 Chapter 5 of The Women of the American Revolution, Vol. 1 by Elizabeth F. Allitt. Chapter 5. Mercy Warren The name of Mercy Warren belongs to American history. In the influence she exercised, she was perhaps the most remarkable woman who lived in the revolutionary period. She was the third child of Colonel James Otis of Barnstable in the old colony of Plymouth and was born there September 25, 1728. Ask to risk. This date, with that of her death, is taken from the entries in the family Bible at Plymouth. Return to text. The Otis family came to the country in 1630 or 1640 and settled first in Hingham. The youth of Miss Otis was passed in the retirement of her home in a routine of domestic employments and the duties devolving upon her as the eldest daughter in a family of high respectability. Her love of reading was early manifested and such was her economy of time that never neglecting her domestic cares or the duties of hospitality she found leisure not only to improve her mind by careful study but for various works of female ingenuity. A card table is preserved by one of her descendants in Quincy as a monument of her taste and industry. The design was her own, the patterns being obtained by gathering and pressing flowers from the gardens and fields. These are copied and worsted work and form one of the most curious and beautiful specimens to be found in the country. At that period the opportunities for female education were extremely limited but perhaps the more prized on that account. Miss Otis gained nothing from schools. Her only assistant in the intellectual culture of her earlier years was the Reverend Jonathan Russell, the minister of the parish, from whose library she was supplied with books and by whose councils her tastes were in a measure formed. It was from reading in accordance with his advice, Raleigh's history of the world that her attention was particularly directed to history, the branch of literature to which she afterwards devoted herself. In later years her brother James who was himself an excellent scholar became her advisor and companion in literary pursuits. There existed between them a strong attachment which nothing ever impaired. Even in the wildest moods of that insanity with which late in life the great patriot was afflicted her voice had power to calm him when all else was without effect. These favorite employments of reading, drawing, and needlework formed the recreation of a quiet life in the home which Miss Otis rarely quitted. A visit to Boston at the time of her brother's graduation at Harvard College in 1743 was the occasion of her first absence for any length of time. When about twenty-six she became the wife of James Warren, then a merchant of Plymouth, Massachusetts. In him she found a partner of congenial mind. Her new avocations and cares were not allowed to impair the love of literature which had been the delight of her youth. It was while residing occasionally for a few weeks with her husband and children on a farm a few miles from the village to which she gave the name of Clifford that most of her poetical productions were written. On the other hand, attached as she was to these pursuits, she never permitted them to interfere with household duties or the attention of a devoted mother to her children. Her attainments fitted her to give them valuable instruction and the lessons of her loving spirit of wisdom were not lost. With this fondness for historical studies and the companionship of such a brother and husband, it is not strange that the active and powerful intellect of Mrs. Warren should become engaged with interest in political affairs. These were now assuming an aspect that engrossed universal attention. Decision and action were called for on the part of those inclined to one or the other side. How warmly Mrs. Warren espoused the cause of her country, how deeply her feelings were enlisted, appears in her letters. Her correspondence with the great spirits of that era if published would form a most valuable contribution to our historical literature. This rich correspondence has been preserved by her descendants and affords the material for the present memoir. It includes letters besides those from the members of her own family from Samuel and John Adams, Jefferson, Dickinson, Jerry, Knox and others. These men asked her opinion in political matters and acknowledged the excellence of her judgment. Referring to some of her observations on the critical state of affairs after the war, General Knox writes, Your sentiments shall remain with me. Mrs. Warren herself thus writes to Mr. Adams before the meeting of the First Congress. The prudence and justice of the delegates deputed from our cities as much as did the Fossians of old at the power of the Amphictions of Greece. But if the Locrians should in time appear among you, I advise you to beware of choosing an ambitious Philip as your leader. Such a one might subvert the principles on which your institution is founded, abolish your order and build up a monarchy on the ruins of the happy institution. As to risk. All the extracts from letters in this memoir are from the manuscript correspondence of Mrs. Warren in the possession of her daughter-in-law who resides at Plymouth. This lady herself a descendant of Governor Winslow whose family intermarried with the Warrens in the fourth and sixth generations. One of the curiosities of her parter is an easy chair belonging to Governor Winslow which was brought over in the Mayflower. The iron staples are still attached by which it was fastened to the cabin floor of the pilgrim ship. And its present covering is the dress of white brocade richly embroidered worn by Mercy Warren on the day after her marriage. Some of the ancient China also remains. Several pieces 150 years old are of surpassing beauty. Return to text. Colonial difficulties and the signs of the times formed subjects of communication continually between Mrs. Warren and her female friends. Mrs. Adams says to her in 1773, You, madam, are so sincere a lover of your country and so hearty a mourner in all her misfortunes that it will greatly aggravate your anxiety to hear how much she is now oppressed and insulted. To you who have so thoroughly looked through the deeds of men and developed the dark designs of a rapatio soul no action however base or sordid no measure however cruel and villainous will be matter of any surprise. The tea that baneful weed is arrived. Great and I hope effectual opposition has been made to the landing. The friendship that existed between these two gifted women was truly beautiful and touching. Commenced in early youth it continued unchanged through the vicissitudes of a long and eventful life, unshaken by troubles, unchilled by cares, unalienated by misunderstanding. Their thoughts were communicated to each other with perfect freedom and openness and they found in joy and sorrow a solace or an added pleasure in each other's sympathy and affection. The sister of Abigail Adams who married Mr. Shaw was also warmly attached to Mrs. Warren. The celebrated Mrs. Macaulay was another for favorite correspondence though they were not personally acquainted till that lady's visit to New England. Mrs. Warren's letters to her describe the progress of the revolutionary spirit. That written December 29, 1774 speaks forcibly of the aspect of things. America stands armed with resolution and virtue but she still recoils at the idea of drawing the sword against the nation from whence she derived her origin. Yet Britain, like an unnatural parent is ready to plunge her dagger into the bosom of her affectionate offspring. But may we not yet hope for more lenient measures? You, madam, can easily delineate the characters of the new parliament. The seeds of an empire are sown in this new world. The ball rolls westward fast and though we are daily threatened with the depredations of Britain with foreign auxiliaries and the incursions of the savages, yet each city, from Nova Scotia to Georgia, has her Ditchie and her Fabby ready to sacrifice their devoted lives to preserve inviolate and to convey to their children the inherent rights of men conferred on all by the God of Nature and the privileges of Englishmen claimed by Americans from the sacred sanction of compacts. In the following year she writes, I hinted that the sword was half drawn from the scabbard. Since that it has been unsheathed. Almost every tongue is calling on the justice of heaven to punish or disperse the disturbers of the peace, liberty and happiness of their country. She says to John Adams, I have my fears. Yet notwithstanding the complicated difficulties that rise before us there is no receding. And I should blush if in any instance the weak passions of my sex should damp the fortitude, the patriotism and the manly resolution of yours. May nothing ever check that glorious spirit of freedom which inspires the patriot in the cabinet and the hero in the field with courage to maintain their righteous cause and to endeavour to transmit the claim to posterity even if they must seal the rich conveyance to their children with their own blood. Ask to risk one. Letter, August 2, 1775. Return to text. The desk, the pews and other encumbrances are taken down in the Old South. A church long venerated in the town to make it convenient for the accommodation of General Bill Goying's light horse. While the infamous Dr. Morrison whose character I suppose you are acquainted with reads prayers in the church in Brattle Street to a set of bandities who after the repins, robberies and devastations of the weak dare, some of them, to lift up their sacrilegious hands and bow before the altar of mercy. I will breathe one wish more. And that is for the restoration of peace. Peace, I mean on equitable terms, for pusillanimous and feeble as I am, I cannot wish to see the sword quietly put up in the scabbard until justice is done to America. Two asterisks. Letter, October 1775. Return to text. During the years that preceded the revolution and after its outbreak, Mrs. Warren's house appears to have been the resort of much company. As she herself says, by the Plymouth fireside where many political plans originated, discussed and digested. She reminds Mr. Adams while he is in Europe of his words once uttered in a moment of despondency that the dispute between Great Britain and America will not be settled and her sons and my sons are able to assist and negotiate with the different European courts. A lady replied though perhaps not from prescience but from presumption or presumption that you must do it yourself, that the work must be done immediately and that she expected from you in the intervals of business a pleasing narration of the different customs, manners, taste, genius and policy of nations with whom at present we are little acquainted. You assented a compliance if the prediction took place. While her home was in Plymouth, her place of residence was occasionally changed during the war. At one time she lived in the house at Milton which Governor Hutchinson had occupied. Wherever she was the friends of America were always welcomed to the shelter of her roof and the hospitalities of her table. In different passages of her letters to Mr. Adams the officers with whom she became acquainted are described. The following extract is interesting. Generals Washington, Lee and Gates with several other distinguished officers from headquarters lined with us at Watertown three days since. The first of these I think one of the most amiable and accomplished gentlemen both in person, mind and manners that I have met with. The second whom I never saw before I think plain in his person to a degree of ugliness, careless even to unpoliteness. His garb ordinary, his voice rough, his manners rather morose. Yet sensible, learned, judicious and penetrating. A considerable traveler agreeable in his narrations and a zealous, indefatigable friend to the American cause. But much more from a love of freedom and an impartial sense of the inherent rights of mankind at large than from any attachment or disgust to particular persons or countries. The last is a brave soldier, a high Republican, a sensible companion, an honest man of unaffected manners and easy deportment. She spoke thus of the Count d'Estaing. While the errand on which