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 h0V THE LIKE OF 
 
 GENERAL LESLIE COMBS: 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY 
 
 NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 
 
 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY J. T. AND T.KM. TOWERS. 
 1855. 
 
.C732. 
 
 24275 
 

 NARRATIVE 
 
 
 OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 EMBRACING INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH 
 
 WESTERN TERRITORY. 
 
 The biography of men in the Republic 
 who have raised themselves by their own 
 unaided talents and energies above the level 
 of the general mass of the community in 
 which their lot has been cast, must be both 
 entertaining and instructive to their fellow- 
 countrymen. Doubly instructive and pro- 
 fitable, in a more extended view, are these 
 personal histories, when they relate to the 
 lives and fortunes, of those who may be 
 regarded as representative men — types of 
 classes that constitute essential or important 
 elements in our national character, and 
 which, though somewhat heterogeneous in 
 their origin and diverse in their features, 
 have yet become, through the harmonizing 
 vind fostering influences of our republican 
 institutions, consolidated and blended into 
 a congruous whole, known and recognized 
 throughout the world, distinctively as the 
 American character. 
 
 Nor are these essential and characteristic 
 elements referable solely to peculiar nation- 
 a I i irigins. On the contrary, local and other 
 circumstances, irrespective of nationalities, 
 have formed some of the most distinctive. 
 and, in a national point of view, impoi 
 tant of these elements. Of this kind were 
 the cicumstances attending the early settle- 
 ment of our Western country; circumstan- 
 ces which overbore and nearly obliterated 
 all distinctions of national origin, blending 
 and consolidating all such elements 
 comprehensive, distinctive national on 
 resented by the Western hunter, piom 
 settler, as combined in the same individual. 
 Nurtured amidst stirring scenes, and ac- 
 customed from early childhood to a life of 
 activity, hardship, exposure, and thrilling 
 
 adventure — hence a hardy, enterprising, 
 bold, and fearless race; and leading the free 
 and untrammeledlife of the backwoods, am 
 breathing from infancy the atmosphere o . 
 unrestrained freedom and independence — 
 hence a frank, generous, hospitable race, 
 endued with an unsophisticated and plain 
 sense of right, with a ready disposition to 
 uphold and protect it, as well as a keen na- 
 tive sense of wrong, and an impuls 
 stinct to repel and redress it ; the men of 
 this race have ever been foremost, whether 
 in extending the area of civilization and of 
 the Republic, by felling the forest an < sub- 
 duing the rank prairie, or in defend 
 national rights and avenging our national 
 wrongs on the field of battle. 
 
 It was this race, represented by and 
 speaking through a Henry Clay and other? 
 of that stamp, which aroused our Goven 
 ment to a declaration of war, to vindicat 
 our violated national rights on the < 
 early in the present century ; and it wa 
 this race themselves, who, at the call c 
 their country, rushed with an unexampL i 
 unanimity and alacrity to the field, while 
 in some parts of the country, but too mam 
 of the more immediate neighbors and kin 
 dred of those citizens whose rights i 
 son or property on the sea had b en out 
 raged, not only refused to respond to tin. 
 national call, but sought to thwart the pur- 
 ees of the Government, by opp 
 ■asm, s adopted for the purpose 
 
 \g redress, in some instances, by ac 
 
 h( of' treason. And i is to tl 
 ant, of this race, already numbering mil- 
 lions of hardy, unflinching republicans, ( > 
 which our country must look for a patriotic 
 
..K.VKK.W. I.I Mi:.-. 
 
 and naou rapport of its institutions, an 
 a united whole, whenever the violence of 
 ultra factions in theextreme North or South, 
 impelled by whatever motives, shall seek to 
 overturn the institutions established by "ur 
 revolutionary forefathers. It is then that 
 tie- people of the grant West, the descend- 
 twta of the pioneer, hunter race, \v i 1 1 — as 
 me of her representatives declared in liis 
 4 I >n g r oea -have tometking to 
 say on the final question of union ordisunlon. 
 
 A-> being a worthy representative of this 
 .;mI also one whose early life and nd- 
 veotures are intimately connected with an 
 interesting and instructive, l>ut now almost 
 •n i ".it ion of our national history, as 
 . we shall depart some- 
 what from owr ordinary practice, and allow 
 ourselves mora space and latitude than 
 usual, in detailing the personal narrative 
 of the subject of the present memoir. 
 
 - i- descended, 
 on the side of his mother, whose maiden 
 nam.' wasSARAH LiicH^aosoN, from .a re- 
 spectable Quaker family of Maryland, con- 
 nected by blood with the Thomases and 
 Snowdena. His father waab\ birth a Vir- 
 ginian, and served as a subaltern officer in 
 the revolutionary army under Washington, 
 at tie' siege of Forktown and capture of 
 Lord < Sornwallis. I le soon afterwards « • 1 1 > i - 
 grated to Kentucky, and waa engaged in 
 
 all those dangerous and sometimes 1>I ly 
 
 scenes which resulted in driving out the In- 
 diana, and devoting that rich and beautiful 
 region to the cam and purposes <>f civili- 
 zation. 
 
 1 loth his parents have been dead for seve- 
 ral rears; and as their youngesl of twelve 
 children, he has erected over their humble 
 graves, within a few miles of Boonsboro, 
 appropriate tombstones. < >n his father's 
 
 are inscribed the simple facts, that be was 
 
 a " Revolutionary Officer <md a Hunter of 
 Kentucky? A simple, affecting, and sug- 
 gestive tribute to Ihe unpretending bul 
 sterling worth ofoi f that class of men 
 
 which lias impressed its characteristic t rait > 
 as honorably as it has indelibly on our na- 
 tional character : "a hunter of Kentucky;'' 
 one of that fearless, enterprising, Belf-rely- 
 itiLT, frank and gemeTOUS rare, which, as the 
 hardy pioneer of civilization in our Western 
 savage wilds, has extended the area of the 
 Republic over those once almost illimitable 
 forests and prairies, and, by its valor and 
 
 devotion to country, has contributed «.,, 
 
 much to our national greatness and fame. 
 ii only of his children survived hiui; 
 among whom was divided his kuudredtme 
 farm in Clark county, which had furnished 
 his only rapport in raising his large family. 
 Of course their means and opportunities of 
 education were limited; but fortunately 
 for the subject of this memoir, when he waa 
 
 I. lit ten "I" eleven \e.US of agU, tile K,V. 
 
 John Lyls, a Presbyterian clergyman, 
 opened a school of ahigher order than was 
 
 usual in the country in those days ; and in 
 it he was taught the Latin language, as 
 well as Fairish grammar, geography, and 
 tie- lower brandos of mathematics. His 
 
 -s in all his studies was rapid, and ho 
 
 soon became the pet of his venerebleinstruo- 
 
 he was the pride of his aged parents. 
 'I'ios state of things continued about three 
 yean, when Mr. Lyle removed to a neigh- 
 boring county; and for a time our VOUng 
 scholar was compelled to remain at home, 
 and assisted in cultivating the farm. Tin: 
 great anxiety, however, of both his parents 
 
 • him as liberal an education as pos- 
 sible, was soon gratified by their being able 
 t" place him in the family of a French gen- 
 tleman residing near Ashland, whose lady 
 taught a few scholars, and under whose in- 
 struction be remained fbra year; bis time 
 being mainly devoted to the acquisition of 
 her native language. That admirable lady 
 dive, and still residing in her humble 
 home, one of her daughters having married 
 a son of Henry ( 'lav. 
 
 Shortly after returning home, be was 
 placed as fhe junior deputy in the clerk's 
 otlii f Ib>n. s. H. Woodson, in Jessamine 
 
 County, and was residing there, when the 
 last war was declared agarasl Greal Britain. 
 The excitement in Kentucky, on tic occur- 
 rence of that event, pervaded all ages and 
 
 Bven those who are old enough to re- 
 member the events of those times, but wllO 
 
 were born ami have always lived in the 
 eastern portions of the country, can have 
 little idea of the intensity of feeling aroused 
 by this event among the hardy inhabitants 
 of Kentucky and the frontier portions ofthe 
 north-western country. In that region the 
 interval between the close of the war of the 
 Revolution and the declaration of the sec 
 ond war with the same power, had witnessed 
 an almost uninterrupted struggle beweeii 
 
 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 the Western pioneer settlers and the native 
 tribes of those regions, who, as was well 
 known, were continually instigated and paid 
 by British agents to harrass and devastate 
 our infant settlements. Hence the national 
 animosity against the mother country ex- 
 cited by the War of Independence, so far 
 from having been allayed or effaced in those 
 pails, as was the case to a considerable ex- 
 tent in the East, by the lapse of thirty years 
 of peace, nominal as regarded the Western 
 frontier, had, on the contrary, been gradually 
 increasing and becoming intensified down 
 to the very moment of the declaration of war 
 in 1812. This feeling reached its acme 
 when that same power whose agents had so 
 long been inciting the savages to ruthless 
 forays on the defenceless and peaceful set- 
 tlements, now entered into alliances with 
 them, and, by offering premiums for the 
 scalps of men, women, and children, incited 
 them to redoubled zeal in the prosecution 
 of their instinctive and inhuman mode of 
 warfare. 
 
 A series of revolting atrocities perpetrated 
 early in the war by the savages, many of 
 them under the very eye, and with the ap- 
 proval or connivance of the commanders of 
 their British allies, especially of the noto- 
 rious Colonel, and for these his acts pro- 
 moted or brevetted General Proctor, whose 
 memory the voice of outraged humanity 
 will consign to eternal infamy, aroused the 
 whole Western country to a pitch of intense 
 excitement, which manifested itself in a 
 universal cry for revenge, and a spontane- 
 ous rush to the field.* 
 
 * "Exasperated to madness by the failure of 
 their attempt, September 4, 1812, on Fort Har- 
 rison, [defended by Captain Zachary Taylor,] a 
 considerable party of Indians now made an irrup- 
 tion into the settlements on the Pigeon Roost fork 
 of White river, where they barbarously massacred 
 twenty-one of the inhabitants, many of them wo- 
 men and children. The children had their brains 
 knocked out against trees ; and one woman, who 
 was pregnant, was ripped open, and her unborn 
 infant taken from her, and its brains knocked out. 
 However, this was but a small matter; it amounted 
 to no essential injury ; it was all for the best, as 
 it was done by the disciples of the Wabash Pro- 
 phet, who was in a close and holy alliance with 
 George the Third, defender of the faith, and legi- 
 timate sovereign of the Bible Society nation, 
 which is the bulwark of our most holy religion. 
 Yet it excited the indignation of the uncivilized 
 republican infidels in 1 1n' neighboring settlements 
 of Indiana and Kentucky."— McAfee. History of 
 the late War in the Western Country, pp. 154-5. 
 
 It cannot therefore be wondered at, that 
 the son of an old soldier and hunter, who 
 had often listened of a winter evening to his 
 father's thrilling details of Indian fights, and 
 ambuscades, and hairbreadth escapes,should 
 be infected with the contagion, and long, 
 boy as lie was, to throw away his pen and 
 seize some implement of war. 
 
