Various

“ The second New Hampshire regiment under Colonel Reid, separated from the others in the brigade, suddenly found themselves partly surrounded by a semi-circle of rifles and hatchets. Their thin scattered line of riflemen, sent out to scour the woods as skirmishers, and at this time only a few yards in front of them, was quickly driven back before a whirlwind of fire. With unloaded muskets, the destruction of Reid’s regiment seemed certain. Nevertheless the salvation of the Americans was in the Indians firing too high. They were too certain of victory to keep cool and take sure aim. ”

“ The army was now eager to move into the unknown wilderness. The route was up the Chemung river, into the Seneca country, and through the Land of Lakes. There was no hope of reinforcements or relief, and, in case of defeat, of any quarter from the foe. Over paths never trodden by any white man, save the lone trader, trapper, or captive, they must now find much of their food and rely wholly on their own valor. How brave must these men have been, and how equally worthy of fame and honor, was this expedition in comparison with Sherman’s march through Georgia to the sea in 1864. ”

“ If we have acted with a degree of reputation to ourselves; if we have rendered service to our country, to you sir, are we much indebted for both these advantages. Your activity, combined with an extensive knowledge of your important duties, have at all times been eminently conspicuous; your zeal for the public good, and an affectionate regard for the honor and happiness of the New Jersey cavalry, have been too well noticed and too sincerely approved, ever to be effaced from our remembrance. ”

“ The guns grew hot with firing, however, before anything was heard from the New Hampshire men, who had been obliged to face unexpected difficulties and especially to flounder through swamps, far deeper than anyone had supposed.
Proctor’s round shot, grape and bombs not only cut and tore the forest trees to the terror of the savages, but did terrible execution. In many places within the enemy’s line the bloody proofs of the terrific and destructive power of the shell fire were afterwards amply evident. ”

“ Brant, their mighty leader, found it was all he could do to hold his painted warriors together. Suddenly, rather to their relief, than otherwise, runners from the hilltop came to inform their chief that the enemy had made an attack in force on their left flank, driven in the party of watchers, and were moving forward on the main body. Glad to escape the terrific missiles of the artillery, and to give his braves congenial occupation and one more suitable to Indian warfare, Brant led off a large party, possibly the majority of his warriors, to repel this new danger. ”

“ We were now conducted to a small hollow near the ground. Five men were ordered by the engineer to assist him in clearing away the rubbish, staking out and drawing the lines of the work. This was in the face of open day, and the men went with some reluctance; a little before this we had a shot from the enemy which increased their fears. At dusk of evening we all marched up, and never did I see men exert themselves half so much or work with more eagerness. Indeed, it was their interest, for they could expect nothing else but an incessant roar of cannon the whole night. ”

“ But where was the enemy? It was known that the raid of Brant, down the Walkill valley to the Delaware, had failed to draw Sullivan from his main purpose. The other parties of Tories and Indians had been equally impotent. What then should be done to drive back the avenging army and save their villages and crops?
Evidently the only safety was to join all forces. At a great council of Tories and Iroquois, held where Geneva now stands, it was decided to send wampum belts again to every and all tribes and bands of the Iroquois, and bid them assemble to oppose the invaders in the Chemung valley. ”

“ Forty acres of maize were left untouched for the future use of the army, and then the whole force returned, greatly wearied with fatigue and the extreme heat. The bodies of the dead were brought back to camp for decent burial.
It was a sad occasion, when in the forest, the seven slain were buried in one grave, which, as was usual, had all outward marks obliterated, so that the savages could not exhume and mutilate the corpses. Then their comrades fired memorial vollies. Thus perished by the bullets of the enemy the first of the men in Sullivan’s main expedition. ”

“ The Commander-in-Chief, the General Officers, the General Staff and Field Officers of the Militia of the State of New Jersey, feel in common with their numerous fellow citizens who have addressed you in the present critical situation of our nation, and most cordially join them in expressing to you their high approbation of your conduct in the management of its foreign concerns, and their indignation for the insult offered to the honor and independence of the American people. ”

“ At the extreme left of their brigade and nearest the British breastworks, which were a few hundred rods to the westward, Reid’s men found themselves far away and out of sight from their comrades in the other regiments, which were further to the right—east and north. Their guns were unloaded while their ears were deafened with the yell of hundreds of exultant savages who felt sure of scalps. In a moment more they were face to face with the foe. ”

“ And the strong influence of men whose personality so dominated small communities, men whose names have not been handed down as taking part in the affairs of the nation, is shown by the fact that of the seventy-eight men whose names have been given to counties of the State, forty-one were men whose life and work, influential as it must have been in the particular communities wherein they lived, were not of sufficient prominence to save them from almost utter oblivion in State or National history. ”

“ Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard.
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed;
Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them.”
Mind, he says, “the little Catholic churchyard.” Many, I fear, have thought of Old St. Joseph’s, “the little Catholic church,” and so, have assigned to it the burial place, but it is “the little Catholic churchyard,” which Longfellow speaks of, and the smallest such which Philadelphia had in 1824, or could have had in 1793, the time of the pestilence, was Holy Trinity, which dates from 1789. ”

“ The army were never so universally deceived in regard to the operations of the campaign as at this time. New York was thought to be the object, and no maneuver left untried to confirm this opinion, when all on a sudden, the army decamped from W. Plains, crossed the North river, and proceeded by a circuitous route to Springfield, in New Jersey, where, after a halt of a few days (in order the better to deceive the enemy) , they took their route for Trenton, at which place the artillery stores with our regiment and some other troops embarked. ”

