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 The 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, and French forces in Atlantis soon surrendered. 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. They had four children, but all died in infancy.

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.

General Radcliff
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).

A Series of Defeats
Radcliff's first test came at the Battle of Weymouth. Word came that British General William Howe was moving from Croydon onto Weymouth, where the Atlanteans kept a substantial arsenal. Radcliff pulled the arsenal down into New Hastings, but quickly realized that he could not hold the town. Instead, Radcliff decided to give Howe a pyrric victory. He sent cavalrymen under Habbakuk Biddiscombe to delay the British long enough for the rest of the Atlantean army to show up; Biddiscombe succeeded in this task, and the mostly un-trained and ill-disciplined Atlantean army arrived and took up positions behind walls lining the countryside. The Atlanteans poured ragged volleys of fire into the charging redcoats of Howe's force before withdrawing into the city.

The Royal Navy, prevented by prevailing winds from assisting during the battle, shelled Weymouth. Radcliff and other Atlanteans were distracted by the gunfire and were surprised when a deserter named Daniel Pipes told them of Howe's flanking manuever. His task of securing the arsenal completed, Radcliff pulled the Atlanteans out of Weymouth before Howe could strike, much to the British general's chagrin.

Radcliff returned to New Hastings to face the Assembly. Initially, he faced criticism, which he responded to by praising his men. This prompted Assemblyman Custis Cawthorne to initiate a resolution thanking Radcliff for not despairing of the nascient Atlantean republic. Radcliff returned to the field with the faith of the Assembly, and prepared to defend New Hastings. As he watched frigates and man-of-war of its coast, Radcliff hit upon the idea of raising a warning flag that yellow fever had broken out in the settlement. It did temporarily hold off the invasion. Instead, General Howe attacked Bredestown.

In response, Isaac Fenner, Speaker of the Assembly, and Bredestown's favorite son, approached Radcliff about keeping Bredestown out of British hands. Radcliff immediately saw the strategic folly of this, instead opting to make the fall of Bredestown costly for Howe, a strategy Fenner reluctantly agreed to.

The Battle of Bredestown was short and to the point. Radcliff marched his field artillery, his riflemen, and a regiment of infantry from New Hastings to Bredestown, leaving the majority of his forces in New Hastings. General Howe engaged outside of town, driving back the Atlanteans through the outskirts of town, while the Atlanteans engaged in house-to-house fighting, using both riflemen and artillery''. ''Although Radcliff had fully intended to the lose the battle, the cost was still substantial, as reports came that the British refused to take prisoners. Soon, Radcliff realized the time for retreat had come when one of his most aggressive soldiers, Colonel Dominic Whiting sent word that he could no longer hold his position. Radcliff conducted a successful retreat across the Brede, and then destroyed as many bridges as possible.

Howe did not pursue at once. Radcliff was able to take stock in New Hastings. He was even given a bit of good news when he was informed that over 100 new recruits were available to him. More good news came when a captured British soldier was brought before him. The soldier had a letter from Howe himself describing how unexepectedly fierce the Atlantean fighting had been, and that Howe's forces had sustained casualties that it could ill-afford.

Two weeks later, Howe began sending skirmishers into New Hastings. Before he could initiate an attack, rains began that lasted for days, and finally caused the Brede to burst its banks and flood New Hastings proper. Despite the logistical nightmare of keeping powder dry, Radcliff ordered that fortifications be built miles outside of town. The rains were too heavy for that, and after some time, Radcliff ordered the building stopped. When the rains finally stopped, Radcliff received word that Howe attempted to move on New Hastings, but the heavy mud completely halted the advance. Radcliff's forces were vulnerable to the mud as well, so he could not take advantage of the situation.

Howe's men began skirmishing again days later. The attack came in earnest a few days after that. The Atlantean lines began withdrawing under artillery fire. Soon, New Hastings was threatened. When Radcliff alerted the Atlantean Assembly, Isaac Fenner assured Radcliff that the Assembly would evacuate, and hope that Radcliff would bloody Howe as he had at Bredestown. Radcliff realized that this would be impossible. Soon, it was clear that Howe had broken the Atlantean lines, and Radcliff alerted the Assembly. He and his men retreated back into New Hastings, and then headed north, back over the Brede.

