Morgan’s Rangers and “Spirit of the Revolution”

During his mortality, Mathias McGregor, the brawny, handsome hero of my paranormal romance, “Spirit of the Revolution,” (due for release May 31, 2013—big smile please...) belonged to a rowdy group of undisciplined, but very impressive soldiers, known as Morgan’s Rangers. Yes indeed.

Unlike musketeers in most military units, Colonel Daniel Morgan, a veteran of the French and Indian War, recruited a group of sharpshooting riflemen. The rifle could shoot farther and more accurately then the muskets used by the British and Hessian armies, and Daniel knew it. He organized his Rangers into small, highly mobile, light infantry units. These backwoods mountain men would target the British command structure, sniping officers, non-commissioned officers and artillery crews with great precision. As you can imagine, this affected British morale, eliminated leadership elements within their army, and reduced the effectiveness of their artillery crews.

Trailing Clouds of Glory...

Between the years 1802 and 1804, William Wordsworth, the famous English Romantic poet, penned one of his greatest poems, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." I don’t remember the first time I heard it, but I do know it was familiar to me when my seventh grade English class studied it over the course of several weeks.

The first part of the second movement was then, and still is, my favorite part of the poem. Over the years, it fed my imagination in a thousand different ways as I scrutinized each line. And I loved the experience of allowing my imagination free reign. For those unfamiliar with this particular portion, it reads: