The other armada

                                                                            Parts 1-10
 
 
 
 
The Other Armada Pt. 1: The Battle of Corunna

May 15, 1779
Corunna
The flagship of Admiral d'Orvillers, commander of the Brest fleet

    "I had you, by God, I had you...", muttered Admiral Richard Graves as the French surgeon carefully extracted the splintered fragments of wood from his shoulder, his words almost lost in the noise of the building storm. "Five more hours and-"

     "So you did," agreed Lieutenant Henri Brueghel. Privately, he wished the Admiral would finish writing his report to His Majesty, King Louis...the British admiral was, he gathered, a surly, ill-tempered man, and being plucked from the deck of his sinking flagship, wounded, next to the body of his second-in-command, hadn't improved matters. But, publically, he had to put a good face on matters. "But what happened, happened..." 

     "Yes, yes...", agreed Graves angrily. His strike at the French fleet waiting off Corunna had been a really good idea, one that he had fully expected to succeed: His thirty-three ships of the line had outnumbered the expected French force slightly, and he considered British ships, weight for weight, the finest in the world. And they'd been winning the battle, too, two French ships sunk and three with colors struck, to only one of his sunk and one surrendered. (The Victory had been a fine ship, he'd been sorry to see it go...)

     Until the Spanish arrived, with the wind behind them and with twenty ships. Blowing the British directly into the French guns, surrounding them to prevent any chance of escape...he had lost _seven_ ships to enemy action, with a good  five more captured, and still more scattered to the four winds. With God knew how many blown against the Isles of Sisargis to the west, where he'd ordered the fleet to sail before a lucky French ball had severed the main mast of his flagship, sending it crashing across the bridge.

     His ships had fought hard, yes, and tasted their share and more of French and Spanish blood...but d'Orvillers (he understood the Spanish commander, d'Arce, had drowned in a small boat accident in April, so d'Orvillers commanded both fleets now) had a good fifty-five ships under his command now, at the least. He SHOULD have taken that American command, and not let Hardy take all the credit...

-----
In the Admiral's cabin

    "Comte de Broglie, I trust you are suitably impressed with the performance of our fleet?", inquired d'Orvillers as he absently ate an orange. King  Charles of Spain had visited Cuba in the decade previously, and actually viewing scurvy and other colonial diseases had inspired him to mandate lemons and limes and
other fruits that seemed to combat it on all of his ships. Irritating as it was to take naval lessons from the Spanish, it seemed to work well indeed, and the
French fleet had adopted the practice four years earlier.

     "Indeed I am," said the old man, the Foriegn Minister of France, and the author of the strategic plan that had brought the Franco-Spanish fleet to this day...or so he told himself, anyway. "Had Graves not been so fool-hardy as to attempt to bring you to battle, or if the Spanish had been late..." de Brogile shrugged, and smiled at the Admiral, and raised his glass. "We had best drink quickly, with the storm coming...what shall we drink to? Victory? Ourselves?"

     D'Orvillers thought for only a moment, before responding, "Next year, in London..." Both men laughed heartily as they drank...

1. Richard Graves, remembered as a reasonably poor Admiral fighting in North America in this era, wound up in command of the defense of the English coastline in this TL. He is more aggressive than OTL's Hardy, and tries to force the French to battle, rather than waiting for them.

2. The Spanish commander d'Arce, who really hated the French and wanted to screw them over, died while preperations were still being made. His 
replacement is something of a Francophile, and aggressive without being stupid about it.

3. Both the French and Spanish navies are protected against scurvy, though not much else in terms of disease, unlike in OTL. Also, both the French and Spanish navies got off the ground faster and better organized in this TL, because d'Brogile's plan for the invasion of England was agreed on, rather than debating and switching to Vergennes.
 

