 11. Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky. The region of Kentucky, that dark and bloody ground of Indian warfare, lay long unknown to the whites. No Indians even dwelt there, though it was a land of marvelous beauty and wonderful fertility, for its forests and plains so abounded with game that it was used by various tribes as a hunting ground. And here the savage warriors so often met in hostile array and waged such deadly war that not the most daring of them ventured to make it their home. And the name which they gave it was destined to retain its somber significance for the whites, when they should invade the perilous Kentuckian wilds and build their habitations in this land of dread. In 1767 John Finlay, a courageous Indian trader, pushed far into its depths and returned with thrilling stories of his adventures and tempting descriptions of the beauty and the fertility of the land. These he told to Daniel Boone, an adventure-loving Pennsylvanian, who had made his way to North Carolina and built himself a home in the virgin forest at the headwaters of the Yadkin. Here, with his wife, his rifle, and his growing family, he enjoyed his frontier life with the greatest zest, until the increasing numbers of new settlers and the alluring narrative of Finlay induced him to leave his home and seek again the untrodden wilds. On the 1st of May 1769, Finlay, Boone, and three others, struck boldly into the broad backbone of mountain land which lay between their old home and the new land of promise. They set out on their dangerous journey amid the tears of their families, who deemed that destruction awaited them and vainly besought them to abandon the enterprise. Forward for days and weeks pushed the hardy pioneers, their rifles providing them with game, their eyes on the alert against savages, until, after what seemed months of toil, the mountains were past and the fertile plains and extended forests of Kentucky lay before them. We found everywhere, says Boone, abundance of wild beasts of all sorts through this vast forest. The buffalo were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane or cropping the herbage of these extensive plains, fearless because ignorant of the violence of man. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every kind natural to America, we practiced hunting with great success until the 22nd day of December following. On that day, Boone and another were taken prisoner by a party of Indians. Seven days they were held, uncertain as to their fate, but at length by a skillful artifice they escaped and made their way back to their camp, only to find it deserted, those whom they had left there having returned to North Carolina. Other adventurers soon joined them however, Boone's brother among them, and the remainder of the winter was passed in safety. As regards the immediately succeeding events, it will suffice to say that Squire Boone, as Daniel's brother was called, returned to the settlements in the spring for supplies, the others having gone before, so that the daring hunter was left alone in that vast wilderness, even his dog had deserted him, and the absolute solitude of nature surrounded him. The movements we have described had not passed unknown to the Indians, and only the most extraordinary caution saved the solitary hunter from his dusky foes. He changed his camp every night, never sleeping twice in the same place. Often he found that it had been visited by Indians in his absence. Once a party of savages pursued him for many miles, until by speed and skill he threw them from his trail. Many and perilous were his adventures during his three months of lonely life in the woods and cane-bricks of that fear-haunted land. Prowling wolves troubled him by night, prowling savages by day, yet fear never entered his bold heart, and cheerfulness never fled from his mind. He was the true pioneer despising peril and proof against loneliness. At length his brother joined him with horses and supplies, and the two adventurers passed another winter in the wilderness. Several efforts were made in the ensuing years to people the country, but numbers of the settlers were slain by the Indians, whose hostility made the task so perilous that a permanent settlement was not made until 1775. The place then settled, a fine location on the Kentucky River was called, in honor of its founder, Boonesboro. Here a small fort was built, to which the adventurer now brought his family, being determined to make it his place of abode despite his dusky foes. My wife and daughter, he says, were the first white women that ever stood on the banks of Kentucky River. It was a dangerous step they had taken. The savages, furious at the invasion of their hunting grounds, were ever on the alert against their pale-faced foes. In the following spring Boones' daughter, with two other girls who had thoughtlessly left the fort to gather flowers, were seized by ambushed Indians and hurried away into the forest depths. Their loss was soon learned, and the distracted parents with seven companions were quickly in pursuit through the far-reaching forest. For two days with the skill of trained scouts, they followed the trail which the girls, true hunters' daughters, managed to mark by shreds of their clothing which they tore off and dropped by the way. The rapid pursuers at length came within sight of the camp of the Indians. Here they waited till darkness descended, approaching as closely as was safe. The two fathers, Boone and Callaway, now were volunteered to attempt a rescue under cover of the night, and crept with the acumen of practice frontiersmen toward the Indian halting-place. Unluckily for them they were discovered and captured by the Indians, who dragged them exultingly to their camp. Here a council was quickly held, and the captives condemned to suffer the dreadful fate of savage reprisal, death by torture and flame. Morning had but fairly dawned when speedy preparations were made by the savages for their deadly work. They had no time to waste, for they knew not how many pursuers might be on their trail. The captives were securely bound to trees before the eyes of their distracted daughters, and faggots hastily gathered for the fell purpose of their foes. But while they were thus busied, the companions of Boone and Callaway had not been idle. Troubled by the non-return of the rescuers, the woodsmen crept up with the first dawn of day, saw the bloody work designed, and poured in a sudden storm of bullets on the savages, several of whom were stretched bleeding upon the ground. Then, with shouts of exultation, the ambushed whites burst from their covert, dashed into the camp before the savages could wreak their vengeance on their prisoners, and with renewed rifle shots sent them away in panic flight. A knife stroke or two released the captives, and the party returned in triumph to the fort. The example of Boone and his companions in making their homes on Kentucky soil was soon followed by others, and within a year or two a number of settlements had been made at various promising localities. The Indians did not view with equanimity this invasion of their hunting grounds. Their old battles with each other were now replaced by persistent hostility to the whites, and they lurked everywhere around the feeble settlements, seizing stragglers, destroying cattle, and in every way, annoying the daring pioneers. In April 1777, a party of a hundred of them fiercely attacked Boonesboro, but were driven off by the rifles of the settlers. In July they came again, now doubled in numbers, and for two days assailed the fort, but with the same ill success as before. Similar attacks were made on the other settlements, and a state of almost incessant warfare prevailed in which Boone showed such fowler and activity that he became the terror of his savage foes, who, in complement to his daring, christened him the great long knife. On one occasion, when two Indian warriors assailed him in the woods, he maneuvered so skillfully as to draw the fire of both, and then slew the pair of them, the one with his rifle, the other in hand to hand fight with his deadly hunting knife. But the bold pioneer was destined soon to pass through an experience such as few men have safely endured. It was now February 1778. For three years the settlers had defied their foes. Boone, in despite of them, hesitating not to traverse the forest alone with rifle and hunting knife in pursuit of game. In one of these perilous excursions, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a party of a hundred Shawnees warriors who were on their way to attack his own fort. He fled, but was overtaken and secured. Soon after, the savages fell in with a large party of whites who were making salt at the Salt Lake Springs and captured them all, twenty-seven in number. Exalting in their success, the warriors gave up their original project and hastened northward with their prisoners. Fortunately for the latter, the Revolutionary War was now in full progress and the Indians deemed it more advantageous to themselves to sell their prisoners than to torture them. They therefore took them to Detroit, where all were ransomed by the British except Boone. The Governor offered a large sum for his release, but the savages would not listen to the bribe. They knew the value of the man they held and were determined that their illustrious captive should not escape again to give them trouble in field and forest. Leaving Detroit, they took him to Chilacoth on the Little Miami River, the chief town of the tribe. Here a grand council was held as to what should be done with him. Boone's fate trembled in the balance. The stake seemed his destined doom. Fortunately an old woman of the family of Blackfish, one of their most distinguished chiefs having lost a son in battle, claimed the captive as their adoptive son. Such a claim could not be set aside. It was a legal right in the tribe and the chiefs could not but yield. They were proud indeed to have such a mighty hunter as one of themselves, and the man for whose blood they had been hungering was now treated with the utmost kindness and respect. The ceremony of adoption into the tribe was a painful one which Boone had to endure. Part of it consisted in plucking out all the hairs of his head with the exception of the scalp lock of three or four inches diameter. But the shrewd captive bore his inflections with equanimity and appeared perfectly contented with his lot. The new son of the tribe with his scalp lock, painted face and Indian dress, and his skin deeply and browned by constant exposure to the air, could hardly be distinguished from one of themselves, while his seeming satisfaction with his new life was well adapted to throw the Indians off their guard. His skill in all manly exercises and in the use of arms was particularly admired by his new associates. Though, as Boone says, he was careful not to exceed many of them in shooting, for no people are more envious than they in this sport. His wary captives, however, were not easily to be deceived. Seemingly, Boone was left free to go where he would, but secretly he was watched, and precautions taken to prevent his escape. He was permitted to go out alone to hunt, but the Indians always carefully counted his balls and measured his charges of powder, determined that he should have none to aid him to procure food in a long flight. Shrewd as they were, however, Boone was more than their match. In his hunting expeditions, he cut his balls in half, and used very small charges of powder, so that he was enabled to bring back game while gradually secreting a store of ammunition. And thus the days and weeks went on, while Daniel Boone remained to all outward appearance a contented Shawnee warrior. But at length came a time when flight grew imperative. He had been taken to the Salt Licks with a party of Indians to aid them in making salt. On returning to Chilicoth, he was alarmed to see the former peaceful aspect of the village change to one of threatened war. A band of 450 warriors had been collected for a hostile foray, and to his horror he learned that Boonesborough was the destined point of attack. In this fort were his wife and children. In the present state of security of the inmates they might easily be taken by surprise. He alone could warn them of their danger, and to this end he must escape from his watchful foes. Boone was not the man to let the anxiety that tore his heart appear on his face. To all seeming he was careless and indifferent, looking on with smiling face at the war dances, and hesitating not to give them advice in warlike matters. He knew their language sufficiently to understand all they said, but from the moment of his captivity had pretended to be entirely ignorant of it, talking to them only in the jargon