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TRADITIONS AND ROMANCE

BORDER AND REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.

 

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THE LAST BLAST OF ANTHONY.
McCLURE’S ADVENTURES.

ESCAPE OF CAPTAIN JOHN STEELE.
PIONEER LIFE IN THE WEST.

 

NEW YORK:
BEADLE AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,
118 WILLIAM STREET.

 
   

a
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1864, ie
by BEADLE AND COMPANY, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United
States for the Southern District of New York.
(T. 12.)
4

 
THE LAST BLAST j

|. ANTHONY THE TRUMPETER;

OR, THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF “ SPUYTEN TUYFEL CREEK.”

Ir is unnecessary to enter the lists in favor of the reliability
of Knickerbocker’s unparalleled “ History of New York.”
Let us not so far insult the discretion of our readers; albeit,
Sah there have been found individuals possessed of sufficient hard-
. ihood and audacity to call in question the veracity of that
; unequaled historian ; but, such caitiffs would doubt the truth
> of Gulliver, of Don Quixote, or even Robinson Crusoe!
We leave such to their infidelity, and pass them by as un-
worthy of the trouble of convincing. If any argument were
necessary to prove the authenticity of the venerable and
quaint Diederich Knickerbocker, we might point.to the high
P estimation in which he is held by the people, the history of
whose ancestors he chronicles, and who, to this day, are proud J
to adopt his name as a cognomen by which to distinguish q
themselves as descendants of those ancestors. Do we not
live at Knickerbocker hotels, eat at Knickerbocker restau-

rants, drink at Knickerbocker saloons, ride in Knickerbocker
A omnibuses, and deposit our savings in Knickerbocker banks ?
Was historian ever before so highly honored? . And is not
: the respect shown to his memory the best evidence of his ve- 4

racity? Verily, to doubt it is the hight of presumption.
Have not the personages whose mighty deeds he narrates
left their names indelibly stamped upon the scenes of these

j exploits? Hath not that redoubtable champion and-sounder
of brass—that valiant commander of windmills and garrison
+ of Niew Amsterdam, Anthony Van Corlaer—handed his

317

 
  

6

 

TALES AND TRADITIONS.

name down to posterity in connection with one of the boldest
promontories of the Hudson highlands, and immortalized
himself by giving a cognomen to the crooked strait which
separates the beautiful island of Manhattoes from the main
land? Truly, the Vandals of modern days have not shown
a proper evidence of respect for the tradition, in calling it
“* Harlem River.”

- Anthony Van Corlaer was a man of parts, and his melan-
choly end deserved to be commemorated in the name of the
strait whose waters inclosed his mortal remains within their
treacherous bosom.

Anthony was the “son of his mother,”—so the sage histo-
rian informs us through the mouth of that individual him-
self—and was the confidential envoy and trusty squire of
“ Peter the Headstrong,” to which elevated position he had
raised himself—as many others have raised themselves—by
simply “ blowing his own trumpet.” He had rendered his
master such good service in various ways, and more particu-
larly by his bravery at the storming of Fort Christian, on
the Delaware, that he had invested him with “the right,
title, and interest in and to a certain estate,” on the island of
Manhattoes, which is called “ Corlaer’s Hook” to this day.

Toward the close of the reign of “ Hardkoppig Peter,”
when the British and Yankees were thundering at his doors
for admittance, and all was confusion and uproar within his
camp, he dispatched his faithful envoy to arouse the brave
fighting men of the country round about, and bring them to
his assistance. The doleful disaster which followed is related
in Book VII, Chap. x, of the Chronicles, and is as follows:

“ Resolutely bent, however, upon defending his beloved
city, in despite even of itself, he called unto him his trusty
Van Corlaer, who was his right-hand man in all times
of emergency. Him did he adjure to take his war-denouncing
trumpet, and mounting his horse, to beat up the country night
and day—sounding the alarm along the pastoral borders of
the Bronx—startling the wild solitudes of Croton—arousing

the rugged yeomanry of Weehawk and Hoboken—the mighty
318

\

 

 
ANTHONY’S OATH. 4

men of battle of Tappan Bay, and the brave boys of Tarry-
town, Petticoat Lane and Sleepy. Hollow—charging them,
one and all, to sling their powder-horns, shoulder their fowl-
ing-pieces, and march merrily down to the Manhattoes.

‘** Now, there was nothing in all the world, the divine sex
excepted, that Anthony Van Corlaer loved better than errands
of this kind. So, just stopping to take a lusty dinner, and
bracing to his side his junk-bottle, well charged with heart-
inspiring Hollands, he issued jollily from the city gate, which
looked out upon what is now called Broadway; sounding a
farewell strain that rung in sprightly echoes through the
streets of Nieuw Amsterdam. Alas! never more were they
to be gladdened by the melody of their favorite trumpeter !

“Tt was a dark and stormy night when the good Anthony
arrived at the creek, (sagely denominated Harlem river,)
which separates the island of Manna-hata from the main land.
The wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no
Charon could be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of
brass across the water. For a short time he vapored like an
impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself
of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his
stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across,
Spuyt den Duyvel, (in spite of the Devil,) and daringly plunged
into the stream. It seems that his Satanic Majesty had over-
heard the oath, and coming up from this vasty deep, discoy-
ered, in the person of a little fat trumpeter, the daring
individual who had braved his power ; and determined o exert
it to the utmost to destroy the presumptuous mortal. Waiting
until the luckless wight had reached about the middle of the
stream, he stirred the waters into such a commotion that the poor
fellow was obliged to yield the contest. Struggling fiercely
for the victory, until he found that struggling was in vain, he
yielded to inevitable fate, and lay like a huge bladder upon the
surface, until a huge wave, towering above all its lesser com-
panions, came rolling toward him to overwhelm him in its
mighty volume. With the ‘ ruling passion strong in death,’

he put his instrument to his lips, and, as he eyed the incoming
319 ,

 
  

8 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

 

swell with eye askance, gave one long, last, and vehement
blast, and sunk forever to the bottom.

“The clangor of his trumpet, like that of the ivory horn
of the renowned Paladin Orlando, when expiring on the
glorious field of Roncesvalles, rung far and wide through the
country, alarming the neighbors round, who hurried in amaze-
ment to the spot. Here an old Dutch burgher, famed for his
veracity, and who had been a witness of the fact, related to
them the melancholy affair; with the addition (to which I am
slow of giving belief) that he saw the Duyvel, in the shape
of a huge moss-banker, seize the huge Anthony by the leg, and
drag him beneath the waves. Certain it is, the place, with
the adjoining promontory which projects into the Hudson, has
been called Spuyt den Duyvel ever since; the ghost of the
unfortunate Anthony still haunts the surrounding solitudes,
and his trumpet has often been heard by the neighbors, of a
stormy night, mingling with the howling of the blast. No-
body ever attempts to swim across the creek after dark: on
the contrary, a bridge.has been built to guard against such
melancholy accidents in future; and as to moss-bankers, they
are held in such abhorrence, that no true Dutchman will ad-
mit them to his table, who loves good fish and hates the devil.”

Such was the end of Anthony Van Corlaer—a man desery-
ing a better fate; and such was the origin of the name by
which the creek is known among the descendants of the
Knickerbockers, even to the present day. His loss was sadly
deplored by Peter Stuyvesant and the Nieuw Amsterdamers ;
but new scenes and incidents attracted their attention and
oceupied their thoughts, until the unfortunate trumpeter was
almost forgotten.

Much of the veritable history of New York under Dutch
rule is so characterized by oddity, whimsicality, humor, and
what is swi generis, as to read more like the creation of fancy
than actual fact. The daily life and habits of the Dutch were
unlike those even of the Dutch in Holland, and Diederich
Knickerbocker, with all his powers as a humorist, would
hardly excel, in his laughable delineations, the truth-telling

320

 

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ay Teen. 2:

 

A CURIOUS RECORD. 9

historian. There are now preserved in the archives of the
New York Historical Society, in the New York Law Library,
and in the families of the De Peysters, Stuyvesants, Jansens,
De Witts, Corneilisons, Van Zandts, Verplancks, Van Burens,
Ten Eycks, ete., also in the archives of the old Dutch Re-
formed Chronicles of New York—many most interesting doc-
uments, records, letters and narratives throwing a flood of
light upon those ancient times when no man was considered
eligible to the office of Burgomaster (Alderman) or Schout
(Sheriff) unless he measured six feet in girth around the waist.
Many of these papers have been given publicity, from year
to year, in the valuable ‘“ Manual,” annually published by Mr.
Valentine, the now venerable Clerk of the Common Council
of the city of New York. From some of the criminal re-
cords of New Amsterdam, given in the “ Manual” for 1861,
we extract the following as illustrating not only the crimes
then prevalent, but the peculiar and somewhat barbarous
modes of punishment inflicted.

“The police of the city of New Amsterdam was chiefly cen-
tered in one individual, called the Schout. It was his duty to
personally perambulate the city, to observe if there were any
infractions of the law and police regulations, and when, either
upon his own observation, or upon the information of others,
such infractions came within his cognizance, he presented a
formal complaint to the Burgomasters and Schepens against
the delinquents, and demanded the infliction of such punish-
ment as, by the laws of that day, was consequent upon the
particular offense. It was generally within the power of the
magistrates to mitigate the penalty demanded, and in general
we find them mercifully inclined, though in some cases the
punishments for crimes seem to us of the 3 esent day to have
been severe and excessive.

As the best manner of illustrating the subject, we shall
make up a schedule of complaints of the Schout against divers
persons for different breaches of the peace, with the demands
of the Schout,‘and the decision of the magistrates.

Hendrick Jansen Smitt, suicide. The Schout demands that
82]
  

10 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

 

as said Smitt has hanged himself on the branch of a tree, on
the Kalckhoeck, on this side of the fresh water, that his goods
shall be forfeit, the corpse drawn on a hurdle, as an example
to others, and brought to the place where it was found hang-
ing, and there shoved under the earth; further, that a stake
pole or post shall be set there, in token of an accursed deed.
Decision: That, whereas, Hendrick Jansen Smitt hath been
an old burgher here, of whom no bad behavior was ever heard,
and as his next neighbors, eight in number, have requested a
burial, it is adjudged that his body shall be interred in a cor-
ner of the churchyard, in the evening, after the ringing of the
nine o’clock bell; further, the forfeiture of the goods left by
him, to be applied as is proper.