 Young Leslie Combs had just passed his 
 eighteenth birthday, and was, by law, sub- 
 ject to militia duty, although he had not been 
 inscribed on any muster-roll. Kentueky 
 was called upon for several thousand troops, 
 and he hoped to be one of the soldiers en listed 
 in the great cause of " sailors' rights and free 
 trade with all the world," in defiance of Bri- 
 tain's proud, insulting claim, as mistress of 
 the seas, to insult our flag and seize our sea- 
 men. He accordingly borrowed a fowling 
 piece, and set himself to work to acquire the 
 manual exercise as taught by Baron Steu- 
 ben, then the only approved master in such 
 matters. It was supposed that a draft 
 would be necessary, but, instead of that, 
 there were more volunteers than were re- 
 quired to fill the quota of Kentucky, and 
 young Leslie's parents objected to his going, 
 inasmuch as two of his elder brothers had 
 previously joined the troops ordered to 
 the northern frontier, under General Win 
 Chester. It was not long after they march- 
 ed, however, before his continued and 
 earnest importunities, sometimes urged 
 with tears in his eyes, prevailed upon them 
 to let him go. Equipping himself as a 
 private of cavalry as speedily as possible, 
 about a month after the army marched 
 from Georgetown, Kentucky, he started 
 alone on their track, hoping to overtake 
 them in time to partake of their glorious 
 triumphs in Canada, for, like the rest, he 
 never dreamed of disaster and defeat. " I 
 shall never forget," to quote his words in 
 after years, " the parting scene with my 
 beloved and venerated mother, in which 
 she reminded me of my father's history, 
 and her own trials and dangers in the ear- 
 ly settlement of Kentucky, and closed by 
 saying to me, ' as I had resolved to become 
 a soldier, I must never disgrace my parents 
 by running from danger; — to die rather 
 than fail to do my duty.' This injunction 
 was ever present to me afterwards, in the 
 midst of dangers and difficulties of which 
 I had then formed no idea, and stimulated 
 me to deeds that I might otherwise, per- 
 
ERAL LESLI1 I 
 
 i per- 
 
 . ty !»■ term- 
 ter of his personal b 
 om this time be tin • 
 d upon a career m 
 
 &] i:ar- 
 
 i ■• r • rod the 
 
 tunate 
 
 real North- 
 
 i JU81 !"■- 
 
 a, and 
 
 : ■ ■ 
 
 only by In- 
 
 '. Lion of 
 
 of the 
 
 nd the wl 
 
 imraanding 
 the British n thai frontier. 
 
 iiK-.w had .1 to capitulate 
 
 ■ month earlier, :ui<1 Chicago had 
 abandoned on the 1 6th of August, and its 
 ■1 or captured by a large 
 Indiana, who bad received n 
 Hull's retreat from Canada, and thereupon 
 i i«) unite with the British against 
 as, as they had been previously urged 
 
 cumseh, then rising into powei 
 among die northern tribes on this side of 
 the American and British boundary line. 
 Thus i «ut- whole frontier from Lake Eri< 
 to the M left utterly unde- 
 
 fended except by two small forts — R 
 and Harrison — one :it the junction of the 
 •>h and St. Mary rivers, forming the 
 Lake, on the 
 
 far-distant Wabash. Both were defended 
 block-! ! wooden pickets, both 
 
 were attacked by the In. linns at about the 
 me tin;.-, and Captain Zacl i 
 ding Fort Harrison, as we have befon 
 
 ' ' Irinac, and I bicago, 
 
 and Ha 
 I by a i i regular tro -. Wil 
 U was I ;. eeruor of the Territory 
 n, and William Elei 
 In view of ; ! 
 it Britain in tl 
 rnor Hull tea ived the appoint- 
 G neral in the army of 
 ' 'hi'o to 
 immand of th< 
 
 ■ i itect that frontier in case of war. 
 irth regin 
 1 Miller, and thVee 
 j of 01 ■ \. lui ■■■■-. ■.'. ■ 
 . 
 : h lay. W i wa • ■'.• elan 
 
 intimated, with most unflinching heroism, 
 laic! the foundation of that subsequent ca- 
 reer of military glory and self-devotion, 
 which finallj ■ levated him to the Presiden- 
 tial office. 
 
 Three regiments of Kentucky volunteers, 
 under the command oft Solonela Scott,In wis 
 and Allen, and one regiment of regulars, 
 under Colonel Wells, had, in the mean 
 time, been ordered to the north-western 
 frontier, to re-enforce General Hull. The 
 former rendi zvoused al < reorgetown on the 
 16th August, and after being addressed by 
 the old veteran, General Charles Scott, 
 Governor of Kentucky, and by Henry 
 mustered into the service of the 
 The best hi 1 of Ken- 
 
 G ral Hull was Lucky, the sons of the old hunters and In- 
 ly march through the northern dian fighters, could be found in this little 
 
 troit His 
 
 . which had been Bent by way ot 
 
 taptured in attempting to 
 
 :n ( . nth of • 
 
 Hehimseli m afterwards n 
 
 ued his famous proclamation, 
 ked largi running I rpp i 
 
 ctinig which objeel he had 
 r • s under his command ; ii 
 ig which, however, he very soon re- 
 back to the American shon . 
 1 Oth Air Tacefullv Burren 
 
 army. Two members of Congress were 
 among the privates in the ranks. Little 
 did they imagine, while listening to the 
 tirring appeals of the greal Kentucky 
 f marching to Canada 
 to aid in i1 est, on that very day 
 
 the white Bag of disgraceful surrender had 
 bung out by the coward or the trai- 
 tor Hull from the battlements of Detroit; 
 and that their own career of anticipated 
 victories and glory would* terminate in dis- 
 ss it did, on the bloody battle-field 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 ■of Raisin, on the following 22d day of Jan- 
 uary. General James Winchester had 
 command of this force, and marched on 
 the 11 th by way of Cincinnati, (then a 
 small town on the Ohio river, opposite to 
 Newport,) towards the north-western fron- 
 tier ; and it was not until they had passed 
 the Kentucky border that the news of 
 Hull's surrender reached them. 
 
 Governor Harrison had acquired very 
 considerable fame by his glorious victory 
 at Tippecanoe the proceeding November, 
 and was in Kentucky at that time on a visit. 
 So soon as the events just above related 
 were communicated to the Government at 
 Washington, three or four additional regi- 
 ments of volunteers were ordered from 
 Kentucky, and the Governor of Kentucky 
 prevailed on Governor Harrison to accept 
 the office of Major-General, and to hasten 
 with the forces then in the field, and a large 
 body of mounted Kentucky militia, to the 
 relief of Fort Wayne. 
 
 This, it will be remembered, he accom- 
 plished, and forced the Indians and their 
 British auxiliaries to retreat precipitately 
 towards Canada, without daring to engage 
 him in battle. 
 
 By selling a small piece of land (all he 
 had on earth) devised to him by a deceased 
 elder brother, young Combs soon complet- 
 ed his outfit as a volunteer, and, armed 
 with holsters and broadsword, with only 
 fifteen dollars in his pocket, he started for 
 the north-western army, which was then 
 marching with all possible speed towards 
 the frontiers of Ohio, in order to reinforce 
 General Hull. Never having been forty 
 miles from home before this time, youne; 
 and in.-xperienced as he was, nothing but 
 his burning zeal for the cause to which he 
 had devoted himself could have sustained 
 him against all the perils and hardships of 
 his long journey. When he arrive.! af 
 Piqua, beyond Dayton, he found crowds 
 4 Indians, men, women, and children, 
 Jnncipally from the neighboring Shawnee 
 wages, who were besieging the commis- 
 ary's and quartermaster's apartments for 
 ood, blankets, and ammunition. He had 
 iever before seen such an array of yellow- 
 kins, and was gratified to find at the same 
 'lace several companies of mounted thirty- 
 ay volunteers, hastening to the frontiers 
 fter the news of Hull's surrender reached 
 >hio and Kentucky ; in company with 
 
 whom he proceeded through the wilder- 
 ness to St. Mary's, distant twenty or thirty 
 miles. At that place he met General Har- 
 rison on his return from the relief of Fort 
 Wayne, after turning over his command to 
 General Winchester, of the regular army. 
 The next day and night, in company with 
 three or four friends, he made the journey 
 to Fort Wayne, distant about sixty miles, 
 through an unbroken wilderness, infested 
 with hostile savages ; and there found the 
 troops in motion towards Old Fort Defiance, 
 at the junction of the Maumee and Auglaisc 
 rivers, and was attached by general orders 
 as a cadet to the first regiment of Kentucky 
 Volunteers, under Colonel Scott. In this 
 capacity he continued to do duty the re- 
 mainder of the campaign, going out on all 
 scouting-parties, and thus becoming well 
 acquainted with the whole surrounding- 
 country. Some of them were attended 
 with great hazard, and all of them with 
 extra fatigue and hardship, even when com- 
 pared with the starved and naked condition 
 of all that wing of the army. 
 
 As these events have no doubt long since 
 passed from the memories of those not im- 
 mediately connected with them, and the 
 principal history of them, written by Col- 
 onel McAfee, is nearly out of print, we 
 take leave to quote from his authentic 
 work, " The History of the late War in the . 
 Western Country," printed in 181C, the 
 following passages, first remarking that the 
 left wing of the north-western army, under 
 General Winchester, (General Harrison 
 having some weeks before received the ap- 
 pointment of Major-General from the Pre- 
 sident of the United States, and assumed 
 the chief command,) was encamped six 
 miles below Old Fort Defiance, on the 
 Maumee : 
 
 "About the first of November they became 
 extremely sickly. Thetyphus fever raged with 
 violence, so that sometimes three or four would 
 die iu a day. Upwards of three hundred were 
 daily on the sick-list; and so discouraging was 
 the prospect of advancing, that about the first 
 of December tiny were ordered to build huts 
 for their accommodation. Many were bo entirely 
 destitute of shoes and other clothing, that they 
 must have frozen if they had !>,•,;] obliged to 
 march any distance; and sometimes the whole 
 army would ho for many days entirely without, 
 flour." (pp. 183-4.) 
 
 "From the 10th to the 22<1 <>f this mouth, 
 (December,) the camp was without Hour, and 
 for seme time before they had only half rations; 
 !' ■ beef and hickory rents were their only sub- 
 
GENERAL LESLIE 00MB8. 
 
 r. and other fl his intentiona, which it waa deemed unsafe 
 . ' n ; J":;:,v teat, in which tointrust to paper inaam ? <A»h» journey 
 
 ■ i... through a region full ol savages, 
 
 it take l'is scalp and oapture bia 
 
 papers ' These confidential communic*- 
 
 General Winchester had received ordera ^^ intrusted t „ him alone, and by him 
 
 from General Harrison, as soon aa be bad d . jn;i(lo to General Harrison, enabled 
 
 accumulated twenty 'lavs' provisions, to w • 
 
 .1 : 1 t". ..•! v_l. .nr ml i- 
 
 til.' .'!I'-II1\ I" l" "' »' ' - - 
 
 winter-quarters. It waa indiapensable to 
 occupy the rapida, the subsequent site ot 
 Fort Meigs, with a (broe sufficiently strong 
 to protect the provisions, stores, and mun- 
 itions of war, which were to be forwarded 
 IV. .n» the other wings of the army, l...-:n.-l 
 at Fort M.Arthur and Upper Sandusky, 
 m to .i contemplated rapid move- 
 ment upon Maiden and Detroit From the 
 22d to the 80th of December, active pre- 
 parations were being made for tins change 
 of position, whichwaa to bring the Ameri- 
 can forces so much nearer to the enemy. 
 The river being b)oten over, they were 
 obliged to takethe baggage on their backa, 
 .„■ on rickety sleds, to be hauled by the 
 men, for all their bones which had nol 
 
 1 d sent into the interior in October or 
 
 November, had starved t>> death. 
 
 "Having provided for the rick, and assigned 
 guards te attend and protect them, the march 
 for the rapida waa oommenced on the 80th De- 
 eember. At the same time, Mr. Leahe Oombe, 
 a youn« man of intelligence and enterpnae from 
 Klniu.kv, who had joined the army u a volun- 
 on ita march from Port Wayne to Fort 
 
 Denanee, ■ panied by Mr. A. Riddle, as a 
 
 guide waa Ben1 with dispatches to inform the 
 Sommandar-in-ohief (General Hamaon) ol this 
 movement, in order that proviriona and rem- 
 
 ence i" u" buuw • !»» ■»• - - . . 
 
 General Winchester at the river Raism, on 
 the 22d January, 1813. 
 
 What he suffered on this tramp may be 
 imagined, but cannot well be described, 
 rjehad been accustomed only to wear bit 
 sword, after Bending his horse to the in- 
 terior, and their daily marching had ceased, 
 :„. two months. He was on tnisoo- 
 oaaion loaded with a heavy mnsket and 
 Bocoutrementa, in addition to a blanket 
 and four days' provisions on his back. the , 
 s,,,w commenced falling on the morning 
 ,.,•,!„. aiat December, and continued witb- 
 ont intermiasion two 'lays and nigl 
 that .... the third day of their journey, 
 youmr Combs and hiB companion found * 
 over two feet deep. The) were in a dense 
 forest, without path or compass, and only 
 by the unerring skill of Ins cojb, 
 Sanion,who had been some Bfteen yean 
 [uearlyUfe a captive among the ...bans 
 in thia region, and waa well skilled in all 
 their ways and customs. Several mgnta 
 they encamped in the black Bwamp, and 
 could not find a place to lie down and rest, 
 even on the Bnow, but were compelled to 
 sit up all night with a small fire at tu«* 
 feet, made of such old brush as they could 
 
 .i 1....^, i»» t luir 
 
 forcementa might be forwarded aa - i« pea- t ., .n.-.-t, and, wrappmg themselves in tw 
 
 Bible. General Winchester expected to be md , ahiverinff through the long ho* 
 
 lieir 
 
 eT^neraTWrnohester expected to be met j V" - j.^r'siiivi-mii through the long hours 
 
 these at the rapida by the 14th ol January. '. • inU j' ,',,,[;.,, th ,. m ,,-aiu to resttDM 
 
 1 , 1>r , l ,, 1 1;y „„,„,„,,,, ^ a ^ me - b JlX^the sixth d* 
 
 by 
 
 Thia, however, waa pivs .. 
 foil of snow, which, as Mr. Combe bad to tra- 
 verse on foot ;i pathless wUdernesa ol more than 
 one hundred miles in extent, retarded him for 
 four or five daya longer in reaching even the 
 iirst point of destination, (Fort Me Arthur,) than 
 would otherwise have been neoaaaary to perform 
 the whole route." — McAfee, p. 201. 
 
 These dispatches consisted of a brief note, 
 introducing young Combs to General Har- 
 rison " as a youth whose information as to 
 the intended movements of General Win- 
 chester could be entirely relied upon f and 
 at the same time he was fully possessed by 
 General Winchester, confidentially, ol all 
 
 llieil liuoviiiv ...... ^ 
 
 their four days' provision was entirely ex- 
 hausted, and they had early put them- 
 selves on sh. ,rt allowance. \ oung Combs; 
 was extremely ill nearly all night, so much, 
 so that it was concluded that Riddle mustf 
 leave him in the morning to his fate, ami! 
 for himself make the best of his way to th( 
 nearest settlement or fort, and endeavor* 
 save Combs, if he should survive till W 
 return. Fortunately for our young volun 
 teer, his natural strength ot constitution 
 and it may be added, his unflinching re 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 solution never to stop while he could walk, 
 overcame his disease, and he kept moving 
 for three days and nights longer, without 
 a mouthful of food for either himself or his 
 companion, except slippery elm bark. On 
 the ninth evening, after dark, they reached 
 Fort McArthur, then under command of 
 General Tupper. 
 
 Every attention was paid to young 
 Combs by General Tupper and his staff, 
 on his arrival at the head-quarters of that 
 general. But his sufferings had been so 
 great, that he was prostrated for days after- 
 wards on a bed of sickness ; as, in addition 
 to hunger and fatigue, his feet were badly 
 frost-bitten, and his arm joints stiffened 
 with rheumatic pains, from which lie has 
 never since recovered. Being unable to 
 proceed to Upper Sandusky, where Gen- 
 eral Harrison was posted, his dispatches 
 were conveyed to him, with a brief letter 
 from himself, by a special messenger on 
 horseback, the day after his arrival at Fort 
 McArthur. 
 
 As soon as it was considered safe for 
 him to leave his quarters, he was furnished 
 with a sled, two horses, and a driver, and 
 proceeded as speedily as possible through 
 the snow to the rapids, distant about nine- 
 ty or one hundred miles by way of Hull's 
 trace, which place he reached on the even- 
 ing of the 19th of January, expecting to 
 find General Winchester's army encamped 
 there, as that general had told him he 
 would be. Instead of this, he met the 
 news of Colonel Lewis's glorious victory 
 of the 18th, at river Raisin, over the Bri- 
 tish and Indians, thirty-six miles in ad- 
 vance of the rapids, and about twenty 
 miles only from Maiden, the head quarters 
 of the British army in Upper Canada. 
 Disappointed and mortified that a battle 
 had been fought in his absence, and appre- 
 hending the speedy recurrence of another 
 similar event of a more conclusive charac- 
 ter, as General Winchester had himself 
 gone on with the flower of his forces that 
 morning, to reenforce Colonel Lewis; with- 
 out waiting for General Harrison, who was 
 expected in a day or two, with a portion 
 of the right wing of the army, he deter- 
 mined to lose no time in reporting himself 
 at head-quarters. Accordingly on the 
 20th, in the evening, he set off on foot, 
 with his blanket and one day's rations on 
 his back, and without his old heavy mus- 
 
 ket, to overtake Major Cotgreve's battalion, 
 which was understood to have been hurri- 
 ed forward by General Harrison from Low- 
 er Sandusky, with two or three pieces of 
 light artillery, in the direction of the river 
 Raisin. He soon accomplished his object, 
 as the Maumee was frozen over from shore 
 to shore, and he could travel on the ice 
 with much greater rapidity than by land 
 through the deep crusted snow. 
 
 With them he found another young 
 Kentuckian, with a small pony, loaded 
 with his baggage and provisions, proceed- 
 ing to join his regiment, from which he 
 had been separated for some time. The 
 night of the 21st, was bright, clear, and 
 beautiful, but intensely cold, with a full 
 moon shining ; and at two o'clock his new- 
 ly found companion and himself determin- 
 ed to make an effort to reach the river 
 Raisin before the next night. So anxious 
 were they to accomplish this purpose, that 
 they forgot for the time their being on 
 hostile ground, as recognized by Hull in 
 his articles of capitulation, and that there 
 were one or two villages intervening be- 
 tween them and their point of destination. 
 Whether they should encounter in them 
 friend or foes, and how many murdering 
 Pottawatamies might be prowling through 
 the forests, were not taken into account; 
 onward they resolved to go, and at all 
 hazards. 
 
 After twelve or thirteen hours' laborious 
 trudging through the snow and ice, one 
 leading and the other driving their little 
 half-starved poney; they arrived at a small 
 village about ten miles from the river Rai- 
 sin, to witness a scene of consternation and 
 distress never before presented to their 
 view. An American soldier, without hat, 
 coat, or shoes, had just arrived from the 
 disastrous field of Raisin, with an exagger- 
 ated account of that bloody affair, and the 
 whole population were preparing to fly 
 towards the American army, supposed to 
 be approaching under General Harrison, 
 by way of the ice on the lake and river. 
 While hesitating whether to believe this 
 most painful news, and return, or treat it 
 as the tale of a coward, and proceed to the 
 scene of action, they discovered another 
 fugitive in the distant prairie approaching 
 them, who, on his arrival, confirmed all 
 they had just heard, with the additional 
 fact, that the Indians were pursuing the 
 
IMBS. 
 
 troops und i Win< Lew is, Tin I n above n 
 
 direction towards their present lex [ndian tri 
 
 In a vei of time, m i 
 
 ■ 
 
 inly of wli'iin we Bhall pre- 
 sently Bpeak more particularly, the whole 
 village was depopulated, leai _ 
 nurture, barns, grain, Btock, 
 but tin? little bedding, food, and clo- 
 tli.-v <■« ml. 1 pack "ii tin 
 carryalls, and scudding for life on the ice 
 towards the rapi never 
 
 • m by our young soldier. It 
 at time he had n war, 
 
 rather th< »f war. 
 
 He had read and thought and drean 
 
 ! their awful desolations; but 
 tlii- m 
 
 ,-il view, and it Bickened and saddened hia 
 heart We will nol stop to moralize, but 
 ted with "ur fa 
 
 and from their knowl< Indian 
 
 i friendly intercourse 
 with them, they had remained, wiih the 
 hope of I- friends 
 
 property from t: 
 
 enemy. The family before spoken of con- 
 sisted of husband, wife, and ti\.' children, 
 the largest aboul twelve yean old. They 
 
 li itributed between a small one-horse 
 
 Bleigh and an ox-sled loaded with < k- 
 
 . ing u; '. and bedding. The latter 
 
 vehicle could not pi 
 had done, on the ice, 1 
 were unshod, and the owner did not know 
 
 : lull's old road by land back to the 
 Maumee was sufficiently free from obstruc- 
 tion to enable him to Bave his family by 
 that i rtunately, Coombs and his 
 
 companion had just traveled that way. ami 
 
 follow- 
 >uld be 
 
 ,.1 wounded to A 
 
 • in the 
 
 were their ride arms taken from them at all, if 
 
 Todd and B otucky volu 
 
 • ft with the wounded, and Major Rej ■ 
 .-. r and pi 
 with tw> mi • 
 
 ' //.-//I M» 
 
 of sleds arriving to convey them to Maiden, a 
 I o hundred in 
 
 . the town, painted bin 
 r< ■]. . . . Tii. y I i ■ plunder tin 
 
 of the inhal i then broke into tho8< 
 
 the wound< d pi 
 of whom they abused and stripped 
 
 hawked 
 them with. .u: mercy. . . . The few who were 
 judged able I and taken off 
 
 towards Maiden ; but any of them 
 
 tahawked and 
 
 . . . For 1 
 
 iver Raisin, for which any other civilized 
 rnmenl would have dismissed, and perhaps 
 have gibbeted the c immander, Colonel ■ 
 
 1 the rank of & .! in the Bri- 
 
 tish army. . . Proctor, after he had lefl the bat- 
 
 : named the gnai 
 which he had promised forth Ameri- 
 
 ould he pay any attenti • 
 
 at it by Gen- 
 
 ' [adison, (prisoners.) 
 
 Captain Elliol (of Uie BrilNi anny) once repli- 
 
 jould assure him of it- entire practicahilii * 
 and i P 
 
 by i; very time, with whom tli 
 
 had encamped toua night. Hav- 
 
 ing done thus much, the dictafc b of ordi- 
 — the law of Belf-preserva« 
 ti<>n, deemed by some tli.' firsl law of na- 
 -might have impelled our young offi- 
 cer and his companion to disencumber 
 their pony of and with his aid 
 
 have Baved themselves from the much ap- 
 |, r . 1 aahawk and scalping-knife 
 
 of th' 1 • s, reeking and red as they 
 were with the blood of their gallant asso- 
 a and friends at Raisin. 
 But in th< I trts of our youthful 
 
 adventurers there was a "higher law," a 
 duty whi.h they thought they owed to the 
 army in their rear, and the helpless family 
 in theil ■ which in. luce. 1 them t. 
 
 give up the pony to the tw 
 gether with blankets to protect theme 
 
 to ride alternately, am 
 
 hasten hack to General Harrison with th< 
 sa.l tidings they had just communicated^ 
 
 to th.-m, and which was to blast all hiiflr 
 
 cherished hopes of a Buccesful invasion qJ 
 Upper I lanada that winter. 
 
 ellent surgeon*! . . ■ Thi pro p 
 
 however, was now very gl 
 
 I an order, J 
 
 t 
 arrs.) t 
 
 nil /,',, '/'/ in by I • 
 
 McAfee, pp. 216-24. 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 At the same time, throwing their packs 
 upon the ox-sled, our adventurers stalled 
 the terrified family in the same direction, 
 remaining themselves some distance in the 
 rear, to give notice of approaching danger, 
 and as far as possible save the mother and 
 her children, if it should come on them- 
 selves. 
 
 Young Ilensly, his Kentucky compan- 
 ion, had a musket ; Tessier, their protege, 
 had a fusee or shot-gun, and Coombs him- 
 self was armed with a sword and belt-pis- 
 tols. Their march was of course very 
 slow ; but it seemed to our ardent young 
 officer that he had never before seen oxen 
 move with such a tardy pace. They knew 
 not at what moment their ears would be 
 saluted with the savage war-whooj) in their 
 rear. Thus they proceeded till the road 
 was lost in darkness, hoping to meet Ma- 
 jor Cotgreve's battalion, and were forced 
 to encamp by the road-side. They watch- 
 ed all night, one of them acting as sentinel 
 about a hundred paces from the fire, on 
 the trace towards Raisin, and at dawn 
 they again resumed their slow retreat. 
 They had not gone over two or three miles, 
 when, instead of meeting an armed band 
 which would give them comparative safety, 
 they found Cotgreve's baggage-sleds and 
 artillery abandoned in the road, with all 
 the marks of sudden and precipitate flight. 
 "I shall not pretend," Combs subsequently 
 writes, " to describe our feelings at this un- 
 expected sight ; but thank Heaven we did 
 not abandon our voluntarily assumed 
 charge, but resolved, come what would, to 
 save them or perish with them." 
 
 Just before sunset, they came in sight 
 of the Maumee river, and at the same time 
 discovered that Winchester's camp, left in 
 charge of General Payne, some three or 
 four miles up the river was in flames. At 
 first they supposed that the British and 
 Indians had gotten ahead of them by way 
 of the lake and river ice, and had defeated 
 the remuant of the left wing of the army 
 and General Harrison's reinforcements, 
 and that their own destiny was sealed. 
 They were soon releived however from 
 this painful apprehension, by discovering 
 a wounded soldier who had made his es- 
 cape by that route, and assured him that 
 no enemy had passed him. 
 
