstall with the blame, as he was the only Continental commander involved. By blaming the federal government’s asset, Massachusetts weaseled its way out of paying for the exorbitant cost of the failure, a sum that would be equivalent to around $300 million today.

History may have forgotten Saltonstall, as well as the expedition that was his downfall, but Bernard Cornwell exonerates the prickly commodore and points the finger at the person responsible, General Solomon Lovell.