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Heavy Metal by Steve Payne and David
Tenner
 Author
says: what if John Adams had been killed on the *Boston* in 1778? Please
note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the
views of the author(s).
March 10th, 1778:
fatally pierced by splinters from the mizzen yard, John Adams murmoured "I
ought to do my Share of fighting" before expiring in the arms of his
ten-year old son John Quincy onboard the Continental Navy frigate Boston.
Although the Boston had been chased by Royal Navy
warships ever since she departed for France on February 15th, the decision
to engage a British letter of marque had been Captain John Tucker's alone.
The prize was the Martha, a privateer en route to New York with eighty
thousand guineas worth of cargo that would be an immensely profitable
capture for the revolutionaries.
"I ought to do my Share of
fighting" - John AdamsAnd perhaps because of that overexcitement,
Adams rashly disobeyed Tucker's order for passengers to remain below deck -
he had just come topside when the Martha fired its fateful shot.
The Boston then turned broadside towards the Martha which
promptly struck her colours. After ordering his officers not to fire,
Tucker, not accustomed to being disobeyed, hurried angrily toward John
Quincey and demanded to know why his father had exposed himself to danger.
Over fifty years later as President, he would describe that moment when
the iron entered his soul and gave him the strength to prevent the
dissolution of the Union in the midst of the bloody slave insurrections he
had foreseen.
Author
says for a discussion of the possible replacements of John Adams as both
Vice President and President please visit David's comments on the
Google Discussions Group. Comments on this story can be viewed at the
Today in
Alternate History Web Site.
Other Contemporary Stories
Steve Payne and David Tenner
Editor and Guest Historian of
Today in Alternate History, a Daily
Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today.
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Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit
differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items
explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist
superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy
Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting
fictional blog.
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