 We shall only refer to so much of the mil- 
 itary operations about this peril, d on that 
 2 
 
 frontier as may render the personal narra- 
 tive of the subject of the memoir intelligi- 
 ble. The two flying soldiers to whom Hens- 
 ley had promptly abandoned his pony at 
 Comb's suggestion, and determined to 
 aid the latter in bringing off the distressed 
 family, had, it seems, communicated to 
 Major Cotgreve the same alarming infoma- 
 tion they had given to Combs, " that at 
 least five thousand Indian warriors ivere in 
 hot pursuit, under Tecumseh and Dixon" 
 and thus caused his precipitate retreat. 
 They reached General Winchester's old 
 camp at the rapids, at which General Harri- 
 son, in the mean time, had arrived with a 
 small body-guard early on the 23d, having 
 travelled all night, and caused him to aban- 
 don the position north of the Maumee, set 
 fire to the camp, and fall back to the south 
 side of Portage river, some fifteen or twen- 
 ty miles nearer the Ohio settlements on 
 Hull's trace. 
 
 Young Combs followed in his footsteps 
 across the river on the ice, after sundown 
 on the 23d, and arrived on the opposite 
 side of Portage river on the evening of 
 of the 24th, with his small caravan, much 
 to the surprise and joy of his friends, who 
 had already numbered him among thedead. 
 Having been mainly instrumental in saving 
 also three of that gallant band of Kentuck- 
 ians, who had marched to the frontier some 
 five monthe before, with such devoted pat- 
 riotism and buoyant hopes of military glo- 
 ry, for the first time since he met the news 
 of the disaster, he now felt safe from pur- 
 suit, and gratified more than words could 
 express that he had the nerve to do his 
 duty. 
 
 The weather had moderated, and the 
 rain had been falling all day, so that the 
 ice on the river had split near the centre 
 and bulged upwards, rendering it difficult 
 as well as dangerous to cross. But noth- 
 ing could stop our young adventurer's 
 friends, when he came in sight, from rush- 
 ing across to meet him. Majors Hardin 
 and G-ano conducted him to head-quarters, 
 and introduced him to General Harrison, 
 informing him what he had done. " It was 
 a proud moment for me," writes Mr. 
 Combs, in reference to that sight, " thus 
 to be presented : and while he compliment- 
 ed me, and said I was worthy of a civic 
 crown, his eyes were moist with tears, and 
 mine were not dry. That tear-drop of the 
 
10 
 
 i.KNEKAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 fell upon 
 and my untiring sup] 
 
 when i : t n « 1 i ■ 1 .- 1 1 1 - for :!.• 
 
 mdered at, altho igh my 
 an 1 ever ba ! been IIenky 
 Clay." 
 
 " I | 
 peril"'. - 
 
 My 
 
 y :\u<\ m\ 
 
 sonal dang r, and 
 
 all under n 
 nine ho 
 iu tlia' ittle, only tlii i : \ 
 
 d the 
 
 b the 
 . . tuck] waa • '■ \ in 
 moan I al Harri 
 
 regimen! in the 
 
 _'•<! ; bat • 
 
 time, i ring that I rion <>f 
 
 Upp r Cai 
 
 ter, till M 1, and 
 
 1 him of tb 1 | ■:- 
 
 nutted ' return to Kentucky, with 
 
 „ .in joining bim in th< 
 spring I'Lus ended 
 
 hia f : _'n. 
 
 When be arrived at home, with his 
 
 ■ 1, bis 
 i with a tear and a smile, 
 remark 
 
 tot . - be had told her he 
 
 would iii ( return until they had 
 ada. Hia reply waa, " that he bad only 
 corae I in Bhirt." And 
 
 i\ BOOH found he was in ear:: 
 
 The Raisin, and the discharge 
 
 of the i imainder of the Kentucky I 
 made die situation ol General Ha 
 and t ; . Dorth-westeni fr< ol 
 
 tremely • ritical. Of our old forts there 
 remained in our possession Forts Wayne 
 and Harrison. Fort Winchester bad been 
 erected on the site of old Fort Defiance, 
 and General Harrison had built Fort Meigs 
 at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, on the 
 south aid of the river. The latter was the 
 only plat e at all prepared for an attack by 
 heavj artillery; and it was to be expected 
 that as Boon as the ice on the lake and riv- 
 
 '.•• up in th British, hav- 
 
 mmand on entire 
 
 sion of W I si ritory, n 
 
 assail that ; I tin- lir.-t 
 
 imports i Qenera] 
 
 tie, foi 
 
 Be the 
 
 er to tire and 
 
 Clay, marched from rly in 
 
 April, with two regiments of volui 
 taking the same i Qeneral Win- 
 
 bad done. I : the ne- 
 
 ■ irted liim- 
 d aftei v..-. . I leneral Har- 
 
 promised to 
 
 ' '. v; " ,: - 
 
 Totally uiij il was 
 
 ■ taps of tli" \ a-t wilderness mto 
 
 ■ ■, the prac- 
 tical information wbi \ ' »mbs bad 
 
 , as to 
 
 . its water- 
 . Indian vil 
 icb importance ; 
 and before the i • bed Pi qua, 
 
 : young Comba the appornt- 
 . with tin- privi- 
 any from Colo- 
 nel I ' . ■ '. He had nol ex- 
 
 onsible, 
 It mui h •' tlity to 
 
 geroua duties. 
 The : ompany was or- 
 
 ganized in Colonel Boswell's regiment, 
 snded by an old Indian fighter un- 
 der Wayne, named Kilbreatb; and by 
 way of distincti . < ur young 
 
 volunteer was called the toy captain. 
 Their pay was thirty dollars per month ex- 
 tra; and be had no difficulty therefore, in 
 Siting his company with active gallant 
 in,bu1 one or two of whom however 
 i 
 When they reached St. Mary's block- 
 . Qeneral Clay divided bis brigade, 
 sending Colonel Dudley's regimenl across 
 Anglaise river, and descending the 
 St. Mary's himself, with Colonel Boswell's, 
 intending to unite them again at old Fort 
 Defiance. Captain Comba waa attached 
 bo the former; and on their march down 
 the Anglaise, an express reached them 
 from Fori Meigs, with the intelligence that 
 Qeneral Harrison was in daily expectation 
 of an attack, and urging them to proceed 
 
GENEKAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 II 
 
 with all possible dispatch. Colonel Duel- 
 ley immediately summoned a council of 
 officers to meet at his quarters, where it 
 was unanimously resolved that General 
 Harrison ought to be apprised of their ap- 
 proach, and his orders, as to the time and 
 manner, received. How this was to be ac- 
 complished was then the question. It was 
 fifty miles from Fort Defiance, where they 
 expected to meet General Clay, to Fort 
 Meigs ; and it was deemed extremely haz- 
 ardous for any one to attempt to open a 
 communication between the two points, 
 especially as no one present, except Cap- 
 tain Combs, knew the exact position of 
 Fort Meigs, or had any knowledge of the 
 intervening country. He had remained 
 silent during the consultation, but now all 
 eyes were turned upon him, and he felt 
 bound to speak. " Colonel Dudley," said 
 he " General Clay has thought proper to in- 
 trust me with an important command, at- 
 tached to your regiment. When we reach 
 Fort Defiance, if you will furnish me a 
 good canoe, I will carry your dispatches to 
 General Harrison, and return with his or- 
 ders. I shall only require four or five vol- 
 unteers from my own company, and one 
 of mv Indian guides to accompany me." 
 As may be supposed, his offer was joyful- 
 ly accepted, and the Colonel specially 
 complimented him for his voluntary pro- 
 position, as he said he should have had 
 great reluctance in ordering any officer 
 upon such an expedition. 
 
 The troops encamped at Fort Defiance 
 on the afternoon of the first of May. General 
 Clay, meanwhile, had not arrived. Captain 
 Combs immediately prepared for his peril- 
 ous trip. The two Walkers, Paxton, and 
 Johnson, where to accompany him, as well 
 as the young Shawnee warrior, Black Fish. 
 As they pushed off from shore at the mouth 
 of the Auglaise, the bank was covered with 
 their anxious fellow-soldiers ; and Major 
 Shelby remarked, looking at his watch, 
 " Remember, Captain Combs, if we never 
 meet again, it is exactly six o'clock when 
 we part ;" and he has since told Mr. Combs 
 that he never expected to see him again 
 alive. 
 
 Captain Combs would have started some 
 hours earlier, could his frail craft have been 
 gotten ready ; for he knew it would re- 
 quire hard work, even with the aid of a 
 strong current, to reach Fort Meigs before 
 
 daylight the next morning. Placing his 
 Shawanee in the stern, with a steering-oar, 
 and two men at the side-oars, alternately 
 relieving each other, the Captain took his 
 position in the bow, to take care of their 
 rifles and direct the course to be pursued ; 
 keeping as nearly as possible in the centre 
 of the stream, for fear of Indians on either 
 side. By dark they had come within distinct 
 hearing of the distant roar of heavy artil- 
 lery in" their front, and knew that General 
 Harrison's apprehensions of an early assault 
 upon his enfeebled position were verified. 
 These sounds were new to their ears and 
 highly exciting. It was late in the night 
 when they struck the head of the rapids, 
 and it seemed every moment as if their light 
 canoe would be dashed in pieces. By lying 
 flat on his face, the Captain could form some 
 idea of the course of the deep channel, amid 
 the war of waters which nearly deafened 
 them, by seeing the foaming breakers glist- 
 ening in the starlight. When they ap- 
 p'roaced Roche debout, where they were in- 
 formed there was a considerable perpendi- 
 cular fall in low water, they were forced to 
 land and haul their bark along the margin 
 of the southern bank till they had passed 
 the main obstruction ; and daylight dawned 
 upon them before they were again afloat 
 They were still some seven or eight miles 
 above the fort, and well knew that the 
 surrounding forests were alive with hostile 
 savages. 
 
 When the frightful appearance of the 
 swollen river first presented itself to the 
 view of our voyagers, one of the men urged 
 Captain Combs to land, and endeavor thus 
 to get to the fort ; but this plan was not to 
 be 'thought of. Three other alternatives re- 
 mained to him; to return and report the 
 reason of his failure to go any further ; to 
 remain where he was during the day, and 
 make an attempt to enter the fort the next 
 night ; or to proceed at once. The first plan 
 would have been most prudent; and if he 
 had been an old and experienced officer, of 
 established reputation for courage, perhaps 
 it ought to have been adopted ; but he was, 
 as he has since expressed himself, a mere 
 boy, with but little military experience, in- 
 trusted with a most important duty at his 
 own instance; and his aged mother's last 
 injunction was fresh in his heart, as well as 
 in his recollection ; he could not retreat. 
 If he should determine to remain where he 
 
V2 
 
 ERAL LESLIE « OMBS. 
 
 lay, thej wi il I m - 
 
 bawked be- 
 fore night 11 
 I 
 
 a linst him, and i 
 
 murred 
 ■ 
 they w :iiily 1"- c earn 
 
 ive the 
 
 :, 
 
 
 ■. 
 
 iety and i;. - 
 
 proaching the la 
 
 abut *>. !" their \ i< • . Be knew 
 
 « . 1 1 ! \ :nii\ ■■ in lime t" - e th< 
 
 surren- 
 walls; 
 apidly 
 .t met 
 
 ■ 
 
 daed the war-whoop, and 
 
 w the w la rail of red devils, run- 
 
 ith all their sp< •'; to a ]" inl on the 
 
 -in then off 
 
 from tl Irive them into the mouths 
 
 1'.: ii ish . annon, I Captain C- ■mb-* 
 
 young warrior exclaimed, tl Pati 
 
 '" and instantly turned the boat 
 
 shore. Tlh' race be» 
 
 the little water party and the Indiana 
 
 iibful. The latter had the 
 
 advantage in distance, and reached tin' 
 
 point before tin- former, i Joml a still h. ped 
 
 - ;!..m with little injury, owing t<> 
 
 the « dity <>t" 
 
 -, and there ore i rd red i.is men 
 
 a ithoul returning 
 
 be fear< d an attack a!-- from the near 
 
 . which would require all their means 
 
 of i' - Btau el. It' successful, he 
 
 Bhould >till have time and space enough 
 
 t.> red vei before he L,'"t within 
 
 .; th( Bi itish Batteries, and Bave bia 
 
 litti.- band from certain destruction. The 
 
 •: • . in fired, however, aatiafii .1 him of h - 
 
 an( j ,. _ • ... hall whistl d over the can..,. 
 
 jjj 
 t !ombs. ' V 
 
 and 01 ' 
 
 ■ I 
 
 him !" 
 Captain Combs bad pre] • verytbing 
 
 on, 1 y banding 
 
 • '■■■ • 1" 
 ; ii,.- of the river, which was 
 ., hundred yard8 wide, not knowing 
 from which aide th< y w uld be 1 
 tacked. 
 
 11, boi ed that General Barrisoi might 
 now and then be taking a look with bis 
 spyglass up the ri?< •. 
 
