father, a post rider came from charleston. you have a letter inside.
news of boston, father?
father?
the new york and rhode island assemblies have been dissolved.
rioting both sides of the bay, in chestertown they burned the customs house and tar-and-feathered the customs agent. he died of burns. in wilmington they killed a royal magistrate and two redcoats.
poor richard says they'll make a declaration of independence by july.
scott higgins joined the militia.
he's seventeen. a year younger than
the british army is barricaded in boston. harry lee, is here from virginia, recruiting for a continental army.
yes. he seeks a levy of troops and money.
he vowed that if the assembly votes a single shilling to lee, he'll dissolve the body.
lee is counting on your vote and expects you to be the first to enlist.
father, i've lost respect for you. i thought you were a man of principle.
when i have children, i hope i don't hide behind them.
yes.
have you seen any redcoats?
it wasn't like saratoga. there, we stayed in the trees, but this time gates marched us straight at the redcoats. they fired two volleys into us and we broke like straw. i was given these dispatches.  i saw virginia regulars surrender.  as they laid down their weapons the british green dragoons rode into them and hacked them to bits.  killed them all, over two hundred men.
i have to get these dispatches to hillsboro.
i have no choice, i.
i carried those. i was wounded, these people gave me care, they have nothing to do with the dispatches.
i did.
father.
the morgans, the halseys, williams, stantons.
father, it's safe.
how are they?
gates is at hillsboro with the continental army. i'll leave in the morning to join him.
i'll tend my horse.
father, we have to do something.
father.
colonel lee, i request a transfer to colonel marion's command.
what now, sir?
we'd cover more ground if we split up.
colonel, i didn't request this transfer because you're my father. i requested it because i believe in this cause and this is where i can do the most good.
i've been doing this for two years. i'm the best scout in the continental army, the best horseman, the best shot, the best scavenger and i know every deer path and swamp trail between here and charleston.
yes, sir. my father taught me.
he tried. it didn't take.
yes, sir.
yes.  .  father.
father, this war is about more than thomas.
if you're here only for revenge, you're doing a disservice to him as well as yourself.
you know how old i am.
less than a mile. forty-one wagons, a company of redcoat infantry, horses at the rear.
i didn't see any.
and the dogs, too, i'll wager.
he shouldn't make light. that redcoat should not have been killed.
he's my father.
i know him well enough?
father?
i.  uh.  that wasn't me, it was samuel.  i mean nathan.
uh.  uh.  i.
if i'd known you were going to look like this, i never would have put ink in your tea.
it's a start.
they look nice. as white as can be.
we're low on salt. i should go to pembroke and get some.
oh, right. baking powder, we need baking powder.
father, no.
father, please.
fourteen dead, eleven wounded, eighteen captured.
when was that? in the swamp at the expense of your men? or when he killed thomas at the expense of your family?
or perhaps tomorrow at the expense of our cause.
there will be a time and a place for revenge but killing tarleton at the expense of your duty serves no one but yourself. stay the course.
she'd say it to me when i picked on thomas or nathan.
she got me at a more impressionable age.
that would be nice.
that would be nice, too.
but they're prisoners-of-war!
it's all set.
yes.
they won't stop looking for you and the children.
i don't know.  i'm his son.
these are for you and the children.
he wanted to, susan, but he couldn't leave his men.
i know he did and he's sorry. he'll come back as soon as he can.
there are some letters here from him. some are just to you.
you don't hate him.
full sentences. as if she had been speaking all along.
she said.  she loves you and misses you but she understands why you can't be there with her.
father, there's something else i need to talk to you about.
come with me. i'll tell you when we get there.
father, i'm looking for a best man.
sir, i'd like to request a furlough. two days?
cheraw falls.
i know.
tarleton has a list of our men, most are on it. a regiment of dragoons is going to the homes on the list, burning them, killing whomever resists, women and children, as well.
seven homes along the black river so far.
anne?
is it her? is anne in there?
father, tell me what happened at fort wilderness?
no, i don't.
tell me what everyone doesn't know.
that the french and cherokees captured the fort and when you retook it, you took revenge on them for what they did during the occupation.
that's not enough. tell me.
i'm not my mother. i can't have the respect without the knowing.
go on.
i see, do as i say, not as i do.
as you did at fort wilderness?
i'm alright, i.