.^"--. O."'^'^'.o^\.-o. <^''*-\o^".-o. <>•'' \%.,^' - /%^. V ^-^ " "f ^ %^.A^ , o<^-."^.,\ ^ * 'v''^^^- y^i"'^^^-^^ ''^^^^"^"^\ ■~c?\»r-/'%»'"~'co^Vr-.<'^:'""rP'^".'-"'< ^0: .% -t. "f a 'S^ * oy -^^0^ <& O^ \ ^ •^<^ :^^'K^ %.^ ^:^^^^ %„.# ^^^^'^^ '^ -^ ^' .^^ '^ ^ -'.''^^.- >^ %^ '\ V <0 K^ ^ -^^ '^-.K^^' (y ^ r. ^ gO\ ^^ ^^ c^'"/:^r-.^'^'"/:-'-.^ %.o^ X* v .^v -^ %^^^,\,5.^^ "^ ^ " ' T^^' ^ " ^ 7. s " ■ A*^^' ' ^ " ''^77s ^ ' A^ ^c>^^l3l^\^^ «MC^^^- liB'i^ ^ ^ o^ £'z^%^^^ /MA'\%.^^^ ':£M/K'^\^^^ /M/K'^\.<^^ : i/ THE LEGE^^DS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 46 17 7 6." oil, WASHINGTOX AND HIS GENERALS. WITH A STEEL ENGRAVING OF THE "BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN," AT "CHEW'S HOUSE" BY GEORGE LIPPARD. AUTHOR OF "THE QUAKER CITY; or, THE MONKS OF MONK HALF-," " PAUL ARDRNHKI! THE MONK OF WISSAHIKON;" "BLANCHE OK BKANDVWINE;" 'WASHINGTON AND HIS MEN;" "THE MYSTERIES OF FLOREN'CE;" "THE MEMOIiiS OK A PREACHEK;" "THE EMI'IKE CITY;" "THE BANK DIHECTOIl'S .SON;" "TUli ENTRANCED;" "THE NAZARENB;" "LEGENDS OF MEXICO." We pronounce this to be (he best book that has ever been written on tJiis portion of our history, it being of the days and times of ' 1776.' 'JTiis book is not merely a history, it is something more. It is a series of battle pictures, with all the truth of history in them, where the heroes are made living, present and visible to our senses. Here we do not merely turn over the dead dry facts of General Wasliivglon's battles, as if coldly digging them out of their tomb — but we see the living general as he mores round over tlie field of glory. We almost hear the word of his command. We are quite sure that we see the smnke rolling tip from the field of battle, and hear the dreadful roar of the cannon, as it spouts its death-fianu in (Jie face of the living and the dead, T/irnugh all, we see dashing on the wild figure nf mad Anthoiip Wayne, followed with the broken battle-cry of Pulaski ; until along the line, and over the field, the imagei of death and teiTor are only hidden from our view by the shroud of smoke andfUxmc. PHILADELPHIA: T. B. PETERSON & BI^OTHERS 306 CHESTNUT STIt^ET. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by T. B. PETERSON & BEOTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington, D. C. GEORGE LIPPARD'S COMPLETE AVORKS. T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, Philadelphia, have just published an entire new, complete, and uniform edition of all the celebrated works uritten by the pojjular American Hbitorian and Novelist, George Lippard. Every Family and every Library in this country, should have in it a set of this new edition of his works. The following is a complete list of GEORGE LIPPAED'S WORKS. THE LEGENDS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1776; OR, WASHING- TON AND HIS GENERALS. By George Lippanl. With a steel Engraving of the " Battle of Germaiitown," at " Chew's House." Complete in one large octavo volume. Price $1.50 in jjajier cover, or bound in morocco cloth, price $2.00. THE QUAKER CITY; OK, THE MONKS OF MONK HALL. A Romance OF Philadklpiiia Life, Mystery, and Crime. By George Lippard. With hia Portrait and Autograph. Complete in one large octavo volume, jjrice $1.50 in paper cover, or bound in "morocco cloth, price $2.00. PAUL ARDENHEIM, THE MONK OF WISSAHIKON. A Romance of THE American Revolution, 1776. By George Lippard. Illustrated. Complete in one large octavo volume, price $1.50 in paper cover, or bound in morocco cloth, 2.irice $2.00. BLANCHE OF BRANDY WINE; or, SEPTEMBER THE ELEVENTH, 1777. By George Lijipard. A Romance of the Revolution, as well as of tlie Poetry, Legends, a'Mi History of the Battle of Brandywine. Complete in one large octavo volume^price $1.50 in paper cover, or bound in morocco cloth, price $2.00. THE MYSTERIES OF FLORENCE; or, THE CRIMES AND MYSTERIES OF THE HOUSE OF ALBARONE. By George Lippard. Complete in one large octavo volume, price $1.00 in paper cover, or $2.00 in cloth. WASHINGTON AND HIS MEN. Being the "Second Series" of the "Lkgknds ok the American Revolution, 1776." By George Lippard. With IlUistrations. Complete in one large octavo volume, paper cover, price 75 cents. THE MEMOIRS OF A PREACHER: OR, THE MYSTERIES OF THE PULPIT. By Gei->rj;e Lippard. With Illustrations. Complete in one large octavo volume, paper cover, price 75 cents. THE EMPIRE CITY; OR, NEW YORK BY NIGHT AND DAY. Its Aris- k)eracy and its Dollars. By George Lippard. Complete in one large octavo volume, paper cover, price 75 cents. THE NAZARENE; OR, THE LAST OF THE WASHINGTONS. By Geor-e Lippard. A Revelation of Pliiladelphia, New York, and Washington. Complete in one large octavo volume, paper cover, ])rice 75 cents. THE ENTRANCED ; OR, THE WANDERER OF EIGHTEEN CENTURIES. Containing also, .Jesus and the Poor, the Heart Broken, etc. By George Lipi)ard. Complete in one large octavo volume, paper cover, j>rice 50 cents. THE LEGENDS OF MEXICO. Bv George Lippard. Comprising Legends and Historical Pictures of the Camp in the Wilderness; The Sisters of Monterey ; .The Dead Woman of Palo Alto, etc. One large octavo volume, pajjcr cover, price 50 cents. THE BANK DIRECTOR'S SON. A Revelation of Life in a Great City. By George Lippard. Complete in one large octav." volume, paper cover, jirice 25 cents. J33^ Above Books are for sale by all Booksellers, or copies of either one or more of the above books, or a complete set of them, will be sent at once, to any one, to amy place, postage pre-paid, or free of freight, on remitting the price of the ones wanted, in a letter to the Publishers, T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 003 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. /6f /9 / PREFACE. Tnis work, entitled, tlie " Legends of the American Revolution," or " Washington and his Generals " may be described in one word, as an earnest attempt to embody the scenes of the Past, in a series of Historical pictures. Some portions of these Legends, were delivered in the form of Historical lectures, before the William Wirt Insti- tute, and the Institute of the Revolution, confessedly among the first literary institutions in the land. To the gentlemen of these institutions, I shall ever remain grateful, not only for the success of these Legends, but for the uniform kind- ness and courtesy, which marked their intercourse with me. I may be permitted to state without the imputation of vanity, that these Historical pictures, their purpose and their style, beauties and defects, are the result of my endeavors for years past, to delineate in all its fullness, " the days and times of '76 that so soreh* tried men's souls." Not only George Washington, as well as his Generals, have I attempted to delineate in these Legends of i\\i\ Revolution, but it has been my purpose, to picture the scenes that went before the Revolution, together with the heroic deeds of the Authors. Soldiers, and Statesmen of '76. The patriotism of the humblest freeman, has been as dear (11) 12 PREFACE. to me, for the purposes of illustration, as the moral gran- deur of Washington, or the chivalric daring of La Fayette. Some of the brightest gleams of poetry and romance, tjiat illumine our history, or the history of any other land and age, I have endeavored to embody, in those pages of the present work, which relate to the deeds of the Hero- Women of the Revolution. With these introductory remarks, I submit to the public, "The Legends of the American Revolution" as illus- trated in this volume. GEORGE LIPPARD. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page BOOK THE FIRST, Tlir: RATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. PART THE FIRST, Tut. Battle- Eve. 25 I. The Red Cnoss in Philadelphia 25 The Entrance of the British - 25 Lord Cornvvallis at the head of his legions - . - - 25 [I. The Haunt of the Resel - 27 The Old-time village - - 27 The view from Chesnut Kill - 28 Washixotdn on the Skippack 29 ni. The Camp of the Britisher 29 Chew's house before the battle 29 The positifm of the British Army 30 Night in Germantown . - 30 The names, not recorded in the " Herald's" college - SI IV. The Nioht-Maiich - - 33 Washington by his camp-fire 32 His plan of battle - - 33 The legions on their battle march 34 PART THE SECOND, The Battlk Mohn. 35 I. The Datbreak Watch - 35 The sentinel on Mount Airy - 35 The sound that he hears - 36 Page The Brother's soul and Ihe Sister's prayer - - - 37 Washington comes to battle - 37 The hunt of death begins - 38 Pulaski's war-cry - - 39 The flash of musquetry - 40 Washington and his Generals in battle ... 4 The halt at Chew's House - 41 The Flag of 'I'rcce - - 4.S The Volunteer of Mercy - 43 His murder ... 44 PART THE THIRD, Chew's House- 44 I. The forlorn hope . - 44 A sight worth a score of years, to see 45 The fate of the stormers - 48 II, The horseman and his message 47 Washington, receives intelligence 47 III. The British General - 48 Scene in Germantown - 48 The British army, in full force, moves to the field - 49 IV. Legend of General Agnew - 49 The old man in the graveyard 49 The rifle-shot ' - - - 50 V. The contest in the villagb street - - - 50 Sullivan's charge - - 50 The density of the fog - - 5C VI. Chew's housb again - - 50 Fighting in the dark - - 50 n. The first corse of Germantown 36 j VII. '1'he adventure of Washington 51 The dream of the sentinel - 36 I He rushes into the enemy s fire 51 {U) 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART THE FOURTH. ThF, lALL OF THE BANNER OF THE STARS I. VVASHISRTOJf IS DANGER His gallant exploit II. The unknown form Death, in the Riot, the Home and the balile One face among a thousand - The Messenger of Peace HI. The Revel of Death The drop from the ceiling Not bliiuu but wine 'J'he last drop from the Goblet [V. The Wissahikon A poem of everlasting beauty The Hessians and the Continentals The vengeance of the Continentals V. The Crisis of the fight Nine o'cloclc in the morning - The daring of the Chieftains The Curse of Washington VI. " Retreat." ... Washington's agony PART THE FIFTH, The last shot of the battle. I. The soldier and his burdA* - The group by the wayside How goes the battle'! The last fight of the veteran "Lost!" .... K. How the legions came back from BATTLE The terror of the retreat The wound of General Nash - Washinrton's last look at the field III. Captain Lee ... His daring adventure He foils the Hanovarians IV. Sunset upon the battle-field The spirit of desolation Death, supreme, among the wrecks of battle The murdered boy V. The LEOENn of General Agnew again ... llf v-ill go ' Home !' to morrow ' The last dead man of the battle day PART THE SIXTH, The funeral of the dead Paee I. The ancient Church . 75 Washington and his Generals he- fore the graves of the dead 75 II. Funeral sermon ovk.r the dead 76 The preacher speaks of the dead 70 To Washington - - 77 Of the Heroes of the Past 78 III. Prater for the dead - 79 The last scene - - 80 BOOK SECOND. THE WISSAHIKON. Introduction — the beauty of the stream and dell — a sleain of the Indian maids of old - - 85 I. The consecration of the Deliv- erer .... I The Monastery ... A strange scene . . - The Priest of Wissahikon The last day of 1773 A wild superstition The new World, the Ark of Free- dom .... Prayer of the father and son 'l"he Deliverer comes The Prophet speaks to hira A maiden looks upon the scene The Deliverer is consecrated - He takes the oath Washington visits the ruins II. The Midnight Death Scene on the Wissahikon at mid- 86 87 88 89 90 91 32 S3 94 95 90 97 98 98 99 99 100 101 105J 103 night . . - . Ellen .... Old Michael meets the Tory band The Parricide The Orphan's curse The yell of the dying horse and his rider - - - 104 III. The Bible Legend of the Wis- sahikon - - - 104 A memory of " Paoli !" - 104 The ordeal .... 105 The Old and New Testaments 108 This speaks, Life, that. Death 106 The hand of Providence - 107 IV. The temptation of V/as!Iingtos 107 Washington in prayer - 108 The stranger in the red uniform 108 A Dukedom for the Rebel - lOS Scorn from the Rebel tj the King IK TABLK OF CONTENTS. 15 Page WASIIINnTOX AS DUKE AXU IIKBKL - Ill The Viceroy Washinotox - 111 He is presented to the King - 112 He is crowned in Independence Hall - - - - 113 He is beheaded on Tyburn Hill 113 As HE IS I - - - - 114 The hero Womajt - - 115 The block house among the woods ... The young girl beholds her father's danger She loads the rifle A terrible picture She points the rifle to the pow- X. der ke_ VII. King Gkorge in Westminster Abbey - - - 119 An afternoon among the dead 119 How the good king looked - 120 How he scorned the widow's prayer - - - 120 What strange sights he saw - 121 Orphans curse him ! - - 122 He visits Valley Forge - 123 Washington prays against him 124 He goes mad again - - 125 VIII. Valley Forge - - - 126 The Tory and his daughter Mary - - - 126 The plot to entrap Washington 127 The Room on theUight and the Room on the lei't - - 128 The old man beholds his victim 129 , If The last word of the death stricken IX. The Mansion on the Schuyl- kill .... The falls of Schuylkill - A scene of the olden tim.e The last secret of Cornelius ."^grippa ... The Sister, in her Vision sees her brother - - ■ 134 Amable in danger - - 134 The libertine enjovs the sight of his intended victim — the agony,of the dying XI. - 130 131 131 132 133 man A red Indian A white Indian Page The Virgin Widow - - 138 'Do not lift the co(iin-lid from the face of the dead !' - 139 Indian to the last - - 139 The graveyard of German- town ... [40 Its memories of God anry - - 155 The Druggist - - - 155 How he became a Soldier - ^56 Ticonderoga! ... i^^ The March through the Wil- derness ... 157 Napoleon and Arnold - - 158 Washington and Arnold, — in- terview " Continental." - l^r8 The Kennebec — a lone Indian 159 The Murder of a Priest at the Altar, by White Savages IBto Arnold claims the Wilderness — the Prophecy 161 16 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page The River OF THE Dkad - 162 The Banner of the Stars - 162 The Lake - - - 162 The fearful Hangers of Arnold and his men - - 163 He seesQuEUEC I - - 163 IV. Thk ATTACK ON Quebec - 163 Montgomery and Arnold pledge their Faiihoii the heighths of Abraham - - 164 Arnold, with his Men, advances to the first barrier - 165 Arnold in his glory - - 166 Aaron Burr bends over the Corse of Montgomery - 167 Arnold in the madness of the battle - - - 168 ^. The War-Horse Lucifer - 169 Retreat of the American army — incident in the career of Arnold - - - 169 7L The ApE-and-ViPER God - 170 The renown of Arnold - - 170 The Spirit of Party - - 170 The injustice of Congress to Arnold - - - 171 His adventure near Danbury 172 VH. The Bridal-Eve ■ 172 'I'he festival and wager . - 173 The Apparition - - 173 The bloody scalp and long black hair - - 175 An awful bridal Eve ! - 176 VIIL The Black Horse, axd his riokr; or " Who was THE Hi:uo OF Saratoga?" 176 Horatio Gates before his tent 176 The Black Horse and his Rider 177 »'Ho! Warren! forward?" 178 The scene with the retreating soldiers - - - 179 A strange spectacle ! - - 180 The crisis of the conflict - 180 In the moment of peril, the Cham- pion of the day appears 181 The Battle is won — fate of the Black Horse and his rider — meanness of Gates - 182 Arnold the Conqueror - 183 DC. Arnold the Military Com- mander OF Philadelphia 183 The aisle of Christ Church - 183 Pagt The Hero of Quebec and his Bride - - - 184 The Tory Aristocracy of Phila- delphia - - - 184 ' Its cowardice, meanness and pretension - - - 185 The difficulty of Arnold's position ... 180 His long expected trial and the offences of which he was found guilty - - 187 The nature of these offences 188 A court of History, for the trial of Arnold's chief accuser 189 X. Who was this accuser ? - 190 General Cadwallader and the Adjutant General of the army — their conversation in 1776 - - - 19( Serifins charges against the Adjutant General - 194 The summing up of the evi- dence ... 19J Arnold's memorable words - 192 XL The Disbrace of Arnold - 192 'J'he day of the reprimand - 192 He cannot ' live down persecu- tion' - - - 193 The scene of the Reprimand 194 The portrait of the Accuser 195 XII. Arnold at Landsdowne - 196 He meditates the Future - 196 His Palace— his Wife— his Infamy - - - 197 The silent influence of his Wife - - - 198 XIII. Arnold the Traitor - - 199 The struggle - - - 199 Three visitors ... 200 The Dispatch to Sir Henry Clinton - - - 201 Arnold alone with his wife - 201 XIV. The Fall of Lucifer - - 201 Tragedy and Common-Place - 201 The Breakfast table of the Traitor - - 202 The wife and the babe of the Traitor - - - 203 The expected Guest, does not come ... 204 The bursting of the thunder-bolt 205 Arnold under the British flag - 20« TAI5LE OF CONTENTS. 17 Pa£ - 209 Washixoto^ learns the Treason ... The Mother and Washinrtox The Ship Vulture and its Pas- senger fV. The 'J'ulip Poplar, on the Pooh Mkn Hkhoes of THE Revolution - 210 Seven men watch for robbers 210 The day-dream of the wayfarer 211 Three men of the seven, arrest the tpaveller - - 212 The Pass of Arnold - - 213 The development - - 214 The bribe - - - 215 A prisoner, a spy and the Vul- tuiie in sight! - - 216 The Poor Man Heroes of the Revolution - - 217 The blunder by which Arnold escaped ... 218 XVI. The Knight of the Meschi- ANZA - - - 219 A scene of romance - 219 The Tournament - - 220 The scene sadly changed - 221 The Gallows - - - 221 The victim for the Sacrifice - 222 The Knight of the Meschianza dies • - - - 223 Flowers on the Gibbet - 223 yVII. John Champe - - - 224| The luxurious chamber - 224 j A mysterious visitor - - 225 1 TheGhostof John Andre - 2261 The wife of Arnold and the ' Ghost - - 227 1 M^ashington in his Tent - 228 A Knight of the Revolution - 229 Only one way to save Andre 1 230 The Camp of Lee's Legion - 231 John Champe - - - 232 The Deserter - - - 233 The Pursuit - - - 234 The stratagem - - - 235 The hounds at fault - - 236 John Champe, the doomed man 237 "Powhatan save your master!" 238 The Crisis - - - 239 Lee's laughte'r - - - 240 A beautiful woman - - 241 Page A shadow of death, m the festival - - - 2-12 Arnold's Oath - - -243 Champe alone with Arnold - 244 Washington's letter - - 245 The memory of the gallant Knight - - - 216 How he died ... 246 Vengeance upon the Double 'I'raitor - - - 248 The Phantom of Arnold's life 249 The Man who has not one friend in the world - 250 Lee's encampment again — scene changed - 250 "Champe a brave and honest man I" ... 251 Explanation of the Mystery - 252 One of the noblest names in history - - - 253 XVIH.The Temptation of Sir Hen- ry Clinton - - 253 A calm evening and a cloudless soul - . - 253 Sir Henry Clinton shudders at the picture - - 254 Exchange the Traitor for the Spy . . - 255 Sir Henry's terrible temptation 2o6 - 257 - 257 Arnold's sneer XIX, The Sisters A flower garden 257 258 259 The bud and the moss rose - The Sisters talk of the absent The Presentiment of the Second of October - - 260 The return of the aged soldier 261 XX. The fatal intelligence - 261 The Brother's Star 263 Andre the Spt 263 Andre a partner in .'Vrnoki's Conspiracy Tne Wife of Arnold, also a Conspirator 263 263 Washington condemned him justly Tears for the fate of Andre 263 264 Nathan Hale 264 The farewell of the student soldier 264 The Blessing of the aged Mother 26e 65 IS TABLE OF CONTENTS. Tho Betrothod - - - 266 The Cell of the doomed Spy - 206 The Martyr w ho has perilled Honor for his Country - - • 267 The last night of the Doomed 268 The Death of the Martyr - 269 No monument for him ! - - 270 yXII. The Martyr of the South - 270 Gloom in Charleston - - 270 'J'hc Gallows and the Murderer • 271 The Prayer of the Sisier and the Children 272 The Res})onse of the tilled Murderer 273 The farewell beside the gibbet - 274 The cry of the Idiot Boy - • 275 The contempt of Washington - 276 S->ini. Arnold in Virginia - - 276 Arnold the Destroyer - - 276 Despised by all — the men who bought hiiii, and the men wliom he would have sold 277 A strange legend ... 277 Tije Benighted traveller and tlie old hunter - - - 278 An old soldier's opinion of Arnold 279 The emotion of the stranger - 2S0 'I'lie old Jiunier sees a vision of tlie Evil Spirit - • 281 XXIV.The tiikee words which fol- lowed Benedict Arnold TO HIS (iRAVE - - 282 The burning of New London and ForiGriswold - - 282 The death of Leydard - - 283 British magnanimity - - 2»3 The guilt and weakness of King George ... 283 The three words - - - 284 1 Talleyrand and Arnold - - 265 The Remorse of the Traitor - 286 The otecurily of his death - 286 KXV. Arnold; his glory, his wrongs, HIS crimes - - - 287 Ilis early life • - - - 287 The prime of his manhood - - 288 Washington's opinion of him - 289 Ilis marriage — his enemies — his postponed trial - - 290 Review of his offences, difficulties and treason - - - 291 Motives of the Author in this dark history - - - 292 Page The V'lree lines, which comprise the whole burden of this Tragedy 2y9 XXVI.The Right Arm - - - 293 An awful death-bed A superhuman Remorse The last memory of the fallen Lucifer The Right arm 294 295 - 296 . 296 BOOK THE FOURTH. THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE. The Glory of the Land of Penn 299 Pennsylvania neglected by histoiy 299 Her monuments • - - 300 The Prophet of the Brandy- wine .... 301 Description of the Valley of Bran- dywine ... 302 Prophecy uttered forty years before the battle - - • 303 The Fear of War - - 306 The landing of Howe - - 306 The Gathering of the Hosts - 306 The encampment of Washington and his Men - - - 307 Howe, Cornwallis and their hire- VI The Preacher of Brandywine The Preacher Heroes of the Revo- lution Hymn to the Preacher Heroes Revolutionary Sermon Prayer of the Revolution • The, Dawn of the Fight Washington holds council under the chesniit tree La Fayette The attack at Chadd's Ford The Quaker Temple Survey of the battle-field • Howe comes to battle VIII. Washington comes to battle The approach of the American Banner IX. The Hour of Battle The moment before the contest begins Howe gives the signal The battle X. The Poetry of Battlk VIZ 308 309 309 310 312 314 315 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 321 322 322 322 323 324 T4BLE OF CONTKNTS. 19 Tlie Idiot King and the Warrior Konn - - - - 324 S.I I^RD Percv's dream. - - 325 Tho slory of Percy, told by him to Conivvaliis - • - 325 He boiiokis his Dream - - 326 llis cliarge .... 3:27 He meets his Indian Brother • 328 Xri. The Last Hour - - - 329 Retreat of Washington - • 323 Daring of tlie Boy La Fayette • 32!) XIIL Pulaski - - - - 330 In his glory .... 330 How he sjoko English - - 331 Washington a man of genius - 332 Pulaski rescues the Chieftain • 333 IN ight comes down on Pulaski • 333 XJV Washington's last charge at Brandvwine - - 334 Washington the Man - - 334 The key to his character - - 335 He surveys the battle - - 336 He goes down, to say to the British — "farewell!" - - 337 The carnage of his last charge - 338 La Fayette wounded - - 339 The smile of the Brandywine - 340 XV. The Hunter Spy - - - 340 Scene among the mountains • 340 Washington, the Colonel at Brad- dock's Held ■ - - 341 The three fugitives - - 342 The sleeping spy - - 343 His punishment - . - 346 The Boy looks in his father's face 347 A horrible picture - . - 348 XVI. The son of the Hunter Spy - 348 The old man and his memory - 349 The peasant girl, Mary - - 350 The son of the Hunter Spy • 352 The arm of the maiden, supplies the place of a bolt - - 354 The Black Hercules . - 355 The haystack . . -356 The son, avenges the death of the felher . - - 358 The infamous butcheries of England and the crimes of King George 359 The \'ow of the Negro Sampson 360 X* I. BLtcK Sampson • - - 360 I'lovvers from ashes War, the parent of many virtues The American Union a sacred I'r Pace 360 361 361 i 362 :' 363 364 365 366 367 363 370 3r2 372 .•/75 Anthony Wayne at Brandvwine 375 The boy and the mimic figlit - ;i75 The Man and the bloody battle Wayne and his Roan horse His riflemen drive back the Hes- sians .... The doubt of Washington The guilt of the wrenh destroy it The memories of the N The outraged Mary The Dog — ' Debdil,' Sampson prepares to ' go a-movvirig He mows British stubble - The last scene of Mary The fate of the Sou of the Hunter Spy . . . . XVIII. The Mechanic Hero of Bran- dvwine A scene of British inorcy - The strange battle-cry The three last shols of the dying man . . . . XIX. ilC, c-11 373 379 Wayne beholds the battle of the afternoon 381 3S3 384 The appearance of Kniphansen The charge of Mad Anthony Forty-seven years after the battle . - . 38G La Fayette comes again to the battle-field - - - 386 His emotion as he contrasts the con- dition of America with that of France - . 387 BOOK THE FIFTH. THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1776. The Day. .... The old Slate house - . .391 The old man, the boy, and the Bell 3j'i The message of the Beil to the world . - - - 393 The fifty-six, and the Speech of the Unknown - . .^94 The message of the Declaration - 3a3 The iNew Exodus of (iod's People, the Poor - . . 396 Tho signing of tho Parchment . 19" 20 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page 398 The Apostle to the New Would - The River sliore, two hundred years ago The Landing of the Apostle The Mission of The Apostle The Pipe of Peace - " Bauk eighteen hundred years!" 403 The Declixation traced from the Hall ol' Independence to the Mount oi Calvary The Hut of the Carpenter Godhead enshrined in the form of Toil .... The Bride of the Living God The Doubt of Divinity The WiLDERNPiss The skeleton people 398 400 401 402 The self-communion of the Nazarene 409 The Prince of this world - The Panorama of Empire - Ninevah — Rome, Imperial — Rome, Papal The bloody grandeur of the Mon- ster Empire ... The voice of the Tempter, to every Reformer ... The Pharasee of the Pulpit The Viper of the Press The Ministering of the Angels - "The Outcast" Sabbath in the synagogue - The appearance of the Carpenter's Son .... He announces the great Truth, in which is built the Declara- tion .... The " Infidel" is thrust from the Synagogue ... The Godhead shines from the brow of Toil The last look of the Outcast upon his Home The name of the Outcast covers all the earth ... The Coming of the day of God - The hope of eighteen hundred YEARS ... The fate of the Saviour's mission in 1775 Pope George of England and his Missionaries 410 411 411 412 413 414 415 415 416 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 423 423 424 The solitary man on shipboard - /III The Council of Freemen Washington, Adams. Rush, Frank- lin, in council witli the Un- known stranger The word " Independence" first 8jX)ken ... iX. The Battle of the Pen - The author — his garret — the battle which he I ghis " Common Sense" in a book The name of the Stranger X. The Author-Soldier He follows the Army of Wash- ington The libeller of the dead X. The People and the Criminal A King on Trial ; his Crime, trea- son to the People King George, guilty of treason and murder - . - - Thomas Paine pleads for the life Louis Capet ... XL King Guillotine Death of Louis and Marie Antoinette ... The offerings to the bloody Majesty of France ... XII. Truth from the carnage The principle of the French Revo- lution Page 42S 425 42t 426 427 427 428 429 429 429 429 430 431 432 433 433 433 434 434 434 The hideous murders thai have been done in the name of God - 435 The Reign of Terror conlras'.ed with the Massacre of St. Bariho- lomew .... 436 The Reign of the King of Terror - • - 436 The chamber in the palace • 436 'The orange-faced dandy' and his Death-list - - - 437 The fall of King Guillotine 437 The Hall of the National Assembly — the fear ol' Robespierre - 437 The Death of the King of the reign of Terror - - - 438 The Bible - - • 439 The Palace-Prison of the Luxem- burg - - 439 Genius profaned in the " Age of Reason" - 449 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 21 Page The beaiiiv. tenderness, truth of the Bible - 441 The mistake of Thomas Paine • 442 My motives in the discussion of his character, wnlings and life 443 Christianity nut the dogma of a creed out the Religion of the Heart 444 iVl The DEATH-BED OF Thomas Paine 445 A dying old man ... 445 The hyena-fang of the bigot, enters his soul ... 446 A Quaker speaks Hope ! to the Infidel - - - 446 ' No grave for your bones, in Christ- ian burial ground' - - 447 He dies - . - - 447 While we pity the Deist, we should reverence the Patriot 44S KVII. Review of the History - 449 XVni. The last day of Jefferson and Ada.ms - - - 44.9 Tl.e fourth of July, 1826 - - 449 Filty years after the Great Day - 450 The Home of Quinry - - 451 The Death of John Adams - 452 The Hermitage of Monticello - 453 The Death of Thomas Jefferson - 454 A miracle - - 454 A dark contrast - - 454 KIX. The nameless death - 455 The Prison .... 455 The Prisoner - - - - 458 An infamous law, upheld by pirates and assassins in broad cloth 457 KX. The last of the Signers - 457 Life, leaf, light mingle in Death - 457 The old man dies before the Cru- cifix .... 458 THK VIOl.ATET! OF THE GRAVE. A sequel to the tourth of July, 1776 459 The vilest Wretch - - - 461 The man who blasphemes the Dead 462 A Traitor coated in Gold - - 463 The Assassin of souls . . 464 What is, and what is not, " well timed" ... 465 Glimpses of " Common Sense." - 466 The old malice of a Tory • • 468 Burke the Scyophanl - • 46D A warning to Traitors' descendants 470 Th» children of lie Author-Hero 471 ni. BOOK THE SIXTH. Romance of the Revoli-tio.v. Michael X X X : a tradition Pag« OF the two worlds 475 The Soldier returning home 475 The war-horse Old Legion 476 The Memory of Alice 477 Home! .... 478 The foreboding of death - 479 The Soldier and his father • 480 The Chamber of Alice 481 The curtained bed 482 The Revelation 4o3 The death of the white horse 484 The Covenant of Blood 485 The dream of the Godlike face 486 The bracelet of Alice 487 Alice! .... 488 The Revenge of the Legionary . 483 Michael the soldier, and Michael the General, Marshal and Duke 490 The ninth Hour 491 A scene in Valley Forge 491 Washington and the Sergeant - 492 A strange volunteer lor a work of death 493 The Bridegroom loolcs upon the Bride .... 494 The fear of the word, Nine • 495 The last kiss - • - 496 An old mansion m a dark dell - 497 " Death to Washington !" - • 498 The Ordeal .... 499 The Spy - - - - 500 "Ah 1" — how the memory of child- hood nielis the heart of stone 501 A strange revelation in the history of a soul ... 502 A^.iin the fatal number — Nine ! 503 Washington — Wayne — La Fayette — Hamilton — Burr, the Wed- ding Guesia - - - 503 WASHiNGn)N's trust - - - 504 The fallen goblet - - -505 An half hour of suspense — the gue.sts await the explanation of the mysiery - - 506 The Bride and Bridegroom alone 506 The Ninth hour of the Ninth Day of the Ninth Year • 507 The Sight which Washington beheld sns TABLE OF CONTENTS. rv The Prf.achf.r-General Noon — the Church of St. Page SOU Sabhail John - - - - 509 The Sacrament - • -510 Strange words from a Preacher • 511 Beneath the Gown, or Here's heart 512 The Prearlier-Cioneral - - 513 His adventure - • -514 Yorkiown - - - - 514 Who was the Preacher-General - 515 Trenton, or the footstep in the snow, a tradiiion of Christ- inas nighi. 1776 - - 516 The Poetry of Home - - 516 The fotitsiep in the Snow - 517 "Trenton!" - - - - 518 The Prin-er-Boy and the Am- bassador - - -519 A picture of Toil • - - 519 A scene of Night, Music, Romance 520 The true Nobleman of God - 521 The Rest of the Pilgrim 522 The Jerusalem of the Soul - 522 The Rock of Wissaliikon .- - 522 Legends of the Lost-Wations of America - - - 52o A sublime vision - - • 523 The three Empires • - 524 Legends of the golden and bloody land - . - - £24 The Soldier of the Now Crusade £25 The Author to the reader - • 526 A new pilgrimage • yi37 BOOK FIRST. THE BATTLE OF CtERMANTOAVIn' (23) THE BATTLE OF GEEMANTOWN. "And when servile Fraud stalks through the land, and Genius starves in his ctll, ^hile upstart Imbecility rides abroad in chariots; when man is degenerate, public faiih is broken, public honor violated, then will we wander forth into the a\\t'ul shadows of the Past, and from the skeletons of the battle-field evoke the spirits of that giaiit lime, calling upon their forms of unreal majesty for the mighty secret whici) made them iheman-godsof that era of high deeds and glorious purposes, the Ghostly Past." Slutt tin jFit^t* THE BATTLE EVE. I.— THE RED CROSS IN PHILADELPHIA. Toll — toll — toll ! The State House bell, t hat .o nce rung the birth-day of Freedom, now tolled its knell. ^^m It was a sad day for Piiiladelphia, a sad day for the nation, when the pomp of British banners and the gleam of British arms were in her streets and along her avenues; when, as far as eye could reach, was seen the long array of glaring red coats, with the sunbenms of a clear September day fall- ing on helm and cuirass, shining like burnished gold. It was a sad and gloomy day for the nation, when the Congress was forced to flee tlie old provincial town of William Penn, when the tories paraded the streets with loud hurrahs, with the British lion waving over- head, while the whigs juing their heads iii shame and in despair. True, the day was calm and bright overhead ; true, the sky was clear and the nipping air of autumn gave freshness to the mind and bloom to the cheek ; true it was, the city was all alive with the glitter of processions, and the passing to and fro of vast crowds of people ; but the processions were a dishonor tc^our soil, the crowds hurried to and fro to gaze upon the living monuments of the defeat of Brandywine — the armed and arrogant British legions thronging the streets of Philadelphia. They came marching along in front of the old State House, on their way. (o their barracks in the Northern Liberties. The scene was full of strange and startling interest. The roofs of the State House arose clearly in the autumn air, each peak and cornice, each gable-end and corner, shown in full and distinct outline, with the trees of Independence Square towering greenly in the rear of the fabric, while up into the clear sky arose the State House 2 (25^ ZQ THE. BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. steeplo, with its solemn bell of independence, that but a year ago sent forth the news of liberty to all the land, swinging a welcome to the British host — a welcome that sounded like the funeral knell of new world freedom. The columns of the army were passing in front of Independence Hall. Along Chesnut street, as far as the eye could see, shone the glittering array of sword and bayonet, with the bright sunshine falling over the stout forms of- the British troopers, mounted on gallant war steeds, and blazing with bur- nished cuirass and polished helm, while banner and pennon waived gaily overhead. There, treading the streets in all the flush of victory, were the regiments of British infantry, with the one bold front of their crimson attire flashing in the light, with their bayonets rising overhead like a forest of stefil, and with marks of Brandywine written on many a whiskered face and burly chest. And at their head, mounted on a gallant steed, with the lordlings of his staff" around him, rode a tall and athletic man, with a sinewy frame, and a calm, placid face, wearing an even smile and quiet look, seen from beneath the shadow of his plumed chapeau, while his gaudy attire of crimson, tvith epaulettes of gold on either shoulder, announced Lord Cornwallis, the second general of the invading army. And as the General glanced around, fixing his eye proudly upon the British banner, waving fri^^lhe State House steeple, as his glance was met by the windows of Indepenjpice Hall, decorated by the flags of the British King, a proud gleam lit up his calm blue eye; and with the thought of Brandywine, came a vision of the future, speaking eloquently of provinces subjugated, rebels overthrown and liberties crushed. And then peals of music, uttered by an hundred bands, filled the street, and startled the silence of the State House avenues, swelling up to the heavens with notes of joy, the roll of drum, the shriek of bugle, and the clash of cymbal mingling in grand chorus. The banners waved more proudly overhead, the spears, the bayonets, and helmets shone brighter in the light, and between the peals of music the loud huzzas of the crowd blackening the sidewalks, looking from the windows, and clinging to the trees, broke gladly upon the air. Toll — toll — toll — the solemn notes of independence bell heralded, with an iron tongue, the entrance of flie invaders into the city ; the possession of Philadelphia by the British. It was a grand sight to see — the windows crowded with the forms of beauty, waving scarfs in the air, aged matrons lifting little children on high, who clapped their hands with glee, as they beheld the glimmer of arms and the glitter of steel, the streets below all crimson with British uniform, all music and all joy, the side walks blackened by crowds of servile tories who shouted till their loyal throats were tired " Long life to King George — con- ftjsion to Washington, and death to the rebels !" They trooped tlirough the streets of Philadelphia on the 26th of Septem THE HAUNT OF THE REBEL. 2*7 ber, 1777; just fifeen days after the battle-day of Brandywine, they took possession with all the pomp of victory ; and as the shades of twilight sank down over the town, they marched proudly into their barracks, in the Northern Liberties. II.— THE HAUNT OF THE REBEL. And where was Washington ? Retreating from the forces of Sir William Howe, along the Schuylkill , retreating with brave men under his command, men who had dared death in a thousand shapes, and crimsoned their hands with the carnage of Brandy- wine ; retreating because his powder and ammunition were exhausted; be- cause his soldiers wanted the necessary apparel, while their hands grasped muskets without lock or flint. The man of the American army retreated, but his soul was firm. The American Congress had deserted Philadelphia, but Washington did not despair. The British occupied the surrounding country, their arms shone on every hill ; their banners toyed in every breeze ; yet had George Wash- ington resolved to strike another blow for the freedom of this fair land The calm sunlight of an autumnal afternoon was falling over the quiet valleys, the green plains, and the rich and roUing^oodland of an undulating tract of country, spreading from the broad bosom of the Delaware to the hilly shores of the Schuylkill, about seven miles from Philadelphia. The roofs of an ancient village, extending in one unbroken line along the great northern road, arose grey and massive in the sunlight, as each corniced gable and substantial chimney looked forth from the shelter of the surround- ing trees. There was an air of quaint and rustic beauty about this village. Its plan was plain and simple, burdened with no intricate crossings of streets, no labyrinthine pathways, no complicated arrangement of houses. The fabrics of the village were all situated on the line of the great northern road, reaching from the fifth mile stone to the eighth, while a line of smaller vil- lages extended this " Indian file of hovises" to the tenth milestone from the city. The houses were all stamped with marks of the German origin of their tenants. The high, sloping roof, the walls of dark grey stone, the porch before the door, and the garden in the rear, blooming with all the freshness of careful culture, marked the tenements of the village, while the heavy gable-ends and the massive cornices of every roof, gave every house an ap- pearance of rustic antiquity. Around the village, on either side, spread fertile farms, each cultivated like a garden, varied by orchards heavy with golden fruit, fields burdened with the massive shocks of corn, or whitened with the ripe buckwheat, or rmbrowned by the upturning plough. The village looked calm and peaceful in the sunlight, but its plain and ■IS THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOVVN. simple people went not forlh to the field to work an that calm autumnal atlernoon. The oxen stood idly in the barn-yard^ cropping the fragrant hay, the teams stood unused by the farmer, and the flail was silent within the barn. A sudden spell seemed to have come strangely down upon the peaceful denizens of Gerraanlown, and that spell was the shadow of the Briti'ih banner flung over her fields of white buckwheat, surmounting the dream-like steeps of the Wissakikon, waving from Mount Airy, and tloaiing in the iVeshning breeze of Chesnut Hill. Had you ascended Chesnut Hill on that calm autumnal afternoon, and gazed over the tract of country opened to your view, your eye would have beheld a strange and stirring sight. Above your head the clear and boundless sky, its calm azure giving no tokens of the strife of the morrow ; declining in the west, the gorgeous sun pouring his golden light over the land, his beams of welcome having no ©men of the battle-smoke and mist that shall cloud their light on the morrow morn. Gaze on the valley below. Germantown, with its dark grey tenements, sweeps away to the south, in one unbroken line; farther on you behold the glitter of steeples, and the roofs of a large city — they are the steeples and roofs of Philadelphia. Yon belt of blue is the broad Delaware, and yon dim, dark object beyond^he city, blackening the bosom of the waters, is Fort Mifflin, recently erected by General Washington. Gaze over the fields of Germantown near the centre of the village. In every lielJ there is the gleam of arms, on every hill-top there waves a royal baimer, and over hill and plain, toward the Schuylkill on the one side, and the Delaware on the other, sweep the white tents of the British army. Now turn your gaze to the north, and to the northwest. The valley opens before you, and fairer valley never smiled beneath the sun. Away it sweeps to the northwest, an image of rustic beauty, here a rich copse of green woodland, just tinged by autumn, there a brown field, yonder jhe Wissahikon, marking its way of light, by a winding line of silver, in one green spot a village peeping out from among the trees ; a litde farther on, a farmer's dwelling with the massive barn and the dark grey hay-stack; on every side life, and verdure, and cultivation, mingled and crowded to- gether, as though the hand of God, had flung his richest blessings over the valley, and clothed the land in verdure and in beauty. Yonder the valley sweeps away to the northwest; the sun shines over a dense mass of w-oodland rolling away to the blue of the horizon. Mark that woodland well, try and discern the oudine of every tree, and count tho miles as you gaze upon the prospect. The distance from Chesnut Hill, is sixteen weary miles, and under tha! mass of woodland, beneath the shadows of those rolling fc rests, beside ttie streams hidden from your eye, in distress and in want, in defeat ana in danger, rendevouz the bands of a desperate, though gallant army. THE CAMP OF THE BRITISHER. 29 It is the Continental army, and they encamp on the banks of the Skii»- pack. Their encampment is sad and still, no peals of music break upon the woodland air, no loud hurrahs, no shouts of arrogant victory. The morrow has a different tale to tell, for by the first flush of the coming morn, a nu feoa will burst over the British Hosts at Germantown, and fighting for life, for liberty, will advance the starved soldiers of the Continental host. Ill— THE CAMP OF THE BRITISHER. As the sun went down on the 3d of October, 1777, his last beams flung a veil of golden light over the verdure of a green lawn, that extended from the road near the head of Germantown, bounded along the village street by a massive wall of stone, spreading north and south, over a quarter of a mile, while toward the east, it swept in all its greenness and beauty, for the dis- tance of some two hundred yards. A magnificent mansion arose towering on the air, a mansion built of grey stone, with a steep roof, ornamented by heavy cornices, and varied massive chimneys, with urns of brown stone, placed on pedestals of brick at each corner of the building. This fabric was at once substantial, strikingly adapted for defence in time of war, and neat and well-proportioned as regards architectural beauty. The walls thick and massive, were well supplied vith windows, the hall door opened in the centre of the house, facing the road, and the steps were decorated by two marble Lions placed on either side, each holding an escutcheon in its grasp. Here and there a green tree arose from the bosom of the lawn ; in the rear of the mansion were seen the brown-stone buildings of the barn, and to the north the grounds were varied by the rustic enclosures of a cattle-pen. This was the mansion of Chew's House, and that green lawn, spreading bright and golden in the beams of the declining sun, was the Battle-Field OF Germantown. One word with regard to the position of the British on tlie Eve of Battle. The left wing of the British army extended from the centre of the village, more than a mile below Chew's house, from a point near the old market house, westward across the Wissahikon, and toward the Schuylkill. The German chasseurs in their heavy uniform, the ponderous caps, defended by bear-skm and steel, the massive sword, and the cumbrous ornaments of sil- ver, were stationed in the front and on the flank of the left wing. The right wing swept away towards the Delaware, as far as the Old York Road ; each soldier well armed and accoutred, each dragoon supplied with his stout war-steed, each cannon with its file of men, ready for action, and every musket, with brilliant tube and glittering bayonet, prepared witli its man, for tlie keen chase of the rebel route, whenever the master of the bounds miglit start the hunt. aO THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. This wing was defeniled in the front by a battaHon of Ught infantry, and ^e Queen's American Rangers, whose handsome accoutrements, uniform of dark green, varied by ornaments of gold, and rifles mounted with silver, gleamed gaily from amid the depths of the greenwood, presenting a brilliant contrast to the course blue hunting shirt, the plain rifle, and uncouth woods- man's knife that characterised the American Rifleman. In a green held, situated near the Germantown road, a mile above Chew's house, the banner of the 40th regiment floated above the tent of Col. Mus- grave, its brave commander, while the canvass dwellings of the soldiers were scattered around the flag, intermingled with the tents of another battalion of light infantry. Such was the British position at Germantown — a picket at Allan's house, Mount Airy, two miles above Chew's house — Col. Musgrave's command a mile below Allen's house — the main body two miles below Chew's, some- where near the old market house — and this force was backed by four regi- ments of British Grenadiers, stationed in the barracks in the Northern Liberties, Philadelphia. And this force, exceeding 18000 able-bodied regulars, the Patriot chieftian bad resolved to attack with 8000 Continental troops and 3000 militia, infe- rior in arms, in clothing, and in everything but the justice of their cause, to the proud soldiers of the British host. Night came down upon Germantown. The long shadows of the old houses were flung across the village road, and along the fields ; the moon was up in the clear heavens, the dark grey roofs were tinted with silver, and glimpses of moonlight were flung around the massive barns of the village, yet its peaceful denizens had not yet retired to rest, after their good old Ger- man fashion, at early candle-light. There was a strange fear upon the minds of the villagers. Each porch contained its little circle ; the hoary grandsire, who had suffered the bright- cheeked grandchild to glide from his knee, while he leaned forward, with animated gesture, conversing with his son in a low whisper — the blooming mother, the blue-eyed maiden, and the ruddy-cheeked, flaxen-haired boy, all sharing the interest of the scene, and having but one topic of discourse — the terror of war. Could we go back to that quiet autumnal night on the 3d of October, in the Year of tlie " Three Sevens," and stroll along the village street of Ger- mantown, we would find much to interest the ear and attract the eye. We would leave Chew's house behind us, and stroll along the village btreet. We would note the old time costumes of the villagers, the men clad in coarse linsey wolsey, voluminous vests with wide lappels, breeches of buckskin, stockings and buckled shoes, while the head was defended by the skimming dish hat;' we would admire the picturesque costume of the dames and damsels of Germantown, here and there a young lady of " quality" mincing her way in all the glory of high-heeled shoes, intricate head-dres3 THE CAMP OF THE BRITISHER. 