 . and would out an 
 
 eai ort to bring them in. He d 
 
 that that (.. Deral was h _ . -n all 
 
 Bides, and hotly pi 1 i n • rerj point. — 
 
 At firet they saw only a s ilitary Indian in 
 
 t the w i- on th< American 
 
 aide, running down the rivei - 
 hail of them; and they t" k him tor a 
 friendlv Shawanee, of whom they knew 
 i General Barrison ba Isevi ral in bia Bervice 
 as guides and spies. Hisste rsman himself 
 : .t deceived, and exclimed, 
 in his deep guttural roic< , ' Shawai 
 the Bame time turning the bow of the canoe 
 towards him. A momenl aft. i wards, how- 1 
 
 without injury, followed by a volley, which 
 ii, mortally wounded, and 
 also disabled Paxto i ; not, however, before 
 
 they had all Brad at the crowd, and saw 
 
 tumbling t" the ground. Captain 
 Combs u.-is thus, a- a last hope, forced t" 
 mn his orafl ashore, and attempt to make 
 
 - wa) back 50 miles to Fori Win- 
 i on tli'- k nth aide of the river. To 
 some extent they succeeded. The two 
 Walker's soon len tin; party, by the Cap- 
 tain'a order, to save themselves; the Indian 
 uobly remained with Paxton, and helped 
 him along for six or seven miles, until he 
 was so exhauated with the loas of hloodas 
 to he unable to travel further. Captain 
 Combe waa leea fortunate with poor John- 
 son, who, with all his aid, could barely 
 drag himself half a mile from theirp] 
 landing, and both be and Paxton were soon 
 captured and taken to General Proctor's 
 bead-quarters. They even reported, aa waa 
 afterwards learned) that they had killed 
 
 the Captain, and showed as evidence of tie- 
 
 fact his cloth coat, which he bad LhrownofiJ 
 putting on in its stead an old hunting-shirt, 
 after be had left Johnson, so as to disincum- 
 
 ber himself of all surplus weight His wood- 
 craft, learned in the previous campaign, 
 
 now did him good service, as it enabled 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 13 
 
 him to elude his pursuers; and after two 
 days and nights of starvation and suffering, 
 he again met Major Shelby aud his other 
 friends, at the mouth of the Auglaise, on the 
 fourth of May, in the morning, after all hope 
 of his return had been given up. The two 
 Walkers were a day ahead of him, and his 
 brave young Indian succeeded in mating 
 his way to his native village. 
 
 The historian McAfee, page 2G4, in 
 speaking of another expedition of a some- 
 what similar charater, subsequetly under- 
 taken by Major Trimble, at the instance of 
 General Clay, thus aludes to the above: — 
 
 "To penetrate to tlie camp (Fort Meigs) thus 
 exposed in an open boat, was deemed < ctremely 
 hazardous. Such an attempt had already been 
 made by Captain Leslie Combs, who was sent 
 down in a canoe with five or six men by Colonel 
 Dudley, on his arrival at Defiance. The Captain 
 had reached within a mile of the fort, when he 
 was attacked by the Indians and compelled to 
 retread, after bravely contending with superior 
 numbers till he had lost nearly all his men." 
 
 Captain Combs' mouth and throat were 
 excoriated by eating bitter hickory buds, 
 and nothi-ng else, for the last forty-eight 
 hours. His feet were dreadfully lacerated 
 by travelling in moccasins through burnt 
 praries, and his body and limbs were all 
 over sore and chafed by constant exercise 
 in wet clothes, as he was compelled to swim 
 several swollen creeks, and it was raining 
 part of the time most violently. In this 
 situation he was ordered to bed in one of 
 the boats just preparing to descend the 
 river with General Clay's brigade. 
 
 He could not for days afterwards eat 
 any solid food, and yet early next morning 
 he found they were making a landing, just 
 above the scene of his disaster four days be- 
 fore, and that the two companies of spies 
 and the friendly Indian warriors were para- 
 ded on the beach, seemingly waiting for 
 him to come, although the suigeon had told 
 them he was unable to leave liis pallet. 
 Colonel Dudley's regiment was soon all 
 landed and formed in three lines, prepara- 
 tory to an early engagement with the ene- 
 my, and Captain Combs was informed that 
 the spies were to constitute the vanguard. 
 A battle — a real battle — was to be fought! 
 delightful thought! The British batteries 
 were to be stormed and destroyed, while 
 General Harrison was assaulting the In- 
 dians and their allies on the opposite side 
 of the river. At last he would have a 
 
 chance to do something to make up for 
 all his previous sufferings and misfortunes; 
 and he forgot every bodily pain. In a 
 few moments he was on his feet, dressed. 
 He was received with a glad shout at the 
 head of the vanguard, and commenced 
 the march in front of the left flank, towards 
 the enemy. Colonel Dudley himself led 
 the attacking column, and captured the 
 batteries from the rear, without the loss of 
 a man. " The British f'ag was cut down, 
 aud the shouts of the American garrison 
 announced their joy at this consummation 
 of their wishes. General Harrison was 
 standing on the grand battery next the 
 river, and now called to the men and made 
 signs to them to retreat to their boats and 
 cross over, as he had previously ordered 
 them, but all in vain." — McAfee, page 
 270. 
 
 Just before the batteries were taken, a 
 body of Indians lying in ambush had fired 
 upon Captain Combs' command, and shot 
 down several of his men. He immediately 
 formed in front of them, posting Captain 
 Kilbreath on the left flank, while he him- 
 self occupied the right, and maintained his 
 ground till re-enforced by Colonel Dudley, 
 who felt the necessity of bringing him off 
 the ground, inasmuch as he had given him 
 no orders to retreat, aud had determined 
 not to sacrifice him. Captain Kilbreath 
 was killed at his post, and Captain Combs 
 was slightly touched by a ball before he 
 received any assistance. They soon after 
 routed the enemy, and pursued them by 
 successive charges of bayonet some two or 
 three miles through the swamp. In the 
 meantime the British had retaken their 
 batteries, and driven off our left column, 
 which had been left to guard them. The 
 Indians, two, were largely re-enforced, and 
 were trying to surround the American de- 
 tachment, or, at any rate, to cut them off 
 from their boats. Under these circum- 
 stances, a retreat was ordered, with direc- 
 tions again to form at the batteries, it not 
 then being known to the party that they 
 had ben retaken. As had been the case 
 at Raisin, and will ever be repeated with 
 raw troops, the retreat caused much disor- 
 der and confusion, and cost the Americans 
 most dearly, for many of the wounded were, 
 now tomahawked and scalped; among them 
 their brave, unfortunate commander, Colo- 
 nel Dudley. Captain Combs' position threw 
 
14 GENERAL LESLIE O 
 
 rement, ai j hia [odiao c »i 
 
 , ii; th>- >i: b ami) t 
 
 Iged ii. I. i seful flighl ' ' i rison 
 
 j 
 
 make a rallj an I Thai 
 -. ■ 
 \.uul'i (Iliad 01 ii.Jivi.lu.il, :.- the] ai- 
 
 . • . • ired at the batteries, tin ■_. . rched 
 
 ndered, ui fin sing :• wards the 
 
 ritish head 
 Qg on the throw i 
 
 atucky troops. A. _ _ q up to ub and abac I 
 
 y after "V 
 
 d tho 
 an AJ< xaj :, (in 
 
 . 
 ... B suiting and 
 
 . red in 
 
 • he had d up to 
 
 [ the goal of torturing ' bed hia hat from 
 
 . 
 
 bim. ii him, and, rec 
 
 The : from hi at the 
 
 ■ of the i a ich Iiia 
 
 alder. 
 
 perhapt a the memory oft! bim of what little mony he 
 
 , not sparing 
 
 count publish* . I ] In one in- 
 
 unfortuna . when b< t the 
 
 _ . . I a "devi tish looking fellow" 
 
 stance that of Captaii n very rougblj — tli< 
 
 . as hia /■ utiona upon 
 
 .. previous rictory, - irded, in i 
 
 hia having be< d previoualy 
 
 mitted thoc i out— a _ 
 
 rocitiea committed on tl. * ■ pre* q1 •- •n^mmiasioned officer, as the Captain 
 
 from hia dress, inl for hit 
 
 taken down to the lip] i for his humani- 
 
 * Mi,l, " i - : . , , ii was hurried onwards, 
 
 •i the surround- • , , i , '■ , i i 
 
 ■ ., ind suddenly observed, as be approached 
 ins rampart, tm>\ amuse themselves by loading - J i 
 
 ingatthecrowd,oratanyparticnlarin- '>'" ! " rt » a numbei "I painted wa 
 
 .1. Tho* who preferred to inflict a still ... _ each side of the ] -.-way from 
 
 death, selected their vi , of a ti liar ditch in front, 
 
 ti *+ 1, " , . ,v f./nd Jew, under , r moreto t ] J( . u ],; gateway 
 
 and in In- iirex-iir- 1 . ._ . / 
 
 of tin,,!,,. , tomahaJSked and of the main fortification ; an 
 
 tcalped theml . . . As soon as Tecumseh and among them were lying prostrate in the 
 
 I, mud a number of human bodies, entirely 
 
 iolent 
 tom- 
 great joy of the prisoners, who badby this time, ahawk, and the BCalpmg-kmte. JNever De- 
 lost ail hopes of being preserved. In thi re bad our captive seen such a horrid 
 more humanity, mag jight. A man would not bo able to re- 
 nauimity.and civilization, than Proctor, with r ,„„ lizt , nia 0WB frfa r brother after the 
 all his Bntish associates m aommancL displayed » . , . , .. i- i i 
 in the whole war on the fortTwestern in,,- ?calp had thua been torn from his head, 
 
 rdered them "for shame ' Da fced, aIu l j u jj] the ghastlineaa of vi 
 
 to desist I' is a ■ kill a defenceless , , , i i ,i ... .. i,.i «i, 
 
 ., .. , , , ,, d< 'at lis produced liy the war-cluo, the 
 
 prisoner. His orders were obeyed, t<> tlf i •'. . . . J, 
 
 tier." — McAfe< pp. 271-& 
 
 his whole couuteuance would be so distor- 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 15 
 
 ted and unnatural. There was some poe- 
 try in the great excitement of mortal strife 
 and skill in open battle, when all were 
 armed with deadly weapons ; but here the 
 prisoners were nearly naked, with a chilling 
 rain and fierce hail beating upon them for 
 the last hour, and totally defenceless, in 
 the midst of infuriated foes bent on their 
 destruction. There was not the slightest 
 poetic thought in our captive's head ; all 
 now was matter-of-fact — real prose. He 
 felt very uncomfortable, and decidedly 
 averse to proceeding any farther, and so 
 notified an English soldier near him ; but 
 he replied that there was no alternative, 
 and urged the prisoner forward. During 
 this brief delay, the prisoner in his rear 
 stepped before him, and in another moment 
 the work of death was done upon him. 
 He was shot down with a pistol in the 
 hands of the first black fiend on the left 
 side of the terrific gauntlet, and fell across 
 the track, which was all the way slipprey 
 with fresh shed blood. Our captain leap- 
 ed over his body, and ran through into the 
 fort unhurt, aud found himself at once in 
 the midst of several hundred of his fellow- 
 sufferers, who had been equally fortunate. 
 They were surrounded by a small British 
 guard ; but, thank Heaven ! no more Indians 
 were in sight. Whether it was our Cap- 
 tain's youthful appearance, his bloody shirt, 
 or mere savage fancy that saved him, he 
 did not know, nor stop to inquire. He 
 again felt safe from cold-blooded massacre, 
 whatever else might befall him. He was 
 left to indulge this pleasant delusion for a 
 few short minutes. Very soon, however, 
 after the last prisoner had followed him in, 
 by which time it seems the Indian hosts 
 who had driven them into the net of the 
 British had assembled around the prison- 
 ers' unsafe temporary habitation, the} r at 
 once demanded that the latter should be 
 given up to them ; and being refused, they 
 simultaneously broke in the old crumbling 
 walls of the fort, and surrounded them on 
 all sides, giving utterance at the same time 
 to the dreaded war-whoop. 
 
 When the prisoners first entered the old 
 fort, they were ordered to sit down, for 
 fear the Indians would fire on them over 
 the walls, which had crumbled down ami 
 were very low in some places. But as soon 
 as the savages had burst in upon them, 
 thev all instantly rose to their feet, and an 
 
 old friend near Captain Combs proposed 
 that they should attempt to break through 
 the enemy and get to the river. Captain 
 Combs showed him his crippled shoulder 
 by way of reply, and he afterwards told 
 the Captain that he himself could not swim, 
 but preferred drowning to death by the 
 tomahawk and scalping-knife, and presum- 
 ed the Captaiu would also. 
 