Hendrick Jansen Claabrout van ter Goes, charged with
speaking words involving capital punishment. The Court
having doubts as to their power to inflict capital punishment,
applied to the Director-General for authority. The Director-
General thereupon authorized the Court to hear the case, and to
pronounce sentence of capital punishment if the offense should
be adjudged capital and the prisoner convicted, the sentence
to be approved by the Director-General. The prisoner being
arraigned and the demand of the Schout being read, he begs
his life, acknowledging that he spoke ill.*

The Burgomasters and Schepens then voted as follows :

The Heer Burgomaster Masten Cregier: That he shall be
whipped and branded, and banished for all his life, out of the
Province of New Netherlands. .

The Heer Burgomaster Olof Stevensen Cortlandt ; Though
he be worthy of death, yet from special grace that he be
whipped and branded and banished.

The Heer Schepen Pieter Van Couvenhoven: He shall be
put to death.

The Heer Schepen Johannes Van Brugh: That he be
whipped and branded and banished the country.

*The words used do not appear in the record, but they were probably in
reference to the government, as it seems the case was isferred from the
Governor and Council, the usual tribunal for trial of capital cases, to the
City Court of magistrates.

 

 
CALUMNIATING THE WORSHIPFUL MAGISTRATES. 11

The Heer Schepen Hendt. J. Van de Vin: That he is
worthy of death, and ought to be punished until death fol-
lows, with the costs and mises of justice.

_ The Heer Schepen Jacob Kip: That he should be executed
by death. .

The Heer Schepen Cornelis Steeynwyck: That he be whip-
ped and branded under the gallows, the halter being around
his neck, and branded forever, and put hence with his wife
and children on pain of the gallows, thanking the magistracy
on his bended knees for their merciful and well deserved justice.

It was thereupon decided by plurality of vote’ that the
prisoner be brought to the place where justice is usually
administered, and with rope around his neck be whipped and
branded and banished the country, and condemned in the
costs and mises of justice. The sentence was approved by
the Director-General and permission given to erect a halt-gal-
lows before the City Hall to carry out the sentence.

The prisoner was subsequently ordered to be placed on
board a bark bound for the Virginias, under the command of
Mr. Brown.

Walewyn Van der Veer, charged with insulting and ca-
lumniating the Worshipful Magistrates of the city. The
Schout demands that the prisoner, for his committed insults,
shall be eomdemned to repair the injury, honorably, and profit-
ably: honorably, by praying with uncovered head forgive-
ness of God and Justice; profitably, by paying a fine of
twelve hundred guilders, with costs, and in case of refusal,
to go into close confinement. Decision: That he shall here
beg forgiveness, with uncovered head, of God, Justice and
the Worshipful Court, and pay a fine of one hundred and
ninety guilders, with costs, and in case of refusal, he shall go
into confinement. Which judgment being read, the prisoner
said: “I appeal, and request copy of the sentence to answer
its principal points,” saying further, “‘ people complain at the
South river, but I may well regret myself here.” It was there-
upon ordered that he go into his house in confinement, and be

kept there by a Court Messenger until he shall have obeyed it.
323
   

12 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

Annetice Minnes, widow of Conelis Nyven, about twenty-
three, and Weeltje Pieters, wife of Romeyn the carman,
also about twenty-three years, charged with theft. Schout
demands that they be corrected and punished therefor ; that
Neeltje Pieters shall be brought to the place where justice is
usually done, and there be bound fast to a stake, severely
scourged and banished for ten years from the jurisdiction of
the city. That Annetje Minnes shall, while justice is admin-
istered to Neeltje Pieters, stand by and look at her, and after
justice is executed, shall be whipped severely within doors
and banished for six years. Decision: As to Neeltje Pieters,
that she being a pregnant woman ¢
neither time nor hour, be excused from the well-merited pun-
ishment, but be banished for eight years with costs and mises
of justice ; and that Annetje Minnes be excused from corpo-
real punishment, and condemned in the costs and mises of
justice.

Geleyn Verplanck, charged with seducing Geertruyd
Wingers. Plaintiff demands that the defendant shall be
bound to marry her according to promise, or pay her six
hundred guilders in beavers, and also one hundred guilders
for lying-in expenses, and also one hundred guilders per annum

oing on her last, having

for maintenance of her child. Defendant denies having prom-
ised tomarry her. Decision: That defendant pay the plantiff
four hundred guilders, half beaver and half seawant. Both
parties condemned to maintain their child, and in costs of suit.

Messack Martens, charged with stealing. The following
are the interrogatories proposed to him and his answers
thereto, which are given in full, as illustrative of the method
of dealing with criminal cases of importance :

1. If you the prisoner have not stolen more than a month
ago, a quantity of cabbage at the house of one Pieter Jansen,
ship-carpenter, residing at the entrance of Maiden Lane, when
you were caught and overtaken by the watch ?

Answer: Acknowledges to have taken five or six cabbages
from the garden, and to have climbed over the palisades.

2. And how many cabbages did you, the prisoner, steal as

324

 

 
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STEALING CABBAGES. 13

well there as at other places: who helped you and were your
abettors and fellow-thieves ?
Answer; Hath stolen as before five or six cabbages, and no

other place.

3. And did you not, about fourteen days ago, having
climbed in behind the fence of one Lucas Andriessen, skipper,
trading to Fort Orange, and going through the garden and
entering the house, there very early in the morning, were you
not found there with a tub of butter about half empty, and
did you not steal and take it with you and carry it to your
house ?

Answers: No, and says he does not know where his garden
is, nor where it comes out in the rear.

4, And did you not hastily retire, and, on hearing a noise,
leave your hat behind, which was then taken up by one Ba-
sent Cruytdop, aud saved ? :

Answers : Knows of no noise and was not there, and knows
not how his hat came there.

5. And did you not frequently break off, draw out and burn
the city’s or company’s palisades, or where do those remain
or to whom sold ?

Answers : Hath taken no palisades, but says he took away
some pieces of palisades from the garden of the Heer Paulus
Lendersen, which he had helped to lay, for firing, and that the

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same still lie by his house.

6. What more, and where have you prisoner stolen ; where
concealed ; to whom sold; who are your receivers or abettors
or cooperators.

Answers: Stole nothing but the cabbage, and had no
abettors.

7. And did you not, you prisoner, steal some fowls and
turkeys from the garden of Mons Verlett, and what more ?

Answers: No. ,

On a subsequent day the prisoner being again brought for-
ward, was examined by torture, as to how many cabbages,
fowls, turkeys, and how much butter he hath stolen; who his
abettors and coéperators have been. Answering he persists

325
14. TALES AND TRADITIONS.

by his reply that he did not steal any butter, fowls, or turkeys
nor had any abettors; being again set loose, the Schout
demands that for his committed theft, voluntarily confessed,
he shall be brought to the usual place of criminal justice, well
fastened to a stake, and severely whipped and banished from
the jurisdiction of the city for ten years, with costs. Decision:
That he be brought to the usual place of execution, to stand
in the pillory with cabbages on his head, and be banished five
years from the jurisdiction of the’ city, with costs and mises
of justice.

Subsequently, Peter the negro entering, requests payment
for executing the sentence on Mesaek Martens and Marten
Van Wart; is promised that arrangement shall be made that
he have that of Mesaek, but that of Marten Van Wart is
promised him by the Heer officer.

M°CLURE’S ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS AND DOGS.

Earty in the spring of 1784, a band of Cherokee Indians
made their appearance in Lincoln county, Kentucky, and after
committing other depredations, stole a number of horses and
decamped. A party of, three young men from the neighbor-
hood, who delighted in nothing more than a brush with the
red-men, pursued the marauders for a considerable distance
through the woods in the direction of their towns, but were
unable to overtake them, they being on foot, and the Indians
mounted on the horses which they had stolen. Finding it im-
possible to recover the animals, the young men determined
to pay a visit to the uearest Indian settlement and make re-
prisals.

Having made up their minds to this effect, our three hunt-
ers—whose names were Caffree, Davis, and McClure—tray-
eled for three days in the direction of the Indian town of

826

 
A DILEMMA. 15

Chicacango, on the Tennessee river, without meeting with
any incident worthy of record. Onthe morning of the fourth
day, however, they discovered signs of the proximity of their
foes, and proceeded more cautiously in their march. Their
plan was to approach near enough to reconnoiter the town,
and find where the horses of the Indians were penned; and
then, when the darkness of night should wrap the skies in
gloom and aid their escape, to steal quietly in, secure as many
animals as they could manage, stampede the rest, and make
a push for home. The plan was a bold one, considering their
distance from the settlements and the feebleness of their num-
bers; but would doubtless have succeeded, as many similar
ones had done before, had it not been for a cireumstance
which transpired when they were within a few miles of their
destination. As they were cautiously moving along an In-
dian path which led to the town, carefully guarding against
discovery from the front, but not dreaming of danger in their
rear, they were surprised by the approach of three Indians,
who were traveling in the same direction. Both parties dis-
covered each other at the same instant, and both seemed at

a loss what course to pursue. For a few moments they stood

looking upon each other with suspicion; but the Indians soon
advanced, making signs of peace, which were met by the
white men with similar demonstrations. Having shaken
hands in token of amity and good-will, they agreed to travel
together toward the town. Here was a dilemma from which
the hunters knew not how to extricate themselves. To go
forward was to thrust their heads into the lion’s den; while
to turn back was to arouse the suspicions of their fellow-
travelers, and bring the whole tribe in hot chase after them.
They could but notice that the Indians seemed to have their
suspicions regarding them, for they kept close together upon
the opposite side of the path, and held their arms in readi-
ness for an emergency. Step by step they were approaching
nearer the town, while, to be successful, their plans, whatever
they might be, must be put at once into execution, or it would

be too late. Neither party could understand the language of
327

 
   