which then formed the medium of communication between the red men and the whites, and listening with impassive countenance to the most fear-inspiring plans. They, therefore, talked freely before him, not for a moment dreaming that their astute prisoner had solved the problem of their destination. As for Boone he appeared to enter with whole sold ardor into their project, and to be as eager as themselves for its success, seeming so fully in sympathy with them, and so content with his lot, that they, absorbed in their enterprise, became less vigilant than usual in watching his movements. The time for the expedition was at hand. Whatever the result he must dare the peril of flight. The distance to be traversed was one hundred and sixty miles. As soon as his flight should become known he was well aware that a host of Indian scouts thoroughly prepared for pursuit and full of revengeful fury would be on his track, and there would be no further safety for him if captured. Death by the most cruel tortures the infuriated savages could devise was sure to be his fate. All this Boone knew, but it did not shake his resolute soul. His family and friends were in deadly peril. He alone could save them. His own danger was not to be thought of in this emergency. On the morning of June 16 he rose very early for his usual hunt. Taking the ammunition doled out to him by his Indian guards, he added to it that which he had secreted in the woods, and was ready for the desperate enterprise which he designed. Boone was now forty three years of age, a man of giant frame and iron muscles, possessed of great powers of endurance, a master of all the arts of woodcraft, and one of the most skilled riflemen in the western wilds. Keen on the trail, swift of foot, and valorous in action as were the Indian braves, there was no warrior of the tribe the equal in these particulars of the practiced hunter who now meditated flight. On the selected morning the daring woodsman did not waste a moment. No sooner had he lost sight of the village than he headed southward at his utmost speed. He could count on but an hour or two to gain a start on his wary foes. He well knew that when the hour of his usual return had passed without his appearance, a host of scouts would follow in swift pursuit. Such was the case as he afterwards learned. No sooner had the Indians discovered the fact of his flight than an intense commotion rained among them and a large number of their swiftest runners and best hunters were put upon his trail. By this time however he had gained a considerable start and was pushing forward with all speed taking the usual precautions as he went to avoid making a plain trail but losing no time in his flight. He dared not use his rifle. Quick ears might be within hearing of its sound. He dared not kindle a fire to cook game even if he had killed it. Sharp eyes might be within sight of its smoke. He had secured a few cuts of dry venison and with this as his only food he pushed on by day and night hardly taking time to sleep making his way through forest and swamp and across many streams which were swollen by recent rains. And on his track like blood hounds on the scent of their victims came the furious pursuers now losing his trail now recovering it and as they went spreading out over a wide space and pushing steadily southward over the general route which they felt sure he would pursue. At length the weary fugitive reached the banks of the Ohio River. As yet he had not seen a foe. As yet he had not fired a gun. He must put that great stream now swollen to half a mile in width by the late rains between him and his foes ere he could dare for a moment to relax his vigilance. Unluckily expert as he was in Woodcraft Boone was a poor swimmer. His skill in the water would never carry him across that rushing stream. How to get across had for hours been to him a matter of deep anxiety. Fortunately on reaching its banks he found an old canoe which had drifted among the bushes of the shore and stranded there being full of water from a large hole in its bottom. The skilled hunter was not long in emptying the canoe and closing the hole. Then improvising a paddle he launched his leaky craft upon the stream and succeeded in reaching the southern shore in safety. Now for the first time did he feel sufficiently safe to fire a shot and to kindle a fire. He brought down a wild turkey which seasoned with hunger made him the most delicious repast he had ever tasted. It was the only regular meal in which he indulged in his flight. Safety was not yet assured. Some of his pursuers might be already across the river. Onward he dashed with unflagging energy and at length reached the fort after five days of incessant travel through the untrodden wilds. He was like a dead man returned to life. The people at the fort looked at him with staring eyes. They had long given him up for loss and he learned much to his grief that his wife and children had returned to their old home in North Carolina. Just now, however, there was no time for sorrow and little time for greeting. The fort had been neglected and was in bad condition. The foe might even then be near at hand. There was not a moment to spare. He put the men energetically to work and quickly had the neglected defenses repaired. Then, determined to strike terror into the foe, he led a party of men swiftly to and across the Ohio, met a party of thirty savages near the Indian town of Paint Creek, and attacked them so fiercely that they were put to rout. The foray greatly alarmed the Indians. It put courage into the hearts of the garrison. After an absence of seven days and a journey of one hundred and fifty miles, Boone and his little party returned in fear lest the Chilacouth warriors might reach the fort during his absence. It was not, however, until August that the Indians appeared. There were four hundred and forty-four in number led by Captain Duquesne and other French officers and with French and British colors flying. There were but fifty men in the fort. The situation seemed a desperate one, but under Boone's command the settlers were resolute, and to the summons to surrender the daring commander returned the bold reply, we are determined to defend our fort while a man of us lives. The next proposition of Duquesne was that nine of the garrison should come out and treat with him. If they could come to terms he would peacefully retire. The veteran pioneer well knew what peril lurked in this specious promise and how little safety they would have in trusting their Indian foes. But moved by his bold heart and daring love of adventure he assented to the dangerous proposition, though not without taking precautions for safety. He selected nine of the strongest and most active of his men, appointed the place of meeting in front of the fort at one hundred and twenty feet from the walls, and stationed the riflemen of the garrison so as to cover the spot with their guns in case of treachery. These precautions taken Boone led his party out and was met by Duquesne and his brother officers. The terms proposed were liberal enough, but the astute frontiersmen knew very well that the Indians would never assent to them. As the conference proceeded the Indian chiefs drew near, and Blackfish, Boone's adopted father, professed the utmost friendship, and suggested that the treaty should be concluded in the Indian manner by shaking hands. The artifice was too shallow to deceive the silliest of the garrison. It was Blackfish's purpose to have two savages seize each of the whites, drag them away as prisoners, and then, by threats of torture, compel their comrades to surrender the fort. Boone, however, did not hesitate to assent to the proposition. He wished to unmask his wily foes. That done he trusted to the strength of himself and his fellows and the bullets of his riflemen to bring his party and safety back to the fort. It proved as he expected. No sooner had they yielded their hands to the Indians than a desperate attempt was made to drag them away. The surrounding Indians rushed to the aid of their fellows. From behind stumps and trees a shower of bullets was poured upon the fort, but the alert pioneers were not taken by surprise. From the rifles of the garrison bullets were poured back. Boone easily shook off his assailant and his companions did the same. Back to the fort they fled, bullets pattering after them, while the keen marksmen of the fort sent back their sharp response. In a few seconds the imperiled nine were behind the heavy gates, only one of their number, Boone's brother, being wounded. They had escaped a peril from which for the moment rescue seemed hopeless. Baffled in their treachery the assailants now made a fierce assault on the fort, upon which they kept up an incessant fire for nine days and nights, giving the beleaguered garrison scarcely a moment for rest. Hidden behind rocks and trees they poured in their bullets in a manner far more risk than effectual. The garrison but feebly responded to this incessant fluselad, feeling it necessary to husband their ammunition. But unlike the fire of their foes every shot of theirs told. During this interval the assailants began to undermine the fort, beginning their tunnel at the riverbank. But the clay they threw out discoloured the water and revealed their project, and the garrison at once began to counter mine by cutting a trench across the line of their projected passage. The enemy in their turn discovered this, and gave up the attempt. Another of their efforts was to set fire to the fort by means of a flaming arrows. This proved temporarily successful, the dry timbers of the roof bursting into flames. But one of the young men of the fort daringly sprang upon the roof, extinguished the fire, and returned unharmed, although bullets had fallen like hailstones around him. At length, thoroughly discouraged, the enemy raised the siege and departed, having succeeded only in killing two and wounding four of the garrison, while their dead numbered thirty-seven, and their wounded a large number. One of these dead was a negro, who had deserted from the fort and joined the Indians, and whom Boone brought down with a bullet from the remarkable distance, for the rivals of that day, of five hundred and twenty-five feet. After the enemy had gone there were picked up, says Boone, one hundred and twenty-five pounds weight of bullets, besides what stuck in the logs of the fort, which certainly is a great proof of their industry, whatever may be said of their marksmanship. The remainder of Daniel Boone's life we can give but an outline. After the repulse of the enemy he returned to the Yadkin for his family, and brought them again to his chosen land. He came back to find an Indian war raging along the whole frontier, in which he was called to play an active part, and on more than one occasion owed his life to his strength, endurance, and sagacity. This warfare continued for a number of years, the Indians being generally successful, and large numbers of soldiers falling before their savage onsets. At length the conduct of the war was entrusted to Mad Anthony Wayne, whose skill, rapidity, and decision soon brought it to an end, and forced the tribes to conclude a treaty of peace. Henceforward Kentucky was undisturbed by Indian forays, and its settlement went forward with rapidity. The intrepid Boone had by no means passed through the fire of war unharmed. He tells us, Two darling sons and a brother have I lost by savage hands, which have also taken from me forty valuable horses and abundance of cattle. Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer's sun and pinched by the winter's cold, an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness. One wilderness settled, the hardy veteran pine for more. Population in Kentucky was getting far too thick for his ideas of comfort. His spirit craved the solitude of the unsettled forest, and in 1802 he again pulled up stakes and plunged into the depths of the western woods. Too much crowded, he declared. Too much crowded. I want more elbow-room. His first abiding place was on the Great Kanawa, where he remained for several years. Then, as the vanguard of the army of immigrants pressed upon his chosen home, he struck camp again and started westward with wife and children, driving his cattle before him in search of a promised land of few men and abundant game. He settled now beyond the Mississippi, about fifty miles west of St. Louis. Here he dwelt for years, hunting, trapping, and enjoying life in his own wild way. Years went by, and once more the immigrant army pressed upon the solitude-loving pioneer, but he was now too old for further flight. Eighty years lay upon his frosted brow, yet with little diminished activity he pursued his old mode of life, being often absent from home for weeks on hunting expeditions. Audubon, the famous ornithologist, met him in one of these forays, and thus pictures him. The stature and general appearance of this wanderer of the western forests, he says, approached the gigantic. His chest was broad and prominent, his muscular powers displayed themselves in every limb. His countenance gave indication of his great courage, enterprise, and perseverance, and whenever he spoke the very motion of his lips brought the impression that whatever he uttered could not be otherwise than strictly true. Mr. Irving tells a similar story of him in his eighty-fifth year. He was then visited by the Astor Overland Expedition to the Columbia. He had but recently returned from a hunting and trapping expedition, says the historian, and had brought nearly sixty beaver skins as trophies of his skill. The old man was still erect in form, strong in lame and unflinching in spirit, and as he stood on the riverbank watching the departure of an expedition destined to traverse the wilderness to the very shores of the Pacific, very probably fell to throb of his old pioneer spirit impelling him to shoulder his rifle and join the adventurous band. Seven years afterwards he joined another band, that of the heroes who have gone to their rest. To his last year he carried the rifle and sought the depths of the wood. At last in eighteen eighteen, with no disease but old age, he laid down his life after a most adventurous career, in which he had won himself imperishable fame as the most daring, skillful, and successful of that pioneer band who have dared the perils of the wilderness and surpassed the savage tenets of the forest in their own chosen arts. CHAPTER XII It was night at Boston, the birth night of one of the leading events in the history of the world. The weather was balmy and clear. Most of the good citizens of the town were at their homes, many of them doubtless in their beds, for early hours were kept in those early days of our country's history. Yet many were abroad, and from certain streets of town arose unwanted sounds, the steady tread of marching feet, the occasional click of steel, the rattle of accoutrements. Those who were within view of Boston Common at a late hour of that evening of April eighteenth seventeen seventy-five beheld an unusual sight, that of serried ranks of armed men who had quietly marched thither from their quarters throughout the town as the starting point for some secret and mysterious expedition. At the same hour, in a shaded recess of the suburb of Charlestown, stood a strongly built and keen-eyed man with his hand on the bridle of an impatiently waiting horse, his eyes fixed on a distant spire that rose like a shadow through the gloom of the night. Paul Revere was the name of this expectant patriot. He had just before crossed the Charles River in a small boat, rowing needfully through the darkness, for his root lay under the guns of a British man of war the Somerset, on whose deck, doubtless, were watchful eyes on the lookout for midnight prowlers. Fortunately the dark shadows which lay upon the water hid the solitary rower from view, and he reached the opposite shore unobserved. Here a swift horse had been provided for him, and he was bitten to be keenly on the alert, as a force of mounted British officers were on the road which he might soon have to take. And still the night moved on its slow and silent course, while slumber locked the eyes of most of the worthy people of Boston Town, and few of the patriots were afoot. But among these was the ardent man, who stood with his eyes impatiently fixed on the lofty spire of the old North Church, and in the town itself others heedfully watched the secret movements of the British troops. Suddenly a double gleam flashed from the far off spire. Two lighted candles had been placed in the belfry window of the church, and their feeble glimmer sped swiftly through the intervening air and fell upon the eyes of the expectant messenger. No sooner had the light met his gaze than Paul Revere, with a glad cry of relief, sprang to his saddle, gave his uneasy horse the rain, and dashed away at a swinging pace, the hoof beats of his horse sounding like the hammer strokes of fate as he bore away on his vital errand. A minute or two brought him past Charlestown Neck, but not many steps had he taken on his onward course before peril to his enterprise suddenly confronted him. Two British officers appeared on the road. Who goes there? Halt was their stern command. Paul Revere looked at them. They were mounted and armed. Should he attempt to dash past them? It was too risky, and his errand too important. But there was another road nearby whose entrance he had just passed. With a quick jerk at the rain he turned his horse, and in an instant was flying back at racing speed. Halt or we will fire, cried the officers, spurring their horses to swift pursuit. Heedless of this command the bold rider drove headlong back, his horse quickly proving his metal by distancing those of his pursuers. A few minutes brought him to the entrance of the Medford Road. Into this he sharply wheeled and was quickly away again toward his distant goal. Meanwhile one of the officers, finding himself distanced, turned his horse into the fields lying between the two roads, with the purpose of riding across and cutting off the flight of the fugitive. He had not taken many steps, however, before he found his horse floundering in a clay pit, while revere on the opposite road shot past with a ringing shout of triumph as he went. Leaving him for the present to his journey, we must return to the streets of Boston and learn the secret of this midnight ride. For several years previous to 1775, Boston had been in the hands of British troops, of a foreign foe, we may almost say, for they treated it as though it were a captured town. Many collisions had occurred between the troops and the citizens, the rebellious feeling growing with every hour of occupation, until now the spirit of rebellion like a contagious fever had spread far beyond its point of origin and affected townsmen and farmers widely throughout the colonies. In all New England, hostility to British rule had become rampant. Minute men, men pledged to spring to arms at a minute's notice, were everywhere gathering and drilling, and here and there depots of arms and ammunition had hastily been formed. Peace still prevailed, but war was in the air. Boston itself aided in supplying these warlike stores. Under the very eyes of the British guards, cannonballs and muskets were carried out in carts covered by loads of manure. Market women conveyed powder from the city in their panniers, and candle boxes served as secret receptacles for cartridges. Depots of these munitions were made near Boston. In the preceding February, the troops had sought to seize one of these at Salem, but were forced to halt at Salem Bridge by a strong body of the people led by Colonel Pickering. Finding themselves outnumbered, they turned and marched back, no shot being fired, and no harm done. Another depot of stores had now been made at Concord about nineteen miles away, and this general gauge had determined to destroy even if blood were shed in so doing. Rebellion, in his opinion, was gaining too great a head. It must be put down by the strong arm of force. The time for mild measures was passed. Yet, he was not eager to rouse the colonists to hostility. It was his purpose to surprise the patriots and capture the stores before a party could be gathered to their defense. This was the meaning of the stealthy midnight movement of the troops. But the patriot leaders in Boston were too watchful to be easily deceived. They had their means of obtaining information, and the profound secret of the British general was known to them before the evening had far advanced. About nine o'clock, Lord Percy, one of the British officers, crossed the common, and in doing so noticed a group of persons in eager chat. He joined these curious to learn the subject of their conversation. The first words he heard filled them with alarm. The British troops will miss their aims at a garrulous talker. What aim, asked Percy? The cannon at Concord, was the reply. Percy, who was in Gage's confidence, hastened to the headquarters of the commanding general and informed him of what he had overheard. Gage startled to learn that his guarded secret was already town stock, at once set guards on all the avenues leading from the town, with orders to arrest every person who should attempt to leave, while the squad of officers of whom we have spoken were sent forward to patrol the roads. But the patriots were too keen-witted to be so easily checked in their plans. Samuel Adams and John Hancock, the Patriot leaders, fearing arrest had left town and were then at Lexington at the house of the Reverend Jonas Clark. Paul Revere had been sent to Charlestown by the patriotic Dr. Warren, with orders to take to the road the moment the signal lights in the belfry of the Old North Church should appear. These lights would indicate that the troops were on the road. We have seen how promptly he obeyed and how narrowly he escaped capture by General Gage's guards. On he went, mile by mile, rattling down the Medford Road. At every wayside house he stopped, knocked furiously at the door, and as the startled inmates came hastily to the windows shouted, Up! Up! The regulars are coming! And before his sleepy auditors could fairly grasp his meaning was away again. It was about midnight when the British troops left Boston on their supposed secret march. At a little after the same hour the rattling sound of hooves broke the quiet of the dusky streets of Lexington thirteen miles away. Around the house of the Reverend Mr. Clark, eight-minute men had been stationed as a guard to protect the patriot leaders within. They started hastily to their feet as the messenger rode up at headlong speed. Rouse the house, cried Revere. That we will not answer the guards. Orders have been given not to disturb the people within by noise. Noise! exclaimed Revere. You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming. At these startling tidings the guards suffered him to approach and knock at the door. The next minute a window was thrown up and Mr. Clark looked out. Who was there, he demanded? I wish to see Mr. Hancock was the reply. I cannot admit strangers to my house at night without knowing who they are. Another window opened as he spoke. It was that of John Hancock, who had heard and recognized the messenger's voice. He knew him well. Come in, Revere, he cried. We are not afraid of you. The door was opened and Revere admitted to tell his alarming tale and bid the patriot leaders to flee from that place of danger. His story was quickly confirmed, for shortly afterwards another messenger, William Dawes by name, rode up. He had left Boston at the same time as Revere but by a different route. Adams was by this time a Rouse and had joined his friend and the two patriot leaders, feeling assured that their capture was one of the purposes of the expedition, hastily prepared for retreat to safer quarters. While they did so, Revere and Dawes, now joining company, mounted again and once more took to the road on their midnight mission of warning and alarm. Away they went again with thunder of hooves and rattle of harness, while as they left the streets of Lexington behind them, a hasty stir succeeded the late silence of that quiet village. From every house men rushed to learn the news. From every window women's heads were thrust. Some armed minute men began to gather and by two o'clock a hundred and thirty of these were gathered upon the meeting-house green. But no foe appeared, and the air was chilly at this hour of the night, so that after the roll had been called they were dismissed, with orders to be ready to assemble at beat of drum. Meanwhile, Revere and his companion had pushed on towards Concord, six miles beyond. On the road they met Dr. Samuel Prescott, a resident of that town, on his way home from a visit to Lexington. The three rode on together, the messengers telling their startling story to their new companion. It was a fortunate meeting as events fell out, for as they pushed onward Paul Revere somewhat in advance, the group of British officers of whom he had been told suddenly appeared in the road before him. Before he could make a movement to escape they were around him, and strong hands were upon his shoulders. The gallant scout was a prisoner in British hands. Dawes, who had been closely behind him, suffered the same fate. Not so Prescott, who had been left a short distance behind by the ardent messengers, he sprang over the roadside wall before the officers could reach him, and hastened away through the fields towards Concord, bearing thither the