 The guard quieted their apprehensions 
 for a short time, until a tall, raw-boned 
 Indian, painted black, commenced shooting, 
 tomahawking, and scalping the prisoners 
 nearest to him, and could not be stopped 
 until he had thus dispatched and mutilat- 
 ed four, whose reeking scalps were immedi- 
 ately seen ornamenting his waist-belt. One 
 of these was a private in Combs' own com- 
 pany, who fell so near the Captain that his 
 blood and brains sprinkled his clothes. 
 The shrieks of these men in their dying 
 agonies seemed for months afterwards to 
 ring in his ears, and the crushing in of their 
 skulls by the repeated blows of the war- 
 club was most horrid. 
 
 At this time, too, the immense mass of 
 Indians around the prisoners again raised 
 the war-whoop and commenced throwing 
 off the skin caps which protected the locks 
 of their guns, preparatory for immediate 
 use. The unfortunate captives then firmly 
 believed their time had come ; aud they 
 prepared to sell their lives as dearly as pos- 
 sible. There was a rush towards the centre, 
 with a cry of terror, the guard calling as 
 loudly as possible for General Proctor or 
 Colonel Elliott to come in, or all the pri- 
 soners would be murdered. At this criti- 
 cal juncture, a noble looking Indian, 1111- 
 painted, dressed in a hunting-shirt or frock- 
 coat and hat or cap, came striding briskly 
 into the midst of the surrounding savages, 
 and, taking his position on the highest 
 point of the wall, made a brief but most 
 emphatic address. Combs could not un- 
 derstand a word of what he said ; but it 
 seemed to receive the general assent of the 
 Indians, as was indicated by their grunts 
 ami gestures, and he knew from his man- 
 ner that he was on the side of mercy. The 
 black devil only, who had just committed 
 the four murders, growled and shook his 
 head j but upon receiving a stern look and 
 apparent positive command from the 
 speaker, whirled on his heel and departed,, 
 much to the general joy of the prisoners, 
 
10 
 
 GENERAL LESLIE COM IS. 
 
 the orator bad 
 
 The next day 
 
 Indian who Ii.-i<l thus in- 
 
 d them. He replied : M I: 
 
 n u Tecnnu '•.."* 
 
 "It last tiin. ." Mr. 
 
 ■• I mhv thi 
 
 f King 1'liiliji, 
 
 - i much 
 
 . from the Capes 
 
 of Florida t" the Lake of the Woods, he 
 
 uprisii -, in the war 
 
 i itfa < ■•• al Britain. And ^•■I I do not 
 think, arance, be could 
 
 ..t thai 
 
 When aften irds I 1 d of his untimely 
 battle of the Thames, while 
 irge foi ward his t'.>r • 
 
 nrardlv 
 it, 1 i 
 
 : z in which I doubt not 
 
 bl !y fifth 
 
 ited." 
 l> 1 !. McAfee, page 272, 
 
 till da unded 
 
 ig torments, 
 then taken into the British 
 
 ■■1 do* i: tin- river t<» the 
 _ 1 !• " and a schi i roer, where • 
 hundreds of them * ■■■ stowed away in the 
 hold of the brig, and kept there for \\\>< 
 ." w it!. i;\ we are assured 
 mbs, either food 
 of any kini for the wounded, 
 ■ . j • tion. 
 
 Fori . ' laptain Combs 
 
 was on board the schooner, which n 
 rowd< 1 than th< _. and had the ball 
 from Ins Bhoulder bj a British 
 surgeon early the next n and, as 
 
 soon as his name and rank were known, 
 . invi d into ■' Captain's cabin, 
 and treal .1 with mai . I ion and po- 
 
 ss, 1: was there he learned that the 
 party which had defeated him <»n his for- 
 trip had borne back his uniform-coal 
 in triumph, which was recognized by Pax- 
 ton, and they asserted they had killed the 
 wearer, showing some- recent rents, which 
 they averred were bullet-holes. Paxton 
 himself, whom Captain Combs found on 
 
 "McAfee, pp. 271-2, as quoted in a former note. 
 
 board, believed he was dead, as he last 
 saw him with the coat on his back. 
 
 The prisoners were finally liberated on 
 parole, and ' ■ lake in open 
 
 boats t" the month of the Huron river, 
 with a wildenv as of I v or fifty 
 
 1 etween them and the nearest settle- 
 ment in i thin, at Mansfield. Captain < lombs 
 had neither hat nor coat, and did not ex- 
 change his shirt, although covered with 
 mud and blood, till he reached the town 
 of Lancaster. There they w, re all decently 
 clad, and moat kin'!'.: .. 1 by the 
 
 citizens. 
 
 in May, he again reached bis father's 
 humble farm in Clarke county, and 
 afterwards was Bent to McAllister's Bchool, 
 Bardstown, to improve his Bomewhat 
 d education. It \\ as i 3 ear or two 
 before be was notified of hie ■ : and 
 
 in the meantime be had commenced the 
 study of the law, which was to be his means 
 of livelihood through life. 
 
 Whether it was in his blood, Ot that he 
 took the disease in his early boyh 1 from 
 
 bearing his father talk of his revolutionary 
 Bervioes and Indian •* scrimmages," certain 
 it is that, long before he arrived at man- 
 fa !, Combs used to feel as young Norval 
 
 did, while with his father on the Grampian 
 hills, an humble swain — aii anxious desire 
 for military renown. "lam not even yet," 
 he writes, M entirely cured of the disease, 
 
 and have all my life, till within the last 
 ;'. u \ ears, devoted a portion of my time to 
 military tactics, in training the militia, 
 having long Bince reached the highest 
 grade. At the first tap of the drum, I in- 
 stinctively catch the step, and keep it as 
 long as the music reaches my i 
 
 When the Mexicans were invadingTexu 
 in 183C, '7 and '8, and General Gaines was 
 posted "ii our south-western frontier, 
 which was considered in some danger, he 
 called upon Kentucky for help. The Gov- 
 ernor immediately gave General Combs 
 authority to raise ten companies, and march 
 to bis relief. He accordingly issued his 
 proclamation, and had the offer of more 
 than forty volunteer companies in a very 
 short time. He selected ten, formed them 
 into a regiment, and was ready to embark 
 from Louisville, when the President of the 
 United States countermanded the order, 
 and they were discharged. 
 
 So, too, ten years afterwards, when 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 17 
 
 rumors reached us that General Taylor 
 was iu front of a Mexican force, on the Rio 
 Grande, of more than double his strength 
 in point of numbers, and Congress had 
 authorized the President to receive the ser- 
 vices of fifty thousand volunteers, General 
 Combs issued his general orders, command- 
 ing all the regiments under his command to 
 assemble at their several places of annual 
 parade, to see what could be done. The 
 following is an extract from that order, 
 dated May 18, 1846: 
 
 "The Major-General does not doubt that the 
 same noble spirit which precipitated the gallant 
 sons of Kentucky upon every frontier where an 
 enemy was to be found, during the late war, 
 will again animate his fellow-soldiers; and he 
 calls upon them, iu the name of liberty and pa- 
 triotism, to hasten to the rescue of the American 
 army on the Rio Grande, to share their vic- 
 tories, or avenge their disasters, if any have be- 
 fallen them." 
 
 Several regiments of volunteers were 
 soon enrolled, and it was supposed by all 
 that the command would be given to Gen- 
 eral Combs. But such was not the case. 
 He was not in favor at Washington ; and, 
 although his proclamation was republished 
 in the "Union," and his energy and patriot- 
 ism every where complimented, none but 
 political partisans were appointed to higl 
 offices ; some of whom were made generals, 
 who had never "set a squadron in the 
 field," nor were fit to do it. The Con- 
 stitution of the United States was, in 
 the opinion of General Combs, violated by 
 depriving the States of the right to officer 
 their own militia; and he was overlooked 
 and superseded. Again, although opposed 
 to the annexation of Texas, as proposed 
 and finally consummated, yet, when war 
 was declared, he desired to see it speedily 
 fought out, and terminated by an honor- 
 able peace, lie, therefore, again made an 
 effort to be employed in the military ser- 
 vice, and, with this view, addressed a let- 
 ter to the President, when more volunteers 
 were called for, offering to raise a full 
 division, if he would only allow those who 
 were willing to risk their lives for their 
 country to choose their own officers. He 
 even went to Washington, and renewed 
 the offer in person to the President and 
 Secretary of War; but it was declined 
 politely, yet positively. His remonstrances 
 on the occasion were in plain English, as 
 may be remembered, for they formed the ( 
 
 subject of remark by the public press at 
 the time, and very likely Mr. Marcy has 
 not entirely forgotten them. No one was 
 present at their brief interview in his office. 
 General Combs soon afterwards resigned 
 his office, in consequence of the gross in- 
 justice which he felt had been done him. 
 He would not consent to be treated as a 
 mere recruiting-sergeant to raise troops for 
 those whom he regarded as party pets, 
 without military experience or aptitude to 
 command in the field. 
 
 Having risen from the ranks to the office 
 of captain in two campaigs, without the aid 
 of friends or fortune, by repeated acts of 
 self-devotion, Leslie- Combs had returned 
 home naked and penniless, a cripple for 
 life. Yet he did not apply for a pension 
 from the War Office, as did others — even 
 Colonel Johnson who received his in full. 
 When urged to do so, he replied, that his 
 blood was as red, and shed as freely, as that 
 of Colonel (afterwards Governor) Preston, 
 of Virginia ; and that, poor as he was, he 
 would never recive a pension unless grant- 
 ed freely by special act of Congress, as had 
 been done in Colonel Preston's case. But 
 he had no friend at court ; and no member 
 of Congress looked into the matter for 
 twenty* years, when Mr. Allen, of the Lex- 
 ington (Mr. Combs') district took it in hand, 
 and the result was a report in fovor of 
 granting the pension. A bill was then, and 
 not till then, passed by Congress, unani- 
 mously, we believe, in both Houses, which 
 was approved by President Jackson, giving 
 him a pension from that date — half-pay for 
 life — but nothing for the past. 
 
 By the aid of a relative, who allowed 
 him the gratuitous use of his office and 
 books, he studied law, and obtained a 
 license as an attorney at the age of twenty- 
 three, and immediately went to hard work. 
 Although far from being as well versed in 
 his profession as he felt he ought to have 
 been, his energy, industry, and punctuality 
 soon procured him a large share of busi- 
 ness, and enabled him to marry, and take 
 upon himself the responsibility of a family. 
 
 This was his situation when the great 
 effort was made in Kentucky to destroy 
 Henry Clay, because he voted for Mr. 
 Adams for President. His enemies in the 
 Lexington district, and especially in Fayette 
 county, were most violent and bitter in de- 
 nouncing him; and at one time, in 1820, 
 
IS 
 
 ERAX I.: - 
 
 _ 
 tainly carrj j him ; theii 
 
 flailed 
 
 ■ 
 
 ' I . 
 
 in feel- 
 
 rh,inaman- 
 
 fh m i ! 
 
 ty t" know 
 
 ; lite- 
 
 r:illy : 
 
 1 y al 
 
 I 
 J 
 
 . 
 But il 
 
 ■ 
 any man. 
 upon tli. publi( 
 
 ■ in his 
 • that time 
 ted paper cui 
 worth . issued 
 
 Ith," .'in 
 institution which owed it- origin to what 
 v.-.-ik then i ty, and 
 
 which afterward became the 1' 
 | Of public 
 
 Lmprovemi i -. the 8 I none; 
 
 tliere were not I of turnpik 
 
 vritliin her wi ' ; a railroad had 
 
 ught of west of the moun- 
 A Chai C 
 
 Finance, • : ~ion of 
 
 Lis membership, he 
 
 a bill, which, after a severe struggle, and 
 some b! _ tion, suggested by Mr. 
 
 James Guthrie, became ividing 
 
 fur the winding up, gradually and without 
 oppression^ of the whole paper system; 
 
 been mi 
 
 i it. 
 
