 CHAPTER VI PART II OF A NARRATIVE OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER BY JOSEPH PLUMM-MARTEN CAMPAIGN OF 1780 PART II After the British had retreated to New York, our army marched for West Point. We passed through the highlands by the clove, a remarkable chasm in the mountains, and came out on the bank of the Hudson River at a place called Buttermilk Falls, where a small stream falls into the river over a high craggy bank, forming a pretty cascade. We halted here, it was in the morning, and I will remember our colonel's orders on the occasion. Men, said he, you have one hour allowed you to refresh yourselves. Had we been herbaceous animals we might have refreshed ourselves on browse, for there was no deficiency of that, but as to victual's fit for human beings I question if there was five pounds weight in the whole regiment. I had none, nor had I any for twenty-four hours. We were, at this time, ruminating animals, but our ruminating was mentally, not by teeth. Had the falls been real buttermilk, the colonel's order might have been given with some propriety. But as it was not so, we were forced to be patient, for we did not expect to be fed by a miracle. We passed on to West Point. The Connecticut forces crossed the river to the eastern side, and encamped opposite to West Point, upon what was called Nelson's Point. It was now very hot summer, being the latter part of June. Here, for a considerable length of time, our rations, when we got any, consisted of bread and salt shad. This fish, as salt as fire and dry bread, without any kind of vegetables, was hard-fair in such extreme hot weather as it was then. We were compelled to eat it as it was. If we attempted to soak it in a brook that ran close by the camp, we were quite sure to lose it. There being a great attendance of otters and minks in and about the water, four-legged and two-legged, but much the largest number of the latter, so that they would be quite sure to carry off the fish. Let us do what we would to prevent it. Soon after we were encamped here, I was sent off with a working-party to work upon some fortifications on Constitution Island, a mile or two higher up the river. We had our allowance of salt, shad, and bread, and were to remain there a week. Our duty was chiefly wheeling dirt upon a stone building intended for a magazine. We had to wheel to the top of the wall, which was about twenty feet high, upon a way, two planks wide, and in the passage we had to cross a chasm in the rocks thirty or forty feet wide and perhaps as many deep. None of us happened to take a dive into it, but it often made my head swim when crossing it at such a rate, and I thought it would not be strange if some of us should feel a bottom before we left there. From the planks which we wheeled upon to the bottom of the hole could not be less than sixty feet. If anyone had fallen into it, he would have received his discharge from the army without further trouble. We continued at this business two or three days, when the weather became so hot that it was difficult to breathe. The rays of the sun reflected from the bare rocks, all that part of the island where we were being mostly so, was stifling in the extreme, and to complete a bad business there was not a drop of water on the island, except the brackish water of the river, and that was as warm as milk and almost as nauseous as the waters of the Nile after it had felt the effects of Moses's rod. There was no shade, and we had no tents. We could get no refreshment but in a place where were two high points of rocks budding upon the shore, which caused a small drought of wind when there was any air stirring from the river. Here we repaired two or three hours in the heat of the day and then went to work again till dark. After we had been two or three days at this invigorating business, the troops were inspected by General Steuben. When he found out our situation, he ordered us off immediately. You may as well knock those men on the head, said he, as keep them there. They will die if kept there much longer, and they can do no more if you knock their brains out. He had more sense than our officers, but they did not feel the hardships which we had to undergo, and of course cared but little, if anything at all, about us. We were called off, and I never was so glad to get clear of any duty as I was to get clear of that. A state prison would be preferable to it, for there one might chance to get something to eat or at least to drink. And now there was to be a material change in our circumstances, which in the long run was much in my favor. There was a small core to be raised by enlistments, and in case of the failure of that, by drasts from the line. These men were called sappers and miners, to be attached to the engineer's department. I had known of this for some time before, but never had a thought of belonging to it. Although I had heard our major, to whose company I belonged, tell some of our officers, after I had neatly marked his name upon his chest, that if there was a draft from our regiment, he intended I should go. Although he added, he did not wish to part with me. I, however, thought no more about it till a captain of the core applied for a draft of one man from each regiment throughout the whole army present. This captain was personally acquainted with our major and told him he would like to have him furnish him with a man from the regiment that he knew was qualified for a non-commissioned officer. The major then pitched upon me. How far he was to be justified in his choice, the reader may, perhaps, be enabled to judge by the construction of this present work. I give him free consent to exercise his judgment upon it. I was accordingly transferred to this core and bid a farewell forever to my old comrades, as it respected any further associating with them or sharing in their sufferings or pleasures. I immediately went off with this, now my captain, and the other men drafted from our brigade and joined the core in an old meeting house at the peak skill. It was after dark when we arrived there. I had now got among a new set, who were, to a man, entire strangers to me. I had, of course, to form new acquaintances, but I was not long in doing that. I had a pretty free use of my tongue, and was sometimes apt to use it when there was no occasion for it. However, I soon found myself at home with them. We were all young men, and therefore easy to get acquainted. I found nothing more here for belly timber than I had in the line, and got nothing to eat till the second day after I had joined the core. I have heard it remarked by the old farmers that when beasts are first transferred from one place to another, that if they keep them without food for two or three days, it will go far towards wanting them to their new situation. Perhaps it might be so thought by our commanders. Be that as it would, I got nothing, as I have said, till the second day I had been with them. We then drew, if I remember right, two days rations of our good old diet, salt-shad, and as we had not as yet associated ourselves into regular messes, as is usual in the army, each man had his fish divided out by himself. We were on the green before the meeting house, and there were several cows feeding upon the place. I went into the house to get something to put my fish into, or some other business, and stayed longer than I intended, or rather ought to have done, for when I came out again, one of the cows was just finishing her meal on my shad. The last I saw of it was the tail of a fish sticking out of the side of her mouth. I was vexed enough to have eaten the weight of it off her carcass, but she took care of that, and I had another opportunity, if well improved, of mortifying my body by fasting two days longer. But I got something among the men, as poorly as they were off, to sustain nature till I could get more by some means or other. Such shifts were nothing strange to us. This core of miners was reckoned an honorable one. It consisted of three companies. All the officers were required to be acquainted with the sciences, and it was desirable to have as intelligent young men as could be procured to compose it, although some of us fell considerably short of perfection. Agreeable to the arrangement between my former commander and my new captain, I was appointed a sergeant in this core, which was as high an office as I ever obtained in the army, which I had some doubts in my own mind at the time, whether I was altogether qualified for that. However, I was a sergeant, and I think I did use my best abilities to perform the duties of the office according to my best knowledge and judgment. Indeed, I can say at this late hour of my life that my conscience never did, and I trust never will, accuse me of any failure in my duty to my country, but on the contrary, I always fulfilled my engagements to her, however she failed in fulfilling hers with me. The case was much like that of a loyal and faithful husband, and a light-heeled wanton of a wife, but I forgive her and hope she will do better in the future. Soon after I had joined this core, the army moved down on the west side of the Hudson to Orange Town, commonly called by the inhabitants of those parts, Tappan. Just before arriving at our encamping-ground, we halted in the road an hour or two. Some four or five of our men, knowing that the regiments to which they formerly belonged were near, slipped off for a few minutes to see their old messmates. When we came to Marchigan, they not having returned, I was ordered to remain with their arms and knapsacks till they came and then bring them on and join the core again. I accordingly waited an hour or two before they all returned. As soon as I had got them all together, we set off. But the troops arriving and passing in almost every direction, I knew not where to go to find our core. After much trouble and vexation, being constantly interrogated by the passing officers who we were and how we came to be behind our troops, I concluded that as most or all of the troops had passed us to stay where I then was, and wait the coming up of the baggage of our troops, thinking that the guard or drivers might have directions where to find them. Our baggage happening to be quite in the rear, while we were waiting, we had an opportunity to see the baggage of the army pass. When that of the middle states passed us, it was truly amusing to see the number and habiliments of those attending it. Of all specimens of human beings, this group kept the whole. A caravan of wild beasts could bear no comparison with it. There was tag, rag and bobtail, some in rags and some in jags, but none in velvet gowns. Some with two eyes, some with one, and some, I believe, with none at all. They beggared all description. Their dialect, too, was as confused as their bodily appearance was odd and disgusting. There was the Irish and Scotch Brogue, murdered English, that insipid Dutch, and some lingos which would puzzle a philosopher to tell whether they belonged to this world or some undiscovered country. I was glad to see the tail end of the train, and waited with impatience for the arrival of our baggage, which soon after made its appearance, but the men with the wagons knew no better than myself where to go. We, however, proceeded, and soon after met one of the sergeants coming to meet and conduct us to where our people were, which was at Dobbs Ferry, and about three miles from any part of the rest of the army. Most of the artillery belonging to the army was at the same place. Here we lay till the close of the campaign. We built a strong blockhouse near the ferry, in which we were assisted by detachments from the main army, and erected a battery near it. But that fiend, scarcity, followed us here, and when we chanced to get any meat we had no salt. For a long time we had to go three-fourths of a mile to the river to get water, which was somewhat salt, before we could cook our breakfasts. This was trifling, however, compared with the trouble of having nothing to cook, which was too often the case with us. There was, indeed, a plenty of fruit to be had, and we, being few in number and so far from the main army, this resource was not soon or easily exhausted. But there were mosquitoes enough to take a pound of blood from us while we could make an ounce. We had some plague or other always to torment us, says the reader, who is without. Soon after our arrival here, a British brig passed up the river, the same that conveyed the unfortunate Major Andre to his bane. Poor man, he had better have stayed where he was better acquainted. I was about this time ordered to return up the river in company with one of our lieutenants after some clothing for our men. The lieutenant rode in company with an officer of the artillery who was going that way upon business of his own, and I went on foot, and started early in the morning with only my blanket and provisions, that is, if I had any. It was very hot weather, and when I had traveled about ten miles on my way, being on a good road in the heat of the day, and passing through a considerable wood, a young lady made her appearance at a turn of the road about forty rods ahead of me. The heat had induced her to divest herself of some of her outer garments, but upon discovering me in her immediate neighborhood, she slipped on her clothes and came on towards me seemingly quite unconcerned. But on thinking better of the matter, as I suppose, she concluded that it would not be quite safe to encounter a soldier in such a place. She accordingly turned about and made her escape as fast as possible through the bushes. When she first started from the road, I saw her drop something, and she partly turned about to take it up. But thinking that it would not do