3| and fine suk gown, all hooped and frilled ; there a stately dame in frock of calico, newly bouglit and high-priced; but most would we admire the blush- ing damsel of the village, her full round cheeks peeping from beneath the kerchief thrown lightly around her rich brown locks, her blue eyes glancing mischievously hither and thither, her bust, full rounded and swelling with youth and health, enclosed in the tight bodice, while the rustic petticoat of brown linsey wolsey, short enough to disclose a neat ancle and a litde foot, would possess more att-ractions for our eyes, than the frock of calico ar gown of silk. We would stroll along the street of the village, and listen to the convcr sation of the villagers. Every tongue speaks of war, the old man whispers the word as his grey hairs wave in the moonlight, the mother murmurs the syllable of terror as the babe seeks the shelter of her bosom, the boy gaily shouts the word, as he brandishes the rusted fowling piece in the air, and the village beau, seated beside his sweetheart, mutters that word as the thought of the British ravisher flashes over his mind. Strolling from Chew's House, we would pass the Bringhursts, seated on their porch, the Helligs, the Peters, the Unrods just opposite the old Grave Yard, and the Lippards, and the Johnsons, below the grave yardi at the opposite corners of the lane leading back to the township line ; we would stroll by the mansion of the Keysers, near the Mennonist grave vard ; further down we would pass the Knoors, the Haines, the Pastorius', the Hergesimers, the Engles, the Cooke-s, the Conrads, the Sck^ffers, and the hundred other families of Germantown, descendants of old German stock, as seated on the porch in front of the mansion, each family circle discussed the terrible topic of war, bloodshed, batde, and death. Nor would we forget the various old time families, bearing the names of Nice — Moyer — Bowman — Weaver — Bockius — Forrest — Billmeyer — Lei- bert — Matthias. These names may not figure brilliantly in history, but their's was the heraldry of an honest life. And at every step, we would meet a British soldier, strutting by in his coat of crimson, on every side we would behold the gleam of British arms, and our ears would be saluted by the roll of British drums, beating the tattoo, and the signal cannon, announcing the hour of repose. And as midnight gathered over the roofs of the town, as the baying of the watchdog broke upon our ears, mingled with the challenge of the sentinel, we would stroll over the lawn of Chew's House, note the grass growing greenly and freshly, heavy with dew, and then gazing upon the heavens, our hearts would ask the question, whetlier no omen of blood in the skies, heralded the door and the death of the morrow ? Oh, there is something of horror in the anticipation of a certain death, when we know as surely as we know our own existence, that a coming battle will send scores of souls shrieking to their last account, when the gprecn lawn, now silvered by the moonlight, will be soddened with blood, 82 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. when the ancient mansion, now rising in the midnight air, Uke an emblem of rural ease, with its chimneys and its roof sleeping in the moonbeams, wih be a scene of terrible contest with sword, and ball, and bayonet ; when the roof will smoke with the lodged cannon ball, when the windows will send their volumes of flame across the lawn, when all around will be mist and gloom, grappling foemen, heaps of dying mingled with the dead, charging legions, and recoiling squadrons. IV.— THE NIGHT-MARCII. And as the sun went down, on that calm day of autumn, shooting his level beams thro' the wilds of the rivulet of the Skippack, there gathered within the woods, and along tlie shores of that stream, a gallant and despe rate army, with every steed ready for the march, with the columns mar- shalled for the journey of deall^ every man with his knapsack on his shoul- der, and musket in his grasp, while the broad banner of the Continental Host drooped heavily over head, its folds rent aud torn by the fight of Brandyvvine, waving solemnly in the twilight.* The tents were struck, the camp fires where had been prepared the hasty supper of the soldier, v/ere still burning ; the neighing of steeds, and the sup- pressed rattle of arms, rang thro' t)ie grove startling the night-bird of the Skippack, when the uncertain light of a decaying fiame, glowing around the stump of a giant oak, revealed a scene of strange interest. The flame-light fell upon the features of a gallant band of heroes, circling round the fire, each with his war cloak, drooping over his shoulder, half concealing the uniform of blue a'lid buff; each with sword by his side, cha- peau in hand, ready to spring upon his war-steed neighing in the grove hard by, at a moments warning, while every eye was fixed upon the face of the chieftain who stood in their midst. By the soul of Mad Anthony it was a sight that would have stirred a man's blood to look upon — that sight of the gallant chieftains of a gallant band, clustering round the camp fire, in the last and most solemn council of war, ere they spurred their steeds forward in the march of death. The man with the form of majesty, and that calm, impenetrable face, lighted by the hidden fire of soul, bursting forth ever and again in the glance of his eye! Had you listened to the murmurs of the dying on the field of Brandy wine you would have heard the name, that ha long since become a sound of prayer and blessing on the tongues of nations — the name of Wash- ington. And by his side was Greene, his fine countenance wearing a shade of serious thought; and there listlessly thrusting his glittering sword in the embers of the decaying fire, with his fierce eyes fixed upon the earth, while his mustachioed lip gave a stern expression to his face, was the man • The Skippack, the reader will remember, was some 16 miles from Gerniantowu THE NIGHT-MARCH. 3il of Poland and the Patriot of Brandyvvine, Pl'laski, whom it were tautology to call the brave ; there was the towering form of Sullivan, there was Conway, with iiis fine face and expressive features, there was Armstrong and Nash and Maxwell and Stirling and Stephens, all brave men and true, side by side with the gallant Smallwood of Maryland, and the stalwart FoRMAN of Jersey. And there with his muscular chest, clad in the close buttoned blue coat, with his fatigue cloak thrown over his left shoulder, with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, was the hero of Chadd's Ford, the Commander of the Massacred of Paoli, the future avenger of Stony Point, Anthony Wayne, whom the soldiers loved in their delight to name Mad Anthony ; shouting that name in the hour of the charge and in the moment of death like a watch- word of terror to the British Army. Clustered around their Chief, were the aids-de-camp of Washington, John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice of the States, Alexander Hamilton, gifted, gallant, and brave, Washington's counsellor in the hour of peril, his bosom friend and confidant, all standing in the same circle with Pickering and Lee, the Captain of the Partizan Band, with his slight form and swarthy face, who was on that eventful night detailed for duty near the Commander- in-chief. And as they stood there clustered round the person of Washington, in a mild yet decided voice, the chieftain spoke to them of the plan of the con- templated surprise and battle. It was his object to take the British by surprise. He intended for the accomplishment of this object, to attack them at once on the front of the centre ; and on the front, flank and rear of each wing. This plan of ope- ration would force the American commander to extend the continental army over a surface of from five to seven miles. In order to make this plan of attack eff*ective, it would be necessary for the American army to seperate near Skippack, and advance to Germantown in four divisions, marching along as many roads. General Armstrong with the Pennsylvania militia, 3000 strong, was to march down the Manatawny road (now Ridge road,) and traversing the shores of the Schuylkill, until the beautiful Wissahikon poured into its bosom, he was to turn the left flank of the enemy at Vandurings (now Rob- inson's Mdl,) and then advance eastward, along the bye roads, until two miles distance between this mill and the Germantown market-house were accomplished. Meanwhile the Militia of Maryland and New Jersey, were to take up their line of march some seven or eight miles to the eastward of Armstrong's position, and over three miles distance from Germantown. They were to march down the Old York Road, turn the right flank of the enemy, and attack it in the rear, also entering the town at the market-house, which was Ihe central point of operation for all the divisions. 84 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. Between Germantown and Old York Road, at the distance of near tvrr miles from the village, extends a road, called Limekiln road. The divisions cf Greene and Stejjhens flanked by McDoiigal's Brigade were to take a circuit by this road, and attack the front of the enemy's right wing. They also were to enter the town by the market-house. The main body, with which was Washington, Wayne, and Sullivan, were to advance toward Germantown by the Great Northern Road, entering the town by way of Chesnut Hill, some four miles distant from the Market-house. A column of this body was led on by Sullivan, another by Wayne, and Convay's Brigade flanked the entire division. While these four divisions advanced, the division of Lord Stirling, com- bined with the brigades of Maxwell and Nash were to form a corps de reserve. The reader, and the student of American History, has now the plan of battle spread out before him. In order to take in the full particulars of thia n>agnificent plan of battle, it may be necessary to remember the exact nature of the ground around Germantown. In some places plain and level, in others broken by ravines, rendered in- tricate by woods, tangled by thickets, or traversed by streams, it w^as in its most accessible points, and most favorable aspects, broken by enclosures, difficult fences, massive stone walls, or other boundary marks of land, ren- dering the operation of calvary at all times hazardous, and often impassible. In the vicinage of the town, for near a mile on either side, the land spread greenly away, in level fields, still broken by enclosures, and then came thick woods, steep hills and dark ravines. The base line of operations was the country around Skippack Creek, from which point, Washington, like a mighty giant, spread forth the four arms of his force, clutching the enemy in front, on his wings and on the rear, all at the same moment. It was a magnificent plan of battle, and success already seemed to hover round the American banner, followed by a defeat of the British, as terrible as that of Yorktown, when the red-coat heroes of Germantown struck their own Lion from his rock. As Washington went over the details of battle, each brave ofiicer and scarred chieftain leaned forward, taking in every word, with absorbing in- terest, and then receiving the orders of his commander, with the utmost attention and consideration. All was now planned, everything was ready for the march, each General mounted on his war-steed, rode to the head of his division, and with a low solemn peal of music, the night-march of Germantown commenced. And through the solemn hours of that night, along the whole valley, on every side, was heard the half suppressed sound of marching legions, min. gled with the low muttered word oi command, the clank of arms and the neighing of war-steeds — all dim and indistinct, yet terrible to heai. — The THE DAYBREAK WATCH. 3h farmer sleeping on his humble couch, rushed to the window of his rustic mansion at the sound, and while his wife stood beside linn, all tremor and aflVight, and his little ones clung to his knees, he saw with a mingled look of surprise and fear, the forms of an armed band, some on horse and somu on foot, sweeping through his green fields, as the dim moonbeams gleaming through the gathering mist and gloom, shone over glittering arms, and dusky banners, all gliding past, like phantoms of the Spectre Land. JIatt tne Sctontr. THE BATTLE MORN. 'Ghastly and white, Through the gloom of the night, From plain and from heath, Like a shroud of death, The mist all slowly and sullenly sweeps — A shroud of death for the myriad brave. Who to-morrow shall find the tombless grave — la mid heaven now a bright spirit weeps ; While sullenly, slowly rises that pall, Crimson tears for the brave who shall fall. Crimson tears for the dead without tomb, Crimson tears for the death and the doom — Crimson tears for an angel's sorrow, For the havoc, the bloodshed, the car- nage and g'loom, That shall startle the field on the mor- row ; — And up to the heavens now whitens the mist, Shrouding the moon with a fiery glare; Solemn voices now startle the air, To their sounds of omen you are fain to list: To listen and tremble, and hold your breath ; While the air is thronging with shapes of death. " On, on over valley and plain the legions tramp. Scenting the foemen who sleep in their camp ; Now bare the sword from its sheath blood- red. Now dig the pits for the unwept dead : Novv let the cannon give light to the hour And carnage s alk forth in his crimson power, Lo ! on the plain lay myriads gasping for breath — While the mist it is rising — the Shroud OF Death !" 1.— THE DAYBREAK WATCH. Along the porch of an ancient mansion, surmounting the height of Mount Airy, strode the sentinel of the British picket, his tall form looming like the figure of a giant in the gathering mist, while the musquet on his shoulder was grasped by a hand red with American blood. He strode slowly along the porch, keeping his lonely watch ; now turn ing to gaze at the dark shadow of the mansion towering above him, now iixing his eye along the Germantown road, as it wound down the hill, on its northward course; and again he gazed upon the landscape around him, wrapt in a gathering mist, which chilled his blood, and rendered all objects Lround him dim and indistinct. All around was vague and shadowy. The mist, with its wh'te wreaths 36 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOVVN. and snowy columns, came sweeping up on every side, from the bosom of tlie Wissahikon, from tlie depths of a thousand brooklets, over hill and ovei valley, circled that dense and gathering exhalation ; covering the woods with Us ghastly pall, rolling over the plains, and winding upward around the height of Mount Airy, enveloping the cottages opposite the sentinel, in its folds of gloom, and confining the view to a space of twenty paces from the Dorch, where he kept his solitary watch — to him, a watch of death. It is now daybreak, and a strange sound meets that soldier's ear. It is now daybreak, and his comrades slee]) within the walls of Allen's house, ana a strange, low, murmuring noise, heard from a great distance, causes him to incline his ear with attention, and to listen with hushed breath and parted lips. He listens. The night wore on. The blood-red moon was there in the eky, looking out from the mist, like a funeral torch shining through a shroud. The Sentinel bent his head down upon the porch, and with that musquet, red with the carnage of Brandy wine, in his hand, he listens. It is a distant Bound — very distant; like the rush of waters, or the moaning of the young August storm, bursting into life amid the ravines of the far-oft' mountains. It swells on the ear — it spreads to the east and to the west: it strikes the Bentinel's heart with a strange fear, and he shoulders his musquet with a firmer grasp ; and now a merry smile wreathes his lips. That sound — it is the rush of waters ; the Wissahikon has flooded its banks, and is pouring its torrents over the meadows, while it rolls onward towards the Schuylkill. The sentinel smiles at his discovery, and resumes his measured stride. He is right — and yet not altogether right. A stream has burst its banks, but not the Wissahikon. A stream of vengeance — dark, wild, and terrible, vexed by passion, aroused by revenge, boiling and seeth- ing from its unfathomable deeps — is flowing from the north, andon its bosom are borne men with strong arms and stout hearts, swelling the turbulence of the waters ; while the gleam of sword and bayonet flashes over the darii waves. The day is "breaking — sadly and slowly breaking, along the veil of mist that whitens over the face of nature like a Shroud of Death for millions. The sentinel leans idly upon the bannisters of the porch, relaxes the grasp of his musquet, inclines his head to one side, ai>d no longer looks upon the face of nature covered by mist. He sleeps. The sound not long ago far oflf, is now near and mighty in its volume, the tramp of steeds stardes the silence of the road, suppressed tones are heard, and there is a noise like the moving of legions. '* n.-THE FIRST CORSE OF GbttMANTOWN. And yet he sleeps — he dreams ! Shall we guess his dream ? That home nidden away yonder in the shadows of an English dell — he is approaching Its threshhold THE FIRST CORSE OF GERMANTOWN. S? Yes, down the old path by the mill — he sees his native cottage — his aged father stands in the door — his sister, whom he left a young girl, now grown into a blooming woman, beckons him on. He reaches her side — presses hor lips, and in that kiss hushes her welcome — " Brother, have you come at last !" But, ah ! That horrid sound crashing through his dream ! lie wakes, — wakes there on the porch of the old mansion — he sees that rifle-blaze flashing through the mist — he feels the death-shot, and then falls dead to wake in Eternity. That rifle-blaze, flashing through the mist, is the flrstshot of the Battle-day of Germantown. And that dead man, flung along the porch in all the ghastliness of sudden death — cold and still" there, while his Sister awakes from her sinless sleep to pray for him, three thousand miles away — is the first dead man of that day of horror ! And could we wander yonder, up through the mists of this fearful morning even to the Throne of Heaven, we might behold the Prayer of the Sister, the Soul of the Brother, meet face to face before Almighty God. And now listen to that sound, thundering yonder to the North, and now stand here on the porch of Allen's house, and see the Legions come ! They break from the folds of the mist, the Men of Brandywine — foot- soldiers and troopers come thundering up the hill. The blood-red moon, shining from yonder sky, like a funeral torch through a shroud, now glares upon the advancing legions — over the musquets gliu tering in long lines, over the war-horses, over the drawn swords, over the flags rent with bullet and bayonet, over the broad Banner of Stars. Allen's house is surrounded. The soldiers of the picket guard rush wildly from their beds, from the scene of their late carousal by the fire, they ruth and seize their arms — but in vain ! A blaze streams in every window^ soldier after soldier falls heavily to the floor, the picket guard are with the Dead Sentinel. Allen's house is secured, and the hunt is up ! God of Batfles, what a scene ! The whole road, farther than the eye could see, farther than the ear could hear, crowded by armed men. hurrying over Chesnut Hill, hurrying along the valley between Chesnut Hill and Mount Airy, sweeping up the hill of Allen's house, rushing onward in one dense column, with the tall form of Sullivan at their head, while the war shout of Anthony Wayne is borne along by the morning breeze. There, riding from rank to rank, speeding from battalion to battalion, from column to column, a form of majesty sweeps by, mounted on a steed of iron grey, waving encouragement to the men, while every lip repeats the whisper, and every heart beats at the =ound, echoed like a word of magic along the lines — " There he rides — how grandly his form towers in the mist; it's Washing- ton — it's Washington !" and the whole army take up the sound — " It is Washington !" 38 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. Alien's house was passed, and now the path of the central body of the army lay along the descent of the road from Mount Airy, for the space of u mile, until the quarters of Colonel Musgrave's regiment were reached. The descent was like the path of a hurricane. The light of the break- ing day, streaming dimly through mist and gloom, fell over the forms of the patriot band as they swept down the hill, every man with his musquet ready for the charge, every trooper with his sword drawn, every eye fixed upon the shroud of mist in front of their path, in the vain elTort to gaze upon the position of the advance post of the enemy a mile below, every heart throb- bing wildly with the excitement of the coming contest, and all prepared for the keen encounter, — the fight, hand to hand, foot to foot, the charge of death, and the sweeping hail of the iron cannon ball and the leaden bullet. How it would have made your heart throb, and beat and throb again, to have stood on that hill of Mount Airy, and looked upon the legions as they rushed by. Sullivan's men have passed, they are down the hill, and you see them below, — rank after rank disappearing in the pall of the enveloping mist. Here they come — a band brave and true, a band with scarred faces and sunburnt visages, with rusted musquets and tattered apparel, yet with true hearts and stout hands. These are the men of Paoli ! And there, riding in their midst, as though his steed and himself were but one animal — so well he backs that steed, so like is the battle-fever of horse, with the waving mane and glaring eye, to the wild rage that stamps the warrior's face — there in the midst of the Men of Paoli, rides their leader — Mad Anthony Wayne ! And then his voice — how it rings out upon the morning air, rising above the clatter of arms and the tramp of steeds, rising in a mighty shout — " On, boys, on ! In a moment we'll have them. On, comrades, on — and remem- ber Paoli !" And then comes the band with the gallant Frenchman at their head ; the brave Conway, brave though unfortunate, also rushing wildly on, in the train of the hunt. Your eye sickens as you gaze over file after file of brave men, with mean apparel and meaner arms, some half clad, others well nigh bare- foot, yet treading gaily over the flinty ground ; some with fragments of a coat on their backs, others without covering for their heads, all marked by wounds, all thinned by hunger and disease, yet every man of them is firm, every hand is true, as it clutches the musquet with an eager grasp. Ha ! That gallant band who come trooping on, spurring their stout steedg, with wide haunches and chests of iron, hastily forward, that band with every face seemed by scars, and darkened by the thick mustachio, every eye gleaming beneath a knit brow, every swarthy hand raising the iron sword on high. They wear the look of foreigners, the manner of men trained to fight in the exterminating wars of Europe. And their leader is tall and well-proportioned, with a dark-hued face. THE FIRST CORSE OF GERMANTOWN. 36 marked by a compressed lip, rendered fierce by the overlianging mustarhio his brow is shaded by the trooper's plume, and his hand grasps the trooper's sword. He speaks to his men in a foreign tongue, he reminds them of the well-fought field on the plain of Poland, he whispers a quick, terrible me- mento of Brandy wine and Paoli, and the clear word rings from his lips; " Forwarts, — brudern, — forvvarts 1" It is the band of Pulaski sweeping past, eager for the hunt of death, and as they spur their steeds forward, a terrible confusion arises far ahead. There is flashing of strange fires through the folds of mist, lifting the snow-white pall for a moment — there is rolling of musqueiry, rattling like the thunderbolt ere it strikes — there is the tramp of hurrying legions, the far-off shout of the charging continentals, and the yells and shouts of the surprised foemen. Sullivan is upon the camp of the enemy, upon them with the terror of ball and bayonet. They rush from their camp, they form hastily across the road, in front of their baggage, each red-coated trooper seeks his steed, each footman grasps his musquet, and the loud voice of Musgrave, echoing wildly along the line of crimson attire and flashing bayonets, is heard above all other sounds, — " Form — lads, form — fall in there — to your arms, lads, to your arms. — Form, comrades, form !'' In vain his shouting, in vain the haste of his men rushing from their beds, into the very path of the advancing continentals ! The men of Sullivan are upon them ! They sweep on with one bold front — the forms of the troop- ers, mounted on their war-steeds, looming through the mist, as with sword upraised, and batlle-siiout pealing to the skies, they lead on the charge of death ! A moment of terror, a moment made an age by suspense ! The troopers meet, mid-way in their charge, horse to horse, sword mingled with sword, eye glaring in eye, they meet. The ground quivers with an earthquake shock. Steeds recoil on their haunches, the British strew the road-side, flooding the dust with their blood, and the music of battle, the fierce music of dying groans and cries of death, rises up with the fog, startling the very heavens with its discord ! The hunt is up ! " On — boys — on" — rings the voice of Mad Anthony — " on — comrades — on — and Remember Paoli !" " Charge .'" sounds the voice of Washington, shrieking along the line, like the voice of a mighty spirit — " upon them — over them !" Conway re-echoes the sound, Sullivan has already made the air ring with his shout and now Pulaski takes up the cry — " Forivarts — brudern — Forwarts !" The hunt is up ! The British face the bayonets of the advancing Americans, but in vam Eacli bold backwoodsman sends his volley of death along the British line> find then clubbing his musquet, rushes wildly forward, beating the red-coal iO THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOVVN. to the sod with a blow that cannot be stayed. The British troopers rush forward in the charge, but ere half the distance between them and the Ainer can host is measured, Mad Anthony comes thundering on, with his Legion of Iron, and as his war-shout swells on the air, the red-coats are driven back by the hurricane force of his charge, the ground is strewn with the dyinar, and the red hoofs of the horse trample madly over the faces of the dead. Wayne charges, Pulaski charges, Conway brings up his men, and Wash- ington is there, in front of the battle, his sword gleaming like a meteor through the gloom. The fire of the infantry, spreading a sheeted flame thro' the folds of the mist, lights up the scene. Tiie never-ceasing clang of sword against sword, the low muttered shriek of the fallen, vainly trying to slop the flow of blood, the wild yell of the soldier, gazing madly round as he receives his death wound, the shout of the charge, and the invoLintary cry of 'quarter,' all furnish a music most dread and horrible, as tho' an infernal band were urging on the work of slaughter, with their notes of fiendish mockery. That flash of musquetry ! What a light it gives the scene ! Above, clouds of white mist and lurid smoke ; around, all hurry, and tramp, and motion; faces darkened by all the passions of a demon, glaring madly in the light, blood red hands upraised, foemen grappling in contest, swords rising and falling, circling and glittering, the forms of the wounded, with their faces buried in the earth, the ghastly dead, all heaped up in positions of ludicrous mockery of death, along the roadside ! That flash of musquetry ! The form of Washington is in the centre of the fight, the battle-glare lighting up his face of majesty ; the stalwart form of Wayne is seen riding hither and thither, waving a dripping sword in his good right hand ; the figure of Pulaski, dark as the form of an earth-riven spirit of some German story, breaks on your eye, as enveloped in mist, he seems rushing every where at the same moment, fighting in all points of the contest, hurrying his men onward, and driving the affiughted British before him with the terror of his charge. And Col. Musgrave — where is he ? He shouts the charge to his men, he hurries hither and thither, he shouts till he is hoarse, he fights till his person is red with the blood of his own men, slain before his very eyes, but all in vain ! He shouts the word of retreat along his line — "Away, my men, away to Chew's House — away !" The retreat commences, and then indeed, the hunt of death is up in good earnest. The British wheel down the Germantown road, they turn their backs to ^heir foes, they flee wildly toward Germantown, leaving iheir dead and dying in their wake, man and horse, they flee, some scattering their arms by ihft roadside, others weakened by loss of blood, feebly endeavoring to join THE FIRST CORSk OF (J/ r.MANTOWN. 41 the retreat, and then falling dead in the path of the pursuers, who with one bold front, with one firm step rush after the British in their flight, ride down the fleeing ranks, an ! scatter death along the hurrying columns. The fever of bloodshed grows hotter, the chase grows fearful in interest, the hounds who so often have worried down the starved Americans, are now hunted in their turn. And in the very van of pursuit, his tall form seen by every soldier, rode George Washington, his mind strained to a pitch of agony, as the crisis of the contest approached, and by his side rode Mad Anthony Wayne, now Mad Anthony indeed, for his whole appearance was changed, his eye seemed turned to a thing of living flame, his face was begrimed with powder, his sword was red with blood, and his battle-shout rung fiercer on the air — " Over them boys — upon them — over tkem, and Remember Paoli !" " Now Wayne, now'^ — shouted Washington — " one charge more and we have them !" " Forwarts — brudern — forwarts !" shouted Pulaski, as his iron band came thundering on — " Forwarts — for Washington — Forwarts !" The British leader wheeled his steed for a moment, and gazed upon his pursuers. All around was bloodshed, gloom, and deatli ; mist and smoke above ; flame around, and mangled corses below. — With one hoarse shout, he again bade his men make for Chew's House, and again the dying scat- tered along the path looked up, and beheld the British sweeping madly down the road. The vanguard of the pursuers had gained the upper end of Chew's wall, when the remnant of the British force disappeared in the fog ; file after file of the crimson-coated British were lost to sight in the mist, and in the very heat and flush of the chase, the American army was brought to a halt in front of Chew's wall, each soldier falling L^ck on his comrade with a sud- den movement, while the officers gazed on each other's faces in vain inquiry for the cause of this unexpected delay. The fog gathered in dense folds over the heads of the soldiers, thicker and more dense it gathered every instant; the enemy was lost to sight in the direction of Chew's lawn, and a fearful pause of silence, from the din and tumult.of bloodshed, ensued for a single moment. Bending from his steed in front of the gate that led into Chew's lawn, Washington gazed round upon the faces of his staff, who circled him on every side, with every horse recoiling on his haunches from the sudden ef- fect of the halt. Washington was about to speak as he leaned from his steed, with his sword half lowered in the misty air, he was about to speak, and ask the meaning of this sudden disappearance of the British, when a lurid flash lifted up the fog from the lawn, and the thunder of niusquetry boomed along 3 42 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. the air, echoino- among the nooks and corners of the ancient houses on thf opposite side of the street. Another moment, and a soldier with face all crimsoned with blood and darkened by battle smoke, rushed thro' the group clustering around the horse of Washington, and in a hurried voice announced that the remnant of the British Regiment had thrown themselves inio the substantial stone mansion on the left, and seemed determined to make good, a desperate defence. •'What say you, gentlemen" — cried Washington — "shall we press on- ward into the town, and attack the main body of the enemy at once, or shall we first drive the enemy from their strong hold, at this mansion on our left ?" The answer of Wayne was short and to the point. " Onward !" — he shouted, and his sword rose in the air, all dripping with blood — " Onward into the town — our soldiers are warmed with the chase — onward, and with another blow, we have them !" And the gallant Hamilton, the brave Pickering, the gifted Marshall, echoed the crv — " Onward — " while the hoarse shout of Pulaski rang out in the air — " Forwarts — briidern — Forwarts !" " It is against every rule of military science — " exclaimed General Knox, whose opinion in council was ever valuable with Washington — " It is against every rule of military science, to leave a fortified stronghold in the rear of an advancing army. Let us first reduce the mansion on our left, and then move forward into the centre of the town !" There was another moment of solemn council ; the older officers of the 8taft* united in opinion with Knox, and with one quick anxious glance around the scene of fog and mist, Washington gave the orders to storm the house. And at the word, while a steady volume of flame was flashing from Chew's House, every window pouring forth its blaze, glaring over the wreath of mist, the continentals, horse and foot, formed across the road, to the north of the house, eager for the signal which would bid them advance into the very jaws of death. The artillery were ranged some three hundred yards from the mansion — their cannon being placed on a slight elevation, and pointed at the north-west corner of the house. This was one of the grand mistakes of the battle, oc- easioned by the density of the fog. Had the cannon been placed in a proper position, the house would have been reduced ere the first warm flush of pursuit was cold on the cheeks of the soldiers. But the fog gathered thicker and more densely around, the soldien moved like men moving in the dark, and all was vague, dim, undefined and uncertain. All was ready for the storm. Here were men with firebrands, ready to rush forward under the cover of the fi st volley of musquetry and fire the house : here were long lines of soldiers grasping their guns with a quiet nervous movement, one foot advanced in the act of springing forward THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 43 yonler were (he cannoniers, their pieces loaded, the linstock in the haad of one soldier, while another stood ready with the next charge of anirauui- lion ; on every side was intense suspense and expectation, and heard above all other sounds, tlie rattle of the British musquetry rose like thunder ovei Chew's lawn, and seen the brightest of all other sights, the light of the British guns, streamed red and lurid over the field, giving a strange bril- lianicy to the wreaths of mist above, and columns of armed men below. III.— THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 1 RADiTioN states that at this moment, when every thing was ready for the storm of death, an expression of the most intense thought passed OTer the impenetrable countenance of Washington. Every line of his features was marked by thought, his lip was sternly compressed, and his eye gathered a strange fire. He turned to the east, and bent one long anxious look over the white folds of mist, as though he would pierce the fog with his glance, and gaze upon the advancing columns of Greene and Stephen. He inclined his head to one side of his steed, and listened for the tramp of their war-horses, but in vam. He turned towards Germantown ; all was silent in that direction, the main body of the enemy were not yet in motion. And then in a calm voice, he asked for an officer who would consent to bear a flag of truce to the enemy. A young and gallant officer of Lee's Rangers, sprang from his horse ; his name Lieut. Smith ; he assumed the snow-white flag, held sacred by all nations, and with a single glance ?t the Continental array, he advanced to Chew's House. In a moment he was lost to sight amid the folds of the fog, and hi? way lay over the green lawn for some two hundred yards. All was still and silent around him. Tradition stales that the fire from the house ceased for a moment, while Musgrave's band were silently maturing (heir plan of des- perate defence. The young soldier advanced along his lonely path, speed- ing through the bosom of the fog, all objects lost to his sight, save the green verdure of the sod, yet uncrimsoned by blood, and here and there the irunk of a giant tree looming blackly through the mist. The outline of a noble mansion began to dawn on his eye, first the slop- ing roof, then the massive chimneys, then the front of the edifice, and then its windows, all crowded with soldiers in their crimson attire, whiskered face appearing above face, with grisly musquet and glittering bayonet, thrust out upon the air, while with fierce glances, the hirelings looked forth into the bosom of that fearful mist, which still like a death-shroud for millions^ hung over the lawn, and over the chimneys of the house. The young ofldcer came steadily on, and now he stood some thirty par-e* from the house, waving his white flag on high, and then wi'h an even step he advanced toward the hall door. He advanced, but he never reached a • THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. that hall door. He was within the scope of the British soldiers' vision they coulJ have almost tout^hed him with an extended flag stafT, when the loud word of command rang through the house, a volley of fire blazed from every window, and the whole American army saw the fog lifted from the surface of the lawn, like a vast curtain from the scenes of a magniticenl theatre. Slowly and heavily that curtain uprose, and a hail storm of bullets whistled across the plain, when the soldiers of the Continental host looked for their messenger of peace. They beheld a gallant form in front of the mansion. He seemed making an effort to advance, and then he tottered to and fro, and his white flag dis- appeared for a moment ; and the next instant he fell down like a heavy weight upon the sod, and a hand trembling with the pulse of death was raised above his head, waving a white flag in the air. That flag was stained with blood : it was the warm blood flowing from the young Vir- ginian's heart. Along the whole American line there rang one wild yell of horror. Old men raised their musquets on high, while the tears gathered in their eyes ; the young soldiers all moved forward with one sudden step ; a wild light blazed in the eye of Washington ; Wayne waved his dripping sword on high ; Pulaski raised his proud form in the stirrups, and gave one meaning glance to his men ; and then, through every rank and file, through every column and solid square, rang the terrible words of command, and high above all other sounds was heard the voice of Washington — ♦♦ Charge, for your country and for vengeance — charge !" ^^vt tne muvtf. CHEW'S HOUSE. ,1, Now bare the sword from its sheath blood-red, 'Tis wet with the gore of the massacred dead ; Now raise the sword in the cause most holy — And while the whispers of ghosts break on your ear, Oh! strike without mercy, or pity, .or fear; Oh ! strike for the maxsacred dead of Paoli ! Revolutionary Song. 1.— THE FORLORN HOPE. And while the mist githired thicker and darker above, while the lurid columns of battie smoke waved like a banner overhead, while all around was dim and indistinct, — all objects rendered larger and swelled to gigantic THE FORLORN HOPE. 45 jyroportions by the action oi ilie fojj, — aiong that green lawn arose the sound of charging legions, and the blaze of musquetry flashing from the »vindows of Chew's house, gave a terrible light to the theatre of death. Again, like a vast curtain, the mist uprose, — again were seen armed men brandishing swords aloft, or presenting fixed bayonets, or holding the sure rifle in their unfailing grasp, or yet again waving torches on high, all rushing madly forward, still in regular columns, tile after file, squadron after squad- ron — a fierce array of battle and of death. It was a sight worth a score of peaceful years to see ! The dark and heavy pall of batde smoke overhead, mingled with curling wreaths of snow- white mist — the curtain of this theatre of death — the mansion of dark, grey stone, rising massive and ponderous from the lawn, each peak and corner, each buttress and each angle, shown clearly by the light of the musquet flash — the green lawn spreading away from the house — the stage of the dread theatre — crowded by bands of advancing men, with arms glittering in the fearful light, with fierce faces stamped with looks of vengeance, sweep- ing forward with one steady step, their eyes fixed upon the fatal honse ; while over their heads, and among their ranks, swept and fell the leaden bullets of iheir foes, hissing through the air with the sound of serpents, or pattering on the sod like a hailstorm of death. And while a single brigade, with which was Washington and Sullivan and Wayne, swept onward toward the house, the other troops of the cen- tral division, extending east and west along the fields, were forced to remain inactive spectators of this scene of death, while each man vainly endeavored to pierce the gloom of the mist and smoke, and observe the course of the darkening fight. Some thirty yards of green lawn now lay between the forlorn hope of the advancing Americans and Chew's house; all became suddenly still and hushed, and the continentals could hear their own foot tramp breaking upoa the air with a deadened sound, as they swept onward toward the mansion. A moment of terrible stillness, and then a moment of bloodshed and hor- ror ! Like the crash of thunderbolts meeting in the zenith from distant points of the heavens, the sound of musquetry broke over the lawn, and from every window of Chew's house, from the hall door, and from behind the chimneys on the roof, rolled the dense columns of musquet smoke; while on every side, overhead, around, and beneath, the musquet flash of the British glared like earth-riven lightning in the faces of the Americans, and then the mist and smoke came down like a pall, and for a moment all *fas dark as midnight. A wild yell broke along the American line, and then the voice of Wayne rvng out through the darkness and the gloom — " Sweep forward under the ct-ver of the smoke — sweep forward and storm the house ! ' They came rushing on, the gallant band of rangers, bearing torches in t\ eir hands — they came rushing on, and their path lay over the mangled 4Q THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. bodies of the forlorn hope, scattered alon^ the sod, in e^U the ghastliness ot wounds and death, and at their backs advanced with measured step the firm columns of the continental army, whue the air was heavy with the shriek of wounded men, and burdened with cries of aro v. 0(1 they swept, trampling over the face of the dead in the darkness and gloom, and then the terrible words of command rung out upon the air— "Advance and fire — advance and storm the house !'' A volley of sheeted tlame arose from the bosom of the fog along the lawn, the thunder of the American musquetry broke upon the air, and the balls were heard pattering against the walls of the house, and tearing spHn- ters from the roof. Anotiier moment, and the pall of mist and battle smoke is swept aside, rerealinnr a scene that a thousand words might not describe — a scene whose hurry, and motion, and glare, and horror, the pencil of the artist might in vain essay to picture. There were glittering bayonets thrust from the windows of the house, — there were fierce faces, with stout forms robed in crimson attire, thrust from every casement, — there were bold men waving torches on high, rushing around the house; here a party were piling up combustible brush-wood; there a gallant band were affixing their scaling ladder to a second story v/indow, yonder another band were thundering away at the hall door, with musquet and battle axe; while along the whole sweep of the wide lawn poured the fire of the continental host, with a flash like lightning, yet with uncertain and ineffectual aim. The hand of the soldier with the hand gathered near the combustible pile under a window — the hand of the soldier was extended with the blazing torch, he was about to fire the heap of faggots, when his shattered arm fell to his side, and a dead comrade came toppling over his cliest. A soldier near the hall door had been foremost among that gallant band, the barricades were torn away, all obstructions well nigh cleared, and he raised his battle axe to hew the door in fragments, when the axe fell with a cbnging sound upon the threshold stone, and his comrades caught his falling body in their arms, while his severed jaw hung loosely on his breast. The parly who rushed forward in the endeavor to scale the window ! The ladder was fixed — across the trench dug around Chew's house it was fixed the hands of two sturdy continentals held it firm, and a file of des- perate men, headed by a stalwart backwoodsman, in rough blue shirt and fur cap, with buck-tail plume, began the ascent of death. The foot of the backwoodsman touched the second round of the scaling ladder, when he sprang wildly in the air, over the heads of his comrades, and fell dead in the narrow trench, with a death shriek thai rang in the ears of all who heard it for life. A musquet ball had penetrated his skull, and the red torrent was already stieam i;g over his forehead, and along his swarthv features. THE HORSEMAN AND HIS MLSSAGE. 