 ' ' bo the can 
 
 g turnpike 
 '. proposing the Brat one rot a 
 could 
 me roar 
 to B Bton. 
 11 wi i gain a member of the I.< 
 
 1 airman of the 
 I rnal 1 ents, re- 
 
 f bula, under • 
 
 - ever 
 
 . oom- 
 
 ' ' too, ware 
 
 1 in takii all of 
 
 • a .1 upon b 
 
 public library in Lezingt 
 
 He a candidate until 
 
 at the. 
 at that sea- 
 3] iker of the Souse of Re- 
 al bifl nam. w:;s 
 the same . ffice by B 
 
 . to have it 
 
 . eral highly 
 
 ired it, 
 
 and he ' with the honor pra- 
 
 ' ' ' not since b 
 candid f State < B3 
 
 Mr. ' ked for an executive 
 
 life, having 
 an utl it to office-seeking, ana 
 
 rse in feeling to such Belf- 
 jsary to ob- 
 tain favor at c »urt 
 
 1 [is fi 5l den as a politician 
 
 and pul I scale waa 
 
 at the Hamsburg Whig Convention, in 
 
 1 ■ i". wh< d I rovernor Metcalf and himself 
 
 • ■ Jtate at 
 
 Th< y were very desirous 
 
 for Mr. • tion; and it waa, in 
 
 Mr. C ion, by a m< at unfortunate 
 
 combination of circui and indivi* 
 
 that his Domination was defeated. 
 
 His never-1 rgotten, Belf-sacrificing 
 
 letter t ion, had been handed 
 
 i. Mr, C >mbt by Mr. A.raher, of Virginia 
 
 and after G o< al Harrison's nomination, 
 
 I it to that body, with a heart rail 
 
 of sorrow and disappointment. The whole 
 
 country was taken by surprise, and a large 
 
 portion of the Whig party shocked by the 
 
 | injustice done to their great leader. 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 19 
 
 He had kept Mr. Cla} 7 fully advised of 
 every step taken, of every hope and fear 
 which he entertained, up to the final con- 
 summation of the combined efforts of Gene- 
 ral Harrison, General Scott, and Mr. Web- 
 ster, which finally defeated him. He be- 
 lieved then, and has never doubted since 
 the election, that Mr. Clay could easily 
 have triumphed over Mr. VanBuren. The 
 people were tired, sick to death of his 
 heartless selfishness and evident incompe- 
 tency, and a change was inevitable. And 
 what a blessing it would have been to the 
 country to have had Heury Clay President 
 for the succeeding four or eight years, 
 instead of Tyler or Polk! We need not 
 dwell upon the facts of history, and the ima- 
 ginings of such a contrast. 
 
 Although Mr. Combs' first and only 
 choice had been defeated in the Conven- 
 tion, and by means which he boldly con- 
 demned, still, as his old commander, Gene- 
 ral Harrison; a true patriot and an hono- 
 rable man, had been nominated, he deter- 
 mined at once on his course. He felt that 
 he owed a duty to the Whig party, to the 
 country, to a gallant old soldier, under, 
 whose command he had suffered many 
 hardships, and had shed his blood on the 
 field of battle ; and he resolved to devote 
 himself to the coming canvass. 
 
 His first public address was in Philadel- 
 phia, to an immense multitude, the Mon- 
 day night succeeding the nomination. All 
 knew his devotion to Henry Clay, and were 
 therefore anxious to hear what he had to 
 say for General Harrison. He had nume- 
 rous clients in the crowd, who had known 
 him for many years as an energetic, prompt, 
 and vigilant attorney, but never dreamed 
 that he had once been a soldier. "I shall 
 never forget their evident astonishment," 
 says Mi-. Combs, " when I took up the 
 military life of the hero of Tippecanoe, and 
 spoke of its leading events as familiarly as 
 if they had been the events of yesterday. 
 I knew that he had been assailed as the 
 cause of the defeat of Winchester at Raisin, 
 and of Dudly at the Rapids; and my vindi- 
 cation of him from these two charges was 
 overwhelming and conclusive. I had been 
 so connected with both of these disastrous 
 events, as to render my testimony irrefut- 
 able." 
 
 From that time until the succeding No- 
 vember, he almost gave up his profession ; 
 
 and from New York to New Orleans, from 
 Kentucky, through Tennessee and Virginia, 
 to Delaware, was day after day addressing 
 large multitudes, His dress was a simple 
 hunting shirt and sash, such as General 
 Harrison wore at the battle of Tippecanoe, 
 and when he first saw him afterwards ; such 
 as his father had worn when he helped 
 Daniel Boone to drive the Indians out of 
 Kentucky, and such as the volunteers gene- 
 rally wore when they marched to the fron- 
 tiers during the late war. 
 
 The Whig press everywhere teemed 
 with the highest-wrought eulogies of his 
 speeches, and its applause might have 
 turned the head of a man prompted by 
 less high and holy feelings than those which 
 influenced him. As it was, they seem only 
 to have stimulated him to still higher efforts. 
 He spoke on the battlements of Yorktown 
 on the aniversary of the surrender of Corn- 
 wallis, with Seargent, and Upshur, and 
 Wise ; at Lynchburgh, a few days after- 
 wards, with Rives, and Leigh, and Preston ; 
 at Richmond on three several nights, the 
 last time to some thousand ladies. Thou- 
 sands of living witnesses still remain to at- 
 test the effects of his addresses ; while the 
 files of the Hichmond Whig of that day, 
 then edited by the talented and lamented 
 Pleasants, bear testimony to the character 
 and effect of these appeals. 
 
 The election over, and General Harrison 
 President, General Combs asked for no- 
 thing, and nothing was offered to him, 
 while hundreds, who had rendered com- 
 paratively but little service, were clamorous 
 
 i tor reward, and some of them received high 
 offices. The real champion of the conflict 
 
 I — he whose morning bugle had often 
 roused a thousand men to arms, and who 
 never wearied, day or night, in doing his 
 duty till the victory was won — was for- 
 gotten in the hour of triumph, while others 
 stepped forward and enjoyed the fruits of 
 the victory. 
 
 If Peter the Hermit felt the inspiration 
 of his hoty cause when preaching a crusade 
 against the infidels in possession of Jerusa- 
 lem, so did Mr. Combs in his against the 
 corruptions and usurpations of power in 
 the city of Washington. All selfishness 
 was absorbed in his burning desire to drive 
 the Goths from the Capitol ; and he valued 
 more highly the outpourings of public ap- 
 probation which every where greeted his 
 
ERAL LESLIE < 0MB8. 
 
 •i be would have done ai 
 ■, which could bare been offer- 
 ed him. The uoble-hearted Whigs of little 
 nted hira with 
 evidence of tb< ir confidem 
 gratitude, by the preaentation of a magnifi- 
 cent pi ■ e of plate, with the B 
 • "ii : 
 
 : •■ 
 
 ounty, Delaware, in testimony "f 
 
 their high regard fur him as ft patriot and sol 
 
 dierin the Northwestern campaign of 1812 and 
 
 -t \ . f u youth, and ai the able and elo- 
 
 indieator of his old General, thi I 
 
 ■in...- and tli.- Thames, in the political 
 
 Of 1 •> 1"." 
 
 ■ 
 the nomin I 
 Baltii ention, be again took th< 
 
 field, although be knew thai be would 
 
 • bia reraain- 
 and business, which had : 
 mportant t» bim from pecuniary 
 embai 
 
 in the Texan War D 
 canvassing a large portion of Kentucky, 
 
 as i" the '. 
 ed himself, during Die moi - iptem- 
 
 ivember, I ■ \ 
 nia, and New York. 
 
 m through Vir- 
 ginia, from Abingdon, by way of Lynch- 
 
 Richmond, and Ybrktown, to N 
 folk, arousing the Whigs everywb 
 
 _• the I >• i lit- to Btand by their 
 
 r as he did in fame 
 and public services as high above hie 
 petitor .-is the peal {"hanies 
 
 above the mole-hills at th.ir base, out all 
 in vain. They were wedded to their idol, 
 modern progressive Democracy. 
 
 "What tu them were justice, truth, grati- 
 tude, fraternal or mat. Tiial love! Henry 
 Clay was to be immolated under the re- 
 morseless car of this modern Juggernaut; 
 and who so proper as his nun mother t « > 
 use the sacrificial knife 1 It was done, 
 Mr. Combs appealed to Pennsylvania 
 iw York to Btand by and sustain the 
 great father of the American system, the 
 steadfast friend of human labor in all its 
 forms, against the false traitors and pre- 
 tended friends, who would certainly pros- 
 trate our rising manufactures and mechan- 
 ical pursuits; but they would not heed 
 Liru. They, too, cried out, " Crucify him, 
 
 crucify him I" and he was crucified. Oh, 
 what a reckoning they have j 
 for this outrage ous w rong to Am 
 • statesman ! 
 < >f the many scenes of I vraent 
 
 through which the Bubject of cur notice 
 
 during this ever-memorable cam* 
 paign, we Bhall refer but to oneofpromin- 
 ent interest. It occurred at New Raven, 
 < SonnecticuL M I - had been invit- 
 ed I- be present at a great Whig gather- 1 
 ing at that renowned city, and accordingly 
 there at the appointed time. The 
 principal streets were most magnificently 
 .••••I with Bags and bannei -. ' 
 
 • appropriate significance. Th.- 
 crowd was innumerable, and moved by the 
 highest enthusiasm. Senator Barren, of 
 
 i, first a. Mr 1 them, followed by 
 
 Mr. White, of X- nv York, from a broad 
 platform, covered by the moat venerable 
 and distinguished sons of the ] 
 fathers. " Ind. Mr. Coral 
 
 allusion t.< this . M when I I 
 
 around me, 1 felt as if I were in the midst 
 of that daring band of holy men w] 
 
 the broad Atlantic in qu 
 and religious liberty." Instead of speaking 
 from tin- stand, a light wa ilaced 
 
 fur him to Btand in, near tl of the 
 
 crowd, bo as,to be better heard. II 
 about two hours. At the ment, 
 
 be bad asserted bis belief in au overruling 
 Providence in all things; that there was 
 ever present M a Divinity that Bhap 
 ends, rough-hew them as we will;" that 
 He who \\.-is the orphan's father and the 
 widow's husband had, in early life, taken 
 an 01 1'han boy in the 8 F Hi D0V6T, 
 
 and led him on, Btep by i one 
 
 great d 1 to another, till now, when bis 
 
 history should 1"- written, and justice done 
 him, he would occupy a pinnacle of glory 
 high as Chimborazos loftiest peak, 
 Mount Olympus piled upon it. Like an 
 eagle high in air, shut at by the poisoned 
 shafts ot calumny on every Bide, be still 
 flies higher, and with prouder pinion, to* 
 wards his mountain eyrie. " Look at bim !"' 
 exclaimed the speaker, as he threat bis 
 hands upwards, and involuntarily the eyes 
 of the multitude followed his gestur . 
 Such a shout as instantly rent the skies 
 was Bcarce ever heard before, or Buch a 
 waving of handkerchiefs a as ex- 
 
 hibited by the thousand ladies who were 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 21 
 
 present. Casting his eyes upwards, he 
 beheld au American eagle some few hun- 
 dred feet distant, gracefully flying towards 
 the east. His own feelings were highly 
 excited. He folded his arms, and, looking 
 at it for a moment, exclaimed, in a thril- 
 ling tone of voice. " I have told you, fel- 
 lew-citizens, that there were no accidents 
 on earth or in Heaven, and I hail this as a 
 happy omen. Fly on, and still fly higher, 
 proud bird of my country's banner ; and 
 lono- may you continue to ornament the 
 flag which waves over the land of the free 
 and the home of the brave !" No one pre- 
 sent will ever forget the scene. 
 
 As the Whigs of little Delaware mani- 
 fested their gratitude to him by the pre- 
 sentation of a magnificent piece of plate in 
 1840, so also did those of the Empire State 
 in 1844, with the following simple, but 
 touching incription : 
 
 " From the Whigs i >f Kings county, New York, 
 to General Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, the 
 friend of Henry Clay. 
 
 "November, 1844. 
 
 "Si Pergama dextra, 
 "Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent." 
 
 The defeat of Henry Clay, and the elec- 
 tion of James K. Polk, produced a pro- 
 found sensation throughout America ; and 
 when the vile duplicity and falsehood of 
 the Democratic party in Pennsylvania is 
 remembered, where every standard was 
 emblazoned with " Polk, Dallas, and the 
 Tariff of 1842 ;" while every where in the 
 North it was unblushingly asserted that 
 Polk was a better protective tariff man 
 than Henry Clay,- at the same time that 
 he was supported in the South as an ad- 
 vocate of free trade; it cannot be wonder- 
 ed at that both he and Dallas afterwards 
 betrayed the North, and the ruinous Tariff 
 Act of 184C was passed, which has already 
 prostrated some of our most important 
 manufactures. Indeed, but for the oppor- 
 tune discovery of the rich gold-mines of 
 California, we should, ere this, have had 
 another commercial crash such as desolated 
 the country in 183 7-8 ; for it is indisput- 
 ably true that the balance of trade for the 
 last year has been so much against us that 
 it has required the shipment of over sixty 
 millions of the precious metal, as well as 
 large amounts of United States and States 
 stocks, to make up the deficit. 
 
