Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 59 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts off with William talking to a new character, Sandy Lindsay, about preparing a turkey. It’s a trivial conversation, but the whole chapter can’t stay that way.

The troops learn that General Howe has abandoned them. Burgoyne will be left to his own devices, and will need to figure out how to reinforce and resupply. While Howe will invade Pennsylvania, Burgoyne’s men will head to Bennington.

Before they can go there, William needs to give the bad news about Howe leaving. This is where he mentions Mrs. Lind, who turns out to be General Burgoyne’s mistress. Oh, and she’s the chief commissary officer’s wife. There is a lot of detail for a character that I don’t remember being all that important.

Back to William, he is writing to John about the state of affairs for the troops. It turns out that horses have been abandoned, stolen, or even eaten. William’s boots have worn through. They need supplies and fast. That’s why he and many others are looking forward to go into Bennington to capture the town. They’ve heard all about the supplies there.

Well, maybe William should keep his mind on the situation rather than planning too far ahead. There are a lot of cow droppings around, but the men don’t even think about how this could have been a trap. There’s an ambush, but William ends up being saved by two Indians. He now has to explain what happened, and it turns out there are no cows.