The Other Armada Part Two: Reactions and Reform

May 1779-August 1779 

     The news of Corunna rockets like a shot across the warring nations of Europe: At a stroke, Quiberon (the major naval battle of the last war) has been reversed, and British power in the Channel has been temporarily broken. As May turns into June, and the summer continues, D'Orvillers' fleet grows to a full sixty-five ships of the line, substantially outnumbering the twenty-two British SoL's forming up in the Bristol Channel. (Graves' replacement as Commander of the Channel Fleet is Augustus Keppel. Though he was being tried for his failure to stop the French at Ushant, he is hurriedly cleared after the disaster at Corunna. He may have only fought them to a draw, but he's the best Britian has at the moment.)  North's ministry clings on by the skin of its teeth, mostly with the direct support of King 
George III, with a promise to get Britian through the coming struggle. No one wants a change of government...everyone has a good idea that some sort of invasion is coming.

    In France and Spain, the people are overjoyed. Songs and broadsheetsmocking the sailing ability, courage, and general competence of the British are the newest fad, with even great French composers of the era writing the little ditties. D'Orvillers and de Broglie look very good indeed, and de Broglie returns to Paris to help plan the invasion, now set to begin sometime in the month of October. D'Orvillers, meanwhile, sails up and down the Channel, sinking merchant and naval ships unfortunate enough to cross his way, letting the French and Spanish fleets learn how to work together in combat.  The Spanish never do get a chance to stop for resupply (they have only the resources to fight until September) , and so they buckle down for a lean summer. 

     In America, news of Corunna does not arrive until early July. With many of the Royal Navy ships withdrawing to Britian to reinforce Keppel's fleet,
Cornwallis's plans for operations in the American South are withdrawn: The fleet will continue to supply Savannah and Georgia, but Cornwallis' army will concentrate on driving Anthony Wayne out of New York, and ensuring land communication with Canada, while attempting to subdue New England. In early
August, Henry Lee's emboldened troops win a smash victory over the British at Paulus Hook, New Jersey, capturing the entire position. In the rest of the month, they wreck pretty much all British and Tory positions in the state....

The Other Armada Part Three: The Turning of the Leaves

September 16, 1779
Savannah, Georgia

     Major General John Provost saluted General Benjamin Lincoln and Admiral Valerie D'estaing smartly as his men filed by, into American captivity. Savannah, his post, had fallen to the Americans. They'd be marching on Augusta soon enough...he'd be very surprised if Georgia stayed in British hands until December. There was no shame, he thought, in losing to the Frenchman, but Lincoln was long-known as one of the less outstanding generals in the Rebel Army. "You moved faster than I expected," Provost said, restraining his bitterness. "Were we that tempting a target?" 

     "Our cause is on the move," said Lincoln, hiding a smile behind the mask of courtesy for a defeated foe. "Corunna, Stony Point, Paulus Hook...why
hesitate, when victory can be yours? Do enjoy yourself in parole, General, I hear Charleston is lovely this time of year."

--------------
September 29, 1779
Aboard the Bonhomme Richard, off Cherbourg

     "Captain Jones, I am pleased to meet you at last," said Admiral D'Orvillers. Jones had no French and he little English, so they both spoke with an interpreter. He knew something of the Welshman's history, his career as a British sea captain, the murder of the mutineer, the flight to America...and, of course, the raids on the British seacoast, the burning of coastal villages on the North Sea...and, of course, the taking of the Serapis. 

     "And I you, Monsieur Admiral," said Jones respectfully. He was ambivalent to the French, as he was toward most people, but his friend Benjamin Franklin had written glowing reports about the French in  general and this admiral in particular...and besides, they HAD saved his bacon. If that squadron hadn't shown up while he was fighting the Serapis and the Alliance was just causing him more trouble, he certainly wouldn't have his ship anymore...or even his life, probably. "I will be pleased to serve alongside you, in the coming months."

