Sgt. Cady met me at 8:00 a.m. in front of Wolfe’s Tavern with a single dragoon holding the reins of two saddled horses. The fog is gone. The sky is clear. The sun is bright yellow. A crisp steady breeze is rattling the halyards on every ship in the harbor.

As has become our custom, we headed down to Machias Liberty to get a sail report from Captain O’Brien. It wasn’t what any of us wanted to hear.

“Tell Colonel Arnold we won’t be going anywhere today. The wind is at least fifteen knots straight out of the nor’ east—precisely the direction we must sail to reach the mouth of the Kennebec River. There are two pieces of good news though. The Royal Navy ‘square rigs’ in Boston can’t sail into this wind either. And we will have these five wagons loaded on five different vessels before noon.”

Hearing that, I asked, “Do you have any white paint and a brush aboard?”

“Yes, how much do you need?”

“Not much. Just enough to paint a number on the sides and rear of each wagon.”

In less than a half hour each wagon had a number, and I recorded it in the log I carried in my backpack. Beside each number, I made a notation: #1 – Virginia Rifles; #2 – Penn. Rifles; #3 – 1st Inf. Bn; #4 – 2nd Inf. Bn; #5 Rear Guard.

Then I asked, “Captain O’Brien, when the wagons are loaded, would you be so kind to make a list of which wagon is loaded aboard which vessel?”

“Certainly. That’s very wise young man.”

“Thank you, sir. If I may, I will retrieve that list this evening.”

“Of course,” the Captain replied. He then posed a question of his own: “Will you be taking all twenty draft horses?”

“I don’t know, but I will find out.”

“Good. I need to know before we load the wagons aboard the transports. Some of the ships have holds large enough for both horses and a wagon. Others do not.”

“I will send a messenger back as soon as I have an answer.”

I found Capt. Febiger as soon as I arrived at the encampment, delivered Capt. O’Brien’s sail report, and asked him the question about the draft horses. He went into the farmhouse and swiftly returned with the answer: “Yes. Take both.”

Rather than risk a garbled message, I found Capt. Morgan and 1st Lt. Humphrey sitting on camp stools outside our headquarters tent to let them know I was heading back to the Machias Liberty to inform Captain O’Brien that Colonel Arnold wants to take both the wagons and the horses.

The captain looked at me and asked, “When are we leaving here?”

I told him exactly what Captain O’Brien told me. When I finished, he said, “Thank you,” stood, and walked off toward the tree line.

William looked downcast, so I asked him, “What’s wrong?”