“ In this house in 1824 William Lyon Mackenzie printed the first numbers of the Colonial Advocate, the first paper printed in Upper Canada.
“We are not in want, neither are we rich,” he says candidly in his prospectus. O, golden age! Our strenuous present admits of no such happy medium! Mackenzie is remembered no more as an agitator. The measures of justice for which he contended in the bitterness of poverty and exile, have long since been granted and enjoyed.
If plenty of relics of historic Queenston abound, no trace of its one-time prosperity remains. ”

“ It may be wondered what had become of the motley British force after their defeat at Newtown. As a matter of fact, two hundred fresh Indian warriors had joined Brant just after the battle. They were clamorous to advance at once against the Americans, but those who had a taste of grape shot and bursting bombs were unwilling to make a stand. So the whole force of red and white allies of King George had retreated to the north and west, making camp near Avon, in Livingston County. Keeping out their scouts on the hilltops, they were well informed of Sullivan’s movements. ”

“ A militia man this day, possessed of more bravery than prudence, stood constantly on the parapet and d— his soul if he would dodge for the balls. He had escaped longer than could have been expected, and, growing foolhardy, brandished his spade at every ball that was fired till, unfortunately, a ball came that put an end to his capers. This evening our brigade was ordered for an evening party, and in the course of the night a deserter went to the enemy, informing them of our situation, in consequence of which they directed a few shots our way, but did no harm. ”

“ Across this light were constantly dancing three huge figures of a crimson hue, and these did the magicians proclaim to be the ghosts of the three warriors who had given up their bodies for the benefit of their people, and who had thus become great chiefs in the spirit-land. ”

“ To hide their breastworks with the hope that the invaders might come very near to them without their being discovered, the Tories and Indians had laid boughs and greenery over the front and top. They had even planted out in front, here and there, fresh young trees, so as to give the appearance of primitive and untouched forests. They had stuck these young trees in the ground outside the breastworks and had thoroughly cleaned up the ground, so that no chips or evidence of human industry were left lying about. ”

“ The movements of General Washington about Long Island had been accompanied by the arrival of a large British fleet from Halifax under Admiral Lord Howe, brother of the commander of the British army. Putnam had been left with 4000 men in New York, and sent for Bushnell, inviting him to test his submarine boat against one of the enemy’s ships. Bushnell was himself physically incapacitated from managing his machine, for it required considerable strength. ”

“ We come not, Sir, to dictate—whether peace can be preserved with the safety of our national dignity, or whether an appeal is to be made to arms, are questions intrusted to those in whose patriotism we confide, and according to their decision we shall always be prepared to act. ”

“ Clinton’s brigade, consisting of the Third New York under Gansevoort, the Fifth New York commanded by Du Bois, the Fourth New York led by Livingston, and the Second New York on the right under Van Cortlandt, formed the reserve, but they were still far below in the rear. The regiments were all small, numbering each about three hundred men. The great and imminent danger was that Brant’s seven hundred warriors might wholly overwhelm the men of one regiment before help could reach them from their comrades. ”

“ The Indians fearing an immediate attack in force, were getting ready to move westward. When this scouting party returned to the main camp at three o’clock the next day, Sullivan ordered his whole force to be ready to march at a moment’s notice. At 8 P. M., August 12, he started with most of his force on a night march and pushed on through swamps and forests. At morning finding themselves in a fog, they also discovered that the enemy had fled.
General Hand asked that he be allowed to take Colonel Hubley’s regiment and the Wyoming companies to pursue the foe. ”

“ It is a fact that is not generally known, but which is of official record—that the first serious attempt in this line was the work of a Yale undergraduate. It was while a freshman at Yale, in the year 1771, that David Bushnell, an ingenious Connecticut boy, conceived the idea of a submarine vessel as a desirable means of defensive warfare. He kept at the problem throughout the four years of his college course, and by the time of his graduation, in 1775, had made several successful trial trips with his American Turtle, as his peculiar contrivance was called. ”

“ They were, no doubt, much astonished in the morning to find themselves so completely hemmed in on all sides, and trenches so deep that we could sustain little or no harm from their fire. The trenches were this day to be enlivened with drums beating and colors flying, and this honor was conferred on our division of light infantry. And now I must confess, although I was fond of the honor, I had some fear, as I had no notion of a covered way, and more especially as I was posted in the center with the colors. We, however, did not lose a man in relieving, although the enemy fired much. ”

“ To see the man, who has spent years in a continued struggle for freedom, and bled in asserting our dearest rights, again at the call of his country, step forward with that ardent enthusiasm which true liberty ever inspires, did not fail to command our grateful admiration and render us emulous of such virtue. ”

“ Mary’s Churchyard, on Fourth street below Locust, where he was buried, there are many other relics of the great naval commander in this city, which was his home and where he maintained both a town and country residence. In Fairmount Park, too, is a monument not known to many people, where one of the five figures of the fountain erected by the Catholic Total Abstinence Society is a statue of Barry. It is of heroic size and the inscription, besides reciting some of his principal exploits on the sea, describes him as the first commodore of the United States navy. ”

“ Lee was towed by whale-boats as near the ships as the oarsmen dared to go, and was then cast off. He discovered that it was too early to make the attempt. The tide was running strong, and, in spite of all that he could do, it carried him far beyond the ships. He rowed aimlessly around until the tide slowed up, when he made directly for the man-of-war. He drew so near under the stern of the ships that he could see the British sailors and hear their voices. ”

“ The army moved at nine o’clock, the riflemen being well scattered in front of Hand’s light corps, so as to act as scouts and skirmishers, while every man in the brigade moved with the greatest caution. Hardly had they gone a mile, before they discovered several Indians in front. One of these fired and then all fled. Going forward still further a mile, the riflemen found the ground low, marshy and well fitted for the shelter of hiding Indians. Moving slowly and alertly, they discovered another party of Indians, who as before, fired and retreated. ”