47 The Americans again rushed forward to the house, but it was like rush* ing into the embrace of death ; again they scaled the windows, again were they driven back, while the dead bodies of their comrades littered the trench: again they strode boldly up to the hall door, and again did soldier after soldier crimson the threshold-stone with his blood. II.-THE HORSEMAN AND HIS MESSAGE. And while the battle swelled fiercest, and the flame flashing from the windows of Chew's house was answered by the volley of the continental brigade, two sounds came sweeping along the air, one from the south, and the other from the northwest. They were the sounds of marching men — the tread of hurrying legions. On the summit of a gentle knoll, surrounded by the officers of his staff, Washington had watched the progress of the fight around Chew's mansion, not more than two hundred yards distant. With his calm and impenetrable face, wearing an unmoved expression, he had seen the continentals disappear in the folds of the fog, he had seen file after file marching on their way of death, he had heard the roar of con- test, the shrieks of the wounded and the yells of the dying had startled his ear, but not a muscle of his countenance moved, not a feature trembled. But when those mingling sounds of marching men came pealing on his ear, he inclined slighdy to one side of his steed and then to the other, as if m the effort to catch the slightest sound, his lips were fixedk' compressed and his eye flashed and flashed again, until it seemed turning to a thing oi' living flame. The sounds grew near, and nearer ! A horseman approached l>om the direction of Germantown, his steed was well nigh exhausted and the rider swayed heavily to and fro in the saddle. The horse came thundering up the knoll, and a man with a ghastly face, spotted with blood, leaned from the saddle and shrieked forth, as he panted for breath — " General — they are in motion — they are marching through Germantown — Kniphausen, Agnew, and Grey, they wiU be on you in a moment, and — Cornwallis — Cornwallis is sweeping from Philadelphia." The word had not passed his lips, when he fell from his steed a ghastly corpse. Another messenger stood by the side of Washington — his steed was also exhausted, and his face was covered with dust, but not with blood. He panted for breath as he shrieked forth an exclamation of joy : — " Greene is marching from the northwest — attracted by the fire in this quarter, he has deviated from his path, and will be with you in a moment?" And as he spoke, the forms of a vast body of men began to move, dim and indistinctly, from the folds of the fog on the northwest, and then the glare of crimson was seen appearing fron" the bosom of the mist on the 48 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTO WN. soutli, as a long column ol red coated soldiers, began to break, slowly on th« vision of Wasliington and his men. in.— THE BRITISH GENERAL. Turn we for a moment to Germantown. The first glimpse of day, flung a grey and solemn light over the tenemenis of Germantown, when the sound of distant thunder, aroused the startled inhabitants from their beds, and sent them hurriedly into the street. There they crowded in small groups, each one. asking his neighbor for the expla- nation of this sudden alarm, and every man inclining ids ear to tlie north, listening intently to those faint yet terrible sounds, thundering along the northern horizon. The crowded moments of that eventful morn, wore slowly on. Ere tlie day was yet light, the streets of Germantown were all in motion, crowds of anxious men were hurrying hither and thither, mothers stood on the rustic porch, gathering their babes in a closer embrace, and old men, risen in haste from their beds, clasped their withered hands and lifted their eyes to heaven in muttered prayer, as their ears were startled by the sounds of omen peal- ing from the north. The British leaders were yet asleep ; the soldiers of the camp, it is true, had risen hastily from their couches, and along the entire line of the British encampment, ran a vague, yet terrible rumor of coining battle and of sudden death ; yet the generals in command slept soundly in their beds, visited, it may be, with pleasant dreams of massacred rebels, fancy pictures of the night of Paoli, mingled with a graphic sketch of the head of Washington adorning one of the gates of London, while the grim visage of mad Anthony Wayne figured on another The footstep of a booted soldier rang along the village street, near the market-house, in the centre of the village, and presently a tall grenadier strode up the stone steps of an ancient mansion, spoke a hurried word to the sentinel at the door, and then hastily entered the house. In a moment he stood beside the couch of General Grey, he roused him with a rude shake of his vigorous hands, and the slarded ' Britisher' sprang up as hastily from his bed as though he had been dreaming a dream of the terrible night of Paoli. " Your Excellency — the Rebels are upon us !" cried the grenadier — •• they have driven in our outposts, they surround us on every side — " " We must fight it out — away to Kniphausen — away to Agnew — " " They are already in the field, and the men are about advancing to Chew's House." But a moment elapsed, and the British general with his attire hung hastily over his person, rode to the head of his command, and while Kniphausen, gay with the laurels of Brandywine. rode from rank to rank, speaking THE LEGEND OF GENERAL AGNEW. 49 encouragement to his soldiers in his broken dialect, the British army moved forward over the lields and along the solitary street of" Germanlown towardtr Chew's House. The brilliant front of the British extended in a flashing array of crimson, over the fields, along the street; and through the wreaths of mist on every side shone the glitter of bayonets, on every hand was heard the terrible tramp of 16,000 men sweeping onward, toward the field of battle, their swords eager for American blood. As the column under command of General Agnew swept through the village street, every man noted the strange silence that seemed to have come down upon the village like a spell. The houses were all carefully closed, as though they had not been inhabited for years, the windows were barricaded ; the earthquake tramp of the vast body of soldiers was the only sound that disturbed the silence of the town. Not a single inhabitant was seen. Some had fled wildly to the fields, others had hastened with the strange and fearful curiosity of our nature to the very verge of the battle of Chew's House, and in the cellars of the houses gathered many a wild and affrighted group, mothers holding their little children to their breasts, old men whose eyes were vacant with enfee- bled intellect, asking wildly the cause of all this alarm, while many a fair- cheeked maiden turned pale with horror, as the thunder of the cannon seemed to shake the very earth. IV.— THE LEGEND OF GENERAL AGNEW. A singular legend is told in relation to General Agnew. Tradition states, that on the eventful morn, as he led the troops onward through the town, a singular change was noted in his appearance. His cheeks were pale as death, his compressed lip trembled with a nervous movement, and his eyes glared hither and thither with a strange wild glance. He turned to the aid-de-camp at his side, and said with a ghastly smile, that this day's work would be his last on earth, that this battle-field would be the last he should fight, that it became him to look well at the gallant array of war, and share in the thickest of the fight, for in war and in fight should his hand this day strike its last and dying blow. And tradition states that as his column neared the Mennonist grave- yard,* a man of strange and wild aspect, clad in the skins of wild beasts, with scarred face and unshaven beard, came leaping over the grave-yard wall, and asked a soldier of the British column, with an idiotic smile whether that gallant officer, riding at the head of the men, was the brave General Grey, who had so nobly routed the rebels at Paoli ? • Adjoining the dwelling of Mr. Samuel Keyser, about three fourths oi a niil« t/fr low Chew's House, 50 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWJSi. The soldier replied with a peevish oath that yonder officer was General Grey, and he pointed to General Agnew as he spoke. The strange man said never a word, but smiled with a satisfied look and sprang over the grave-yard wall, and as he sprang, a bullet whistled past the ear of General Agnew, and a thin column of blue smoke wound upward from the grave-yard wall. The General turned and smiled. His officers would have searched the grave-yard for the author of the shot, but a sound broke on their ears from the road above, and presently the clatter of hoofs and the clamor of swords came thundering through the mist. v.— THE CONTEST IN THE VILLAGE STREET. And in a moment the voice of Sullivan was heard — " Charge — upon the 'Britishers' — charge them home!'''' And the steeds of the American cavalry came thundering on, sweeping down the hill with one wild movement, rushing into the very centre of the enemy's column, each trooper unhorsing his man, while a thousand fierce shouts mingled in chorus, and the infantry advanced with fixed bayo- nets, speeding steadily onward until they had driven back their foes with the force of their solid charge. And along that solitary street of Germantown swelled the din and terror of battle, there grappled with the fierce grasp of vengeance and of death the columns of contending foemen, there rode the troopers of the opposite armies, their swords mingling, their horses meeting breast to breast in the shock of this fierce tournament; there shrieked the wounded and dying, while above the heads of the combatants waved the white folds of mist, mingled with the murky batde smoke. Sullivan charged bravely, Wayne came nobly to his rescue, Pulaski scattered confusion into the ranks of the enemy, and the Americans had been masters of the field were it not for a fresh disaster at Chew's House, combined with the mistakes of the various bodies of the Continentals, who were unable to discern friend from foe in the density of the fog. VI.— CHEWS HOUSE AGAIN. Meanwhile the contest thickened around Chew's house ; the division of Greene, united with the central body of the American army, were engaged with the left wing of the British army, under Kniphausen, Grant, and Grey, while Sullivan led forward into the town, a portion of the advance column of his division. Tradition has brought down to our times a fearful account of the carnage and bloodshed of the fight, around Chew's house at this moment, when the British army to the south, and the Americans to the north, advanced in the terrible charge, under the cover of the mist and gloom. It was like fighting in the dark. The Americans advanced colunm aftei THE ADVENTURE OF WASHINGTON 51 column ; they drove back the British columns vviih a line of bristling bayonets, while the fire of the backwoodsmen rattled a death-hail over the field : but it was all in vain ! That gloomy mist hung over their heads, concealing their foes from sight, or investing the forms of their friends with a doubtful gloom, that caused them to be mistaken for British ; in the fierce melle ; all was dim, undefined and indistinct. VII.— THE ADVENTURE OF WASHINGTON. It was at this moment that a strange resolution came over the mind of Washington. All around him was mist and gloom, he saw his men disap- pear within the fog, toward Chew's house, but he knew not whether their charge met with defeat or victory. He heard the tread of hurrying legions, the thunder of the caimon, the ratde of the musquetry broke on his ear, mingled with the shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the dying. The terrible panorama of a battle field, passed vividly before his eyes, but still he knew not the cause of the impregnability of Chew's house. He determined to advance toward the house, and examine its position in person. He turned to the officers of his staflT — " Follow me who will !" he cried, and in a moment, his steed of iron grey was careering over the sod, littered with ghasUy corses, while the air overhead was alive with the music of bul- lets, and earth beneath was flung against the war steed's flanks by the can- non ball. Followed by Hamilton, by Pickering, by Marshall, and by Lee, of the gallant legion, Washington rode forwa-rd, and speeding between the fires of the opposing armies, approached the house. At every step, a dead man with a livid face turned upward ; litde pools of blood crimsoning the lawn, torn fragments of attire scattered over the sod ; on every side hurrying bodies of the foemen, while terrible and unre- mitting, the fire flashing from the windows of Chew's House, flung a lurid glare over the battle-field. Washington dashed over the lawn ; he approached the house, and every man of his train held his breath. Bullets were whisding over their heads, cannon balls playing round their horses' feet, yet their leader kept on his way of terror. A single glance at the house, with its vollies of flame flash- ing from every window, and he turned to the north to regain the American lines, but the fog and smoke gathered round him, and he found his horse entangled amid the enclosures of the catde-pen to the north of the mansion. " Leap your horses — " cried Washington to the brave men around him — "Leap your horses and save yourselves !" And in a moment, amid the mist and gloom his officers leaped the north- ern enclosure of the catUe-pen, and rode forward to the American line, scarcely able to discover their path in the dense gloom that gathered around 62 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. them. They reached the American lines, and to their horror, discoverea that Washington was not among their band. He had not leaped the fence of the catlle-pen ; with the feeling of a true warrior, he was afraid of injur ing his gallant steed, by this leap in the dark. While the officers of the staff were speeding to the American line, Wash ington turned his steed to the south, he determined to re-pass the liouse strike to the north-east, and then facing the fires of both armies, regain the (Continental lines. He rose proudly in the stirrups, he placed his hand gently on the neck of his steed, he glanced proudly around him, and then the noble horse sprang forward with a sudden leap, and the mist rising for a moment dis- closed the form of Washington, to the vision of the opposing armies. JIart tfte jFouvtn* THE FALL OF THE BANNER OF THE STARS. ' What seest thou now, comrade ?" " I look from the oriel window — I see a forest of glittering steel, rising in the light, with the snow-flakes of waving plumes flaunting with the sunbeams! Our men 'advance — the banner of the stars is borne aloft, onward and on it sweeps, like a mighty bird ; and now the foemen waver, they recoil — they — " '° They fly !— they fly !" .. No — ,10 ! — oh, moment of horror ! — the banner of the stars is lost ! — the flag of olood-red hue rises in the light — the foemen advance — I dare not look upon the scene " " Look again, good comrade — look, I beseech thee — what seest thou now ?" " I see a desolated field, strewn with dead carcases and broken arms — the banner of the stars is trampled in the dust — all is lost, and yet not all!" — I\lss. Revolutiow I.--WASIIINGTON IN DANGER. The form of the Chieftain rose through the smoke and gloom of battle, in all its magnificence of proportion, and majesty of bearing, as speeding between two opposing fires— his proud glance surveying the battle-field— he retraced his path of death, and rode toward the American army. He was now in front of Chew's House, he was passing through the very sweep of the fires, belching from every window ; the bullets whistled around him ; on every hand was confusion, and darkness, made more fearful by the glare of musquetry, and the lightning flash of cannon. He is now in front of Chew's House ! Another moment and the Man of the Army may fall from his steed riddled by a thousand bidlets, a single moment and his corse may be added to the heaps of dead piled along the THE UNKNOWN FORM. 53 lawn m all the ghastliness of death ; another moment and the Continentijs may be without a leader, the British without their most determined foe. His form is enrapt in mist, he is lost to sight, he again emerges into light, he passes the house and sweeps away toward the Continental array. He passes the house, and as he speeds onward toward the American lines, a proud gleam lights up his eye, and a prouder smile wreaths his de- termined lips. " The American army is yet safe, they are in the path to victory — " he exclaims, as he rejoins the officers of his staff, within the American lines — " Had 1 but intelligence of Armstrong in the West — of Smallwood and Forman in the East, with one bold effort, we might carry the field !" But no intelligence of Smallwood or Forman came — Armstrong's move- ments were all unknown — Stephens, who flanked the right wing of Greene, was not heard from, nor could any one give information concerning his position. And as the battle draws to a crisis around Chew's house, as the British and Americans are disputing the possession of the lawn now flooded with blood, let me for a moment turn aside from the path of regular history, and notice some of the legends of the battle field, brought down to our times by the hoary survivors of the Revolution. •■ II.— THE UNKNOWN FORM. Let us survey Chew's house in the midst of the fight. It is the centre of a whirpool of flame. Above is the mist, spreading its death shroud over the field. Now it is darkened into a pall by the battle smoke, and now a vivid cannon flash lays bare the awful theatre. Still in the centre you may see Chew's house, still from every window flashes the blaze of musquetry, and all around it columns of jet black smoke curl slowly upward, their forms clearly defined against the shroud of white mist. It is a terrible thing to stand in the shadows of the daybreak hour, by the bedside of a dying father, and watch that ashy face, rendered more ghastly by the rays of a lurid taper — it is a terrible thing to clasp the hand of a sis- ter, and feel it grow cold, and colder, until it stiffens to ice in your grasp — a fearful thing to gather the wife, dearest and most beloved of all, to your breast, and learn the fatal truth, that the heart is pulseless, the bosom clay, the eyes fixed and glassy. — Yes, Death in any shape, in the times of Peace by the fireside, and in the Home, is a fearful thing, talk of it as you will. And in the hour when Riot howls through the streets of a wide city, its 4en thousand faces crimsoned by the glare of a burning church, Death looks Dot only horrible but grotesque. For those dead men laid stifily along th« 64 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. streets, their cold faces turned to scarlet by the same glare that reveals the cross of the tottering temple, have been murdered by their — brothers Like wild beasts, hunted and torn by the hounds, they have yielded up their lives, the warm blood of their hearts mingling with the filth of the gutter. This indeed is horrible, but Death in the Battle, who shall dare paint its pictures ? What pencil snatched from the hands of a Devil, shall delineate its colors of blood ? Look upon Chew's house and behold it ! There — under the cover of the mist, thirty thousand men are hurrying to and fro, shooting and stabbing and murdering as they go ! Look ! The lawn is canopied by one vast undulating sheet of flame ! Hark ! To the terrible tramp of the horses' hoofs, as they crash on over heaps of dead. Here, you behold long columns of blue uniformed soldiers ; there dense masses of scarlet. Hark ! Yes, listen and hear the horrid howl of slaughter, the bubbhng groan of death, the low toned pitiful note of pain. Pain ? What manner of pain ? Why, the pain of arms torn off at the shoulder, limbs hacked into pieces by chain shot, eyes darkened forever. Not much poetry in this, you say. No. Nothing but truth — truth that rises from the depths of a bloody well. From those heaps of dying and dead, I beseech you select only one cofte, and gaze upon it in silence — Is he dead 1 The young man yonder with the pale face, the curUng black hair, the dark eyes wide open, glaring upon that shroud above — is he dead ? Even if he is dead, stay, O, stay yon wild horse that comes rushing on without a rider ; do not let him trample that young face, with his red hoofs. For it may be that the swimming eyes of a sister have looked upon that face — perchance some fair girl, beloved of the heart, has kissed those red lips — do not let the riderless steed come on ; do not let him trample into the sod that face, which has been wet with a Mother's tears I And yet this face is only one among a thousand, which now pave the bat- tle field, crushed by the footsteps of the hurrying soldiers, trampled by the horses' hoofs. And while the battle swelled fiercest, while the armies traversed that green lawn in the hurry of contest, along the blood stained sward, with calm manner and even step, strode an unknown form, passing over the field, amid smoke and mist and gloom, while the wounded fell shrieking at his feet, and the faces of the dead met his gaze on every side. It was the form of an aged man, with grey hairs streaming over hi? shoulders, an aged man with a mild yet fearless countenance, with a tall and muscular figure, clad neither in the glaring dress of the ' Britisher,' or the hunting shirt of the Continental, but in the plain attire of drab cloth, the THE UNKNOWN FORM. 55 simple coat, vest with wide appels, small clothes ami stockings, that mark the believers of the Quaker I'aiih. He was a Friend. Who he was, or what was his name, whence he came, or whither he went, no one could tell, and tradition still remains silent. But aloni,- that field, he was seen gliding amid the heat and glare of bat- tle. Did the wounded soldier shriek for a cup of water ? It was his hand that brought it from the well, on the verge of Chew's wall. Extended along the sward, with their ghastly faces quivering with the spasmodic throe of insupportable pain, the dying raised themselves piteously on their tremb- ling hands, and in broken tones asked for relief, or in the wildness of de- lirium spoke of their far oft' homes, whispered a message to their wives or little ones, or besought the blessing of their grey haired sires. It was the Quaker, the unknown and mysterious Friend, who was seen unarmed save with the Faith of God, undefended save by the Armour of Heaven, kneeling on the sod, whispering words of comfort to the dying, and pointing with his uplifted hand to a home beyond the skies, where battle nor wrong nor death ever came. Around Chew's house and over the lawn he sped on his message of mercy. There was fear and terror around him, the earth beneath his mea- sured footsteps quivered, and the air was heavy with death, but he trembled not, nor quailed, nor turned back from his errand of mercy. Now seen in the thickest of the fight, the soldiers rushing on their paths of blood, started back as they beheld his mild and peaceful figure. Some deemed him a thing of air, some thought they beheld a spirit, not one offered to molest or harm the Messenger of Peace. It was a sight worth all the ages of controversial Divinity to see — this plain Quaker going forth with the faith of that Saviour, whose name has ever been most foully blasphemed by those who called themselves his friends, going forth with the faith of Jesus in his heart, speaking comfort to the dying, binding up the gashes of the wounded, or yet again striding boldly into the fight and rescuing with his own unarmed hands the prostrate soldier from the attack of his maddened foe. Blessings on his name, the humble Quaker, for this deed which sanctifies humanity, and makes lis dream of men of mortal mould raised to the majesty of Gods. His name is not written down, his history is all unknown, but when the books of the unknown world are bared to the eyes of a congregated universe, then will that name shine brighter and lighter with a holier gleam, than the name of any Controversial Divine or loud-mouthed ftireling, that ever disgraced Christianity or blasphemed the name of Jesus. Ah, melhinks, even amid the carnage of Germantovvn, I see the face of the Redeemer, bending from the battle-mist, and smiling upon the peaceful Quaker, as he never smiled upon learned priest or mitred prelate. 66 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. III.— THE REVEL OF DEATH. Within Chaw's house this was the scene : Every room crowded with soldiers in their glaring crimson attire, the old hall thronged by armed men, all stained with blood and begrimed with battle smoke, the stair-way trembling beneath the tread of soldiers bearing ammu- nition to the upper rooms, while every board of the floor, every step of the stair-case bore its ghastly burden of dying and dead. The air was pestilent with the smell of powder, the walls trembled with the shock of battle; thick volumes of smoke rolling from the lower rooms, wound through the doors, mto the old hall, and up the stairway, enveloping all objects in a pall of gloom, that now shifted aside, and again came down upon the forms of the British soldiers like dark night. Let us ascend the stairway. Tread carefully, or your foot will trample on the face of that dead soldier ; ascend the staircase with a cautious step, or you will lose your way in the battle smoke. The house trembles to its foundation, one volley of musquetry after another breaks on your ear, and all around is noise and confusion ; nothing seen but armed men hurrying to and fro, nothing heard but the thunder of the fight. We gain the top of the stairway — we have mounted over the piles of dead — we pass along the entry — we enter the room on the right, facing to« ward the lawn. A scene of startling interest opens to our sight. At each window are arranged files of men, who, with faces all blood stained and begrimed, are sending their musquet shots along the lawn ; at each window the floor is ' stained with a pool of blood, and the bodies of the dead are dragged away by the strong hands of their comrades, who fill their places almost as soon as they receive their death wound. The walls are rent by cannon balls, and torn by bullets, and the very air seems ringing with the carnival shouts of old Death, rejoicing in the midst of demons. Near a window in this room clustered a gallant band of British officers, who gave the word to the men, directed the dead to be taken from the floor, or gazed out upon the lawn in the endeavor to pierce the gloom of the contest. Some were young and handsome oflScers, others were veterans who had mowed their way through many a fight, and all were begrimed with the blood and smoke of battle. Their gaudy coats were rent, the epaulette was torn from one shoulder by the bullet, the plume from the helm of another, and a third fell in his comrades' arms, as he received the ball in his heart. While they stood gazing from the window, a singular incident occurred. A yourg officer, standing in the midst of his comrades, felt something drop from the ceiling, and trickle down his cheek. THE REVEL OF DbATH. 67 The fight was fierce and bloody in the attic overhead. They could hear the cannon balls tearing shingles from the roof— they could hear the low. deep groans of the dying Another drop fcU from the ceiling — another and another. "It is blood !" cried his comrades, and a laugh went round the group. Drop after drop fell from the ceiling; and in a moment a thin liquid stream came trickling down, and pattered upon the blood-stained lloor. The young officer reached forth his hand, he held it extended beneath the falling stream : he applied it to his lips. " Not blood, but wine!" he shouted. " Good old Madeira wine !" The group gathered round the young officer in wonder. It was wine — good old wine — that was dripping from the ceding. In a few moments the young officer, rushing through the gloom and confusion of the stairway, had ransacked the attic, and discovered under the eaves of the roof, between the rafters and the floor, some three dozen bottles of old Madeira wine, placed there for safe-keeping some score of years before the batUe. These bottles were soon drawn from their resting-place, and the eyes of the group in the room below were presently astonished by the vision of the ancient bottles, all hung with cobwebs, their sealed corks covered with dust. In a moment the necks were struck off some half-dozen bottles, and while the fire poured from the window along the lawn, while cries and shrieks, and groans, broke on the air ; whde the smoke came rolling in the window, now in folds of midnight blackness, and now turned to lurid red by the glare of cannon ; while the terror and gloom of batde arose around them, the group of officers poured the wine in an ancient goblet, discovered in a closet of the mansion, — they filled it brimming full with wine, and drank a royal health to the good King George ! They drank and drank again, until their eyes sparkled, and their lips grew wild with loyal words, and their thirst for blood — the blood of the rebels — was excited to madness. Again and again were the soldiers shot down at the window, again were their places filled, and once more the gob- let went round from lip to lip, and the old wine was poured forth like water, in healths to the good King George ! And as they drank, one by one, the soldiers were swept away from the windows, until at the last the officers stood exposed to the blaze of the American fire, flashing from the green lawn. " Health to King George — Death to the rebels !" '1 he shout arose from the lips of a grey-haired veteran, and he fell to tlie floor, a mangled corse. The arm that raised the goblet was shattered at the elbow by one musket ball, as another penetrated his brain. The goblet was seized by another hand, and the reveJ grew loud anil wild. The sparkling wine was poured forth like water, healths were drank, hurrahs were shouted, and — another officer measured his length on the floor. He had received his ball of death 4 58 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTC WN. There was something of ludicrous horror in the scene. Those sounds of revel and bacchanalian uproar, breaking on the air, amid the intervals — the short and terrible intervals of battle — those faces flushed by wine, and agitated by all the madness of the moinent, turned from one side to another, every lip wearing a ghastly smile, every eye glaring from its socket, while every voice echoed the drunken shout and the fierce hurrah. Another officer fell wounded, and another, and yet another. The young officer who had first discovered the wine alone remained. Even in this moment of horror, we cannot turn our eyes away, from his young countenance, with its hazel eyes and thickly clustered hair ! He glanced round upon his wounded and dying comrades, he looked Vacantly in the faces of the dead, he gazed upon the terror and confusion of the scene, and then he seized the goblet, filled it brimming-fuU with wine, and raised it to his lips. His lip touched the edge of the goblet, his face was reflected in the quivering wavelets of the wine, his eyes rolled wildly to and fro, and then a musket shot pealed through the window. The officer glared around with a maddened glance, and then the warm blood, spouting from the wound between his eyebrows, fell drop by drop into the goblet, and mingled with the wavelets of the ruby wine. And then there was a wild shout ; a heavy body toppled to the floor and the young soldier with a curse on his lips went drunken to his God. Let us for a moment notice the movements of the divisions of Washing- ton's army, and then return to the principal battle ground at Chew's house. The movements of the divisions of Smallwood and Forman are, to this day, enveloped in mystery. They came in view of the enemy, but the density of the mist, prevented them from effectually engaging with the 'British. Armstrong came marching down the Manatawny road, until the quiet Wissahikon dawned on the eyes of his men ; but after this moment, his march is also wrapt in mystery. — Some reports state that he actually engaged with the Hessian division of the enemy, others state that the alarm of the American retreating from Chew's house reached his ear, as the van guard of his command entered Germantown, near the market-house, ard commenced firing upon the chasseurs who flanked the left wing of the British army. However this may be, yet tradition has brought down to our times a ter- rible legend connected with the retreat of Armstrong's division. The theatre of this legend was the quiet "Wissahikon, and this is the story of ancient tradition. THE WISSAHIKON. IV.— THE WISSAHIKON. 59 U is a poem of everlasting beauty — a dream of magnificence — th« wrcvid-hidden, wood-embowered Wissahikon. Its pure waters break for- ever in ripples of silver nroiind the base of colossal rocks, or sweep miiT- muringly on, over beds of pebbled flints, or spread into calm and mirror- like lakes, with shores of verdure, surmounted by green hills, rolling away in waves of forest trees, or spreading quiedy in the fierce light of the sum- mer sun, with the tired catde grouped beneath the lofty oaks. It is a poem of beauty — where the breeze mourns its anthem through the tall pines ; where the silver waters send up their voices of joy ; where calmness, and quiet, and intense solitude awe the soul, and fill the heart with bright thoughts and golden dreams, woven in the luxury of the sum- mer hour. From the moment your eyes first drink in the gladness of its waters, as they pour into the Schuylkill, seven miles from Philadelphia, until you be- hold it winding its thread of silver along the meadows of Whitemarsh, m»iy miles above, it is all beauty, all dream, all magnificence. It breaks on your eye, pouring into the Schuylkill, a calm lake, with an ancient and picturesque mill* in the foreground. A calm lake, buried^in the depths of towering steeps, that rise almost perpendicularly on either Bide, casting a shadow of gloom over the water, while every steep is greea with brushwood, every rocky cleft magnificent with the towering oak, the sombre pine, or the leafy chesnut. This glen is passed ; then you behold hilly shores, sloping away to the south in pleasant undulations, while on the north arise frowning steeps. Then your mind is awed by tremendous hills on either side, creating one immense solitude ; rugged steeps — all precipice and perpendicular rock — covered and crowded with giant pines, and then calm and rippleless lakes, shadowy glens, deep ravines and twilight dells of strange and dreamy beauty. There is, in sooth, a stamp of strange and dreamy beauty impressed upon every ripple of the Wissahikon, every grassy bank extending greenly along its waters, on every forest-tree towering beside its shores. On the calm summer's day, when the sun is declining in the west, you may look from the height of some grey, rugged steep, down upon the depths of the world-hidden waters. Wild legends wander across your fancy as you gaze ; every scene around you seems but the fitting location for a wild and drcimy tradition, every rock bears its old time story, every nook of the wild wood has its tale of the ancient days. The waters, deep, calm, and well-like, buried amidst overhanging hills, have a strange and mysterious * Fcrmerly Vanduring'e, now Robinson's mill. (if) THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN, Hearness. The long shadows of the hills, broken by golden belts of sun- shine, clothe the waters in sable and gold, in glitter and in shadow. All aronnd is quiet and still ; silence seems to have assumed a positive existence amid tiiese vallies of romance and of dreams. It was along the borders of this quiet stream, that an ancient fabric arose tawering through the verdure of the trees, with its tottering chimneys enreloped in folds of mist. The walls were severed by many a fissure, the windows were crumbling to decay ; the halls of the ancient mansion were silent as the tomb. It was wearing toward noon, when a body of soldiers, wearing the blue hunting-shirt and fur cap with bucktail plume, came rushing from the woods na the opposite side of the rivulet, came rushing through the waters of the lonely stream, and hurried with hasty steps toward the deserted house. In a moment they had entered its tottering doorway, and disappeared within its aged walls. Another instant, and a body of soldiers broke from the woods on the opposite side of the stream, clad in the Hessian costume, with ponderous bearskin caps, heavy accroutements, and massive muskets. They crossed the stream, and rushed into the house in pursuit of the flying continentals. They searched the rooms on the first floor; they hur- ried along the tottering timbers, but not a single Continental was to be seen. They ascended the crumbling stairway with loud shouts and boisterous oalhs, and reached the rooms of the second story. Every door was flung hastily aside, every closet was broken open, the boards were even torn from the floor, every nook was searched, every corner ransacked, and yet no vision of a blue shirted backwoodsman, met the eye of the eager Hessians. All was silent as death. Their own footfalls were returned in a thousand echoes, their own shouts alone disturbed the silence of the house, but no sound or sight, could be ob- tained of the fleeing Continentals. Every room was now searched, save the garret, and the Hessians, some twenty men, able bodied and stout, were about rushing up the stairway of the attic in pursuit of the ten Continental soldiers, when the attention of one of their number was arrested by a sin- gular spectacle. The Hessian soldier beheld through a crumbling window frame, the flgure of a woman, standing on the height of an abrupt steep, overhanging the opposite side of the stream. She waved her hands to the soldier, shouted and waved her hands again. He heeded her not, but rushed up the Btairway after his companions. The shout of that unknown woman was the warning of death. While the Hessians were busily engaged in searching the attic, while the;r shouts and execrations awoke the echoes of the roof, while they were thrusting sword and bayonet into the dark corners of the apartment, that shout of the woman on the rock, arose, echoing over the stream again and again. THE CRISIS OF THE FIGHT. ♦ 61 The Hessians rt.:?hcd *;D the window, they suddenly remembered tiial they had neglected to search the cellar, and looking lar below, they beheld tiiin wreaths of light blue smoke, winding upward from the cellar window. A fearful susjjicion crept over the mmds of the soldiers. They rushed from the attic, in a moment they might reach the lowei floor and escape. With that feeling of unimaginable terror creeping round each heart and paling every face, they rustied tremblingly on, they gained the second floor, their footsteps already resounded along the stairway when the boards trembled beneath their feet, a horrid combination of sounds assaile- bing, every vein filling with one desire, which we now send up to thee with hands and soul upraised — the desire of freedom for this fair land. Give us success in this our most holy cause. In the name of the mar- tyred dead of the past, in the name of that shadowy band, whose life-bloo<* dyes a thousand scaffolds, give us freedom. In the name of Jesus give us peace ! Make strong the hands of thy ser« vant even George Washington. Make strong the hearts of his counsellors, stir them up to greater deeds even than the deeds they have already done, let thy presence be with our host, a pillar of doud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And at last, when our calling shall have been fulfilled, when we have 80 THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. done and suffered thy will here below, receive us into the Res of the l^essed. So shall it be said of us — " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, — they rest from their la- bors, and their works do follow themV The last words of the preacher, sank into the hearts of his hearers. Every man felt awed, every soul was thrilled. The preacher made a sign to the group of war-worn soldiers in attend ance at the head of the graves. The coffins were lowered m their recep- tacles of death. The man of God advanced, and took a handful of earth, from one of the uprising mounds. There was universal silence around the graves, and thro' the grave-yard. " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The sound of the earth rattling on the coffin of General Nash, broke with a strange echo on the air. Slowly along the sod, passed the minister of heaven speaking the solemn words of the last ceremony, as he flung the handful of earth upon each eoffin. A single moment passed, and a file of soldiers, with upraised musquets, extended along the graves. The word of command rang out upon the air, and the shot after shot, the alternating reports of the musquets, broke like thunder over the graves of the laurelled dead. The soldiers suddenly swept aside, and in a moment, a glittering cannon was wheeled near the graves, with the cannonier standing with the lighted linstock, by its side. The subdued word of command again was heard, the earthquake thunder of the cannon shook the graveyard, and like a pall for the mighty dead, the thick folds of smoke, waved heavily above the grave. Again did the file of musquetry pour forth the fire, again did the cannons send forth their flame flashing down into the very graves of the dead, while the old church walls gave back the echo. — Again was the ceremony re- peated, ai7d as the thick folds of cannon-smoke waved overhead, the soldi- ers opened to the right and left, and the pall-bearers of the dead advanced. They advanced, and one by one looked into the graves of the slain. This was the scene when Washington looked for the last time into th« grave of Nash and his death-mates. The sun setting behind the grove of oaks threw a veil of sunshine over the masses of armed men thronging the grave-yard, over the reversed arras, and craped banner of blue and stars. The form of Washington, standing ai the head of the grave, was disclosed in all its majesty of proportion, his fac*; impressed with an expression of sorrow, and his right hand reversing his craped sword ; Wayne — the gallant, the noble, the fearless Wayne — stood at his right shoulder, and then sweeping in a line along the graves, extended the chieftains of the army, each face stamped with grief, each right arm holding the reversed sword : there was the sagacious face of Greene PRAYER FOR THE DEAD. 81 the bluff visage of Knox, the commanding features of Sullivan, tnc .nanly countenances of Maxwell, Stirling, Forman, Conway, and the other officera of the continental host.