story he had so opportunally learned. The officers had already in their custody three Lexington men, who in order to convey the news had taken to the road while Revere and Dawes were closeted with the patriot leaders at Mr. Clark's, riding back with their prisoners to a house nearby, they questioned them at point of pistol as to their purpose. Revere at first gave evasive answers to their questions, but at length, with a show of exultation, he said, Gentlemen, you have missed your aim. What aim, they said? I came from Boston an hour after your troops left it, answered Revere, and if I had not known that messengers were out in time enough to carry the news for fifty miles, you would not have stopped me without a shot. The officers, startled by his confident assertion, continued their questions, but now from a distance the clang of a bell was heard. The Lexington men cried out at this, the bells are ringing, the towns are alarmed, you are all dead men. This assertion, which the sound of the bells appeared to confirm, alarmed the officers, if the people should rise their position would be a dangerous one. They must make their way back. But as a measure of precaution they took Revere's horse and cut the girths and bridles of the others. This done, they rode away at full speed leaving their late captives on foot in the road. But this the two messengers little heated as they knew that their tidings had gone on in safe hands. While all this was taking place indeed Prescott had regained the road and was pressing onward at speed. He reached Concord about two o'clock in the morning and immediately gave the alarm. As quickly as possible the bells were set ringing and from all sides people roused by the midnight alarm thronged towards the center square. As soon as the startling news was heard active measures were taken to remove the stores. All the men and a fair share of the women gave their aid carrying ammunition, muskets, cartridges, and other munitions hastily to the nearest woods. Some of the cannon were buried in trenches over which a farmer rapidly ran his plow to give it the aspect of a newly plowed field. The militia gathered in all haste from neighboring villages and at early day a large body of them were assembled while the bulk of the precious stores had vanished. Meanwhile momentous events were taking place at Lexington. The first shots of the American Revolution had been fired. The first blood had been shed. It was about four o'clock when the marching troops came within sight of the town. Until now they had supposed that their secret was safe and that they would take the patriots off their guard. But the sound of bells clashing through the morning air told a different tale. In some way the people had been aroused. Colonel Smith halted his men sent a messenger to Boston for reinforcements and ordered Major Pitcairn with six companies to press on to conquer with all haste and secure the bridges. News that the troops were at hand quickly reached Lexington. The drums were beaten, the Minutemen gathered, and as the coming morning showed its first gray tinge in the east it gave light to a new spectacle on Lexington Green. That of a force of about a hundred armed militiamen facing five or six times their number of scarlet-coated British troops. It was a critical moment. Neither party wished to fire. Both knew well what the first shot involved. But the moment of prudence did not last. Pitcairn galloped forward, sword in hand, followed quickly by his men, and shouted in ringing tones, Disperse you villains, lay down your arms you rebels and disperse. The patriots did not obey. Not a man of them moved from his ranks, not a face blanched. Pitcairn galloped back and bade his men surround the rebels in arms. At this instant some shots came from the British line. They were instantly answered from the American ranks. Pitcairn took his pistol and discharged it. Fire, he cried to his troops. Instantly a fusillade of musketry rang out upon the morning air. Four of the patriots fell dead, and the other, moved by sudden panic, fled. As they retreated another volley was fired and more men fell. The others hid behind stone walls and buildings and returned the fire, wounding three of the soldiers and Pitcairn's horse. Such was the opening contest of the American Revolution. Those shots were the signal of a tempest of war which was destined to end in the establishment of one of the greatest nations known to human history. As for the men who lay dead upon Lexington Green, the first victims of a great cause, they would be amply revenged before their assailants set foot again on Boston streets. The troops, elated with their temporary success, now pushed on briskly towards Concord, hoping to be in time to seize the stores. They reached there about seven o'clock, but only to find that they were too late and that most of the material of war had disappeared. They did what damage they could, knocked open about sixty barrels of flour which they found, injured three cannon, threw some five hundred pounds of ball into wells and the mill pond, and set fire to the courthouse. A Mrs. Moulton put out the flames before they had done much harm. The time taken in these exercises was destined to be fatal to many of those indulging in them. Militia were now gathering in haste from all the neighboring towns. The Concord force had withdrawn for reinforcements, but about ten o'clock, being now some four hundred strong, the Militia advanced and attacked the enemy on guard at North Bridge. A sharp contest ensued. Captain Isaac Davis and one of his men fell dead. Three of the British were killed and several wounded and captured. The bridge was taken. Colonel Smith was in a quandary. Should he stand his ground or retreat before these despised provincials? Should veteran British troops fly before countrymen who had never fired gun before at anything larger than a rabbit? But these despised countrymen were gathering in hordes. On every side they could be seen hasting forward, musket or rifle in hand. Prudence, just then, seemed the better part of valor. About twelve o'clock, Colonel Smith reluctantly gave the order to retreat. It began as an orderly march. It ended as a disorderly flight. The story of Lexington had already spread far and wide and full of revengeful fury, the Minutemen hastened to the scene. Reaching the line of retreat, they hid behind houses, barns, and roadside walls and poured a galling fire upon the troops, some of whom at every moment fell dead. During that dreadful six miles march to Lexington, the helpless troops ran the gauntlet of the most destructive storm of bullets they had ever encountered. On Lexington Battlegreens, several of them fell. It is doubtful if a man of them would have reached Boston alive, but for the cautious demand for reinforcements which Colonel Smith had sent back in the early morning. Lord Percy, with about nine hundred men, left Boston about nine o'clock in the morning of the nineteenth, and a short time after two in the afternoon reached the vicinity of Lexington. He was barely in time to rescue the exhausted troops of Colonel Smith. So worn out were they with fatigue, that they were obliged to fling themselves on the ground for rest, their tongues hanging from their mouths through drought and weariness. Little time could be given them for rest. The woods swarmed with militiamen who scarcely could be kept back by the hollow square and planted cannon of Lord Percy's troops. In a short time the march was resumed. The troops had burned several houses at Lexington, a vandalism which added to the fury of the provincials. As they proceeded, the infuriated soldiers committed other acts of atrocity, particularly in West Cambridge, where houses were plundered and several unoffending persons murdered. But for all this they paid dearly. The militia pursued them almost to the very streets of Boston, pouring in a hot fire at every available point. On nearing Charlestown, the situation of the British troops became critical for their ammunition was nearly exhausted, and a strong force was marching upon them from several points. Fortunately for them, they succeeded in reaching Charlestown before they could be cut off, and here the pursuit ended as no longer available. The British loss in killed, wounded, and missing in that dreadful march had been nearly three hundred. That of the Americans was about one hundred in all. It was a day mighty in history, the birthday of the American Revolution, the opening event in the history of the United States of America, which has since grown to so enormous a stature, and is perhaps destined to become the greatest nation upon the face of the earth. That midnight ride of Paul Revere was one of the turning points in the history of mankind. CHAPTER XIII. GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS Down from the green hills of Vermont came in all haste a company of hardy mountaineers. At their head a large framed, strong-limbed, keen-eyed frontiersman, all dressed in the homespun of their native hills, but all with rifles in their hands, a weapon which none in the land knew better how to use. The tidings of stirring events at Boston, spreading rapidly through New England, had reached their ears. The people of America had been attacked by English troops. Blood had been shed at Lexington and Concord. War was begun. A struggle for independence was at hand. Everywhere the colonists, fiery with indignation, were seizing their arms in preparing to fight for their rights. The toxin had rung. It was time for all patriots to be up and alert. On the divide between lakes George and Champlain stood a famous fort, time-honored old Ticonderoga, which had played so prominent a part in the French and Indian War. It was feebly garrisoned by English troops and was well supplied with munitions of war. These munitions were just then of more importance than men to the patriot cause. The instant the news of Lexington reached the ears of the mountaineers of Vermont, axes were dropped, plows abandoned, rifles seized, and Ticonderoga was the cry. Ethan Allen, a leader in the struggle which had for several years been maintained between the settlers of that region and the colony of New York, and a man of vigor and decision, lost no time in calling his neighbors to arms, and the green mountain boys were quickly in the field. Prompt as they had been they were none too soon. Others of the patriots had their eyes on the same tempting prize. Other leaders were eagerly preparing to obtain commissions and raise men for the expedition. One of the first of these was Benedict Arnold, who had been made colonel for the purpose by the governor of Massachusetts and hastened to the western part of the colony to raise men and take command of the enterprise. He found men ready for the work, green mountain men, with the stalwart Ethan Allen at their head, but men by no means disposed to put themselves under any other commander than the sturdy leader of their choice. Only a year or two before, Allen as their colonel had led these hardy mountaineers against the settlers from New York who had attempted to seize their claims and driven out the interlopers at Swords Point. The courts at Albany had decided that the green mountain region was part of the colony of New York. Against this decision Allen had stirred the settlers to armed resistance, thundering out against the fulminations of the lawyers, the opposite quotation from Scripture. The Lord is the God of the hills, but he is not the God of the valleys, and rousing the men of the hills to fight what he affirmed to be God's battle for the right. In 1774 Governor Tryon of New York offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds for the capture of Allen. The insurgent mountaineers retorted by offering an equal reward for the capture of Governor Tryon. Neither reward had been earned. A year more had elapsed and Ethan Allen at the head of his green mountain boys was in motion in a greater cause to defend not Vermont against New York, but America against England. But before proceeding we must go back and bring up events to the point we have reached. The means for the expedition of the green mountain boys came from Connecticut, whence a sum of three hundred pounds had been sent in the hands of trusty agents to Allen and his followers. They were found to be more than ready, and the Connecticut agents started in advance towards the fort, leaving the armed band to follow. One of them, Noah Phelps by name, volunteered to enter the fort and obtain exact information as to its condition. He disguised himself and entered the fort as a countryman, pretending that he wanted to be shaved. While hunting for the barber he kept his eyes open and used his tongue freely, asking questions like an innocent rustic, until he had