     D'Orvillers smiled slightly, recognizing Jones' verbal ploy. "Indeed. Your ships will give us..." He paused and calculated quickly. "Seventy ships...yes, we finally do have seventy ships to sail against the British, who have thirty at most, if they're fortunate..." The Admiral looked about the ship. "But this is not a time for strategizing, not yet. My staff tells me you have done us more good than any three of our own commerce raiders. Please, show me the ship and the crew that have done so much to help the cause of..." He'd almost said liberty, in solidarity with the Americans...but decided that his notions of it must vary substantially from that of Jones. "Of our victory," he said with the smile of a man experienced in the ways of the French Court. 
----------------

     "Often considered a predecessor to the Romantic movement, Franciso Goya was a relatively uninspired Spanish court painter until the late 1770s. A favorite of the King, he was sent along with Admiral d'Caballero to paint a pictorial record of the planned invasion of Britian. 

     His first painting to have the marks of his later greatness is "Ships by Night", from the "Des Invasions" series of 1779-1781. The swift blackness of the French and Spanish ships as they bear down upon the beach at Hastings suggests wolves or eagles swooping down upon prey, though the red and black clouds over the coast of Hastings suggest that Britian is no home of angels itself. The painting is taken virtually from life, Goya was on board the Saint Jeanne when it helped escort its contingent of the 30,000 invasion troops of 1779 to Hastings..."

The Other Armada Pt. Four: Frost Begins

November 1779-Spring 1780

     November 10, 1779, one month after the invasion of the United Kingdom begins, sees France and Spain in an excellent position indeed, despite the loss of their commander, comte de Vaux, in a riding accident on the second day. Seventeen thousand troops are on the ground in Kent, and the beach-heads at Hastings,
Pevensey, Rye, and Winchelsea have linked up. The line extends toward London as far as Tunbridge Wells and Ashford, a further probe against Maidstone was blocked by the hastily-moved army that had been guarding Portsmouth in anticipation of a French attack there, after the seizure of the Isle of Wight on October 1. The British government stays in London, at least some of it does: Parliment and the House of Lords stay in session, but many head for estates far away from Kent and London, and the Prince of Wales and the children of George III head for the east coast of England. Hanover is cut off.

     Admiral Augustus Keppel, commander of the Channel Fleet, has a decision to make. With forty-two major ships scraped together from all over the British Isles and North America, he has a very respectable armada...especially because the French fleet has shrunk quite a bit since the invasion began. One ship was lost during a raid on Plymouth, two more were seized at anchor in Spitshead Channel by a bold Royal Marine raid. In addition, most of the Spanish contingent is in port for resupply, leaving only fifty French ships to guard the Channel. Keppel decides he will swing north around the Isle of Wight, going through Spitshead Channel, grabbing a few more smaller ships out of Portsmouth harbor, and catch the French off of Hastings.

     On November 11, Keppel sets sail, bound and determined to bring the French to battle. At first, everything goes well: His force catches a 1,000 man French
force heading for Cork, and utterly destroys it, sinking every ship and taking many prisoners, with most being dumped off at Plymouth. Little does he know, however, that his early victory will be a great mistake. But, well, he doesn't.November in the English Channel is always an interesting time, and a truly nasty storm springs up, forcing the French to take shelter in various Kentish harbors, dividing up the fleet. Keppel's fleet, meanwhile, takes shelter in Bournemouth on November 17, and he stays there until the 26th.

     On that same day, in Plymouth, a small dinghy carrying a French officer and his Royal Marine guards sinks in the storm, only a few hundred yards from land...the guards drown, the French officer does not. Lieutenant Paul Sidot was actually an intelligence officer, sent to foment discontent among the Irish, who successfully impersonated a ship's helmsman when pulled out of the water by a British ship. He has managed to figure out Keppel's plans in a vague way, in that Keppel is heading east...the French fleet must be warned. Sidot manages to steal a horse, and rides like heck fo Kent. In one of those epic rides that makes the 18th century so interesting, he, going through two horses, dodging Royal Army and militia patrols, manages to reach French lines outside Maidstone on November 25th, the day before Keppel sails from Bournemouth. 