the Count d'Estaing came out excites our gratitude, the dignity of his deportment commands respect, and his reserved affability, if I may so express it, heightens our esteem. And Lafayette is praised in iconic fashion. Penetrating, active, sensible and judicious, he equates himself with the highest applause in the public eye while the politeness of his manners and the sociability of his temper ensure his welcome at every hospitable board. Every page from the pen of Mrs. Warren is remarkable for clearness and vigor of thought. Thus her style was not vitiated by the artificial tastes of the day, yet her expression is often studiously elaborated in accordance with the prevalent fashion. This is the case in her letters written with most care, while in others her ardent spirit pours out its feelings with irrepressible energy, portraying itself in the genuine and simple language of emotion. The following passage perhaps did not then appear studied, even in a familiar letter. The late convulsions are only the natural struggles which ensue when the genius of liberty arises to assert her rights in opposition to the ghost of tyranny. I doubt not this fell form will ere long be driven from our land, then may the western skies behold virtue, which is generally the attendant of freedom, seated on a throne of peace where she may ever preside over the rising Commonwealth of America. Asterisk. Letter to Mrs. Lathrop, 1775. Return to text. About this time as it appears was published the group, a satirical dramatic piece in two acts in which many of the leading story characters of the day were humorously introduced. A strong political influence has been ascribed to this and other satirical poems from her pen. It is an allusion to this that Mrs. Adams speaks of a Arapatio soul, Governor Hutchinson being thus designated. The following description is applied to him. But Mark, the traitor, his high-crime glass door conceals the tender feelings of the man, the social ties that bind the human heart. He strikes a bargain with his country's foes and joins to wrap America in flames. Yet with feigned pity and satanic grin as if more deep to fix the keen insult or make his life afar still more complete, he sends a groan across the broad Atlantic and with a fizz of crocodilian stab can weep and wreathe still hoping to deceive. He cries, the gathering clouds hang thick about her, but laughs within, then sobs, alas, my country. Act II, scene I. With the classical allusions then common, she mentions. India's poisonous weed. Long since a sacrifice to Thetis made a rich regal. Now all the watery dames may snuff Sushong and sip in flowing bowls the higher-flavored choice Hysonian stream and leave their nectar to old Homer's gods. It may be imagined that such bold and keen satire would produce a marked sensation and be severely felt by the persons against whom it was aimed. The author herself seems to have had some misgivings fearing lest her patriotic feelings should have carried her too far. Mrs. Adams thus reassures her. I observe my friend is laboring under apprehension lest the severity with which a certain group was drawn was incompatible with that benevolence which ought always to be predominant in a female character. Though an eagle's talon asks an eagle's eye, and satire in the hands of some is a very dangerous weapon, yet when it is so happily blended with benevolence and is awakened only by the love of virtue and apparence of vice, when truth is unavoidably preserved and ridiculous and vicious actions are alone the subject, it is so far from blamable that it is certainly meritorious. Mrs. Warren employed much of her leisure with her pen. She kept a faithful record of occurrences during the dark days of her country's affliction through times that engaged the attention both of the philosopher and the politician. She did this with the design of transmitting to posterity a faithful portraiture of the most distinguished characters of the day. Her intention was fulfilled in her history of the war. Her poetical compositions afterwards collected and dedicated to General Washington were the amusement of solitude when many of her friends were actively engaged in the field or cabinet. Some of them contain allusions to bodily sufferings, her health being far from robust. The tragedies, the sack of Rome, and the ladies of Castile are more remarkable for patriotic sentiment than dramatic merit. The verse is smooth and flowing in the language poetical but often wanting in the simplicity essential to true pathos. An interest deeper than that of the story is awakened by the application of many passages to the circumstances of the times. The truth of the following lines must have been dolly felt. Amongst all the ills that hover o'er mankind, unfeigned, or fabled in the poet's page, the blackest scroll the Sister Fury's hold for red-eyed wrath, or malice to fill up, is incomplete to sum up human woe. Till civil discord still a darker fiend stalks forth unmasked from his infernal den with mad electos torch in his right hand to light the flame and rend the soul of nature. Both these tragedies were read with interest and much praised in after years. Alexander Hamilton writes to the author July 1st, 1791. It is certain that in the ladies of Castile the sex will find a new occasion of triumph. Not being a poet myself, I am in the last danger of feeling mortification at the idea that in the career of dramatic composition at least, female genius in the United States has outstripped the male. The criticism of John Adams, who writes from London, December 25th, 1787, is equally favourable. The sack of Rome has so much spirit in itself that for the honour of America I should wish to see it acted on the stage in London before crowded audiences. The dedication of it does so much honour to me that I should be proud to see it in print, even if it could not be acted. It requires almost as much interest and intrigue to get a play acted as to be a member of Parliament. At another time he says of her poems, the poems are not all of them new to me by whom some of them have been read and esteemed some years ago. However foolishly some European writers may have sported with American reputation for genius, literature and science. I know not where they will find a female poet of their own to prefer to the ingenious author of these compositions. The squabble of the sea-nymphs celebrates the pouring of the tea into the sea and is something in the rape of the lock-style. The lines to a friend who on the American determination to suspend all commerce with Great Britain, except for the necessaries of life, requested a poetical list of the articles the ladies might comprise under that head have some fine satire. The reader will not object to the following specimen. An inventory clear of all she needs, La Myra offers here. Nor does she fear a rigid Kato's frown when she lays by the rich embroidered gown and modestly compounds for just enough, perhaps some dozens of more sightly stuff. With lawns and loot-strings, blonde and mechlin laces, fringes and jewels, fans and tweezer cases, gay cloaks and hats of every shape and size, scarfs, cardinals and ribbons of all dyes, with ruffles stamped and aprons of tambour, tippets and handkerchiefs, at least three score, with finest muslins that fare India boasts and the choice air badge from Chinese and coasts. But while the fragrant hyacin leaf regales, who'll wear the homespun produce of the veils? For if to save the nation from the curse of standing troops or name a plague still worse, few can this choice-delicious drought give up, though all Medea's poisons fill the cup. Add feathers, furs, rich satins and ducapes and headdresses in pyramidal shapes, sideboards of plate and porcelain profuse, with fifty dittos that the ladies use. Ask to risk. It is mentioned in Sanderson's biography of the signers of independence that the wig-ladies of Philadelphia having adopted the Tory fashion of high-head dresses after the evacuation of the city by the British, some wigs, dressed in egress in the full costume of a loyalist lady, took her to a place of resort where the fashionables displayed their towering top knots, seating her in a conspicuous place and afterwards paraded her through the city. Nothing, however, could stop the progress of the fashion which for a season became general in America. Return to text. If my poor treacherous memory has missed, ingenious T. Blank shall complete the list. So weak La Myra and her want so few, who can refuse? There but the sex do. In youth indeed an antiquated page taught us the threatenings of a Hebrew sage against wimples, mantles, girls, and crispen-pins, but rank not these among our modern sins. For when our manners are well understood, what in the scale is stomach or hood? Tis true we love the courtly mean and heir, the pride of dress and all the debonair. Yet Clara quits the more dress negligee and substitutes the careless pollancy until some fair one from Britannia's court, some jaunty dress or newer taste import. This sweet temptation could not be withstood though for the purchase paid her father's blood. Though laws of freedom were the costly price or flaming comets sweep the angry skies, or earthquakes rattle or volcanoes roar, indulge this trifle and she asks no more. Can the stern patriot Clara's suit deny? Tis beauty asks and reason must comply. The powers of Mrs. Warren were devoted to nobler objects than chastising the follies of the day. She gave her tenderest sympathies to the sufferings of her friends and poured the balm of consolation into many a wounded heart. The letters of Mrs. Adams show how much she leaned amidst her heavy trials on this faithful support. Nor was her kindness limited to the circle of her acquaintance. Every sufferer from this cruel war had acclaimed her heart acknowledged and her benevolence went forth on his gentle mission amongst strangers. She addressed a letter of condolence to the widow of the brave Montgomery January 20, 1776, in which the consolatory suggestions are those of a patriot and a Christian. While you are deriving comfort, she says, from the highest source, it may still further brighten the clouded moment to reflect whether of your friends is not confined to the narrow limits of a province but by the happy union of the American colonies, suffering equally by the rigor of oppression, the affections of the inhabitants are cemented and the urn of the companion of your heart will be sprinkled with the tears of thousands who revere the commander at the gates of Quebec, though not personally equated with General Montgomery. Montgomery, as is known, married Janet Livingston, a sister of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. Her life was a secluded one and affords few materials for biography, but her letters expressive of her feelings have a deep interest. Mrs. Warren says with truth, writing to her November 25, 1777, The sensibility of soul, the pathos of grief so strongly marked in your letters, have convinced me that the brave Montgomery had a partner worthy of his character. The following is an extract from her letter in reply to Mrs. Warren. My dear madam, this sympathy that is expressed in every feature of your letter claims for me the warmest acknowledgments and the professions of friendship from one who so generously feels and melts at the woes of a stranger, not only soothe but flatter me. It is very kind of you, madam, to seek for alleviating consolations in a calamity, though of so much glory. I thank God I feel part of their force and it is owing to such affectionate friends as you that have lightened the load of misery. As a wife I must ever mourn the loss of the husband, friend and lover, of a thousand virtues of all domestic bliss, the idol of my warmest affections and in one word my every dream of happiness. But with America I weep the still greater loss of the firm soldier and the friend to freedom. Let me repeat his last words when we parted. You shall never blush for your Montgomery. Nobly has he kept his word. But how are my sorrows heightened? Me thinks I am like the poor widow in the gospel who, having given her might, sits down quite destitute. Yet would I endeavor to look forward to the goal with hope, and though the path is no longer strewed with