to stop for trifles when the enemy was so near, she resumed her race. I then hallowed to her, which caused her to hasten her departure in double-quick time. Upon coming to the place where she turned off from the road, I had the curiosity to see what she had dropped. It proved to be a knot of black ribbon, of about a yard and a half. Not knowing but the poor thing might take another fight if she came back after it, I concluded to save her the trouble, and accordingly took it with me. She seemed to be in a violent panic, but every mist that I saw while in the army was not so easily frightened. I crossed Kingsfairy and went on to the foot of the Highlands, where there was a commissary and wagon-ears, boatmen, etc. Here I again joined my lieutenant and obtained a ration or two of provisions, consisting of corned beef and hard bread, borrowed a pot, cooked my meal, ate my supper, turned in under an old wagon, and slept soundly till an hour before day, when the lieutenant called me up to go on to Newburgh, about twenty miles further up the river. He had procured a bateau and five or six men to convey us up and bring down the clothing which we were after. We had a mile or two to go to reach the boat, over ledges, through brush, and as dark as Egypt. We then proceeded to Newburgh where we got our clothing. While I was packing it away in empty hogsheads, the lieutenant gave me a hint to take care of my own interest. I accordingly picked from the best of each article what was allowed to each man and bundled them up by themselves. Afterwards, when a distribution was made, some of the sergeants were a little inclined to cavill with me for my partiality to myself, but the lieutenant interfered in my favor, telling them that I deserved the preference as I had been to so much pains and trouble while they had remained at home at their ease. We returned down the river on our way to camp until we came to where we took the boat, when I was set on shore to take the lieutenants and the other officers' horses to King's Ferry, while the lieutenant went down in the boat. I took the horses and went on alone to the ferry. On the way, being hungry, my provisions if I had any, being in the boat, I saw some fine-looking apples in a field and dismounted and filled my pockets with them and ate a considerable quantity. They were sweet and of rather a tough texture and caused me considerable trouble as I shall relate by and by. I crossed the ferry in a large scow. There were ten or twelve head of cattle besides my horses in the boat. About midway of the river a cow jumped out and took her departure directly down the river, but being ebb tide and the water rapid, she was soon out of sight. There was not the least exertion made to save her. She was continental property and consequently thought of but little consequence. I landed and soon found my officer who had arrived some time before me. He had got our baggage into a wagon which had gone on and he was waiting for me. We should have gone down to Dobbs Ferry with the boat had it not been for the British Brig vulture, which was lying just below King's Ferry, waiting upon Arnold and André. There was a large number of wagons, teamsters and soldiers at the ferry. Everything destined to the army coming down the river was obliged to be landed here on account of the above mentioned brig. When I had found the lieutenant he took his horse, leaving the other with me, and sent me back to the river's side on an errand. I did his ordered and then went on after him and our baggage. I had gone but a small distance before my apples began to operate. I had felt their effects some time before. I now began to think the game was up with me. My head ached as though it was splitting into ten thousand pieces and my sight entirely failed. I got, or rather tumbled, off my horse and lay on the ground, giving myself up for lost. The lieutenant, finding I did not make my appearance, came back to seek me. He found me in a sad condition. I asked him to give me some water. He got some that was quite warm and it was well for me that it was so, for I had no sooner swallowed it than it caused me to discharge the contents of my stomach which quickly gave me ease. I then got upon his horse, which had a soft deer skin for a saddlecloth, and he walked by my side and led my horse. I again asked him for water. He went into a house a little distance from the road, in which was no person except an old man. The lieutenant asked him for a vessel to dip some water from a spring nearby, which was six or eight feet deep. But the old man refused, saying that he would not let a soldier have a cup to drink from if it were to save his life. The officer then took a glass pint mug and came out to me, the old man following him, raving like a madman. The lieutenant gave me some water and after I had drank, he flung the mug into the spring with a motion that seemed to indicate that he was not well pleased, upon which the old man redoubled his abuse. When the lieutenant, drawing his sword, swore that if he did not immediately shut his mouth, he would bleed him. The old man, seeing the sword glitter, thought it best to shut up whilst his skin was whole and walked off to the house and we went on. This officer was a very mild man, but the old man had raised his ideas by abusing the soldiers, which he would not bear from anyone. We went on and overtook the wagons, but I felt very meager all day. I never before thought myself so near death, and it was all occasioned by eating a few apples, but less things than these may deprive a man of life. This was one suffering of a revolutionary soldier. There were more than fifty wagons in company with us, bound to the army. We halted at night at a cluster of houses. The lieutenant took up his abode for the night in a farmer's house. I stayed out with the wagons. In the evening I strolled into a cornfield, upon some occasion or other, where I discovered a large patch of watermelons. I took one and went to the wagon and ate it. All the lieutenant had given me a strict charge not to meddle with any kind of fruit until I had fully digested the apples. He insisted upon my lodging in the house from fear of taking cold, but I chose to keep with our baggage, which I did till supper time. He then sent out to me to come in and get supper. I could not well refuse this invitation and went in. The lady of the house provided me a rarity, harmony and milk. The lieutenant again urged me to stay in the house, but I pretended that our clothing might be in danger unless I attended to it. He said no more to me, but left me to regulate my own conduct. It was not the clothing I had so much at heart, though that bore some weight on my mind. But the thought of the luscious watermelons was what so strongly attracted my mind in that direction. Accordingly, when all was still, I went and took as many as I thought necessary, stowed them into the wagon and then lay down under it, and slept very contentedly till morning, without once thinking of the danger of the baggage. We started early next morning and arrived at Dobbs's ferry about noon. Soon after this journey, one night the British Brig came down the river with her precious charge, Arnold, on board. There were several shots discharged at her as she passed the blockhouse, but she went by without paying as much attention. The next day it was reported that General Arnold had deserted. I should as soon have thought West Point had deserted as he, but I was soon convinced that it was true. Had I possessed the power of fore knowledge, I might twice have put Arnold asleep without anyone knowing it and saved the life of perhaps a better man and my country much trouble and disgrace. The first time was at the peak skill in a barn, just before Andre came to his quarters and while their clandestine negotiation was in progress. I was upon a guard. There are men, says Shakespeare, who in their sleep mutter all their conceits. Such a one was Arnold and therefore afraid to sleep near anyone least he should babble his conceits in his sleep. He ordered me and my guard out of the barn that he might have his bed upon the floor. I was so put out of my bias at the time that had I known what plants he had in his head I should have needed but little persuasion to have had a reckoning with him. The other time was but three or four days before his desertion. I met him upon the road a little distance from Dobbs Ferry. He was then taking his observations and examining the roads. I thought that he was upon some deviltry. We met at a notch of the roads and I observed he stopped and sitting upon his horse seemed minutely to examine each road. I could not help taking notice of him and thought it strange to see him quite alone in such a lone place. He looked guilty and well he might for Satan was in his full possession of him at that instance as ever he was of Judas. It only wanted a musket ball to have driven him out. I had been acquainted with Arnold from my childhood and never had too good an opinion of him. The British had a blockhouse below said to be garrisoned by a gang of fugitive Negroes commanded by a black by the name of Cuff, Colonel Cuff. One night a black man, a runaway, came to one of our sentinels at our blockhouse. When he came up he addressed the sentinel with is this Colonel Cuff's blockhouse? The sentinel called the commander of the guard who quickly undeceived poor Caesar and sent him back to his master where no doubt he got a striped jacket as part of his uniform suit to remember Colonel Cuff by. Our people had a number of spy boats lying a little distance above the ferry. One night one of these boats went down the river and anchored not far from the western shore which was there very high placed a sentinel in the boat and lay down to rest. A British boat getting intelligence of them rolled up with muffled oars keeping close under the highland in the shadow of the mountains the moon being in that quarter till they had got above them and then came directly down upon them. The sentinel immediately roused up the men in the boat one of them having his musket charged with buckshot Yankee peas as the British used to call them challenged them with who comes there we will quickly let you know the man in our boat answered here's give you shell our McGeara then and gave them the contents of his musket which caused a bitter lamentation in the British boat our people had now cut their cable and got to their oars they rode a small distance and laid to for the enemy's boat to come up when they all fired into her and again sprang to their oars our boat could roll much faster than the other which still followed her they kept up a constant fire upon each other till they got nearly up to the ferry where there were a few troops in camp who running down upon the bank of the river prepared to give the English boat a seasoning but the enemy seeing them gave over the chase and went back down the river what execution our people did among them was not known but one of our men received a musket ball directly in the middle of his forehead which passed out behind his head this was done about 11 o'clock at night and I saw him at 9 next morning alive and breathing just like a man in a sound sleep he died in about an hour after about this time major Andre was brought from the Highlands to headquarters where he was examined condemned and executed I saw him before his execution but was on duty that day and could not attend otherwise I should he was an interesting character there has been a great deal said about him but he was but a man and no better nor had he better qualifications than the brave captain Hale whom the British commander caused to be executed as a spy upon Long Island in 1776 without the shadow of a trial denying him the use of a Bible or the assistance of clergy man in his last moments and destroying the letters he had written to his widowed mother and other relations Andre had every indulgence allowed him that could be granted with propriety see the contrast let all who pity Andre so much look at it and be silent we were frequently alarmed while lying at Dobbs ferry being so few and at a distance from the army we had constantly to be on the lookout but never happened to come in contact with the enemy although they very frequently made us believe we should while lying here I was almost persuaded once that I should have to take a trip to New York but was quite agreeably disappointed one day my captain sent me across the country to the western part of Connecticut to bring him some mathematical instruments he had left there he directed me which way to take as it was dangerous traveling there on account of the small parties of British or rather refugees and cowboys in their service I knew the way very well but I knew to there was a way lower down that was shorter I determined after I had crossed the river to take that road and hazard the consequences I had got about half way on my journey when just at night I passed a house which before the war had been a tavern I passed by the house thoughtlessly and saw nobody but as I passed the horse shed I observed several horses standing under it comparison like Dragoon horses I hurried on as fast as I could go to get out of sight but I had not got many rods by the house when I saw a man come out with a fuse in his hand and otherwise equipped like a soldier who calling after me bid me stop I was so near him and entirely unarmed that I dare not refuse his demand he stepped along slowly a few paces towards me inquiring where I was going and where I came from I now inwardly curse my indiscretion in not obeying my captain's directions respecting the road I ought to have taken I asked him the same questions he had asked me he said that was nothing to the purpose he had