Confusion at Carmudgeon or a Campbell's Revenge

After a swift passage from the shores of Scots-Land, the following letter was read by Major General Seamus Campbell, currently in the service of the Margrave of Carpania.

My Dear Cousin,

By now you should have heard of the action between the government forces of Brittania and the Jacobite rebels at Carmudgeon. Siegfried and I had a close-up and personal view of the battle - with the Jacobite forces no less! How we ended up there is a long but interesting story.

After our landing on the coast, Siegfried and I began our journey to find the Brittanian forces so that we might offer our services as instructed by the Margrave before we left. Along the way, we encountered Fiona MacGillicuddy, a distant cousin on my mother’s side of the family. We always called her “Frivolous Fiona” as she was such a flitterby. Fiona offered to guide us on our way, but no sooner had we started than we ran across a small group of Tradgardlander jagers. It seems that the Duke of Tradgardland had sent them at Colonel vonn Bergmann’s request to aid the Jacobites. Not wanting to cause a commotion with dear Fiona in our company, I told their leader, in my broken German, that we were also on our way to Prince Charles’ camp. They invited us to accompany them, which we reluctantly accepted. Our journey proceded apace and soon we arrived at the Jacobite encampment. Prince Charles was overjoyed to see the jagers, having been expecting them. In order to hide our real identities Siggy and I both assumed aliases. Since Colonel vonn Bergmann was already assigned to lead a force of Highlanders, the Prince asked that Siegfried and I serve as his liaisons to the Tradgardlanders! Needless to say, Siggy and I were disconcerted by all this attention from the Jacobite leader. Not wanting to risk arrest, we both agreed and joined the expedition to Carmudgeon, hoping to escape to the government troops in the confusion of the coming battle. We were extremely fortunate that the Prince also kept Count Mikhail Pavlov, from our arch-enemy, the Duchy of Courland, is his immediate company during the battle, although Pavlov’s batman was attached to the Tradgardland jagers. Luckily for us, the batman was rather incurious and accepted us as fellow supporters of the Prince!

Dear Fiona made such as impression on the Prince that he invited her to accompany his suite. Fiona demurely accepted, with a malicious grin in our direction. Later that evening she arranged to visit us. We then found out that she was spying for the government and wanted to borrow Hans, Siggy’s batman, to deliver a message to the government troops in Carmudgeon. Well, Siggy, always willing to grant the wish of a beautiful woman, agreed and poor Hans was given detailed directions. He left shortly after dark and returned before dawn, his message delivered.

The next morning the government troops were ready for the Jacobite attack, no doubt warned by Fiona’s message. Siggy and I so thoroughly confused the Tradgardland jagers who were on the far left flank of the Jacobite army that they only got off a few shots at the government defenders. They were able to occupy a recently abandoned block-house, but since it was empty, we didn't discourage them.

With confusion reigning the night after the battle, Fiona, Siggy, Hans, and I were able to slip away and join the government forces. We thoroughly reported our doings to Colonel Nicholson, the government commander. Now we are where we were supposed to be all along. Please pass our felicitations to the Margrave and let him know that with our aid, the government forces should be victorious in the coming campaign to put down the Jacobite rising.

Your affectionate and devoted cousin,

Alistair

[Note: Due to a slight misunderstanding, my three Carpania adventurers were inadvertently attached to the Tradgardland jagers for the battle of Carmudgeon. After the exchange of several e-mails, Jim Purky and I decided upon this “back story” that also includes a little bit of skull duggery by Frivolous Fiona and those stalwarts - Alistair Campbell and Siegfried “Siggy” Hapnich. I’m sure we’ll hear more about both of them in future battles with the Jacobites before they return home to Mississippi.]