- All were grouped there beside the graves of the slain, and as every eye was fixed upon the coffins sprinkled with earth, a low, solemn peal of music floated along the air, and a veteran advancing to the grave, flung to the wind the broad banner of blue and stars, ant» the lasi glimpse of sun-light fell upon this solemn relic o^ the Battle-Bag of (KcrmantoUjn^ BOOK SECOND. THE WISSAHIKON. (83) THE WISSAIIIKON. WlSSAHIKON I That name, soft as the wind of May, breathing its perfume over the brow of the way-worn wanderer — melodious as a burst of music, swelling from afar, over the bosom of still waters — sad and wild, as the last groan of a dying warrior, who conquering all vain regrets by one strong impulse of his passing soul, sternly gives up his life to God — Wissahikon ! That name speaks to our hearts with a pathos all its own. Yes, it speaks to our hearts with a strange and mingled meaning, whether written Wissahiekon, or Wissahiccon, or pronounced as it fell from the lips of tlie [ndian maidens in the olden time, who bathed their forms in its waters, and adorned their raven hair with the lilies and wild roses tliat grow in its deep woods WiSSAHIKONE ! That word speaks of rocks, piled up in colossal grandeur, with waves murmuring at their feet, and dark green pines blooming forever on their brows. That name tells me of a tr?inquil stream, that flows from the fertile meadows of White marsh, and then cleaves its way for eight miles, through rocks of eternal granite, now reflecting on its waves the dark grey walls and steep roof of some forest hidden mill, now burymg itself beneath the shadows of overhanging trees, and then comes laughing into the sun, like a* maiden smiling at the danger that is past. We will go down to Wissahikon. You have been there; some of you in the still summer afternoon, when the light laugh of girlhood rang through the woods — some of you perchance in the early dawn, or in the purple twilight when the shadows came darkly over the waters. But to go down into its glens at midnight, when silence like death is brooding there ! Then the storm-cloud gathers like a pall — then, clinging to yon awful cliff" that yawns above the blackness, you hear the Thunder speak to the still woods, and the deeps far below, speak back again their Thunder. Then at dead of night, you see the red lightning flashing down over the tall pines, down over the dark waters, quivering and trembling with its arrows of wrath, far into the shadows of the glen. At last the storm-cloud rolls back its pall. The silver moon cornea shining out, smiling from her window in the sky. The Eagle too, lord of (85j 86 THE WISSAHIKON. the wild domain, starts from his perch, and wheels through tlie deep azure circling round the moon, bathing his pinions in her hght as he looks for the coming of his God, the sun. Had you been there at dead of night, as I have been, you would know something of the supernatural grandeur, the awful beauty of the Wissahi- kon ; then, even though you were an Atheist, you would have knelt down and felt the existence of a God. The Wissahikon wears a beauty all its own. True, the Hudson is mag- nificent with her mingled panorama of mountain and valley, tumultuous river and tranquil bay. To me she seems a Queen, who reposes in strange majesty, a crown of snow upon her forehead of granite, the leaf of the In- dian corn, the spear of wheat, mingled in the girdle which binds her waist, the murmur of rippling water ascending from the valley beneath her feet. The Susquehanna is awfully sublime ; a warrior who. rushes from his home in the forest, hews his way through primeval mountains, and howls in his wrath as he hurries to the ocean. Ever and anon, like a Conqueror overladened with the spoils of battle, he scatters a green island in his path, or like the same Conqueror relenting from the fury of the fight, smiles like Heaven in the wavelets of some tranquil bay. Neither Queen, nor Warrior is the Wissahikon. Let us look at its Image, as it rises before us. A Prophetess, who with her cheek embrowned by the sun, and her dark hair — not gathered in clusters or curling in ringlets — falling straighdy to her white shoulders, comes forth from her cavern in the woods, and speaks to us in a low soft tone, that awes and wins our hearts, and looks at us with eyes whose steady light and supernatural brightness bewilders our soul. • Yes, whenever 1 hear the word — Wissahikon — I fancy its woods and waves, embodied in the form of an Indian Prophetess, of the far gone time. Oh, there are strange legends hovering around those wild rocks and dells — legends of those Monks who dwelt there long ago, and worshipped God without a creed — legends of that far gone time, when the white robed In- dian priests came up the dell at dead of night, leading the victim to the altar — to the altar of bloody sacrifice — that victim a beautiful and trembling girl. Now let us listen to the Prophetess as she speaks, and while her voice thrills, her eyes fire us, let us hear from her lips the Legends of the olden limes. 1.— THE CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. It stood in the shadows of the Wissahikon woods, that ancient Mon- astery, its dark walls canopied by the boughs of the gloomy pine, inter- woven with leaves of grand old oaks. From the waters of the wood-hidden stream, a winding road led up to its gates ; a winding road overgrown with tall rank grass, and sheltered from the light by the thick branches above. THE CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. 87 A Monastery? Yes, a Monastery, here amid the wilds of Wissahikon, in the year of Grace 1773, a Monastery built upon the soil of William Penn ! Let me paint it for you, at the close of this calm summer day. The beams of the sun, declining far in the west, shoot between the thickly gathered leaves, and light up the green sward, around those massive gates, and stream with sudden glory over the dark old walls. It is a Monastery, yet here we behold no swelling dome, no Gothic turrets, no walls of mas- sive stone. A huge square edifice, built one hundred years ago of the trunks of giant oaks and pines, it rises amid the woods, like the temple of some long forgotten religion. The roof is broken into many fantastic forms ; — here it rises in a steep gable, yonder the heavy logs are laid pros trate ; again they swell into a shapeless mass, as though stricken by a hurricane. Not many windows are there in the dark old walls, but to the west four large square spaces framed in heavy pieces of timber, break on your eye, while on the other sides the old house presents one blank mass of logs, ris- ing on logs. No : not one blank mass, for at this time of year, when the breath of June hides the Wissahikon in a world of leaves, the old Monastery looks like a grim soldier, who scathed by time and battle, wears yet thick wreaths of laurel over his armour, and about his brow. Green vines girdle the ancient house on every side. From the squares of the dark windows, from the intervals of the massive logs, they hang in luxuriant festoons, while the shapeless roof is all one mass of leaves. Nay, even the wall of logs which extends around the old house, with s ponderous gate to the west, is green with the touch of June. Not a trunk but blooms with some drooping vine ; even the gateposts, each a solid column of oak, seem to wave to and fro, as the summer breeze plays with their drapery of green leaves. It is a sad, still hour. The beams of the sun stream with fitful splendor over the green sward. That strange old mansion seems as sad and deso- late as the tomb. But suddenly — hark ! Do you hear the clanking of those bolts, the crashing of the unclosing gates ? The gates creak slowly aside ! — let us steal behind this cluster of pines, and gaze upon the inhabitants of the Monastery, as they come forth for their evening walk Three figures issue from the opened gates, an old man whose withered features and white hairs are thrown strongly into the fading light, by his long robe of dark velvet. On one arm, leans a young girl, also dressed in black, her golden hair falling — not in ringlets — but in rich masses, to her shoulders. She bends upon his arm, and with that living smile upon her lips, and in her eyes, look up into his face. On the other arm, a young man, whose form, swelling with the proud 88 THE WISSAHIKON. outlines of earl}^ manhood, is attired in a robe or gown, dark as his father'i while his bronzed face, shaded by curling brown hair, seems to reflect the silent thought, written upon the old man's brow. They pace slowly along the sod. Not a word is spoken. The old man raises his eyes, and lifts the square cap from his brow — look ! how that golden beam plays along his brow, while the evening breeze tosses his white hairs. There is much suffering, many deep traces of the Past, writ- ten on his wrinkled face, but the light of a wild enthusiasm beams from his blue eyes. The young man — his dark eyes wildly glaring fixed upon the sod — moves by the old man's side, but speaks no word. The girl, that image of maidenly grace, nurtured into beauty, within an hour's journey of the city, and yet afar from the world, still bends over that aged arm, and looks smilingly into that withered face, her glossy hair wav- ing in the summer wind. Who are these, that come hither, pacing, at the evening hour, along the wild moss ? The father and his children ! What means that deep strange light, flashing not only from the blue eyes of the father, but from the dark eyes of his son ? Does it need a second glance to tell you, that it is the light of Fanaticism, that distortion of Faith, the wild glare of Superstition, that deformity of Re- ligion ? The night comes slowly down. Still the Father and son pace the ground in silence, while the breeze freshens and makes low music among the leaves. — Still the young girl, bending over the old man's arm, smiles ten- derly in his face, as though she would drive the sadness from his brow with one gleam of her mild blue eyes. At last — within the shadows of the gate, their faces lighted by the las! gleam of the setting sun — the old man and his son stand like figures of stone, while each grasps a hand of the young girl. Is it not a strange yet beautiful picture ? The old Monastery forms one dense mass of shade ; on either side extends the darkening forest, yet here, within the portals of the gate, the three figures are grouped, while a warm, soft mass of tufted moss, spreads before them. The proud manhood of the son, contrasted with the white locks of the father, the tender yet voluptuous beauty of the girl relieving the thought and sadness, which glooms over each brow. Hold — the Father presses the wrist of his Son with a convulsive grasp — hush ! Do you hear that low deep whisper ? " At last, it comes to my soul, the Fulfilment of Prophecy !" he whispers and is silent again, but his lip trembles and his eye glares. "But the time — Father — the time?'" the Son replies in the same deep voice, while his eye dilating, fires with the same feeling that swells hia Father's heart. TKc: CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. 89 •' The last day of this year — the third hour after midnight — the J)e LIVERER WILL COME !" These words may seem lame and meaningless, when spoken again, but Iiad you seen the look that kindled over the old man's face, his white hand raised above his head, had you heard his deep voice swelling through the silence of the woods, each word would ring on your ear, as though it quiv ered from a spirit's tongue. Then the old man and his son knelt on the sod, while the young girl — looking in their faces with wonder and awe — sank silendy beside them. The tones of Prayer broke upon the stillness of the darkening woods. Tell us the meaning of this scene. Wherefore call tiiis huge edifice, where dark logs are clothed in green leaves, by the old world name of Mo- nastery ? Who are these — father, son, and daughter — that dwell within its walls ? Seventeen years ago — from this year of Grace, 1773, — tliere came to the wilds of the Wissahikon, a man in the prime of mature manhood, clad in a long, dark robe, with a cross of silver gleaming on his breast. With one arm he gathered to his heart a smiling babe, a little girl, whose golden hair floated over his dark dress like sunshine over a pall; by the other hand he led a dark haired boy. His name, his origin, his object in the wilderness, no one knew, but pur fhasing the ruined Block-House, which bore on its walls and timbers the marks of many an Indian fight, he shut himself out from all the world. His son, his daughter, grew up together in this wild solitude. The voice of prayer was often heard at dead of night, by the belated huntsman, swelling from the silence of the lonely house. By slow degrees, whether from the cross which the old stranger wore upon his breast, or from the sculptured images which had been seen within the walls of his forest home, the place was called — the Monastery — and its occupant the Priest. Had he been drawn from his native home by crime ? Was his name enrolled among the tided and the great of his Father-land, Germany ? Or, perchance, he was one of those stern visionaries, the Pietists of Germany, who, lashed alike by Catholic and Protestant persecutors, brought to the wilds of Wissahikon their beautiful Fanaticism ? For that Fanaticism, professed by a band of brothers, who years before driven from Germany, came here to Wissahikon, built their Monastery, and worshipped God, without a written creed, was beautiful. It was a wild belief, tinctured with the dreams of Alchemists, it may be, yet still full of faith in God, and love to man. Persecuted by the Pro- teslunts of Germany, as it was by the Catholics of France, it still treasured ♦.he Bible as its rule and the Cross as its symbol. The Monn.stery, in which the brothers of the faith lived for long years. yn THE WISSAHIKON. was situated on the brow of a hill, not a mile from the old Block-House. Here the Brothers had dwelt, in the deep serenity of their own hearts, until one evennig mey gathered in their garden, around the form of their dying father, who yielded his soul to God in their midst, while the setting sun and the calm silence of universal nature gave a strange grandeur to the scene. But it was not with this Brotherhood that the stranger of the Block-House held communion. His communion was with the dark-eyed son, who grew up, drinking the fanaticism of his father, in many a midnight watch with the golden-haired daughter, whose smile was wont to drive the gloom from his brow, the wearmg anxiety from his heart. Who was the stranger ? No one knew. The farmer of the Wissahikon had often seen his dark-robed form, passing like a ghost under the solemn pines ; the wandering huntsman had many a time, on his midnight ramble, heard the sounds of prayer breaking along the silence of the woods from the Block-House walls : yet still the life, origin, objects of the stranger were wrapt in impenetrable mystery. Would you know more of his life ? Would you penetrate the mystery of this dim old Monastery, shadowed by the thickly-clustered oaks and pines, shut out from the world by the barrier of impenetrable forests ? Would you know the meaning of those strange words, uttered by the old man, on the calm summer evening ? Come with me, then^at midnight — on the last day of 1773. We will enter the Block-House together, and behold a scene, which, derived from a tradition of the past, is well calculated to thrill the heart with a deep awe. It is midnight: there is snow on the ground : the leafless trees fling their bared limbs against the cold blue of the starlit sky. The old Block-House rises dark and gloomy from the snow, with the heavy trees extending all around. The wind sweeps through the woods, not with a boisterous roar, but the strange sad cadence of an organ, whose notes swell away through the arches of a dim cathedral aisle. Who would dream that living beings tenanted this dark mansion, arising in one black mass from the oed of snow, its huge timbers, revealed in various indistinct forms, by the cold clear light of the stars? Centred in the midst of the desolate woods, it looks like the abode of spirits, or yet like some strange sepulchre, in which the dead of long-past ages lie entombed. There is no foot-track on the winding road — the snow presents one smooth white surface — yet the gates are thrown wide open, as if ready for ♦he coming of a welcome guest. Through this low, narrow door — also flung wide open— -along this dark torridor, we will enter the Monastery. THE COxVSECRATION OF THE DELIVllRER. ()1 1:1 the centre of this room, illumined by the light of two tali white candles Bits the old man, his slender form clad in dark velvei, with the silver cross gleaming on hisliosom, buried in the cushions of an oaken chair. His slender hands are laid npon his knees — he sways slowly to and fro — while his large blue eye, dilating with a wild stare, is fixed upon the opposite wall. Hush! Not a word — not even the creakii'i: of a footstep — for ll;:.s old man, wrapped in his thoughts, sitting alone in the centre of this strangely furnished room, fills us with involuntary reverence. Strangely furnished room ? Yes, circular in form, with a single doorway, huge panels of dark oaken wainscot, rise from the bared floor to the gloomy ceiling. Near the old man arises a white altar, on which the candles are placed, its spoUess curtain floating down to the floor. Between the candles, you behold, a long, slender flagon of silver, a wreath of laurel leaves, fresh gathered from the Wissahikon hills, and a Holy Bible, bound in velvet, with antique clasps of gold. Behind the altar, gloomy and sullen, as if struggling with the shadows of the room, arises a cross of Iron. On yonder small fire-place, rude logs of oak and hickory send up their mingled smoke and flame. The old man sits there, his eyes growing wilder in their gaze every moment, fixed upon the solitary door. Still he sways to and fro, and now his thin lips move, and a faint murmur fills the room. " ^e will comer'' mutters the Priest of the Wissahikon, as common rumor named him. "At the third hour after midnight, the Deliverer will come!''^ These words acquire a singular interest from the tone and look which accompany their utterance. Hark — the door opens — the young man with the bronzed fiice and deep dark eyes, appears — advances to his father's side. "Father" — whispers the young man — " May it not be a vain fancy after all ! This Hope that the Deliverer will come ere the rising of the sun ?" You can see the old man turn suddenly round — his eye blazes as he grasps his son by the wrist. " Seventeen years ago, I left my father-land, became an exile and an out- cast ! Seventeen years ago, I forsook the towers of my race, that even now, darken over the bosom of the Rhine — I, whose name was ennobled by the ancestral glories of thirteen centuries, turned my back at once on pomp, power, — all that is worshipped by the herd of mankind ! In my native land, they have believed me dead for many years — the castle, the broad domains that by the world's law, are yours, my son, now oyrxt another's rule — and here we are, side by side, in this rude temple of the Wissahikon! Why is this^, my son? — Speak, Paul, and answer me, why 92 THE WISSAHIKON. do we dwell together, tlie father and his children, in this wild forest of o strange land V The sun veiled his eyes with his clasped hands : the emotion of iiis father's look, thrilled him to the soul. " I will tell you why 1 Seventeen years ago, as I bent over the body of my dead wife, even in the death-vault of our castle, on the Rhine, the Voice of God, spake to my soul — bade me resign all the world and its toys — bade me take my children, and go forth to a strange land !"' " And there await the Fultilment of Prophecy !" whispered Paul, raising his hand from the clasped hands. " For seventeen years i have buried my soul, in the pages of that book" — "I have shared your studies, father! Reared afar from the toll and the vanity of worldly life, I have made my home with you in this hermitage. Together we have wept — prayed — watched over the pages of Revelation !" " You have become part of my soul," said the Priest of AVissahikon, in a softened voice, as he laid his withered hand upon the white forehead of his Bon: " you might have been noble in your native land; yes, your sword might have carved for you a gory renown from the corses of dead men, butchered in battle ; or the triumphs of poetry and art, might have clothed your brow in laurel, and yet you have chosen your lot with me ; wiih me, devoted life and soul to the perusal of God's solemn book !" The dark eye of the son began to burn, with the same wild light that blazed over his father's face. " And bur studies, our long ajid painful search into the awful world, which the Bible opens to our view, has ended in a knowledge of these great truths — The Old IVorld is sunk in all manner of crime, as teas the Ante-Detuvian World ; — THE Nkw World is given to man as a refuge, even as the Ark was given to JSoah and his children. " llie New IVorld is the last altar of human freedom left on the surface of the Globe. Never shall the footsteps of Kings pollute its soil. It is the last hope of man, God has spoken, and it is so — Amen !" The old man's voice rung, in deep, solemn tones, through the lonely room, while his eye seemed to burn as with the tire of Prophecy. " The voice of God has spoken to me, in my thoughts by day, in my dreams by night — / will send a Deliverer to this land of the New World, who shall save my people from physical bondage, even us my Son saved them from the bondage of spiritual death! "And to-night he will come, at the third hour after midnight, he will come through yonder door, and take upon himself his great Mission, to free the New World from the yoke of the Tyrant ! " Yes my son, six: months ago, on that calm summer evening, as with Catherine leaning on one arm, you on the oilier, I strolled forth along the woods, that voice whispered a message to my soul ! To-night the De hverer will come !" THE CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. J)3 ••AJ is ready for his coming!" exclaimed Paul, advancinir to die altar •' Behold the Crown, the Flagon of Anointing Oil, the Bible and the Cross '' The old man arose, lifting his withered hands above his heaa, wliile the light streamed over his silver hairs. " Even as the Prophets of old anointed the brows of men, chosen b\ God to do great deeds in His name, so will 1, — purified by the toil and prayer, and self-denial of seventeen long years, — anoint the forehead of the Deliverer 1" Hark ! As the voice of the aged enthusiast, tremulous with emotion, quivers on the air, the clock in the hall without, tells the hour of twelve ! As the tones of that bell ring through the lonely Block House, like a voice from the other world — deep, sad and echoing — the last minute of 1773 sank m the glass of Time, and 1774 was born. Then they knelt, silently beside the altar, the old man and his son. The white hairs of the Priest, mingled with the brown locks of Paul ; their hands clasped together rested upon the Bible, which was opened at the Book of Revelations. Their separate prayers breathed in low whispers from each lip, mingled together, and went up to Heaven in one. An hour passed. Hark ! Do you hear the old clock again ? How that BuUen One ! swells through the silent halls ! Still they kneel together there — still the voice of the prayer quivers from each tonji*e. Another hour, spent in silent prayer, witli bowed heatl and bended knees. As the clock sptvaks out tlie hour of two, the old man rises and paces the fioor! " Place your hand upon my heart, my son ! Can you feel its throb- bings ? Upon my brow — ah ! it burns like living fire ! The hour draws nigh — he comes ! Yes, my heart throbs, my brain fires, but my fliith in God is firm — the Deliverer will come !" Vain were the attempt to picture the silent agony of that old man's face ! Call him dreamer — call him fanatic — what you will, you must still admit that a great soul throbbed within his brain — still you must reverence tiie strong heart which beats within his shrunken chest. Mill must you remember that this old man was once a renowned lord ; that he forsook all that the world holds dear, buried himself for seventeen years in the wilds of this forest, his days and nights spent amid the dark jiages of the Revelations of 8aint John. Up and down the oaken floor, now by the altar, where the light shone over his brow, now in the darkness where the writhings of his co^intenance were lost in shadows, the old man hurried along, his eye blazing with a \T'iIder light, his withered cheek with a warmer glow. Meanwhile the son remained kneeling in prayer. The lights burned dimly — the room was covered with a twilight gloom. Still the Iron C-ross 34 THE WISSAHIKON. was seen — the whole altar still broke throujrh the darkness, with its feilvei Flagon and Laurel Crown. Hark ! Th.at sound — the clock is on the hour of three ! The old man starts, quivers, listens ! One ! rings through the desolate mansion. " I hear no sound !" mutters the enthusiast. But the words had not passed on his lips, when Two ! swells on the air. ♦' lie comes not !" cries Paul darting to his feet, his features quivering with suspense. They clasp their hands together — they listen with frenzied intensity. " Still no footstep ! Not a sound !" gasped Paul. " But he ivill come !" and the old man, sublime in the energy of fanati- cism, towered erect, one hand to his heart, while the other quivered m the air. Three ! The !a?t stroke of the bell swelled — echoed — and died away. " He comes not !" gasped tlie son, in agony — " But yes ! Is there not a footstep on Uie frozen snow ? Hark ! Father, father ! do you hear that footstep ? It IS on the threshold now — it advances — " " He comes !" whispered the old man, while the sweat stood out in Oeads from his withered brow. — " It advances, father ! Yes, along the hall — hark ! There is a hand on the door — hah ! All is silent again ! It is but a delusion — no ! He is come at last !" "At last he is come !" gasped the old man, and with one impulse they sank on their knees. Hark 1 You hear the old door creak on its hinges, •is it swings slowly open — a strange voice breaks the silence. " Friends, I have lost my way in the forest," said the voice, speaking in a calm, manly torn. " Can you direct me to the right way ?" The old. man looked up ; a cry of wonder trembled from his lips. As for the son, he gazed in silence on the Stranger, while his features were stamped with inexpressible surprise. The Stranger stood on the threshold, his face to the light, his form thrown boldly forward, by the darkness at his back. He stood there, not as a Conqueror on the battle field, with the spoils of many nations trampled under his feet. Towering above the stature of common men, his form was clad in the dr^fes of a plain gentleman of that time, fashioned of black velvet, with ruf- iles on the bosom and around the wrist, diamond buckles gleaming from his shoes. Broad in the shoulders, beautiful in the sinewy proportions of each limb, he stood there, extending his hat in one hand, while the other gathered his h'^avy cloak around the arm. His white fbrehead, large, overarched eyes, which gleamed even through ti)e darkness of the room with a calm, clear light ; his lips were firm ; his THE CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. 95 dun round and full ; the general contour of his face stamped with the seUled beauty of mature manhood, mingled with the fire of chivalry. In one word, he was a man whom you would single out among a crowd of ten thousand, for his grandeur of bearing, his calm, collected dignity of expression and manner. " Friends," he again began, as he started back, surprised at the sight of the kneeling enthusiasts, " I have lost my way — " " Thou hast not lost thy way," spoke the voice of the old man, as he arose and confronted the stranger ; " thou hast found thy way to usefulness and immortal renown !" The Stranger advanced a footstep, M'hile a warm glow overspread hi» commanding face. Paul stood as if spell-bound by the calm gaze of liis clear, deep eyes. " Nay — do not start, nor gaze upon me in such wonder ! I tell thee the voice that speaks from my lips, is the voice of Revelation. Thou art called to a great work ; kneel before the altar and receive thy mission !" Nearer to the altar drew the Stranger. "This is but folly — you make a mock of me !" he began ; but the wild gaze of the old man thrilled his heart, as with magnetic fire, lie paused, and stood silent and wondering. " Nay, doubt me not ! To-night, filled with strange thoughts on your country's Future, you laid yourself down to sleep within your habitation in yonder city. But sleep fled from your eyes — a feeling of restlessness drove you forth into the cold air of night — " " This is true !" muttered the Stranger in a musing tone, while his face expressed surprise. " As you dashed along, mounted on the steed which soon will bear your form in the ranks of batde, the cold air of night fanned your hot brow, but could not drive from your soul the Thought of your Country !" ' How knew you this ?" and the Stranger started forward, grasping the old man suddenly by the wrist. Deeper and bolder thrilled the tones of the old Enthusiast. " The rein fell loosely on your horse's neck — you let him wander, you cared not whither ! Still the thought that oppressed your soul was the fu- ture of your country. Still great hopes — dim visions of what is to come — floating panoramas of battle and armed legions — darted one by one over your soul. Even as you stood on the threshold of yonder door, asking, m calm tones, the way through the forest, another and a deeper question rose to your lips " " I confess it !" said the Stranger, his tone c?tching the deep emotion of •he old man's voice. " As 1 stood upon the threshold, the question that rose to my lips was — " Is it la u fid for a subject to draw sword against his King ?" "Man! You read the heart!" and this strange man of commanding 96 THE WISSAHIKON. form and thoughtful brow, gazed fixedly in the eyes of the Enthusiast, while his face expressed every conflicting emotion of doubt, suspicion, sur- prise and awe. " Nay, do not gaze upon me in such wonder ! I tell thee a great work has been allotted unto thee, oy the Father of all souls ! Kneel by this altar — and here, in the silence of night, amid the depths of these wild woods — will I anoint thee Deliverer of this great land, even as the men of judah, in the far-gone time, anointed the brows of the chosen David !" It may have been a sudden impulse, or perchance, some conviction of the luture flashed over the Stranger's soul, but as the gloom of that chamber gathered round him, as the voice of the old man thrilled in his ear, he felt those knees, which never yielded to man, sink beneath him, he bowed be- fore the altar, his brovv bared, and his hands laid upon the Book of God. The light flashed over his bold features, glowing with the beauty of man- hood in its prime, over his proud form, dilating with a feeling of inexpressi- ble agitation. On one side of the altar stood the old man— the Priest of the Wissahikon — his silver hair waving aside from his flushed brow — on the other, his son, bronzed in face, but thoughtful in the steady gaze of his large full eyes. Around this strange group all was gloom : the cold wintry air poured through the open door, but they heeded it not. "Thou art called to the great work of a Champion and Deliverer! Soon thou wilt ride to batde at the head of legions — soon thou wilt lead a people on to freedom — soon thy sword will gleam like a meteor over the ranks of war !" As the voice of the old man in the dark robe, with the silver cross flash- ing on his heart, thrills through the chamber — as the Stranger bows his head as if in reverence, while the dark-browed son looks silently on — look ydnder, in the dark shadows of the doorway ! A young form, with a dark mantle floating round her white robes, stands tr.imbling there. As you look, her blue eye dilates with fear, her hair streams in a golden shower, down to the uncovered shoulders. Her finger is pressed against her lip ; she stands doubting, fearing, trembling on the threshold. Tlnseen by all, she fears that her father may work harm to the kneeling Stranger. What knows she of his wild dreams of enthusiasm ? The picture which she beholds terrifies her. This small and gloomy chamber, lighted by the white candles — the altar rising in the gloom — the Iron Cross confronting the kneeling man, like a thing of evil omen — her brother, mute and wondering — her father, with white hairs floating aside from his flushed forehead. The picture was singular and impressive : the winter wind, moaning sullenly without, imparted a sad and organ-like music to the scene. " Dost thou promise, that when the appointed time arrives, thou wilt be found ready, sword in hand, to fight tor thy country and thy God ?" THE CONSECRATION OF THE DELIVERER. 9^ It was in tones ofoken by emotion, that the Stranger simply answered— - " I do !" " Dost thou promise, in the hour of thy glory — when a nation shall bow before thee — as in the tierce moment of adversity, — when thou shall be- hold thy soldiers starving for want of bread — to remember the great trutli, written in these words — ' / am but the Minister of God in the great work of a nafion^s freedom.'' " Again the bowed head, again the tremulous — " 1 do promise !" "Then, in Pis name, who gave the New World to the millions of the human race, as the last altar of their rights, I do consecrate thee its — Deliverer !" With the finger of his extended hand, touched with the anointing oil, he described the figure cf a Cross on the white forehead of the Stranger, who raised his eyes, while his lips murmured as if in prayer. Never was nobler King anointed beneath the shadow of Cathedral arch — never did holier Priest administer the solemn vow ! A poor Cathedn.l, this rude Block House of the Wissahikon — a plainly-clad gentleman, this k-neeling Stranger — a wild Enthusiast, the old man I I grant it all. And yet, had you seen the Enthusiasm of the white-haired Minister, reflected in the Stranger's brow, and cheek, and eyes, had you marked the contrast be- tween the shrunken form of the " Priest," and the proud figure of the Anointed, — both quivering with the same agitation, — you would confess with me, that this Consecration was full as holy, in the siglit of Heaven, as that of" Good King George." And all the while that young man stood gazing on the stranger in silent awe, while the girl, trembling on the threshold, a warm glow lightens up her face, as she beheld the scene. " When the time comes, go forth to victory ! On thy brow, no cou" queror's blood-red wreath, but this crown of fadeless laurel !" He extends his hand, as if to wreath the Stranger's brow, with the leafy crown — yet look ! A young form steals up to his side, seizes the crown from his hand, and, ere you can look again, it falls upon the bared brow of the kneeling man. He looks up and beholds that young girl, with the dark mantle gathered over her white robes, stand blushing and trembling before the altar, as though frightened at the boldness of the deed. " It is well !" said the aged man, regarding his daughter with a kindly smile. " From whom should the Deliverer of a Nation receive his crown of laurel, but frotri the hands of a stainless woman !" " Rise ! The Champion and Leader of a People !" spoke the deep voice of the son, as he stood before the altar, surveying, with one glance, the face of his father — the countenance of the blushing girl, and the bowed head of the Stranger. "Rise, sir, and take this hand, which was never yet gitrep 98 THE WISSAHIKON. to man ! I know not thy name, yet, on this book, I swear to be faithful tc thee, even to the death !" The Stranger rose, proudly he stood there, as with tlie consciousness of his commanding look and form. The laurel-wreath encircled his wliite forehead ; the cross, formed by the anointing oil, glistened in the light. Paul, the son, buckled a sword to his side ; the old man extended his hands as if in blessing, while the young girl looked upsilendy into his face. They all beheld the form of this strange m^i shake with emotion ; while that face, whose calm beauty had won their hearts, now quivered in every fibre. The wind moaned sadly over the frozen snow, yet these words, uttered by the stranger, were heard distinctly by all — "From you, old man, I take the vow ! From you, fair girl, the laurel ! From you, brave friend, the sword ! On this book I swear to be faithful unto all !" And as the light flashed over his quivering features, he laid his hand upon the Book and kissed the hilt of the sword. Years passed. The memory of that New Year's night of 1774, perchance, had passed with years, and lost all place in the memory of living being. America was a nation — Washington was President. Through the intervals of the trees shine the beams of the declining sun, but the Block-House was a mass of ruins. Burned one night by the British^ in the darkest hour of the war, its blackened timbers were yet encircled by green leaves. Still the smiling summer sun shone over the soft sward and among the thickly clustered trees of Wissaliikon. But Father — Son — Daughter — where are they ? Yonder, a square enclosure of stone shuts three green mounds out from the world. The sad story of their lives may not be told in few words. The terrors of that night when the Block-House was fired, and — but we must not speak of it ! All we can say is — look yonder, and behold their graves ! Hark ! The sound of horses' hoofs! A man of noble presence appears, guiding his gallant grey steed, along the winding road. He dismounts ; the horse wanders idly over the sod, cropping the fragrant wild grass. This man of noble presence, dressed in plain black velvet, with a star gleaming on his breast, with a face, magnificent in its wrinkled age, as it was beautiful in its chivalric manhood — this man of noble presence, bek)re whom kings may stand uncovered, approaches the ruin of the Block-House. Do you see his eye light up again with youthful fire, his lip quiver with an agitation deeper than battle-rage ? THE MIDNIGHT DEATH. 99 There ne stands, wnile the long shadows of the trees darken ft.r over the "^ward — there, whih: the twiUght deepens into night, gazing with a heaving i^hest and quivering lip, upon the Ruins of the old Block-House. Perchance he thinks of the dead, or it may be his thoughts are witii scenes of the Past — perchance, even now, a strange picture rises before him ! — That picture a darkened chamber, with a white altar rising in its cen- tre, while an old man, and his brave son, and virgin daughter, all gather round a warrior form, hailing him with one voice — "THE DELIVERER."* II.— THE MID.NIGIIT DEATH. Let me tell you a legend of the Revolution — a legend that even now makes my blood run cold to think upon. You all have seen the massive rock that projects out into the roadside near the Red Bridge. You have seen the level space, that spreads from this rock to that ancient buttonwood tree ; you have seen liiat cluster of mills, and cottages and barns, nestling there, in the embrace of the wild Wissahikon, with the dark rocks and the darker trees frowning far above. It was here along this open space — about the time of the Battle of Ger- mantown — it was here, at dead of night, when the moon was shining down through a wilderness of floating clouds, that there came an old man and his four sons, all armed with rifle, powder-horn and knife. They came stealing down that rock — they stood in the centre of that level space — a passing ray of moonlight shone over the tall form of that old man, with his long white hairs floating on the breeze — over the manly figures of his sons. And why came that old farmer from the woods at dead of night, stealing icward the Wissahikon, with his four tall sons around him, armed with rifle and with knife ? To-night tliere is a meeting at yon lonely house far up tiie Wissahikon * Note by the Author — In this Legend, I have endeavored to compress an old-time tradition of the Wis.sahikon, which, rehired wiih justice to all its deiails, would fill a volume. There is no spot in the land — not even on the storied hills of ihc Santee, or •he beautiful wilds of (he Kenebec — more hallowed of poetry and romance, than this same Wissahikon, which, attainable by half an hour's journey from the city, yet pre- serves its rui^ged grandeur of rock, and stream, and tree; and is to-day what it was 'wo hundred years ago. It was here that the Protestant Monks made their home, more than a hundred years gone by; here, driven from their father-land, by the nni- lej persecutions of Protestant and Catholic, they reared their Monastery, and wor- shipped God, in the deep silence of primeval forests. The man who sneers at the first .lettlers of Pennsylvania, terming them in derision, (as little minds are wont,; the " ignora7it Germans," etc. etc., should come here to the wilds of Wissahikon. and learn something of the philosophy, the religion, and toleration of the.=e German colo- nists. The Legend will be more clearly ui"iderstood when it is known that the belief was prevalent among these Pietists of the ••Comiri^ of a Great !\lti?i.," who was i« appear in the wilderness, in fulfilment of a Prophecy in the Be )k of Revelaiions. 100 THE WISSAHIKON. — a meeting of all the farmers of Germantown who wish to join the army of Mister Washington, now hiding away in the wilds of the Skippack. The old farmer and his children go to join that meeting. Old as he is, there is yet fiery blood in his veins — old as he is, he will yet strike a blow for George Washington. Suddenly he turns — he flings the blaze of a lantern full in the faces of his sons, " You are all here, my children," he said, "and yet not all." A gleam of deep sorrow shot from the calm blue eye. In that moment he remembered that missing son — his youngest boy with those laughing locks of golden hair, with that eye of summer blue. One year ago from this night that youth, George Derwent, had disap- peared — no one knew whither. There was a deep mystery about it ail. It was true that ihis young man, at the time of his disappearance, was be- trothed to a beautiful girl — an orphan child — who had been reared in tlie family of an old Tory down the Wissahikon, an old Tory named Isaac Warden, who was in the pay of the British. It was true that there was some strange connection between this Tory and young Derwent ; yet old Michael his father, had heard no tidings of his son for a year — tiiere waf a dark mystery about the whole affair. And while the old man stood there, surveying the faces of his sons, there came stealing along the narrow road, from the shadows of the cottage and mill, the form of a young and beautiful girl, with a dark mantle thrown loosely over her white dress, with her long black hair waving in free tresses about her shoulders. It was Ellen, the betrothed of George Derwent, who had now been miss- ing from the wilds of Wissahikon for a year. And why comes this orphan girl, with her full dark eye, with her long black hair waving on the breeze, with her lovely form veiled in a loose mantle ? Why came she hither so lonely at dead of night ? This night, one year ago, George Derwent bade her good-bye under the shade of that button wood tree — told her that some dark mysterious cause would lead him from the valley for a year — and then, pressing the last good-bye on her lips, swore to meet her under this same tree, after the lapse of a year, at this very hour. And now she comes to meet her lover — and now she comes to keep her tryst. And the moon, beaming from the parted clouds, fell over her form, as she came in all her beauty toward that buttonwood tree, looking for all the world like the spirit of that lonely dell. With a muttered shriek she beheld old Michael standing there. Then, rushing forward, she seized his withered hand, and bade him beware of the lonely house of the Wissahikon. That night, at the old Tory's house, she had overheard the plot of some THE MIDNIGHT DEATH. 101 British trooper.' to surprise the meeting of the patriot farmers — to surprise them and crusfi them at a Mow. Even as she spok^ grasping that old man's withered hand, there to the south, was heard the tramp of steeds. Ah-eady the British troopers came on to the work of massacre. A cloud passed over the moon — it was dark — in a moment it was lio-hi again. That level space between the rock and the tree was vacant — the maiden was gone into the shade of the forest trees — and there on that bold rock, half hidden by the thick foliage, there stood Michar\ Derwent and his four sons, waiting for the assassin-band. Hark ! The tramp of steeds ! Near — and near and nearer yet it grows ! Look ! They emerge from tiie shadow of the mill, ten British troopers, mounted on stout steeds, with massy cap upon each brow, pistols in each holster, swords by each side. For a moment the moon shone over their glittering array, and then all is dark. Hark to that old man's whisper — " My boys, do you see them Britishers ? Mark each one of you his man ; and when they cross tlie line between this rock and that Buttonvvood tree — then fire !" And they came on. The captain of the band waved his sword boastingly in the air. In a moment, he cried, we will be — in the midst of the rebels — he would have said ; but the words died on his lips. He fell from his steed — with a horrid curse he fell — he was dead ! Did you see that flash from the trees ? Did you hear that shout of old Michael ? Did you hear the crack of the rifles ? Look, as the smoke goes up to Heaven — look, as the moon shines out from a cloud ! Where, a moment ago, were ten bold troopers riding forward at their ease, now are but six. There are four dead men upon the ground — yonder through the ^'issahikon dash four riderless steeds. With a wild yell the six troopers spur their horses to the fatal rock — they rear their hoofs against its breast — there is a moment of murder and death. Look ! That trooper with the slouching hat — the dark plume drooping over his brow — he breasts his steed against the rock — that jet black horse flings his hoof high against the flinty barrier. While the moon hides hei face behind that cloud, that trooper with the plume drooping over his brow leans over the neck of his steed — he seizes old Michael by the throat, hfl drags him from the rock, he spurs his liorse toward the stream, and that old man hangs there, quivering at the saddle-bow. Then it was that old Michael made a bold struggle for his life. He drew his hunting knife from his belt — he raised it in the darkened air ; but lock — the trooper snatches it from his grasp. 