16 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

the other; but the whites soon found that the Indians were
talking together in low and earnest tones, which satisfied them
that mischief was meant ; hence they determined to anticipate
the savage, and Caffree, who was a powerful fellow, proposed
to his companions that he should seize one of the Indians,
while Davis and McClure should each shoot one of the others.
This plan, unfortunately, was adopted. It was agreed, too,
that he should seize the center Indian, who walked opposite
to him, and the moment he should spring upon his victim the
others.should fire, before the remaining Indians should reco-
ver sufficiently from their surprise to act on the defensive.
Watching his opportunity, therefore, while the one he had se-
lected was leaning forward to talk with his file leader, Caffree
sprung upon him with the leap of a tiger, seized him by the
throat, and hurled him to the ground with such force as to
jerk his gun some distance from him. Instead of killing him,
as he might have done with his own or the Indian’s knife,
Caffree attempted to draw a cord from his pocket for the
purpose of tying him. He succeeded, with some difliculty, in
getting the cord; but, to tie the hands of his foe was not an
easy matter. Although not so powerful as Caffree, the
Indian was very supple, and when the other had almost suc-
ceeded in his object, he would wriggle hiniself free, and en-
deavor to draw his knife. While this was going on the others
had attempted to perform their respective parts. With the
rapidity of lightning, and with the certainty of death, the ball
from McClure’s rifle pierced the heart of one of the enemy,
and he tumbled headlong to the ground, without uttering a
groan. Davis was not so fortunate, however, for, although
equally as quick in his movement as his comrade, from some
cause his piece missed fire, and he found himself in a predica-
ment not the most pleasant, The three instantly treed, and
prepared for deadly conflict; while Caffree and his opponent
still lay struggling upon the ground, the one endeavoring to
secure his prisoner, and the other, with equal determination,
resisting his efforts with all his power and agility, while both
lay exposed to the fire of the others: The Indian who had
328

 

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A DESPERATE STRUGGLE. , 19

treed aimed at Caffree, and gave him a mortal wound, and, at
the same moment, received the ball from McClure’s rifle, he
having rapidly reloaded his piece the moment, he reached
shelter. The only remaining Indian was struggling with
Caffree, and rapidly getting the better of him. The ball from
the second Indian’s rifle had passed into his right side just
below his arm-pit, and, ranging through his lungs, had come
out just over his hip on the other side. Finding himself grow-
ing weaker, he called to his comrades to come to his assist-
ance, and Davis immediately ran forward to dispatch the
Indian; but, before he reached the spot, Caffree fell over
and expired, and the Indian, released by the death of his
captor, sprung to his feet with the rapidity of lightning, and
seizing Caffree’s rifle, which lay within his reach, presented it
at Davis as he ran up. His gun not being in order for ser-
vice, Davis turned and fled into the forest, rapidly pursued
by the Indian ; while McClure, who had just finished loading
his rifle, picked up the piece which Davis had dropped, and
followed after them as rapidly as he could. As usual upon
such occasions, a signal had been agreed upon between the
hunters, in case they became separated, and the race having
varried the pursuer and pursued far out of sight, McClure en-
deavored to intimate his whereabouts to his companion by the
call agreed upon—but to no effect. He wandered about in
the forest for some time, loth to give up the hope of meeting
with his comrade; but his own safety demanded that he
should put as great an amount of space between himself and
the Indian town as possible ; “ For,” he reflected, “ if Davis
does or does not escape from his pursuer, there is at least one
Indian in the woods who knows of my proximity, and he may
bring a hundred more about me before I am aware of it. If
he does escape, he knows the direction of the settlements as
well as I, and we shall do better separate than together; and
if he has not succeeded in throwing off his pursuer, he is be-
yond my aid.”

He accordingly returned to the path, and set his face in the
direction of the settlements, still bearing Davis’ rifle in addition

391

 
    

20 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

to his own. Having advanced about a mile, he was sud-
denly startled by the sound of a bell approaching from the
direction in which he was traveling. Quickly screening him-
self in the adjacent woods, he awaited the development of the
cause of this new alarm. He soon discovered an Indian and
a boy mounted upon an old broken-down horse, around whose
neck was the bell which had attracted his attention. In their
company were a number of Indian dogs—half wolf, half cur—
who commenced barking as soon as they got wind of the
hunter. Finding himself about to be discovered, McClure
decided at once to show himself, as there were but two, and
one of these a boy. Dropping one of the rifles, for fear that
the fact of his having two might awaken suspicion, he
boldly stepped into the path, and the parties soon met.
With an air of the utmost confidence, he advanced and
extended his hand, and made other signs of peace, which the
other returned by similar signs, and a good understanding
seemed at once to be established between them. The
elder Indian was a little pot-bellied old man, with a face in
which mirth and humor seemed constantly to struggle
with the natural taciturnity of his race; while the other was
an idiotic looking lad, of twelve or thirteen years of age.
The game which formed a part of the burden of their broken-
winded animal, showed that they had been to the woods for
the purpose of hunting, and were now on their way home.
The dogs which accompanied the Indians did not seem as
amicably disposed toward the white man as their master, and
threatened, by barking and snapping at his heels, to become in-
timately acquainted with his person, and it required the most
strenuous exertions on his part to prevent them from doing.so.
The Indians dismounted, and the old man, taking up a broken
limb, drove the dogs off to a respectful distance; then took
his seat on the trunk of a fallen tree, and invited McClure to
do likewise. Drawing out his pipe, he leisurely filled it with
tobacco, lit it by a flint and steel, took a few whiffs himself,
and then handed it to McClure, who, after smoking, handed

it back. Although this was a sign of peace, yet McClure,
332

aan ee

 
  

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COMEDY AND TRAGEDY. 21

notwithstanding the weakness and inefficiency of the enemy
he had to deal with, did not remit his watchfulness, or part
with his trusty rifle, which he kept in hand, and ready for an
emergency.

His first thought was of getting both the Indians in such a
position as to kill or maim tae. and take their horse to aid
him in his escape. This, he soon saw, would be an impos-
sibility, as the old man, whether he suspected his design, or
was merely on his guard against any treachery, kept his eye
upon him; while the boy seemed determined to stick close
to the horse. Turning over in his mind various expedients
for ridding himself of his very unwelcome company, and
just as he had come to the conclusion to shoot the old man,
knock the boy on the head, and make off with the horse, his
attention was attracted by the sound of a bell at some dis-
tance, which he soon made out to come from a belled horse
belonging to a party of Indians, whom he discovered ap-
proaching them in a direction at right angles with the path,
and who had just appeared coming over a ridge about half a
mile distant. McClure’s heart aunt within him as he saw
that his fate was fixed. It seemed now that every hope of
escape was cut off, and nothing remained but.to yield himself
to the course of events.

The old Indian discovered the approach of the new-comers
quite as soon as his white guest.. It seemed to afford him
unmixed satisfaction, which he was not at all anxious to hide.
On the contrary, he proceeded to inform McClure, as well as
he could by signs, that as soon as they came up he would be
a prisoner, and carried to the Indian’ town with his feet tied
under the belly of the horse. In order to convey this latter
idea more fully to the mind of the prospective prisoner, he

traddled the log on which they sat, crossed his legs beneath
placed his hands behind him, and imitated the motions of

captive as nearly as possible. His candor had overcome

his watchfulness, however, for his efforts to amuse himself

and instruct his captive—that was to be—had presented his

back to McClure, who had risen to his feet, and who did not
338

 
22 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

fail to take advantage of the circumstance to disappoint the
red-skin of his anticipated triumph. Without raising his rifle
any more than was necessary to bring the muzzle in a range
with the head of the Indian, he pulled the trigger, and in a
moment his brains were scattered about in every direction,
while his headless body fell to the ground at the foot of the
log. Without waiting to see whether the act had been wit-
nessed by the approaching party, McClure took to his heels,
and was soon hidden in the woods. The Indian boy, fright-
ened out of his wits, apparently, at the tragical end of the old
man, mounted the belled horse, and. started off toward the
Indian town as fast as the poor beast could carry him, with-
out waiting for the coming squad.

McClure was not long in discovering that he was pursued
by the whole gang of Indian curs, which were following his
trail, barking and yelping at the top of their voices. Fortune
seemed determined to play at fast-and-loose with him, for no
sooner was he out of one scrape than he got him into ano-
ther, more perplexing than the last. He now gave himself
up for lost, since there was no possibility of ridding himself
of his annoying tormentors, whose noisy clatter would put
the Indians upon his trail, and a speedy capture and instant
death would be the result. He kept on, however, at his ut-
most speed, until his canine pursuers overtook him, and, by
running between his legs, and snapping at his heels, tripped
him, and he fell with singel ‘able violence to the ground.
Springing to his feet again, notwithstanding he had been con-
siderably hurt by the fall, he kept on as well as he was able,
but was again and again tripped by his tormentors, who pur-
sued him with a pertinacity and determination which he could
only account for by supposing that the Indians were following
in the chase. After he had fallen some five or six times, his
eyes became so filled with dust, and his body so bruised, that
he gave over his exertions, and resolved to make no further
effort, but yield himself to his fate. With a stoicism worthy
the bravest of his enemies, he lay upon his face, expecting
every moment to feel the tomahawk or scalping-knife of the

334

 
NEVER DESPAIR. “23

foe; while the hungry and savage brutes who had worried
him almost to death, were tugging and pulling at his clothes,
until they stripped him entirely of his breeches, and tore his
coat and leggings into ribbons.

After venting their rage somewhat, and perceiving that he
did not move, his tormentors left him, much to his relief, al-
though he knew not at what moment the Indians, with their
vengeful feelings roused to the highest pitch by the death
of their comrade, might come upon him, when he knew that
death was as certain to follow as the night succeeds the day.
He could not hope or anticipate what really happened—that
the party he had seen should take a path leading them into
the main trail which he had pursued some distance beyond
where the first combat had taken place; and it was not with-
out considerable astonishment that, after lying doggedly for
soine time, awaiting the death which he felt so sure of, he
ventured to look up and around, and discovered that there
was not an enemy in sight.

Aroused to renewed exertions by the hope of escape which
seemed to be held out to him, he made another effort to push
forward in the direction of Kentucky. After running about
a mile further, and feeling completely exhausted, he sat down
at the foot of a tree “to hold a council of war,” as he after-
ward expressed it. His coat and leggings were in strings ;
his breeches had been stripped completely off, leaving only a
few rags hanging to his waistband; his hat was gone; his
skin was lacerated in many places by the teeth of the dogs;
the blood was streaming from the wounds. He had saved his
rifle in all his struggles, however; his shot-pouch haying been
beneath his body when he fell, was intact; there was still a
modicum of food within the breast of his hunting-shirt, and
be felt that there still was a chance for his life. He tore up

his shirt into bandages for his more serious wounds, eat a por-
tion of food, and took a pull at a bottle of whisky, which he
fortunately had with him, and which, more fortunately, had
escaped uninjured, and, with recuperated energies, he started
on his return to the settlements.