flowers, trust to the sustaining hand of friendship to lead me safely through, and in assisting me to rise superior to my misfortunes, make me content to drag out the remainder of life till the being who has deprived me of husband and father will kindly close the melancholy scene and once more unite me to them in a world of peace where the tyrant shall no more want only shed the blood of his innocent subjects and where vice and virtue will receive their reward. All the letters of Mrs. Montgomery preserved in the correspondence of Mrs. Warren dwell on her irreparable loss, breathing a tender sorrow mingled with an ardent spirit of patriotism. She writes November 20th, 1780. I have been interrupted. Another alarm of the enemies being in full march for Saratoga and the poor, harassed militia are again called upon. My impatient spirit pants for peace. When shall the unfortunate individual have the gloomy satisfaction of weeping alone for his own particular losses? In this luckless state, woes follow woes. Every moment is big with something fatal. We hold our lives and fortunes on the most precarious tenure. Had Arnold's plan taken place, we could not have escaped from a fated dreadful in thought, for these polished Britons have proved themselves fertile in inventions to procrastinate misery. When going with her nephew to visit her husband's family in Dublin her patriotic feeling is still fervent. When I return, she says, I hope to find my dear country for which I have bled the envy of her enemies and the glory of her patriots. The friendships formed by Mrs. Warren were not short-lived. The letters addressed to her events the warmth of attachment she inspired and her own true heart never swerved from its faith. The interchange of sentiments was continued for years and, when interrupted, resumed with the same affectionate ardor as soon as the obstacles were removed. Mrs. Washington was one of her favorite correspondence. On her visit to headquarters in Cambridge, Mrs. Warren invited her to her house and paid her many attentions. Her letter from Valley Forge describing their accommodations and others have been elsewhere published. The commander-in-chief joined in his wife's feelings of regard. Another of Mrs. Warren's intimate friends was Hannah Winthrop, the wife of Dr. Winthrop of Cambridge. Her letters discover a mind of no common order. They corresponded sometimes under the signatures of Onoria and Philomila, the last name being bestowed on Mrs. Warren for her powers of song. The poetical signature assumed by Mrs. Warren was Marcia, afterwards given at her request to a beloved granddaughter. But as the subjects became momentous on which the two wrote, the fanciful appellations were dropped. Some portions of Mrs. Winthrop's letters are so characteristic that extracts will be interesting. She writes in January 1773, I think one of the most extraordinary political maneuvers this century has produced is the ministerial mandate to the new portions for transporting them a thousand leaks for trial. Oh America, you have reason to tremble and arouse if we of this side of the Atlantic are not able to say to this royal vengeance, hitherto shall thou come and no further. Here shall thy proud waves be stayed. I should rejoice to see the Plymouthian spirit prevail, which discovers such noble disinterested virtue, and such a sacred regard to rights purchased at the expense of everything valuable by those persevering, self-denying patriarchs, who if permitted to be spectators at these terrestrial scenes, must view those of their sons who set so little value upon the dear-bought purchases with displeasure. Many are waiting impatiently the meeting of our assembly. I hope Colonel Warren will not fail of favouring his country with his presence of that important crisis, when every eye will be upon our political fathers. Again January 1st 1774, her patriotic spirit breaks out. Yonder the destruction of the detestable weed made so by cruel exaction engages our attention. The virtuous and noble resolution of America's sons, indefiance of threatened desolation and misery from arbitrary despots, demands our highest regard. May they yet be endowed with all that firmness necessary to carry them through all their difficulties, till they come off conquerors. We hope to see good accounts of the T-caste away on the Cape. The Union of the Colonies, the firm and sedate resolution of the people is an omen for good unto us, and be it known unto Britain, even American daughters of politicians and patriots, and will aid the good work with their female efforts. Nor can she ever forget, nor will all time ever erase, the horrors of that midnight cry preceding the bloody massacre at Lexington when we were roused from the benign slumbers of the season by a beat of drum and ringing of bells, with the dire alarm that a thousand of the troops of George III had gone forth to murder the peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding villages. A few hours with a dawning day convinced us the bloody purpose was executing. The platoon firing assuring us the rising sun must witness the bloody carnage. Not knowing what the event would be at Cambridge at the return of these bloody ruffians and seeing another brigade dispatched to the assistance of the former, looking with the ferocity of barbarians, it seemed necessary to retire to some place of safety till the calamity was passed. My partner had been confined at Fortnight by sickness. After dinner we set out not knowing whether we went. We were directed to a place called Fresh Pond about a mile from the town. But what a distress-house did we find it filled with women whose husbands had gone forth to meet the assailants, seventy or eighty of these, with numberless infant children weeping and agonizing over the fate of their husbands. In addition to this scene of distress we were for some time in sight of the battle, the glittering instruments of death proclaiming by an incessant fire that much blood must be shed, that many widowed and orphaned ones must be left as monuments of British barbarity. Another uncomfortable night we passed, some nodding in their chairs, some resting their weary limbs on the floor. The welcome harbingers of day gave notice of its dawning light. It brings no news. It is unsafe to return to Cambridge as the enemy were advancing up the river and fixing on the town to stay in. Thus with precipitancy we were driven to the town of Anderson following some of our acquaintance, five of us to be conveyed with one poor, tired horse and chaise. Thus we began our pilgrimage, alternately walking and riding, the roads filled with frightened women and children, some in carts with their tattered furniture, others on foot fleeing into the woods. But what added greatly to the horrors of the scene was our passing through the bloody field of monotone, which was strewed with the mangled bodies. We met one affectionate father with a cart, looking for his murdered son and picking up his neighbors who had fallen in battle in order for their burial. July 8, 1775 Our barrack or wigwam or whatever name you may please to give it when you see it, ornamented with broken chairs and unlegged tables with shattered, etc., is entirely at your service. Me thinks I need not repeat the pleasure I shall have in administering comfort to my friends. She writes in the following August after the conflagration of Charlestown. The laying a whole town in ashes after repeated promises that if they would protect their troops in their return from Concord, it should be the last place that should suffer harm. How they did give shelter to the wounded, expiring soldiers. Their houses, their beds were prepared to receive them. The women readily engaged in pouring balm into their wounds, making broths and cordials to support their exhausted spirits, and at that time the softer sex had not been endured to trickling blood and gaping wounds. Some of the unhappy victims died. They gave up the ghost blessing the hands that gave relief, and now in return for this kindness they take the first opportunity to make five hundred householders miserable, involving many a poor widow and orphan in one common ruin. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and that the inhabitants of America tremble to fall into the hands of such a merciless foe. The following extract, the last that will be given for Mrs. Winthrop's letters, describes the entry into Cambridge of the captive army of Bilgoing. The letter bears date November 11, 1777. It is not a great while since I wrote my dear friend on my disappointment in not paying her a visit. Now me thinks I hear her wondering how it is with her Cambridge friends who are at this time delayed with British and Hessian, which shall I call them, who are prancing and patrolling in every corner of the town, ornamented with their glittering side-arms, weapons of destruction. A short detail of our situation may perhaps amuse you. You will be able to form a judgment of our unhappy circumstances. Last Thursday, which was a very stormy day, a large number of British troops came softly through the town via Watertown to Prospect Hill. On Friday we heard the Hessians were to make a procession in the same route. We thought we should have nothing to do but view them as they passed. To be sure this sight was truly astonishing. I never had the least idea that the creation produced such a sordid set of creatures in human figure. Poor, dirty, emaciated men. Great numbers of women who seemed to be the beasts of burden having bushel baskets on their backs by which they were bent double. The contents seemed to be pots and kettles, various sorts of furniture, children peeping through grid irons and other utensils, some very young infants who were born on the road, their women barefoot clothed in dirty rags. Such a fluvia filled the air while they were passing that had they not been smoking all the time I should have been apprehensive of being contaminated. After a noble-looking advanced guard, General Burgoying headed this terrible group on horseback. The other generals also clothed in blue cloaks, rations, wall-deckers, and smackers, runs-wickers, et cetera, et cetera, followed on. The Hessian generals gave us a polite bow as they passed. Not so the British. Their baggage wagons were drawn by poor, half-starved horses. But to bring up the rear another fine, noble-looking guard of American brawny, victorious yeomanry who assisted in bringing these tons of slavery to terms. Some of our wagons drawn by fat oxen driven by joyous-looking Yankees closed the cavalcade. The generals and other officers went to British's where they quarter at present. The privates trudged through thick and thin to the hills where we thought they were to be confined. But what was our surprise when in the morning we beheld an inundation of those disagreeable objects filling our streets? How mortifying is it? They, in a manner demanding our houses and colleges for their genteel accommodation, did the brave general gates ever mean this? Did our legislature ever intend the military should prevail above the civil? Is there not a degree of unkindness in loading poor Cambridge almost ruined before this great army seemed to be let loose upon us? What will be the consequence time will discover? Some polite ones say we ought not to look on them as prisoners, that they are persons of distinguished rank. Perhaps, too, we must not view them in the light of enemies. I fear this distinction will be soon lost. Surprising that our general or any of our colonel should insist on the first university in America being disbanded for their more genteel accommodation and we, poor oppressed people, seek an asylum in the woods against a piercing winter. Where is the stern virtue of a blank who opposed such infractions in former days? Who is there to plead our cause? Pity. Pity it is our assembly to settle these matters before their adjournment. It will be vastly more difficult to abridge them after such an unbounded license. Perhaps you may see some of them at Plymouth. For my part, I think insults, famine, and a train of evils present themselves to view. General Burgoyne dined on Saturday in Boston with General Blank. He rode through the town properly attended down Court Street and through the Main Street and on his return walked on foot to Charlestown Ferry, followed by a great number of spectators as ever attended a pope and generously observed to an officer with him the decent and modest behavior of the inhabitants as he passed, saying if he had been conducting prisoners through the city of London, not all the guards of majesty could have prevented insults. He likewise acknowledges Lincoln and Arnold to be great generals. It is said we shall have not less than 7000 persons to feed in Cambridge and its environments more than its inhabitants. 