102 THE WISSAHIKON. " Die, Rebel !" he shouts. Bending over his steed, he strikes it deep into the old man's neck down to his heart. Then the moon shone out. Then, as the old man fell, the moon shone over his fare, convulsed in death, over his glaring eyes, over his long white hair, (lahbled in blood. He fell with the knife sticking in his throat. Then the trooper slowly dismounted from his steed — he kneels beside the corse — his long dark plume falls over the face of the dead man. And there he kneels, while the people of the valley, aroused by the sound of conflict, come hastening on with torches — there, while that other band of British troopers, sweeping from the north, surprise the lonely house of the Wissahikon, and come over the stream with their prisoner in their grasp — there while the sons of Michael Derwent — there are only two now — stood pinioned beside the corse of their father, there kneels that trooper, with his long plume drooping over the dead man's face. Look — that old man with those hawk-like eyes, the sharp nose and thin lips — that is the old Tory, Isaac Warden. Look — that fair girl, stealing from the shade of that tree it is Ellen, the orphan girl, the betrothed of the missing George Derwent. Look ! The trees towering above are reddened by the light of torches. Hark — the Wissahikon rolls murmuringly on — still that trooper kneels there, bending down with that long dark plume drooping over the dead man's face. A strange shudder — an unknown fear thrills through the hearts of all around. No one dared to arouse the kneeling man. At last that burly trooper advances— '-he lays his hand upon the shoulder of the kneeling man — he bids him look up. And he does look up ! Ah, what a shudder ran through the group — ah, what a groan was heard from the white lips of those two sons of Michael Derwent ! Even that British captain starts back in horror of that face. The trooper looked up — the light shone upon a young face with light blue eyes, and locks of golden hair waving all around it, — but there was a horror written on that face, worse than death, a horror like that wliich stamps the face of a soul forever lost. It was the face of George Derwent — he knelt beside the dead body of his father — with that knife sticking in his throat. For a moment there was an awful silence. The Parricide slowly rose, turned lys face from the dead, and folded his arms. Then a light footstep broke the deep silence of this scene — a fair lorm came sofdy through the crowd — it was Ellen, the Orphan Girl. " George — George, I see you once more. You are come," she cried, in her wild joy, rushing to his arms. But the cry of joy died away in a groan of horror. She beheld that awful face — one of her dark tresses swept his clenched risiht hand. That hand was wet with blood. THE MIDNIGHT DEATH. . 103 Then like a crushed reed, she cowered back upon the ground. Her lover spoke not, but he slowly raised that blood-red hand in the light, and rfien — he pointed to the corse of Michael Derwent, with the reeking knile standing out from the gash along the throat. Thenxthe full horror of that hour burst upon the maiden's heart. Then she slowly rose, then she laid her quivering hand upon the arm of that hoary Traitor — Isaac Warden. " Old man !" she whispered, in that low deep tone that came from hei bursting heart. " It is now one year since you told George Derwent that he could not win my hand — the hand of your son's child — unless he engaged in your service as a Hriiish spy, (this night, and this night only did I learn the mystery of that foul bargain.) For one year you have reaped the gains of his degradation — and now, after that year is past, he, George Derwent, who loved your son's daughter, with as true a love as ever throbbed beneath the blue heavens — he returns to reap his harvest, and — oh, God — behold that " harvest !" And with her dark eyes starting from their sockets, she pointed to the ghastly son, and the dead father. Then in low, deep tones, a curse trembled from her white lips — the orphan's curse upon that hoary traitor. And he trembled. Yes, grown grey in guilt, he trembled, for there is something so dark, so dread in that curse of a wronged orphan, as it quivers up there, that melhinks the angels around the Throne of God turn pale and weep at the sound. And then while this scene froze the bystanders with awe, George Der- went slowly opened his vest — he unstrung a chain of slender gold from hia neck, he took the locket from the place where it had hung for one year ; moved by each throbbing of his heart — he gave it to the maiden. He then pointed to her form — and then to Heaven. To his own — and then downward. That gesture spoke volumes. " You to Heaven' — I — there." Then with that blood-stained hand he tore the British Lion from his breast — he trampled it under foot. Then gathering the strength of his strong arm for the effort, he tore that British uniform — that scarlet tainted uniform — from his manly chest — he rent it into rags. Then without a word, he mounted his steed — he rode toward the stream — he turned that ghastly face over his shoulder. " Ellen ! ' he shrieked, and then he was gone. " Ellen !" he shrieked, and then there was the sound of a steed dashing through the water, crashing through the woods. Then a shriek so wild, so dread, rang on the air — still the Parricide thundered on. Not more than a quarter of a mile from the scene of this legend, there is a steep rock, rising one hundred feet above the dark waters of the VVissahi- 10 4 , TPIE WISSAHIKON. kon — rising with a robe of gnarled pines all about it, rising like a hvigfl wreck of some primeval world. The Parricide thundered on and on — at last his steed tottered on the verge of this rock. For a moment the noble liorse refused to take the leap. But there, tliere is a dark mist before the eyes of the Parricide — there was the figure of an old man — not a phantom ; ah, no ! ah, no ! It was too real for that — there was the figure of an old man, that knife protruding from the fatal wound, that white hair waving in dribbled blood. And there was a crash — then an awful pause — then far, far down the dell the yell of the dying horse and his rider mingled in one, and went quivering up to God. Ill— THE lilBLE LEGEND OF TFIE WISSAHIKON. It was here in these wilds of the Wissahikon, on the day of the battle, as the noonday sun came shining through the thickly clustered leaves, that two men met in deadly combat. They grappled in deadly conflict near a rock, that rose — like the huge wreck of some primeval world — at least one hundred feet above the dark waters of the Wissahikon. That man with the dark brow, and the darker grey eye, flashing, with deadly light, with the muscular form, clad in the blue hunting frock of the Revolution, is a Continental named Warner. His brother was murdered the other night at the Massacre of Paoli. That other man, with long black hair, drooping along his cadaverous face, is clad in the half-military costume of a Tory refugee. That is the murderer of Paoli, named Dabney. They had met there in the woods by accident, gjid now they fought, not with sword or rifle, but with long and deadly hunting knives, that flash in the light, as they go turning ^nd twining and twisting over the green sward. At last the Tory was down ! Down on the green sward with the knee of the Continental upon his breast — that upraised knife quivering in the light, that dark grey eye flashing death into his face! "Quarter — I yield!" gasped the Tory, as the knee was pressed upon his breast — " Spare me— -I yield !" " My brother !" said the Patriot soldier, in that low deep tone of deadly- hate — " My brother cried for ' quarter' on the night of Paoli, and, even as he clung to your knees, you struck that knife into his heart! Oh ! I will give you the quarter of Paoli !" And liis hand was raised for the blow, and his teeth were clenched in deadly hate. He paused for a moment, and then pinioned the Tory's arms, and with one rapid stride dragged him to the verge of the rock, and held him quivering over the abyss. " Mercy !" gasped the Tory, turning black and ashy by turns, as tha. iwfu! gulf yawned below. " Mercy ! I have a wife — a child — spare me I' THE BIBLE LEGEND uf THE WISSAHIKON. 105 Then the Continental, with his muscular strength gathered for the effort, snook the murderer once more over the abyss, and then hissed this bittei sneer between his teeth : " My brother had a wife and two children ! — The morning after the nighl of Paoli, that wife was a widow, those children were orphans ! — Wouldn't you hke to go and beg your life of that widow and her children ?" This proposal, made by the Continental in the mere mockery of hate, was taken in serious earnest by the horror-stricken Tory. He begged to be taken to the widow and her children, to have the pitiful privilege of beg- ging his life. After a moment's serious thought, the patriot soldier con- sented ; he bound the Tory's arms yet tighter ; placed him on the rock again — led him up to the woods. — A quiet cottage, embosomed among trees, broke on their eyes. They entered that cottage. There, beside the desolate hearth-stone, sat the widow and her children. She sat there a matronly woman of thirty years, with a face faded by care, a deep dark eye, and long black hair hang- ing in dishevelled flakes about her shoulders. On one side was a dark-haired boy, of some six years — on the other a litde girl, one year younger, with light hair and blue eyes. The Bible — an old and venerable volume — lay open on that mother's knee. And then that pale-faced Tory flung himself upon his knees, confessed that he had butchered her husband on the night of Paoli, but begged his life at her hands ! " Spare me, for the sake of my wife, my child !" He had expected that his pitiful moan would touch the widow's heart — but not one relenting gleam softened her pale face. " The Lord shall judg^ between us !" she said in a cold icy tone, that froze the murderer's heart. — " Look ! The Bible lays open upon my knee. I will close that volume, and then this boy shall open it, and place his finger at random upon a line, and by that line you shall live or die !" This was a strange proposal, made in full faith of a wild and dark super- stition of the olden time. For a moment the Tory kneeling there, livid as ashes, was wrapt in thought. Then in a faltering voice, he signified his consent. Raising her dark eyes to Heaven, the mother prayed the Great Father to direct the finger of her son — she closed the Bible — she handed it to that boy, whose young cheek reddened with loathing as he gazed upon his father's murderer ! He took the Bible — opened its holy pages at random — placed his finger on a verse. Then there was silence! Then that Continental soldier, who had sworn to avenge his brother's death, stood there with dilating eyes and parted lips. 7 106 THE WISSAHIKON. Then the culprit kneeling on the floor, with a face like discolored clay felt his heart leap to his throat. Then in a clear, bold voice, the widow read this line from the Old Testa ment ; — it was short, yet terrible : " That man shall die !" Look ! The brother springs forward to plunge a knife into the murder er's heart, but the Tory, pinioned as he is, clings to the widow's knees .' He begs that one more trial may be made by the little girl, that child of five years, with golden hair and laughing eyes. The widow consents ; there is an awful pause. With a smile in her eye, without knowing what she does, that litde girl opens the Bible as it lays on her mother's knee — she turns her laughing face away — she places her finger upon a line. That awful silence grows deeper ! The deep-drawn breath of the brother, the broken gasps of the murderer, alone disturb the silence. — The widow and dark-eyed boy are breathless. That little girl, unconscious as she was, caught a feeling of awe from the horror of the countenances around her, and stood breathless, her face turned aside, her tiny fingers resting on that line of life or death. At last gathering courage, the widow bent her eyes to the page, and read. It was a line from the New .Testament. " Love your enemies." Ah ! that moment was sublime ! Oh ! awful Book of God, in vvhos« dread pages we see Job talking face to face with Jehovah, or Jesus waiting by Samaria's well, or wandering by the waves of dark Gahlee, Oh ! awful Book, shining to-night, as I speak, the light of that widow's home, the glory of that mechanic's shop, shining where the world comes not, to look on the last night of the convict in his cell, lightening the way to God, even over that dread gibbet. Oh ! book of terrible majesty and child-like love, of sublimity that crushes the soul into awe, of beauty that melts the heart with rapture : — you never shone more strangely beautiful than there, in the lonely cot of the Wissahikon, when you saved that murderer's life ! For — need I tell you — that murderer's life was saved ! That widow recog- nised the finger of God — even the stern brother was awed into silence. The murderer went his way. Now look ye, how wonderful are the ways of Heaven ! That very night, as the widow sate by her lonely hearth — her orphans by her side — sate there with crushed heart and hot eye-balls, thinking of her husband, who now lay mouldering on the blood-drenched sod of Paoli —there was a tap at the door. She opened the door, and — that husband living, though covered witb ?liany wounds, was in her arms ! THE TEMPTATION OF WASHINGTON. 107 He had fallen at Paoli — but not in death. He was alive ; his wife lay panting on his breast. That night there was prayer in that wood-embowered Cot of tlie Wissa- hikon ! ' IV.— THE TEMPTATION OF WA.SULNGTOX. There are days in winter when the air is very soft and balmy as the early days of summer, when, in fact, that glad maiden May seems to blow her warm breath in the grim face af February, until the rough old warrior laughs again. It was a day like this that the morning sunshine was streaming over a high rock, that frowns there, far above the Wissahikon. A high rock' — attainable only by a long, winding path — fenced in by the trunks of giant pines, whose boughs, on the coldest day of winter, form a canopy overhead. This rock is covered with a carpet of evergreen moss. And near this nook — this chamber in the forest, for it was nothing less — sate an old man, separated from it by the trunks of the pines, whose boughs concealed his form. Tliat old man had come here, alone, to think over his two sons, now freezing at Valley Forge for, though the father was a Tory, yet his children were Continentals. He was a well-meaning man, but some half- crazy idea about the Divine Right of the British Pope, George the Third, to rule this Continent, and murder and burn as he pleased — lurked in his brain, and kept him back from the camp of Washington. And now, in this bright morning in February, he had come here, alone, to think the matter over. And while he was pondering this deep matter over, whether George the Pope or George the Rebel was in the right — he heard the tramp of a war- steed not far off, and, looking between the trunks of the pines, he saw a man, of noble presence, dismount from his grey horse, and then advance into the quiet nook of moss-carpeted rocks, encircled by giant pines. — And now, leaving that aged Tory, to look upon this man for himself, let us also look on him, with our own eyes. As he comes through those thick boughs, you behold a man, more than six feet high, with his kingly form enveloped in a coarse grey overcoat; a chapeau on his bold forehead — and beneath the skirts of that grey coat, you may see the military boots and the end of a scabbard. And who is this man of kingly presence, who comes here alone, to pace this moss-covered rock, with drooped head and folded arms ? Come, my friends, and look upon him — let me show you — not this figure of mist and frost-work, which some historians have called Washington — but Washington, the living, throbbing, flesh and blood, Washington ! — Yes; Washington the man. 108 THE WISSAHIKON. Look upon him, as he paces that moss-covered rock — see that eye bura that muscular chest heave under the folded arms. Ah, he is thinking of Valley Forge ! Of the bloody foot-prints in the snow — of those three hideous figures that sit down in the huts of Valley Forge together — Disease, Starvation, and Nakedness ! Look, as those dark thoughts crowd on his soul, he falls on his knees, he prays the God of Heaven to take his life, as an offering for the fieedom of his native land ! And as that prayer startles the still woods, that grey coat falls open, and discloses the blue and gold uniform — the epaulette and the sword-hilt. Then the agony of that man, praying there in the silent woods — praying for his country, now bleeding in her chains — speaks out, in the flashing of the eye, in the beaded sweat, dripping from the brow 1 — Ah, kings of the world, planning so cooly your schemes of murder, come here, and look at George Washington, as he oflers his life, a sacrifice for his country ! Ah, George of England, British Pope, and good-natured Idiot, that you are, now counting, in your royal halls how many more men it will take to murder a few thousand peaceful farmers, and make a nation drink your tea, come here to this rock of the Wissahikon, and see, King and Pope as yo» are, George Washington in council with his God ! My friends, 1 can never think of that man in the wilds of Wissahikon — praying there, alone : praying for his country, with the deep agony in hia heart and on his brow, without also thinking of that dark night in Gelhse- mane, when the blood-drops startled from the brow of Jesus, the Blessed Redeemer, as he plead for the salvation of the world ! Now look ! As Washington kneels there, on that moss-covered rock, from those green boughs steps forth another form — tall as his own — clad in a coarse grey coat, with the boots and scabbard seen below its skirts, with the chapeau upon his brow. That stranger emerges from the boughs — stands there unperceived, gazing in silence upon the kneeling warrior. A moment passes ! Look ! Washington has risen to his feel — he confronts the stranger. Now, as that stranger, with a slight bow, uncovers his forehead, tell me, did you ever see a stronger or stranger resemblance between two men than between these two, who now confront each other in silence, under the shade of those dark pines ? jj^sf^!^)^ The same heighth, breadtii of chest, sinewy limbs, nay, almost the same faces, — save that the face of the stranger, sharper in oi'.liue, lacks that calm consciousness of a great soul, which stamps the countenance of Washington. That resemblance is most strange — their muscular forms are clad in the same coarse grey coat — their costume is alike — yet hold The stranger throws open his overcoat — you behold that hangman's THE TEMPTATION OF WASHINGTON. 109 dress, tliat British uniform, dashing wiih gold and stars ! Washington starts hacic, and lays his hand upon his sword. And as these two men, so strangely alike, meet there by accident, undel that canopy of bouiihs, — one wandering from Valley Forge, one from Pliila- delphia — let me tell you at once, that the stranger is none other than the Master Butcher of the Idiot-king — Sir William Howe. Yes, there they meet, the one the impersonation of Freedom — the other the tinselled lacquey of a Tyrant's Will ! We will listen to their conversation : it is brief, but impt)rtant. For a moment, the British General stood spell-bound belbre the man whom he had crossed the ocean to entrap, and bring home; the Rebel, who had lifted his hand against tfie Right Divine of the British Pope! To that British General there was something awful about the soldier wlio could talk with his God, as Washington had talked a moment ago. "I cannot be mistaken," at last said Sir William Howe; "I behold be- fore me the chieftain of the Rebel army, iMister Washington?" Washington coldly bowed his head, "Then this is a happy hour ! For we together can give peace and free- dom to this land !" At this word Washington started with surprise — advanced a step — and then exclaimed — "And who, sir, are you that thus boldly promise peace and freedom to my country ?" "The commander of his Majesty's forces in America!"' said Howe, ad- vancing along that wood-hidden rock towards Washuigton. " And oh, sir, let me tell you that the king, my master, has heard of your virtues, which alone dignities the revolt with the name of a war, and it is to you he looks fur the termination of this most disastrous contest." Then Washington, whose pulse had never quickened before all the pano- ply of British arms, felt his heart flutter in his bosom, as that great boon was before his eyes — peace and freedom to his native land ! " Yes," continued Howe, advancing another step, •' my king looks to you for the termination of this unnatural war. Let rebellion once be crushed — let the royal name be finally established by your influences, and then, sir, behold the gratitude of King George to Mister Washington." As he spoke, he placed in the hands of Washington a massive parcli- ment — sealed with the broad seal of England, signed with the manual o( King George. Washington took the parchment — opened it — read — liis face did no\ change a muscle. And yet that parchment named Mister Gegrge Washington " George Duke Washincon, of Mount Vernon, our well-beloved servant. Viceroy OF America !" Here was a boon for the Virginia planter — here was a title and here a 110 THE WISSAHIKON. power for the young man, who was one day struggling fc r his life away there arnid tloating ice on the dark Allegheny river. For a moment, the tace of Washington was buried in that parchment, and then, in a low, deep voice, he spoke — • '* I have been tiiinking," he said, " of the ten thousand brave men who have been massacred in this quarrel. I have been thinking of the dead of Bunker Hill — Lexington — Quebec — Trenton — Yes, the dead of Saratoga — Brandy wine — Germantown " " And," cried Howe, startling forward, " you will put an end to this unhappy quarrel ?" " And your king," continued Washington, with a look and tone that would have cut into a heart of nurble, " would have me barter the bones of the dead for a ribbon and a title !'" And then — while Howe shrunk cowering back — that Virginia planter, Washington, crushed that parchment into the sod, with the heel of his war- rior boot Yes, trampled tiiat tide, that royal name, into one mass of rags and dusl. " That is my answer to your king !" And then lie stood with scorn on his brow, and in his eye, his outstretched arm pointing at that minion of King George. Wasn't that a picture for the pencil of an angel ? And now, that British General, recovering from his first surprise, grew red as his uniform with rage, "Your head !" he gasped, clenching his hand, "your head will yet red- den the Traitor's block !"' Then Washington's hand sought his sword — then his fierce spirit awoke within him — it was his first impulse to strike that braggart quivering into the dust. But in a moment he grew calm. " Yours is a good and great king," he said, with his usual stern tone- "At first he is determined to sweep a whole Continent with but five thou- sand men, but he soon finds that his five thousand men must swell to twenty- five thousand before he can ever begin his work of murder. Then he sacrifices his own subjects by thousands — and butchers peaceful farmers b) tens of thousands — and yet his march of victory is not even begun. Then, if he conquers the capital city of the Continent, victory is sure ' Behold ' the city is in his grasp, yet still the hosts of freedom defy him even from the huts of Valley Forge ! " And now, as a last resource, your king comes to the man whose hend yesterday was sought, with a high reward, to grace the gates of London — he offers that Rebel a Dukedom — a vice re^al sceptre ! And yet that Rebel tramples the Dukedom into the dust — that Rebel crushes into atoms the name of such a king." Ah, never spaniel skulked from the kick of his master as that Genersd WASHINGTON AS DUKE. KING AND REBEL. Ill Howe cringeJ away from the presence of Washington — mounted his horse — wass gone ! One word with regard to the aged Tory, who beheld this scene from yonder bushes, with alternate wonder, admiration, and fear. That Tory went home " I have seen George Washington at prayer," he said to his wife: "the man who can trample upon the name of a king, as he did — pray to God as he prayed, that man cannot be a Rebel or a bad man. To-morrow, I will join my sons at Valley Forge !"* v.— WASHINGTON AS DUKE, KING AND REBEL. We have seen Washington and Hows stand face to face on the cliff of Wissahikon ; we have seen the British General offer the American leader a ducal title, a vice-regal sway as the reward of treason. Now let us behold four scenes which arise to our minds from the con- templation of this Legend. These scenes are fraught with a deep mystery, a sublime and holy moral. The first scene ! We stand in the streets of a magnificent city. A dense crowd darkens the avenues leading to yonder palace. That palace, which rises over the heads of the living mass, like a solitary mountain amid ocean waves. There are bands of armed men around that palace — look ! How the sun glitters over the red uniforms, over the lines of bayonets, over the thousand flags, that wave in the summer air. And there, high over all, from the loftiest dome of that palace, one single broad banner tosses slowly and lazily upon the breeze — look, its wide shadow is cast upon the multitude below. That is the Red Cross Banner of England. And -now every eye is fixed upon that palace door — a great potentate will shortly come forth — the mob are anxious to look upon him, to shoul his name. And now, as the drums roll out their thunder, as the voice of cannon bidi him welcome — he comes ! * This tradition, prev'iils not only among the rock-bound cliffs of the Wissahikon, but amid the pastoral glades of Brandy wine. A different version, states that the inci- dent occurred, in the darkest hour of the Battle of Brandywine, on a beautiful knoll, which arises from the bosom of the meadow, crowned with gran'l old trees. In this shape, I have incorporated it, in the pages of my novel — " Blanche of Brandywine." In the present work, I have given it, with the locality of the Wissahikon, and the dark time of Valley Forge. Nothing is more common, in the history of the Revolu- tion, than to hear the same tradition, recited by live different persons, with as many changes of lime and place. Even the precise spot, on which La ['"ayette, received his wound at Brandywine, is a matter of doubt. Two aged men pointed out to me, in the course of my pilgrimage over the field, two localities, for this incident, with the em- phatic remark — •' Here's where La Layette received his wound. He said so, him self, when he visited the place in 1824." These locaUiies, were only four milee apart. 112 THE WISSAHIKON. Yes, as women press forward, lifting their babes en high, eager to be- hold him ; as old men cl'mb those trees, mad with anxiety, to catch but one glimpse of his form, he somes, the Viceroy of America ! Yes, from that palace door, environed by guards and courtiers, fine gen tlemen and gay ladies, he oomes, that man of kingly presence ; he stands the^e, for the moment, with the sun playing over his noble brow, glittering along his vice-regal robes. How the thunder of the cannon, the clang of drum and bugle, the hurrahs of the mob, go mingling up to Heaven in one mad chorus. And that great prince standing there under the shadow of the British banner ; that is George, Duke Washington, Viceroy of America. Yes, that is what Washington might have been, had he betrayed his country. Now we will change the scene : We stand in the ante-chamber of the British King. Here, in this lofty hall, adorned with trophies from all the world — tro- phies from plundered Ireland — from ravaged Hindoostan — from down-trod- den America — here, under that Red Cross Banner, which like a canopy, reddens over that ceiling ; here are gathered a glittering party of noble lords and ladies, anxious to beliold a strange scene ; the meeting between King George and Duke Washington, that man who yesterday was a rebel, bui now having returned to his duty as a loyal subject, is about to be presented to his master. While all is suspense, two doors at opposite ends of that wide hall, are (lung open by gentlemen ushers ; one announces " His Majesty !" And a decrepit man with a vacant eye — a hanging lip — a gouty form, mocked with purple robes, hobbles slowly forth. That other gentleman in livery announces : — " His Grace, Washington, Duke of Mount Vernon, Viceroy of America !" And from that door comes a man of magnificent form, high bearing, kiigly look. He is clad — oh, shame ! — in the scarlet uniform — his breast w.wing with ribbons and glittering with stars. And that noble man kneels in the centre of that crowd, kisses the gouty hsndof that King. The good-humored idiot murmurs something about for- giving the rebel Washington, because that rel)el has become a loyal subject, and brouglit back a nation to the feet of the British King. And there kneels Duke Washington, and there stands the Protestant Pope of Britain. — Had Washington accepted the parchment from General Howe, some- thing like this scene would have been the presentation at Court. Or change the scene again : What see you now ? Independence Hall transformed into a monarch's reception room, and there, surrounded by his courtiers, the crown on ni? brow, stands George the First, King of America. The iflitter of arms flashes o'er Indej^ndence Square ; the huzzas of the WASHINGTON AS LUKE, KING AND REBEL. 113 mob burst into the sky ; there is joy to-day in Philatlelphia — the aristocracy are glad — for George Washington, forsaking the fact of republican truth, hag yielded to the wishes of servile friends, yielded to the huzzas of the mob and while Independence Bell tolls the death of freedom, has taken to him self a crown and a throne. So, my friends, would one dark page in history have read, had not George Washington been George Washington all his life. And now let us look for a moment at the other side of the picture. Suppose instead of the cry uttered by the watchman one night as the State House struck one — " One o'clock and Cornwaliis is taken !" — he haa shrieked forth- — " One o'clock, and George Washington is taken !" / Then would history have chronicled a scene like this : One summer day an immense crowd gathered on Tyburn Hill. Yes. that immense crowd spread far along the street, over the house tops, clung to the trees, or darkened over the church steeples. That day London had given forth its livery and its rags — its nobility and its rabble. St. Gihis, that foul haunt of pollution, sent its thieves and its beggars — St. James, the home of royalty, sent its princes and its lords, to swell the numbers of this vast crowd which now darkened far and wide over Tyburn Hill. And in the centre of this wide theatre — whose canopy is yonder blue heaven — whose walls are human faces — there glooms a scaffold covered with drooping folds of black. There, on that scaffold, stand three persons : — That grim figure, with face muffled in crape, and the axe in his hand, that is the executioner. There is a block by his side, and around that block is scattered a heap of saw dust. That saw dust has drunk the blood of men like Algernon Sidney — but to-day will drink the blood of a greater rebel than he ! By the side of that executioner stands another figure in black, not a hang- man, but a priest, come to pray for the traitor. And the third figure ? See, how he towers above priest and hangman, his blue uniform still en- robing his proud figure — a calm resolution still sitting like a glory upon his brow ! Can you tell me the name of this traitor ? Why you must be a stranger in London not to know his story. Why the rabble in the street have it at their tongues' end — and those noble ladies looking from yonder windows — they shed some tears when they speak it. That man standing on the scaffold is the great rebel, who was captured at Yorktown — brought home in chains — tried in Parliament — sentenced vo death — and to-day he dies. And now look, the priest approaches; he begs that calm-faced 'traitor ui repent of his treason before he dies, — to be reconciled to his King, the gooa 114 THE WISSAHIKON. King George ; to repent of his wicked deeds at Trenton, Monmouth, Gub mauKnvn, Brandy wine, and Valley Forge And as the priest doles out his store of set-phrases, look, how that nobie« looking rebel pushes him aside with a quiet scorn. Then, with one prayer to God, with one thought of his country, now bleeding in her chains, he kneels — his head on the block. How awfully still that crowd has become. The executioner draws near Look ! ne strips that blue coat from the rebel's shoulders — epaulettes, sword- belt and sword — he tears them all from his manly form. With his vile hands he breaks that sword in twain — for it is a rebel's sword. Look ! he feels the edge of the axe — still that noble rebel, but half dressed, is kneeling there, in the light of the summer sun. That axe glimmers into hght. Now hold your breath — oh, horror ! — it falls. — There is a stream of blood pouring down into the saw dust — there is a human head rolling on the scaffold 1 And now look again ! As that vast crowd breathe in gasps, the executioner, with crape over his face, raises the head into light — and while the features yet quiver, while the blood falls pattering down upon the mangled corse — Hark — do you hear his brutal shout ? " Behold the head of George Washington, the rebel and traitor !" Thank God! that page was never written in history.' And who will dare to say that this picture is too strongly drawn ? Ah, my friends, had my Lord Cornwallis been the victor at Yorktown, had the Continental armies been crushed, then these streets would have been too narrow to con- lain the gibbets erected by the British King. Ah ! those English lords and ladies — these English bards are now too glad to lisp the praises of Washington. But had the American armies been crushed, then would the head of Washington have been nailed to the door-post of Independence Hall. And now that you have seen what Washington might have been as the Duke, the Viceroy, the King — or how dark would have been his fate as the rtibel, the crushed and convicted traitor — let us look at him as he is. Is. For he is not dead ! For he will never die ! For he lives — lives at this hour, in a fuller and bolder life than ever. Where'er there is a hearthstone in our land, there Washington shines lis patron saint. Wherever a mother can teach her child some name, to write in its heart and wear there forever next to the name of the Redeemer, that name is Washington, Yes, we are like those men who dig in the deep mines of Norway — there in the centre of the earth forever burns one bright undying Uame — nc one asks who first built the lire — but all know that it has burned for ages — THE HERO WOMAJS. 115 all, from father to son, make it a holy duty to heap fuel on that fire, and watch it as though it were a god. The name of Washington is that eternal fire built in every Amwican lifart, and burning on when the night is darkest, and blazing brightest when ihe gloom is most terrible. So let that altar of flame burn and burn on forever, a living testimonial of that man who too proud to be a Duke, or Viceroy, or King, — struck higher and bolder in his ambition, struck at that place in the American heart second in glory, and only second, be it spoken with awful reverence — to the eternal Majesty of God VI.— THE HERO WOMAN. In the shadows of the Wissahikon woods, not more than half a mile from the Schuylkill, there stood in the time of the Revolution, a quaint old fabric, built of mingled logs and stone, and encircled by a palisaded wall. It had been erected in the earlier days of William Penn, — perhaps some years before the great apostle of peace first trod our shores, — as a block-house, in- tended for defence against the Indians. And now it stood with its many roofs, its numerous chrmneys, its massive square windows, its varied front of logs and stone, its encircling wall, through which admittance was gained by a large and stoutly-built gate : it stood in the midst of the wood, with age-worn trees enclosing its veteran outline on every side. From its western window you might obtain a glimpse of the Schuylkill waves, while a large casement in the southern front, commanded a view of the winding road, as it sunk out of view, under the shade of thickly-clustered boughs, into a deep hollow, not more than one hundred yards from the mansion. Here, from the southern casement, on one of those balmy summer days which look in upon the dreary autumn, toward the close of November, a farmer's daughter was gazing with dilating eyes and half-clasped hands. Well might she gaze earnestly to the south, and listen with painful inten- sity for the slightest sound ! Her brothers were away with the army of Washington, and her father, a grim old veteran — he stood six feet and three inches in his stockings — wiio had manifested his love for the red-coat in- vaders, in many a desperate contest, had that morning left her alone in the old mansion, alone in this small chamber, in char e of some ammunition in- tended for a band of brave farmers, about to join the hosts of freedom. F.ven as she stood there, gazing out of the southern window, a faint glimpse of sunlight from the faded leaves above, pouring over her mild face, shaded by clustering brown hair, there, not ten paces from her side, were seven 'oaded rifles and a keg of powder. 116 THE WISSAHIKON. Leaning from the casement, she Hstened with eveiy nerve quivenng; with suspense, to the shouts of combatants, tiie hurried tread of armed men echo- ing fi-om the south. There was something very beautiful in that picture ! The form of the young girl, framed by the square massive window, tlie contrast between die rough timbers, that enclosed her, and that rounded face, the lips parting, the hazel eye dilating, and the cheek warming and flushing with hope and fear ; there was something very beautiful in that picture, a young girl leaning from the window of an old uiansion, with her brown hair waving in glossy masses around her face ! Suddenly the shouts to the south grew nearer, and then, emerging from the deep hollow, there came an old man, running at full speed, yet every few paces, turning round to fire the rifle, which he loaded as he ran. He was pursued by a party of ten or more British soldiers, who came rushing on, their bayonets fixed, as if to strike their victim down, ere he advanced ten paces nearer the house. On and on the old man came, while his daughter, quivering with sus- pense, hung leaning from the window ; — he reaches the block-house gate- look ! He is surrounded, their muskets are levelled at his head ; he is down, down at their feet, grappling for his life ! But look again ! — He dashes his foes aside, with one bold movement he springs through the gate -, an instant, and it is locked ; the British soldiers, mad with rage, gaze upon the high wall of logs and stone,«and vent their anger in drunken curses. Now look to yonder window ! Where the young girl stood a momeui ago, quivering with suspense, as she beheld her father struggling for his life, now stands that old man himself, his brow bared, his arm grasping the rifle, while his grey hairs wave back from his wrinkled and blood-dabbled face ! That was a fine picture of an old veteran, nerved for his last fight; a stout warrior, preparing for his death-struggle. Death-struggle ? Yes ! — for the old man, Isaac Wampole, had dealt too many hard blows among the British soldiers, tricked, foiled, cheated them too often to escape now ! A few moments longer, and they would be re- inforced by a strong parly of refugees ; the powder, the arms, in the old block-house, perhaps that daughter herself, was to be their reward. There was scarcely a hope for the olti man, and yet he had determined to make a desperate fight. " We must bluff off these rascals !" he said, with a grim smile, turning to his child. " Now, Bess, my girl, when I fire this rifle, do you hand me another, and so on, until the whole eight shots are fired ! That will keep them on the other side of the wall, for a few moments at least, aid then we will have to trust to God for the rest !" liook down there, and see, a hand stealing over thn edge of the wall ! The old man levels his piece — that British trooper falls back with a crushed hand upon Ins comrades' heads ! THE HERO WOMAN. 11? No longer quivering with suspense, but grown suddenly firm, that young girl passes a loaded rifle to the veteran's grasp, and silently awaits the result. For a moment all is sileijt below ; the British bravoes are somewhat loath to try that wall, when a stout old " Rebel," rifle in hand, is lookuig from yonder window ! There is a pause — low, deep murmurs — they are holding a council ! A moment is gone, and nine heads are thrust above the wall at once — hark ! One — two — three ! — The old veteran has fired three shots, there are three dying men, grovelling in the yard, beneath the shadow of the wall '. " Quick, Bess, the rifles !' And the brave girl passes the rifles to her father's grasp ; there are four shots, one after the other ; three more soldiers feU back, like weights of lead upon the ground, and a single red-coat is seen, slowly mounting to the top of the wall, his eye fixed upon llie hall door, which he will force ere a moment is gone ! Now the last ball is fired, the old man stands there, in that second-story window, his hands vainly grasping for another loaded rifle ! At this mo- ment, the wounded and dying band below, are joined by a party of some twenty refugees, who, clad in their half-robber uniform, came rushing from the woods, and with one bound are leaping for the summit of the waU ! " Quick, Bess, my rifle !" And look there — even while the veteran stood looking out upon his foes, the brave girl — for, slender in form, and wildly beautiful in face, she is a brave girl, a Hero-Woman — had managed, as if by instinctive impulse, to load a rifle. She handed it to her father, and then loaded another, and an- other . — Wasn't that a beautiful sight ? A fair young girl, grasping powder and ball, with the ramrod rising and falling in her slender fingers ! Now look down to the wall again ! The refugees are clambering over its summit — again that fatal aim — again a horrid cry, and another wounded man toppling down upon his dead and dying comrades ! But now look ! — A smoke rises there, a fire blazes up around the wall ; they have fired the gate. A moment, and the bolt and the lock will be burnt from its sockets — the passage will be free ! Now is the fiery moment of the old man's trial ! While his brave daughter loads, he continues to fire, with that deadly aim, but now — oh horror ! He falls, he falls, with a rausquet ball driven into his breast the daughter's outstretched arms receive the father, as with the blood spouting from his wound, he topples back from the window. Ah, it is a sad and terrible picture ! That old man, writhing there, on the oaken floor, the young daughtei bending over him, the light from the window streaming over her face, ovei her father's grey hairs, while the ancient furniture of the small chamber affords a dim back-ground to the scene ! 