first interrogated me and I must answer him he kept all the time advancing slowly towards me I wished we were further apart by this time two or three more of his party had come out of the house and we're standing looking at us I then told him to tell me who he was and where from and keep me no longer in suspense as he advanced I receded as much as I dare to till he preemptorily told me not to go any further till I had satisfied him who I was and where I was going by this time I began to gather courage I thought that if he belonged to the enemy he would not stand so long without my knowing who he was by stronger arguments than words I at last told him frankly who I was and where bound well said he I thought you were upon some particular business or you would not have been seen on this dangerous road he then asked me to go back to the house and take some refreshment but I declined his invitation being glad to find myself safe and in my own hands I went on and accomplish my business but took care to return on a safer road we lay at Doves Ferry till the latter part of the month of October when we marched to West Point for winter quarters I left this place with regret more so than any other during my continuance in the army it was upon an account which I need not mention many young men have doubtless felt the same upon similar occasions if they have they know my feelings at the time I speak of but this time was long since gone by and my affections with it both gone with the years beyond the flood never more to return we marched for West Point at the peak skill we procured but told to convey ourselves and baggage up the river to the point where we arrived in safety and went into the old barracks until new ones could be built for us which we immediately commenced we had to go six miles down the river and there he with a timber then carry it on our shoulders to the river and then rafted to West Point we however soon completed this part of the business ourselves when the carpenters took it in hand and by new year's day they were ready to receive us till then we had been living in the old barracks where there were rats enough had they been men to garrison 20 West Point's our barracks being completed and we safely stowed away in them I shall here conclude the campaign of 1780 and of chapter 6 part 2 chapter 7 of a narrative of a revolutionary soldier by Joseph Paul Martin this LibriVox recording is in the public domain campaign of 1781 part 1 I saw the plundering British bands invade the fair Virginian lands I saw Great Washington advance with Americans and troops of France I saw the haughty Britain's yield and stack their muskets on the field nothing material occurred to me till the month of February nor anything then very material about the twentieth of the month I took it into my head to apply to my captain for a recommendation to our Colonel for a furlough that I might once more visit my friends for I saw no likelihood that the war would ever end the captain told me that the Colonel was about sending a non-commissioned officer in Connecticut after two men belonging to our core who had been furloughed but had stayed beyond the time allowed them and that he would endeavor to have me sent on this business and that after I had sent the delinquents to camp I might carry a space at home accordingly I soon after received a passport signed by the Colonel in these terms permit the bearer blank to pass into the country after some deserters and to come back the time to come back not being fixed I set off thinking I would regulate that as would best suit my own convenience when I arrived at home I found that my good old grandmother was gone to her long time and my grand-sire gone forty miles back into the country to his sons and I never saw him afterwards my sister was keeping the house and I was glad to see her as I had not seen her for several years there was likewise a neighbor's daughter there who kept as much as she possibly could with my sister and generally slept with her whom I had seen more than once in the course of my life their company and conversation made up for the absence of my grandparents it being a little more congenial to my age and feelings I stayed at home two or three days to recruit after my journey when a man belonging to our company going home on furlough called and informed me that one of the men I was after had arrived at camp and as he should pass through the town where the other resided he agreed to do my errand for me with this arrangement I was much pleased as it would save me about 60 miles travel in all going and coming and I gave him a dollar to help him along which was all the money I had he then went on and did is he agreed I had nothing now to do but to recreate myself or as the time of my return to the army was indefinitely set I did not trouble myself about it I spent my time as agreeable as possible among the young people of my acquaintance for I thought I was old enough to choose my own method of employing my time being now nearly 21 years of age I did indeed enjoy myself about 10 days as agreeably as ever I did in the same space of time in my life but as I had no set time to return to camp I was loathed to trespass upon my good colonels indulgence and therefore began to think about my return and as there was two men one an old associate and the other a private citizen who were going to camp I thought for company's sake I would go with them and accordingly did but I confess that I never left my home was so much regret before I need not tell the reason perhaps the reader can guess when I arrived within sight in hearing of the army or rather the garrison of West Point it again harrowed up my melancholy feelings that had in a manner subsided on my journey but upon reaching the barracks where I had left my companions I could hardly contain myself when I considered my folly in returning so soon when I might have remained at home a month longer as well as not and I just then began to think it was my colonel's intention that I should do so but what added to my perturbation mostly was that I found our barracks entirely unoccupied our men all gone and not a soul could tell me where what to do I knew not I had a great mind to set off for home again but at length concluded that I would try a little longer to find which way the men had gone I therefore went to the issuing commissary of the garrison who was my quandam schoolmate and he soon informed me that they had gone to Virginia with general Lafayette I was thunderstruck at this intelligence and blame myself tenfold for leaving home so soon the commissary observing my chagrin told me that my captain and eight or ten of our people were in the country about 20 miles off where they were undergoing the operation of the smallpox the next day I went out to them and remained with them two or three days but that would not do for me I told the captain that I would go after the men he said I might act my pleasure as it respected that but that he should advise me to stay with him till he had got through with the smallpox and the other men that were with him had recovered and then they should all go together but that would not content me I was as uneasy as a fish out of water the captain then told me that if I was determined to follow the core that my arms were with him and I might take them and go I took them and went back to West Point to the commissary where I procured three or four rations of provisions and an order for five or six more in case I could find any commissary on the way the commissary filled my canteen with liquor and thus equipped I set off on my journey alone not expecting to find the men within less than 400 miles I encountered nothing very material on my journey except it were fatigue and somewhat until I arrived in Annapolis in Maryland there I found what I had so long sought after the sappers and miners they were returning to West Point they were on board vessels and were blocked in at Annapolis by some British ships at the mouth of the river shortly after I joined them an opportunity offered and we escaped with our little fleet by sweeping out in a dark night and went up the bay we went directly on to West Point and took possession of our new barracks again and remain there till sometime in the month of May when we with the rest of the army in the Highlands move down and encamped at the peak skill we remained here a while and then move down near King's Bridge 15 miles from New York a part of the army under the command of General Lincoln fell down the river in Batot and landed near old Fort independence when they were soon attacked by the enemy when a smart skirmish ensued our core among others immediately marched to reinforce general Lincoln but the action ceased and the enemy had retired before we could arrive we lay on the ground we then occupied till after midnight when we advanced further down towards Morisonia at the dawn of day we were in close neighborhood with a British redoubt and saw a single horseman of the enemy reconordering us we sent a platoon of men around a hill to cut off his retreat but mistrusting our scheme he kept out of our reach although he was seen near us the greater part of the day cutting his capers as soon as it was fairly light we halted and remained there all day and the night following the next morning we were joined by the French army from Rhode Island between us and the British redoubt there was a large deep gully our officers gave leave to as many as chose of our men to go over the gully and skirmish with the small parties of horsemen and footmen that kept patrolling the redoubt to the gully watching that none of us took shelter there to annoy them accordingly a number of us kept disturbing their tranquility all day sometimes only four or five of us sometimes 10 or 12 sometimes we would drive them into the redoubt when they would reinforce and sally out and drive us all over the gully we kept up this sport till late in the afternoon when myself and two others of our non-commissioned officers went down near the creek that makes the island upon which New York is situated the two other men that were with me stopped under an apple tree that stood in a small gully I saw four or five British horsemen on their horses a considerable distance from me on the island when they saw me they hallowed to me calling me a white livered son of a bitch I was dressed in a white hunting shirt or was without my coat the latter I think as it was warm and I wore a white underdress we then became quite sociable they advised me to come over to their side and they would give me roast turkeys I told them that they must wait till we left the coast clear or they could get into the country to steal them as they used to do they then said they would give me pork and lasses and then inquired what execution some cannon had done just before fired from the island if they had not killed and wounded some of our men and if we did not want help as our surgeons were a pack of ignoramuses I told them in reply that they had done no other execution with their guns than wounding a dog which was the case and as they and their surgeons were of the same species of animals I suppose the poor wounded dog would account in a particular favor to have some of his own kind to assist him while we were carrying on this very polite conversation I observed at a house on the island in a different direction from the horsemen a large number of men but as they appeared to be a motley group I did not pay them much attention just as I was finishing the last sentence of my conversation with the horsemen happening to cast my eyes toward the house and very providentially to I saw the flash of a gun I instinctively dropped as quick as a loon could dive when the ball passed directly over me and lodged in the tree under which my comrades were standing they saw the upper part of my gun drop as I fell and said they have killed him but they were mistaken the people at the house set up a shouting thinking they had done the job for one poor Yankee but they were mistaken too for I immediately rose up and slapping my backsides to them slowly moved off I do not know that I ever ran a greater risk for my life while I was in the army indeed I could not for I barely believe that if I had not dove at the flash the ball would have gone directly through my body but a miss is as good as a mile says the proverb I kept a bright look out for them as I walked off they sent another shot after me and I again dropped but that did not come so near to me as the other nor did they Huzzah again these shots must have come from a rifle as the distance was more than a quarter of a mile it is poor business to stand thus a single mark this afternoon I had liked to have picked up another of their shots I was standing with another of our men in a narrow gateway talking a man from the redoubt had crept down behind an old battery nearest and fired at us the ball passed between our noses which were not more than a foot apart the fellow walked off and we sent him something to quicken his pace but our shots did as little execution as his had done the horsemen that I had mentioned having seen early in the morning kept prancing about and black guarding the sentinels who often fired at him without effect until late in the afternoon when one of the sentinels gave him something that seemed to cool his courage he reached the redoubt how he fared afterwards I know not but I heard no more of his helping there were two British soldiers hanging in chains here I was standing near them with some others of our men when two French officers wrote up and inquired whether they were Americans or English we told them they were English upon which one of the officers laid his cane several times across one of the bodies