250 cords of wood will not serve them a week. Think, then, how we must be distressed. Wood has risen to five pounds ten shillings for cord and but a little to be purchased. I never thought I could lie down to sleep surrounded by these enemies, but we strangely become enured to those things which appear difficult one distant. If you like anecdotes, I will give you one more. When General Phillips was traveling back of Albany, where it is very rocky and barren, he expressed his astonishment that they should ever cross, the Atlantic, and go through such difficulty to conquer so unfavorable a country which would not be worth keeping when conquered. When they came upon the fertile banks of the Connecticut River, General Whipple said to him, this is the country which we are fighting for. Ah, replied the general, this is a country worth a ten years' war. Her indignation does not seem to have subsided at once. In February, she says, me thinks I hear Mrs. Warren wondering how they do it had quarters at Cambridge. Perhaps her wonder may increase when I tell her the British officers live in the most luxurious manner possible, rioting on the fat of the land and talking at large with the self-importance of lords of the soil. To return to Mrs. Warren. From her retirement in which she was constantly visited by her friends, she continued to watch the progress of the struggle and to treasure her observations for the historical work she had in contemplation. Early in 1777, she writes to her friend Mrs. Macaulay. The approaching spring appears big with the fate of empires and the wheels of revolution move in swift progression. They may smite the diadem from the brow and shake some tyrant from his throne before he is aware. The flatterers of majesty may be more attended to than the prophetic voice that augurs evil. Yet when the many-tekkel is inscribed on the walls of the palace, it cannot be blotted out by the hand of the prince who humbles not himself, though he sees the works that have been done in the days of his fathers. After the close of the war, Mrs. Macaulay visited this country and met with a reception due to the celebrity her works had gained. Her principles endeared her to the Americans who were willing to bestow lasting honor on such as had distinguished themselves by the sword or the pen in defense of their opinions. Mrs. Warren says of her, writing to Mr. Adams, She is a lady of most extraordinary talents, of commanding genius and brilliancy of thought. This, in my opinion, often outruns her capacity of expression. Mrs. Warren's correspondence with Mr. Adams continued while he remained abroad. From time to time she demands of him an account of the busy and important scenes in which he is engaged, and when she fails to receive intelligence playfully accuses the watery nymphs of Neptune's court of having robbed the woodland dames of America. This was an allusion to the practice during the war of sinking all packages in case of capture. Otherwise, she says, a folio from the court of France would air this have reached brain-tree and one small octavo at least have found its way to Plymouth. The statesman was under an engagement to make observations for the use of more than one woman on the western side of the Atlantic. In a letter to him dated October 1778, she thus mentions Franklin, Are you, sir, as much in the good graces of the Parisian ladies as your venerable colleague Dr. F. Blank? We often hear he is not more an adept in politics than a favorite of the ladies. He has too many compliments of graduation and esteem from each quarter of the globe to make it of any consequence whether I offer my little tribute of respect or not. Yet I would tell him as a friend to mankind as a daughter of America and a lover of every exalted character that no one more sincerely wishes the continuance of his health and usefulness. And so disinterested is my regard that I do not wish him to leave the soft caresses of the court of France for his unpolished countrywomen will be more apt to gaze at and admire the virtues of the philosopher than to embrace the patriotic sage. A soul like Mrs. Warren's must have been continually saddened by grief and pity in the view not only of the miseries of war but the depravity prevalent as one of its consequences. Yet while she mourned the crimes and follies of many to whom her country looked for succor, she followed with ardent admiration the career of those incorruptible patriots who kept their faith unshaken by misfortune or temptation. Her anxieties and hopes were freely communicated to her friends, whose answers show the intense interest felt in every movement. Miss Catherine Livingston, the sister of Mrs. Montgomery, writes in April, 1781. The news from the southward is by no means so favorable as the sanguine among us expected. Arnold, it is feared, will get off safely as well as Cornwallis. I think the British understand retreat better than we do pursuit. It has been an observation this war whenever the expectations of the multitude were raised to almost a certainty of success. The event has turned directly opposite to their views. This I believe we may extend to private as well as public concerns. A letter from Mrs. Montgomery the year previous so agreeably describes Mrs. Jay that an extract must be given. You speak of my dear friend Mrs. Jay. We have heard from her at Espanola, where she was obliged to put in after the storm in which he had liked to have been taken. When she arrives at Paris I expect to hear from her. If in the descriptive way it shall be entirely at your service. She is one of the most worthy women I know, has a great fund of knowledge and makes use of the most charming language. Added to this she is very handsome which will secure her a welcome with the unthinking whilst her understanding will gain her the hearts of the most worthy. Her manners will do honour to our country women and I really believe will please even at the splendid court of Madrid. This starting tear and the heaving sigh interrupt my thread. Strange that self will forever discover itself. I find I am to learn much before I become a philosopher. But in every instance of my life I hope you, my dear madam, will ever find me your most sincere friend and humble servant. Jay Montgomery. Mrs. Warren wrote many letters to her sons at college containing sound advice of which she preserved copies, labelling the packages for the use of her grandchildren. Space can be afforded for but a single passage from one of these parental missives. I am persuaded you will never counteract these native dictates that lead you to struggle for distinction by cherishing that ambition that dignifies the rational creature. May you extend your views beyond the narrow limits of time that you may rank not only with those models of virtue and heroism that have been so much your admiration from your earliest youth but may be able to stand with confidence before him who discriminates the character not according to the weak decisions of man but by the unerring scale of eternal truth. Hirosh Vukko in his travels in the United States speaks of Mrs. Warren's extensive and varied reading. She was then seventy and he says, truly interesting, for lively in conversation she has lost neither the activity of her mind nor the graces of her person. Her history of the Revolution was written but not published till some years afterwards. This work exhibits her as a writer in advance of the age. Its sound, judgment and careful research with its clear and vigorous style give it a high and lasting value. Her portraiture of Mr. Adams gave offence to the great statesman which for a time threatened to interrupt the affectionate relations between the two families. But after a sharp correspondent it was amicably settled and as a token of reconciliation Mrs. Adams sent her friend a ring containing her own and her husband's hair. This is now in the possession of one of Mrs. Warren's descendants. For many years before her death Mrs. Warren was afflicted with a failure of her sight but she submitted to the trial with pious resignation continuing to receive with cheerfulness the company that frequented her house and to correspond with her friends by means of a secretary. A passage from a letter to one of her sons written in 1799 amidst the convulsions that agitated Europe may serve to show that she still occasionally indulged in the elaborate styles so much in vogue. The ices of the poles seem to be dissolved to swell the tide of popularity on which swim the idols of the day but when they have had their day the tide will retire to its level and perhaps leave the floating lumber on the strand with other perishable articles not thought worth the hazard of attempting their recovery. Towards the close of her protracted life her influence did not diminish for her mental superiority was still unimpaired and acknowledged. Seldom has one woman in any age acquired such an ascendancy over the strongest by the mere force of a powerful intellect. She is said to have supplied political parties with their arguments and she was the first of her sex in America who taught the reading world in matters of state policy and history. By her own relatives and connections she was reverenced and beloved in a degree that affords the best testimony to her elevated character and the faithfulness with which she had discharged her duty towards them. The influence commanded by her talents was enhanced by her virtues and by the deep religious feeling which governed her throughout life. Her descendants are still taught to cherish her memory with reverent affection. The portrait from which the engraving is taken was painted by Copley. The lady who visited Mrs. Warren in 1807 describes her as at that time erect in person and in conversation full of intelligence and eloquence. Her dress was a steel-colored silk gown with short sleeves and a very long waist, the black silk skirt being covered in front with a white lawn apron. She wore a lawn mob cap and gloves covering the arm to the elbows cut off at the fingers. In her last illness her constant fear was that she might lose her mental faculties as death approached. She prayed to be spared this and her prayer was granted. With an expression of thankfulness upon her lips that reason was clear and the vision of her spirit unclouded. She passed to the rest that awaits the faithful Christian October 19, 1814 in the 87th year of her age. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. When Major Henry Knox, then a resident of Boston, was parading the company to the command of which he had just been elected he was seen among many who admired the young officer by Miss Lucy Flucker, the daughter of the Secretary of the Province of Massachusetts. His noble form and marshal appearance naturally attracted the attention of the young lady and on a personal acquaintance a mutual sentiment of regard grew up and ripened into love. Interruption to its course was threatened by the growing troubles of the times. Thomas Flucker, the father of Lucy who had long held office under the British government adhered to the royal side amidst popular discontent. The maiden had adopted her lover's views and feelings. In the gathering storm the time came when her decision was to be made. It was made with the true woman's faith and self-devotion and she pledged herself to the fortunes of a soldier's wife. The separation from her family that became necessary was a painful trial but submitted to with firmness and resolution. Mr. Flucker and his family removed from the country soon after the Battle of Lexington and Mrs. Knox with her husband joined the American Army at Cambridge. From this time she adhered to her determination to encounter the perils and hardships incident to a military life. Neither her courage nor her powers of endurance failed. When Boston was occupied by the British she escaped with her husband and in their precipitate retreat it is said that she concealed the sword he wore through the war by having it quilted within the lining of her cloak. In various journals we find the presence of Mrs. Knox noticed in camp. Chester Yu describes the hut on a small farm where she lived with her children a short distance from headquarters at her planks point. Whenever her health permitted she followed the army and it is represented that her presence and cheerful manners did much to diffuse contentment and enliven dreary scenes. The soldiers could not murmur at privations which she endured without complaint. Sad it is that no record remains of the ministrations of women and thus softening war's grim features. The good they did however was at the time acknowledged with respectful gratitude. There is reason to believe that General Knox often deferred to his wife's judgment regarding her as a superior being and it is said that her influence and superiority were owned by Washington himself. Her mind was undoubtedly of a high order and her character a remarkable one. She appears to have possessed an ascendancy overall with whom she associated. After the close of the struggle while General Knox held the office of Secretary of War his wife's position was next to that of Mrs. Washington whom she advised in matters of ceremony. Mrs. Knox had a taste for the management and show of public life and was a leader of the tome in the social circles at the seat of government. When the general retired from the political arena she accompanied him to his or rather her estates in Maine. She had inherited a share of the domain on Penham Scott River and Bay which belonged to her mother's father General Waldo the proprietor of the Waldo Patent in Maine. The property had been confirmed by government to her and General Knox after the peace. Their residence was a Thomaston in a splendid mansion at the head of St. George's River furnished with taste and elegance. Here the soldier enjoyed the honors he had won and spent his time in the indulgence of his literary tastes and the companionship of his friends. His hospitality was unbounded and numerous visitors frequented his house. Sullivan in his familiar letters on public characters speaks of the hospitality of Knox at his superb mansion. It was not unusual for him in summer when visited by great numbers of his friends to kill an ox and twenty sheep every Monday morning and to have a hundred beds made up daily in the house. He kept for his own use and that of his friends twenty saddle horses and several pairs of carriage horses in his tables. This expensive style of living encroached greatly on his means. Return to text. The influence of Madame Knox as she was called on all within the circle of her acquaintance was decided and she shared the lot of all remarkable persons and having enemies as well as friends. Tradition speaks much of her but little of what is said is sufficiently well authenticated to relate. With rare powers of conversation a memory stored with interesting incidents and much knowledge of the world she was when she pleased one of the most charming and entertaining of women. And her society was much sought by men of taste and talent while the unreserved expression of her opinions to those with whom she conversed sometimes displeased the persons who could not appreciate the independence of an original and intelligent mind. The military life of which she had partaken and her association with those in command with her engrossing interest in political measures perhaps imparted a tone to her character and deportment. None, it is said, could forget her superiority of intellect though in her the loftier qualities of women's nature were softened by the generous feelings that impale to the kindly courtesies and charities of life. Having accompanied her husband through the vicissitudes of an eight years war and shared with him the splendors of exalted public station she was content to retire with him to the privacy of domestic life and devote her talents to the education of her children. Her taste created the elegance that surrounded the general's home and diffused a beneficial influence throughout the section of country in which they resided. With her strong mind and remarkable traits of character it is not singular that the popular remembrance of her should be abiding as one who had filled more than the ordinary sphere of a woman. She had ten children, only three of whom lived beyond infancy. She lived at her place after the death of General Knox continuing active in her charities and in the exercise of hospitality during her almost eighteen years of widowhood. She died in 1824. The manuscript correspondence of General Gates now in the library of the New York Historical Society contains many letters addressed to Mrs. Gates in some written by her. Although these give no detail of her personal history they throw light upon some points in her character showing that she was an efficient helpmate as well as an intelligent companion to her husband in all affairs that came properly under her supervision She was undoubtedly well skilled in the art of managing the concerns of the household and farm and equated with their details. Her interest in public affairs is however not the less manifest. Colonel Wilkinson announces to her the news of the victory at Saratoga and continual allusions in the correspondence show that she closely observed the progress of events. Her letter to the Count Destin acknowledgement of the compliments paid her husband may serve to show that she could write both with ease and grace. Danbury, October 1778 Sir, the terms in which your Excellency has expressed your esteem for General Gates are so personally obliging that I am afraid I am rather more grieved than pure patriotism permits that I cannot at this time send you his portrait. It is in Virginia. If I can have it in time before you leave these parts I need not assure you, sir, that my partiality to the general will be such powerful inducement to my transmitting it to the painter you have directed to copy it that you may depend on the gratification of what your kindness to the general has made you wish for. With all the gratitude which the honor you feel inclined to confer on General Gates entitles you to from his family and with the respect your personal merit commands from all I have the honor to be, sir, your Excellency's most humble and most obedient servant. Asterisk. From the original manuscript. Return to text. The maiden name of Mrs. Gates was Phillips. She was the daughter of a British officer. She and the general resided several years on their estate in Berkeley County, Virginia. They afterwards removed to New York and fixed their abode at the country seat near the city which received the name of Rosehill. Here General Gates appears to have enjoyed a happy retirement cheered by visits from his friends for whom, my Mary, had always a cordial welcome. Chapter 7 Mary Draper When the news reached Connecticut that blood had been shed, Putnam, who was at work in the field, left his plow in the furrow and started for Cambridge without delaying to change his apparel. Stark was sawing pine logs without a coat. He shut down the gate of his mill and commenced the journey to Boston in his shirt sleeves. Asterisk. Sabine. Return to text. The same spirit prevailed far and near. The volunteers waited not to be supplied with arms, but seizing on whatever rude weapons were at hand, hastened a way to fight for home and liberty. The women, lacking not their share of patriotic zeal, were active in preparations to encourage, assist, and sustain them. Among many whose persevering exertions were ready and efficient, Mrs. Draper is still remembered with admiration by those who knew her. Asterisk. The facts were communicated by a lady who was well acquainted with Mrs. Draper and has often heard her relate particulars of the war. Return to text. She was the wife of Captain Draper of Dedham, Massachusetts and lived on a farm. Her house, which was always a home for the destitute while occupied by her, is yet standing and is owned by one of her descendants. It was her abode to the age of one hundred years. Mrs. Draper felt the deepest sympathy for the hardships inevitably encountered by the newly raised troops and considered the limited means she possessed not as her own property, but belonging to her distressed country. When the first call to arms sounded throughout the land, she exhorted her husband to lose no time in hastening to the scene of action and, with her own hands bound, napsack and blanket on the shoulders of her only son, a stripling of sixteen bidding him depart and do his duty. To the entreaties of her daughter that her young brother might remain at home to be their protector, she answered that every arm able to aid the cause belonged to the country. He is wanted and must go. You and I, Kate, have also service to do. Food must be prepared for the hungry. For before tomorrow night, hundreds, I hope thousands, will be on their way to join the continental forces. Some who have traveled far will need refreshment and you and I with Molly must feed as many as we can. This undertaking, though of no small labor, was presently commenced. Captain Draper was a thriving farmer. His grain-wrees were well-filled and his wife's dairy was her special care and pride. All the resources at her command were in requisition to contribute to her benevolent purpose. Assisted by her daughter and the domestic, she spent the whole day and night and the succeeding day in baking brown bread. The ovens of that day were not the small ones now in use but were suited for such an occasion, each holding bread sufficient to supply a neighborhood. By good fortune, two of these monster ovens appertained to the establishment as is frequently the case in New England. These were soon in full blast and the kneading trough was applied by hands that shrank not from the task. At that time of hurry and confusion, none could stop long enough to dine. The people were under the influence of strong excitement and all were in such haste to join the army that they stayed only to relieve the cravings of hunger, though from want of food and fatigue many were almost exhausted. With the help of a disabled veteran of the French war who had for years resided in her family, Mrs. Draper had soon her stores in readiness. A long form was erected by the roadside. Large pans of bread and cheese were placed upon it and replenished as often as was necessary. While old John brought cider in pails from the cellar, which poured into tubs, was served out by two lads who volunteered their services. Thus were the weary patriots refreshed on their way. Mrs. Draper presided at the entertainment and, when her own stock of provisions began to fail, applied to her neighbors for aid. By their contributions her hospitable board was supplied till in a few days the necessity for extraordinary exertion had in a measure passed and order and discipline took the place of popular tumult. When each soldier carried his rations the calls on private benevolence were less frequent and imperative. But ere long came the startling intelligence after the battle of Bunker Hill that a scarcity of ammunition had been experienced. General Washington called upon the inhabitants to send to headquarters every ounce of lead or pewter at their disposal saying that any quantity however small would be gratefully received. This appeal could not be disregarded. It is difficult at this day to estimate the value of pewter as an ornamental as well as indispensable convenience. The more precious metals had not then found their way to the tables of New Englanders and throughout the country services of pewter scoured to the brightness of silver covered the board even in the mansions of the wealthy. Few withheld their portion in that hour of the country's need and noble were the sacrifices made in presenting their willing offerings. Mrs. Draper was rich in a large stock of pewter which she valued as the ornament of her house. Much of it was precious to her as the gift of a departed mother. But the call reached