learned the exact condition of affairs and came out with a clean face and a full mind. Allen was now approaching, and lest news of his movement should reach the fort, men were sent out on all the roads leading thither to intercept passers. On the eighth of May all was ready. Allen, with one hundred and forty men, was to go to the lake by way of Shorum opposite the fort. Thirty men under Captain Herrick were to advance to Skeensboro, capture major Skeen, seize boats, and drop down the lake to join Allen. All was in readiness for the completion of the work when an officer, attended by a single servant, came suddenly from the woods and hurried to the camp. It was Benedict Arnold, who had heard of what was afoot and had hastened forward to claim command of the Mountaineers. It was near Nightfall. The advance party of Allen's men was at Hans Cove on the eastern side of the lake, preparing to cross. Arnold joined them and crossed with them, but on reaching the other side of the lake, claimed the command. Allen angrily refused. The debate waxed hot. Arnold had the commission. Allen had the men. The best of the situation lay with the latter. He was about to settle the difficulty by ordering Arnold under guard, when one of his friends, fearing danger to the Enterprise from the controversy, suggested that the two men should march side by side. This compromise was accepted, and the dispute ended. By this time day was about to break. Eighty-three men had landed, and the boats had returned for the rest. But there was evidently no time to lose if the fort was to be surprised. They must move at once without waiting for the remainder of the party. A farmer's boy of the vicinity, who was familiar with the fort, offered to act as guide, and in a few minutes more the advance was begun, the two leaders at the head, Allen in command, Arnold as a volunteer. The stockade was reached, a wicket stood open. Through this Allen charged, followed by his men. A sentry posted there took aim, but his peace missed fire, and he ran back shouting the alarm. At his heels came the two leaders at full speed, their men crowding after, till before a man of the garrison appeared, the fort was fairly one. Allen at once arranged his men so as to face each of the barracks. It was so early that most of those within were still asleep, and the fort was captured without the commander becoming aware that anything unusual was going on. His whole command was less than fifty men, and resistance would have been useless with double their number of stalwart mountaineers on the parade ground. Allen forced one of the sentries who had been captured to show him the way to the quarters of Captain Delaplace, the commander. Reaching the chamber of the latter, the militia leader called on him in a stentorian voice to surrender. Delaplace sprang out of bed, and half dressed appeared with an alarmed and surprised face at the door. By whose authority he demanded, not yet alive to the situation, in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress roared out the green mountaineer. Here was a demand which backed as it was by a strong sword and the sound of shouts of triumph outside, it would have been madness to resist. The fort was surrendered with scarcely a shot fired or a blow exchanged, and its large stores of cannon and ammunition, then sorely needed by the colonists besieging Boston, fell into American hands. The stores and military material captured included a hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, with a considerable number of small arms and other munitions of high value to the patriot cause. While these events were taking place, Colonel Seth Warner was bringing the rearguard across the lake, and was immediately sent with a hundred men to take possession of the fort at Crown Point, in which were only a sergeant and twelve men. This was done without difficulty, and a hundred more can and captured. The dispute between Arnold and Allen was now renewed, Massachusetts supporting the one, Connecticut the other. While it was being settled the two joined in an expedition together, with the purpose of gaining full possession of Lake Champlain and seizing the town of St. John's at its head. This failed, reinforcements having been sent from Montreal, and the adventurers returned to Ticonderoga, contenting themselves for the time being with their signal success in that quarter, and the fame on which they counted from their daring exploit. The after career of Ethan Allen was an interesting one, and worthy of being briefly sketched. Having taken Ticonderoga, he grew warm with the desire to take Canada, and on September 25th, 1775, made a rash assault on Montreal with an inadequate body of men. The support he hoped for was not forthcoming, and he and his little band were taken, Allen soon after, being sent in chains to England. Here he attract much attention, his striking form, his ardent patriotism, his defiance of the English even in captivity, and certain eccentricities of his manner and character interesting some, and angering others of those with whom he had intercourse. Afterwards he was sent back to America, and held prisoner at Halifax and New York, in jails and prison ships, being most of the time harshly treated and kept heavily ironed. He was released in 1778. A fellow prisoner, Alexander Graydon, has left in his memoirs a sketch of Allen, which gives us an excellent idea of the man. His figure was that of a robust, large-framed man worn down by confinement and hard fare. His style was a singular compound of local barbarism, scriptural phrases, and Oriental wildness. Notwithstanding that Allen might have had something of the insubordinate, lawless frontier spirit in his composition, he appeared to me to be a man of generosity and honor. Among the eccentricities of the man was a disbelief in Christianity, much more of an anomaly in that day than at present, and a belief in the transmigration of souls. It being one of his fancies that after death his spiritual part was to return to this world in the form of a large white horse. On his release he did not join the army. Vermont had declared itself an independent state in 1777 and sought admittance to the confederation. This, New York opposed. Allen took up the cause, visited Congress on the subject, but found its members not inclined to offend the powerful state of New York. There was danger of civil war in the midst of the war for independence, and the English leaders, seeing the state of affairs, tried to persuade Allen and the other Green Mountain leaders to declare for the authority of the King. They evidently did not know, Ethan Allen. He was far too sound a patriot to entertain for a moment such a thought. The letters received by him he sent in 1782 to Congress, and when the war ended Vermont was a part of the Union, though not admitted as a state till 1791. Allen was then dead, having been carried away suddenly by apoplexy in 1789. CHAPTER XIV The British at New York Before the days of dynamite and the other powerful explosives which enable modern man to set at nought the most rigid conditions of nature, warfare with torpedo was little thought of gunpowder being a comparatively innocent agent for this purpose. In the second period of the Revolutionary War when the British fleet had left Boston and appeared in the harbor of New York, preparatory to an attack on the latter city, the only methods devised by the Americans for protection of the Hudson were sunken hulks in the stream, chevaux de fries, composed of anchor logs and fire ships prepared to float down on the foe. All these proved of no avail. The current loosened the anchored logs so that they proved useless. The fire ships did no damage, and the batteries on shore were not able to hinder certain ships of the enemy from running the gauntlet of the city, and ascending the Hudson to tap and see, forty miles above. All the service done by the fire ships was to alarm the captains of these bold cruisers, and induce them to run down the river again and rejoin the fleet at the narrows. It was at this juncture that an interesting event took place, the first instance on record of the use of a torpedo vessel in warfare. A Connecticut officer named Bushnell, an ingenious mecanition, had invented during his college life an oddly conceived machine for submarine explosion to which he gave the appropriate name of the American turtle. He had the model with him in camp. A report of the existence of this contrivance reached General Putnam, then in command at New York. He sent for Bushnell, talked the matter over with him, examined the model, and was so pleased with it that he gave the inventor an order to construct a working machine supplying funds for this purpose. Bushnell lost no time. In ten days the machine was ready. It was a peculiar looking affair, justifying its name by its resemblance to a large ocean turtle. In the head or front portion was an airtight apartment with a narrow entrance. It was claimed to be capable of containing fresh air enough to support life for half an hour. The bottom of the machine was ballasted with lead. Motion was obtained from an ore, adapted for rowing backward or forward, while a rudder under control of the operator served for steering purposes. In the bottom was a valved aperture into which water could be admitted when it was desired to sink the machine, while the water could be ejected by two brass pumps when the operator wished to rise again. The torpedo arrangement consisted of two pieces of oak timber, hollowed out and filled with powder. The space containing a clockwork arrangement that could be set to run any time desired, and a contrivance for exploding the powder when the time expired. This torpedo was fixed in the rear of the vessel, and was provided with a strong screw that could be turned by the operator so as to fasten it under the bottom of a ship or in other desired location. So far as appear the contrivance was not unpromising. It failed in its purpose, but solely if the word of the operator may be taken, from the absence of an indispensable article of supply. What this was will appear in the sequel. Captain Bushnell's brother had volunteered for the perilous enterprise. A sudden sickness prevented him, and his place was taken by a venturesome New London sergeant named Abijah Shipman, or as recristened by his companions, Long Byge. He was an amphibious chap, half sailor, half soldier, long, thin and bony, and not wanting in Yankee humour. He had courage enough to undertake any enterprise if he could only be primed with rum and tobacco, articles which he deemed the leading necessaries of life. It was an early hour of a July morning. The sun had not appeared on the eastern horizon. By a wharf side on the Hudson floated the marine monster whose powers were about to be tested. On the shore stood Putnam and many other officers. In their midst was Abijah Shipman, ready to start on his dangerous enterprise. It was proposed to tow the nondescript affair into the stream, set at a drift on the tide, and trust to Abijah's skill to bring it under the bottom of the eagle, Admiral Howe's flagship, which had been chosen for the victim. If the magazine could be attached to the bottom of this vessel she must surely be destroyed. But certainly the chances seemed greatly against its being thus attached. Everything was ready. Abijah stepped on board his craft, entered the airtight chamber, closed the cover, and was about to screw it down when suddenly it flew open again and his head emerged. Thunder and marlin spikes, he exclaimed, whose got a cut of tobacco? This old cut won't last anyhow. And he threw away the worn out lump on which he had been chewing. A laugh followed his appeal. Such of the officers as used the weed fell hastily in their pockets. They were empty of the indispensable article. There was no hope for Abijah. Daylight was at hand, time was precious, he must sail short of supplies. You see how it is, my brave fellow, said Putnam. We continental officers are too poor to raise even a tobacco plug. Push off. Tomorrow after you have sent the eagle on its last flight some of our southern officers shall order you a full keg of old Virginia weed. It's too bad, muttered Abijah dejectedly. And mind you, general, if the old turtle doesn't do her duty it's all long of me going to sea without tobacco. Down went Abijah's head, the cover was tightly screwed into place, and the machine was towed out into the channel and cast loose. A way had floated toward the British fleet, which lay well up in the narrows. The officers made their way to the battery where they waited in much suspense the result of the enterprise. An hour slowly moved by. Morning broke. The rim of the sun lifted over the distant waters, yet the eagle still rode unharmed. Something surely had