December 21st, 1866 - the day of the Fetterman fight. It is the 144th anniversary today and at the moment, it is 20 past 8 PM in England but over in Denver (the closest bit city to the Fort Phil Kearny site that my Ipod will tell me!) it is apparently 20 past 1 PM. Either way though, 144 years ago, the fight had already happened and going by English time, the surgeons would be working hard in the hospital and going by Denver time, Captain Ten Eyck would probably have been sent out by now with the second detachment.In fact, these whole past couple of months have been in 'Fetterman territory', as they have been called for a while because of the amount of events that start to pick up related to him. First of all, we had the anniversary of his arrival at the fort back on November 3rd then his plan with the cattle trap for the Indians on November 5th then the whole debacle with Lieutenant Bisbee and the drilling situation (where Fetterman was later blamed by some historians for swearing violently at some misbehaving men - in fact, Bisbee did this) on November 11th and then basically the whole month of December is full of events from the fort in 1866 - and also related to the Indians.
Here in 2010, things have been slow for developing the story, if I'm being honest, because of a few reasons, mainly related to school. To start with, I had Science exams to revise for in early November then GCSE mocks to revise for in late November/early December and now a load of coursework to do. However, there has been some development at least as I can't seem to leave this story alone!
To begin with, over time, the list for the scenes I'd like to insert into the story has been added to quite a bit - now the amount is over 100 but I doubt I'll use everything...One of the main things added I can think of now though is an event that happens over the ridge on the day of the fight that rounds off Colonel Carrington's and Captain Fetterman's relationship that I was very, very happy with. Also, Colonel Carrington's character has been changed a little to a form that I feel much better with!
The Character Dynamics sheets have also come along. Colonel Carrington's is finished and Captain Fetterman's is being added to. I rather like doing these sheets because as I'm doing them, more ideas and scenes come up. In fact, his and Bisbee's relationship has been developed more as well as Fetterman's and Brown's - and Fetterman and Carrington's too!
Also, I wrote up a 'History of the Powder River Country Prior to 1866' to help if I ever reference it in the story. As well as this, I've started writing some things on Native American Culture so we have some sort of factual background and help for when I start Smoky's character profile. However, he is no longer called Smoky but Prairie to receive his permanent name at the Fetterman fight - Barefoot in the Snow I think!
Plus, because of the (probably overly) extensive information, background and future I have on Willow, I toyed with the idea of writing a short-ish biography of him with quotes and so on because I thought this would be quite fun!
And also we have had snow! Lots of it, in fact. So much so that our school was closed for two days - and considering the stubborness of our school, this was quite a feat!
Now, related to the trip I'm trying to get money for for America, I finally managed to scan all the barcodes in of the CDs I want to sell into Music Magpie.com with the intention of sending them off. Some of this money would go towards America and I'm paying my mum back for the Christmas presents that we bought together for friends. So, with an original of about £70, I now have about £30 to go towards America which is good! Well, I will have £30 when it arrives!
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In memory of all the brave men, soldiers and Indians, that died that day in 1866
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