Victor Radcliff

Victor Radcliff was one of the most important figures in the history of the United States of Atlantis. He was a major in the Atlantean colonial army. His actions during the French and Spanish War were critical to the defeat of France and the expansion of English power in Atlantis. A generation later, he led the rebelling Atlanteans to military victory during the Atlantean War of Independence. Shortly after, he became one of the first Consuls of Atlantis, serving jointly with Isaac Fenner.

The French and Spanish War
Radcliff was wandering the backwoods and swamps of Atlantis when war broke out. While he was traipsing about, he encountered three runaway slaves: a Negro from French Atlantis named Blaise, and two Terranovas from Spanish Atlantis. After helping the three men escape into Hanover, Radcliff learned that Atlantis was now at war. He enlisted in the hastely assembled settler army, attaining the rank of major. Blaise, despite his skin color, became a sergeant.

In the meantime, French leader Roland Kersauzon had made substantial gains into English territory, stopping some 30 miles south of Freetown before smallpox forced him to stop. This gave the English breathing space, allowing English infantry and cavalry to arrive in New Hastings under the command of Major General Edward Braddock. Radcliff was worried by Braddock's cavalier attitude about fighting in Atlantis.

Early Command
Radcliff's fears proved justified as the English forces were successfully ambushed by Kersauzon. Braddock was fatally injured on the battlefield and the English retreated back to Hanover. Now the English were forced to plan the defense of Freetown. In the meantime Blaise suggested that the English would win the war if they armed the slaves in French and Spanish territory. Radcliff was not overtly thrilled with this notion but demurred on the ground that he was merely a major.

In the meantime Radcliff resigned to dealing with his new superior-be-default, Lt. Colonel Charles Cornwallis. Unlike Braddock, Cornwallis realized the gaps in his knowledge and experience and so consulted Radcliff on a great number of matters. When Kersauzon's men threatened Freetown, Cornwallis accepted Radcliff's plan for ambush. Unfortunately, Kersauzon didn't take the bait.

Nonetheless Radcliff retained Cornwallis' confidence. Cornwallis' sanctioned Radcliff's plan to take a detachment of men into the heart of French Atlantis.

Radcliff's Raid on French Atlantis
Radcliff took a small detachment, Blaise included, deep into French territory. The raid was designed to sow terror among the French settlers, disrupt the supply lines to French troops and generally distract Kersauzon's forces. While he did execute some of his men for raping French women he had no qualms about burning homes and fields.

During this raid Blaise first suggested the idea that perhaps Radcliff should declare an end to slavery in French territory. Radcliffe ducked Blaise's suggestion, maintaining he had no orders to do so. Moreover, Radcliff could foresee that England would soon dominate French Atlantis, and that slavery would still be required to keep the plantations of the area going. Blaise was not receptive to Radcliff's position, but kept his peace.

After a period of successful raids, Radcliff received dispatches that suggested Kersauzon was pursuing him. Radcliff opted to press on south into Spanish territory. This temporarily delayed Kersauzon, who was forbidden from chasing Radcliff by José Valverde, the governor-general of the territory. Radcliff met and defeated the Spanish forces, who wore old-fashioned armor in battle. Shortly after his arrival the slaves within Spanish territory staged an uprising. While Radcliff's orders did not include fomenting insurrection Radcliff did help arm a couple of slaves. Concurrently, Radcliff found himself protecting Spaniards fleeing the slaves.

Radcliff pushed all the way down to the sea. He was surprised by the arrival of several frigates, fearing they were French or Spanish. Instead, they were English, sent by Cornwallis to rescue them.

Return to the Main Front
Upon returning to Freetown, Cornwallis proposed that the English now definitively smash the French troops under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, now more vulnerable without Kersauzon's men. Radcliff launched a dusk ambush designed to destroy the French supply lines. At the suggestion of a settler named Ned the English ambushed the supplies along the Graveyard Road, cutting off Montcalm-Gozon's supplies. However, word soon arrived that Kersauzon was marching quickly back north. Determined to keep the French from linking back up Radcliff sent a group of skirmishers to meet Kersauzon while the brunt of his forces met and finally smashed Montcalm-Gozon's forces, with Radcliff himself killing Montcalm-Gozon purely by accident.

Now Radcliff turned his full forces toward Kersauzon who was camped on the banks of Stamford Creek. After some gunfire Kersauzon's men retreated to Nouveau Redon.

Radcliff and Cornwallis began plans for a siege. Cornwallis initially suggested that the Blavet River might be dammed or otherwise cut-off from the fort. Radcliff vetoed this, noting that a spring was inside the fort proper. Cornwallis then turned to ancient history, remembering Caesar's Gallic War, specifically, the fall of Uxellodunum. Cornwallis proposed to dig beneath the Blavet and detonate sufficient gunpowder to redirect the spring water, cutting it off from the fort.

The plan proved successful--the spring vanished in Nouveau Redon, causing panic. Kersauzon ordered an attack in the hopes of moving his men to another location. Instead, his forces were badly overwhelmed. Radcliff enounceterd Kersauzon personally. Rather than surrender, Kersauzon was determined to die fighting. Radcliff permitted Blaise to shoot Kersauzon dead.

Aftermath
Kersauzon's death took much of the fight out of his men. Radcliff and Cornwallis parted as friends, and Radcliff and Blaise traveled to Hanover to await news of the peace negotiations. The wait was a long one until one day a frigate called the Glasgow arrived with news that French Atlantis would now be under British control. Spanish Atlantis would stay Spanish but England would have trading concessions. Britain also controlled French Terranova and French India (not that Radcliff much cared about the last two).

With the war officially over, Radcliff and Blaise (who took the surname "Black") traveled into French Atlantis, which was already filling up with English speaking settlers. He and Blaise agreed that slavery would almost certainly become and issue for the expanded Atlantis, and Radcliff wondered how much Britain would seek to interfere in Atlantean affairs.

Radcliff returned home, married his fiance Meg, and bought a relatively isolated farm. The marriage produced three children, although none survived past their third birthday. Radcliff also took up writing and publishing. For the next dozen years, Radcliff and his wife lead a quiet life.

Atlantean War of Independence
Radcliff's quiet was not to last long. George III and the British government, determined to recoup the sizeable financial costs of the French and Spanish War, had spent the years after the war imposing taxes upon the Atlantean settlements and limiting their ability to trade. As discontent rose within Atlantis, the parliaments of each settlement individiually petitioned the crown for redress. These petitions were ignored. Instead, Britain tightened its control--Hanover went from a resembling a garrisoned city to resembling an occupied one.

Radcliff and Blaise Black traveled to Hanover to deliver a manuscript to printer Custis Cawthorne for publication. Radcliff stayed with his cousin Erasus; the two discussed politics, and the frustration much of Hanover felt with the English. Victor Radcliff cautioned his cousin not to assume Hanover stood for all of Atlantis.

The next night, Richard Mitchell, a pamphleteer from Croydon arrived at Erasmus Radcliff's home and informed the Radcliffs that war had broken out: the British had learned that the people of Croydon were stockpiling weapons and moved to take them. The people of Croydon fought back.

Radcliff and Black were able to escape from Hanover, knowing full-well that they would be detained if the British learned their identities. Radcliff was able to slip past a roadblock, claiming to be a Loyalist. When he returned to his farm, he discovered representatives from the hastily created Atlantean Assembly waiting for him. They convinced Radcliff to take command of the army they were raising (actually collection of the various settlements of the militias).