The Fort, Bernard Cornwell

[mongrel]

I ran across this novel shortly before Christmas, a true story of a little-known event of the American Revolution, written by Bernard Cornwell -- one of the best living authors of historical fiction.

One reason I suspect the events dramatized in "The Fort" are little-known is that, until fairly recently, it was considered bad form to cast light on the less-glorious details of our history and heroes. There was a careful, deliberate sifting of facts, emphasizing the good while minimizing, ignoring, or outright re-creating the bad, that led to a popular notion of American history that's every bit as distorted as the "revisionist" PC garbage being force-fed our kids and the less-informed public, today. "The Fort" is just the facts, ma'am, telling the story as it happened, with the "good guys" (American colonists in revolution) coming off looking not so brave, smart, or particularly heroic.

A bare-bones synopsis of the story is that, in 1779, a relatively small force of Scottish Highlanders in the service of England occupied a small river island in Penobscot Bay, in present-day Maine (a province of Massachusetts at the time). The colony of Massachusetts dispatched a much-superior force of regular Navy, United States Marines, privateers, and militia, to capture or kill all the invaders. Problem was, other than the Marines and a very few officers possessed of some basic common sense, no one on the attacking side, "our" side, gave thought to anything but the glorious victory they were about to win; exactly how they would go about winning it was given no real consideration till far too late. The result was the worst American naval disaster until Pearl Harbor, taking place over a period of several weeks in which the outnumbered Scots not only held and fortified their position but dealt the Americans several humiliating defeats on land and water.

This is an extremely well-written and interesting tale, which of course is to be expected if one knows Bernard Cornwell's work. I particularly enjoyed it for a number of reasons peculiar to me alone, one being that study of honestly-told American history shows us that, instead of the notion that America has enjoyed power and prosperity from the start, due to the virtue of its leaders and citizens, a great many times right from the get-go our own various idiocies nearly destroyed us. It helps put the present political three-ring circus, being held in a social insane asylum, in vaguely-reassuring perspective. We HAVE survived leaders who seemed hell-bent on ruining the country, many a time before, even before the country properly existed.

I like also the lesson demonstrated in "The Fort", which is that even the smartest, bravest, and most enthusiastic of military amateurs are well-advised to listen to and heed the advice of professionals, men who make their living at war and know it's neither glorious nor predictable. Chest-thumping and political considerations and oratory about God being with us all figure into the historical facts detailed in "The Fort", the result being enormous losses in men and equipment while the Marines and the militia leaders with some common sense shake their heads and then go forward, to do their duty and in many cases die.

Obviously I like this book, very much, and urge reading it to anyone who will enjoy not only a well-told tale but a textbook example of how NOT to fight a war.

[Rev]

I agree, it was a very thought provoking read...

[bassfan586]

All of Cornell's books are good reads.  I recomend the Richard Sharpe series or the archers quest series.  I have all of his books and can pick up any and get right into it.