making the dry bones rattle at the same time exclaiming forte de anglais a bold action says the reader our people fired several shots from their field pieces at some boats crossing the river to the redoubt but never fired a single shot at the redoubt or they at us all though we were lying all day in open sight of each other and within half a mile distant there seemed to be a tacit agreement between them not to injure one another we lay all night upon the ground which we had occupied during the day I was exceedingly tired not having had a wink of sleep the preceding night and had been on my feet during the last 24 hours and this night to add to my comfort I had to take charge of the quarter guard I was allowed to get what rest I could consistently with our safety I fixed my guard placed two sentinels and the remainder of us laid down we were with our core who were all by dark snug in the arms of Morpheus the officers slept under a tree nearest my orders were if there was any stir or alarm during the night to awake the officers and if any strangers attempted to pass to stop them and bring them to the officers to be examined by them some time in the night the century by the guard stop two or three officers who were going past us the century called me up and I took the strangers to our officers where they went through an examination and were then permitted to pass on I returned to my guard and laid down till called up again to relieve the sentinels all this time I was as unconscious of what was passing as though nothing of the kind had happened nor could I remember anything of the matter when told of it the next day so completely was I worn down a fatigue we now fell back a few miles and encamped both Americans and French at a place called Phillips manner we then went to making preparations to lay siege to New York we made fashions and gabbins the former bundles of brush and the latter are made in this manner viz after setting small sticks in the ground in a circle about two feet or more in diameter they are interwoven with small brush in form of a basket they are then laid by for use which is in entrenching three or more rows of them are set down together breaking joints the trench is then dug behind and the dirt thrown into them which went full together with the trench forms a complete breastwork the word is pronounced gabbins the fashions pronounced fashions are as I said bundles of brush bounce snugly together cut off straight at each end they are of different lengths from five to twelve feet their use is in building batteries and other temporary works we now expected soon to lay close siege to New York our sappers and miners were constantly employed with the engineers in front of the army making preparations for the siege one day I was sent down towards the enemy with a corporal and twelve men upon a reconnoitering expedition the engineers having heard that there was a party of refugees or cowboys somewhere not far from their premises my orders were to go to a certain place and if I did not see or hear anything of the enemy to return or if I did find them to return as soon as possible and bring word to the officers unless I thought we were able to cope with them ourselves we set off upon our expedition early in the afternoon and when as far as directed by our officers but saw no enemy we stopped here a while and rested ourselves when we had refreshed ourselves we thought it a pity to return with our fingers in our mouths and report that we had seen nothing we therefore agreed unanimously to stretch our orders a trifle and go a little further we were in the fields about a mile ahead were three or four houses at which I and some others of our party had been before between us and the houses there was a narrow wood mostly of young growth and quite thick we concluded to go as far as the houses and if we could not hear anything of the cowboys there to return contented to camp agreeably to our plan we set out and had but just entered the wood when we found ourselves flanked by 30 or 40 cowboys who gave us a hearty welcome to their assumed territories and we returned the compliment but a kind of Providence protected every man of us from injury although we were within 10 rods of the enemy they immediately rushed from their covert before we had time to reload our pieces consequently we had no other alternative but to get off as well and as fast as we could they did not fire upon us again but gave us chase for what reason I know not I was soon in the rear of my party which had to cross a fence composed of old posts and rails with trees plashed down upon it when I arrived at the fence the foremost of the enemy was not more than six or eight rods distant all running after us helter-skelter without any order my men had all crossed the fence and safety I alone was to suffer I endeavored to get over the fence across two of three of the trees that were plashed down somehow or other I blundered and fell over and caught my right foot in a place where a tree had split partly from the stump here I hung as fast as though my foot had been in the stocks my ham laying across the butt of another tree while my body hung down perpendicularly I could barely reach the ground with my hands and of course could make but little exertion to clear myself from the limbs the commander of the enemy came to the fence and the first compliment I received from him was a stroke with his hanger across my leg just under or below the knee-pan which laid the bone bear I could see him through the fence and knew him he was when we were boys one of my most familiar playmates was with me a messmate in the campaign of 1776 had enlisted during the war in 1777 but sometimes before this had deserted to the enemy having been coaxed off by an old herondon to whose daughter he had taken a fancy the old hag of a mother living in the vicinity of the British easily and viled him away he was a smart active fellow and soon got command of a gang of refugee cowboy plunderers when he had had his hack at my shins I began to think it was neck or nothing and making one desperate effort I cleared my foot by leaving my shoe behind before he could have a second stroke at me he knew me as well as I did him for as soon as he saw me clear of the fence and out of reach of his sword he called me by name and told me to surrender myself and he would give me good quarters thought I you will wait till I asked them of you I sprang up and ran till I came to my party who were about a hundred rods ahead waiting to see how I should come off the enemy never fired a shot at me all the time I was running from them although nearly the whole of their party was standing on the other side of the fence when I started from it whether his conscience smoke him and he prevented them from firing at me or whether they were unprepared not having had time to reload their pieces in their pursuit of us or from what other cause I know not but they never interfered with me while I was running across the field fifty or sixty rods in open sight of them thus I escaped and this was the only time the enemy drew blood from me during the whole war this same refugee was the youngster that was with me at the salt hay pulling mentioned in the first chapter of this narrative we remained at Phillips Manor till the last of July I had a lame leg caused by the wound given me by Mr. Refugee but I lost only a short time from duty I was favored with easy duty by my officers on account of my wound the first of August I think it was the first day of that month we all of a sudden marched from this ground and directed our course towards Kings Ferry near the Highlands cross the Hudson and lay there a few days till the baggage artillery etc had crossed and then proceeded into New Jersey we went down to Chatham where were ovens built for the accommodation of the French troops we then expected we were to attack New York in that quarter but after staying here a day or two we again moved off and arrived at Trenton by rapid marches it was about sunset when we arrived here and instead of in camping for the night as we expected we were ordered immediately on board vessels then lying at the landing place and a little after sunrise found ourselves at Philadelphia we that is the sappers and miners stayed here some days proving and packing off shells shot and other military stores while we stayed here we drew a few articles of clothing consisting of a few toe shirts some overalls and a few pairs of silk and oakum stockings and here or soon after we each of us received a month's pay in specie proud as I was informed by our French officers from the officers in the French army this was the first that could be called money which we had received as wages since the year 76 or that we ever did receive till the close of the war or indeed ever after as wages when we had finished our business at Philadelphia we the miners left the city a part of our men with myself went down the Delaware in a schooner which had her whole nearly full of gun powder we passed mud island where I experienced such hardships in November 77 it had quite a different appearance to what it had then much like a fine fair warm and sunny day succeeding a cold dark stormy night just after passing mud island in the afternoon we had a smart thundershow I did not feel very agreeably I confess during its confidence with such a quantity of powder under my feet I was not quite sure that a stroke of the electric fluid might not compel me to leave the vessel sooner than I wished but no accident happened and we proceeded down the river to the mouth of Christiana Creek up which we were bound we were compelled to anchor here on account of wind and tide here we passed an uneasy night from fear of British cruisers several of which were in the bay in the morning we got underway the wind serving and proceeded up the creek 14 miles the creek passing the most of its course through a marsh as crooked as a snake in motion there was one place in particular near the village of Newport where you sailed for four miles to gain about 40 rods we went on to the vessel grounded for lack of water we then lightened her by taking out part of her cargo and when the tide came in we got to the wars and left her at the disposal of the artillery rest we then crossed over land to the head of the elk or the head or rather bottom of test peak bay here we found a large fleet of small vessels waiting to convey us and other troops stores etc. down the bay we soon embarked that is such of us as went by water the greater part of the army having gone on by land I was in a small schooner called the Birmingham there was but a small number of our core of sappers and miners in this vessel with a few artillery's six or eight officers and a commissary who had a small quantity of stores on board among which was a hog's head containing 20 or 30 gallons of rum to prevent the men from getting more than their share of the liquor the officers who loved a little of the good creature as well as the men had the bulkhead between the hold and the cabin taken down and place the hog's head in the cabin carefully nailing up the partition again when they thought that they had the exclusive disposal of the precious treasure but the soldiers were as wily as they for the very first night after the officers had snugly secured it as they thought the head of the cask being crowded against the bulkhead the soldiers contrived to loosen one of the boards at the lower end so as to swing it aside and broach the hog's head on the other head so that while the officers in the cabin thought they were the sole possessors of its contents the soldiers in the hold had possession of at least a good share as themselves we passed down the bay making a grand appearance with our mosquito fleet to anapolis which I had left about five months before for West Point here we stopped fearing to proceed any further at present not knowing exactly how matters were going on down the bay a French cutter was dispatched to procure intelligence she returned in the course of three or four days bringing word that the passage was clear we then proceeded and soon arrived at the mouth of James's River where were a number of armed French vessels and two or three fifty gunned ships we passed in sight of the French fleet then line in Lynn Haven Bay they resembled a swamp of dry pine trees we had passed several of their men of war higher up the bay we were obliged to stay here a day or two on account of a severe northeast rainstorm the wind was quite high and in the height of the storm some officers on board of vessel line near ours sent off a soldier in a small punt hardly capable of carrying a man in calm weather to another vessel to procure them some spiritus liquor one of the officers had furnished him with his hat as a token for something the man had done his errand and was returning when the sea running so high that it upset his underpinning which floated from him and left him to shift for himself in the water the storm was so severe that the people were below deck in all the vessels near except ours the captain of our company happened at that instant to be on deck peeping into some concern that was none of his own as he generally was and saw him upset we had no better boat belonging to our vessel than the one the man in the water had just been thrown from our captain sees a musket that happened to be nearby and discharged at several times before he had roused any of the people in the nearest vessels at length he was heard and observed by some on board a french armed vessel who sent a boat and took the man up and put him on board the vessel he went from I saw him in the water and he exhibited rather a ludicrous figure with an officers large cocked hat upon his head paddling away with