     It takes a few days for him to reach Admiral D'Orvillers and to convince him of the truth of his story...but D'Orvillers seizes his chance. Moving with incredible speed for a man in his seventies, the French admiral gathers a forces of twenty-three ships by the 28th, the day he sails to intercept the British fleet. The remainder of his ships, he gives orders to sail for the Channel ports...

    At the Battles of Spitshead (December 1-December 7, 1779) D'Orvillers' gamble pays off. Even with 2 to 1 odds, the British fleet has been sufficiently shocked by Ushant and Corunna to be far less aggressive than they should: While D'Orvillers' fleet loses six ships to the British three in the first two days of the battle (a slow, running fight up Spitshead), the British do not press their advantage enough, and take shelter in Portsmouth in December 3. 

     When Admiral Augustus Keppel looks out his telescope on the cold morning of December 4...he sees his undoing. The Spanish ships and the rest of the French fleet have arrived: Keppel's thirty-nine ships are trapped in Portsmouth harbor, as winter sets in...

     Not much happens in the winter of 1779-1780, it is one of the coldest in a century. Washington and the Continental Army suffer through the winter at
Morristown, NJ, while he makes plans for operations against the British in the Americas. He himself will conduct the siege operations against New York City,
Nathanial Greene will command operations in New England and Canada, while Benjamin Lincoln will retain his command in the South. 

    On January 6, though, the bombshell drops in Europe. The Netherlands enters the war against the United Kingdom, and adds their fleet and troops to the French and Spanish contingents. When campaigning season begins again, there are over 40,000 French, Spanish, and Dutch troops in England, and a full fifty ships blocking the Royal Navy up in Portsmouth (Now under George Rodney, who had been called back from the Carribean just after his successes there, when many of fleets were withdrawn to Europe), with thirty more raiding and burning essentially at will and down the English coast. 

The Other Armada Pt. Five: The Thaw

April 4, 1780
Outside Newport, RI

     Nathanial Greene watched as the city burned, shaking his head sadly. It was all so unnecessary...the British had been fairly defeated, there was no reason for them to burn the city upon their surrender. They'd have to find who had given the order to do it, punish them fairly, or turn them over to Rhode Island authories. Rhode Island was his home state, and he was honored to be given the assignment to liberate it.

     His revierie was interrupted by the arrival of his new aide. "At ease, Captain Hamilton. How goes the fighting?" "Very well, sir. Colonel McLynn reports the fires have been confined to the dock areas, sir, and Captain d'Estrees says his shore parties should have the fires out within the hour." 

     Greene nodded. Hamilton was new to his staff, on loan from General Washington's, but he had alreay made himself indispensable. "Yes, very good...we'll have them out of Rhode Island and Connecticut within the month...", he said, his mind already on the future. He'd been studying Arnold's attempt against Canada four years earlier, surely he could do better...
----
April 19, 1780 
Maidstone, England

     Francisco Goya looked up from his work irritatably, but relented slightly when he saw it was only Lieutenant Santiago. Santiago had been his minder since Hastings, and had actually saved him from a roving band of English "militia" outside of Ashford in February. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant. Are we on the move
again?"

     Santiago glanced over the recent battlefield, wondering how Goya could stand to paint the slaughter this maize field had been only a few days before. "Yes, Senor Goya. Captain Gomez tells me our destination may be..." He hesitated, wondering how much to tell the artist..."London. If the British allow us..."

The Other Armada Pt. Six: Things Heat Up
 

April 1780-June 1780

     As the campaigning season of 1780 begins, the British forces are hammered in western Kent: The French take Ashford on April 15, while the Spanish break
through the center entirely and take Maidstone on April 18. The only British victory, so far, is the repulsion of the Dutch at Tunbridge Wells on April 20. This causes the advancing armies to advance north, leaving Portsmouth, Southampton, and the western areas of southern England in British hands. This will have interesting effects later.