happened, the torpedo had failed. Possibly the venturesome Abijah was reposing in his stranded machine on the bottom of the bay. Putnam anxiously swept the waters in the vicinity of the eagle with his glass. Suddenly he exclaimed, There he is! The top of the turtle had just emerged in a little bay a short distance to the left of Howe's flagship. It was seen as quickly by the sentinels on the eagle, who fired at the strange aquatic monster with such good aim that Abijah popped under the water as hastily as he had emerged from it. On board the eagle confusion evidently prevailed. This strange contrivance had apparently filled the mariners with alarm. There were signs of a hasty effort to get under way, and wings were added to this haste when a violent explosion took place in the immediate vicinity of the fleet, hurling up great volumes of water into the air. The machine had been set to run an hour and had duly gone off at its proper time, but for some reason yet to be explained, not under the eagle. The whole fleet was not long in getting up its anchors, setting sail, and scurrying down the bay to a safer abiding place below. And here they lay until the day of the Battle of Long Island, not venturing again within reach of that naval nondescript. As for the turtle, boats at once set out to Abijah's relief, and he was taken off in the vicinity of Governor's Island. On landing and being questioned, he gave in his own odd way the reasons of his failure. Just as I said, General, he remarked, it all failed for the want of that cut of tobacco. You see, I'm nervous without tobacco. I got under the eagle's bottom, but somehow the screw struck the iron bar that passes from the rudder-pintel, and wouldn't hold on any how I could fix it. Just then I let go the oar to feel for a cut to steady my nerves, and I hadn't any. The tide swept me under her counter, and away I slipped to top of water. I couldn't manage to get back, so I pulled the lock and let the thunder-box slide. That's what comes of sailing short of supplies. Say, can't you raise a cut among you now? There is another interesting story to tell in connection with the British occupation of New York, which may be fitly given here. The Battle of Long Island had been fought. The American forces had been safely withdrawn. Washington had moved the main body of his army with the bulk of the stores from the city, leaving General Putnam behind in command of the rearguard. Putnam's position was a perilous one. The configuration of Manhattan Island is such that the British could land a force from the East River, throw it across the narrow width of the island, and cut off retreat from below. The only trust lay in the shore batteries, and they proved useless. A British landing was made at Kipps Bay about three miles above the city, where were works strong enough to have kept off the enemy for a long time, had they been well defended. As it was, the garrison fled in a panic on the bare appearance of the British transports. At the same time, three ships of war moved up the Hudson to Bloomingdale and attacked the works there. The flight of the Kipps Bay garrison left Putnam in the most imminent peril. He had about three thousand men, and a dangerous encumbrance of women, children, camp followers, and baggage. The weather was very hot, the roads were very narrow. Everything tended to make the retreat difficult and perilous. The instant he heard of the unlooked-for cowardice of the Kipps Bay garrison and the landing of the enemy, he put his men in motion and strained every nerve to push them past the point of danger before his channel of escape should be closed. Safety seemed a forlorn hope. The British had landed in force above him. A rapid march would quickly bring them to the Hudson. The avenue of exit would be closed. The danger of capture was extreme. It was averted by one of those striking incidents of which so many give interest to the history of war. In this case, it was a woman whose coolness and quick wit provided the salvation of Putnam's imperiled army. Sir Henry Clinton, having fairly landed his men at Kipps Bay, put them quickly into motion to cut off Putnam's retreat. In his march for this object, his root lay along the eastern side of Murray Hill, where was the residence of Mrs. Murray, mother of Lindley Murray, the grammarian, and a most worthy old Quaker lady. Putnam had sent her words some time before of his perilous situation, begging her, if possible, to detain General Clinton by entertaining him and his officers. If their march could be hindered for an hour, it would be an invaluable service. The patriotic old lady was quick to respond. Many of the British officers knew her, and when she appeared with a welcoming smile at her door, and cordially invited them to step in and take a friendly glass of wine, the offer was too tempting to be refused. Exhausted with the heat and with the labour of disembarking, they were only too glad to halt their columns for a short rest and follow her into the comfortable dining-room. Here Mrs. Murray and the ladies of her family exerted themselves to entertain their guests. The wine proved excellent. The society and conversation of the ladies were a delightful change from the duties of the camp. The minutes became an hour before the guests dreamed of the flight of the time. At length a negro servant who had been on the lookout from the housetop entered the room, made a significant sign to his mistress, and at once withdrew. Mrs. Murray now rose, and with a meaning smile turned to her title-guest. Will you be kind enough to come with me, Sir Henry? she asked. I have something of great interest to show you. With pleasure, he replied, rising with alacrity and following her from the room. She led the way to the lookout in the upper story, and pointed to the northern side of the hill, where could be seen the American flag, proudly waving over the ranks of the retiring army. They were marching in close array into the open plain of Bloomingdale. How do you like the prospect, Sir Henry? she calmly inquired. We considered the view from this side an admirable one. What Sir Henry replied, history has not recorded. No doubt it lacked the quality of politeness. Down the stairs he rushed, calling to his officers as he passed, leaped upon his horse, and could scarcely find words in his nervous haste to give orders for pursuit. He was too late. The gap was closed, but nothing except such baggage and stores as could not be moved remained in the trap which, if sprung an hour earlier, would have caught an army. Only for Mrs. Murray's inestimable service, Putnam and his men would probably have become prisoners of war. Her name lives in history among those of the many heroines who so ably played their part in the drama of American liberty, and who should hold high rank among the makers of the American Commonwealth. End of Chapter 14 Chapter 15 of Historical Tales, Volume 1, American. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical Tales, Volume 1, American, by Charles Morris. Chapter 15 A Quakerist Patriot In Philadelphia, on 2nd Street below Spruce, formerly stood an antiquated mansion known by the name of Loxley's house. It having been originally the residence of Lieutenant Loxley, who served in the artillery under Braddock, and took part in his celebrated defeat. During the revolution this house was the scene of an interesting historical incident which is well worth relating. At that time it was occupied by a Quaker named Dara, or perhaps we should say by his wife Lydia, who seems to have been the ruling spirit of the house. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, who in patriots and royalists alike had to open their mansions to their none-to-welcome guests, the Dara mansion was used as the quarters of the British Adjutant General. In that day it was somewhat out of town, and was frequently the scene of the private conferences of the higher officers, as being somewhat secluded. On one chill and snowy day, the 2nd of December 1777, the Adjutant General appeared at the house and bade Mrs. Dara to prepare the upper back room for a meeting of his friends which would take place that night. They may stay late, he said, and added emphatically, be sure, Lydia, that your family are all in bed at an early hour. When our guests are ready to leave the house, I will give you notice that you may let us out and extinguish the fire and candles. Mrs. Dara obeyed, yet she was so struck by the mystery with which she seemed inclined to surround the projected meeting that she made up her mind to learn, if possible, what very secret business was afoot. She obeyed his orders literally, saw that her people were early in bed, and after receiving the officers, retired herself to her room, but not to sleep. This conference might pre-sage some peril to the American cause. If so, she wished to know it. When she deemed the proper time had come, she removed her shoes, and in stocking feet stole softly along the passage to the door of the apartment where the officers were in consultation. Here the keyhole served the purpose to which that useful opening has so often been put, and enabled her to hear tidings of vital interest. For some time only a murmur of voices reached her ears. Then silence fell, followed by one of the officers reading in a clear tone. She listened intently, for the document was of absorbing interest. It was an order from Sir William Howe arranging for a secret attack on Washington's camp at White Marsh. The troops were to leave the city on the night of the fourth under cover of the darkness and surprise the rebels before daybreak. The fair eavesdropper had heard enough. Rarely had keyhole listener been so well rewarded. She glided back to her room and threw herself on her bed. She was none too soon. In a few minutes afterwards, steps were heard in the passage and then came a rap upon her door. The fair conspirator was not to be taken unawares. She feigned not to hear. The rap was repeated a second and a third time. Then the shrewd woman, affected to awake, answered in a sleepy tone and learning that the adjutant general and his friends were ready to leave, arose and saw them out. Lydia Dara slept no more that night. The secret she had learned banished slumber. What was to be done? The thought filled her mind the night long. Washington must be warned, but how? Should she trust her husband or some other member of her family? No, they were all leaky vessels. She would trust herself alone. Before morning she had devised a plan of action, and for the first time since learning that eventful news, the anxious woman gave her mind a moment's rest. At early dawn she was a stir. Flower was needed for the household. She woke her husband and told him of this, saying that she must make an early journey to Frankfurt to supply the needed stores. This was a matter of ordinary occurrence in those days. The people of Philadelphia being largely dependent upon the Frankfurt mills for their flower and being obliged to go for it themselves. The idea of house-to-house delivery had not yet been born. Mr. Dara advised that she should take the maid with her, but she declined. The maid could not be spared from her household duty, she said. It was a cold December morning. The snow of the day before had left several inches of its white covering upon the ground. It was no very pleasant journey which lay before Mrs. Dara. Frankfurt was some five miles away, and she was obliged to traverse this distance afoot and return over the same route with her load of flower. Certainly, Frankfurt was not the ruling consideration in those days of our forefathers. A ten-mile walk through the snow for a bag of flower would be an unmentionable hardship to a nineteenth-century housewife. On foot and bag in hand Mrs. Dara started on her journey through the almost untrodden snow, stopping at General Haus headquarters on Market Street near Sixth to obtain the requisite passport to leave the city. It was still early in the day when she and the devoted woman reached the mills. The British outposts did not extend to this point. Those of the Americans were not far beyond. Leaving her bag at the mill to be filled, Mrs. Dara, full of her vital mission, pushed on through the wintry air, ready to incur any danger or discomfort, if thereby she could convey to the Patriot Army the important information which she had so opportunely learned. Fortunately, she had not far to go. At a short distance out, she met the Lieutenant Colonel Craig, who had been sent out by Washington on a scouting expedition in search of information. She told him her story, begged him to hasten to Washington with the momentous tidings and not to reveal her name, and hurried back to the mill. Here she shouldered the bag of flower and trudged her five miles