one hand and holding his canteen in the other he was nearly exhausted before the boat reached him our officers pretended to blame the others greatly for sending the poor fellow upon such an errand in a storm but it is to be remembered that they had a plenty of liquor on board their vessel and therefore had no occasion to send anyone on such business after the storm had ceased we proceeded up the river to a place called Burwell's Ferry where the fleet all anchored it was sunset when we anchored and I was sent across the river with two men in a borrowed boat to fill a cask with water it was quite dark before I got ready to return and I had to cross almost the whole river which is pretty wide here and through the whole fleet before I reached our vessel I could not find her in the dark among so many and when I hailed her the soldiers in almost every vessel in the river would answer me what could I do why just what I did do keep rowing one way and another till nine or ten o'clock at night weary and wishing every man in the fleet except ourselves had a toad in his throat at length by mere good luck I found our vessel which soon put an end to my trouble and fatigue together with their mischievous fun we landed the next day in the afternoon when our quartermaster sergeant sat off to procure something for us to eat we had to go nearly two miles for it myself and another sergeant a mess made of mine concluded to go after the provisions to stretch our legs after so long confinement on board the vessel we took our cook with us for he as usual had nothing to do at home when we arrived at the place we found it would be quite late before we could be served we therefore bought a beef's horselet of the butchers and packed off our cook with it that we might have it in readiness against our return to camp the cook who had been a bank fisherman and of course loved to wet his whistle once in a while sat off for home and we contented ourselves till after dark before we could get away and expectations of having something to eat on our return when we came home we went directly to our tent to get our suppers when low we found mr. cook fast asleep in the tent and not the least sign of cookery going on with much ado we wait him and inquired where our victuals were he had got none he mumbled out as well as he could where is the pluck you brought home I sold it said he sold it what did you sell it for I don't know was the reply if you sold it what did you get for it if you will have patience at he I will tell you patience said the sergeant it is enough to vex as saint here we sent you home to get something in readiness against our return and you have sold what we ordered you to provide for us and got drunk and now we must go all night without anything to eat or else set up to wait a division of the meat and cook it ourselves what I say did you get for it if anything we can eat at present say so I will tell you said he first I got a little rum and next I got a little pepper and and then I got a little more rum well where is the rum and pepper you got I drank the rum said he there is the pepper pox on you said the sergeant I'll pepper you and it was about to be labor the poor fellow when I interfered and saved him from a blasting but truly this was one among the sufferings I had to undergo for I was hungry and impatient enough to have eaten the fellow had he been well cooked and peppered soon after landing we marched to Williamsburg where we joined General Lafayette and soon after our whole company arriving we prepared to move down in and pay our old acquaintances the British at Yorktown a visit I doubt not that their wish was not to have so many of us come at once as their accommodations were rather scanty they thought the fewer the better cheer we thought the more the merrier we had come a long way to see them and were unwilling to put off with excuses we thought the present time quite as convenient at least for us as any future time could be and we accordingly persisted hoping that as they pretended to be a very courtly people they would have the politeness to come out and meet us which would greatly shorten the time to be spent in the visit and save themselves and us much labor and trouble but they were too impolite at this time to do so we marched from Williamsburg the last of September it was a warm day when we had proceeded about halfway to Yorktown we halted and rested two or three hours being about to cook some visuals I saw a fire which some of the Pennsylvania troops had kindled a short distance off I went to get some fire while some of my mess mates made other preparations we having turned our rum and pepper cook adrift I had taken off my coat and unbutton my waistcoat it being as I said before very warm my pocketbook containing about five dollars in money and some other articles in all about seven dollars was in my waistcoat pocket when I came among the strangers they appeared to be uncommonly complacent asking many questions helping me to fire and chatting very familiarly I took my fire and return but it was not long before I perceived that those kind-hearted helpers had helped themselves to my pocketbook and its whole contents I felt mortally chagrined but there was no plaster from my sore but patience and my plaster of that at this time I am sure was very small and very thinly spread for it never covered the wound end of chapter seven part one chapter seven part two of a narrative of a revolutionary soldier by Joseph Plum Martin this leap of ox recording is in the public domain campaign of 1781 part two here or about this time we had orders from the commander-in-chief that in case the enemy should come out to meet us we should exchange but one round with them and then decide the conflict with the bayonet as they valued themselves at the instrument the French forces could play their part at it and the Americans were never backward at trying its virtue the British however did not think fit at that time to give us an opportunity to soil our bayonets in their carcasses but why they did not we could never conjecture we as much expected it as we expected to find them there we went on and soon arrived and encamped in their neighborhood without let or molestation our miners lay about a mile and a half from their works in open view of them here again we encountered our old associate hunger affairs as they respected provisions etc. were not yet regulated no eatable stores had arrived nor could we expect they should until we knew what reception the enemy would give us we were therefore compelled to try our hands at foraging again we that is our core of miners were in camp near a large wood there was a plenty of shows all about this would fat and plump wain from 50 to 100 pounds a piece we soon found some of them and as no owner appeared to be at hand and the hogs not understanding our inquiries if we made any sufficiently to inform us to whom they belong we made free with some of them to satisfy the calls of nature till we could be better supplied if better we could be our officers countenance dust and that was all the permission we wanted and many of us did not want even that we now began to make preparations for laying close siege to the enemy we had hold him and nothing remained but to dig him out accordingly after taking every precaution to prevent his escape settled our guards provided fashions and gabbins made platforms for the batteries to be laid down when needed brought on our battering pieces ammunition etc. on the 5th of October we began to put our plans into execution one third part of all the troops were put in requisition to be employed in opening the trenches a third part of our sappers and miners were ordered out this night to assist the engineers in laying out the works it was a very dark and rainy night however we repaired to the place and began by following the engineers and laying last of Pinewood end to end upon the line marked out by the officers for the trenches we had not proceeded far in the business before the engineers ordered us to desist and remain where we were and be sure not to straggle a foot from the spot while they were absent from us in a few minutes after their departure there came a man alone to us having on a shirt out as we conjectured it being exceedingly dark and inquired for the engineers we now began to be a little jealous for our safety being alone and without arms and within 40 rods of the British trenches the stranger inquired what troops we were talked familiarly with us a few minutes when being informed which way the officers had gone he went off in the same direction after strictly charging us in case we should be taken prisoners not to discover to the enemy what troops we were we were obliged to him for his kind advice but we considered ourselves as standing in no great need of it for we knew as well as he did that sappers and miners were allowed no quarters at least are entitled to none by the laws of warfare and of course should take care if taken and the enemy did not find us out not to betray our own secret in a short time the engineers returned and the afore mentioned stranger with them they discourse together some time when by the officers often calling him your Excellency we discovered it was general Washington had we dared we might have cautioned him for exposing himself so carelessly to danger at such a time and doubtless he would have taken it in good part if we had but nothing ill happened to either him or ourselves it coming on to rain hard we were ordered back to our tents and nothing more was done that night the next night which was the 6th of October the same men were ordered to the lines that had been there the night before we this night completed laying out the works the troops of the line were there ready with entrenching tools and began to entrench after general Washington had struck a few blows with a pickaxe a mere ceremony that it might be said general Washington with his own hands first broke round at the siege of Yorktown the ground was sandy and soft and the men employed that night eat no idle bread and I question if they eat any other so that by daylight they had covered themselves from danger from the enemy shot who it appeared never mistrusted that we were so near them the whole night their attention being directed to another quarter there was upon the right of their works a marsh our people had sent to the western side of this marsh a detachment to make a number of fires by which and our men often passing before the fires the British were led to imagine that we were about some secret mischief there and consequently directed their whole fire to that quarter while we were entrenching literally under their noses as soon as it was day they perceive their mistake and began to fire where they ought to have done sooner they brought out a field piece or two without their trenches and discharged several shots at the men who were at work erecting a bomb battery but their shot had no effect and they soon gave it over they had a large bulldog and every time they fired he would follow their shots across our trenches our officers wished to catch him and obliged him to carry a message from them into the town to their masters but he looked too formidable for any of us to encounter I do not remember exactly the number of days we were employed before we got our batteries and readiness to open upon the enemy but think it was not more than two or three the French who were upon our left had completed their batteries a few hours before us but were not allowed to discharge their pieces till the American batteries were ready our commanding battery was at the near bank of the river and contain 10 heavy guns the next was a bomb battery of three large mortars and so on through the whole line the whole number American and French was 92 cannon mortars and howitzers our flagstaff was in the 10 gun battery upon the right of the hole I was in the trenches the day that the batteries were to be opened all were upon the tiptoe of expectation and impatience to see the signal given to open the whole line of batteries which was to be the hoisting of the American flag in the 10 gun battery about noon the much wished for single went up I confess I felt a secret pride swell my heart when I saw the star spangled banner waving majestically in the very faces of our implacable adversaries it appeared like an omen of success to our enterprise and so it proved in reality a simultaneous discharge of all the guns in the line followed the French troops accompanying it with Huzzah for the Americans it was said that the first shell sent from our batteries entered an elegant house formally owned or occupied by the secretary of state under the British government and burnt directly over a table surrounded by a large party of British officers at dinner killing and wounding a number of them this was a warm day to the British the siege was carried on warmly for several days when most of the guns in the enemy's works were silenced we now began our second parallel about halfway between our works and theirs there were two strong redoubts held by the British on their left it was necessary for us to possess those redoubts before we could complete our trenches one afternoon I with the rest of our core that had been on duty in the trenches the night but one before we're ordered to the lines I mistrusted something extraordinary serious or comical was going forward but what I could not easily conjecture we arrived at the trenches a little before sunset I saw several officers fixing bayonets on long staves I then concluded we were about to make a general assault upon the enemy's works but before dark I was informed of the whole plan which was to storm the redoubts the one by the Americans and the other by the