The End of the First Year
Radcliff made his way to Horsham, trying to catch up to the Assembly. While here, he was found by his kinsman, Avalon representative Matthew Radcliffe. Matthew informed Victor that Britain had landed Copperskin mercenaries at Avalon, and begged for aid. Radcliff, realized the strategic importance of Avalon, ordered one hundred troops to be detached to the port city. At his kinsman's suggestion, Radcliff deviced a scheme to create discord in Terranova. Rather than send troops, Radcliff dispatched a soldier in his command, Thomas Paine, who was a talented soldier, and an even more talented orator. Paine initially balked, and Matthew Radcliffe was dubiou, but Radcliff soon convinced them both.

With that, Radcliff went into winter quarters. His business for the winter included training his troops, and attempting to convince the Atlantean Assembly to prolong enlistments. He lost one of his drill sergeants, but gain another, the Prussian-born Baron von Steuben, who, despairing of what he saw, quickly began reshaping Radcliff's troops into a more professional army.

The Winter Campaign
Radcliff also continued to harrass the British. After some arguments from Captain Habbakuk Biddiscombe, Radcliff decided to actually campaign during the winter, even though it was an unorthodox move.

The winter campaign proved successful, as the British garrisons of three towns fell to the Atlanteans in short order: Sudbury, Halstead, and Pittman's Ferry. By following this course, Radcliff hoped to carve a path to the sea. He decided to march back to Weymouth.

As many Atlanteans on the coast were still pro-Britain, the garrison at Weymouth had some notice. A small detachment rode out to meet the Atlanteans. Radcliff was relieved to that he had the superior number, ordering a two-prong attack with a frontal assault and a flanking maneuver. The surviving British forces retreated into Weymouth. Radcliff's men continued their march.

Weymouth
Before attacking Weymouth proper, Radcliff unsuccessfully attempted to convince the garrison's commander, Major Henry Lavery, to surrender. When Lavery refused, Radcliff ordered his marksmen to fire at any soldier that made himself visible in the streets of Weymouth. Just before sundown, Radcliff learned that his sharpshooters had killed an officer. He realized that the following day, the British would probably leave Weymouth and attack.

The battle followed was pitched. While the Atlanteans still had higher numbers, the British still had more skill. Nonetheless, after a period of hand-to-hand combat, the British retreated to New Hastings. Weymouth was once again in the hands of the Army of the Atlantean Assembly.

However, that toe-hold was precarious from the outset. The Royal Navy quickly realized what had happened, and bombarded the town. Radcliff ordered his guns to fire in response, but saw all but one of the guns wiped out. Nonetheless, when night fell, Radcliff held Weymouth.

Word soon arrived that General Howe was marching up from New Hastings to retake Weymouth. Realizing that he could not defeat Howe on an open field, and doubtful he could manipulate Howe into a trap, Radcliff ordered a withdrawal from Weymouth. He was nonetheless satisfied that the winter campaign had been a success, as he'd shown Howe that the Atlanteans were still in the fight.

For his efforts, the Atlantean Assembly awarded Radcliff with a sword.

French Atlantis
As spring arrived, word reached Radcliff that Howe took most of his troops from New Hastings and headed for French Atlantis. Radcliff headed for the provisional capital, Honker's Mill, to discuss the possibility of somehow bringing France into the war in light of Howe's move. It was quickly decided that Custis Cawthorne would go to France in person, a plan Cawthorne enthusiastically embraced.

Not long after, Radcliff moved south after Howe. Bredestown fell first, then Freetown (and it was from here Cawthorne sailed to France), and crossed the Stour River.

Initially, the French Atlanteans were as resistent to the English Atlanteans as they were to the British. However, Radcliff was able resolve this problem with promises of Atlantean paper money as a carrot and cannons as a stick.

That issue resolved, Radcliff learned that Howe landed at Cosquer. Not long after that, when Radcliff and his troops crossed the Blavet River, the two sides met on field of battle. Before the battle actually came, a local landowner named Ulysses Grigsby provided Radcliff with a suitable location.

The subsequent Battle of Grigsby's Field was a successful rout of the British as Howe blundered into Radcliff's trap. Howe himself was killed during the fight. When the fight was over, Radcliff ordered Habakkuk Biddiscombe to pick up stragglers. During a truce called by the British to collect Howe's body, Radcliff learned that his one-time friend, Charles Cornwallis, now commanded British forces in Atlantis.