home, reaching there in as reasonably short a time as could have been expected. Night came the next day past. They were a night and day of anxious suspense for Lydia Dara. From her window when night had again fallen, she watched anxiously for the movements of the British troops. Ah, there at length they go, long lines of them marching steadily through the darkness, but as noiselessly as possible. It was not advisable to alarm the city. Patriot scouts might be abroad. When morning dawn the restless woman was on the watch again. The roll of a drum came to her ears from a distance. Soon afterwards troops appeared weary and discontented warriors marching back. They had had their night's journey in vain. Instead of finding the Americans off their guard and an easy prey, they had found them wide awake and ready to give them the hottest kind of a reception. After maneuvering about their lines for a vulnerable point and finding none, the dowdy British warriors turned on their track and marched disconsolately homeward, having had their labor for their pains. The army authorities were all at sea. How had this information got afoot? Had it come from the Dara House? Possibly, for there the conference had been held. The adjutant general hastened to his quarters, summoned the fair Quake arrest to his room, and after locking the door against intrusion turned to her with a stern and doubting face. Were any of your family up, Lydia, he asked, on the night when I had visitors here? No, she replied. They all retired at eight o'clock. This was quite true, as so far as retiring went. Nothing was said about a subsequent rising. It is very strange, she remarked musingly. You, I know, were asleep, for I knocked at your door three times before you heard me, yet it is certain that we are betrayed. I am altogether at a loss to conceive who could have given Washington information of our intended attack, but on arriving near his camp we found him ready, with troops under arms, and cannon planted, prepared at all points to receive us. We have been compelled to turn on our heels and march back home again like a parcel of fools. As may well be surmised, the patriotic Lydia kept her own counsel, and not until the British had left Philadelphia was the important secret of that signal failure made known. CHAPTER XVI THE SEAGE OF FORT SCHULER All was terror in the valley of the Mohawk, for its fertile fields and happy homes were threatened with the horrors of Indian warfare. All New York State indeed was in danger. The hopes of American liberty were in danger. The deadliest peril threatened the patriotic cause. For General Burgogne, with an army of more than seven thousand men, was encamped at St. John's at the foot of Lake Champlain, prepared to sweep down that lake and Lake George, marched to the valley of the Upper Hudson, driving the feeble colonial forces from his path, and by joining with a force sent up the Hudson from New York City, cut off New England from the remaining colonies and hold this hotbed of rebellion at his mercy. It was a well devised and threatening scheme. How disastrously for the royalists it ended, all readers of history know. With this great enterprise, however, we are not here concerned, but with a side issue of Burgogne's march, whose romantic incidents fit it for our pages. On the Mohawk River, at the head of boat navigation stood a fort built in 1758 and named Fort Stanwyx, repaired in 1776 and named Fort Shuler. The possession of this fort was important to General Burgogne's plan. Its defense was a vital moment to the inhabitants of the Mohawk Valley. Interest for the time being centered round this outpost of the then almost unbroken wilderness. On one side, Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Ligère was dispatched at the head of seven hundred Rangers to sail up the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to Oswego, and from that point to march southward, rousing and gathering the Indians as he went, capture Fort Shuler, sweep the valley of the Mohawk with the aid of his savage allies, and join Burgogne at Albany when his triumphant march should have reached that point. On the other side, no small degree of haste and consternation prevailed. Colonel Gansefort had been placed in command at the fort with a garrison of 750 men, but he found it in a state of perilous dilapidation. Originally a strong square fortification with bomb-proof bastions, glasses, covered way, and ditch outside the ramparts, it had been allowed to fall into decay and strenuous efforts were needed to bring it into condition for defense. Meanwhile, news of the coming danger had spread widely through the Mohawk Valley, and everywhere the most lively alarm prevailed. An Oneida Indian brought the news to the fort, and from there it made its way rapidly through the valley. Consternation was widespread. It was too late to look for aid to a distance. The people were in too great a panic to trust to themselves. That the rotten timbers of the old fort could resist assault seemed very doubtful. If they went down and brant with his Indians swept the valley, for what horrors might they not look? It is not surprising that for the time fear drove valor from almost every heart in the imperiled region. Up Lake Oneida came the enemy, now 1700 strong, Saint-Légère with his rangers having been joined by Johnson, Butler, and Brant with their Tories and Indians. Every tribe of the Iroquois had joined the invaders with the exception of the Oneidas who remained faithful to the colonists. On the 2nd of August 1777, Brant with his savage followers reached and invested the fort, the plumed and moccasin foe suddenly breaking from the forest, and with their wild war whoops seeking to intimidate the beleaguered garrison. On the next day came Saint-Légère with his whole force. On the 4th, the siege commenced. Bombs were planted and threw their shells into the fort. The Indians concealed behind bushes and trees picked off with their arrows the men who were diligently employed in strengthening the parapets, and during the evening the savages spreading through the woods sought by frightful yells to drive all courage from the hearts of the defenders. Meanwhile, aid was approaching. The valor of the patriots which fled at the first threat of danger had returned. The enemy was now almost at their doors. Their helpless families might soon be at the mercy of the ruthless savages when General Herkimer, a valiant veteran called for recruits, armed men flocked in numbers to his standard. He was quickly at the head of more than 800 men. He sent a messenger to the fort, telling Gansefort of his approach, and bidding him to discharge three signal guns to show that the tidings had reached him. His small army was called to a halt within hearing of the guns of the fort, as he deemed it the part of prudence to await the signal before advancing on the foe. Unfortunately for the brave Herkimer, his men, lately overtimid, were now overbold. His officers demanded to be led at once to the fort. Two of them, Cox and Parris by name, were impertinent in their demands, charging the veteran with cowardice. I am placed over you as a father and guardian, answered Herkimer, calmly, and shall not lead you into difficulties from which I may not be able to extricate you. But their importunities and taunts continued, and at length the brave old man, angered by their insults, gave the word, march on. He continued, you who want to fight so badly now will be the first to run when you smell burnt powder. On they marched into mulchuous haste, and with the lack of discipline of untrained militia. It was now August 6th, two days after the beginning of the siege. Indian scouts lurked everywhere in the forest, and the movements of the Patriot army were closely watched. Saint-Légère was informed of their near approach, and at once took steps to intercept their advance. Heedless of this, and of the cautious words of their commander, the vanguard pressed hastily on, winding along the road, and at length entering a deep, curving ravine over whose marshy bottom the roadway was carried by a causeway of earth and logs. The borders of the ravine were heavily timbered, while a thick growth of underwood masked its sloping sides. Utterly without precaution, the militia pushed forward into the stoutful passage, until the whole body, with the exception of the rear guard, had entered it. Behind them came the baggage wagons, all was silent, unnaturally silent, for not even the chirp of a squirrel, nor the rustle of a prowling ground animal broke the stillness. The fort was not far distant. The hurrying provincials hoped soon to join their beleaguered friends. Suddenly, from the wooded hill to the west, around which the ravine curved in a semi-circle, rose a frightful sound, the Indian war-woop from hundreds of savage throats. Hardly had it fallen on the startled ears of the patriots when the sharp crack of musketry followed, and leaden missiles were hurled into the crowded ranks. Arrows accompanied them, and spears and tomahawks came hurtling through the air, hurled with deadly aim. The Patriot army had fallen into a dangerous ambuscade. Hare Kimmer's production was fulfilled. The rear guard on hearing the war-like sounds in front turned in panic flight, leaving their comrades to their fate. No one can regret to hear that they were pursued by the Indians and suffered more than if they had stood their ground. As for the remainder of the force, flight was impossible. They had entered a trap. It was fight or fall. Bullets, arrows, war-axes hurtled through their ranks. Frightful yells still fell the air. Many fell where they stood. Hare Kimmer was severely wounded, his horse being killed, and his own leg shattered. But with a composure and cool courage that had rarely been emulated, he ordered the saddle to be taken from his horse and placed against a large beech tree nearby. Here, seated, with his men falling and the bullets of the enemy whistling perilously near, he steadily gave his orders, while many of those who had called him coward were in full flight. During the heat of the action, he took his tinderbox from his pocket, calmly lighted his pipe, and sat smoking, as composedly as though by his own fireside. A striking spectacle, that old man sitting in the midst of hottest battle, with the lifeblood oozing from his shattered leg, smoking and giving his orders with the quiet composure of one undressed parade. It is one of the most imposing pictures in the portrait gallery of American history. The battle went on. If it was to be fight or fall, the brave frontiersmen decided it should be fight. Great confusion reigned at first, but courage soon returned, and though men fell in numbers, the survivors stood their ground like veterans. For nearly an hour, the fierce affray continued. The enemy surrounded the provincials on all sides and were pressing step by step closer. The whole force might have been slain or captured, but for a wise suggestion of one of their number, and an admirable change in their line of battle. Each small group was formed into a circle, and thus they met the enemy at all points. This greatly increased their defensive powers. So destructive now became their fire that the British soldiers rushed upon them in a rage, seeking to break their line by a bayonet charge. They were boldly met, and a hand-to-hand death-struggle began. At this moment a heavy thunder-peel broke from the darkening skies. Down poured the rain in drenching showers. Lightning filled the air. Crash after crash of thunder rolled through the sky. Checked in their bloodthirst by the fury of the elements, the combatants hastily separated and ran for the shelter of the trees, vanquished by water, where fire had failed to overcome their rage. The affair so far had been not unlike that of Braddock's defeat some twenty years before, but these were American militia, not British regulars, frontiersmen who knew too much of Indian fighting to stand in their ranks and be shot down. They had long since taken to the trees and fought the savages in their own way. To this, perhaps, may be ascribed the difference in result from that of the Braddock fight. After the rain, the Patriots gained better ground and adopted new and useful tactics. Before, when the Indians noticed a shot from behind a tree, they would rush forward and tomahawk the unlucky provincial before he could reload. But now two men were placed behind each tree, so that when the whooping savage sprang forward with his tomahawk, a second bullet was ready to welcome him. The fire from the American side now grew so destructive that the Indians began to give way. A body of Johnson's greens came up to their support. These were mostly loyalist refugees from the Mohawk Valley, to whom the Patriot militia bore the bitterest