French the sappers and miners were furnished with axes and were to proceed in front and cut a passage for the troops through the abotus which are composed of the tops of trees the small branches cut off with a slanting stroke which rendered them as sharp as spikes these trees are then laid at a small distance from the trench or ditch pointing outwards and the butts fast into the ground in such a manner that they cannot be removed by those on the outside of them it is almost impossible to get through them through this we were to cut a passage before we or the other assailants could enter at dark the detachment was formed and advanced beyond the trenches and lay down on the ground to await the signal for advancing to the attack which was to be three shells from a certain battery near where we were lying all the batteries in our line were silent and we lay anxiously waiting for the signal the two brilliant planets Jupiter and Venus were in close contact in the western hemisphere the same direction that the signal was to be made in when I happen to cast my eyes to that quarter which was often and I caught a glance of them I was ready to spring on my feet thinking that they were the signal for starting our watch word was Roshan bow the commander of the French forces name for being pronounced Roshan bow it sounded when pronounced quick like rush on boys we had not laying here long before the expected signal was given for us and the French who were to storm the other redoubt by the three shells with their fiery trains mounting the air in quick succession the word up up was then reiterated through the detachment we immediately move silently on toward the redoubt we were to attack with unloaded muskets just as we arrived at the abotus the enemy discovered us and directly opened a sharp fire upon us we were now at a place where many of our large shells had burst in the ground making holes sufficient to bury an ox in the men having their eyes fixed upon what was transacting before them were every now and then falling into these holes I thought the British were killing us off at a great rate at length one of the holes happening to pick me up I found out the mystery of the huge slaughter as soon as the firing began our people began to cry the forts our own and it was rush on boys the sappers and miners soon cleared a passage for the infantry who entered it rapidly our minors were ordered not to enter the fort but there was no stopping them we will go said they then go to the devil said the commanding officer of our core if you will I could not pass at the entrance we had made it was so crowded I therefore forced a passage at a place where I saw our shot had cut away some of the abotus several others entered at the same place while passing a man at my side received a ball in his head and fell under my feet crying out bitterly while crossing the trench the enemy through hand grenades small shells into it they were so thick that I at first thought them cartridge papers on fire but was soon undeceived by their cracking as I mounted the breastwork I met an old associate hitching himself down into the trench I knew him by the light of the enemy's musket tree it was so vivid the fort was taken and all was quiet in a very short time immediately after the firing ceased I went out to see what had become of my wounded friend and the other that fell in the passage they were both dead in the heat of the action I saw a British soldier jump over the walls of the fort next to the river and go down the bank which was almost perpendicular and 20 or 30 feet high when he came to the bench he made off for the town and if he did not make good use of his legs I never saw a man that did all that were in the action of storm in the redoubt were exempted from further duty that night we laid down upon the ground and rested the remainder of the night as well as a constant discharge of grape and canister shot would permit us to do while those who were on duty for the day completed the second parallel by including the captured redoubts within it we returned to camp early in the morning all safe and sound except one of our lieutenants who had received a slight wound on the top of the shoulder by a musket shot seven or eight men belonging to the infantry were killed and a number wounded being off duty one day several of us went into the woods and fields in search of nuts returning across the fields which lay all common we came across a number of horses at pasture thinking to make a little fun for myself I caught one of the horses and mounting him as the Dutchman did his bear without saddle or bridle set off full speed for camp guiding my nag with a stick after I had proceeded thus for nearly a mile my charger appeared to possess a strong inclination to return to his associates I could not persuade him from his determination but rather affronted him in all my endeavors to stop him he at length set off back with himself and meet to at full spring I clung to him till I found he was directing his course straight under the limbs of a large spreading oak tree fearing I might meet with something like absolums fate I thought at best to quit my situation in season and accordingly jumped off I happen to get but little personal injury but I bounded like a football this cooled my courage for such sort of exercises ever after our duty was hazardous but not very hard as to eatables what we could not get from the public stores we can make up in the woods we had a large dog that we had brought from West Point he had no more to do than to go into the woods which were quite handy and when we came across the trail of a shawl of hogs to set off old bows when we soon heard a crying out and it was generally made by a black one he having a particular regard or antipathy he never told us which for that color after the knife had passed the throat of the victim we carried it to a frog pond in the rear of our camp and near our bakehouse where after evening roll call we could fit it for eating convey it to the baker where it was baked in prime order we were on duty in the trenches 24 hours and 48 hours in camp the infalleds did the camp duty and we had nothing else to do but to attend morning and evening roll calls and recreate ourselves as we please the rest of the time till we were called upon to take our turns on duty in the trenches again the greatest inconvenience we felt was the want of good water there being none near our camp but nasty frog ponds where all the horses in the neighborhood were watered and we were forced to wade through the water to the skirts of the ponds thick with mud and filth to get at water in any wise fit for use and that full of frogs all the springs about the country although they looked well tasted like copperous water or like water that had been standing in iron or copper vessels I was one day rambling alone in the woods when I came across to small brook of very good water about a mile from our tents we use this water daily to drink or we should almost have suffered but it was the fortune of war I was one night in the trenches erecting a bomb battery the enemy it being very dark were directed in their firing by a large tree I was ordered by our officers to take two or three men and fell the tree with some old axes as dull as hose the tree was very large and we were two hours and cutting it though we took Solomon's advice in handling dull tools by putting to the more strength the British all the time urging us to exert ourselves with round and grape shot they struck the tree a number of times while we were at work at it but chance to do us no harm at all in the morning while the reliefs were coming into the trenches I was sitting on the side of the trench when some of the New York troops coming in one of the sergeants stepped up to the breast work to look about him the enemy through a small shell which fell upon the outside of the works the man turned his face to look at it at that instant a shot from the enemy which doubtless was aimed for him in particular as none others were in sight of them passed just by his face without touching him at all he fell dead into the trench I put my hand on his forehead and found his skull was shattered all in pieces and the blood flowing from his nose and mouth but not a particle of skin was broken I never saw an instance like this among all the men I saw killed during the whole war after we had finished our second line of trenches there was but little firing on either side after Lord Cornwall's had failed to get off upon the 17th day of October a rather unlucky day for the British he requested a cessation of hostilities for I think 24 hours when commissioners from both armies met at a house between the lines to agree upon articles of capitulation we waited with anxiety for termination of the armistice and as the time drew nearer our anxiety increased the time at length arrived it passed and all remain quiet and now we concluded that we had attained what we had taken so much pains for for which we had encountered so many dangers and had so anxiously wished before night we were informed that the British had surrendered and that the siege was ended the next day we were ordered to put ourselves in as good order as our circumstance would admit to see what was the completion of our present wishes the British army marched out and stacked their arms the trenches where they crossed the road leading to the town were leveled and all things put in order for this grand exhibition after breakfast on the 19th we were marched on to the ground and paraded on the right-hand side of the road and the French forces on the left we waited two or three hours before the British made their appearance they were not always so dilatory but they were compelled at last by necessity to appear all armed with bayonets fixed drums beating and faces lengthening they were led by general O'Hara with the American general Lincoln on his right the Americans and French beating a march as they passed out between them it was a noble sight to us and the more so as it seemed to promise a speedy conclusion to the contest the British did not make so good an appearance as the German forces but there was certainly some allowance to be made in their favor the English felt their honor wounded the Germans did not greatly care whose hands they were in the British paid the American seemingly but little attention as they passed them but they eyed the French with considerable malice depicted in their countenances they marched to the place appointed and stacked their arms they then returned to the town in the same manner they had marched out except being divested of their arms after the prisoners were marched off into the country our army separated the French remaining where they then were and the Americans marching for the Hudson during the siege we saw in the woods herds of Negroes which Lord Cornwallis after he had invialled them from their proprietors in love and pity to them had turned adrift with no other recompense for their confidence in his humanity than the smallpox for their bounty and starvation and death for their wages they might have been scattered about in every direction dead and dying with pieces of ears of burnt American corn in the hands and mouths even of those that were dead after the siege was ended many of the owners of these deluded creatures came to our camp and engaged some of our men to take them up generally offering a getting ahead for them some of our sappers and miners took up several of them that belong to a colonel banister when he applied for them they refused to deliver them to him unless he would promise not to punish them he said he had no intention of punishing them that he did not blame them at all the blame lay on Lord Cornwallis I saw several of those miserable wretches delivered to their master they came before him under a very powerful fit of the agieu he told them that he gave them a free choice either to go with him or remain where they were that he would not injure a hair of their heads if they returned with him to their duty had the poor souls received a reprieve at the gallows they could not have been more overjoyed than they appeared to be at what he promised them their agieu fit soon left them I had a share in one of them by assisting in taking him up the fortune I acquired was small only one dollar I received what was then called its equivalent in paper money if money it might be called it amounted to twelve hundred nominal dollars all of which I afterwards paid for one single quart of rum to such a miserable state had all paper stuff called money depreciated our core of sappers and miners were now put on board vessels to be transported up the bay I was on board a small schooner the captain of our company and 20 others of our men were in the same vessel there was more than 20 tons of beef on board salted in bulk in the hold we were obliged to remain behind to deal out this beef and small quantities to the troops that remained here I remain part of the time on board and part on shore for 18 days after all the American troops were gone to the northward and none remain but the French it now began to grow cold and there were two or three cold rain storms we suffered exceedingly while we were compelled to stay on shore having no tents nor any kind of fuel the houses in the town being all occupied by the French troops our captain at length became tired of this business and determined to go on after the troops at all events we accordingly left Yorktown and set our faces toward the highlands of New York it was now the month of November and winter approaching we all wish to be near home or at least to be with the rest of our core who were we knew not where nor did they know where we were they had heard before this