her heart and she delayed not obedience thankful that she was able to contribute so largely to the requirements of her suffering country. Her husband, before joining the army had purchased a mould for casting bullets to supply himself and son with this article of warfare. Mrs. Draper was not satisfied with merely giving the material required when she could possibly do more and her platters, pans and dishes were soon in process of transformation into balls. The approach of winter brought fears that the resources of the country would hardly yield supplies for the pressing wants of the army. Mrs. Draper was one of the most active in efforts to meet the exigencies of the times and hesitated at no sacrifice of personal convenience to increase her contributions. The supply of domestic cloth designed for her family was in a short time converted by her labour assisted by that of her daughter and maid into coats for the soldiers. The sheets and blankets with which her presses were stored were fashioned into shirts and even the flannel already made up for her daughter and herself was altered into men's abeliments. Such was the aid rendered by women whose deeds of disinterested generosity were never known beyond their own immediate neighbourhood. Another anecdote may here be mentioned illustrative of the spirit that was abroad. On the morning after the Battle of Lexington a company of nearly a hundred halted before the House of Colonel Pond of Westedham. They had marched all night and were covered with dust and faint from fatigue and want of food. Their haste was urgent and the mistress of the house whose hospitality they claimed was unprepared for the entertainment of so large a party. Her husband was absent with the army and she had only one female assistant and a hired man. But the willing heart can do wonders. In a few minutes she had a large brass kettle holding ten pails full over the fire filled with water and Indian meal for hasty pudding. In the barnyard were ten cows ready to contribute their share to the morning meal. Near the farmhouse was a store well supplied with brown earthen dishes and pewter spoons tied in dozens for sale. The military guests volunteered their aid. Some milked the cows, others stirred the pudding while the two domestics collected all the milk in the neighborhood. Thus, in the short space of an hour by the energetic efforts of one kind-hearted woman a hundred weary, hungry soldiers were provided with refreshment. They ate and marched on to the place of their destination. Receiving encouragement it cannot be doubted from this simple manifestation of goodwill which was not soon forgotten. Chapter 8 Frederica Dury-Daisel General Wilkinson who was personally equated with Madame Dury-Daisel published fragments of her journal in his memoirs. He calls her the amiable, accomplished and dignified baroness. I have more than once, he says, seen her charming blue eyes bedewed with tears at the recital of her sufferings. The regard she inspired, however, was not due entirely to admiration of her loveliness for others in the American ranks as well as in Europe were deeply interested in her account of her adventures. Frederica Charlotte Louisa, the daughter of Masso, the Prussian Minister of State was born in Brandenburg in 1746. Her father was Intentant General of the Allied Army at Minden where at the age of 17 she married Lieutenant Colonel Baron Dury-Daisel. In the War of the Revolution he was appointed to the command of the Brunswick Forces in the British Service in America and his wife followed him in 1777 with her three young children. Her journal and letters addressed to her mother describe her travels with the camp through various parts of the country and the occurrences she witnessed. These papers intended only for a circle of the writer's friends were first published by her son-in-law in Germany in 1801 shortly after the death of General Redaisel. Portions having been copied into periodicals and read with interest, the whole was translated and presented to the American public. It forms an appropriate appendix to the history of the period and the epic pictures of scenes in the war and the state of society and its notices of distinguished men. But it is still more valuable as exhibiting an example of female energy, fortitude and conjugal devotion. The moral is the more striking as drawn from the experience of a woman of rank subjected to dangers and privations from which the soldier might have shrunk. The readiness with which she hastened to cross the ocean that she might bear her husband company through toils or want or suffering or death, with which she encountered perils and the cheerful resignation displayed under trials felt the more severely for the sake of those she loved, present a touching picture of fidelity and tenderness. After she has joined her husband in Canada and is again separated from him, she thinks only of joy at being permitted at last to follow the army, obliged to pass the night on a lonely island where the only shelter is a half-finished house and the only couch a cluster of bushes over which the traveller's cloaks are spread, she utters no murmur nor complaints of the scarcity of food. A soldier, she says, put a pot to the fire. I asked him what it contained. Some potatoes, quote he, which I brought with me. I threw a long glance at them, but as they were few it would have been cruel to deprive him of them. At last my desire to have some for my children overcame my diffidence and he gave me half his little provision about twelve potatoes and took at the same time from his pocket a glass of candles which I accepted with pleasure, for my children were afraid to remain in the dark. A dollar which I gave him made him as happy as his liberality had made me. With her three children the Baroness proceeded to meet her husband at Fort Edward. When the army broke up the encampment she would not remain behind. Her spirits rose at the observation of General Boeck going on the passage across the Hudson. Britain's never retrograde. Fort Freeman's farm took place in her hearing and some of the wounded were brought to the house where she was. Among them was a young English officer and only son whose sufferings excited her deepest sympathy and whose last moans she heard. A collage was ordered for her further progress with the army. They marched through extensive forests in a beautiful district deserted by the inhabitants who were gone to reinforce General Gates. The diary gives a touching account of what was going on between the two at the memorable conclusion of Boeck going's campaign with the battles of Saratoga. On the 7th of October she says our misfortunes began. Generals Boeck going, Phillips and Fraser with the Baron were to dine with her on that day. She had observed in the morning an unusual movement in the camp and had seen a number of armed Indians in their war dresses who answered war, war to her inquiries whether they were going. During increased tumult the firing and the yelling of the savages announced the approaching battle. The roar of artillery became louder and more incessant. At four o'clock instead of the guests invited General Fraser was brought in mortally wounded. The table, already prepared for dinner was removed to make room for his bed. The bareness terrified by the noise of the conflict raging without expected every moment to see her husband also let in pale and helpless. Towards night he came to the house dined in haste and desired his wife to pack up her camp furniture and be ready for removal at an instant's warning. His dejected countenance told the disastrous result. Lady Ackland, whose tent was adjoining was presently informed that her husband was wounded and a prisoner. Thus through the long hours till day the kind ministries of the bareness were demanded by many sufferers. I divided the night, she says, between her I wished to comfort and my children who were asleep but who I feared might disturb the poor dying general. Several times he begged my pardon for the trouble he thought he gave me. About three o'clock I was informed he could not live much longer and as I did not wish to be present at his last struggle I wrapped my children in blankets and retired into the room below. At eight in the morning he expired. All day the cannon-aid continued while the melancholy's spectacle wore their eyes. The women attended the wounded soldiers who were brought in like ministering angels. In the afternoon the bareness saw the house that had been built for her in flames. Fraser's last request had been that he should be buried at six in the evening in the great redoubt on the hill and the retreat was delayed for this purpose. The generals, with their retinues, followed the honored corpse to the spot in the midst of a heavy fire from the Americans for General Gates knew not that it was a funeral procession. The women stood in full view of this impressive and awful scene so eloquently described by Bill Goyne himself. The incessant cannon-aid during the solemnity, the steady attitude and unaltered voice with which the chaplain officiated though frequently covered with dust which the shot threw up on all sides of him, the mute but expressive mixture of sensibility and indignation upon every countenance. These objects will remain to the last of life upon the mind of every man who was present. The deepening shadows of evening closed around the group thus rendering the last service to one of their number while each might anticipate his own death in the next report of artillery. A subject was presented with a pencil of a master. An appropriate side-piece to the picture might represent the group of anxious females who shared the peril, regardless of themselves. Many cannon-balls, says Madame d'Arides-El, flew close by me, led my eyes directed towards the mountain where my husband was standing amidst the fire of the enemy and of course I did not think of my own danger. That night the army commenced its retreat, leaving the sick and wounded, a flag of truce waving over the hospital thus abandoned to the mercy of the foe. The rain fell in torrents all day of the ninth and it was dark when they reached Saratoga. The baroness suffered cruel suspense as to the fate of her husband. She was taken charge of some valuables belonging to the officers and having no place to change her drenched apparel lay down with her children upon some straw by the fire. Her provisions were shared the next day with the officers and being insufficient to satisfy their hunger she made an appeal to the adjutant general in their behalf. Again the alarm of battle and reports of muskets and cannon drove them to seek shelter in a house which was fired at under the impression it was occupied by women and crippled soldiers. They were obliged at last to descend into the cellar where the baroness laid herself in a corner supporting her children's heads on her knees. The night was passed in the utmost terror and anguish and with the morning the terrible candidate commenced anew. So it continued for several days. But in the midst of the dreadful scenes when the baroness spoke of sending his family to the American camp the heroic wife declared that nothing would be so painful to her as to owe safety to those with whom he was fighting he then consented that she should continue to follow the army. However, she says, the apprehension that he might have marched away repeatedly entered my mind and I crept up the staircase more than once to dispel my fears. When I saw our soldiers near their watchfires I became more calm and could even have slept. The want of water continuing to distress us we could not but be extremely glad to find a soldier's wife so spirited as to fetch some from the river an occupation from which the boldest might have shrunk as the American shot everyone who approached it. They told us afterwards that they spared her on account of her sex. I endeavored to dispel my melancholy by continually attending to the wounded. I made them tea and coffee and often shared my dinner with them. One day a Canadian officer came creeping into our cellar and was hardly able to say that he was dying with hunger. I felt happy to offer him my dinner by eating which he recovered his health and I gained his friendship. At length the danger