enmity. Recognizing them, the Madden Provincials leaped upon them with tiger-like rage, and a hand-to-hand contest began, in which knives and bayonets took the place of bullets, and the contest grew brutally ferocious. At this moment a firing was heard in the direction of the fort. New hopes sprung into the hearts of the Patriots. Was aid coming to them from the garrison? It seemed so indeed, for soon a body of men in continental uniform came marching briskly towards them. It was a ruse on the part of the enemy which might have proved fatal. These men were Johnson's greens, disguised as Consonantals. A chance revealed their character. One of the Patriots, seeing an acquaintance among them, ran up to shake hands with him. He was seized and dragged into their ranks. Captain Gardenier, perceiving this, sprang forward spear in hand and released his man, but found himself in a moment engaged in a fierce combat in which he killed two of his antagonists and wounded another, but was himself seriously hurt. For God's sake, Captain cried some of the militia, you are killing our own men. They are not our own men, they are Tories, yelled back the Captain, fire away. Fire they did, and with such deadly effect that numbers of the disguised Tories fell, and nearly as many Indians. In an instant the battle was violently raging again, with roar of rifles, clash of steel, yells of combatants, and the wild war whoops of the savages. But the Indians by this time had enough of it. The stubborn defense of the Provincials had sadly thinned their ranks, and seeing the Tories falling back they raised their cry of retreat, una, una, and at once broke and fled. The Tories and regulars, dismayed by their flight, quickly followed, the bullets of the Provincials adding wings to their speed. Thus ended one of the hottest and most deadly, for the numbers engaged, of the battles of the Revolution. Of the Provincials less than half of them ever saw their homes again. The loss of the enemy was probably still heavier. General Herakimer died ten days after the battle. The militia, despite the well-laid ambuscade into which they had marched, were the victors, but they had been so severely handled that they were unable to accomplish their design, the relief of the fort. As for the garrison, they had not been idle during the battle. The sound of the combat had been born to their ears, and immediately after the cessation of the rain, Colonel Willet made a sally from the fort at the head of two hundred and fifty men. The camp of the enemy had been depleted for the battle, and the sortie proved highly successful. The remnants of Johnson's regiment were soon driven from their camp. The Indian encampment beyond was demolished, its savage guards flying in terror from the devil, by which expressive name they called Colonel Willet. Wagons were hurried from the fort, camp equipage, British flags, papers, and the effects of the officers loaded into them, and twenty-one loads of this useful spoil triumphantly carried off. As the victorious force was returning, Colonel Saint Legère appeared with a strong body of men across the river, just in time to be saluted by a shower of bullets, the provincial's then retiring, without the loss of a man. The setting sun that day cast its last rays on five British standards displayed from the walls of the fort, where the stars and stripes floating proudly above them. The day had ended triumphantly for the provincial's, though it proved unsuccessful in its main object, for the fort was still invested, and the rescuing force were in no condition to come to its aid. This investment indeed was so close that the garrison knew nothing of the result of the battle. Saint Legère took advantage of this, and sent a white flag to the fort with false information declaring that the relief party had been annihilated, that Burgogne had reached and captured Albany, and that unless the fort was surrendered he could not much longer restrain the Indians from devastating the valley settlements with fire and tomahawk. This story Gantz afort did not half believe, and answered the messenger with words of severe reprobation for his threat of an Indian foray. After you get out of this fort, he concluded, you may turn around and look at its outside, but never expect to come in again unless as a prisoner. Before I would consent to deliver this garrison to such a murdering set as your army by your own account consists of, I would suffer my body to be filled with splinters and set on fire, as you know has at times been practiced by such hordes of women and children killers as belong to your army. After such a message there was no longer question of surrender, and the siege was strongly pushed. The enemy finding that their guns had little effect on the sod work of the fort began a series of approaches by sapping and mining. Colonel Gantz afort on his part took an important step. Fearing that his stock of food and ammunition might give out, he determined to send a message to General Shuler asking for sucker. Colonel Willett volunteered for this service, Lieutenant Stockwell joining him. The night chosen was a dark and stormy one. Shower followed shower. The sentinels of the enemy were not likely to be on the alert. Leaving the fort at the Salliport at ten o'clock, the two messengers crept on hands and knees along a morass till they reached the river. This they crossed on a log and entered a dense wood which lay beyond. No sentinel had seen them. But they lost their way in the darkness and straggled on blindly until the barking of a dog told them that they were near an Indian camp. Progress was now dangerous. Advance or retreat alike might throw them into the hands of the savage foe. For several hours they stood still in a most annoying and perilous situation. The night passed. Dawn was at hand. Fortunately now the clouds broke, the morning star shone in the east, and with this as a guide they resumed their journey. Their expedition was still a dangerous one. The enemy might strike their trail in the morning light. To break this they now and then walked in the bed of a stream. They had set out on the night of the tenth. All day of the eleventh they pushed on with a small store of crackers and cheese as their only food. Another night and day passed. On the afternoon of the twelfth nearly worn out with hardship they reached the settlement of the German flats. Here horses were procured and they rode at full speed to General Schuler's headquarters at Stillwater. Schuler had already heard of Herkimer's failure and was laying plans for the relief of the fort. His purpose was opposed by many of his officers who were filled with the fear of the coming of Borgonia. Schuler was pacing the floor in anxious thought when he heard the low remark, he means to weaken the army. Schuler turned towards the speaker so angry that he bit into pieces a pipe he was smoking and exclaimed, Gentlemen, I shall take the responsibility. Where is the Brigadier that will take command of the relief? I shall beat up for volunteers tomorrow. General Arnold, one of the boldest and most impulsive men in the army, immediately asked for the command. The next morning the drums beat and before noon 800 volunteers were enrolled. Arnold at once advanced, but feeling that his force was too weak, stopped at Fort Dayton till reinforcements could reach him. And now occurred one of the most striking events in the history of the war, that of the defeat of an invading army by stratagem without sight of soldier or musket. It is to be told from two points of view, that of the garrison and that of the army of relief. As regards to the garrison, its situation was becoming critical. Saint-Lagère's parallels were approaching the fort. The store of provisions was running low. Many of the garrison began to hint at surrender, fearing massacre by the Indians should the fort be taken by assault. Gantsefort, despairing of further successful resistance, had decided upon a desperate attempt to cut through the enemy lines. Suddenly, on the 22nd there came a sudden lull in a siege. The guns ceased their fire. Quick and confused movements could be seen. There were signs of flight. Away went the besiegers, Indians and whites alike, in panic disarray and with such haste that their tense artillery and camp equipage were left behind. The astonished garrison sallied forth to find not a foeman in the field, yet not assigned to show what mysterious influence had caused this headlong flight. It was not from the face of an enemy, for no enemy was visible, and the mystery was too deep for the garrison to fathom. To learn the cause of this strange event we must return to Arnold and his stratagem. He had, on learning the peril of the fort, been about to advance despite the smallness of his force, when an opportunity occurred to send terror in advance of his march. There were in his hands several Tory prisoners, among them an ignorant, coarse, half idiotic fellow named Hanyost Shuler, who had been condemned to death for treason. His mother pleaded for his life, casting herself on their knees before Arnold and imploring for her son with tears and entreaties. She found him at first inexorable, but he changed his tone and appeared to soften as a fortunate idea came to his mind. Her son's life should be spared but upon conditions. These were that he should go to Fort Shuler and, by stories of the immense force upon the march, endeavor to alarm Saint Leger. Hanyost readily consented, leaving his brother as a hostage in Arnold's hands. The seemingly foolish fellow was far from being an idiot. Before leaving the camp he had several bullet holes shot through his coat. He arranged also with a friendly Oneida Indian to follow and confirm his tale. Thus prepared he set out for Saint Leger's camp. Reaching it he ran breathlessly among the Indians, seemingly in a state of terror. Many of the savages knew him and he was eagerly questioned as to what had happened. The Americans were coming, he replied, numbers of them, hosts of them. He had barely escaped with his life. He had been riddled with bullets. He pointed to his coat in evidence. How many were there, he was asked. Hanyost in reply shook his head mysteriously and pointed to the leaves on the trees. His seeming alarm communicated itself to the Indians. They had been severely dealt with at Orescanny. The present siege dragged on. They were dissatisfied. While the chiefs debated and talked of flight, the Oneida appeared with several others of his tribe whom he had picked up on the way. These told the same story. A bird had brought them the news. The valley was swarming with soldiers. The army of Bregonia had been cut to pieces, said one. Arnold had three thousand men, said another. Others pointed to the leaves, as Hanyost had done, and meaningly shook their heads. The panic spread among the Indians. Saint Leger stormed at them. Johnson pleaded with them, but all in vain. Drink was offered them, but they refused it. The powwow said we must go, was their answer to every remonstrance, and go they did. You said there would be no fighting for us Indians, said a chief. We might go down and smoke our pipes, but many of our warriors have been killed, and you mean to sacrifice us all. Oaths and persuasions proved alike useless. The council broke up, and the Indians took to their flight. Their panic communicated itself to the whites. Dropping everything but their muskets, they fled in terror for their boats on Oneida Lake, with such haste that many of them threw away arms and knapsacks in their mad flight. The Indians who had started the panic grew merry on seeing the wild terror of their late allies. They ran behind them, shouting, They are coming, they are coming, and thus added wings to their flight. They robbed, stripped, and even killed many of them, plundered them of their boats, and provided a more formidable foe than the enemy from whom they fled. Half starved and empty-handed, the whites hurried to a suigo and took boat on the lake from Montreal, while their Indian allies, who had proved of more harm than good, went merrily home to their villages, looking upon the flight as a stupendous joke. When Arnold, hearing of what had happened, hurried to the fort, the enemy had utterly vanished, except a few whom Gansa Fort's men had brought in as prisoners. Hanyo soon came back, having taken the first opportunity to slip away from the flying horde. He had amply won his pardon. Thus ended the siege of Fort Shuler, in its way, considered the numbers engaged, the most desperate and bloody struggle of the revolution, and of the greatest utility as an aid to the subsequent defeat of Burgonia. As regards its singular termination, it is without parallel in the history of American wars. Hanyo's has proved himself the most surprising idiot on record.