335

 
24 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

For the first day or two, fearful of pursuit, he hid himself
in the cane-brakes, or in a hollow log, keeping very close, and

traveling only at night, making use of the north star to guide

him, and, in the course of four or five days, arrived at his
destination, looking more like a scare-crow than a human
being. He was warmly welcomed by his friends, and soon
recovered from the fatigues and trials of his expedition; but
his experience had taught him a valuable lesson in the econ-
omy of horse-stealing, and it was a long time ere he set on
foot another party of that description.

So many extraordinary stories of personal hazard and en-
counter are recorded and well authenticated of the early set-
tlers, particularly of Kentucky, that we are constrained to
accept as truth even «uch a tale as the following: Among
the captives taken by the Indians on the Ohio in 1780, was a
man named Alexander McConnell, of the Kentucky settlers.
He found his captors, five in number, to be pleasant-tempered
and social, and he sueceeded in winning their confidence, by
degrees, until they essentially relaxed the rigors of his con-
finement at night. His determination was of course to es-
cape. At length his fastenings were so slight, that while
they were asleep he succeeded in the entire extrication of his
limbs. Still he dared not to fly, lest escape from so many
pursuers should be impracticable, and his life, should he be
retaken, would surely be required in payment for the rash
attempt. To strike them successively with one of their own
tomahawks would be impossible. His next plan was cau
tiously to remove three of their loaded rifles to a place of
concealment, which should, nevertheless, be convenient for
his own purpose. Then placing the other two at rest upon a
log, the muzzle of one aimed at the head of one Indian, and
the other at the heart of a second, with both hands he dis-
charged the rifles together, by which process two of his ene-
mies were killed outright. As the three others sprung up in
amazement, McConnell ran to the rifles which he had con-
eealed. The work-was all but of a moment. Seizing another
rifle, and bringing it in range of two of the three remaining

336

 
COWLEY AND SAWYER. : 25

savages, both fell with the discharge, one dead and the other
wounded. The fifth took to his heels with a yell of horror
which made the forest ring.

Nor was all the danger and adventure confined to the “ Far
West,” as the following narration proves: In the spring of
1779, two men, named Cowley and Sawyer, were captured
near Harpersfield, by a party of Indians, and carried off pris-
oners toward Canada. One of the captives was an Irish-
man, the other Scotch. They were captives eleven days be-
fore a favorable opportunity was afforded them to escape.
They had arrived at a deserted hut near Tioga Point, when
they were set to work to cut wood a few rods distant. Cow-
ley took this opportunity to take a newspaper from his pocket,
and pretended to read its contents, while he recounted to him
a plan for escape, and explained the part they were to take
in the attempt.

That night they lay down to rest in the hut as usual,
a prisoner between two Indians. When the captives were
satisfied their foes were all sound asleep, they cautiously rose
and secured the savages’ weapons, and shook the priming
from them. They then armed themselves, one with a toma-
hawk, the other with an ax, and stationed themselves by two
of the Indians who were considered the most formidable of
the party. At the given signal the blows fell suddenly and
surely upon their victims; but, unfortunately, Sawyer, in at-
tempting to force his weapon from the skull of the Indian,
drew the handle from it, and thus the rest of the work re-
mained to be performed by Cowley. The noise in dispateh-
ing the first two Indians awoke their companions, one of
whom in attempting to rise received a blow from Cowley’s ax
upon his shoulder which caused him to fall back stunned.
The fourth also received a heavy blow from the ax, but he

escaped to a neighboring swamp, and when found by his pur-
suers was already dead. Upon the return of Cowleyjand
Sawyer to the hut, while they were engaged in discussing
their next course, the Indian who had been stunned by the

blow of the ax, suddenly sprung to his feet, rushed to the
B87

 
   

26 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

rifles at hand, snapped one at his foes, but finding the priming
gone, he dashed into the woods and disappeared.

The next morning the two friends started on their return,
but they soon discovered that they were pursued by a party
of Indians, who, no doubt, were hot for their blood. Their
vigilance and skill were now roused to the utmost. During
one night and two days they remained concealed beneath a
shelving rock, and one time a dog belonging. to the enemy
scented out their retreat, but, to the astonishment and great
joy of the fugitives, he contented himself with smelling around
them, and left without barking or otherwise alarming the
pursuers. Although surrounded by the enemy, and on one
night seeing the fires lit by the savages, literally inclosing
them in on all sides, they had the good fortune to elude the
vigilance of their foes, and to arrive at a frontier settlement,
safe, but exhausted from fatigue and hunger.

Not unlike these remarkable stories is that told of a detach-
ment of seventy men who were surprised, while ascending the
Ohio river, by a party of Indians, and nearly exterminated.
Among those who escaped both death and captivity, were
Captain Robert Benham and another man, whose cases, to-
gether, form a novel and romantic adventure. Benham was
shot through both hips, and the bones being shattered, he in-
stantly fell. Still, aided by the darkness, he succeeded in
crawling among the thick branches of a fallen tree, where he
lay without molestation through the night and during the
following day, while the Indians, who had returned for that
purpose, were stripping the slain. He continued to lie close
in the place of his retreat until the second day, when, becom-
ing hungry, and observing a raccoon descending a tree, he
managed to shoot it, hoping to be able to strike a fire and
cook the animal. The crack of the rifle was followed by a
human cry, which at first startled the captain; but the cry
being repeated several times, the voice of a Kentuckian was
at length recognized ; the call was returned, and the parties

were soon united. The man proved to be one of his comrades,

who had lost the use of both his arms in the battle. Never
338

 

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THE TWO CRIPPLES. i 37

did mercy find more welcome company. One of the party
could use his feet, and the other his hands. Benham, by tear-
ing up his own and his companion’s shirts, dressed the wounds
of both. He could load his rifle and fire with readiness, and
was thus enabled to kill such game as approached, while his
companion could roll the game along the ground with his
feet, and in the same manner collect wood enough to cook
their meals. When thirsty, Benham could place his hat in
the teeth of his companion, who went to the Licking, and,
wading in until he could stoop down and fill it, returned with
a hatful of water. When the stock of squirrels and other
game in their immediate neighborhood was exhausted, the
man of legs would roam away, and drive up a flock of wild
turkeys, then abundant in those parts, until they came within
range of Benham’s rifle. Here they lived for six weeks, when
they discovered a boat upon the Ohio, which took them off.
Both recovered thoroughly from their wounds.

ESCAPE OF CAPTAIN JOHN STEELE.

AN INCIDENT OF SOUTHERN WARFARE.

rd

Joun Srrrere was the son of one of those Spartan-like women
of the Revolution, who not only contributed their influence
to instill and keep alive, in the bosoms of their sons and hus-
bands, the fire of determined resistance to oppression, but,
in many instances, by their personal example, in the perform-
ance of deeds of prowess and daring, roused all their latent
courage, and awoke them to fresh and more vigorous exer-
tion. Left a widow by the violent death of her husband, on_
one of his trading expeditions, the care and education of her
children—two sons and three daughters—devolved upon Mrs.
Steele, and nobly did she perform her part. Not only were
they instructed in the necessary rudimental branches which

 
 
 
 

    

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28 TAS
ees iOS eae’

; go to improve the mind, so far as her circumstances allowed,
put “that better part of education, the improvement of the
heart, was not neglected. She- early ingrafted their hearts
with lessons of virtue and patriotism, which yielded a rich
harvest in after years.

Taught of such a mother; and reared under such influences,
we naturally look to find her sons arrayed on the side of their
country in her time of need, and are not disappointed. As
early as 1775, we find John, her oldest, engaged in an expe-
dition:against the Cherokee Indians, and subsequently at Fort
Moultrie, the ,sieges of Savannah and Charlestown, and, in
fact, everywhere where coolness, bravery and courage were
needed. At the surprise of Sumter on Fishing Creek, he
had the command of a company of mounted rangers, and

   

was a great favorite with his superior.

On that occasion he displayed a coolness under the most
exciting circumstances, which was the means of saving the
life of the General, as well as many of his soldiers. Seizing
his commandant (who was asleep when the attack was made)
in his arms, he bore him out of the rear of the tent, at the
same time taking a small portmanteau which contained pub-
lic papers, and which, next to the life of Sumter, was the
most important and valuable prize to the enemy. Arrived
at a place of safety, the portmanteau, which, in his flight, he
had handed to a soldier for safe-keeping, was missing, and
John Steele was dispatched to recover it. After some trouble
he found it in the hands of a Tory, from whom he took it
and started for his home, intending to linger a day or two
with his mother, collect the scattered Americans, and conduct
them to the rendezvous of his General at Charlotte. On his

ray he notified the neighbors of his intentions ; among the
rest, the wife of a man who had—unknown to him—proved
recreant to his country’s cause, and turned his arms against
her. This man, thus informed ofthe intended collection at

Neeley’s, determined to surprise and eut the patriots off.
With that intent, the Tories went about during the night,
collecting others like himself to aid in the undertaking.