    Gillingham falls on the eighth of May, and D'Orvillers' fleet drives the Royal Navy from the Thames Estuary in a rapid campaign of two weeks. London is in a panic now, Parliment has fled to Coventry, along with most of the government. George III has finally taken the advice of his Court, and finally joins them there on May 14. And not a moment too soon, either.

    The Battle of Streatham Hill (May 16-17) sees a hastily-raised London militia combined with the survivors of the Kent campaign of the last month, pitted against veteran French, Dutch, and Spanish troops. The outcome is really never in doubt, it is only a question of how long the British hold out...and the two days they buy for the evacuation of London gives the defenders of Streatham Hill near-legendary status in British military history. 

     But even heroism is not enough against the weight of men, material, and skill of the enemy, and the defenders finally break after heavy artillery bombardment destroys their cavalry formations on the second day of fighting....

     On May 19, slightly over one year to the day since Corunna, troops from France, Spain, and the Netherlands enter the city of London. Spanish cavalry
parades down Pall Mall in good order, while French infantry marches into Buckingham Palance, as Comte de Acques, the overall commander of the invasion,
makes his plans to march on Coventry: After all, the British are continuing to fight.

    The only exception to the peaceful taking of London is Parliment House itself. Survivors of Streatham Hill make a vow that they will not let the home
of British democracy be taken...and so they burn it. Despite the best efforts of Londoners and soldiers alike to stem the flames, Parliment House burns
essentially to the ground on May 20. One arsonist is later caught, and hung at Tyburn. Admiral D'Orvillers himself comes ashore at London to inspect the land
he fought so hard and well to take.

    The fall of London is cataclysmic for British morale...though the government continues to fight, many people don't. The Mayor of Woking leads his town, and several others, in openly surrendering to the French during the rest of May, until French, Spanish, and Dutch troops control everything as far west as Basingstoke, and as far north as Luton by the middle of June. Militia units are organized everywhere, and Oxford University fortified for battle...but there is a general sense of failure, that many have let them down. Enemy ships raid and damage pretty much every coastal city on the British Isles, John Paul Jones leads a squadron of five ships that sail completely around Britian, damaging everywhere from Norwich to Inverness to Cork to Fishguard to Bournemouth. The French decide to strike against Coventry in July.

    In the Caribbean, the British have been driven from everywhere save Jamacia, and the French and Spanish are planning an invasion there. In the Floridas, Benjamin Lincoln is preparing the fourth attack against West Florida, which continues to hold out. Lincoln just isn't up to it, though he is at this point the hero of Savannah, so no one quite questions him...

     In the Americas, April and May see one of the most successful campaigns in modern history. Striking westward from Rhode Island, Nathanial Greene gradually batters Cornwallis and the British further toward New York City, until they finally must evacuate to Long Island on May 20, with some of the last Royal
Navy units not smashed by Rochambeau's roving patrols from Boston. By the middle of June, Greene has cleared most of New England of British troops, and
the Tory militia has been crushed by Rebel units.  On June 15, Greene's army breaks camp at Springfield, Massachusetts, and marches toward the Hudson, where they meet a portion of Washington's forces that have left the siege of New York City. By the end of the month, Greene's army has swollen to 10,000 veteran Continentals and militia. 

   They move north the same day the French do...
 

The Other Armada Pt. 7 Fields of Greene

August 1, 1780
Outside Trois-Riveries, Canada

     Captain Joseph Plum Martin ducked as a volley of British artillery tore overhead, smashing into the river bank below. The boats General Greene had seized when Montreal surrendered had gotten them this far quickly, but now the Brits were dug in and ready for battle. Quebec was becoming, he'd heard, a bigger fortress than it had been in the last major war...the enemy knew they were coming, and they would be ready.

