Wednesday 29 July 2020

Historic backdrop to Time Trap II





American history has always fascinated me, so it was a pleasure to do the research for Time Trap IIThe War of Independence and the American spy network - the Culper Spy Ring - to name but two. The spies did so much essential work for the war effort and then there was the mysterious Agent 355 whose identity has never been revealed. The spy ring and the unknown agent feature in TT II
Here is a brief telling of the background to the story when Jamie, Todd, Catherine and Hector go back in time to the 18th century to prevent a gun from the future being used at the Battle of Bunker Hill.



By 1775, a large number of so-called colonists – many of them British, with others from different European countries -had settled in the area we now call New England, in the north-east of the country we now call America.

Their colonies were called Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Each is now one of the states of the U.S.A) Eventually, the British had 13 English colonies, which were administered by governors appointed by the King of England, George III. That fact, and dissatisfaction with the taxes (payable to the British Government, which in no way represented the colonies or colonists living in them) and also with regulations concerning restrictions upon trading – all designed to benefit Britain, rather than its 13 colonists – eventually led to the American War of Independence, which lasted from 1775 until 1783, and ended in victory for America, who defeated the British. In 1789, all the colonies united under USA’s first president, George Washington, and gained their freedom from foreign control.

You should also know that there was, in the American War of Independence, a Battle of Bunker Hill – which is near Boston. It was the first sizeable battle of the war, and although a victory for the British, more than 1,000 of them were killed or injured in the battle, compared with only 420 Americans.

As well, there really was a Gatling gun (invented in 1861) named after the man who invented it: Richard Gatling. He was an American from North Carolina. He studied medicine before becoming an inventor. Gatling wanted to create a devastating weapon that would reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths. (But it didn't quite work out that way, unfortunately) His gun had many barrels, and was capable of firing 250 rounds in just one minute!


However, that is historical fact, if the gun is used in battle, the world's future will be ruined irreparably...


Image result for gatling gun

“It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease would be greatly diminished.”


Richard Jordan Gatling