118 THE VVISSAIIIKON. Now hark! — The sound of axes, at the hall door — shouts - hurrahs— curses ! " We have the old rebel, at last !" Tlie old man raises his head at that sound ; makes an effort to rise : clutches for a rifle, and then falls back again, his eyes glaring, as the fierce pain of that wound quivers tiiroiigh his heart. Now watch the movements of that daughter. Silently she loads a rifle, silently she rests its barrel against the head of that powder keg, and then, placing her finger on the trigger, stands over her father's form, while the Bhouts of the enraged soldiers come thundering from the stairs. Yes, they have broken the hall door to fragments, they are in possession of the old block-house, they are rushing toward that chamber, with murder in their hearts, and in their glaring eyes ! Had the old man a thousand lives, they were not 'worth a farthing's purchase now. Still that girl — grown suddenly white as the 'kerchief round her neck — stands there, trembling from head to foot, the rifle in her hand, its dark tube laid against the powder-keg. The door is burst open — look there ! Stout forms are in the doorway, with musquets in their hands, grim faces stained with blood, glare into the room. Now, as if her very soul was coined into the words, that young girl with her face pale as ashes, her hazel eye glaring with deathly light, utters this short yet meaning speech — " Advance one step into the room, and I will fire this rifle into the powder there !" No oath quivers from the lips of that girl, to confirm her resolution, but there she stands, alone with her wounded father, and yet not a soldier dare cross the threshold ! Embrued as they are in deeds of blood, there is some- thing terrible to these men in the simple words of that young girl, who stands there, with the rifle laid against the powder-keg. They stood as if spell-bound, on the threshold of that chamber! At last one bolder than the rest, a bravo, whose face is half-concealed in a thick red beard, grasps his musquet, and levels it at the young girl's breast ! " Stand back, or by , I will fire !" Still the girl is firm ; the bravo advances a step, and then starts back. The sharp " c/icA'" of that rifle falls with an unpleasant emphasis upon his ear. " Bess, I am dying," gasps the old man, faintly extending his arms. " Ha, ha, we foiled the Britishers I Come — daughter — kneel here ; kneel and say a prayer for me, and let me feel your warm breath upon my face for I am getting cold O, dark and cold !" Look ! — As those trembling accents fall from the old man's tongue, those fingers unloose their hold of the rifle — already the troopers are secure KIN(J GEORGE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. HL' of one victim, at least, a young and beautiful girl ; for affection for her father, is mastering the heroism of the moment — look ! She is about to spring into his arms ! But now she sees her danger ! again she clutches the rifle ; again — although her father's dying accents are in her ears — stands there, prepared to scatter that house in ruins, if a single rough hand assails that veteran form. There are a few brief terrible moments of suspense. Then a hurried sound, far down the mansion ; then a contest on the stairs ; then the echo of rifle shot and the light of rifle blaze ; then those ruffians in the doorway, fall cruslied before the strong arms of Continental soldiers. Then a wild shriek quivers through the room, and that young girl — that Hero-Woman, with one bound, springs forward into her brothers' arms, and nestles there, while her dead father — his form yet warm — lays with fixed eyeballs upon the floor. VII— KING GEORGE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. One fine summer afternoon, in the year 1780, King George the Third, of Great Britain, defender of the faith, as well as owner of a string of other titles, as long as a hypocrite's prayer, took a quiet stroll through the dim •jloisters of Westminster Abbey. It does not become me to picture that magnificent House of the Dead, where Royalty sleeps its last slumber, as soundly as though it had never butchered the innocent freeman, or robbed the orphan of her bread, while poor Genius, starved and kicked while living, skulks into some corner, with a marble monument above its tired head. No ! We will leave the description of Westminster Abbey to any one of the ten thousand travellers, who depart from their own country — scarce knowing whether Niagara is in New York or Georgia — and write us home such delightful long letters about Kings and Queens, and other grand folks. No ! All we have to do is to relate a most singular incident, w^hich hap- pened to George the Third, etc., etc., etc. — on this fine summer afternoon, in the year of our Lord, 1780. Do you see that long, gloomy aisle, walled in on either side by gorgeous tombs, with the fretted roof above, and a mass of red, blue, purple and gold pouring in on the marble pavement, through the discolored window-panes, yonder? Does not the silence of this lonely aisle make you afraid? Do you not feel that the dead are around, about, beneath, above — nay, in the air? After you have looked well at this aisle, with its splendid tombs, its mar- ble floor, its heavy masses of shade and discolored patches of light, let me ask you to look upon the figure, which, at this moment, turns the corner of yonder monument. He stands aside from the light, yet you behold every oudine of his face 120 THE WISSAHIKON. and form. He la clad in a coat of dark purple velvet, faced with gold lace His breeches are of a pale blue satin; his stockings flesh-colored, and of the finest silk. There is a jewelled garter around his right leg. His while satin vest gleams with a single star. His shoes glitter with diamonds buckles, he carries a richly-faced hat under his right arm. This is a very pretty dress: and I am sure you will excuse me for being so minute, as I have the greatest respect for grand folks. This man — if it is not blasphemous to call such a great being a man — seems prematurely old. His face does not strike you with its majesty ; for his forehead is low, the pale blue eyes bulge out from their sockets, the lower lip hangs down upon the chin. Indeed, if this man was not so great a being, you would call him an Idiot. This, in fact, is George the Third, King of Great Britain, Ireland and France ; and owner of a string of other titles, who rules by divine right. As he stands near yoniler monument, a woman — dressed in faded hlack — s^tarts from behind that big piece of sculptured marble, on which " Mercy" appears, in the act of bending from the skies, and flings herself at the feet of the King. " Mercy !" she cries, with uplifted hands. " What — what — what?" stammers the good King. " What's all this?" " My son committed robbery, some two months ago. He robbed on the highway to give me bread. I was sick — famished — dying. He has been condemned to death, and to-morrow he dies. Mercy for tlie widow's son ?" u What — what— what? Eh? What's this ? How much did he steal?" " Only ten shillings ! Only ten shillings ! For the love of God, mercy ?" The good King looked upon the wan face and pleading eyes of that poor woman, and said, hurriedly — "I cannot pardon your son. If I pardon the thief, I may as well pardon the forger and murderer, — There — go, good woman : I can do nothing for you." The good King turned away, leaving the insensible form of the widow stretched out upon the marble floor. He would have pardoned her boy, but there were some two or three hundred crimes punishable with death, from the petty oflTence of killing a man up to the enormous blasphemy of shooting a rabbit on a rich man's estate. Therefore, King George could not pardon one of these crimes, for, do you mark, the hangman once put down, there is an end of all law. The King, I like to call grand people by their titles, the good King — I also like to call him good, because, do you see, the Archbishop of Canter- bury called him so, in his sermon, every Sunday morning — the good King turned away, leaving the poor widow insensible on the floor. This little incident had somewhat excited him, so he sank down upon the corner of a marble slab, and bent his head upon his hand, and began to think. All at once, he felt seized by invisible hands, and borne, with the speed KING GEORGE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. J^! aj'l'aiit, through the air and over a long sweep of ocean waves. His joisrnev u as but for a moment, yet, it seemed to liim, that he had traversed thousands of miles. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing by a road-side, opposite a beautiful litde cottage, which, with a garden in front, smiled upon liie view from a grove of orchard trees. A young woman with a lilUe boy by her side and a baby in her arms, stood in the cottage door. The King could not admire that cottage too much, with its trees and flowers, and, as for that rosy-cheeked woman, in the linsey gown, he was forced to admit to himself that he had never seen anything half so beautiful, even in the Royal family. While the King was looking upon the young woman and her children, he heard a strange noise, and, turning his head, he beheld a man in a plain farmer's coat, with a gun in his hand, tottering up the highway. His face was very pale, and as he walked tremblingly along, the blood fell, drop by drop, from a wound near his heart, upon the highway dust. The man stumbled along, reached the garden gate, and sprang forward, with a bound, towards the young woman and her children. " Husband !" shrieked the young woman. ♦* Father !" cried the little boy. Even the baby lifted its little hands, and greeted in its infant tones thai wounded man. Yet the poor farmer lay there at the feet of his wife, bleeding slowly to death. The young woman knelt by his s de, kissing him on the forehead, and placing her hand over the wound, as if to stop the blood, but it was in v.^in. The red current started from his mouth. The good King lifted his eyes. The groans of the dying man, the shrieks of the wife, the screams of the litde children, sounded like voices from the dead. At last his feelings overcome him — " Who," he shouted, " who has done this murder ?" As he spoke — as if in answer to his question — a stout, muscular man came runnmg along the road, in the very path lately stained with the blood of the wounded man. He was dressed in a red coat, and in his right hand he grasped a musquet, with a bayonet dripping blood. "I killed that fellow," he said in a rude tone, "and what have you got to say to it ?" " Did he ever harm you ?" said the King. " No — I never saw him before this hour !" " Then why did you kill him ?" " I killed him for eight-pence," said the man, with a brutal sneer. The good King raised his hands in horror, and called on his God to pity the wretclv! " Killed a man for eight-pence ! Ah, you wretch ! Don't you hear the groans of his wife ? — the screams of his children ?" "Why, that hain't nothin'," said the man m the red coat. "I've killed 122 THE WISSAHIKON. many a one to-day, beside him. I'm quite used to it, though burnin' Vm alive in their houses is much better fun." The King now foamed with righteous scorn. ' Wretch !" he screamed, " where is your master, this devil in human sliape, who gives you eight-pence for killing an innocent man ?" " Oh, he's a good ways over the water," said the man. " His name is George the Third. He's my King. He " The good King groaned. " Why — why," said he, slowly, " I must be in America. That dying man must be a — Rebel. You must be one of my soldiers " " Yes," said the man in the red coat, with a brutal grin ; " you took me out o' Newgate, and put this pretty dress on my back. That man whom I killed was a farmer: he sometimes killed sheep for a dollar a day. I'm not quite so well off as him, for I kill men, and only get eight-pence a day. I say, old gentleman, couldn't you raise my wages ?" But the King did not behold the brute any longer. He only saw that tlie young woman and her children, kneeling around the body of tlie dead man. Suddenly those invisible hands again grasped his Royal person, and bore him through the air. When he again opened his eyes, he beheld a wide lawn, extending in the light of the December moon. That lawn was white with snow. From its centre arose an old-time mansion, with grotesque ornaments about its roof, a hall door defended by pillars, and steps of stone, surmounted by two lions in marble. All around the mansion, like sentinels on their midnight watch, stood scattered trees, their bare limbs rising clearly and distinctly into the midnight sky. While the King was wrapped in wonder at the sight — behold ! A band of women, a long and solemn train, came walking over the lawn, their long black gowns trailing in the winter snow. It was a terrible sight to see those wan faces, upturned to the cold moon, but oh ! the chaunt they sung, those spectral women, as they slowly wound around the lawn : it chilled the King's blood. For that chaunt implored Almighty God to curse King George of Eng- land for the murder of their husbands — fathers — brothers ! Then came a band of little children, walking two by two, and raising their tiny hands in the light of the moon. They also rent the air with a low, deep chaunt, sung in their infantile tones. George, the Kmg, listened to that chaunt with freezing blood, with tremb- hng limbs. He knew not why, but he joined in that song in spite ot him- »elf, he sung their hymn of woe. " George of England, we curse thee in the sight of God, for toe murde) of onr fathers ! We curse thee with the orphan's curse !" KING GEORGE IN WESTMINSTER aL;BE\ 123 This was their chaunt. No other words ihey sung. But this simple hymn they sung again and again, raising their little hands to God. " Oh, this is hard !" shrieked King George. " I could bear the curse of warriors — nay, even the curse of the Priest at the Ahar ! But to be cursed by widows — to be cursed by little children — ah " The good King fell on his knees. " Where am 1 1" he shrieked — " and who are these ?" A voice from the still winter air answered — " Foil are on the battle-field. These are the widows and orphans of the dead of Germantowny " Bat did I murder their fathers ? Their husbands ?" The voice replied — " You did ! Too cowardly or too weak to kill them with your own hand, you hired your starving peasants, your condemned felons to do it for you !" The King grovelled in the snow and beat his head against the frozen ground. He felt that he was a murderer : he could feel the brand of Cain blistering upon his brow. Again he was taken up — again borne through the air. Where was he now ? He looked around, and by the light of that Decem- ber moon, struggling among thick clouds, he beheld a scattered village of huts, extending along wintry hills. The cold wind cut his cheek and froze his blood An object at his feet arrested his eye. He stooped down : examined it with a shudder. It was a man's footsteps, printed in blood. The King was chilled to the heart by the cold ; stupified with horror at the sight of this strange footstep. He said to himself, I will hasten to yonder hut; 1 will escape from the wind and cold, and the sight of that horrid footstep. He started toward the village of huts, but all around him those bloody footsteps in the snow seemed to gather and increase at every inch of his way. At last he reached the first hut, a rude structure of logs and mud. He looked in the door, and beheld a naked man, worn to a skeleton, stretched prostrate on a heap ot straw. " Ho ! my friend," said the King, as though a voice spoke in him, with- out his will, " why do you lie here, freezing to death, when my General, Sir William Howe, at Philadelphia yonder, will give you such fine clothes and rich food ?" The freezing man looked up, and muttered a few brief words, and then fell back— dti-ad ! " Washington is here !" wns all he said, ere he died. In another hut, in search of shelter, peeped the cold and hungry King. k rude hillow sate warming his hands by a miserable fire, over which an [•^4 THE WISLAHIKOxN. old kettle was suspended. His face was lean and his cheeks hollow, nay the hands which he held out towards tlie light, looked like the hands of a (skeleton. "Ho! my friend — what cheer?" said the King. "Iain hungry — have you any thing to eat?" " Not much of any account," replied the rude fellow ; " yesterday 1 eat Me last of my dog, and to-day I'm goin' to dine on these mocassins : don't you hear 'em bilin' ?" " But," said the King, " there's line living at Philadelphia, in the camp of Sir William. Why do you stay here to starve ?" "Was you ever to school ?" said the starved Rebel. "Do you know how to spell L-I-B-E-R-T-Y ?" The good King passed on. In the next hut lay a poor wretch dying of that loathsome plague — small-pox. " Come," said the King, or rather the voice in him spoke, " away to Philadelphia 1" " These hills are free !" cried the poor wretch, lifting his loathsome face into light; then, without a moan, he laid down to his fever and starvation again. At last, his Royal brain confounded by the words of these strange men the King entered a two-story stone house, which arose in the glen, between the hills, near the brink of a dark river. Slowly entered the King, attracted by the sound of a voice at prayer along a dark passage, into a small chamber, in which a light was burning. A man of noble visage was on his knees, praying to God in earnest tones — " We will endure disease, starvation, death, but, in thy name, oh, God ! w»! will never give up our arms ! The tyrant, with murder in his heart, may darken our plains with his hirelings, possess our cities, but still we thank thee, oh, God ! that «the mountains are free, that where the panther howls, we may yet find a home for the brave. " Hold, hold !" shouted the voice within the King, as the terror-stricken Monarch rushed into the room. " Washington do not pray against me ! I can bear to be called a murderer — a butcher of orphans, but that you- — you, so calm amid starvation, nakedness, disease — you whom I thought hunted long ago, like a wolf before the hounds — that you sliould call God's ven- geance on my head — that I cannot bear ! Washington, do not pray against me !" And he flung himself at the feet of the Ilunled Rebel, and besought his mercy with trembling hands, extended in a gesture of supplication. " It was I that butchered your farmers ! It was I that tore the husband from the wife, the father froin his child ! It was I that drove "these freemen to the huts of Valley Forge, vvhi re they endure the want of bread, fire, the freezing cold, the loathsome small-pox, rather than take my gold — it was 1 ' KING GEORGE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 125 Rebel I am at your feet! Have mercy ! I, George by llie Grace of God, Defender of the Faith, Head of the Church, fling myself at your feet, and beg your pity ! For I am a murderer — the murderer of thousands and tens of thousands !'' He started tremblingly forward, but in the action, that room, that solemn face and warrior form of the Rebel, passed away. George the King awoke : he had been dreaming. He woke with the cold sweat on his brow ; a tremor like the ague upon his limbs. The sun was setting, and his red light streamed in one gaudy blaze through yonder stained window. — All was terribly still in Westminster Abbey. 'I'he King arose, he rushed along the aisles, seeking with starting eyes for the form of the poor widow. At last he beheld her, shrouded in her faded garments, leaning for support against a marble figure of Mercy. The King rushed to her, with outspread hands. " Woman, woman !" he shrieked, " I pardon your son !" He said nothing more, he did not even wait to receive her blessings, but rushing with trembling steps toward the door, he seized the withered old Porter, who waited tliere, by the hand ♦' Do you see it in my face ?" he whispered — " don't you see the brand — Murder — here ?" He sadly laid his hand against his forehead, and passed through the door on his way. " The poor King's gone mad !" said the old Porter. " God bless his Majesty !" In front of that dim old Abbey, with its outlines of grandeur and gloom, waited the Royal carriage, environed by guards. Two men advanced to meet the King — one clad in the attire of a nobleman, with a heavy face and dull eye ; and the other in the garb of a Prelate, with mild blue eyes and snow-white hair. "I hope your Majesty's prayers, for the defeat of the Rebels, will be smiled upon by Heaven !' Tlius with a smile and genUy-waving hand, spoiie my Lord, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. " O, by Christmas next, we'll have this Washington brought home in chains !" Thus with a gruff chuckle spoke my Lord North, Prime Minister of England. The good King looked at them both with a silly smile, and tlien pressed his finger against his forehead. " What — what — what I Do you see it here ? Do, you see it ? It burns i Eh ? Murderer !" With that silly smile the King leaped in the carriage. Hurrah ! How 126 THE VVISSAHIKON. the mob shouted — how the swords of the guards gleamed on high — iio«r gaily the chariot wheels dashed along the streets — hurrah ! Let us swell the shout, but — Tliat night a rumor crept through all London, that Kino GEORUi-: was MAD AGAIN ! VIII.— VALLEY FOUGE. Hidden away there in a deep glen, not many miles from Valley Forge, a quaint old farm house rose darkly over a wide waste of snow. It was a cold dark winter night, and the snow began to fall — when from the broad fireplace of the old farm house, the cheerful blaze of massive logs flashed around a wide and spacious room. Two persons sat there by that tire, a father and child. The father, who sits yonder, with a soldier's belt thrown over his farmer's dress, is a man of some fifty years, his eyes bloodshot, his hair changed to an untimely grey, his face wrinkled and hallowed by care, and by dissipation more than cara. And the daiighter who sits in the full light of the blaze opposite her father — a slenderly formed girl of some seventeen years, clad in the coarse linsey skirt and kerchief, which made up the costume of a farmer's daughter, in the days of the Revolution. She is not beautiful — ah, no ! Care— perhaps that disease, consumption, which makes the heart grow cold to name — has been busy wiih that young face, sharpened its outlines, and stamped it with a deathly paleness. There is no bloom on that young cheek. The brown hair is laid plainly aside from her pale brow. Then tell me, what is it you see, when you gaze in her face ? You look at that young girl, you see nothing but the gleam of two large dark eyes, that burn into your soul. Yes, those eyes are unnaturally large and dark and bright — perhaps con- sumption is feeding their flame. And now as the father sits there, so moody and sullen, as the daughter Bits yonder, so sad and silent and pale, tell me, I pray you, the story of their lives. That farmer, Jacob Manheim, was a peaceful, a happy man, before the Revolution. Since the war, he has become drunken and idle — driven his wife broken-hearted to the grave— and worse than all, joined a band of Tory refugees, who scour the land as dead of night, burning and murdering as they go. To-night, at the hour of two, this Tory band will lie in wait, in a neigh- boring pass, to attack and murder the " RebeV Washington, whose starving soldiers are yonder in the huts of Valley Forge. Washington or his lonely journeys is wont to pass this farm houao;— VALLEY FORGE. 127 the cut- throats are there in the next chamber, drinking and feasting, as they wait for two o clock at night. And the daughter, Mary — for her name was Mary ; they loved ttat name in the good old times— what is the story of her brief young life ? She had been reared by her mother, now dead and gone home, to revere this man Washington, who to-night will be attacked and murdered — to revere him next to God. Nay, more : that mother on her death-bed joined the hands of this daughter, in solemn betrothal with the hands of a young parti- san leader, Harry Williams, who now shares the crust and the cold of Valley Forge. Well may that maiden's eye flash with unnatural brightness, well may her pale face gather a single burning flush, in the centre of each cheek ! For yesterday afternoon, she went four miles, over roads of ice and snow, to tell Captain Williams the plot of the refugees. She did not reach Valley Forge until Washington had left on one of his lonely journeys ; so this night, at twelve, the partizan captain will occupy the rocks above the neighboring pass, to "trap the trappers" of George Washington. Yes, that pale slender girl, remembering the words of her dying mother, had broken through her obedience to her father, after a long and bitter strug- gle. How dark that struggle in a faithful daughter's heart ! She had betrayed his plots to his enemies — stipulating first for the life, the safety of her traitor-father. And now as father and child are sitting there, as the shouts of the Tory refugees eclio from the next ciiamber — as the hand of the old clock is on the hour of eleven — hark ! There is the sound of horses' hoofs without the farm house — there is a pause — the door opens — a tall stranger, wrapped in a thick cloak, white with snow, enters, advances to the fire, and in brief words solicits some refreshment and an hour's repose. Why does the Tory Manheim start aghast at the sight of that stranger'^ blue and gold uniform — then mumbling something to his daughter about " getting food for the traveller," rush wildly into the next room, where his brother Tories are feasting ? Tell me, why does that young girl stand trembling before the tall stranger, veiling her eyes from that calm face, with its blue eye and kindly smile ? Ah — if we may believe the legends of that time, few men, few warriors, who dared the terror of batde with a smile, could stand unabashed before the solemn presence of Washington. For it was Washington, exhausted, with a long journey — his limbs stif- fened and his face numbed with cold — it was the great " Ilebel" of Valley Forge, who returning to camp sooner than his usual hour, was forced by the storm to take refuge in the farmer's house, and claim a litUe food and an hour's repose at his hands. In a few moments, behold the Soldier, with his cloak thrown ofl, fitting 128 THE WISSAHIKON. at that oaken table, partaking of the food, spread out there by the hands of tlie gill, who now stands trembling at his shoulder. And look ! Her hand is extended as if to grasp him by the arm — her lips move as if to warn him of his danger, but make no sound. Why all thia silent agony for the man who sits so calmly there ? One moment ago, as the girl, in preparing the hasty supper, opened yonder closet door, adjoining the next room, she heard the low whispers of her fadier and the Tories ; she heard the dice box rattle, as they were, cast ing lots, who should stab George IVashington in his sleep! And now, the words : " Beware, or this night you die!''' trembles half- formed upon her lips, when the father comes hastily from that room and hushes her with a look. " Show the gentleman to his chamber, Mary !" — (how calmly polite a murderer can be !) — " that chamber at the head of the stairs, on the left. On the left, you mind !" Mary takes the light, trembling and pale. She leads the soldier up the oaken stairs. They stand on the landing, in this wing of the farm-house, composed of two rooms, divided by thick walls from the main body of the mansion. On one side, the right, is the door of Mary's chamber; on the other, the left, the chamber of the soldier — to him a chamber of death. For a moment, Mary stands there trembling and confused. Washington gazes upon that pale girl with a look of surprise. Look ! She is about to warn him of his danger, when, see there! — her father's rough face appears above the head of the stairs. " Mary, show the gentleman into the chamber on the left. And look ye, girl — it's late — you'd better go into your own room and go to sleep." While the Tory watches them from the head of the stairs, Washington enters the chamber on the left, Mary the chamber on the right. An hour passes. Still the storm beats on the roof — still the snow drifts on the hills. Before the fire, in the dim old hall of that farm-house, are seven half-drunken men, with that tall Tory, Jacob Manheim, sitting in their midst ; the murderer's knife in his hand. For the lot had fallen upon him He is to go up stairs and slab the sleeping man. Even this half-drunken murderer is pale at the thought — how the knife trembles in his liand — trembles against the pistol barrel. The jeers of his comrades rouse him to the work, — the light in one hand, the knife in the other, he goes up the stairs — he listens ! — first at the door of his daughter's cliamber on the right, then at the door of the soldier's chamber on the left. All is still. Then he places the light on the floor — he enters the chamber on the left — he is gone a moment — silence ! — there is a faint groan ! He comes forth again, rushes down the stairs, and stands there Ijefore the fire, with the bloody knife in his hand. " Look 1" hs shrieks, as he scatters the red drops over his comrades' VALLEY FORGE. 12«, faces, over the hearth, into the fire — " Look ! it is his blood — ihe traitor Washington !" Ilis comrades gather ronnd him with yells of joy : already, in fancy, tliey count the gold which will be paid for this deed, when lo ! that stair door opens, and there, wiihout a wound, without even the stain of a drop of blood, stands George Washington, asking calmly for his horse. " What I" shrieked the Tory Manheim, " can neither steel nor bullet harm you? Are you a living man? Is there no wound about your heart? no blood upon your uniform ?" That apparition drives him mad. He starts forward — he places his hands tremblingly upon the arms, upon the breast of Washington ! Still no wound. Then he looks at the bloody knife, still clutched in his right hand, and stands there quivering as with a death spasm. While Washington looks on in silent wonder, the door is flung open, the bold troopers from Valley Forge throng the room, with the gallant form and bronzed visage of Captain Williams in their midst. At this moment tlie clock struck twelve. Then a horrid thought crashes like a thunderbolt upon the brain of the Tory Manheim. He seizes the light — rushes up stairs — rushes into the room of his daughter on the right. Some one had just risen from the bed, but the chamber was vacant. Then towards that room on the left, with steps of leaden heaviness. — Look ! how the light quivers in his hand ! He pauses at the door; he listens ! Not a sound — a stillness like the grave. His blood curdles in his veins ! Gathering courage, he pushes open the door. He enters. Towards that bed through whose cur- tains he struck so blindly a moment ago ! Again he pauses — not a sound — a stillness more terrible than the grave. He flings aside the curtains — There, in the full light of the lamp, her young form but half covered, bathed in her own blood — there lay his daughter, Mary ! Ah, do not look upon the face of the father, as he starts silently back, frozen to stone ; but in this pause of horror listen to the mystery of this deed ! After her father had gone down stairs, an hour ago, Mary silently stole from the chamber on the right. Her soul shaken by a thousand fears, she opened the door on the left, and beheld Washington sitting by a table on which were spread a chart and a Bible. Then, though her existence was wound up in the act, she asked him, in a tone of calm politeness to take the chamber on the opposite side. Mary entered the chamber which he left. Can you imagine the agony of that girl's soul, as lying on the bed in- tended for the death-couch of Washington, she silently awaited the knifo although that knife might be clenched in a father's hand. And now that father, frozen to stone, stood there, holding the liglit in one hand, the other still clutching the red knife. 'J'here lay his child, the blood streaming from that wound in her arm — hrr eyes covered with a glassy film. 130 THE WISSAHIKON. " Mary !" shrieked the guilty father — for robber and Tory as he was, he rt-as still a father. " Mary !" he called to her, but that word was all he could say. Suddenly, she seemed to wake from that stupor. She sat up in the bed with her glassy eyes. The strong hand of death was upon her. As she sat there, erect and ghastly, the room was thronged wi h soldiers. Her lover rushed forward, and called her by name. No answer. Called again — spoke to her in the familiar tones of olden time — still no answer. She knew him not. Yes, it was true — the strong hand of death was upon her. " Has he escaped ?" she said, in that husky voice. " Yes !" shrieked tlie father. " Live, Mary, only live, and to-morrow I will join the camp at Valley Forge." Then that girl — that Hero- Woman — dying as she was, not so much from the wound in her arm, as from the deep agony which had broken the last chord of life, spread forth her arms, as though she beheld a form floating there above her bed, beckoning her away. She spread forth her arms as if to enclose that Angel form. " Mother !" she whispered — while there grouped the soldiers — there, with a speechless agony on his brow stood the lover — there, hiding his face with one hand, while the other grasped the light crouched the father — that light flashing over the dark bed, with the white form in its centre — " Mother, thank God ! For with my life I have saved him " Look, even as starting up on that bloody couch, she spe-aks the half- formed word, her arms stiffen, her eyes wide open, set in death, glare in her father's face ! She is dead ! From that dark room her spirit has gone home ! That half-formed word, still quivering on the white lips of the Hero- Wo- man — that word uttered in a husky whisper, clioked by the death-rattle— that word was — " Washington 1"* * Will you pardon me, reader, that I have made the Prophetess of V/issahikon, relate various Legends, which do not directly spring from her own soil ? The le- gends of Valley Forge, King George, the Mansion on the .Schuylkill, with others included under the general head of " VVissahikon," do not, it is ir\ie, relate especially to the soil of this romantic dell, but they are impregnated with the same spirit, which distinguishes her traditions, and illustrate and develope the idea of the previous sketches. I have taken Wissahikon, as the centre of a circle of old-time Romance, whose circumference is described by the storied ground of Paoli, the hills of Valley Forge, the fields of Germantown. — They were written on the banks of the Wissahi- kon, wiih her wild scenery before the author's eye, the music of her stream in his ears. It has been his object, to embody in every line, that spirit of mingled light and shade, which is stamped on every rock and tree of the VVissahikrji. THE MANSION ON THE SCHUYLKILL. 131 !X.— THE MANSION ON THE SCHUYLKILI.. Gliding one summer cky over the smooth bosom of the Schuylkill, with the wliite sail of my boat, swelling with the same breeze tliat ruffled the pines of liaurel Hill, 1 slowly emerged from the shadow of an old bridge, and all at once, a prospect of singular beauty lay before me, in the beams of the setting sun. A fine old mansion crowned the summit of a green hill, which arose on the eastern shore, its grassy breast bared to the sunset glow. A fine old mansion of dark grey stone, with its wiiite pillars looking out from among green trees. From the grassy bosom of the hill, many a white statue arose, many a fountain dashed its glittering drops into light. There was an air of old-time elegance and ease about that mansion, with its green lawn slopiiig gently down — almost to the river's brink, its encircling grove of magnificent trees, its statues anrl fountains. It broke on your eye, as you emerged from the arches of the old bridge, like a picture from Italy. Yet from the porch of that old lime mansion, a fairer view bursts upon your eye. The arches of the bridges — one spanning the river in all the paint and show of modern fancy, the other gloomy as night and the grave — the sombre shades of Laurel Hill, hallowed by the while tombs of the dead, with the Gothic Chapel rising among dark green trees — the Schuylkill, ex- tending far beyond bridge and Cemetry, its broad bosom enclosed on everv side by hills and trees, resting like some mountain lake in the last glow of the setting sun — a fairer view does not bless the traveller's eye from the Aroostook to the Rio Grande. There is a freshness in the verdure — a beauty in that still sheet of water, a grandeur in yonder sombre pines, waving above the rocks of Laurel Hill —a rural magnificence in the opposite shore of the river, rising in one mas- sive hill, green with woods and gay with cottage and mansion, — a beauty, a grandeur, a magnificence that at once marks the Falls of Schuylkill with an ever-renewing novelty, an unfading cliarm. The view is beautiful in the morning, when the pillars of the bridge, ding their heavy shadows over the water; when the tree tops of Laurel Hill, un- dulate to the breeze in masses of green and gold, while the Scluiylkill rests in the shade. Beautiful at noon, when from the thick foliage on the opposite shore, half-way up the massive hill, arises the blue smoke of the hidden " God of Steam," winding slowly upward to the cloudless sky. Beautiful at twilight, when flashes of purple and gold change the view fivery moment, and impart a gorgeous beauty, which does not cease whei; '.he spires of Laurel Hill glow in the first beam of the uprising moon. Ah, night, deep and solemn — the great vault above — bt-low and around 13*4 THE WISSAIilKON. the river glistening in the moonbeam, the bridges one mingled mass of light and darkness — Laurel Hill a home for the dead in truth, with its white mon- uments glaring fitfully into light, between the branches of the trees. There is a sad and solemn beauty, resting on this scene at night. It was at night, that a Legend of this old-titne mansion, rushed upon my soul. I stood on the porch; and the bridge, the Cemetry melted all at once away. T was with the past — back sixty years and more, into the dim arcades of time. Nor bridge, nor cemetry were there, but in place of the cemetry, one sombre mass of wild wood ; where the bridge now spans the river, a water-fall dashed and hovvled among rugged rocks. No blue smoke of steam engine, then wound up from the green trees. A man who would have dreamed of such a thing, would have been imprisoned as a mad- man. Yet a strange wild beauty, rested upon this mansion, this river, these hills in the days of the Revolution. A beauty that was born of luxuriant forests, a river dashing tumultuously over its bed of rocks, hills lifting their colossal forms into the sky. A beauty whose fields and flowers were not crushed by the Juggernaut, " Lu pro vement ;" whose river all untramelled, went singing on its way until it kissed the Delaware. It was a night in the olden-time, when Washington held the huts and hilis of Vallev Forge, while Sir William Howe enjoyed the balls and banquets of Philadelphia. A solitary light burned in the mansion — a tall, formal wax candle— cast- inof its rays around a quaint old fashioned room. A quaint, old fashioned room, not so much reinarkable for its dimensions, as for the air of honest comfort, which hung about the high-backed mahogany chairs, the oaken wainscot, the antique desk, standing in one corner ; a look of honest comfort which glowed brigluly from the spacious fire-place, where portly logs of hickory sent up their mingled smoke and flame. In front of that fire were three persons, whose attitude and gestures pre- sented a strange, an effective picture. On the right, in a spacious arm- chair, lined with cushions, sat a man of some seventy years, his spare foim wrapped in a silk dressing gown, his grey hair waving over his prominent brow to his shoulders, while his blue eyes, far sunken in their sockets, lighted up a wan and withered face. At his feet, knelt a beautiful woman, whose form swelling with the full oudines of mature womanhood, was enveloped in a flowing habit of easy folds and snow-white hue. Around that face, glowing with red on the cheek and lip, and marble-white on the brow, locks of golden hair fell in soft undulations, until they floated around the neck and bosom. Hei blue eyes — beaming with all a woman's love for a trembling old man, thai man her father — were fixed upon his face with a silent anxiety and tenderness. THE MANSION ON THE SCHUYLKILL. 133 The old man'c gaze was nvetted to the countenance of the th/rd I'lgiire in this scene, who sat opposite, on the left side of tlie fire. A man of some fifiy years, with strongly marked features, thick grey eye- bt iws, hooked nose like an eagle's heak, thin lips and prominent chin. His head was closely enveloped in a black silk cap, which concealing his hair, threw his wrinkled forehead boldly into the light. A gown or tunic of faded dark velvet, fell from his shoulders to his knees. His head was bent down, while his eyes rested upon the uncouth print of an old volume, which lay open across his knees. That volume was intituled — " Y^ Laste Secret of Cornelius Agrippa, no7v firat translated into English. Jlnno. Dom. 1516. The man who perused its pages, was none other than the " Astrologer" or "Conjurer" who at this time of witchcraft and superstition, held a wonderful iniluence over the minds of the people, in all the country, about Philadelphia. He had been summoned hither to decide a strange question. Many years ago, while dwelling in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, with his young wife, Gerald Morton — so the old man of seveniy was named — had been deprived of his only son, a boy of four years, by some unaccountable accident. The child had suddenly disappeared. Years passed — a daughter was born — the wife died, but no tidings reached the father's ears of his lost son. To night a strange infatuation had taken possession of his brain. His son was living! He was assured of this, by a voice that whispered to his soul. He was doomed to die, ere morning dawned. Ere he gave up the Ghost, he wished to learn something of his child, and so — with a supersti- tion shared by the intelligent as well as the illiterate of that time — he had summoned the Astrologer. "The child was born before midnight January 12, 1710?" said the Astrologer. " Four years from the night of his birth, he disa])peared V The old man bowed his head in assent. "I have cast his Horoscope," said the Astrologer. " B)-- this paper,! know that your son lives, for it threatens his life, with three eras of dan ger. The first, Jan. 12, 1744. The second, Jan. 12, 1778. The third— a dale unknown — " " He is in danger, then to night," said Mr. Morton ; " For to night is the Twelfth of January, 1778?" The Astrologer -rose and placed a chafing dish on the carpet, near the antique desk, which was surmounted by an oval mirror. Scattering spices and various unknown compounds upon the dish, the Astrologer applied a light, and in a moment, one portion of the room, was enveloped in rolling flouds of t>agrant smoke. " Now Amable," said he, in a meaning tone, " This charm can be tried ia4 THE WISSAHIKON. by a pure virgin and by her alone. A\ould'st thou see thy brother, at this moment? Enter this smoke and look within the mirror: thou shalt behold him !" A deep silence prevailed. Gerald Morton leaned forward with parted lips. Amable arose ; clasping her hands across her bosom, she passed to- ward the mirror, and her form was lost in the fragrant smoke. A stranore smile passed over the Astrologer's face. Was it of scorn oi malice, or merely an expression of no meaning ? " What dost thou see ?" A tremulous voice, from the bosom of the smoke-cloud, gave answer. *' A river ! A rock ! A mansion !" "Look again' — what seest thou now?" The old man half-rose from his arm-chair. That strange smile deepened over the Astrologer's face. A moment passed— no answer! All was still as the grave. Amable did not answer, for the sight which she beheld, took from her, for a moment, the power of utterance. She beheld her father's mansion, rising above the Schuylkill, the river and the rocks of Laurel Hill white with snow. The silver moon from a clear cold sky shone over all. Along the ascent to the mansion, came a man of strange costume, with a dark eye and bold countenance. A voice whispered — this is your brother, maiden. This vision, spreading before, in the smoke-darkened glass, filled the maiden with wonder with awe. Was it a trick of the Conjurer's art? Or did some Angel of God, lift the veil of flesh, from that pure woman's eyes, enabling her to beheld a sight denied to mortal vision ? Did some strange impulse of that angel- like instinct, which in woman, supplies the place of man's boasted, reason, warn Amable of approaching danger? The sequel of the legend will tell us. Still the old man, starting from his seat, awaited an answer. At last the maiden's voice was heard — " I behold " she began, but her voice was broken by a shriek. There M'as the sound of a hurried struggle, a shriek, a confused tread. In a moment from the clouds of smoke, appeared a man of some thirty years, whose muscular form was clad in the scarlet uniform of a British officer. One arm held Amable by the waist, while the other wound around her neck. The old man started aghast from his seat. That face, swollen with de- bauchery, those disclosed eyeballs starting from the purple lids, those lips, stamped with a brutal smile — he knew it well, and knew that it was not the face of his son. He oeheld him. Captain Marcham, a bravo who had persecuted Amable with his addresses and been repulsed with scorn. He stood there, his laugh of derision, ringing through the chamber, while '^HE MAN'lION ON THE SCHUYLKILL. 135 Amable Ion.