was over. Quote A gallant army formed their last array upon that field in silence and deep gloom and at their conquerors feet laid their war weapons down. Sullen and stern disarmed but not dishonored. Brave men but brave in vain they yielded there. The soldier's trial task is not alone to die. End quote On the seventeenth the capitulation was carried into effect. The generals waited upon gates and the troops surrendered themselves prisoners of war. At last writes the fair redaisal my husband's groom brought me a message to join him with the children. I once more seated myself in my dear collage and while driving through the American camp was gratified I observed that nobody looked at us with disrespect but on the contrary greeted us and seemed touched at the sight of a captive mother with three children. I must candidly confess that I did not present myself though so situated with much courage to the enemy. When I drew near the tents a fine-looking man advanced towards me helped the children from the collage and kissed and caressed them. He then offered me his arm and tears trembled in his eyes. You tremble madam said he do not be alarmed I beg of you. Sir cried I a countenance so expressive of benevolence and the kindness you have events towards my children are sufficient to dispel all apprehension. He then ushered me into the tent of General Gates whom I found engaged in friendly conversation with generals Birkgoing and Phillips General Birkgoing said to me you can now be quiet and free from all apprehension of danger. I replied that I should indeed be reprehensible if I felt any anxiety when our general was on such friendly terms with General Gates. All the generals remained to dine with the American commander. The gentleman who had received me with so much kindness came and said to me you may find it embarrassing to be the only lady in so large a company of gentlemen. Will you come with your children to my tent and partake of a frugal dinner offered with the best will? You show me so much kindness replied I. I cannot but believe that you are a husband and a father. He informed me that he was General Schuyler. The dinner was of excellent smoked tongues, beef steaks, potatoes, fresh butter and bread. Never did a meal give me so much pleasure. I was easy after many months of anxiety and I read the same happy change in the countenances of those around me. That my husband was out of danger was a still greater cause of joy. After our dinner General Schuyler begged me to pay him a visit at his house near Albany where he expected the General Bill going would also be his guest. I sent to ask my husband's directions who advised me to accept the invitation. We were two days journey from Albany and as it was now five o'clock in the afternoon he wished me to endeavour to reach on that day a place distant about three hours ride. General Schuyler carried his civility so far as to solicit a well-bred French officer to accompany me on the first part of my journey. As soon as he saw me safely established in the house where I was to remain he went back to the general. We reached Albany where we had so often wished ourselves but did not enter that city as we had hoped with the victorious army. Our reception, however, from General Schuyler and his wife and daughters was not like the reception of enemies one of the most intimate friends. They loaded us with kindness and they behaved in the same manner towards General Bill going though he had without any necessity ordered their splendid establishment to be burnt. All their actions proved that at the sight of the misfortunes of others they quickly forgot their own. Bill going was so much affected by this generous department that he said to Schuyler you are too kind to me who have done you so much injury such as the fate of war he replied let us not dwell on this subject. We remained three days with that excellent family and they seemed to regret our departure. General Retaisal who brooded continually on the late disastrous events and upon his captivity was not able to bear his troubles with the spirit and cheerfulness of his wife. He became moody and irritable and his health was much impaired in consequence of having passed many nights in the damp air. One day, says the baroness when he was much and disposed the American sentinels at our doors were very noisy in their merriment and drinking and grew more so when my husband sent a message desiring them to be quiet but as soon as I went myself and told them the general was sick they were immediately silent. This proves that the Americans also respect our sex. The prisoners at length reached Boston and after a stay of three weeks were transported to Cambridge where Madame de Retaisal and her family were lodged in one of the best houses of the place. Asterisk on one of the windows of this house the name Retaisal written on the glass with a diamond is still to be seen. In front are several beautiful lime trees and the view is a lovely one. The house near it which Washington occupied as his headquarters is now the residence of the poet Longfellow. Return to text. None of the officers were permitted to enter Boston but Madame de Retaisal went to visit Mrs. Carter the daughter of General Schuyler and dined with her several times. Boston she describes as a fine city but the inhabitants as outrageously patriotic. The captives met in some instances with very different treatment from that which they had before encountered and the worst she says from persons of her own sex. They gazed at her with indignation and testified contempt when she passed near them. Mrs. Carter resembled her parents in mildness and goodness of heart but the bareness has no admiration for her husband this wicked Mr. Carter who in consequence of General House having burnt several villages and small towns suggested to his countrymen to cut off our General's heads to pickle them and to put them in small barrels and as often as the English should again burn a village to send them one of these barrels. She here adds some sad stories of American cruelty towards the loyalists. On the 3rd of June 1778 Madame de Retaisal gave a ball and supper to celebrate her husband's birthday. The British officers were invited with Mr. and Mrs. Carter and General Burgoying of whom the Fair Hostess records that he sent them an excuse after he had made them wait till eight o'clock. He had always some excuse, observed she, for not visiting us until he was about departing for England when he came and made me many apologies to which I made no other reply than that I should be extremely sorry if he had put himself to any inconvenience for our sake. The dance and supper were so brilliant that the host drunk with such enthusiasm that the house was surrounded with people who began to suspect a conspiracy. The bareness here notices the American method of telegraphing by lighting torches on surrounding heights when they wished to call troops together. When General Howe attempted to rescue the troops detained in Boston the inhabitants planted their torches and a crowd of people without shoes or stockings their rifles on their shoulders flocked together so that the landing would have been attended with extreme difficulty. Towards the approach of winter the prisoners received orders to set out for Virginia. The ingenuity of Madame de Ritesel devised means of preserving the colors of the German regiments which the Americans believed they had burned. A mattress was made under her direction into which the honorable badges were introduced. Captain O'Connell under pretense of some commission took the mattress to New York and the bareness received it again at Halifax on their voyage from New York to Canada and placed in her cabin. A rascal on no small scale was the cook of Madame Le Baronne. She had given him money for the daily expenditure but he had paid nobody and while preparations for the journey were going on bills were presented to the amount of a thousand dollars. The cook was arrested but escaping went into the service of General Gates who finding him too expensive he entered into the employment of General Lafayette. The Marquis used to say was a cook only fit for a king. The bareness had the accommodation of an English coach in commencing her journey to Virginia November 1778. The provisions followed in the baggage wagon but as that moved more slowly they were often without food and were obliged to make a halt every fourth day. At Hartford General Lafayette was invited to dine by the baron somewhat to the perplexity of his wife who feared she would have difficulty in preparing her provisions and appreciated a good dinner. The Marquis is mentioned with great respect but Madame de Ritesel thinks the suspicions of the Americans were excited by hearing them speak French. We reached one day a pretty little town but our wagon remaining behind we were very hungry. Seeing much fresh meat in the house where we stopped I begged the landlady to sell me some. I have, quote she, several sorts of meat beef, mutton and lamb and let me have some. I will pay you liberally but snapping her fingers she replied you shall not have a morsel of it why have you left your country to slay and rob us of our property now that you are our prisoners it is our turn to vex you but rejoined I see those poor children they are dying of hunger she remained still unmoved but when at length my youngest child Caroline who was then about two years went to her, seized her hands and said in English good women I am indeed very hungry she could no longer resist and carrying the child to her room she gave her an egg but persisted the dear little one I have two sisters affected by this remark the hostess gave her three eggs saying I am loath to be so weak but I cannot refuse the child by and by she softened and offered me bread and butter I made tea and saw that the hostess looked at our teapot with a longing eye for the Americans were very fond of that beverage yet they had stoutly resolved not to drink anymore the tax on tea as is well known having been the immediate cause of the contest with Great Britain I offered her however a cup and presented her with a paper case full of tea this drove away all clouds between us she begged me to go with her into the kitchen and there I found her husband eating a piece of pork the woman went into the cellar to bring me a basket of potatoes when she returned into the kitchen the husband offered her some of his dainty food she tasted it and returned to him what remained I was disagreeably struck with this partnership but the man probably thought I was envious of it on account of the hunger I had manifested and presented me with the little both had left I feared by refusing to offend them and lose the potatoes therefore accepted the morsel and having kept up the appearance as if I ate threw it secretly into the fire we were now in perfect amity with the potatoes and some butter I made a good supper and we had to ourselves three neat rooms with very good beds on the banks of the Hudson in a skipper's house they were not so fortunate in finding good accommodations being given the remnants of breakfast after the hostess children and servants had finished their meal the woman was a staunch Republican and could not bring herself to any courtesies towards the enemies of her country they fared a little better after crossing the river when the aide-de-camp who accompanied them to the house where they were to lodge wished to warm themselves in the kitchen the host followed and taking them by their arms said is it not enough that I give you shelter, you wretched royalists his wife however was more immable and his coarseness gradually softened till they became good friends they stopped one night on the road at the house of Colonel Howe to whom the baroness meant to pay a compliment by asking him if he was a relative of the general of that name heaven forbid replied he in great anger he is not worthy of that honour Madame de Redazel is amusingly indignant at the sanguinary temper of this gentleman's daughter who was very pretty in only fourteen years of age sitting with her near the fire she said on a sudden staring at the blaze oh if I had here the king of England with how much pleasure I could roast and eat him I looked at her with indignation