that our schooner was cast away and we were drowned after we left Yorktown we had headwinds for several days and made a little progress getting no farther than Patuxent River in Maryland in that time we came to anchor at the mouth of that river about sunset and as we had been some time on board the vessel we obtained permission from our captain to go on shore and sleep as we saw a shelter on shore put up by some of the troops who had gone on before us and here again I had liked to have taken a short discharge from the army it was nosed around that there was a small pirate boat in the bay just after we had anchored with several other small vessels in the river there came sweeping in a boat that answered the description given of the vessel in question our captain charged a musket that was on deck belonging to one of our men and hailed the boat but as the people proved to be friendly and acquaintance to the musket was laid by and no further notice taken of it for the present when we had landed in kindled a fire and were most of us sitting down by it one of our men took up the loaded musket not knowing it to be so and placing the butt of the piece on the ground between his legs asked the owner if his musket was in good order and cocked and snapped it I was standing by his side with the muzzle of the piece close by my ear when it proved to be in good order enough to go off and nearly sent me off with its contents the fire from it burnt all the hair off the side of my head and I thought at the instant that my head had gone with it in the morning there were signs of a southerly wind we hastened on board and the wind breezing up we got underway and steered for the head of the bay it was about sunrise when we started and when we anchored at the head of the bay the sun had just set having run in that time upwards of 130 miles the flats about our anchoring place were almost covered with wild waterfowl I do not remember ever seen so many of one time before or since although I have often seen large numbers of them one of our men discharged his piece at a flock on the wing when they appeared like a cloud and were spread over a space of a quarter of a mile every way the ball passed almost through the flock before a chance to hit one and it hit but one the next morning we landed at what is called the head of elk where we found the rest of our core and some of the infantry also a few French our people seem very glad to see us again as they had been informed that we were certainly all drowned we remained here a few days and then March for Philadelphia we encamped one night while we are on our March at Williamton a very handsome borough town on the Christiana river in the state of Delaware I was quartered for the night at a gentleman's house who had before the war been a sea captain he related to me an antidote that gave me rather a disagreeable feeling as it may perhaps my readers it was thus at the Battle of Germantown in the year 1777 a Dutchman an inhabitant of that town and his wife fired upon some of the British during the action whether they killed anyone or not he did not say but after the battle someone informed against them and they were both taken and confined in the provost guardhouse in the city and their kept was scarcely anything to sustain nature and not a spark of fire to warm them on the morning that the Augusta was blown up at Fort Mifflin on Mud Island the poor old man had got to the prison yard to enjoy the warm sunbeams with a number of other prisoners my informant among them he being a prisoner at the time when they heard the report of the ship's magazine the poor creature exclaimed has a for general Washington tomorrow he comes the villain provost Marshall upon hearing this put him into the cellar of the prison and kept him there without allowing him the least article of sustenance till he died the prisoners cut a small crevice in the floor with a knife through which they poured water and sometimes a little spirits while he held up his mouth to the place to receive it such inhuman treatment was often shown to our people when prisoners by the British during the Revolutionary War but it needs no comment in the morning before we marched some of us concluded to have a stimulator I went to a house nearby where I was informed they sold liquors when I entered the house I saw a young woman in decent morning dishable I asked her if I could have any liquor there she told me that her husband had just stepped out and would be in directly and very politely desired me to be seated I had sat but a minute or two when there came in from the backyard a great potbellied Negro man rigged out in his super fine broad cloth ruffled shirt bow shin and flat foot and as black and shining as a junk bottle my dear said the lady this soldier wishes for a quart of rum I was thunderstruck had not the man taken my canteen from me and measured me the liquor I should certainly have forgotten my errand I took my canteen and hastened off as fast as possible being fearful that I might hear or see more of their dearing for had I I am sure it would have given me the Igu however agreeable such tweens becoming one flesh was in that part of the union I was not acquainted with it in that in which I resided we went on to Philadelphia crossed the river Shulkeel on a pontoon bridge entered the city and took up our abode in the barracks the infantry passed on for the Hudson but the regiment of artilleryist Colonel Lambs who were at the siege of Yorktown stopped with us we stayed here several days the barracks in the city are or were then very comodious they were two stories high with a gallery their whole length and an ample parade in front they were capable of sheltering two or three thousand men one night while we were lying here one of my comrades having occasion to go out it being very dark he soon came back in a shocking fright hardly able to speak he was asked what was the matter when having recovered himself so far as to be able to speak he said there was a ghost in the gallery the greater part of the men in the room turned out to see the ghost a thing often talked of but very rarely seen we could hardly persuade the man to go out with us to direct us to the object of his terror however we went out when low what should the spirit be but an old white horse which had walked up the stairs to the gallery probably in search of something to eat as judging by his appearance he very much needed it for he had rather a ghostly aspect but did not seem a very formidable foe after staying in Philadelphia about a fortnight we left the city and proceeded to the city of Burlington in New Jersey 20 miles above Philadelphia on the Delaware which place we understood was to be our winter quarters we marched about noon went about 10 miles and halted for the night we took up our lodgings in the houses of the inhabitants the house where I was cord seemed to belong to a man well off in this world's goods we were allowed the kitchen and a comfortable fire and we happen to have just then what a soldier of the revolution valued next to the welfare of his country and his own honor that is something to eat and being all in good health and having the prospect of a quiet night's rest all which comforts happening to us at this time put us in high spirits we had received some fresh beef and bread that morning and after being settled in our quarters we set about cooking our suppers there were three or four small boys belonging to the house who were so taken up with their new guest that they kept with us the whole evening we traded with these boys for some potatoes to cook with our meat we gave them two or three cartridges and they gave us as many potatoes as we needed just as we had our supper upon the table the man of the house passed through the room and seeing that we had potatoes asked us where we procured them some of the men replied in Philadelphia he took up one from the dish and broke it miserable things said he my potatoes are worth double the value of these we left in our sleeves at his simplicity his own boys skinned their teeth to think how their father was deceived but said nothing when we turned out in the morning to resume our march upon examination we found these Roguesh urchins had undertaken to service with the same sauce they had their father for they had during the night nearly emptied all our cartridge boxes we saw where they deposited those we gave them when upon examining the place we found our lost goods which we did not fail to secure and likewise those which we had given them as a punishment for their roguery we marched again and crossed a narrow ferry called penny ferry arrived at Bristol and crossed the Delaware to Burlington where the artillery's went into barracks and our core of miners were quartered in a large elegant house which had formally been the residents of the governor when the state was a British province the non-commissioned officers with a few others had a neat room in one of the wings and the men occupied the rest of the house except the rooms in the third story which were taken up by the officers and their attendants now we thought ourselves well situated for the winter as indeed we were as it respected shelter after a tedious campaign but it turned out quite the reverse was several and myself amongst the rest as in the next chapter will appear being once more snugly stowed away in winter quarters it of course ends my sixth campaign end of chapter 7 part 2 chapter 8 part 1 of a narrative of a revolutionary soldier by Joseph Blum Martin this LibriVox recording is in the public domain campaign of 1782 part 1 a man with morbid pains oppressed who feels the nightmare in his breast rejoices when the pressures or and the distress is felt no more so war and talmots when they cease bring comfort in the thoughts of peace the arm of British power in America being dislocated by the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his Meyer middens we had not much to disturb us on account of the enemy I fared rather better than I did when I was here on my journey to mud island in 1777 our duty was not very hard but I was a soldier yet and had to submit to soldiers rules and discipline and soldiers fair either here or just before our officers had enlisted a recruit he had lately been discharged from the New Jersey line after enlisting with us he obtained a furlough to visit his friends but receiving no money when he engaged with us which was I believe the sole motive of his entering the service at the time and obtaining his ends in getting home he took a special care to keep himself there at least till he could get another opportunity to try his luck again which he accordingly did by enlisting in a core of new levees in his own state New Jersey my captain hearing where he was and how engaged sent me with two men to find him out and bring him back to his duty and now my dear reader excuse me for being so minute in detailing this little excursion for it yet seems to my fancy among the privations of that war like one of those little verdant plots of ground amid the burning sands of Arabia so often described by travelers one of our captains and another of our men being about going that way on furlough I and my two men set off with them we received that day two or three rations of fresh pork and hard bread we had no cause to call this pork carrion or hog meat for on the contrary it was so fat and being entirely fresh we could not eat it at all the first night of our expedition we boiled our meat and I asked the landlady for a little sauce she told me to go to the garden and take as much cabbage as I pleased and that boiled with the meat was all we could eat the next morning we proceeded it was cool weather and about six inches deep of snow on the ground after two or three days journeying we arrived in the neighborhood of the game that we were in pursuit of it was now sundown and our furloughed captain and man concluded to stop for the night here we fell in with some soldiers of the core that our man belonged to our captain inquired if they knew such a man naming him they equivocated and asked many questions concerning our business our officious captain answered them so much to their satisfaction that mr. deserter took so good care of himself that I could not find him and I cared but little about it I knew he would get nothing with us if we caught him but a striped jacket and as we concluded the war was nearly ended we thought it would be but a little service to him nor his company any to us the captain put me and my two men into the open cold kitchen of a house that they said had some time or other been a tavern but as it was in the vicinity of the place where I passed the winter of 1779 80 I was acquainted with several of the inhabitants of the neighborhood and accordingly sent one of my men to a house hard by the master of which I knew to be a fine man and obtained his leave to lodge there we had a good warm room to sit and lodge in and as the next day was Thanksgiving we had an excellent supper in the morning when we were about to proceed on our journey the man of the house came into the room and put some bread to the fire to toast he next produced some cider as good and rich is wine then giving each of us a slice of his toasted bread he told us to eat it and drink the cider observing that he had done so for a number of years and found it the best stimulator imaginable we again prepared to go on having given up the idea of finding the deserter our landlord then told us that we must not leave his house till we had taken breakfast with him we thought we were very well dealt by already but concluded not to refuse a good offer we therefore stayed and had a genuine New Jersey breakfast consisting of buck wheat slapjacks flowing with butter