-ol()grr stood near the hearth, the strange smile which had crossed his face, once or twice before, now deepening into a sneering laugh. One hand, placed within his breast, fondled the heavy purse which he had re- ceived for his treachery from the British Captain. He had despatched his servants from the mansion on various errands, left the hall-door unclosed so as to afford secure entrance to the Captain and his bravoes. Amable was lost. In a moment Gerg'id Morton, instinctively became aware that his child was in the brave's ;pnwer. "Spare my girl," he said, in a quivering voice. "She never harmed you !" " 0, I will spar? the lovely lass," sneered Marcham, " Trust me for that ! Old man you need not fear 1 You old rebels with pretty daughters, should not make your country mansions places of rendezvous for rebels and traitors. Indeed you should'nt. That is, if you wish to keep your pretty girls safe." " When was my house a rendezvous for a rebel or a traitor ?" said the old man, rising with a trembling dignity. " Have you not given aid, succor, money, provisions, to those rebels who now skulk somewhere about in the fields of White Marsh ? Did not the rebel officers meet here for council, not more than a month ago ? Has not Mister Washington himself rested here, and received information at your hands ? Old man — to be plain with you — Sir William thinks the air of Walnut Street gaol would benefit your health. I am commanded to arrest you as a — spy 1" The old man buried his face in his white hands. " There is a way, however," said the Captain, leering at Amable, " Let me marry this pretty girl, and — presto vesto ! The order for your arrest will disappear !" With a sudden bound Amable sprang from his arms, and sank crouching near the hearth, her blue eyes fixed on her father, with a look of speechless agony. i The danger, in all its terrible details stared her in the face. On one side, dishonor or the pollution of that coward's embrace — on the other, death to her father by the fever and confinement of Walnut Street gaol. It is very pretty now-a-days for certain perfumed writers and orators, to prate about the magnanimity of Britain, but could the victims who were murdered within the walls of the old Gaol by British power, rise some fine moonlight night, they would form a ghastly band of witnesses, extending Tom the prison gate to the doors of Independence Hall. The old man, Amable, the bravo and Astrologer, all felt the importance of this truth : Buitish power, means cruelty to the fallen, murder to the unarmed brave. They all remembered, that Paoli was yet red with tjie 136 THE WISSAIIIKOxN. blood of massacre, while Walnut Street goal, every morning sent its dis- figured dead to Potter's Held. Therefore the old man buried his face in his hands, therefore Amable terrified to the lieart, sank crouching by the fireplace, while the bravo looked with his brutal sneer, upon both father and child. " Come girl — no trilling," exclaimed Marcham, as he approached the crouching maiden. " You must go with me, or your good father rests in gaol before daybreak. Take your choice my pretty lass ?" The father raised his face from his iiands. He was lividly pale, yet his blue eyes shone with unusual light. His lip quivered, while his teeth, closely clenched, gave a wild and unearthly aspect to his countenance. All hope was over ! The intellect of the old man was, for a moment, threatened with ruin, utter and withering, as the dark consciousness of hiS helplessness pressed like lead upon his brain. At this moment a footstep was heard, and lo ! A man of singular cos- tume came through the feathery clouds of smoke, and stood between the bravo and the father. A man of almost giant height, with a war-blanket folded over his breast, a wampum belt about hi:s waist, glittering with tomahawk and knife, while his folded arms enclosed a rifle. The aquiline nose, the bold brow, the head destitute of hair, with a single plume rising from the crown, the eagle-nose and clear full eye — there was quiet majesty in the stranger's look. He was an Indian, yet his skin was bronzed, not copper-colored ; his eye was sharp and piercing, yet blue as a summer sky. For a moment he surveyed the scene. The Captain shrank back from his gaze. The old man felt a sudden hope dawning over his soul. The young woman looked up, and gazed upon the Indian's stern visage without a fear. There was a pause like the silence of the grave. At last advancing a step, the Indian handed a paper to Gerald Morton. He spoke, not in the forest-tongue, but in clear bold English, with a deep, gutteral accent. " The American Chief sends this to his father. He bade me deliver it, and I have done his bidding." Then wheeling on his heel, he confronted the Captain : " Give me that sword. The sword is for the brave man, not for the coward. A brave man seeks warriors to display his courage : a coward frightens old men and weak women. Will the coward in a red coat give me the sword, or must I take it ?" There was a withering scorn in the Red-Man's tone. The British oflicer Btood as if appalled by a ghost. " Your brothers are tied, as cowards should be tied, who put on the war* THE MANSION ON THE SCHUYLKILL. |37 nor's dress to do a coward's work," exclaimed the Indian. " My warriors came on tiieiri, captured them and tied them together like wolves in a pack Come ! We are waiting for you. To-night you must go to Valley Forge." There was something so strange in the clear English of this slern Indian, that the bravo stood spell-bound, as though it was but the voice of a dream. At this moment, two savage forms drew near, through the smoke, which rolling away from the door, now hung coiled in wreaths near the ceiling. Without a word, the Briton was led from the room. He made no resistance, for the tomahawk of an Indian has an unpleasant glitter. As he disappeared, his face gathered one impotent scowl of malice, like a snake that hisses when your foot is on its head. The Astrologer skulked slowly at his heels. The Indian was alone with father and daughter. He looked from one to the other, while an expression of deep emotion came over his bronzed face. At last flinging down his rifle, he extended one hand to the old man, one to the crouching woman. " Father!" he groaned in a husky voice : " Sister ! I have come at last !" As though a strange electric impulse throbbed from their hearls and joined them all together, in a moment the old man, his daughter and the Indian lay clasped in each other's arms. For some k\v moments, sobs, tears, broken ejaculations ! At last the old man bent back the Indian's head, and with flashing eyes, perused his image in his face. The daughter too, without a fear, clung to his manly arm, and looked tenderly up into his blue eyes. " Father, sister ! It is a long story, but I will tell it in a few words. A white man, whom you had done wrong, stole me from your house thirty, three years ago. He was an outcast from his kind and made his home i.n the wigwam of the Indian. While the warriors taught me to bend the bow and act a warrior's part, he learned me the tongue of my father. I grew up at once a vvhite man and an Indian. But, two moons ago, the white man^ whose name we never knew, but who was called the Grey -hawk, told me the secret of my father's name. Then, he died. I was a warrior ; a chief among warriors. I came toward flie rising of the sun to see my father and' my sister. One day I beheld the huts of Valley Forge — I am now a warrior under the American chief. My band have done him service for many a day; he is a Man. Father, I see you ! Sister, I love you ! But ask no more; for never will the White Indian forsake his forest to dwell within walls — never will the Chief lay down his blanket, to put on the dress of the white race !" The Sister looked tenderly into her brother's Aice. The old man, as if his only wish had been fulfiilled, gazed long and earnestly on the bronzed countenance of his child. He murmured the name of the man whom he had darkly, terribly wronged. Then with a prayer on his lips, he sank- back in the arm cliair. Ho was dead. 9 138 THE WTSSAHIKON. On his glassy eye and fallen jaw streamed the warmth of the fire, while at his feet knelt the white-Indian, his bronzed face glowing in the same beam, that revealed his sister's face, pale as marble and bathed in tears. Months passed away. Winter with its ice and snow was gone. Laurel Hill was green and shadowy with summer. The deer browsed quiedy along the lawn of the old mansion, and the river, which the Indian called Manayong, went laughing and shouting over its rocky bed. It was summer, and Sir William Howe had deserted Philadelphia, when one day, there came a messenger to Congress, in the old State House, that A batde had been fought near Monmoulh. A battle in which Sir William learned, that Freedom had survived the disease and nakedness and starvation of Valley Forge. On that summer day, a young woman sat alone in the chamber of the old mansion, where her father had died six months before. Alone by the win- dow, the breeze playing with her golden hair, the sunlight — stealing ray by ray through thick vines — falling in occasional gleams over her young face. Her blue eye was fixed upon a miniature, which pictured a manly face, with dark eyes and raven hair, relieved by the breast of a manly form, clad in the blue uniform of the Continental Army. It was the Betrothed of Amable ; the war once over, freedom won, they were to be married. He was far away with the army, but her voiceless prayers invoked blessings on his head. While the maiden sat there, contemplating her lover's picture, a form came stealing from the shadows of the room : a face looked oyer her shoulder. It was the White-Indian in his war-blanket. His face became terribly agitated as he beheld that picture. At last the maiden heard his hard-drawn breath. She turned her head and greeted him at first with a smile, but when she beheld the horror glooming over his face, she felt her heart grow cold. " Whence come you, brother ?" " Monmouth !" " Have you no message for me ? No word from The Brother extended his hand, and laid the hilt of a broken sword gently on her bosom. He said no word, but she knew it all. She saw the blood upon the hilt ; she saw her brother's face, she knew that she was Widow and Virgin at once. It was a dark hour in that old Mansion on the Schuylkill. A graveyard among the hills, a small space of green earth separated from the forest by a stone wall. In the midst, a wild cherry tree, flinging its ■hadow over a white tombstone and a new made grave. THE MANSION ON THE SCHUYLKILL. 130 Sunset steals through these branches, over the white tombstone, down into tfie recesses of the new-made grave. What is this we see beside th* grave ? A man in Indian attire, bending over a coflin, on whose plate ia inscried a sintjle word — A M A B L E . Ah, do not Uft the lid, ah, do not uncover that cold face to the light! Ah, do not lift the lid, for then the breeze will play with her tresses ; then the air will kiss her cheek. Her marble cheek, now colorless forever. The White-Indian knelt there, the last of his race, bending over the corse of that fair girl. No tear in his eye, no sob in his bosom. All calm as stone, he bent there above his dead. Soon the coffin was lowered ; anon the grave was filled. The star-beams looked solemnly down through the trees, upon the grave of that fair girl. The Indian broke a few leaves from the wild cherry tree, and went on his way. He was never seen on the banks of the Manayong again. Long years afterward, in the far wilds of the forest, a brave General who had won a battle over the Indian race, stood beside an oaken tree, conteni- plating with deep sorrow, the corse of a friendly savage.. He lay there, stiff and cold, the wreck of a giant man, his bronzed lace, lighter in hue than the visages of his brother Indians. He lay there, with blanket and wampum belt and tomahawk about him, the rifle in his grasp, the plume drooping over his bared brow. He had died, shielding the brave General from the tomahawk. Yes, with one sudden bound, he sprang before him, receiving on his breast, the blow intended for Mad Antony Wayne. And Wayne stood over him — his eyes wet with a soldier's tears — sor- rowing for him as for a rude Indian. Little did he think that a white man lay there at his feet! Ah, who can tell the magic of those forests, the wild enchantment of the chase, the savage witchery of the Indian's life ? Here was a man, a white man, who, bred to Indian life, had in his mature manhood, rejected wealth and civilization, for the deep joy of the wigwam and the prairie, and now lay stretched — a cold corse, yet a warrior corse — on the banks of the Miami* AN InBIAN to the LAST. Note.— This fine old mansion, at the Falls of the Schuylkill, was formerly the residence of General Mifflin. The view from the porch of this mansion was always renowned^^ for its beauty. It is proper to mention, that the old bridtre was consumed by fire. The railroad bridge— a splendid stone structure in modern stvle — gives addi- tional beauty to the prospect. The supernatural part of this legend, is" not to be laid to the author's invention, but to the superstition of the Era, in which it occurred This gro-md- around the Falls, on the shores of the Schuylkill— is rich in Ifeo-ends of the most picturesque and romantic character. " J40 THE WISSAHIKON. X.— THE GRAVEYARD OF GERMANTOVVN. Ik Germ.ntown there is an old-time graveyard. No gravelled walks no delicate sculpturings of marble, no hot-beds planted over corruption are there. It is an old-lime graveyard, defended from the highway and encirc- ling fields by a thick, stone wall. On the north and west it is shadoweJ by a range of trees, the sombre verdure of the pine, the leafy magnificence of the maple and horse-chesnut, mingling in one rich mass of foliage. Wild dowers are in that graveyard, and tangled vines. It is white with tomb- stones. Tiiey spring up, like a host of spirits from the green graves ; they seem to struggle witli each other for space, for room. The lettering on these tombstones, is in itself, a rude history. Some are marked with rude words in Dutch, some in German, one or more in Latin, one in Indian ; others in English. Some bend down, as if hiding their rugged faces from the light, some start to one side ; here and there, rank grass chokes them from the light and air. You may talk to me of your fashionable graveyards, where Death is made to look pretty and silly and fanciful, but for me, this one old grave, yard, with its rank grass and crowded tombstones, has more of God and Immortality in it, than all your elegant cemetries together. I love its soil: its stray wild flowers are omens to me, of a pleasant sleep, taken by weary ones, who were faint with living too long. It is to me, a holy thought, that here my bones will one day repose. For here, in a lengthening line, extend the tombstones, sacred to the memory of my fathers, far back in to time. They sleep here. The summer day may dawn, the winter storm may howl, and still they sleep on. No careless eye looks over these walls. There is no gaudiness of sculpture to invite the lounger. As for a pic nic party, in an old graveyard like this, it would be blasphemy. None come save those who have friends here. Sisters come to talk quietly with the ghost of sisters ; children to invoke the spirit of that Mother gone home; I, too sometimes, panting to get free from the city, come here to talk with my sisters — for two of mine are here — with my fsUher — for that clover blooms above his grave. It seems to me, too, when bending over that grave, that the Mother's form, awakened from her distant grave, beneath the sod of Delaware, is alsc here! — Here, to commune with the dead, whom she loved while living; here, with the spirits of my fathers ! I cannot get rid of the thought that good spirits love that graveyard. For all at once, when you enter its walls, you feel sadder, better ; more satisfied with life, yet less reluctant to die. It is such a pleasant spot, to take a long repose. I have seen it in winter, when there was snow upon the graves, and the sleigh-bells tinkled in the street. Then calmly and tenderly upon the while tombstones, played and lingered the cold moon. THE GRAVEYARD OF GERMANTOWN. li\ In Slimmer, too, when the leaves were on the trees, and the grass upon the sod, when the chirp of the cricket and katy-did broke shrilly over the graves through the silence of night. In early spring, when there was scarce a blade of grass to struggle against the north wind, and late in fall when November baptizes you with her cloud of gloom, I have been there. And in winter and summer, in fall and spring, in calm or storm, in sick- ness or health, in every change of this great play, called life, does my heart go out to that graveyard, as though part of it was already there. Nor do I love it the less, because on every blade of grass, in every flower, that wildly blooms there, you find written : — " This soil is sacred from creeds. Here rests the Indian and the white man ; here sleep in one sod, the Catholic, Presbyterian, Quaker, Methodist, Lutheran, Mennonist, Deist, Infidel. Here, creeds forgotten, all are men and women again, and not one but is a simple child of God," This graveyard was established by men of all creeds, more than a century ago. May that day be darkness, when creeds shall enter this rude gate. Better had that man never been born, who shall dare pollute this soil with the earthly clamor of sect. But on the man, who shall repair this wall, or keep this graveyard sacred from the hoofs of improvement, who shall do his best to keep our old graveyard what it is, on that man, be the blessings of God ; may his daughters be virtuous and beautiful, his sons gifted and brave. In his last hour, may the voices of angels sing hymns to -his passing soul. If there was but one flower in the wprld, I would plant it on that nian's grave. It was in November, not in chill, gloomy November, but in golden No- vember, when Paradise opens her windows to us, and wafts ihe Indian Summer over the land, that I came to the graveyard. There was a mellow softness in the air, a golden glow upon the sky, glossy, gorgeous richness of foliage on the trees, when I went in. It was in the afternoon. The sun was half-way down the sky. Everything was still. A religious silence dwelt all about the graveyard. An aged man, with a rosy countenance, and snow-white hair, sat on a grave. His coat was strait and coUarless, his hat broad in the rim. At once I knew him for a Disciple of Saint William, the Patron Saint of Penn- sylvania. His eyes were fixed upon something at his feet. I drew nigh, and beheld two skeletons resting on the grass near a new-made grave. The old Quaker greeted me kindly, and I sat down opposite on a grassy mound. The skeletons presented a strange, a meaning sight. Around their crumbling bones were fluttering the remnants of soldiers' uniform. Buttons, stamped with an eagle, pieces of the breast-belt, fragments of mili tary boots — ah, sad relics Offt the fight of Germantown ! The sunlight streamed slowly over their skulls^ lighting up the hollow orbits, where once shone the eyes; and over the bones of the hand, protruding from the crumb- ing uniform. 142 THE WISSAHIKON. We sat for a long while in silence. At last the Quaker spoke. " 1 iiin trying to remember which is John and v/hich is Jacob ?" said he. " John ? — Jacob ?" " Truly so. For I knew them well. I was but a youth then — on the d iv of the battle, thee minds ? The fourth of the tenth month, 1777 I Jacob was a fine young man, with light curly hair; he was married. John was dark-haired, something younger than Jacob, but quite as good looking. They were both with Washington at Skippack ; with him they came to the battle — " " Ah, you remember the battle ?" " As well as if it happened last week. Did thee ever see a small, one story house, about half-way down Germantown, with 1713 on its gable? Jacob's wife lived there. On the morning of the battle, about ten o'clock, she was standing in the door, her babe resting on her bosom. There was a thick fog in the air. She was listening to the firing. I stood on the opposite side, thinking what a fine-looking wife she was, for does thee mind, she was comely. Her hair was glossy and brown ; her eyes dark. She was not very tail, but a wondrous pleasant woman to look upon. As I stood looking at her, who should come running down the road, but Jacob there, with this same uniform on, and a gun in his hand. I can see him yet : and hear his voice, as plain as I now hear my own. " ' Hannah ! Hannah !' he cried, ' we've beat 'em !' 'And he ran towards her, and she held the babe out to him, but just at that moment, he fell in the middle of the road, torn almost in two by a cannon ball, or some devil's- work of that kind. Young man, it was a very sad sight ! To see that poor Jacob, running to kiss his wife and child, and just as the wife calls and the babe hojds out its little hands — ah !" The Quaker rubbed his eye, blaming the road side dust for the tear that glimmered there. " And John ?" " Poor John ! We found him after the batUe in Chew's field. He was quite dead — look ! Thee can see the bullet hole in his brain." And with his cane, he pointed to the scull of the soldier. " We buried them together. They were fine-looking young men, and many of us shed tears, when we put the sod upon their brows." " Sod ? Had you no coflins ?" The old man opened his eyes. " Had thee seen the village people, taking their barn-doors off their hinges^ so that they might cajrry away the dead bodies by dozens at a lime, and bury them in the fields, whenever a big hole was dug — had thee seen this, thee would'nt ask such a question !" , "Was there not a great deal of glory on that day?" " If thee means, that it was like an election parade, or a fourth of July THE GRAVEYARD OF GERMANTOWN. Hi gathering, I can tell thee, there was not much glory of that kind. If thee means that it made my blood boil to see the bodies of my neighbois carried by, some dead, some groaning yet, some howling mad with pain ; others with legs torn off, others with arms rent at the very shoulder, here one with his jaw broken, there another with his eyes put out ; — if thee means that boiling of the blood, caused by sights like these, then I can tell thee, there was plenty oi glory T^ " The battle was bloody then ?" " Did thee ever see how rich the grass grows on Chew's lawn ? How many hearts spent their last blood to fatten that soil ?" " You helped to bury the dead ?" " I remember well, that thy grandfather — he is buried yonder — took hold of one corner of a barn-door, while I and two friends took the others. There were some six or seven bodies piled crosswise, and huddled together on that barn-door. We took them to the fields and buried them in a big pit. ( remember one fair-faced British officer; his ruffled shirt was red with blood. He was a fine-looking young man, and doubtless had a wife or sister in Eng- land. I pitied him very much."' ♦ Were you near the scene of conflict? I do not wish to imply that you bore arms, for your principles forbid the thought." •'I can remember standing in my father's door, when a wounded soldier pursued by another, fell at my feet crying ' quarter !' I remember that I seized the pursuer's musket, and rapped him over the head, after which he let the wounded soldier be." " Did you hurt him much ?" " He did'nt move afterward. Some evil people wished to make it ap- pear, that I killed him. But thee sees that was false, for he may have been very tired running and died from the heat. However, I hit him with all my strength." The Quaker held out his right arm, which was an arm of iron, even in its withered old age. " What was he ? British or American ?" *' He was dressed in red," meekly responded the Quaker. " Did you see General Washington during the fight ?" " I saw a tall man of majestic presence riding a grey horse. I saw hira now go in the mist ; now come out again ; now here, now there. One time I saw him, when he reigned his horse in front of Chew's wall — he looked terrible, for his eyes seemed to frown, his lips were clenched ; his .•brehead was disfigured by a big vein that seemed bursting from the skin. He was covered with dust and blood — his saddle-cloth was torn by bullets I never forgot the look of that man, nor shall I, to the hour of my death. That man they told me was George Washington." ♦' Why was he thus moved ^" 144 THE WISSAHIKON. " An aid-de.camp had just told him that one of his Generals was driniK undet a hedge." " Did you see CornwaUis ?" " That I did. He was riding up the street, as fast as his horse could go — a handsome man, but when I saw him, his face was white as a meal-bag. Thee sees he was a brave man, but friend Washington came on him bei'ore day, without timely notice.^'' There was a curious twitch about the Quaker's mouth. He did not smile but still it was a suspicious shape for a Quaiver's mouth. XL— "REMEMBER PAOLI." Hist! — It is still night; the clear sky arches above; the dim wjods are all around the field ; and in the centre of the meadow, resting on the grass crisped by the autumnal frosts, sleep the worn veterans of the war, dis- heartened by want, and wearied by the day's march. It is still night; and the light of the scanty fire falls on wan faces, hol- low eyes, and sunken cheeks ; on tattered apparel, muskets unfit for use, and broken arms. It is still night; and they snatch a feverish sleep beside the scanty fire, and lay th«m down to dream of a time when the ripe harvest shall no more be troddon down by the blood-stained hoof — when the valley shall no more be haunfed by tlie Traitor-Refugee — when Liberty and Freedom shall walk in broadcloth, instead of wandering about with the unshodden feet, and the tatterfid rags of want. It is still night ; and Mad Anthony Wayne watches while his soldiers sleep. He watches beside the camp-fire. You can mark his towering form, his breadth of shoulders, and his prominence of chest. You can see his face by the red light of the fire — that manly face, with the broad forehead, the marked eye-brows, over-arching the deep hazel eye, that lightens and gleams as he gazes upon the men of his band. You can note the uniform of the Revolution — the wide coat of blue, varied by the buckskin sword-belt, from which depends the sword that Wayne alone can wield, — the facings of buff, the buttons rusted by the dews of night, and the march-worn trooper's boots, reaching above his knees, with the stout iron spurs standing out from each heel. Hist ! The night is still, but there is a sound in yonder thicket. Look ! can you see nothing ? No. The night is still — the defenceless Continentals sleep in the centre of the meadow — all around is dark. The sky above is clear, but the stars give forth no light. The wind sweeps around the meadow — dim and indis linct it sweeps, and is silent and still. I can see nothing. Place your ear to th^ earth. Hear you nothing ? " REMEMBER PAOLl. 14£ Yes — yes. A slight sound — a distant rumbling. There is thunder growl- ing in the bosom of tlie earth, but it is distant. It is lilie the mu-mur on the ocean, ere the terrible white squall sweeps away the commerce of a na- tion — but it is distant, very distant. Now look forth on the night. Cast your eye to the thicket — see yoi notiiing ? Yes — there is a gleam like the light of the fire-fly. Ha ! It lightens on the night — that quivering gleam ! It is the flash of swords — the glittering of arms ! "Charge upon the Rebels! Upon them — over them-^no quarter — no quarter !" Watcher of the night, watcher over the land of the New World, watching over the fortunes of the starved children of Freedom — what see you now i A band of armed men, mounted on stout steeds, with swords in their up- lifted hands. They sweep from the thicket; they encompass the meadow? they surround the Rebel host ! The gallant Lord Grey rides at their head. His voice rings out clear and loud upon the frosty air. " Root and branch, hip and thigh, cut them down. Spare not a man — heed never a cry for quarter. Cut ihern down ! Charge for England and St. George !" And then there was uplifting of swords, and butchery of defenceless mem, and there was a riding over the wounded, and a trampling over the faces of the dying. And then there was a cry for quarter, and the respon'--e — " To your throats take that ! We give you quarter, the quarter of the sword, accursed Rebels !" There was a moment, whose history was written with good sharp swords, on the visages of dying men. It was the moment when the defenceless Continental sprang up from his hasty sleep, into the arms of the merciless death ! It was the moment when Wayne groaned aloud with agony, as the sod of Paoli was flooded with a pool of blood that poured from the corses of the slaughtered soldiers of his band. It was the moment when the cry for quarter was mocked — when the Rebel clung in his despair to the stirrup of the Britisher, and clung in vain ; it was the moment when the gallant Lord Grey — that genUe- man, nobleman, Christian — whose heart only throbbed with generous im- pulses ; who from his boyhood, was schooled in the doctrines of mercy, halloed his war-dogs on to the slaugliter, and shouted up to the star-lit Heavens, until the angels might grow sick of the scene — " Over them — over them — heed never a cry — heed never a voice ! Root and branch cut them down ! — No quarter !" It is dark and troubled night; and the Voice of Blood goes up to God, shrieking for vengeance ! It is morning ; sad and ghasUy morning ; and the first sunbeams shine 146 THE WISSAHIKON. over the field, which was yesternight a green meadow — the field that is now an Aceldenia — a field of blood, strewn with heaps of the dead, arms loru from the body, eyes hollowed from the sockets, faces turned to the earth, and buried in blood, ghastly pictures of death and pain, painted by the hand of the Briton, for the bright sun to shine down upon, for men to applaud, for the King to approve, for God to avenge. It is a sad and ghastly morning ; and Wayne stands looking over the slaughtered heaps, surrounded by the little band of survivors, and as he gazes on this scene of horror, the Voice of Blood goes shrieking up to God for vengeance, and the ghosts of the slain darken the portals of Heaven, with their forms of woe, and their voices mingle with the Voice of Blood. Was the Voice of Blood answered ? A year passed, and the ghosts of the murdered looked down from the portals of the Unseen, upon the ramparts of Stony Point. It is still night ; the stars look calmly down upon the broad Hudson , and in the dim air of night towers the rock and fort of Stony Point. The Britishers have retired to rest. The)"- sleep in their warm, quiet beds. They sleep with pleasant dreams of American maidens dishonored, and American fathers, with grey hairs dabbled in blood. They shall have merrier dreams anon, I trow. Aye, aye ! All is quiet around Stony Point : the sentinel leans idly over the wall that bounds his lonely walk ; he gazes down the void of darkness, until his glance falls upon the broad and magnificent Hudson. He hears nothing — he sees nothing. It is a pity for that sentinel, that his eyes are not keen, and his glance piercing. Had his eye-sight been but a little keener, he might have seen Death creeping up that rampart in some hundred shapes — he might have Been the long talon-like fingers of ilie skeleton god clutching for his own plump British throat. But his eye-sight was no-t keen — more's the pity for him. Pity it was, that the sentinel could not hear a little more keenly. Had his ears been good, he might have heard a little whisper that went from two hundred tongues, around the ramparts of Stony Point. " General, what shall be the watch-word ?" And then, had the sentinel inclined his ear over the ramparts, and listened very attentively indeed, he might have heard the answer, sweeping up to the Heavens, like a voice of blood — " Remember Paoli !" Ho — ho ! And so Paoli is to be remembered — and so the Voice of Blood shrieked not in the ears of God in vain. And so the vengeance for Paoli is creeping up the ramparts of the fort ! Ho — ho ! Pity Lord Grey were not here to see the sport ! The sentinel was not blessed with supernatural si^ht or hearing ; he did "REMEMBER PAOLI." I47 not see the figures creeping up the ramparts ; he did not hear their whispers, until a rude hand clutched him round the throat, and up to the Heavens swept the lhuii(Je,-shoiit — " Remember Paoli !" And then a rude bayonet pinned him to the wood of the ramparts, and then the esplanade of the fort, and its rooms and its halls were filled with silent avengers, and then came Britishers rushing from their beds, crying for quarter, and then they had it — the quarter of Paoli ! And then, through the smoke, and the gloom, and the bloodshed of that terrible night, with the light of a torch now falling on his face, with the gleam of starlight now giving a spectral appearance to his features, swept on, right on, over heaps of dead, one magnificent form, grasping a stout broad- sword in his right hand, which sternly rose, and sternly fell, cutting a British soldier down at every blow, and laying them along the floor of the fort, in the puddle of their own hireling blood. Ghosts of Paoli — shout! are you not terribly avenged ? " Spare me — I have a wife — a child — they wait my return to England ! Quarter — Quarter !" " I mind me of a man named Shoelmire — he had a wife and a child — a mother, old and grey-haired, waited his return from the wars. On the night of Paoli, he cried for quarter ! Such quarter I give you — Remember Paoli !" " Save me — quarter !" How that sword hisses through the air ! " Remember Paoli !" ' I have a grey-haired father ! Quarter !" •' So had Daunton at Paoli ! Oh, Remember Paoli !" " Spare me — you see I have no sword ! — Quarter !" " Friend, I would spare thee if I dared. But the Ghosts of Paoli nerve my arm — ' We had no swords at Paoli, and ye butchered us !' they shriek." " Oh, Remember Paoli !" And as the beams of the rising moon, streaming through yonder narrow window, for a moment light up the brow of the Avenger— dusky with bat- tle-smoke, red with blood, deformed by passion — behold ! Tliat sword describes a fiery circle in the air, it hisses down, sinks into the victim's skull ? No ! His arm falls nerveless by his side ; the sword, that grim, rough blade, dented with the records of the fight of Brandy wine, clatters on the floor. " It is my duty — the Ghosts of Paoli call to me — but I cannot kfll vou !' shouts the American Warrior, and his weaponless hands are extended 10 the trembling Briton. All around is smoke, and darkness, and blood ; the cry for quarter, and the death-sentence. Remember Paoli ! but here, in the centre of the scene of slaughter— yes, in the centre of that flood of moonlight, pourintr throi-oh iho solitary window, behold a strange and impressive sight : 149 THE WISSAHIKON. The kneeling form — a grey-haired man, who has grown hoary doing murder in the name of Good King George, — his hands uplifted in trembling supplication, his eyes starting from the dilating lids, as he shrieks for the mercy that he never gave ! The figure towering above him, with the Continental uniform fluttering in ribands over his broad chest, his hands and face red with blood and darkened with the stain of powder, the veins swelling from his bared throat, the eye glaring from his compressed brow — Such were the figures disclosed by the sudden glow of moonlight ! And yet from that brow, dusky with powder, red with blood, there broke the gleam of mercy, and yet those hands, dripping with crimson stains, • were extended to lift the cringing Briton from the dust. " Look ye — old man — at Paoli — " and that hoarse voice, heard amid tlio roar of midnight conflict, grew tremulous as a child's, when it spoke those fatal words — at Paoli ; " even through the darkness of that terrible night, I beheld a boy, only eighteen years old, clinging to the stirrup of Lord Grey ; yes, by the light of a pistol-flash, I beheld his eyes glare, his hands quiver over his head, as he shrieked for ' Quarter !' " "And he spared him ?" faltered the Briton. " Now, mark you, this boy had been consigned to my care by his mother, a brave American woman, who had sent this last hope of her Miidowed h-eart forth to battle " " And he spared him — " again faltered the Briton. " The same pistol, which flashed its red light over his pale face, and quivering hands, sent the bullet through his brain. Lord Grey held that pistol, Lord Grey heard the cry for mercy. Lord Grey beheld the young face trampled into mangled flesh by his horse's hoofs ! And now, sir — with that terrible memory of Paoli stamped upon my soul — now, while thai young face, with the red wound between the eyes, passes before me, 1 spare your life ; — there lies my sword — I will not take it up again ! Clmg to me, sir, and do not part for an instant from my side, for my good soldiers have keen memories. I may forget, but hark ! Do you hear them ? They do not massacre defenceless men in cold blood — ah, no ! The^ only — "REMEMBER PAOLI 1" BOOK THIRD. BENEDICT ARNOLD. (140) BEiNEDICT ARNOLD. 1.— THE MOTHER AND HER BABE. The angels of God look down from the sky to witness the deep tender- ness of a mother's love. The angels of God look down to witness that sight which angels love to see — a mother watching over her sleeping babe. Yes, if even these awful intelligences, which are but litde above man, and yet next to God, circling there, deep after deep, far through the homes of eternity, bend from the sky to witness a scene of human bliss and woe, that sight is the deep agony of a mother's love as she watches o'er her sleeping child ! The deep agony of a mother's love ? Yes ! For in that moment, when gazing upon the child — smiling upon it as it sleeps — does not a deep agony seize the mother's soul, as she tries to picture the future life of her babe ? — whether that child will rise in honor and go down to death in glory, or whether the dishonored life and unwept death will be its heritage ? Ah, the sublimity of the heart is there, in that mother's love, which even angels bend down to look upon. One hundred years ago, in a far New England town, a mother, with her babe in her arms, stole sofdy through the opened doors of a quaint old vil- lage church, and knelt beside the altar. Yes, while the stillness of the Sabbath evening gathered like a calm from heaven around her, — while a glimpse of the green graveyard came through the unclosed windows, and the last beam of the setting sun played over the rustic steeple, that mother knelt alone, and placed her sleeping boy upon the sacramental altar. That mother's face was not beautiful — care had been too busy there — yet there was a beauty in that uplifted countenance, in those upraised eyes of dark deep blue, in that kneeling form, with the clasped hands pressed against the agitated bosom, — a beauty holier than earth, like that of Mary, the Virgin Moilier. And wliy comes this Mother here to this lonely church, in this twilight hour, to lay her babe upon the altar, and kneel in silence there ? Listen to her prayer. She prays the Father, yonder, to guide the boy through life, to make him a man of honor, a disciple of the Lord. While these faltering accents fall from her tongue, behold ! There, on the v:icancy of the twilight air, she beiiolds a vision of that boy's life, ac* (isn 152 BEiNEDlCT ARNOLD. I'Tovvding on act, scene on scene, until her eyes burn in their sockets, aniJ tlie thicii. sweat stands in beads upon her brow. First, her pale face is stamped with fear. She beholds her boy, now grown to young manhood, standing upon a vessel's deck, far out UDon the deep waters. The waves heave around him, and meet above the mast, and yet that boy is firm. The red lightning from yon dark cloud, comes quiv- ering down the mainmast, and yet his cheek does not pale, his breast does not shrink. Yes, while the stout sailors fall cowering upon the deck, that boy stands firm, and laughs at the storm — as though his spirit rose to meet .he lightning in its coming, and grapple with the thunderbolt in its way. This vision passes. The mother, kneeling there, beside the sacramental altar, beholds another scene of her boy's life — another and another. At last, with eyes swimming in tears of joy, she beholds a scene, so glorious drawn there upon the twi- light air — her boy grown to hardy manhood, riding amid embattled legions, with the victor's laurel upon his brow — the praises of a nation ringing in his ears — a scene so glorious, that her heart is filled to bursting, and that deep ♦' I thank thee, oh my God I" falls tremulously from her lips. The next scene, right after the scene of glory — it is dark, crushing, horri- ble ! The mother starts appalled to her feet — her shriek quivers through the lonely church — she spreads forth her hands over the sleeping babe — she calls to Gjd ! " Father in Heaven ! take, O take this child while he is yet innocent ! Let him not live to be a man — a demon in human shape — u curse to his race /" And as she stands there, quivering and pale, and cold with horror — look ' That child, laid there on the sacramental altar, opens its clear dark eyes, ar.d claps its tiny hands, and smiles ! That child was Benedict Arnold. Near half a century had passed away. It was night in that New Eng- land town, where, forty-five years before, that mother, in the calmness of the Sabbath evening, brought her babe and laid it on the altar. It was midnight. The village girl had bidden her lover a last good-niglit, that good old father had lifted up his voice in prayer, with his children all around him — it was midnight, and the village people slept soundly in their beds. All at once, rising from the deep silence, a horrid yell went up to the midnight sky. All at once a blaze of fire burst over the roof. Look yon- der ! — That father murdered on his own threshhold — that mother stabbed in the midst of her children — that maiden kneeling there, pleading for life, as the sharp steel crashes into her brain ! Then the blood flow^ in the startled streets — then British troopers flit to and fro in the red light — then, rising in the centre of the town, that quiet village church, with its rustic steeple, towers into the blaze. THE MOTHER AND THE BABE. 153 And there — oh, Falher of Mercy ! — there, in that steeple, stands a soldiei with a dark cloak half-wrapped around his red uniform — yes, there he stands, >\'itli folded arms, and from that height surveys with a calm joy, the horrid scene of massacre below. Now, mother of Arnold, look from Heaven and weep ! Forty-live years ago, you laid your child upon the sacramental altar of this church, and now he stands in yonder steeple, drinking in with a calm joy, the terrible criea of old men, and trembling women, and little children, hewn down in hideous murder, before his very eyes. Look there, and learn what a devil Remorse can make of such a man ! Here are the faces he has known in Childhood — the friends of his man- hood — the matrons, who were litde girls when he was a boy — here they are, hacked by British swords, and lie looks on and smiles ! At last, the cries are stilled in death ; the last flash of the burning town glares over the steeple, and there, attired in that scarlet uniform, his bronzed face stamped with the conflict of hideous passions — there, smiling §lill amid the scenes of ruin and blood, stands Benedict Arnold. That was the last act of the Traitor on our soil. In a few days he sailed from our shores, and came back no more. And now, as he goes yonder, on his awful way, while millions curse the echo of his name, in yonder lonely room two orphans bless that name. What is this you say ? Orphans bless the name of Arnold ? Yes, my friends — for there was a night when those orphans were without a crust of bread, while their fatlier lay mouldering on the sod of Bunker Hill. Yes, the Legislature of Massachusetts had left these children to the cold mercy of the world, and that when they bore his name who fell on Bunker HiU — the immortal Warren. While they sate there, hungry and cold, no fire on the hearth, not a crust of bread upon the table, their eyes fixed upon the tearful face of the good woman who gave them the siielter of a roof, a letter came, and in its folds five hundred dollars from Benedict Arnold. This at the very moment when he was steeling his soul to the guilt of Treason. This at the moment when his fortune had been scattered in ban- quets and pageants — when assailed by clamorous creditors, he was ready to sell his soul for gold. From the last wreck of his fortune, all that had been left from the para- sites who fed upon him, while they could, and then stung the hand that fed them, he took five hundred dollars and sent them to the children of his comrade, the patriot Warren. Is it true, that when the curse of all wronged orphans quivers up yomlcr, the Angels of God shed tears at that sound of woe ? Then, at the awful hour when Arnold's soul went up to judgment, did the prayer's of Warren's orphan children go up there, and like Angels, plead for him with God 10 ,54 BENEDICT ARNOLD. II.— THE DRUGGIST OF NEW HAVEN. Let us look at his life between these periods ; let us follow the varied and tumultuous course of forty-five years, and learn how the innocent and smiling babe, became the Outcast of his native land. The course of this strange history, will lead us to look, upon two men : First, a brave and noble man, whose hand was firm as his heart was true. at once a Knight worthy of the brightest days of chivalry, and a Soldier beloved by his countrymen ; honored by the friendship of Washington that man, — Benedict Arnold. Then, a bandit and an outcast, a man panoplied in hideous crimes, so dark, so infamous, that my tongue falters as it speaks his name — Benedict Arnold. Let me confess, that when I first selected this theme. I only thought of its melo-dramatic contrasts, its strong lights and deep shadows, its incidents of wild romance. But now, that I have learned the fearful lesson of this life, let me frankly confess, that in the pages of history or fiction, there is no tragedy to com- pare with the plain history of Benedict Arnold. It is, in one word, a Par- adise Lost, brought down to our own times and homes, and told in familiar language of everyday life. Through its every page, aye from the smiling autumnal landscape of Kenebec, from the barren rock of Quebec, or the green heights of Hudson, there glooms one horrid phantom, with a massive forehead and deep-set eyes, the Lucifer of the story Benedict Arnold. The man who can read his life, in all its details, without tears, has a heart harder than the roadside flint. One word in regard to the infancy of Arnold. You have doubtless seen, in the streets of our large cities, the painful spectacle of a beggar-women, tramping about with a deformed child in her arms, making a show of its deformity, exciting sympathy by the exhibition of its hideousness ? Does the poor child fail to excite sympathy, when attired in a jacket and trowsers, as a little boy ? Then, the gipsey conceals its deformed limbs under a frock, covers its wan and sickly face with a bonnet. And she changes it from to-day, making deformity always new, sickness, rags and ulcers always marketable. There is a class of men, who always remind me of this crafty beggar- woman. They are the journeymen historians, the petty couipilers of pom- pous filsehood, who prevail in the vincinity of bookseller's kitchens, and acquire corpulence. As the beggar-woman has her Deformed child, so these Historians who work by the line and yard, have their certain class of Incidents, which they crowd into all their Couipilations, whether Histories, Lectures, or Pictorial THE DRUGGIST OF NEW HAVEN. 155 abominations, dressing them soinewluit variously, in order to suit the chanjjeH of time and phice. For example; the first English writers wlio unilerlook the history oi Napoleon, propagated various stories about his infancy, wliich, in point of trutli and tragic interest, remind us of lilue-beard and Cock-robin. The same stories had been previously told of Alexander, Ca)sar, Richlieu, and lately we have seen them revived in a new shape, in order to suit the in fantile days of Santa Anna. These stereotyped fables — the Deformed children of History — are in fact, to be found in every Biography, written by an enemy. They may wear trousers in one history, put on a frock in another, but still cannot altogether hide their original features. Cloak it as you may, the Deformed child of history appears wherever we find it, just what it is, a puny and ridiculous libel. One of these Deformed children lurks in the current life of Arnold. It is the grave story of the youth of Benedict, being passed away in va- rious precocious atrocities. He stsewed the road with pounded glass, in order that other little boys might cut their feet ; he fried frogs upon a bake- iron heated to nn incredible intensity ; he geared flies in harness, decapitated grasshoppers, impaled " Katy-dids." So says the history. Is not this a very dignified, very solemn thing for the Historian's notice ? Why did he not pursue the subject, and state that at the age of two years, Benedict Arnold was deeply occupied in the pursuit of Latin, Sanscript Hebrew, Moral Philosophy and the Philosopher's stone ? Because the latter part of a man's life is made infamous by his crimes, must your grave Historian ransack Blue-beard and Cock-robin, in order to rake up certain delectable horrors, with which to adorn the history of his childhood ? In our research into Arnold's life, we must bear one important fact in mind, .flfter he had betrcnjed his country, it was deemed not only justi- fiable to chronicle every blot and spec in his character, but highly praise- worthy to tumble the overflowing inkstarid of libel upon every vestige of his name. That he comes down to our time, with a single good deed adhering to his memory, has alvva,ys seemed miraculous to me. With these introductory remarks, let us pursue the history. It was in the city of New Haven, on a cold day of April, 1775, that « man of some thirty-five years, stood behind a counter, an apron on his manly chest, mixing medicines, pasting labels on phials, and putting poisofls in their places. Look well at this man, as he stands engaged in his occupation. Didyoy ever see a bolder brow — a deeper, darker, or more intensely brilliant eyt — ,50 BENEDICT ARNOLD. 