Radcliff pressed on to Cosquer, which the British had fortified. After some debate, Radcliff opted not to attack, preferring instead to hold Cornwallis's men in, a situation that did not please Biddiscombe. To Radcliff's relief, Cornwallis opted to retreat from Cosquer, and Radcliff, not wanting to place his men under Royal Navy guns, let Cornwallis go.

The March to the West Coast
Once inside Cosquer, Blaise Black gathered intelligence that indicated Cornwallis was sailing for the west coast. And so Radcliff and his men marched over the Green Mountains to New Marseille. Ironically, two important events occured during the march that rendered the whole exercise a moot point: the Atlantean Assembly issued the Atlantean Proclamation of Liberty, and France entered recognized the United States of Atlantis and declared war on Britain. Thus, not long after Radcliff's men arrived outside New Marseilles, Cornwallis, who'd taken the town not long before, evacuated.

Back to the East
Radcliff concluded that, now that the French Navy could threaten occupied eastern towns,, he and his men began the trek back east. In time, word came that Cornwallis was at Hanover.

The return was frought with several issues, including several men whose enlistment ended. While on the march, Radcliff sent off a letter begging the Atlantean Assembly to maintain enlistments for the duration of the fighting. Happily, new comapnies joined him. Still, the Assembly's reply was a rude denial of his request.

Another setback came in an unexpected defection: Habakkuk Biddiscombe's. Biddiscombe's challenges to Radcliff's leadership had grown increasingly bolder. When Radcliff shot down Biddiscombe's scheme for kidnapping Cornwallis, the resentfull Biddiscombe had reached his limit, deserted and joined the British.

Retaking Hanover
However, some welcome news arrived: Thomas Paine's efforts in Terranova were bearing fruit, and Cornwallis had detached part of his garrison at Hanover to help put the rebellion down. Radcliff quickly began formulating the best course of action to take advantage of the reduced garrison.

Marching along the Blackwater towards Hanover, Radcliff and his men came across a hasitly built stockade. After convincing the garrison at the stockade that the Atlanteans did not intend to attack by setting up camp, Radcliff's men launched a sneak attack that very midnight. The stockade fell in short order, and the Atlanteans continued on to Hanover. He was greeted by a variety of informants who were able to sneak out of Hanover. Using this information, Radcliff was able to develop an effective plan of attack, and after fierce fighting, the British left the city and returned to Croydon and New Hastings, and Hanover fell back into Atlantean hands. Radcliff returned to winter quarters inside Hanover, and began meteing justice out to those who collaborated with the British. He also fortfied the town.

Redwood Hill
As campaign season started again, word came that Cornwallis was on the move. However, Cornwallis appeared to have heard about Radcliff's fortifications, and by-passed Hanover. Realizing that Cornwallis wanted to meet out in the open, Radcliff instead opted instead to harass the British line of march with riflemen, a plan that included capturing all British soldiers who left the line. From a captured sergeant, Radcliff learned that Cornwallis marched for Redwood Hill.

A fierce battle was soon fought for Redwood Hill. The British had built an observation post. The Atlanteans took it in short order. In reponse, Cornwallis sent more troops to retake it. Soon the fight escalated into a full scale battle, which prompted Radcliff and Blaise Black to ride out and observe the fighting for themselves. After fierce fighting that lasted through the day, Cornwallis gave up and retreated from the Hill, effectively ceding Hanover to the Atlanteans.

The French Enter
It was not long after Redwood Hill that Radcliff received word that French troops had landed at St. Denis, and had begun fighting towards Cosquer. However, French progress was hindered by British skirmishers using the tactics original employed by the Atlanteans. When Radcliff offered to provide an officer of "suitable rank" to help school the French in Atlanteans tactics, the French commander, Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de La Fayette, assumed Radcliff was offering to come himself. Radcliff, though surprised, agreed.

Radcliff and Blaise Black sailed successfully to Cosquer and met with the Marquis Radcliff helped school the French in the Atlantean style of fighting; in turn, De La Fayette provided Radcliff with a mistress, a mulatto slave named Louise.

The French marched into the interior of Atlantis to escape the British, and continued north back to Hanover. East of Hooville, French and British troops engaged in a brief fight which allowed Radcliff to rejoin the Atlantean army. Radcliff and Blaise made their way to Hanover.