340

 

a
 

  

fs ; e - tekst 29

That night John spent at his mother’s house, and early on
the following morning he started, in company with her, for
Neeley’s, about four miles off. Arrived there, he found
party of brave hearts and ready hands, prepared to aceom-
pany him. Mrs. Neeley and some of her daughters were
engaged in preparing breakfast for the party, whose horses,
and. elsewhere
“No danger

 
 

meanwhile, were picketed in the doory ard,
about the premises, where they could find grass.
was apprehended, although two of the girls were stationed
in the orchard as a matter of precaution, to . a the alarm

  

of an approaching enemy. é

Now, the captain was possessed of a recharenty fine head
of jet-black hair, which naturally fell upon his shoulders,
reaching half-way to his waist, and which—as was the fashion
in those days—he wore in a cue behind; but, his late activ-
ity had prevented a proper attention to his locks, and, as a
consequence, they were in sad disorder. Mrs. Steele, who
had an overweening fondness for John, and all that related
to him, determined to repair his personal appearance before
he returned to camp, and, having procured a comb, was en-
gaged in combing out his hair, all the while keeping up a
running conversation with him on the recent events so deeply
interesting to all. Others of the party were engaged in ya-
rious ways in and about the house, urging to completion the
arrangements for their aye Stead Meanwhile, the Tories,
a had collected in large numbers, were stealthily approach-
ing the house in two divisions, to prevent all chance of eseape.
They were led by one Coonrod Huntsucker, a Tory of blood-
iest dye, and numbered among their ranks. many of the neigh-

bors and former friends of those whose life-blood they were:

now seeking so eagerly.
One of Steele’s party going toward thevorchard to bring
up his horse, suddenly discovered himself in the presence of

. the leader of the loyalists, who were advancing through the

standing corn. . Huntsucker waved his hand to intimate
silence, which the other was so far from maintaining that he
fired at his foe, wounding him in the bridle-hand, and then,

    
 

 
   

30

‘TALES AND TRADITIONS.

shouting at the top of his voice, ran toward the house. On
his way he fortunately fell into a ditch, which screened him
from the enemy and saved his life.

The crack of the rifle, the shouting of the man, and the
screams of the girlsk—who were now running toward the
house with rapid steps—gave the alarm to the inmates, and
mother and son sprung to the door, from whence they could
plainly see the whole force of the enemy rapidly approaching.
No time was to be lost. The first impulse was to fight, but,
seeing the great disparity of numbers, and consequent hope-
lessness of the contest, she shouted to the men to “ clear
themselves” as fast as possibile. Turning to her son, she
handed him the portmanteau and bade him be off. He was
not slow to take her advice, and sprung for his horse, while
she ran to let down the bars leading out of the door-yard into
the road. Without waiting for his hat, the captain mounted
his horse—a noble animal—which was tied near the house,
Hastily lashing the portmanteau behind him, with hair stream-
ing in the wind, and_ his trusty rifle in hand, he started for
the road. When he approached the bars, he found that his
mother had not yet had time to let them down, and, having
no surplus time, he urged his steed forward, raised him with
the bridle, and cleared them at a bound. Turning as he did
so, he shook his rifle defiantly at the foe, at the same time
receiving the parting admonition of his mother : ‘ Good-by,
John; take ‘care of yourself and the papers,” and the next
moment was dashing up the road at the top of his horse’s
speed toward another division of the Tories who were ap-
proaching from that direction. All but five of the party
followed him, Mrs. Steele having removed the bars as well

-as she could. Dashing after their leader, they made a daring

onset upon the Tories in the road, who, taken by surprise at
their audacity and courage, scattered right and left. The

- patriots escaped without a wound, and, taking their course

  

toward Charlotte, arrived in safety at Sumter’s camp.
Notwithstanding the whole fire of the enemy was directed
toward the bars, Mrs., Steele escaped unhurt, although her
342 :

 

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MRS. WILSON’S REJOINDER. 81

dress was perforated by balls in many places. Two of the
Whigs who were the last to get off, on going through the
bars were shot and fell from their horses, carrying her with
them to the ground. As she extricated herself from beneath
the bodies, covered with blood and dirt, her first inquiry was
after “ John and the papers,” and, upon being informed of
their safety, she expressed her content and went to look after
the wounded, of whom there were three.

The women of the Carolinas certainly have their full share
of honors for heroic deeds performed during the Revyolution-
ary struggle. Another case of patriotic devotion, similar to
that related above, is given in Mrs. Ellett’s ““ Women of the
Revolution.” Just after the defeat of Colonel Ferguson at
King’s Mountain, General Cornwallis in retreating toward
Winnsboro’ halted for the night at Wilson’s plantation, near
Steel creek. The British General, with his staff, and the in-
famous Tarleton occupied the house of Mrs. Wilson. Supper
was ordered and prepared for the British officers. Cornwallis,
in order to obtain a knowledge of his hostess, entered into
conversation with her, and soon found that he was occupying
the house of a noted Whig leader, Robert Wilson, who at
that time, with his son John, was a prisoner in the Camden
jail, and who was the father and brother of more than a
dozen active Whig soldiers. The British General, upon this,
attempted to enlist the sympathies of his hostess with the
royal cause. He observed, that it was a matter of sincere
regret with him, to be compelled to wage a war, the worst
calamities of which fell upon women. He was inclined to
believe, that there were many worthy men in the rebel army,
who had been induced to take up arms by the delusive prom-
ises of unprincipled leaders. ‘ Madam,” he continued, “ your
husband and your son are my prisoners; the fortunes of war
may soon place others of your sons—perhaps all your kins-
men, in my power. Your sons are young, aspiring, and
brave. Ina good cause, fighting for a generous and power-
ful king, such as George ITI, they might hope for rank, honor,
and wealth. Ifyou could but induce your husband and sons.

348

 

    
   

srt TALES AND ‘TRADITIONS

to leave the rebels, and take up arms for their lawful sove-
reign, I would almost pledge myself, that they shall have
rank and consideration in the British army. If you, madam,
will pledge yourself to induce them to do so, I will immedi-
ately order their discharge.”

To this appeal, Mrs. Wilson replied, that her husband and
sons were indeed dear to her, and that she would do any thing
her conscience would uphold to advance their interests. For
five years they had been engaged in the struggle for liberty,
and had never faltered nor fled from the contest. “I have
seven sons who are now, or have been, bearing arms,” she
continued ; ‘indeed, my seventh son, Zaccheus, who is only
fifteen years old, I yesterday assisted to get ready, to go and
join his brothers in Sumter’s army. Now, sooner than see
one of my family turn back from the glorious enterprise, I
would take those boys, (pointing to three or four small sons,)
and with them would myself enlist under Sumter’s standard,
and show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if nee essary,
to die for theimcountry!” “ Ah, General!” broke in Tarle-
ton, “I think you’ve got into a hornet’s nest! Never mind;
when we get to Camden, I'll take good care that old Robert
Wilson never comes back again !”

On the next day’s march, a party of scouts captured Zac-

cheus, who was found on the flank of the British army, with
y

his gun, endeavoring to diminish his Majesty’s forces. He.

was immediately taken to the head of the column, and cate-
chised by Cornwallis, who took the boy along with him on
the march, telling him that .\he must act as his guide to the
Catawba, and show him the best ford, Arriving at the river,
the head of the army entered at the point designated by the
lad, but the soldiers had scarcely gone half across, before
they fouiid themselves in deep water—and drawn by a rapid
current down the stream. Believing that the boy, on whom
he had relied to show him the. best ford, had purposely
brought him to a deep one, in order to embarrass his march,
the General drew his sword, and flourishing it over him swore
he would cut off his head for his treachery. Zaccheus
344

 

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ESCAPE OF THE “PRISON

      
   
 
   
  
 
   
   
   
  
 
    
  
  
   
 
 
   
 
      
     

be so safe !” ae oo
Struck by the lad’s cool courage, the cere: bat:
calmer—told him he was a fine fellow, and that he would not
hurt a hair of his head. Having discovered that the ford —
was shallow enough ‘by bearing up-stream, the British army
crossed over in safety, and proceeded toward Winnsboro’.
On this march, Cornwallis dismissed Zaccheus, telling him to
go home and take care of his mother, and tell her to keep
her boys athome. After he reached Winnsboro’, Cornwallis
dispatched an order to Rawdon, to send Robert Wilson and
his son John, with several others, to Charleston, carefully

 

guarded. Accordingly in November, about the 20th, Wilson,
his son and ten others,-set off under the escort of an officer
and fifteen or twenty men. Below Camden, on the Charles-
ton route, parties of British soldiers and trains of wagons
were continually passing, so that the officer had no fear of
the Americans, and never dreamed of the prisoners attempt-
ing to escape. Wilson formed plans, and arranged every
thing several times, but owing to the presence of large parties
of the enemy, they could not be executed. At length, being
near Fort Watson, they encamped before night, the prisoners
being placed in the yard, and the guard in the portico and
house. A sentinel was posted in the portico over the stock
of arms, and all hands went to providing for their evening
repast.

Having bribed a soldier to buy some whisky, for it had
been a rainy day, the prisoners pretended to drink freely, and
one of them seemingly more intoxicated than the rest, insisted
upon treating the sentinel. Wilson followed him as if to pre-
vent him from giving him the whisky, it béing a breach of
military order. Watching a favorable opportunity, he seized
the sentry’s musket, and the drunken man, suddenly becoming
347
 

8 TALES AND TRADITIONS, \

sober, seized the sentinel. At this signal the prisoners
rushed to the guns in the portico, while the guard, taking the

alarm, rushed out of the house. In the scramble for arms,+

the prisoners succeeded—drove the soldiers into the house, at
the point of the bayonet, and the whole guard surrendered at
discretion. Unable to take off their prisoners, Wilson made
them all hold up their right hands and swear never again to
bear arms against the cause of “liberty and the Continental
Congress,” and then told them that they might go to Charles-
ton on parole; but if he ever caught one of them in arms
again, he would “hang him up to a tree like a dog.”

Scarcely were they rid of their prisoners, before a party of
British dragoons came in sight. As the only means of es-
cape, they separated and took to the woods. Some of them
reached Marion’s camp at Snow Island, and Wilson, with two
or three others, arrived safely at Mecklenburg—a distance of
over two hundred miles, through a country overrun with
British troops.

Another South Carolina woman has become a “part of
history” by her heroism. Colonel Bratton, a Whig, became
very zealous as the patriot cause grew daily darker around
him. When there was no longer an army to oppose the
3ritish, the partisan leaders began to rally and to give the

enemy great trouble. Bratton assumed an important part in
furthering the plans of the Whigs, and gathering them to-
gether to resist the enemy. The active energy he manifested
“inthe cause, made him particularly obnoxious to the British,
who at last resolved to crush him. Captain Huck, with a
command of four hundred men, was dispatched with instruc-
tions to hunt him down.
Colonel Bratton resided near Brattonsville, South Carolina,
and his grounds became the scene of a victory, known in the
history of the war as Huck’s defeat. To this spot Captain
Huck proceeded, and. entered the house, on the evening of the
day which precéded the victory, roughly demanding of Mrs.
Bratton where her husband was.. She calmly replied that he
was in Sumter’s army. This reply enraged the British
348

  

 

 

 
 

 

ONE AGAINST EIGHT. 37

ofiicer, but he controlled his anger,,while he endeavored to
persuade her to confess her knowledge of his retreat, and
promising that if she would induce him to join the royalists,

he should receive a commission in the army. The officer elo-

quently pictured the hopelessness of the “rebel” cause, and

stated truly that the Whigs themselves generally despaired —

of success. But to these specious arguments, and tempting
promises, the heroic lady yielded nothing, and declared that
she would rather see her husband perish at once, in the cause
he had assumed to defend, than to wear lofty honors in the
armies of her country’s enemy. This reply broke down the
officer’s command of his temper, and one of the soldiers, actu-
ated by that spirit of deadly hatred and unrelenting cruelty that
so pervaded the breasts of our country’s invaders, seized a

reaping-hook near at hand, and bringing it into contact with

her throat, would in an instant have ruthlessly murdered her,
had not the officer second in command sprung forward and
rescued her from his hands.