and said I am almost ashamed to belong to a sex capable of indulging such fancies I shall never forget that detestable girl passing through a wild grand and picturesque country yet length arrived in Virginia at a day's distance from the place of destination their little stalk of provisions gave out at noon they reached the house and begged for some dinner but all assistance was denied them with many implications upon the royalists seizing some maze I begged our hostess to give me some of it to make a little bread she replied that she needed it for her black people they work for us she added and you come to kill us Captain Edmundston offered to pay her one or two guineas for a little wheat but she answered you shall not have it even for hundreds of guineas and it will be so much the better I shall die the captain became so enraged at these words that he was about to take the maze but I prevented him from doing it thinking we should soon meet with more charitable people but in this I was much mistaken for we did not see even a solitary hut the roads were execrable and the horses could hardly move my children starving from hunger grew pale and for the first time lost their spirits Captain Edmundston deeply affected at this went about asking for something for the children and received at last from one of the wagonners who transported our baggage a piece of stale bread of three ounces weight upon which many a tooth had already exercised its strength yet to my children it was at this time a delicious morsel I broke it and was about giving the first piece to the youngest but she said no mama my sisters are more emotive than I am those girls with no less generosity thought that little Caroline was to have the first piece I then distributed to each her small portion tears ran down my cheeks and had I ever refused to the poor piece of bread I should have thought retributive justice had overtaken me Captain Edmundston who was much affected presented the generous wagonner who had given us his last morsel with a guinea and when we were arrived at our place of destination we provided him with bread for a part of his journey homeward the place of their destination was Cull in Virginia where general who had advanced with the troops already expected them with impatient anxiety this was about the middle of February 1779 they had passed in the journey through the states of Connecticut New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland and in about three months had traveled 628 miles they hired a house belonging to an Italian who was about leaving the country the troops were at Charlottesville 3 hours ride distant they rode thither running through a fine wood the life of Madame de Redesal and her family in Virginia was not an unhappy one though they suffered from the heat during the summer the general was brought home one day with a kutsole which for years afterwards affected his health his physician and acquaintances advised him to go to Frederick Springs it was there that he and his wife became acquainted with General Washington's family and with some other amiable persons attached to the American cause while at Frederick Springs General Redesal received the news that he and General Phillips with their aide de Gaulle were expected in New York where they were to be exchanged for American prisoners he returned to Cull to place the troops during his absence under the care of Colonel Spetsch in August 1779 Baroness left the Springs to join her husband in Pennsylvania stopping near Baltimore to pay a visit to one of the ladies with whom though of opposite political opinions she had formed a friendship at the Springs this visit was a charming episode in the troubled life of Madame de Redesal she remembered long after with gratitude the hospitality and kindness received the loyalists she says received us with frank hospitality from political sympathy and those of opposite principles it was a friendly welcome merely from habit for in that country it would be considered a crime to behave otherwise towards strangers at Elizabeth Town they met with many friends to their cause they were exalting in the anticipation of an exchange and restoration to freedom when an officer arrived commissioned by Washington to deliver to General Phillips a letter containing an order to return to Virginia Congress having rejected the proposal of a cartel the disappointment was excessive but unavoidable and after a day's halt they commenced their journey back on reaching Bethlehem the two generals Redesal and Phillips obtained permission to remain there till the difficulties respecting their cartel should be removed their bill after six weeks lodging for the party with the care of their horses amounted to 32,000 dollars in paper money corresponding to about 400 guineas in specie a traveler who bought silver coin gave them 80 dollars in paper money for every dollar in silver and thus enabled them to leave the place when at last permitted to go to New York arrived at New York a soldier went before the travelers from the gate of the city to show the way to their lodging this proved to be the house of the governor General Tryon where the baroness made herself at home with her children in attendance under the belief that they had been conducted to a hotel she received visits here from General Patterson the commandant of the city and also from Generals Cornwallis and Clinton and had a romantic introduction to her host who did not announce his name at the first visit nor till she had expressed a wish to become personally equated with him Madame de Redesal went from the city to General Clinton's country seat a mile distant where her children were inoculated for the smallpox when the danger of infection was over they returned and spent the winter in New York the charming country seat was again their residence in the summer of 1780 the situation was uncommonly beautiful around the house were meadows and orchards with a Hudson at their feet and they had an abundance of delicious fruit General Clinton visited them frequently and the last time was accompanied by Major Andre the day before he set out on his fatal expedition the breaking out of a malignant fever which made dreadful ravages in the city and neighborhood disturbed their pleasure in the house no less than 20 were laboring under the disease the Baron himself was dangerously ill and the cares and nursing devolved on his wife who was worn out with anxiety we were one day, she says in anxious expectation of our physician from New York my husband's symptoms having become of late more and more threatening he was continually in a lethargic stupor and when I presented him the Sego water which the physician had ordered for him he turned round, desiring me to let him die quietly he thought his end must be near the physician having entered the room at that moment I urgently begged him to tell me the truth and to let me know if there was any hope of my husband's recovery he had scarcely said yes when my children, on hearing this merciful word, sprang from under a table where they had lain concealed in dreadful expectation of the doctor's sentence through themselves at his feet and kissed his hands with rapturous gratitude nobody could have witnessed this scene without sharing my deep emotion out of 30 persons of whom our family consisted 10 only escaped the disease it is astonishing how much the frail human creature can endure and I am amazed that I survived such hard trials my happy temperament permitted me even to be gay and cheerful whenever my hopes were encouraged the best health is often undermined or sufferings still I rejoice to think I had it in my power to be useful to those who are dearest to me and that without my exertions I might have lost those who now contribute so much to my felicity at length all my patients were cured in the autumn General Phillips and Retaisal were exchanged although the rest of the army who surrendered at Saratoga still remained prisoners General Clinton wished to replace the Baron in active service Lieutenant General investing him with the command at Long Island a second dangerous attack of fever so impaired his health that the physicians thought he could never recover as long as he resided in that climate but he would not leave the army nor ask a furlough in the following spring the Baroness was established on Long Island her husband's health meant it slowly and his thoughts being often fixed on the remnant of his late regiments which had remained in Canada General Clinton at length consented that he should pay them a visit being about to depart in July Madame de Retaisal sent the residue of their wood about 30 cores to some poor families and took but a few articles of furniture returning the rest to the commissary of the army they at last embarked for Canada and reached Quebec after a journey of about two months in September 1781 Madame de Retaisal gives a pleasing description of her life in Canada very agreeable she had an opportunity of observing the habits of the Indians some of whom were under her husband's command before she joined him on her first arrival in Canada one of the sabbages having heard that Monsieur de Retaisal was ill that he was married and felt uneasy on account of the delay in his wife's arrival came with his own wife and said to the general I love my wife but I love thee also in proof of which I give her to thee the Indians seemed distressed and almost offended at the refusal of his gift it is somewhat remarkable that this man was by birth a German who had been taken prisoner by the savages when about 15 years of age in the summer of 1783 the general having received news of the death of his father became impatient to return to Europe they made all necessary arrangements for the voyage and after the troops had embarked were accompanied by many of their friends to the vessel General and Madame de Retaisal were graciously received by the king and queen of Great Britain when they reached London their return to Germany was welcomed by their old friends and acquaintance and the fair traveller rejoiced on seeing her husband once more standing in the midst of his soldiers and a multitude of parents, wives, children brothers and sisters who either rejoiced at meeting again their relatives who had been so long absent or mourned over the loss of those who had been long missed and expected to be presumed that the afterlife of one who possessed a spirit so generous and cheerful was happy the record of her sojourn in America impresses the reader with feelings of admiration and esteem for her such details have a value beyond that of a mere narration of facts they illustrate character and add the warm colouring of life to the outlines of history they afford light by which we can more clearly read the great lessons in the story of battle and victory in the midst of our enthusiasm for the achievement of Saratoga we do not lose pity for the disasters that accompanied the triumph we see courtesy and humanity prevailing in the midst of the strife and honour both the opposing principles of loyalty and patriotism if the figures of the picture are at first fierce and repulsive the figures of brethren armed against brethren of mercenary Germans and frantic savages, Canadian rangers and American ploughmen all bristly together with the horrid front of war what a charm of contrast is presented when among these turn and forbidding groups is beheld the form of a Christian woman moving to and fro disarming the heart of every emotion but reverence softening the misfortunes of defeat and checking the elation of victory after the death of General Retaisal in 1800 the Baroness fixed her residence at Berlin where she died on the 29th of March 1808 she established here an asylum for military orphans and an alms house for the poor in Brunswick she was long remembered with her interesting family in Virginia as well as in other parts of the continent she is described as full in figure and possessing no small share of beauty some of her foreign habits rendered her rather conspicuous such as riding in boots and in what was then called the European fashion and she was sometimes charged with carelessness in her attire she was visited by many families in the neighborhood of Charlottesville End of chapter 6, 7 and 8