[martin_rook]

Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania, 1777: Major Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish officer in the British Army. He had invented the Ferguson rifle which could fire 4 rounds a minute at a target 300 yards away while weighing almost half of what the army's standard rifle weighed. During the Revolutionary War, he was sent to America to form a small force of sharpshooters armed with his experimental weapon. On September 11th, 1777, they were scouting the Brandywine Creek at the eve of battle with American forces when he encountered two horsemen. One was dressed as a Hussar in a distinctive outfit, while the other wore the uniform of a senior American officer with a large cocked hat. Ferguson stepped out and ordered them to halt. They turned and galloped off. Ferguson, who could have fired at them half a dozen times before they escaped, declined to shoot them in the back. The Hussar was Count de Pulaski, serving as an Aide-de Camp to the other rider, General George Washington. Had Ferguson decided to shoot at the enemy riders… Well, you can take the resulting timeline into a myriad of different directions.