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[Continuing chapter ten]
As soon as he saw Colonel Walker, though, Patton knew that he’d raced back to the crossing needlessly. Walker was standing, beside his horse, on a small rise above the west bank of the Trinity, onto which his men continued to disembark in orderly fashion from the single small ferry. The colonel paid no notice to his men; he was engaged in spirited conversation with another man—a man, Patton saw, who wore the same white jacket and trousers of the marchers whose approach he’d sped back here to report.
His disappointment at being deprived of a fight was more than tempered by the realization that Walker’s Texan allies were true soldiers, or at the very least trained militia. The oncoming men would double the size of Walker’s force, making it all but certain that they could defeat any force the government could throw at them—especially if the people around the capital were as unhappy with their government as he’d been told and Stewart had—at the beginning, anyway—confirmed.
“Patton! Come on up here!” Colonel Walker waved him up the slope. Walker was smiling, so Patton smiled in response. His horse protested at having to climb after the tiring journey back to the river, but it was by now well-trained, and took Patton up the slope to where Walker and his companion waited.
“Lieutenant Patton,” Walker said, “this is Colonel Mosby Parsons of the Fourth Regiment of the Texas Militia. Colonel Parsons has come south from Fort Davis to provide assistance to us. Lieutenant Patton,” he said to Parsons, “is late of the Army of Virginia and a very capable soldier. Thank you for your warning, son. As you’ll see, it wasn’t necessary, but you did the correct thing.”
“Thank you, sir.” Patton glanced at Colonel Parsons. A narrow, pinched face and thin, pale lips gave the man a sour expression that looked habitual. Patton wondered if his temperament matched his look. Give the man the benefit of the doubt, he reminded himself. A lack of charity might not be a cardinal sin, but it would tell against him at the Reckoning nevertheless—not to mention making him a less effective soldier if he gave in too easily too often to base suspicions.
I can at least show this man that I deserve respect, he thought. I worked hard for this report; I might as well give it. “I counted two hundred-sixty men, sir, with a dozen wagons. Eighteen of that number are mounted, a dozen of them dragoons judging by their armament. I estimate their scouts will be arriving in the next ten to fifteen minutes.” With a sideways glance at Parsons, he added, “I’m sure my reconnaissance of Colonel Parsons’s column was unobserved, sir.”
Walker laughed at that; Parsons’s scowl merely deepened. “Very good, lieutenant,” Walker said. To Parsons he added, “Patton is rapidly proving himself one of my better officers. He’ll make a good commander some day very soon.” Patton felt his face flush, knew that pride was sinful and decided to enjoy the feeling anyway.
“Some day soon’s what we should be planning for,” Parsons said. “Real sooner. Them boys I left behind at Fort Davis aren’t going to be able to keep Captain Steele locked up for long. Once Steele’s got himself out, he’s going to come after us. He may or may not be able to collect many of the other companies from the regiment. But I know him. He’ll hit us as hard as he can. And he’ll send word to Washington.”
“I’d be surprised if Washington doesn’t already have an inkling of our arrival,” Walker said. “You’re right about haste, though, Parsons. We don’t want to leave the frontier entirely undefended for long, lest the Indians draw the wrong conclusion and decide to resume their depredations of the farms on the northern plains. Fortunately,” he said with a satisfied smile, “we’ve been making good time. Once we’re fully across the Trinity, we should be able to put our entire force before Washington in two days.”
“The faster we move, the more likely we’ll be able to wrong-foot any force defending Washington,” Parsons said. “I still think it’d be best if some of the force went on ahead. If you’re unwilling to leave the main force behind, sir, I’d be happy to lead such an advance.”
Patton cocked his head at this. Dividing a force as small as this one, in the face of the objective, was foolish. “I thank you for the suggestion, sir,” Walker said. “I would rather not divide my force now, having gone to such pains to effect a meeting in the first place.” Patton suppressed a smile. “Having the full force together,” Walker added, “will give us the opportunity to see how the two groups work in combination. Lieutenant Patton here has been drilling the men so that they can fight either mounted or on foot; I’d like to see how his results compare with your more experienced men.”
Parsons turned to look at Patton; the expression on his face continued to show a sort of sour disapproval, but Patton thought he now saw an additional hint of resentment. “I had thought that your force was to serve as dragoons while my men fought on foot,” Parsons said. “Surely we don’t want our force to fight entirely dismounted.”
“Flexibility is important,” Walker said. “If we’re attacked by poorly organized mounted men, we’ll be more effective fighting on foot. Patton proved that the other day when he routed a group of outlaws who tried to attack us.”
“You’ve already had to fight?” Parsons shook his head. “I had hoped we’d only have to fight one battle in order to win this prize.”
“I wouldn’t call it much of a battle.” The words were out of his mouth before Patton realized that he’d spoken rather than thought them.
“You have enough experience to make that judgment, do you, boy?” Parsons was angry now—he’s taking it out on me, Patton thought, because he can’t say anything to Walker.
“That’s enough of that, gentlemen,” Walker said. “Patton, you should know better than to speak to superiors without being invited to. And Parsons, you should be aware that Patton here has more recent experience of battle than either of us.” Walker clapped Parsons on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get back to the real business at hand. We have to set up an order of march and get our boys back on the move as soon as possible. There are still four or five hours of daylight left, so I think we should press on rather than camping here.” Parsons gave Patton a last sour glance, then nodded and turned his attention back to Walker. “Patton, please resume your fine work getting us across the river. The second-in-command of Colonel Parsons’s company is Major Alexander. As soon as he’s arrived, I want the two of you to meet with Captains Wheat and Fontaine. I’ll send you orders for marching, and you will carry them out as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir.” Patton saluted, turned and walked his horse back down the slope. Parsons was jealous of Walker’s command, that was obvious. Colonel Walker will know how to deal with that, though, Patton thought. And it will be good to have trained infantry when it comes time to fight. I might not know as much as Stewart, but I do know that.
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Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten
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