The troops, after partaking of a supper in Mrs. Bratton’s
residence, proceeded to another house at a short distance,
and encamped for the night. Colonel Bratton having re-
ceived information of their whereabouts, meanwhile, was
rapidly approaching their position, with the hope of surpris-
ing and defeating them. His own command numbered only
fifty, while that of the enemy was four hundred. But they
kept negligent watch, and the little band of patriots falling
suddenly upon them, in their sleep, a short and bloody con-

flict ensued, which resulted in the total defeat and rout of the
enemy. Captain Huck was killed in the contest, and, the —

command devolved upon the second officer, whose valor and
exertions to retrieve the disaster were in vain. The conflict
had changed ground, so as to be directly around Mrs. Brats
ton’s house, and when it was ended, Mrs. Bratton appeared
upon the ground, administering relief to the wounded and

dying.
Among the prisoners was the officer by whose interposition

the life of Mrs. Bratton had been saved. Actuated by a spirit
549

 
  

Ae ee SOR TURE Fore

38

 

TALES AND TRADITIONS.

of retaliation, for the many enormities that had been inflicted
by the British on their Whig prisoners, the conquerors ex-
pressed a determination to condemn this officer to death.
The more humane remonstrated, but the majority were blinded
to justice by a thirst for vengeance. When the officer learned
the doom to which he was condemned, he disdained to plead
for his life, but requested to be conducted to the presence of
Mrs. Bratton. He seemed to be one of finer spirit than most
of the officers in the British army, in the southern country.
When brought before Mrs. Bratton, she instantly recognized
him as the officer who had saved her life. Prompted by grat-
itude as well as mercy, she pleaded with his captors for his
life. At first they turned a deaf ear to her intercession; but
when, in a simple and touching eloquence, she related the no-
ble part he had taken in her deliverance, the stern purpose of
the conquerors relaxed, and he was spared. He resided with
her, in mutual friendship, until he was exchanged. This ro-
mantic incident.is well attested.

It was in the summer of 1780, that the inhabitants of a re-
tired farm-house in Georgia assembled for evening prayer—
the venerable farmer, the widow of his son, and her bloom-
ing daughter, a girl of sixteen. Having listened to the eve-
ning portion, and joined in the fervent prayer, the peaceful
family retired to rest. ;

The dwelling of John Cammel was situated on the side of
a hill, at the foot of which ran a deep, narrow stream that
watered the valley. On the bank of this stream terminated
the boundary of the farm, and the vale beyond was mostly a
thick wood, where some new settlers had begun to clear small
portions of the ground. The huts of these people were the
only dwellings within some miles of Cammel’s house, which
was rendered the more retired by the thick shade of the nu-
merous trees which grew around it. It was built in the plain
style; most suitable to a farmer; consisting of one story, di-
vided into a parlor and three sleeping apartments, where the
inmates lodged. The servants belonging immediately to the
house, occupied the loft above; while the negroes who tilled
350

 

 
i Pp ow

.

AN INSIDE VIEW. 51

in my desire to see my wife and child, and | set my face
homeward with a cheerful heart. My money I laid out in
hair-combs, and these, together with a little Yankee pleas-
antry, carried me through my journey, and in due course of
time I reached my cabin; and all my troubles were more
than repaid in the embrace of my wife and child, and in the
consciousnéss that my farm was paid for. Oh! how joyfal
was that meeting ; so much to relate and listen to—so many
bright hopes for the future, and castles in the air! Those
were, indeed and in truth, haleyon days.

“Time rolled on; children were added to me; the old
cabin was exchanged for a neat and commodious frame house;
the farm was enlarged and stocked, and every thing pros-
péred with-me; but it required the most incredible exertion,
the exercise of the closest economy and self-denial. Still,
when I revert to the old cabin and the trials of my younger
days, I am forced to believe that I owe all that I am to a’
healthful and vigorous life in the woods, and the lessons
taught by the experience of a pioneer of civilization.”

The story of another settler gives an inside view of the log-
house home, which we transcribe for the edification of our
readers. He says:

‘“‘ My father moved with his family to Ohio, in 1799—at a
period when a tide of emigration had begun to pour in that
direction, which promised speedily to change the aspect of
the country, redeem it from its primitive wildness, and make
it to ‘bloom and blossom as the rose.’ He was a man of some
means, and his reasons for’emigrating from Connecticut to
the far West, were—but that does not concern the reader and
might prove tedious. Suffice it, that toward the close of a
cold day in November, we had reached the spot that was to
be our future home—father, mother, sister Emma, of twenty
five, brother Henry, of twenty, and myself, of fourteen; there
were also Charles and Harriet, twins, six years of age. Our
covered wagon served, on the.night of our arrival, as it had
done during our journey, for a shelter and place of rest. The
next day was spent in the erection of a sort of hut, whick

: 363

 
arene

Far An a rs a NEE pO AE ge

52 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

was somewhat more comfortable than the wagon, though the
accommodations were very limited. The second day after
our arrival was spent in selecting a site for our house. A
very eligible one was found on the side of a hill facing the
south, with a beautiful erystal-like spring bubbling up from
under the roots of a tall maple standing near. Having fixed
upon the site, we proceeded to stake out the dimensions of
the proposed building, after getting the relative bearings, by
means of a small pocket-compass, for we had no idea of our
house not standing square with the earth itself. Before we
had well finished these preliminaries, our neighbors began to
drop in and offer their assistance; for it was at that period,
and is still, a point of honor for all to join in and help the
‘new-comer’ in the erection of his cabin. The second day
thereafter—the first was rainy—some six or eight of our
neighbors were on hand, and went to work with a will to
level the mighty trees which were to form our habitation.
Its dimensions were to be twenty feet by sixteen, with a half,
or upper story, for sleeping. Some twenty or thirty of the
tallest and straightest trees in the vicinity were cut down,
chopped to the required lengths, and rolled, with considerable
labor, to the designated spot. This took time, and what,
with delays, ete., it was a week before we had all our ma-
terial on the ground. Two logs, of sixteen feet long, were
selected, the strongest and heaviest, and laid upon the ground,
twenty feet apart, and notches cut in both ends of each,
about one-third through their diameter. Two others, of
twenty feet long, were notched on both sides, at the ends,
and laid upon the first, the notches fitting in the notches in
their ends. About a dozen logs, or rather poles, of sixteen
feet long by about six inches in diameter, were laid across

these last, and the foundation was complete. Thus, it will

be seen that our floor, when the puncheons of split slabs came

to be laid down on these beams or sleepers, was some three

feet from the ground, affording an excellent covert for coons,

skunks, and even a catamount or bear might have found shel-

ter, with plenty of room, under our floor. Other logs were
364

 
HOW TO BUILD A CABIN. 53

then notched and laid up, the ends of the last resting upon
the ends of the former and traverse ones, until the hight of
six or seven feet above the floor was reached, when another
row of poles was laid across from front to back, to form the
floor of the second story. Other logs were laid up for two
or three courses, the last ones in the end somewhat longer
than the other end ones—and the square part was finished.
The roof was formed in this manner: two crotchet-sticks
were set up at either end of the inside, and a ridge-pole laid
across, the ends thereof resting in the ctotchets. _Puncheons,
or slabs which had been split out of the whole tree, by great
labor, were laid with their ends resting on the ridge-pole and
the upper row of ‘the front logs. A long log was then laid
over the slabs, with its ends resting on the ends of the longer
ones of the upper tier of end logs, and kept from slipping off
by pins driven into cracks made, with the ax, serving thus the
double purpose of binding the whole together, and keeping
the slabs in their places. The roof was laid up and secured
in this manner, the roof-logs alternating with the end ones,
and when the last was laid in its place, the crotched sticks
were removed, and the body of our house was finished. At
this stage of the proceedings, as there was nothing but what
we could do ourselves now to be done, our neighbors left us.
Two doors, and the same number of windows, were sawed
out, and the openings cased with split slabs, to keep the logs
in their places. The base of our chimney cost us much trou-
ble. It was built of squared logs to the hight of six or eight
feet, and had to be filled up, of course, some three feet with
dirt, to raise it even with the floor. Our hearth-stone, or
stones—for there were a number of them—were procured
from the neighboring hill-side, where we were fortunate
enough to find a large flat one for the back of our fire-place.
The balance of our chimney was built of sticks, laid up in the
same way as the house, with the chinks filled up with clay,
which was soon dry and hardened by the heat and smoke,
The process of chinking and daubing was slow and tedious.
The first is the act of filling up the spaces between the logs
365

 
    

we

54 TALES AND TRADITIONS.

with mud; and the latter relates to plastering the outside
and inside with clay, to give the walls a smooth appearance.
The floors were constructed of puncheons laid over and upon
the sleepers, and the reader can imagine what sort of a floon
we had when the green slabs had warped out of all regular
shape. A rude ladder of five rounds enabled us to gain ac-
cess to the upper or second story, and when not in use, was
placed upright in the corner behind the back door. Our
window was glazed by placing sticks across the opening, and
stretching a newspaper over them, which had first been
greased with hog’s lard: thus, we had a kind of glazing
which shed a rich mellow light across the cabin when the sun
shone on it. Steps to the door were made with squared logs,

~ which proved unsteady and slippery in wintry weather.