The Road to Croydon
Using runners (pigeons had been decimated by the British), Radcliff reconnected with the Marquis, who proposed an attack on Conrwallis's men in two weeks with the aim of pushing the British away from Hanover and into Croydon. De Lafayette speculated that by walling the British up in Croydon, they would be unable to claim that they governed Atlantis. Radcliff agreed.

However, as he was making his prepartions, he received word from one Marcel Freycinet, the owner of Louise, the slave with whom Radcliff had shared a daliance, that Louise was pregnant. Freycinet was thrilled with prospect of having a newly born slave. Radcliff was horrified, but hardly in the position to do much about it without causing a scandal. He offered, by letter, to purchase Louise, and then turned his mind back to the war.

Within a matter of weeks, the French and the Atlanteans, pressing from the west and east, respectively, linked up and set Cornwallis retreating north. While the two allies were contemplating how best to send Cornwallis back to Croydon, Marcel Freycinet's response came to Victor, in which, he refused Radcliff's offer.

Skirmishing continued, pushing Cornwallis further and further back to Croydon. Radcliff was informed that Cornwallis intended to make a stand in Pomphret Landing. They blew up all the bridges that cross the Pomphret, making it difficult for the Atlanteans and French to attack the town. Radcliff proposed that French engineers, by the light of the full-moon, make a show of building a bridge in one spot. Radcliff himself made a point of showing himself to British scouts. Convinced that their enemies were determined to bridge the river at this location, the British made sure to have sufficient troops at this spot, while other French engineers successfull bridged it further east, routing the British. They held Pomphret Landing proper long enough to allow a retreat east.

Radcliff wrote a letter to Cornwallis in Croydon imploring him to surrender, to no avail. Realizing that the Royal Navy could at a mimimum keep Cornwallis supplied, Radcliff approached de La Fayette about aid from the French navy. They agreed upon a plan to send Atlantean merchants to find the French navy (the Marquis having no idea where it was, much less how to communicate with it) in the hopes that the French could bottle up the British, cutting off all aid the Royal Navy could deliver to Croydon. . In the meantime, the Atlanteans and the French kept pushing Cornwallis back to Croydon. A set-back came at Garnet Pond, when a long rain began to fall. A feint attack quickly fell apart thanks to the rain, and the Atlanteans were repulsed. The weather left both sides waterlogged. For lack of any better ideas, Radcliff and de La Fayette decided to try the same plan again, gambling that the British wouldn't think their enemy would be so stupid. With Baron von Steuben leading the feint and de La Fayette making the primary attack, the British were taken by surprise and defeated. Radcliff personally came to the front, and for a time he and his men were locked in a death struggle with Habakkuk Biddiscombe himself, until all of the British forces retreated to Croydon

Siege of Croydon
The Siege of Croydon was a long one. The British had successfully fortified the town. Moreover, a harsh winter had slowed all progress by the Atlanteans to a stand-still. After blizzard began, Radcliff considered attacking, hoping to use the low visibility to his advantage. While de La Fayette was enthusiastic, Baron von Steuben objected, pointing out the risk was too great. In the end, Radcliff followed von Steuben's advice. This decision ultimately proved correct as French ships arrived weeks later. In due course, Cornwallis opted to surrender. However, when the fate of Biddiscombe's Horsed Legion, whom Cornwallis did not want to be harmed, became an issue, the British elected to take 24 hours to consider Radcliff's demands. Radcliff in turn debated with himself and his men as to what should be done about Biddiscombe. However, the decision was made for him: Biddiscombe's Legion fought their way out of Croydon, and the issue was rendered moot. The surrender proceeded, and the war was effectively over. Radcliff and Cornwallis were reunited once again, although under less-than-ideal circumstances.

The Treaty of Croydon
Radcliff remained in Croydon, seeing the last of the English off. While here, he learned that Louise had given birth to their son, who'd been named Nicholas. Soon, Radcliff negotiated a peace with Richard Oswald and David Hartley. He was soon joined by Isaac Fenner and Custis Cawthorne, both recently arrived from France. While Fenner was not happy that a treaty was now fait accompli, Cawthorne was quite sanquine. The only sticking point was Atlantean treatment of the Loyalists. In the end, which was ultimately resolved to Britain's satisfaction.

Radcliff saw the Marquis de La Fayette off Word came that Biddiscombe was in Kirkwall. Radcliff saw to it he had a trial, and even testified against him. Biddiscombe was convicted and hanged. Ibid. pgs. 417-421. With that, Radcliff returned home.