 General Combs was the last man to leave 
 
 this great battle field ; for, on the very 
 day of the election in New York, he passed 
 from Albany to New York city, and at 
 every lauding of the steamer stimulated 
 the crowd, who were anxiously expecting 
 the election news from Ohio, urging them 
 to poll every vote in their power for Henry 
 Clay, for that every thing depended on the 
 Empire State. 
 
 Such afterwards proved to be the case ; 
 and, but for the gross frauds in the city of 
 New York, Polk would have been defeated, 
 and the great cause of American labor glo- 
 riously triumphant. The Empire Club did 
 the dark deed, which has since produced 
 such wide-spread ruin and distress in some 
 of our manufacturing' districts, especially 
 in Pennsylvania. 
 
 A man of less sanguiue temperament, or 
 one more calculating in his friendship, and 
 less truly devoted to Henry Clay in all his 
 fortunes than General Combs, might have 
 been led away by the loud shouting and 
 deep enthusiasm naturally excited by the 
 brilliant victories of the hero of Buena Vista, 
 when the grateful hearts of millions of true 
 Whigs in America throbbed with joy at 
 the suggestion of his name in connection 
 with the Presidential office. Even in Ken- 
 tucky, multitudes of Mr. Clay's coustant 
 supporters and some of his oldest friends 
 avowed themselves in favor of General 
 Taylor, as the most available candidate ; 
 and some men denounced Mr. Clay as sel- 
 fish and ambitious ; but General Combs 
 never hesitated, never faltered. 
 
 "Faithful found among the faithless; 
 Faithful only he amid innumerable false." 
 
 "Unmoved, unshaken, uuseduced, untenified." 
 
 And so he continued till the last moment 
 in Philadelphia, wdien the National Whig 
 Convention decided in favor of General 
 Taylor. 
 
 Fatigue, loss of rest, anxiety of mind, 
 had by this time protrastrated General 
 Combs on a sick-bed; yet, when Independ- 
 ence Square was in the evening filled by 
 tens of thousands of anxious Whigs, main- 
 ly the devoted friends of Henry Clay, it 
 was deemed most important to have an 
 address made by General Combs, the long- 
 tried and ever-faithful friend of that illus- 
 trious*man. It was a severe trial for him 
 to encounter ; yet, when lifted to the stand, 
 
22 
 
 GENERAL LESLIE < CWB8. 
 
 most tin • him, and he p '. Bui hi 
 
 is, whiob wis si the time listen- . 1 i - - • I -n the platean of the battlefield, in 
 
 n breathless silence, and given on ih.-tV.Mit rank of the Whig army, with 
 
 ra the Whig banner around him as bis wind* 
 But do _ Be Union, the 
 
 eonld do justice t«-> t!. se, the cant 
 
 peaker, and internal improvements, 
 while I t '' lard Fillmore; and he would i 
 
 up for ever the hop illen than have archieved ■ 
 
 iClayPr - I . ry by any sacrifice of principle or p 
 
 Com the Whig independence. Those who fly from the 
 
 ttle-field, and those who bide in the ia- 
 while the balla are t'y- 
 lone in 1840. Froi M _ it, are disgraced by defeat, 
 
 where heard ii a leader who braveb .Mails 
 
 prival d publics combat Among the 
 
 of the peo] 
 
 ' and -/. J. 
 < t the Mr. < Join plaints 
 
 . iake against those who failed I 
 11 I ty. He feels tl itill ob< 
 
 Taylor will not say 1 j principl a 
 
 lore firmly !•• cause the timid a'... I 
 • Mr. gh he 'li.l raor< I hei 'i- abandon them. 
 
 ' | ever preached and endeavor ! 
 
 in in America did, tl: the philosophy that the 
 
 wards bin tended by srned, 
 
 opposition I ■■■■ and violence, bul 1 v lo 
 
 Whig pai i, embracing all benevolence of 
 
 in deed i 
 of their claim rd. To his rigid <'l 
 
 the people. Bui thai may be allov moral landmarks may be 
 
 ■■■■1 the remarkable effecl of 'li- 
 bation, and thi nfidence of the public speeches. II'' never 
 
 W tig ; ty, ndtheywi G ly ienounced bitterly hia opponents. He, 
 more valuable than court favor and official lectured them, criticised them, and en- 
 
 patronage. 
 
 w. 
 cal campaign ; and Bhall treat it 
 
 ompetitor was allied by blood and 
 marriage to several numerous f 
 and influential Whig families in the dis- 
 
 had 1 n himself a Whig in early 
 
 life; was the present pride and hope of 
 the 1 ►emocracy ; and thus com entrated 
 all their support. General Combs bad no 
 such extra aid or sympathy in the canvass. 
 The mass of the Whiga believed he was 
 in\ ineible, and that tber< fore : ' 
 make no effort. In a long professional 
 
 deavored to refute their arguments ii 
 temper; and he never*uttered a word on 
 imp which he did nol 1 elieve to he 
 true, noi expressed a Bentimenl wl.. 
 
 .li.l no1 mosl sii rely entertain. 
 
 When he commenced life, be Bel himself 
 to work first to attain pecuniary mdepe .• 
 dence by his own labor, and, second, to do 
 all the good he could to all around him. 
 ; ' irsl production, which went to the 
 press more than thirty years ago, was an 
 argument and appeal in favor of a lunatic 
 
 in Kentucky. There was a 
 then west of the mountains, and only three 
 
 career he had made some personal enemies or four in America. A few humane men 
 among the Whigs, who took this occasion in I. cington took up the subject, and the 
 to gratify persona] vengeance at thesacri- ret the commencement of the pre- 
 
 fice of political principle. Borne hundreds sent magnificent establishment, whii 
 of the first class did not go to the* polls, ever since been dispensing its Mc sings in 
 A few of the latter were active and violent ' the State. 
 
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 23 
 
 At a later date, be aided the public libra- 
 ry by a large donation, considering bis 
 limited means ; stimulated tbe establish- 
 ment of public free-scbools ; and a female 
 orphan asylum ; all of which are now con- 
 ferring inestimable benefits upon the com- 
 munity. Not a church has been erected 
 in Lexington, for whites or blacks, to 
 which he did not contribute his mite. In 
 1833, he passed through the severest or- 
 deal of his life. When the Asiatic chol- 
 era first made its appearance on this con- 
 tinent, (in Canada, we believe,) scattering 
 death in its path and all around, an almost 
 universal panic seized upon the public 
 mind. Tbe alarm seemed to increase ac- 
 cording to the distance from the scene of 
 its first desolation, and prevaded to a great 
 extent the community of General Combs' 
 residence as well as otbers, although tbe 
 medical faculty there assured the people 
 that they were in no danger; that their po- 
 sition was so elevated and healthful, that if 
 it should even "rain pestilence upon them, it 
 would run off." The consternation of tbe 
 community may be easily imagined, when, 
 in June, 1833, that mysterious disease burst 
 forth in all its fury in their midst, sparing 
 neither age nor sex ; old men and children, 
 master and slave, seeming alike subject to its 
 sudden and fatal visitation. Its first known 
 demonstration was in General Comb's 
 own family, upon the person of a favorite 
 servant, who died in a few hours ; thence 
 it spread among his immediate neighbors. 
 Thousands fled to the mountains, leaving 
 their houses deserted or in care of their 
 slaves, who, being thus abandoned, became 
 more alarmed, and consequently more 
 liable to the fell disease. Many thought 
 it contagious, and would not even visit 
 their relative* and dearest friends. A high 
 duty seemed to devolve upon Mr. Combs. 
 With a calm and determined front he met 
 it, and went to work to study the disc;i<c, 
 endeavor to arrest its progress, and relieve 
 its subjects. He never stopped, except for 
 brief periods of rest, day or night, for more 
 than thirty days, devoting himself wholly 
 to the sick and suffering; rich and poor, 
 black and white, bond and free, friend and 
 foe, alike received his services, sometimes 
 in the most menial and disgustful offices 
 at their bedsides. It may be justly claim- 
 ed for him that he was the instrument of 
 hope, of relief, of prolonged life to man}'. 
 
 lie had a full sweep of veugence upon his 
 enemies — he had a few such — and upon 
 his political persecutors, by helping them 
 when they could not help themselves, and 
 felt as if they were abandoned by every 
 friend on earth. "It was a glorious 
 triumph," is the language of Mr. Combs. 
 " I would not now exchange it for a victory 
 on the battle field, or the highest political 
 promotion — so help me God !" 
 
 The entire population of Lexington was 
 almost decimated in a month. Mr. Combs 
 had met the British and the Indians in hos- 
 tile array ; bad been wounded, and a prison- 
 er, subjected to every savage barbarity ; 
 but he had never before found such a foe 
 as the cholera of 1833, so horrid, relent- 
 less and terrific, in act and aspect. His 
 escape from it, exposed as he was, seemed 
 almost miraculous ; for he was not touch- 
 ed till near the close of the season of* the 
 epidemic, and then not very violently. 
 His health is still perfect, and he retains 
 all the vigor and elasticity of early man- 
 hood. 
 
 In all the relations of life, General 
 Combs has discharged the obligations grow- 
 ; ing out of those relations with scrupulous 
 fidelity. Enterprising and public-spirited, 
 he has ever been among the foremost in 
 promoting any scheme having for its ob- 
 ject the public good, and has liberally used 
 his means in contributing to every project 
 calculated to advance the public prosper- 
 ity. As a member of the Legislature of 
 Kentucky, and Chairman of tbe Commit- 
 tee of internal Improvements in 1833, he 
 strenuously advocated a system of internal 
 improvements, which by bis influence, was 
 partially adopted, and which has done 
 much towards placing the State in its pres- 
 ent high position. As a private citizen, 
 within the last few years he has devoted 
 himself to the work of arousing the pub- 
 lic mind to the importance of railroad 
 communication ; and by bis addresses, and 
 through the press, has done more, perhaps. 
 than any other man, in awakening the 
 people of Kentucky to the necessity of 
 prompt and vigorous action in this behalf. 
 The result is seen in the various lines of 
 road projected and now under progress, 
 ! and by which the entire State will, in the 
 \ course of a few years, be traversed. Such 
 indeed has been his characteristic energy 
 | and zeal in matters of this Bort, that when 
 
24 
 
 GEXEKAL LESLIE COMBS. 
 
 any thing Be, he wat Looked 
 
 Be baa piratically, the 
 
 ] r man's fri an ap- 
 
 peal made to him in vain in behalf of suf- 
 fering humanity. During one of his tours 
 in the ' 3 14. lie 
 
 ohanc< d t a country church in 
 
 Virginia, and beard I i er hi> 
 
 farew< which 
 
 s< -in.- rema ke refen nee to 
 
 the ]" at 9 1 i<li forced 
 
 3 old shepherd from 
 1 ■ neral 
 Combs 
 
 sum "f Hr w bom 
 
 fur th' • n 1 • 1 1 1 a t'i w 
 
 minut - , and to whom h< 
 
 A.-, ident made 
 the wril ! with this 
 
 i-ircui;.- _■■ of, which baa 
 
 hitherto i en • s to 
 
 and bims< If. A favoi ite plan 
 
 tO 88- 
 
 sist in 1'iii n j oung meii 
 
 ■ >m in t' i 
 
 favor, and 
 ■ .it in their pr - 
 
 i j and more than one has ba»] 
 to thank the good fortune that threw the 
 in Lis way. 
 
 In 1833, while the cholera was ragit 
 with extreme violence in Lexi igton, <>i 
 
 liist victims was a bitti 
 enemy; and yet, while fear drove othl 
 
 : ie I edside, < teneral C< 
 him with all the care and tenderness oi 
 devoted friend. The annual election I 
 members of the General Assembly can 
 on a Bborl time after the pestilence bi I 
 subsided, and the citizens of I. xing 
 
 tte county testified th> ii gratit -il 
 for his humane exertions bj bestow • 
 
 bim their unsolicited suffrages, ai 
 
 m a member of the Legislatu 1 " | 
 writer of this has had opportunii 
 which few have enjoyed of studying tl 
 
 Ij the character of the subj< cl 
 
 h, and it affords him the ' 
 ification t" bear testimony t" bis unbend 
 i n ir integrity, his firmness of pur] 
 maintaining the righl at everj hazard, lr 
 manly independence, bis benevolence 
 
 ition, and, in short, 
 qualities which make up the true man— 
 -• work of < -"d. 
 
 
 Md 
 
 SQ 
 
 W * /