“The furniture of our cabin was in keeping with the build-
ing. The west end was occupied by two beds; shelves were
“made by driving pins into the crevices between the logs, on
which were placed split slabs, and on these were displayed
our pewter plates and other household utensils, scoured to an
almost dazzling brightness by the hands of my sister. The
chimney occupied almost all of the east end; potseand kettles
on opposite sides thereof; a gun or two hung on pegs driven
into the cracks; a spinning-wheel under one window, four
split-bottomed chairs, three three-legged stools, and a table,
which was made by driving pins into the eracks of the logs,
the outer ends resting in crotched sticks, which passed
through the floor into the ground, on which were placed

__ slabs, split out of the straightest grained wood we could find;

these, with a small looking-glass hung over a large towel and
comb-case, together with such tools as were necessary to
work with, completed the inventory of our furniture.

“We moved in on Christmas day, which was a day of
great rejoicing to all of us, and, although our accommodations
were limited, to the eye of one accustomed to city life, yet
many of the happiest days of my life are connected with that
old cabin, which, after a lapse of fifty odd years, is still stand-
ing, although somewhat the worse for wear.”

366

 

i

 
 
 
TALES, TRADITIONS AND ROMANCE
OF
BORDER AND REVOLUTIONARY TIMES,

VCLUME II.
COPY OF PAGES 351/360.

BEING PAR?S OF
THE SKETCHES ENTITLED

ESCAPE OF CAPTAIN JOHN STEELE
INDIVIDUAL PAGES 39/46.
CONTINUOUS PAGES 351/358.

PIONEER LIFE IN THE WEST.
INDIVIDUAL PAGES 46/48.
CONTINUOUS PAGES 458/360,

 
 
39

351

BRITISH BARBARITY,

the farm had their own cottages on the
other side of the hill, nearly two miles
from the dwelling, Kate and her mother
slept in the back room, whose windows
looked on the path which wound along the
brow of the hill, as it led to the
house, It was midnight, and Kate had
sunk into an uneasy slumber, when she
was startled from it by the indistinct
sound of smothered voices, Unsus-
picious of evil, and unwilling to

awake her mother, she arose, and gently
opened the window; she leaned out and
listened; all was silent, and she saw
nothing but the tall trees that stood
smiling in the moonlight, She was
withdrawing, when she suddenly per-
ceived something gleam among the thick
foliage of the old willow, whose
branches trailed to the ground, She
fixed her eye upon it = the wind gently
waved the leaves - it was a bayonet
which glanced in the moonbeam, At the
same instant she saw one of the negroes
running towards the house, "Shut the
window," he cried, perceiving her;

"the British are here." A tal
wound from a musket prevented his
concluding, Kate had heard enough;

she attempted to bar the shutters, but
ere she could effect it, she heard the
report of a gun, and felt its burning
contents in her bosom, Darkness came
over her, and for some moments she lay

 
 
insensible, The fresh air which blew
from the window on her face, revived |
her; she crept to the bed to speak to |
her mother, but it was empty; and the
sound of men's footsteps, deep exe~
crations, and horrid oaths, struck her
with terror, Amidst the noise and
tumult, she distinguished the voice of
her faithful nurse, calling from the
upper window, and entreating her to
come to the loft: "Quick, quick,"
repeated the woman, Kate rose and with
difficulty walked to the door, It was
but to cross the hall and she would
reach the stairs of the garret, She
entered the hall, and was hastening
through it, when she saw the inanimate
body of a man lying across a chair,
Another glance tolc her that it was her
aged parent, She lingered an instant -
but that instant decided her fate, The.
door of the parlor was opened, and an
officer, with several soldiers, rushed
into the hall, Approaching the aff-
righted girl, he addressed her in
coarse and jeering terms, She sunk on
her knees, and attempted to supplicate
his mercy; he rudely grasped her arm,
when extreme fear, combined with the
agonies of her wound, burst the strings
of life, and she expired at his touch,
The officer threw her stiffening form
from him, with an exclamation of horror,
and giving some order to his men, they

 
 
quitted the house, EB ut there was one
who had been a trembling witness to his
brutality; who hed marked his counte-
nance,as for a moment he stood with his
head uncovered, and had heard the name
by which the soldiers addressed him,

The old negro, the husband of Kate's
nurse, had ventured to descend the
stairs to seek the ill-fated girl, and
had partly unclosed the door which shut
him from the hall, when he beheld her
situation, without the power of affording
her assistance, He now hastened to
raise her, and observing the blood which
flowed from her bosom, he called to his |
wife to aid him in carrying her to the
loft, But the volume of smoke that
burst forth from every part of the

house announced that the marauders had
finished their dreadful errand, While
the nurse supported the cold form of
her foster-child, the old man stole out
to observe the motions of the enemy,
They were marching silently up the hill,
and the faithful servants, with their
lifeless burden, fearfully descended

the stream, and crossing over a rough
bridge, they followed a narrow path,
which brought them in safety to the
cottage of a young farmer, who readily
opened his door to them,

Leonard Cammel had entered the army a
private soldier, but his merit soon
gained him promotion, He had just
receiv

 
 
received a lieutenant's commission, and
was appointed, in conjunction with
myself, then of the same rank, to
conduct an expedition, the plan of
which was unfolded to us by Colonel
Clarke, our immediate commander, As 4
mark of favor, Leonard was permitted to
stop at Cammel's farm for two hours,
to see and converse with his friends,
I could not but envy his feelings, as
I looked on his glowing cheek and
sparkling eye, and joined in his bright
anticipations, At length we arrived at
the farm, and entered the road which
led to the place of Leonard's nativity.
As we ascended a high hill, Leonard
looked around, and turning pale, said,
"I do not see the house," We put the
spur to our horses, and another
moment brought us before the black and
smothered ruin, The house was burnt
to the ground, and some of the finest
trees had shared its fate, The garden
which even in its desolation seemed to
own a woman's taste, was trampled and
its flowers crushed, A bower, which
had been shaded by the white roses of
the luxuriant multiflora, was leveled
with the earth; yet the flowers still
reared their pale heads, and perfumed
the morning air,

"This is not the effect of accident,"
exclaimed Leonard, leaning against a
tree, as if stunned by the shock, while

 
 
CAMVMEL'S REVENGE,

the soldiers vented their anger in
oaths and threats of vengeance,

"Where shall we seek your family?"
I enquired,

"Not on earth, I fear," answered
Leonard; yet the eagerness with which
he led the way to the cottage, showed
that he still cherished hope, The old
nurse was sitting at the entrance of
the hut as we approached; at the
sight of Leonard, she wrung her hands,
end, weeping bitterly, cried, "You
have come too late,"

"Where is Kate and my grandfather?"
was Leonard’s eager enquiry; and
without waiting her answer, he rushed
into the house, I followed him, and
beheld stretched on the bed the life-
less form of the young female; her
white arms were crossed on her bosom
~ her beautiful features were not only
convulsed by the agony of death, but
of mental terror - and her long brown
hair, which flowed over her form, was
in some places clotted with blood, It
was only by speaking of revenge, and
urging the imperious calls of duty,
that I was enabled to tear the
wretched youth from the corpse of his
murdered love, Before he departed,
he ascertained the name of the officer,
who had commanded these fiends, I
was not surprised, when the negro,
after detailing the whole scene,

 
CAMMEL's Revenge,

mentioned the name of Ge=-, "You will
easily know him," he continued, “by a
scar which covers his cheek,"

"I shall know him," said Leonard
bitterly; and his deportment then
changed from deep dejection to a fierce
and feverish eagerness of manner, We
were successful in our errand, and,
after a few days’ absence, rejoined
Colonel Clarke,’ One morning, as I was
sitting alone, Leonard came to my tent,
his face lighted up with a joyful but
ferocious expression, Before I could
speak, he exclaimed;

"Have you heard the order? We are to
attack Fort G--~,"

"Who defends it?" I asked,

"Who? Genmce . "

Alarmed at his fierceness, I said:
"What do you think of, my friend?"

Grasping his sword, while his brow
crimsoned with rage, he replied; "Of
the smoking ruin and stiff corpse I left
behind me!"

Colonel Ge==- was obliged to surrender
to our superior force, As at the head
of his men, he walked from the fort
between the ranks of his conqueror, a
musket-ball whistled through the air;
it was aimed by an unerring hand, end
Ge—w= fel] to the ground, a dead man,
Although every exertion was used, it
was never discovered who was the mur-
derer, I dared not question Leonard,

 
 
but the calm sterness of his counte-
nance spoke of satisfied revenge, Once
I ventured to deplore the event, as a
stain upon our honor, "Would he had
died in battle; he had trusted to our
faith; he was unermed; to harm him
then was faithless and unmerciful,"

"He showed her no mercy," said
Leonard, in a voice which made me
shudder,

Nor should the story of Nancy Hart
be omitted in this gathering of heroic
deeds performed by Southern Women,

Nancy Hart and her husband settled,
before the Revolutionary struggle, a
few miles above the ford on Broad River,
known by the name of the Fishdam ford,
in Elbert county, Georgia, in the bend
of the river, near a very extensive
cenebrake = an apple-orchard still
remains to point out the spot, and to
prove the provident powers of its
planters, ;

In altitude,Mrs, Hart was almost
Patagonian, and remarkably well limbed
end muscular - in a word, she was
"lofty and sour;" she possessed none
of that nobility of nerve, which
characterizes modern times; merked by
nature with prominent features, cir=
cumstances and accident added not a
little to her peculiarities; she
possessed none of those graces of
motion which a poetical eye might see

 
 
MRS. HART'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS,

in the heave of the ocean's wave, or the
change of the summer's cloud; nor did
her cheeks (we will not speak of her
nose!) exhibit those rosy tints that
dwell on the brow of the evening, or
play in the gilded bow, No one claims
for her throat that it wes lined with
fiddle-strings; but this must be ack-
nowledged, that her step bespoke energy;
and, be it said, only for the sake of
truth, that she could round off a sen=
tence regardless of being called a hard

swearer,

The perforating punch of the grate=
maker never did closer work on the
yielding tin, than did that dreadful
scourge of beauty, the small-pox, when

it set its emphatic signature on her
face} She was horribly cross<eyed, as
well as cross-grained, but nevertheless
she was a sharp-shooter, Nothing was
more common than to see her in pursuit
of the bounding stag - the huge antlers
that hung round her cabin, or upheld her
trusty gun, gave proof of her skill in
gunnery, and the white comb drained of
its honey, and hung up for ornament,
testified her powers in bee-finding,
She was remarkable for her frequent
robberies on these patterns of industry,
and piqued herself on the invention of
an infallible bait for their discovery,
Many can testify to her magical art in
355. the mazes of cookery, being able to get