     Martin trusted General Greene, the way all of his men did. Half-formed plans he'd made to write some sort of autobiography, an account of what he'd seen, had been reinforced at Montreal, where he, Martin, had won his promotion to Captain after subduing a British cavalry company that hadn't heard about
the surrender yet. Martin knew exactly who he'd feature, too...

----------
August 8, 1780
Off the Isle of Skye, Scotland
Aboard the H.M.S. Ardent

    John Paul Jones stepped aboard the British ship carefully. While they had surrendered without firing a shot, one never could be too careful with these things. Despite the success of Rodney's breakout the week before, more than one Royal Navy ship had chosen to take an enemy ship with it before going down...the destruction of Coventry had had that effect on people.

    Jones saluted the captain, as he always did on the taking of a prize. He'd taken a full seven ships and sunk five more since he arrived in England..."Captain Blount, Captain John Paul Jones, you may consider yourself..." As Jones read through the standard speech given to the captain of a taken vessel, he couldn't help but notice two small children, two boys, walking out on deck, escorted by a woman who had to be their mother, and at least a company of Royal Marines, all of them unarmed...

     Jones' suspicions were confirmed a moment later. "I fancy you do not know the prize you have taken, Captain.", said Blount bitterly. "Or my failure...you
have as your prisoners, Queen Charlotte, the Prince of Wales, and William Hanover..."
 

The Other Armada Pt. Eight: The Gang's All Here

September 1780-October 1780

    By the end of August, 1780, the War of the American Revolution seemed nearly over. Nathaniel Greene had Quebec under siege, with General Carleton controlling only a few square miles of the city proper. Benjamin Lincoln had finally taken West Florida, despite heavy losses, and Sir Henry Clinton has begun plans to approach George Washington about possible terms of surrender for the troops in New York City. If they knew about the fall of Coventry and the
arrest of most of the members of Parliment, the Americans and French would be even more overjoyed.

    If they knew about Needles Channel, of course, they would be less happy. When word arrived in Portsmouth that Coventry had been taken by the French in
the first week of August, Admiral George Rodney put together a plan he'd been putting together for the longest time. _Every_ ship in Portsmouth harbor, from
the ships of the line to the smallest fishing boat, is armed, and they fall on the French fleet guarding the western channel around the Isle of Wight like the wrath of God. Between the shoal and current-wracked channel, twenty-three ships, including Rodney's flagship...with a very special cargo, succeed in breaking out and away from the French. Excellent sailing on Rodney's part gets them to the Canaries on August 21, which they raid for supplies and food. With a Spanish squadron fresh from the fall of Gibraltar on the way, Rodney and his passenger set sail for the New World...

    On September 31, after some of the fastest sailing in history...a fleet appears off New York City. The French blockading fleet is small, just enough to keep any British blockade-runners from Nova Scotia from supplying Clinton. They are no match for the twenty-three apocalyptically angry British ships...when George Rodney walks into Henry Clinton's headquarters, Clinton is prepared to rebuff him. While he is loyal to his government, he sees no honor in continiung a lost struggle: Not with the French armies landing off Manchester to catch the last remnants of the British government. Until, that is, Clinton is introduced to Rodney's most important passenger. King George III.

     With them leaving just ahead of a fleet rushing north from the coast of New Jersey, George Washington watches in frustration as the British evacuate as much of Clinton's army as they can without losing immediatly. A massed attack from Washington's troops forces Cornwallis' surrender on October 3, 1780, but
by then it is too late. Henry Clinton, George Rodney, the King of England, and a total of 4,500 troops are heading for Nova Scotia...
 

The Other Armada Pt. Nine: The Waltz Begins

To Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, Admiral commanding the fleet off Our Shores, Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, General
commanding the army at Amherst, Nova Scotia, and His Most Christian Majesty, Louis XVI.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 10, 1780

GENTLEMEN: After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining to Our Empire and Our Subjects today, We have
decided to effect a settlement of the present situation. 

We inform His Most Christian Majesty King Louis XVI, and his servants the Comte de Grasse and Comte de Rocheambeau, of the creation of the Kingdom of Nova Scotia, consisting of all territories occupied by our forces in the former province of Nova Scotia.

On a note predating that, We inform King Louis and his servants of the surrender of all forces of the Royal Army and Navy in Britain, the high seas, and abroad. This does not, of course, apply to the Kingdom of Nova Scotia, as it was created after the cessation of hostilities. 

To Our Subjects: Our sincere desire was always to ensure the welfare of Our Loyal Subjects, both at home and in the rebellious colonies abroad. We did not
seek hostilities with the Kingdoms of France, Spain and the Netherlands, but you, Our Subjects, rather, Our People, fought as the men of no nation have since the Carthiginians were betrayed and slaughtered by the Romans. There have never been a people like the British, and there never will be again.

October 15, 1780
Outside Amherst, Nova Scotia

    "It is arrogant of him, I agree," said the comte de Rochambeau, as he and the young cavalry commander rode along the seashore. "But the letter is addressed to King Louis as well, and I cannot act before knowing the opinions of my King on the matter, if he accepts the surrender as offered." 

    "You would be better off to have him here...or a Congress instead of a King, that lets its generals fight free," agreed General William Washington with a slight smile. Nephew of the commander-in-chief, he had proved to everyone's satisfaction that he had earned his post...time and time again. He had been Greene's left hand, commanding the strike through western Nova Scotia, while his commander struck at the most prosperous cities of Canada. "But you didn't call me out, practically in earshot of "Bastard" Tarleton," he said, pointing with his saber in the direction of the British commander holding the peninsula, "to tell me how arrogant King George is."

     "No, I did not," agreed Rochambeau, matching Washington's smirk with his own. "While I am sure he will have realized it himself, when General Greene
arrives here, do inform him that we have realized as well...that there is no offer of an armistice between this alleged Kingdom of Nova Scotia...and the Continental Congress..."

The Other Armada Pt. Ten: The Curtain Is Drawn
 

     November of 1780 saw the beginning of the last major campaign of the War of the American Revolution, the invasion of eastern Nova Scotia. The turbulent
waters of the North Atlantic in the area made matters difficult, but General Greene knew full well that they had to strike now, before the new-found Nova Scotian Army could finish turning the entire seacoast into a fortress. Historians later would dispute the wisdom of Greene's actions; Nova Scotia could not plausibly feed itself, especially with Clinton and Rodney's troops and their families added to the population. However, Greene had no way of knowing this, and Rodney's fleet had raided several cities on the coast of New England...carefully, ones NOT occupied by the French.

     With the Continental Congress at his back, and with local overall command (Washington had already gone into winter quarters at Yonkers), Greene began 
the invasion on November 10. American troops sailed from Sussex and St. John's, landing around the base of the Cumberland (Is this name right? It's the only
one I could find here...) Peninsula connecting Nova Scotia to the mainland. While William Washington occupied Tarleton at Amherst, American troops were
taking Truro on November 12. Tarleton broke with Washington and ran south, American cavalry dogging his heels. 

     At Elmdale, in the middle of Nova Scotia, Tarleton finally catches Greene's force, and just ahead of the forces Clinton can spare (Not many, Clinton was a notoriously slow commander), Greene and Tarlteton fight the last big battle of the war in the Americas on November 21, 1780. By the time the battle is over, Tartleton is in American hands (remembered as an excellent commander, and not at all as the fiend Americans often portray him as), 
Clinton has retreated to Halifax after reports of American landings at Windsor have proven true...and the war is over, really.

    The American and British forces in Nova Scotia suffer through a horrible winter...and when 1781 turns to spring, they arise from hibernation into a world with new boundaries....

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