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When the British army was completely disembarked on American soil it numbered seven thousand trained British soldiers, seamen, and marines, and a thousand West Indian blacks with twenty-five heavy guns to the American's fourteen lighter ones. It had helped Wellington to win Talavera, Salamanca, and Vitoria. After the British had burned the capitol and the President's mansion the enemy was more confident than ever. Its commanding general was Pakenham, Wellington's brother-in-law, who was a distinguished pupil of his illustrious kinsman. Christmas came and went as the two armies moved into position. The very same soldiers trained to serve the strongest will in the Old World were fresh, well-fed, well armed and spoiling for a fight when they came face to face with the Americans. Against them stood a smaller army composed of rough frontiersmen, who had never fought together before, who had never seen the face of a civilized foe in their lives and were already fatigued by hard marches over rough terrain. 800 of those American troops had just slogged 120 vicious miles through marsh and bog in just 2 days so they could be at the battle's front. They were tired, hungry, and sick. Many of the American troops weren't even armed; was there any hope they could withstand that same army that could butcher the Grand Armee of Napoleon? As night fell, it was Salamanca against Tohopeka, discipline against individual alertness, and the Briton of the little Isle against the Briton of the wastes and wilds of America. The stage was set for The Battle of New Orleans.
If you had lived in this country long, M'seur, you would have heard of _la Maison de Mort Rouge_ "The House of the Red Death, as you would call it. "That is where we are now —deep in the dungeon room. Once upon a time it was a Hudson Bay post, abandoned almost since I can remember. When I was a child the smallpox plague tore through this way and killed all the people in its path. Nineteen years ago the red plague came again, and again, not one person lived through it in this _Poste de Mort Rouge._ "Since then it has been left to the weasels and the owls and even they have died. It is shunned by every living soul between the Athabasca and the bay. And I shall leave you here. Perhaps you will be safe? "At least, no one shall disturb you."
My men were children of the dragon's blood, and if they had no outland foe to fight and no outlet for their vigorous and daring energy, there was always the chance of their fighting one another: but the great majority, if given the chance to do hard or dangerous work, availed themselves of it with the utmost eagerness. Theodore Roosevelt... Read the rousing story of The Rough Riders.
A rich man's son has tumbled into the sea. He is picked up by a fishing boat, that pays no mind to his fairy tales of wealth, and puts him to work for ten dollars per month, cleaning fish. Everything he ever knew about life or men is soon cast overboard. The only thing that counts here is hard work and sharp wits. You'll learn a lot about little fishing ships in this book.. ships and grief -- and fish. Tight quarters and penetrating smells, stars to steer by and the threat of death creeping in with the fog every night. This story is not for children, and young adults will scarcely believe their ears if you read this to them.
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This is a collection of truly great works. Each of the short stories has a depth to them that in this abbreviated day they could almost be published separately as individual novels. RIGHT Click on the title, and download your copy to your own computer so you can share it with your friends. The forests of then were not as now they seem. Chestnut trees covered the land from the east coast to the Mississippi. Their spreading boughs sheltered the pigeon, their fruit fed a population of teeming wild life. Even without game trails, walking in almost a straight line was possible for all the trees were old and brush did not cumber a man's way.The savages of that time were said to be more Christian in their attitudes than any nation in Europe. Before the Spaniards unleashed their terrifying religion, before the English seized their claim to turf, there were Frenchmen that could, and did, walk among the savages without arms, and without fear. But, you know what? There is not one of the other Pioneers of this continent whose achievements equal those of the Chevalier Robert de la Salle. He passed over thousands of miles of lakes and rivers in the birch canoe. He traversed countless leagues of prairie and forest, on foot, guided by the moccasined Indian, threading trails which the white man's foot had never trod, and penetrating the villages and the wigwams of natives with unknown names and tongues. |
The Duke of Wellington, General
of the stern jaw and unwavering eye that smashed
the Great Army of Napoleon in Spain, said that his
disciplined troops could rout any American army he
ever heard of. 