and honey and a capital dish of chocolate we then went on determined not to hurry ourselves so long as the Thanksgiving lasted we found a good dinner at a farmer's house but I thought that both the good man and his lady looked at us as if they would have been as well pleased with our room as our company however we got our dinner and that was quite sufficient for us at night we applied for lodging at a house near the road there appeared to be none but females in the house two maternally ladies and two mrs one of the women such she should have no objection to our staying there through the night were it not that a woman in the house was then lying at the point of death I had often heard this excuse made before we readily perceived her drift and when turning to go away one of the men told her that he did not wish to stay for said he if old corpus should chance to come in the dark for the sick woman he might in his haste mistake and take me the woman smiled and we went on the next house which looked as if hospitality was an inmate I applied to an attained admittance here again we found a plenty of Thanksgiving fair the people of this house were acquainted with numbers of the Connecticut soldiers who had been here during the winter of 79 and made many inquiries respecting them they seem to have a particular regard for the Connecticut forces as that section of the state was originally settled by Connecticut people and it still retains the name of the Connecticut farms the good man of the house would not let us depart in the morning until we had breakfasted we then bid our kind host farewell and proceeded on about noon we called at a house and while we were warming ourselves in the kitchen and chatting with young people the good old housewife came into the room and entered into conversation with us upon the hardships of a soldier's life she lamented much that we had no mothers nor sisters to take care of us she said she knew what it was in a measure to endure the fatigues and hardships of a camp by the sufferings her sons had undergone in the drafted militia they had told her how they had suffered hunger and cold and to cap all said she they came home ragged dirty and lousy as beggars the young men who were present did not seem to relish the latter part of her narrative for they leered like cross colts the good woman all the while did not say a word to us about eating but went off to her room and shut the door we stayed a few minutes longer and we're just going away when the old lady opened her door and said come to your dinner soldiers with as much ease and familiarity as though we had belong to the family agreeably to invitation we went in and found the master of the house sitting in his elbow chair by the fire who gave us a hearty welcome to the remains of his Thanksgiving cheer we ate a hearty dinner and an excellent one it was when after returning them are sincere thanks for their hospitality we pursued our journey this afternoon we passed a place where on our march to Virginia the past summer a funny incident occurred which at the time it happened and at this time excited considerable merriment our captain we always took pains to discommode had placed himself on the top of an old rail fence during a momentary halt of the troops the rail upon which he sat was very slender behind him was a meadow and from the fence for about a rod was a bank almost perpendicular I was sitting on the other end of the rail when our sergeant major observing the weakness of the fence came and seated himself by my side and given me a hint we kept wriggling about till we broke the rail and let the captain take his chance down the bank among the bushes quite to the bottom taking good care ourselves not to go with him when he came back he did not look very pleased with his Irish hoist whether he mistrusted that we had been the cause of his overturn I do not know he said but little whatever he might think at night we stopped at a large elegant brick house to which the owner bid us welcome he told me that his house was Lord Cornwallis his quarters during part of the time he was in the jerseys in 76 and 77 he said that Cornwallis was a morose cross man always quarreling with and beating his servants that he was glad his pride was humbled but had much rather have heard that he was killed and taken here again we regaled ourselves on Thanksgiving Viennes which was nearly or quite the last however we had fared something better than I did at the rice and vinegar Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania in the year of 1777 we took breakfast here and went on we this forenoon passed through a pretty village called Maidenhead don't stare dear reader I did not name it an hour or two before we came to this place I saw a pretty young lady standing in the door of a house just by the roadside I very innocently inquired of her how far it was to Maidenhead she answered five miles one of my men who though young did not stand in very imminent danger of being hanged for his beauty observed to the young lady that he thought the commodity scarce in the market since he had to go so far to seek it don't trouble yourself said she about that there is no danger of its being more scarce on your account the fellow leered and I believe wished he had held his tongue the next day we arrived at Trenton where was a commissary in some public stores I concluded although we were in a Thanksgiving country yet as we should soon be where we should not find so much to be thankful for that I would endeavor to supply the deficiency in some degree accordingly I made out a return for three men for three days rations we went to the commissaries who told us that he had no kind of meat on hand nor any other provisions but flour that if we chose to take that he would allow us a pound and a quarter of flour for a pound of beef we took it and exchanged it at the bakers pound for pound and went on we arrived at our quarters in Burlington sometime in the evening soon after this came on my trouble and that of several others of the men belonging to our core sometime in the month of January two of our men were taken down with a species of yellow fever one recovered and the other died directly after one belonging to our room was seized with it and removed to the hospital where he recovered next I was attacked with it this was in February it took hold of me in good earnest I bled violently at the nose and was so reduced in flesh and strength in a few days that I was helpless as an infant oh how much I suffered although I had as good attendance as circumstances would admit the disorder continued to take hold of our people to there were more than 20 sick with it our officers made a hospital in an upper room on one of the wings of the house and as soon as the men fell sick they were lodged there about the first of March I began to mend and recovered what little reason I ever possessed of which I had been entirely deprived from nearly the first attack of the fever as soon as I could bear it I was removed from my room to the hospital among those that were recently taken for what reason I was put with the sick and dying I do not know nor did I ask I did not care much what they did with me but nothing ill resulted from it that I know of the doctor belonging to the artillery regiment who attended upon us we having no doctor in our core went home on furlough and it was a happy circumstance for us for he was not the best of physicians besides he was badly provided to do with the apothecary stores in the Revolutionary Army whereas ill-fornished as any others the doctor however left us under the care of a physician belonging to the city who was a fine man and to his efforts under Providence I verily believe I owed my life he was a skillful tender hearted and diligent man there was likewise in the city a widow woman that rendered us the most essential service during our sickness as we were unable to eat anything and had only our rations of beef and bread to subsist upon this widow this pitying angel used almost every evening to send us a little brass kettle containing about a pale full of posse consisting of wine water sugar and crackers oh it was delicious even to our sick palates I never knew who our kind benefactress was all I ever knew concerning her was that she was a widow the neighbors would not tell us who she was nor where she lived all that I or any of the others who had been sick could learn from them was that she was a very fine pious soul yes she will be rewarded where it will be said to her I was hungry and you gave me meat I was sick and you visited me although she did not visit us personally she ministered more to our comfort than thousands of idle visits which are oftener of more detriment to sick people than they are benefit four men died in the room into which I was removed after I was carried there one occurrence though nothing strange in such circumstances as I was then in I took notice of although I could take notice of little else we lay on sacks filled with straw and our beds mostly upon the floor in a rank on each side of the room with an alley between the first man that died after my being conveyed there was the first in order from the entering door of the room on the side I lay next the fourth man from him died there was then four men between this last that died and me in my weakness I felt prepossessed with a notion that every fourth man would die and that consequently I should escape as I was the fifth from the one that died last and just so it happened the men next to me on the side of those that had died died next I believe this circumstance contributed a great deal in retarding my recovery until the death of this last man and that after his death when I thought myself exempted it helped as much toward my recovery such strange wins will often work great effects both in hindering and forwarding in such cases when the body is feeble and the head weak small causes often have great effect upon the sick I know it by two frequent experience eight men died at this time the rest recovered though the most of them very slowly somewhere as crazy as coots for weeks after they had gained strength to walk about my hair came off my head and I was as bald as an eagle but after I began to gain strength I soon got about but it was a grievous sickness to me the source I had ever undergone although death is much nearer to me now than it was then yet I never had thought myself so near death as I did then the spring had now began to open and warm weather soon came on we remained here till the month of May when one of our sergeants and myself obtained permission to go down to Philadelphia for a couple of days to visit some of our acquaintance in that city but particularly to carry some little clothing to one of our men in the hospital there who was wounded at the siege of Yorktown and had had his leg amputated above the knee I carried him among other things a pair of stockings and shoes his nurse told him that he was more lucky than most other people for they got one pair of shoes and stockings he got to poor fellow I never saw nor heard of him afterwards thus poor soldiers pass out of notice my comrades and I stayed over two days at Philadelphia intending to return the next day in the packet that evening one of our non-commissioned officers came down who informed us that our core had marched for Hudson's River and that our arms and clothing were gone on in the baggage wagons and that we must immediately follow we all however stayed there that night and early next morning we sat off by land we had nothing to burden us not even provisions or money consequently had nothing to hinder us from proving our adroitness at traveling we walked that day about 40 miles and stopped at night at a small snug house in the state of New Jersey we were obliged to take the soft side of the floor for our lodging having no blankets or any other kind of bedding I was tired and could have slept almost anywhere had I been undisturbed but there was belonging to the house a likely young fuzzy she with her parents composed the whole family at least they were all I saw they all went to rest in a back room and we were left to sleep in the outer room I had hardly fallen asleep when someone came balling at the door the girl I suppose knowing who it was got up and came blundering over the chairs through the room where I was lying making as much noise as a thunderstorm she at length got to the door and talk some time with the man when she came rattling back and went muttering to her bed I had but just dropped asleep again when the same jockey I supposed as it appeared to be the same voice came back and began his helping again the poor girl had to scratch open her eyes once more and come through our territories making as much confusion as at the first time they talk pretty loud for nearly an hour which kept us awake all the time they were there I wish he had taken an opportunity to visit his miss when I was farther off she came in again and went to her room growling like an old bear what did he want said the mother to her he wanted me to go with him to blank she mentioned some place why did you not go said the good woman I should look well going with him at this time of night I should so I should said she before I could get to sleep again it was daybreak I wished the girl had been asleep and her wooer gagged before I had seen or heard either of them as soon as the day dawned the man of the house came into the room where we were and took a large jug that had stood all night just at my head and poured out a morning stimulator for himself and then put the jug into a closet I was sorry I did not know it was so near me that I might have taken a comforter for the trouble they had caused me end of chapter 8 part 1