Battle Flag. Bernard Cornwell

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      Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk

      This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      The right of Bernard Cornwell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

      BATTLE FLAG. Copyright © 2006 by Bernard Cornwell. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

      EPub Edition © JULY 2009 ISBN: 9780007339495

      06 07 08 09 10

      Version: 2017-05-08

      Praise for Bernard Cornwell’s THE NATHANIEL STARBUCK CHRONICLES

      “The most entertaining military historical novels…. Always based on fact, always interesting…always entertaining.”

      —Kirkus Reviews

      “[A] wonderful series…believable, three-dimensional characters…. A rollicking treat for Cornwell’s many fans.”

      —Publishers Weekly

      “Highly successful.”

      —The Times (London)

      “Fast-paced and exciting…. Cornwell—and Starbuck—don’t disappoint.”

      —Birmingham News

      “A top-class read by a master of historical drama. Nate Starbuck is on the march, and on his way to fame.”

      —Irish Press

      Battle Flag is for my father, with love

      CONTENTS

       COVER PAGE

       TITLE PAGE

      COPYRIGHT

      PRAISE

       DEDICATION

      MAP

      PART ONE

       CAPTAIN NATHANIEL STARBUCK FIRST SAW HIS NEW

       THE YANKEE CAVALRY PATROL REACHED GENERAL

       IT’S GOD’S WILL, BANKS! GOD’S WILL!” THE REVEREND

       SATURDAY MORNING, THE DAY AFTER BATTLE, AGAIN

      PART TWO

       JACKSON, LIKE A SNAKE THAT HAD STRUCK, HURT, BUT

       THERE WERE TIMES WHEN GENERAL WASHINGTON

       THE YANKEES’ SPRING OFFENSIVE MIGHT HAVE FAILED,

       GENERAL STUART’S AIDE REACHED LEE’S HEADQUARTERS

       THEY MARCHED LIKE THEY HAD NEVER MARCHED IN

       THE LEGION MARCHED INTO BRISTOE JUST AS THE TRAIN

       ALL DAY THE YANKEES TRIED TO MAKE SENSE OF

       AT MANASSAS, ON FRIDAY AUGUST 29, 1862, THE

      THE LAST NORTHERN ATTACK OF THE DAY WAS BY FAR

      THE FIRST ATTACK OF THE SATURDAY MORNING WAS AN

      HISTORICAL NOTE

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      OTHER BOOKS BY BERNARD CORNWELL

      ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

      Map

PART ONE

      CAPTAIN NATHANIEL STARBUCK FIRST SAW HIS NEW commanding general when the Faulconer Legion forded the Rapidan. Thomas Jackson was on the river’s northern bank, where he appeared to be in a trance, for he was motionless in his saddle with his left hand held high in the air while his eyes, blue and resentful, stared into the river’s vacant and murky depths. His glum stillness was so uncanny that the marching column edged to the far margin of the ford rather than pass near a man whose stance so presaged death. The General’s physical appearance was equally disturbing. Jackson had a ragged beard, a plain coat, and a dirty cap, while his horse looked as if it should have been taken to a slaughterhouse long before. It was hard to credit that this was the South’s most controversial general, the man who gave the North sleepless nights and nervous days, but Lieutenant Franklin Coffman, sixteen years old and newly arrived in the Faulconer Legion, asserted that the odd-looking figure was indeed the famous Stonewall Jackson. Coffman had once been taught by Professor Thomas Jackson. “Mind you,” Lieutenant Coffman confided in Starbuck, “I don’t believe generals make any real difference to battles.”

      “Such СКАЧАТЬ