 
 
up a pumpkin in as many forms as there
are days of the week; she was exten-
sively known and employed for her pro~
found knowledge in the management of
all ailments, and yielded the palm to
no one in the variety and rarity of her
medicaments,

Her sxill and knowledge took wider
and more profitable range, for it isa
well-known fact that she held a tract
of land by the safe tenure of a first
survey, which was made on the Sabbath,
hatchet in hand, But she was most
remarkable for her military feats, She
possessed high-toned ideas of liberty;
not even the marriage-knot could re~
strain her on that subject; like "the
wife of Bath", she received over her
tongue-scourged husband

"The reins of absolute command,

With all the government of house and
land,
And empire o'er his tongue and o'er
his hand,”

The clouds cf war gathered and burst
with a dreadful explosion in this State,
Nancy's spirit rose with the tempest;
she declared and proved herself a
friend to her country, ready “to do or
die." All accused of Whigism had to
hide or swing, The lily-livered Mr,
Hart was not the last to seek safety
in the canebrake with his heighbors;
they kept up a prowling, skulking kind
of life, occasionally sallying forth in

 
 
a kind of predatory style, The Tories
at length determined to beat the brake
for them, They however concluded to
give Mrs, Hart a call, and in true
soldier manner ordered a repast, Nancy |
soon had the necessary materials for a
good feast spread before them; the
smoking venison, the hasty hoe~cake,
and the fresh honeycomb, were suffi-
cient to provoke the appetite of a
gorged epicure,

They simultaneously stocked their
arms and seated themselves, when, quick
as thought, the dauntless Nancy seized
one of the guns, cocked it, and with a
blazing oath declared that she would
blow out the brains of the first mor-
tal that offered to rise or to taste
a mouthful, They all kmew her char-
acter too well to imagine that she
would say one thing and do another,
especially if it lay on the side of
Satan, "Go," said she to one of her
sons, “and tell the Whigs that I have
taken six Tories," They sat still,
each expecting to be offered up, with
doggedly mean countenances, bearing
the marks of disappointed revenge,
shame, and unappeased hunger,

Whether the incongruity between
Nancy's eyes caused each to imagine
himself her immediate object, or
whether her commanding attitude, stern
and ferocious fixture of countenance,

 
 
MRS, HEYWARD,

overawed them, or the powerful idea of
their unsoldierlike conduct unnerved
them, or the certainty of death, it is
not wasy to determine, They were soon
relieved, and dealt with according to
the rules of the times, This heroine
lived to see her country free; she,
however, found bees and game decreasing,
end the country becoming old so fast,
that she sold out her possessions, in
spite of the remonstrances of her hus=
band, and was among the first of the
pioneers who paved the way to the wilds
of the west,

The spirit of the women of high as
well as low degree was undaunted
through all those days of terror when
the British were masters of Carolina,
as the following anecdote will show;

An order having been issued for a
general illumination, to celebrate the
supposed victory at Guilford, the front
of the house occupied by Mrs, Heyward
and her sister, Mrs. George Abbot Hall,
remained in darkness, Indignant at so
decided a mark of disrespect, an officer
forced his way into her presence, and
sterniy demanded of Mrs, Heyward;

"How dare you disobey the order which
has been issued; why, madam, is not
your house illuminated?"

“Is it possible for me, sir," replied
the lady with perfect calmess, "to
feel a spark of joy? Can I celebrate

 
the victory of your army, while my hus-
band remains a prisoner at St. Augus-
tine?"

"That," rejoined the officer, “is a
matter of little consequence; the last
hopes of rebellion are crushed by the
defeat of Greene; you shall illumi-
nate,"

"Not a single light," replied the
lady, “shall be placed with my consent,
on such an occasion, in any window in
the house,"

"Then, madam, I will return with a
party, and before midnight level it to
the ground,"

"You have power to destroy, sir, and
seem well disposed to use it; but over
my opinions you have no control, I
disregard your menacés, and resolutely
declare, I will not illuminate,"

Mrs, Heyward was graceful and majes-
tic in person, beautiful in countenance,
angelic in disposition, None but a
ruffian could have treated her with
indignity, On the anniversary of the
surrender of Charleston, May 12th, 1781,
an illumination was again demanded in
testimony of joy for an event so pro=
pitious to the cause of Britain, Mrs.
G,A, Hall, who labored under a wasting
disease, lay at the point ofdeath,
Again Mrs, Heyward refused to obey,
Violent anger was excited, and the
house was assailed by a mob with brick-

 
 
3586

bats, and every species of nauseating
trash that could offend or annoy, Her
resolution remained unshaken, and
while the tumult continued, and shouts
and clamor increased indignantly, Mrs,
Hall expired,

 

PIONEER LIFE IN THE WEST,

The following narrative of experience
is by no means a fancy sketch, nor is
it too highly colored; on the contrary,
it is but an outline, the filling up
of which would bring out into start-
jing relief many details, whica now
appear unimportant, perhaps, but
which, in actual experience, are
oftentimes the most serious depri-
vations and difficulties, It may
serve, however, to convey to the
minds of our readers some faint idea
of the trails, distress, and grievous
hardships which were the lot of those
who cleared the way for the footsteps
of civilization; and for this reason
we have introduced it,

"I emwigreted to Ohio in 1802, when
there were but few settlements inter-
spersed through the State; all was
new, rugged, and desolate, I was a
young man, with nothing to depend
upon but my own hands for my daily
bread, It is true, I had health,
strength, and determination, but of

 
 
this world's goods I was lamentably
deficient, I had no trade or calling,
no friends, no prospects; the world was
before me, The western country was
beginning to attract the attention of
the residents of the more thickly~
settled States, and I made up my mind
to try my luck as a pioneer in the
wilderness, Thanks to my good-looking
face, I was enabled to purchase fifty
acres of land in the State of Ohio, for
Which I gave promises to pay, Behold
me then on my farm in the midst of the
primeval woods, The nearest neighbor
was about three miles in one direction,
and about three and a half in another,
My house was built of poles cut in the
forest, which were covered with bark,
boughs, and whatever else would serve
to shed the rain, and protect me from
the wind and cold night-air, It was
about seven feet long by four wide, and
open toward the south; in fact, it was
a mere lean-to shed, open on the lean-
to side, A loaf or two of bread, a
little salt pork, some corn, and a few
potatoes, with a tin kettle, a good
gun, an ax, and a frying-pan, con=
stituted the whole catalogue of my
movables and provisions, With these
and a light heart, I set to work to
clear my farm and keep house, I had
no company, unless it was the bears and
wolves, who used to pay me frequent

 
 
47.

559s

MY WIFE'S DOWRY,

visits, which I was not very punce
tilious in returning. For nearly a
month I did not see a human being, and
at the end of two, I made up my mind to
Call on my nearest neighbor, who lived
on the river, and the road to whose
house was two miles off through the
woods, My neighbor had daughters, and
I became a frequent visitor, until, by
a little persuasion, I induced one of
them to link her destiny with mine, A
new house now became necessary, and I
built, with the assistance of my neighe
bors, a log-cabin about sixteen feet
square, with daubed walls, a stick
chimney, and “all the modern improve~
ments", into which we moved the day
after we were married, My wife's dowry
consisted of a straw bed, a spinning
wheel, three pewter plates, a pitcher,
and a Dutch oven; other furniture we
had none, and for two or three days I
was very busy in supplying its place

in the best way I could, For a bead=
stead I drove down a stake in the floor
- which was the hard, trodden ground =
about five feet from the wall one way,
and about six feei the other, I then
took two poles for the rails, one end
being inserted in the cracks between

, the logs of the house, and the other

in the stake; some slabs were then
split out, which were laid from the
side rails to the cracks, and thus was

 
 

 
our bedstead made, On this we laid our
straw bed, and I have never enjoyed
sweeter or more refreshing sleep than
I did on that home-made bedstead, A
table wes next made by driving two
forked sticks into the floor, from
which two short pieces extended to a
crack about the right hight, and on
these were laid split slabs, forming a
very good substitute for a table, I
borrowed a jacke-knife of my father-in~
law, and with it made out of hard-wood
two knives and forks, and what ans=
wered for a couple of spoons, Our
chairs were rather hard, being made by
sawing the butts from two medium-sized
hickory trees, and stripping off the
bark; but they answered every purpose,
and we were content - ay, and as happy
as a king in his palace, |
"A year passed on, bringing with it
new wants and deficiencies; among
other things, some baby~-linen was
needed, and I started for the nearest
town, six miles distant, tc procure
the necessary supply but found, upon
arriving there, that I had neither
money nor credit, and was obliged to
return without it, This was a sad
blow to our hopes, but my wife, with
a cheerful heart, cut up a pair of
thin pantaloons of mine, and made a
shift to make a frock, and the child
was dressed,

 
 
48,

"When the long winter evenings came,
I was at a loss how to pass the dreary
hours from sunset to bedtime, To sleep
them away, like the brutes, was too
great a waste of vabuable time; besides,
I was extremeiy anxious to improve my
mind by reading, A library at the
nearest town afforded the opportunity,
but I lacked lights, Pine-knots, from
the adjacent forest, at length supplied
this deficiency, and many a night have
I passed reading to my wife, while her
busy hands were engaged in carding or
spinning,

"By-and=by the payments for my land
became due, but money was a scarce
thing in my domicil, and I was almost
reduced to despair, By bartering and
a little credit, (my credit had impro=-
ved since I had become a man of family)
I came into possession of a lot of
steers, slung a knapsack on my shoul-
ders, bid my wife and child "good-by",
and started for Virginia with them,

By the time I had reached the Potomac,
I had sold my steers at a fair profit,
and with the proceeds I traveled on to
Litchfield, Connecticut, (all this dis-
tance was traversed on foot,) where I
paid for my land, and had just one
dollar left, I went to work and earned
fifty cents more, and this was all I
had to carry me to my home, six hun-
dred miles distant, I had a strong |
incentive, howeverin my desire to see

361-2. Pie