3 more resolute lip or more determined chin ? Mark the massy outline of that face from tlie ear to the chin ; a world of iron will is written m thai firm outline. The hair, unclojrged with the powder in fashion at this time, falls back from his forehead in harsh masses ; its dark hue imparting a strong relief to the bold and warrior-like face. While this man stands at his counter, busy with pesUe and mortar — hark ! There is a murmur along the streets of New Haven ; a crowd darkens under those aged elms ; the murmur deepens ; the Druggist became con- scious of four deep-muttered words : " Battle — Lexington — British — Beaten .'" With one bound the Druggist leaps over the counter, rushes into the street and pushes his way through the crowd. Listen to that tumultuous murmur ! A battle has been fought at Lexington, between the British and the Americans ; or in other words, the handsomely attired minions of King George, have been soundly beaten by the plain farmers of New England. That murmur deepens through the crowd, and in a moment the Druggist is in the centre of the scene. Two hundred men group round him, begging to be led against the British. But there is a difficulty ; the Common Council, using a privilege granted to all corporate bodies from immemorial time, to make laughing-stocks of themselves, by a display of petty authority, have locked up all the arms. " Arnold," cried a patriotic citizen, uncouth in attire and speech : " We are willing to fight the Britishers, but the city council won't let us have any guns !" " Won't they ?" said the Druggist, with that sardonic sneer, which always made his enemies afraid : " Then our remedy is plain. Come ; let us take them !" Five minutes had not passed, before the city Council, knowing this Druggist to be a man of few words and quick deeds, yielded up the guns That hour the Druggist became a soldier. Let us now pass over a month or more. It is a night in May. Look yonder, through the night ? Do you see that tremendous rock, as it towers up ruggedly sublime, into the deep blue sky ? Yes, over the wide range of woods, over the silent fastnesses of the wilderness, over the calm waters of Lake George and the waves of Champlain, that rock towers and swells on the night, like an awful monument, erected by the lost Angels, when they fell from Heaven. And there, far away in the sky, the moon dwindled away to a slender thread, sheds over the blue vault and the deep woods and the tremendous rock, a light, at once sad, solemn, sepulchral. Do you see the picture ? Does it not stamp itself upon your soul, an fmau-e of terrible beauty ? Do you not feel the awful silence that broods there ^ THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 15: On the summit of th^t rock the British garrison are sleeping, aye, slum- berino" peacefully, under the comfortable inliuence of beef and ale, in the impregnable fortress of Ticonderoga. From the topmost crag, the broad Banner of the Red Cross swings lazily against the sky. At this moment, there is a murmur far down in the dark ravine. Let us look there. A multitude of shadows come stealing into the dim light of the moon ; they climb that impregnable rock ; they darken round that fortress gate. All is still as death. Two figures stand in the shadows of the fortress gate ; in that stern de- termined visage, you see the first of the green mountain boys, stout Ethan Allen; in that muscular figure, with the marked face and deep-set eye^ you recognize the druggist of New Haven, Bknedict Arnold. A fierce shout, a cry, a crash goes up to Heaven ! The British Colonel rushing from his bed, asks what Power is this, which demands the surren- der of Ticonderoga ? For all his spangled coat and waving plumes, this gentlemah was behind the age. He had not heard, that a iNew Nation had lately been born on the sod of Lexington. Nor did he dream of the Eight Years Bap- tism of blood and tears, which was to prepare this nation for its full com- munion with the Church of Nations, on the plains of Yorkiown. " In what name do you demand the surrender of this fortress ?" In the name of a King ? Or perchance in the name of Benedict Arnold and stout Ethan Allen ? No ! Hark how that stern response breaks through the silence of night. «' In the name of the Lord Jehovah and the Continental Congress 1" And floating into the blue sky, the Pine tree banner waved from the summit of Ticonderoga. You will remember, that the emblem of the New-born nation, at that time, was a Pine Tree. The Lord had not yet given his stars, to flash from the Banner of Freedom ; an eniblem of the rights of man all over the world. — That was the first deed of Benedict Arnold ; the initial letter to a long alphabet of glorious deeds, which was to end in the blackness of Treason. III.— THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESa There was a day, my friends, when some Italian peasants, toiling in the vineyards of their cloudless clime, beneath the shadow of those awful Alps, that rise as if to- the very Heavens, ran in terror to the village Priest, beg- ging him to pray for them, for the end of the world was coming. The Priest calmly inquired the cause of all the clamor. Soon the mys- lery was explained. Looking up into the white ravines of the Alps, the peasants had seen an army coming down — emerging from that awful wilder- ness of snow and ice, where the avalanche alone had spoken, for ages — 158 BENEDICT ARNOLD. with cannons, and j)liiines, and banners, and a liule man .'n a grey riding* soat in iheir midst. That litde man was named Napoleon Bonaparte — a young man, who one day was starving in Paris for the want of a dinner, and the next held France in the palm of his hand. That was a great deecl, the crossing of the Alps, by the young man, Na- poleon, but I will now tell you a bolder deed, done by the Patriot, Benedict Arnold. In April, 1775, that man Arnold stood behind a counter, mixing medi- cines, pasting labels on phials, and putting poisons in their places. In May, the Druggist Arnold, stood beside stout Ethan Allen, in the gate of conquered Ticonderoga. In September, the soldier Arnold was on his way to Quebec, through an untrodden desert of three hundred miles. One niglit, the young Commander Washington sat in his tent at Cam- bridge, (near Boston,) with his eye fixed on the map of Canada, and his finger laid on that spot marked Quebec. While thus employed a soldier stood by his side. •' Give me" two thousand men. General," said he, " and I will take Quebec." Washington answered this with a look of incredidous surprise. " Three hundred miles of untrodden wilderness are to be traversed, ere you can obtain even a glimpse of the rock of Quebec.'' " Yet I will go !" was the firm response of the soldier, " But there are rocks, and ravines, and dense forests, and unknown lakes, and impassable cataracts in the way," answered Washington ; " and then the cold of winter will come on ; your provisions will fail ; your men will be starved or frozen to death." Slill that soldier was firn* " Give me two thousand men, and I will go !" Do you mark the bold brow — the clear, dark eye — the determined lip of that soldier? Do you behold the face of Washington — utterly unlike your vulgar pictures of the man — each outline moulded by a high resolve, the eye gleaming chivalry, the brow radiant with the light of genius ^ That soldier was Benedict Arnold. Washington took him by the hand, and bade him go ! " Yes, go through the* wilderness. Attack and possess Quebec. Then the annexation of Canada will be certain ; the American name will embrace a Continent. Go ! and God speed you on your journey." Did that great truth ever strike you ? Washington did not fight for a Half-America, or a Piece-America, but for the Continent, the whole Conh- nent. His army was not called the American, but the Continental army. The Congress was not entitled American, but Continental. The THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 159 very currency was Continental. In one word, Washington and his com- patriots were impressed with the belief that God had given the whole Con- tinent te the Free. — Therefore he gazed upon the map of Canada. There- fore, pressing Arnold's hand, he bade him God speed ! And he did go. Yes, look yonder on the broad ocean. Behold that lit- tle fleet of eleven vessels stealing along the coast, toward the mouth of the Kennebec. That fleet, sailing on the 17lh of September, 1775, contains eleven hundred brave men, and their leader, Benedict Arnold. They reach the mouth of the Kennebec — they glide along its clifl'-em- bosomed shores. These brave men are about to traverse an untrodden virilderness of 300 miles, and then attack the Gibralter of America. If that was not a bold idea, then the crossing of the Alps was a mere holiday pastime. Let us leave this little army to build their canoes near the mouth of the Kennebec ; let us hurry into the thick wilderness. Even in these days of steam and rail-road cars, the Kennebec is beautiful. Some of you have wandered there by its deep waters, and seen the smiles of woman mirrowed in its wave. Some of you have gazed upon those high clifTs, those snadowy glens, now peopled with the hum of busy life. But in the day when Arnold dared its solitudes, there was a grandeur stamped on these rocks and clifl^s — a grandeur fresh from the haaids of God. Yet, even amidst its awful wilds, there was a scene of strange loveliness, a picture which I would stamp upon your souls. Stretching away from the dark waters of that river — where another stream mingles with its flood — a wide plain, bounded by dense forests, breaks on your eye. As the glimmering day is seen over the eastern hills, there, in the centre of the plain, stands a solitary figure, a lone Indian, the last of a line of kings f yes, with his arms folded, his war-blanket gathered about his form, the hatchet and knife lying idly at his feet — there stands the last of a long line of forest kings, gazing at the ruins of his race. The ruins of his race ? Yes — look there ! In the centre of that plain, a small fabric arises under the shade of centuried oaks — a sinall fabric, with battered walls and rude windows, stands there like a tomb in the desert, so lonely, even amid this desolation. Let us enter this rude place. What a sight is there ! As the first gleam of day breaks over the eastern hills, it trembles through those rude windows, it trembles upon that shaittered altar, that fallen cross. Altar and cross ? What do they here in the wilderness ? And why does that lone Indian — that last of the kings — who could be burned without a murmur — why does he mutter wildly to himself as he gazes upon this turn ? Listen. Here, many years ago, dwelt a powerful Indian tribe, and here fiom afar over the waters, came a peaceful man, clad in a long coarse robe, J do BENEDICT ARNOLD. with a rude cross hanging on his breast. That peaceful man built the church, reared the altar, planted the cross. Here, in the calmness of the summer evening, you might see the red warrior with blunted war-knife, come to worship ; the little Indian child kneeling there, clasping its tiny- hands, as it learned, in its rude dialect, to lisp the name of Jesus ; and here the dark brown Indian maiden, with her raven hair falling over her bending form, listened with dilating eyes, to that story of the virgin-mother. Here, that man with the cross on his breast, lived and taught for tvventy- tive years. Forsaking the delights of Parisian civilization, the altars and monuments of the eternal city, he came here to teach the rude Indian that he had a soul, that God cared for him, that a great Being, in a far distant land, wept, prayed, and died for /«'m, the dusky savage of the woods. When he tirst came here, his hair was dark as night : here he lived until it matched the winter's snow. One Sabbath morn, just as the day broke over these hills, while man and woman and child knelt before the altar, while the aged Priest stood yonder, lifting the sacramental cup above his head, yes— my blood chill, as I write it — on a Sabbath morning, as the worship of Almighty God was celebrated in the church, all at once a horrid cry broke on the silent air ! A cry, a yell, a wild hurrah ! The cry of women, as they knelt for mercy, and in answer to their prayer the clubbed rifle came crushing down — the yell of warriors shot like dogs upon the chapel floor — the wild hurrah of the murderers, who flred through these windows upon the worshippers of Jehovah ! There was a flame rising into that Sabbath sky — there were the horrid shrieks of massacre ringing on the air, as men and women plunged into the flood — while from yonder walls of rocks, the murderers picked them one by one ! The lonely plain ran with blood, down to the Kenebec, and the dying who struggled in its waves, left but a bloody track on the waters, to tell of their last fatal plunge ! And yonder, yes, in the church of God, kneeling beside that altar, clasp- ng that cross with his trembling hands, there crouched the old man as the death-blow sank into his brain ! His white hair was dyed blood-red, even as the name of the Saviour quivered from his lips. Even, came — where a Nation had been, was now only a harvest of dea i bodies : where Religion had been, was now only an old man, murdered beside his altar. Yet still, in death, his right hand uplifted, clung to the fallen cross. And who were the murderers ? I will not say that they were Christians, but they were white men, and the children of white parents. They had been reared in the knowledge of a Saviour ; they had been taught the existence of a God, They were sol- diers, too, right brave men. withal, for they came with knife and rifle, skulk- THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. loi ing like wolves along these rocks, to murder a congregation in the act of worshipping their Maker. Do you ask me for my opinion of such men ? 1 cannot tell you. But were this tongue mute, this hand palsied, I would only ask the power of speech to say one word — the power of pen, to write that word in letters of fire — and the word would be — Scorn ! — Scorn upon the murderers OF Father Ralle ! And now, as the light of morning broke over the desolate plain, there stood the lone Indian, gazing upon the ruins of his race. Natanis, the last of the Norridgewocks, among the graves of his people ! But now he gazes far down the dark river — lia ! what strange vision comes here ? Yonder, gliding from the shelter of the deep woods, comes a fleet of canoes, carrying strange warriors over the waters. Strange warriors, clad in the blue hunting-frock, faced with fur ; strange warriors, with powder horn, knife and rifle. Far ahead of the main body of the fleet, a solitar^ canoe skims over the waters. That canoe contains the oarsmen, and another form, wrapped in a rough cloak, with his head drooped on the breast, while the eye flashes with deep thoughts — the form of the Napoleon of the wil derness, Benedict Arnold. Look ! He rises in the canoe — he stands erect — he flings the cloak from liis form— he lifts the rough fur cap from his brow. Do you mark each outline of that warrior-form ? Do you note the bold thought now strugghng into birth over that prominent forehead, along that compressed lip, in the gleam of those dark grey eyes, sunken deep beneath the brow ? He stands there, erect in the canoe, with outspread arms, as though he would say — " Wilderness, I claim ye as my own ! Rocks, ye cannot daunt me ; cataracts, ye cannot appal ! Starvation, death, and cold — I will conquer ye all !" Look ! As he stands there, erect in the canoe, the Indian, Natanis, be- holds him, springs into the river and soon stands by his side. " The Dark-Eagle comes to claim the wilderness," he speaks in the wild Indian tongue, which Arnold knows so well. " The wilderness will yield to the Dark-Eagle, but the Rock will defy him. The Dark-Eagle will soar aloft to the sun. Nations will behold him, and shout his praises. Yet when he soars highest, his fall is most certain. When his wing brushes the sky, then the arrow will pierce his heart !" It was a Prophecy. In joy or sorrow, in battle or council, in honor or treason, Arnold never forgot the words of Natanis. He joins that little fleet ; he advances with Arnold into the Wilaerness. Let us follow him there ! Nov dashing down boiling rapids, now carrying their canoes throuoh miles of forest, over hills of rock, now wading for long leagues, throufrh 162 BENEDICT ARNOLD. water that freezes to their limbs as they go, the little army of Arnold advance. On, brave Arnold, on ! For you the awful mountain has no terrors, the sold that stops the blood in its flowing, no fear. Not even the dark night when tlie straggler falls dying by the way, and unknown ravines yawn far below your path, not even the darker day when the litde store of parched corn fails, and your famished soldiers feed on the flesh of dogs — when even the snake is a dainty meal — not even terrors like these can scare your iron Boul ! On, brave Arnold, on ! Look, at last, after dangers too horrible to tell, the litde fleet is floating down that stream, whose awful solitude gained it this name, the river of THE DEAD. Far over the waters, look ! A tremendous mountain rises there from the waters above all other mountains into the blue sky ; white, lonely and magnificent, an alabaster altar, to which the Angels may come to wor- ship. Under the shadow of this mountain the litde army of Arnold encamped for three days. A single, bold soldier, ascends the colossal steep ; stands there, far above, amid the snow and sunbeams, and at last comes rushing down with a shriek of joy. " Arnold !" he cries, " I have seen the rock and spires of Quebec !" What a burst of joy rises from that litde host ! Quebec ! the object of all their hopes, for which they starve, and toil, and freeze ! Hark ! to that deep-mouthed hurrah ! Benedict Arnold then takes from his breast, — where wrapped in close folds he had carried it, through all his dreary march — a blue banner gleam- ing with thirteen stars. He hoists it in the air. For the first time the Banner of the Rights of Man, to which God has given his stars, floats over the waters of the Wilderness. On, brave Arnold, on ! On over the deep rapids and the mountain rock ; on again in hunger and cold, until desertion and disease have thinned your band of eleven hundred down to nine hundred men of iron ; on, brave hero — Napoleon on the Alps, Cortez in Mexico, Pizarro in Peru, never did a bolder deed than yours ! Let us for a moment pause to look upon a picture of beauty, even in this terrible march. Do you see that dark lake, spreading away there under the shadow of tal pines ? Look up — a faint glimpse of starlight is seen there through the intervals of the sombre boughs. The stars look dowi\ upon the deeps ; eolitude is there in all its stillness, so like the grave. Suddenly a red light flares over the waters. The gleam of fires redden the boughs of these pines, flashes around the trunks of these stout oaks. The men of Arnold are here, encamped around yonder deserted Indian wigwam, whose rude timbers you may behold among the trees, near the bynk of the waters. THE ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 163 For an hour these iron men are merry ! Yes, encamped by the wave of Ijake Chaudiere. They roast the ox amid the huge logs ; they draw the rich sahnon and the speckled trout from these waters. Forgive them if the drinking horn passes from lip to lip ; forgive them if the laugh and song go round ! — Forgive them — for to-morrow they must go on their dread march again ; to-morrow they must feed on the bark of trees, and freeze in cold waters again — forgive them for this hour of joy. Now let us follow them again ; let us speak to brave Arnold, and bid him on ! O, these forests are dark and dense, these rocks are too terrible for us to climb, the cold chills our blood, this want of bread maddens our brain — but still brave Arnold points toward Quebec, and bids them on ! Hark ! That cry, so deep, prolonged, maddening, hark, it swells up into the silence of night ; it stops the heart in its beating. On, my braves 1 It is but the cry of a comrade who has missed his footing, and been dashed to pieces against the rocks below. It is day again. The sun streams over the desolate waste of pines and snow. It is day ; but the corn is gone — we hunger, Arnold ! The dog is slain, the snake killed ; they feast, these iron men. Then, with canoes on their shoulders, they wade the stream, they climb the mountain, they crawl aloniJ" the sides of dark ravines. Upon the waters again ! Behold the stream boiling and foaming over its rocky bed. Listen to the roaring of the torrent. Now guide the boat with care, or we are lost; swerve not a hair's breadth, or we are dashed to pieces. Suddenly a crash — a shout — and lo ! Those men are struggling for their lives amid the wrecks of their canoes. But still that voice speaks out : " Do not fear my iron men ; gather the wrecks, and leap into your comrades' canoes. Do not fear, for Quebec is there !" At last two long months of cold, starvation and death are past; Arnold stands on Point Levy, and there, over the waters, sees rising into light the rock and spires of Quebec ! Napoleon gazing on the plains of Italy, Cortez on the Halls of Montezu- ma, never felt such joy as throbbed in Arnold's bosom then ! It was there, there in the light, no dream, no fancy; but a thing of sub- stance and form, it was there above the waters, the object of bright hopes and fears ; that massive rock, that ghttering town. At last he beheld — Quebec ! IV.— THE ATTACK ON QUEBEC. It was the last day of the year 1775. Yonder, on the awful diRs of Abraham, in the darkness of the daybreak, while the leaden sky grooms above, a band of brave men are gathered ; yes, whrle the British are banquetting in Quebec, here, on this tremendous rock. 164 BEIS EDICT ARxNOLD. ' in silent array, stand the Heroes of the Wilderness, joined with their brothers, the Continentals from Montreal. That hltle army of one thousand have determined to at ack the Gibralter of America, with its rocks, its fortifications, its two thousand British soldiers. Here, on the very rock, where, sixteen years ago, Montcalm and Wolfe poured forth their blood, now are gathered a band of brave men, who are seen in the darkness of this hour, extending like dim shadow-forms, around two figures, standing alone in the centre of the host. It is silent, and sad as death. The roaring of the St. Lawrence alone is heard. Above the leaden sky, around the rock extending like a plain — yonder, far through the gloom, a misty light struggles into the sky, that light gleams from the firesides of Quebec. Who are these, that stand side by side in the centre of the band ? That muscular form, with a hunting shirt thrown over his breast, that orm standing there, with folded arms and head drooped low, while the eye glares out from beneath the fanning brow, that is the Patriot Hero of the Wilderness, Benedict Arnold. By his side stands a graceful form, with strength and beauty mingled in its outlines, clad in the uniform of a General, while that chivalrous couniL- nance with its eye of summer blue, turns anxiously from face to face. In that form you behold the doomed Montgomery. He has come from Mon- treal, he has joined his litde band with the Iron Men of Benedict Arnold. Who are these that gather round, with fur caps upon each brow, mocca sins upon each foot; who are these wild men, that now await the signal- word ? — You may know them by their leader, who, with his iron form, stands leaning on his rifle — the brave Daniel Morgan. The daybreak wears on ; the sky grows darker ; the snow begins to fall. Arnold turns to his brothers in arms. They clasp each other by the hand. — Their lips move but you hear no sound. " Arnold !" whispers Montgomery, " I will lead my division along the St. Lawrence, under the rocks of Cape Diamond. I will meet you in the cen- tre of Quebec — or die !" " Montgomery, I will attack the barrier on the opposite side. There is my hand ! I will meet you yonder — yonder in the centre of Quebec — or perish !" It is an oath : the word is given. — Look there, and behold the two divi- sions, separating over the rocks : this, with Montgomery towards the St. Lawrence, that with Arnold and Morgan, towards the St. Charles. All is still. The rocks grow white with snow. All is still and dark, but grim shadows are moving on every side. Silence along the lines. Not a word on the peril of your lives ! Do you behold this narrow pass, leading to the first bar/-.er, vonder ? That barrier, grim with cannon, commands every inch of th . o-.s/. On one side, the St. Charles heaps up its rocks of ice ; on the oth< jl^< ) j-jtf Uie rocks of granite THE ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 165 salience aiong the lines ! The night is dark, the way is difficult, but Que- bec IS yonder ! Soldier, beware of those piles of rock — a single misplaced Cbou^u.'- may arouse the sleeping soldier on yonder barrier. If he awake, we are losij On, brave band, on with stealthy footstep, and rifle to each alioulder ; on, men of the wilderness, in your shirts of blue and fur! At {i\e head of the column, with his drawn sword gleaming through tha niijht Benedict Arnold silently advances. Then a single cannon, mounted on a sled, and dragged forward, by stout arms. Last of all, Daniel Morgan with the riflemen of the Wilderness. In this order along the narrow pass, witli ice on one side and rocks on the otlier, the hero-band advance. The pass grows narrower — the battery uearer. Arnold can now count the cannon — nay, the soldiers who are watching there. Terrible suspense ! Every breath is hushed — stout hearts now swell within the manly chest. Lips compressed, eyes glaring, rifles clenched — the Iron Men move sofdy on, Arnold silently turns to his men. And yonder through the gloom, over the suburb of that city, over the rocks of that city's first barrier — there frowned the battery grim with cannon. There wait the sentinel and his brother soldiers. They hear no sound; the falling snow echoes no footstep, and yet there are dim shadows moving along the rocks, moving on without a sound. Look ! Those shadows move up the rocks, to the very muzzles of the cannon. Now the sentinel starts up from his reclining posture ; he hears that stealthy tread. He springs to his cannon — look ! how that flash glares out upon the night. Is this magic ? There disclosed by that cannon flash, long lines of bold riflemen start into view, and there — Standing in front of the cannon, his tall form rising in the red glare, with a sword in one hand, the Banner of the Stars in the other — there, with that wild look which he ever wore in battle, gleaming from his eye — there stands the patriot, Benedict Arnold ! On either side there is a mangled corse — but he stands firm. Before him yawns the cannon, but he springs upon those cannon — he turns to his men — he bids them on ! ."To-night we will feast in Quebec!" And the hail of the rifle balls lays the British dead upon their own can- non. — Now the crisis of the conflict comes. Now behold this horrid scene of blood and death. While the snow falls over the faces of the dead, while the blood of the dying turns that snow to scarlet, gather round your leader, load and fire. 1(;6 BENEDICT ARNOLD. dash iliese British hirelings upon the barrier's rocks — ve heroes oi th« Wilderness ! Now Arnold is in his glory I Now he knows nothing, sees nothing but that grim barrier irDWmsg yonder ! Those tires flashing from the houses — that rattling hail vi bujitTi-s pattering on the snow — he sees, he feels thein not ! His eye is fixed upon the second barrier. He glances around mat mass of rifles, now glittering in the red light — he floats the Banner of the Start, on high — Hark to his shout ! " Never fean, my men of the Wilderness ! We have not come three hundred miles to fail now ! Have I not sworn to meet Montgomery there, to meet him in the centre of the town, or die ?" And then on, across the rocks and cannon of the barrier ! Hark — that crash, that yell ! The British soldiers are driven back over the dead bodies of comrades — the first barrier is won ! Arnold stands victorious upon that barrier — stands there, with blood upon his face, his uniform — dripping from his sword — stands there with the Ban- ner of the Stars in his hand ! Oh J sainted mother of Arnold, who on that calm summer night, neat forty years ago, laid your child upon the sacramental altar, now look from Heaven, and — if saints pray for the children of earth — then pray that your son may die here upon the bloody barrier of Quebec J For then his name ivill be enshrined with fVarrens and Washingtons of all time I Even as Arnold stood there, brandishing that starry banner, a soldier rushed up to his side, and with horror quivering on his lip, told that the gal- lant Montgomery had fallen. Fallen at the head of his men, covered with wounds ; the noble heart, that beat so high an hour ago, was now cold as the winter snow, on which his form was laid. Leaving Arnold for a moment, on the first barrier of Quebec, let us trace the footsteps of his brother-hero. Do you behold that massive rock, which arises from the dark river into the darker sky ? Along that rock of Cape diamond, while the St. Lawrence dashes the ice in huge masses against its base, along that rock, over a path that leads beneath a shelf of granite, with but room for the foot of a single man, Richard Montgomery leads his band. Stealthily, silendy, my comrades ! — Not a word — let us climb this nar- row path. Take care ; a misplaced footstep, and you will be hurled down upon the ice of the dark river. Up, my men, and on ! Yonder it is at last, the block-house, and beyond it, at the distance of two hundred paces, the battery, dark with cannon ! With words like these, Montgomery led on his men. The terrible path was ascended. He stood before the block-house. Now, comrades ■ THE ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 167 How that rifle-blaze Hashed far over the rocks down to the St. Lawrence .' An axe ! an axe ! by all that is brave ! He seizes the axe, the brave Montgomery ; with his own arm he hews the palisades. — The way is clear for his men. A charge with blazing rides, a shout, the bloclv-house is won ! Talk of your British bayonets — lia, ha ! Where did they ever stand the blaze of American rifles? Where? Oh, perfumed gendemen, who in gaudy uniforms, strut Chesnut street — talk to me of your charge of bayonets, and your rules of discipline, and your system of tactics, and I will reply by a single word — one American rifleman, in his rude hunting shirt, was worth a thousand such as you. Who mocked the charge of bayonets on Bunkei IJill ? Who captured Burgoyne ? Who — at Brandy wine — kept back all the panoply of British arms from morning till night ? — The Riflemen. One shout the block-house is won. — Now on toward the battery — load and advance ! Montgomery still in the front. With a yell, the British be- hold them approach ; they flee from their cannon. — Montgomery mounts the walls of rocks and iron ; his sword gleams on high, like a beacon for his men. At this moment, hush your breath and look ! — While Montgomery clings to the rocks of the battery, a single British soldier turns from his flight, and fires one of those grim cannon, and then is gone again, A blaze upon the right, a smoke, a chorus of groans ! Montgomery lays mangled upon the rock, while around him are scat- tered four other corses. Their blood mingles in one stream. A rude rifleman advances, bends down, and looks upon that form, quiv ering for an instant only, and tlien cold — upon that face, torn and mangled, as with the print of a horse's hoof, that face, but a moment before glowing with a hero's soul. He looks for a moment and then, with panic in his .face, turns to his comrades. " Montgomery is dead !" he shrieks ; and with one accord tney retreat — they fly from that fatal rock. But one form lingers. It is that boyish form, graceful almost to womanly beauty, with the brow of a genius, the eye of an eagle. That boy ran away from college, bore Washington's commands 300 miles, and now — covered with the blood of the fight — stands beside the mangled body of Montgomery, his dark eye wet with tears. In that form behold the man who was almost President of the United States, and Emperor of Mexico — the enigma of our history, Aaron Burr. They are gone. Montgomery is left alone, with no friend to compose limbs or close those glaring eyes. And at this moment, while the snow falls over his face, while the warm blood of his heart pours out upon me rock, yotider in his far-oflT home, his young wife kneels by her bed, and prays God to hasten his return ! He ditid in the flush of heroism, in the prime of early manhord. leavmg J 68 BENEDICT ARNOLD. his country the rich legacy of his fome, leaving his blood upon the rock of Quebec. The day is coming when an army of Free Canadians will encamp on that very rock, their rifles pointed at the British battery, their Republicai Dug waving in the forlorn hope against the British banner ! Then perhaps some true American heart will wash out the blood of Montgomery from tht rock of Quebec. Arnold stood upon the first barrier, while his heart throbbed at the story of Montgomery's fate. Then that expression of desperation, which few men could look upon without fear, came over Arnold's face. JSow look at him, as witli his forji swelling with rage he rushes on ! He springs from that barrier, he shouts to the iron men, he rings the name of Morgan on the air. He points to the narrow street, over which the second barrier is thrown. " Montgomery is there," he shouts, in a voice of thunder, " there waiting "or us !" Hurrah ! How the iron men leap at the word ! There is the quick clang of ramrods ; each rifle is loaded. They rush on ! At their head, his whole form convulsed, his lips writhing, his chest heaving unconscious of danger, as though the ghost of Montgomery was there before him, Benedict Arnold rushes on ! Even as he rushes, he falls. Even as you look upon him, in his battle rage with his right leg shattered, he falls. But does he give up the contest? By the ghost of Montgomery — No ! No ! He lifts his face from the snow now crimsoned with his blood, he follows with his startling eyes, the path of Morgan, he shouts with his thunder tones, his well-known battle-cry. He beholds his men rush on amid light and flame, he hears the crack of the rifle, the roar of cannon, the tread of men, rushing forward to the conflict. Then he endeavors to rise. A gallant soldier offers his arm to the wounded hero. He rises, stands for a moment, and then falls. But still his soul is firm — Still his eye glares upon the distant flight. Not untd he makes his bed there on the cold snow, in a pool of his own blood, until his eyes fail and his right leg stifl^ens, does his soul cease to beat with the pulsations of bat- tle. Then and then only, the Hero of the Wilderness is carried back to yonder rock. Would to God that he had died there ! Would to God that he had died there with all his honorable wounds about him. O for a stray bullet, a chance shot, to still his proud heart forever O, that he had laid side by side with Montgomery, hallowed forever by his THE W^R-HORSE LUCIFER. ifig death of glory. Then the names of Arnold and Montgomery, mingled in one breath, would have been joined forever, in one song of immortality. But Montgomery died alone ; his blood stains the rock of Quebec. Ar- nold liveu ; his ashes accursed by his countrymen, rest in an unknown grave. When the news of the gallant attack on Quebec — gallant though unsuc- cessful — reached Philadelphia, the Congress rewarded Benedict Arnold with the commission of a Brigadier General. The same mob, who, afterwards — while Arnold was yet true to his coun- try — stoned him in the streets, and stoned the very arm that had fought for them, now cracked their throats in shouting his name. The very city, which afterwards was the scene of his Dishonorable Per- secution, now flashed out from its illuminated casements, glory of the Hero of Quebec, Benedict Arnold. v.— THE WAR-HORSE LUCIFER. Now let us pass with one bold flight over the movements of the Co^Jti- nental army in Canada; let us hasten at once, to that dark night when the legions under Sullivan, embarked on the River Sorel, on their way to Lake Champlain and Crown PoinU Let us go yonder to the darkened shore, as the shades of night come down. A solitary man with his horse, yet lingers on the strand. Yes, as the gleam of the advancing bayonets of Bourgoyne, is seen there through the northern woods — as the last of the American boats ripples the river, far to the south, while the gathering twilight casts the shadow of the forest along the waters, here on this deserted strand, a single warrior lingers with his war-horse. There is the light canoe waiting by the shore, to bear him over the waters ; for he must leave that gallant steed with skin black as night, and a mane like an inky wave. He cannot leave him for the advancing foe ; he must kill him. Kill the noble horse that has borne him scatheless through many a fight! Kill — Lucifer — so the warrior named him — that brave horse, whose heart in battle beats with a fire like his own ? Ah, then the stout heart of Arnold quailed. Ah, then as the noble horse stooped his arching neck, as if to in- vite his master to mount him once again, and rush on to meet the foe, then Arnold who never turned his face away from foe, turned his face away from the large speaking eye of that horse, Lucifer. He drew his pistol ; the horse laid his head against his breast, flo^iuig his dark mane over his shoulders. Arnold who never shed a tear lor iiie dead men in batde, felt his eyes grow wet. He was about to snoot vim friend, who had served him so well, and never betrayed him. There was the report of a pistol — the sound of a heavy oociy fan.Lg on the sand — the motion of a light canoe speeding over the waters. 11 ITO BENEDICT ARNOLD. And Arnold looked back, and beheld the dying head of his horse faintly upraised ; he beheld that large eye roUing in death. Ah, little can you guess the love that tlie true warrior feels for his steed ! Ah, many a time in after life, when the friend of his heart betrayed, and the beloved one on whose bosom he reposed, whispered Treason in his ear, did he remember the last look of that dying war-horse, Lucifer. VI.— THE APE-AND-VIPER GOD. Let us now pass rapidly on, in this our strange history. At first a glorious landscape bursts upon our view, and Courage and Patriotism walk before us in forms of God-like beauty. Let us leave this landscape, let us on to the dim horizon, where the dark cloud towers and glooms, bearing in its breast the lightnings of Treason. Let us pass over those brilliant exploits on Lake Chaniplain, which made the Continent ring with the name of Arnold. Let us see that man rising in renown as a soldier, who was always — Fii'sl on the forlorn hope, last on the field of battle. Let us behold certain men, in Camp and Congress, growing jealous of his renown. They do not hesitate to charge him with appropriating to his own use, certain goods, which he seized when in command at Montreal. The records of history give the lie to this charge of mercenary business, for when Arnold seized the goods, he wrote to his commanding general and to Congress, that he was about to seize certain stores in Montreal for the pub- lic benefit. Those goods were left to waste on the river shore, through the reckless negligence of an inferior officer. We will then go to Congress, and behold the rise of that thing, which the ancient sculptors would have impersonated under the mingled form of an ape and a viper — the spirit of party. It is the same in all ages. Witliout the courage or the talent, to project one original measure, it is always found barking and snarling at the heels of Genius. To-day it receives Napoleon, crowned with the bloody laurel of Waterloo, and instead of calling upon France, to support her Deliverer, this spirit of Parly truckles to foreign bayonets, and requests — his abdica- tion. To-morrow, it meets the victor of the south, in a New Orleans' court of justice, and while the shouts of thousands protected from British bayo- nets, rings in his ears, this spirit of Party in the shape of a solemn Judge, attempts to brand the hero with dishonor, by the infliction of a thousand dojlar fine. In the Revolution, Washington held the serenity of his soul anijd the hills of Valley Forge, combating pestilence and starvation, with an unshrinking will. All the while in the hall of the Continental Congress, the Sr'-it -^f Party was at work, planning a mean deed, with mean men for THE APE-AND-VTPER GOD. 171 Jts instruments ; the overthrow of the Hero hy a cahal, that was as formid- able then, as it is oontemptable now. In all ages, to speak plainly, this spirit of party, this effprvescencfs of fac- tion, is the voice of those weak and wicked creatures, who spring into life from the fermenting compost of social dissension. It never shows a bold front, never speaks a plain truth, never does a brave deed. Its element is intrigue, more particularly called low cunning; its atmosphere darkness ; its triumph the orgie of diseased debauchery, its revenge as remorseless as the •nalice of an ape, or the sting of a viper. A great man maybe a Republican, or even a King-worshipper, willing to write, or speak, or light for his principles, with a fearless pen and voice and sword. But he never can he z — Party Man. The very idea of faction, pre-supposes intrigue, and Invig^ie indicates a cold heart, and a dwarfed brain. It is the weapon of a monkey, not of a man. This Spirit of Party, this manifestation of all the meanness and malice which may exist in a nation, even as the most beautiful tropical flower shelters the most venomous snake, has destroyed more republics, than all the Tyrants of the world together, were their deeds multiplied by thousands. Indeed, in nine cases out of ten, it has been by playing on the frothy pas- sions of contending factions, that Tyrants have been suflfered to trample their way to power, over the bodies of freemen. • Let us go to the hall of Congress, and see this Spirit of Party, the Ape- and-Viper God, which burdened the heart of Washington, more than all the terror of British bayonets or scaffolds, first manifested in the case of Arnold. Let a single fact attest its blindness and malignity. In February, 1777, Congress created five Major Generals, over the head of Benedict Arnold. All of these were his juniors ; one of them was from the militia. Was that the way to treat the Hero of the Wilderness, of Quebec, of Ticonderoga and of Champlain ? Even the well-governed spirit of Washii'.gton, started at such neglect. He wrote a manly and soothing letter to Arnold, He knew him to be a man of many good and some evil qualities, all marked and prominent. He believed that with fair treatment, the Evil might be crushed, the Good stnnglhened. Therefore, Washington, the Father of his Country, wrote a letter, at once high-toned and conciliating, to the Patriot, Benedict Arnold. What was the course of Arnold ? He expostulated with the party in Congress, who wished to drive him mad. How did he expostulate ? In his own fiery way. Like many stout souls of that Iron time, he spoke a better language with his sword than with his pen. Let us look at the expostulation of Arnold. It is night around the town of Danbury. Two thousand Rriiish hirelings attack and burn that town. Yes, surrounded by his hirelings, .^s 172 BENEDICT ARNOLD. sassins in the shape jf British soldiers, and assassins in the shape of Amer- ican Tories, brave General 1 ryon holds his Communion of Blood, by the Light of blazing homes. -n the dimness of the daybreak hour, these gallant men, whose trophies are dishonored virgins, and blasted homes, are returning to their camp. Yonder on those high rocks, near the town of Ridgefield, Arnold, with 3nly 500 men, disputes the path of the Destroyer. Ths Continentals a:e Jriven back after much carnage, but Arnold is the last man to leave the rock His horse is shot under him ; the British surround him, secure of their prey ; the dismounted General sits calmly on his dying steed, his arms folded, his eye sunk beneath the compressed brow. A burly British soldier approaches to secure the rebel — look ! He is sure of his prisoner. Arnold aeholds him, beholds the wall of bayonets and faces that encircle him. The soldier extends his hand to grasp the prisoner, when Arnold, smiling calmly, draws his pistol and shoots the hireling through the heart. Follow him yonder, as he fights his way down the rock, through the breasts of r.is foes. That was the right kind of Expostulation ! When a faction, nestling in the breast of your country, wrong you, then '>nly fight for that country with more determined zeal. Right will come at last. Had Arnold always expostulated thus, his name would not now be the Hyperbole of scorn. His name could at this hour, rank second, and only second to — Washington. When Congress received the news of this Expostulation, Arnold was raised to the rank of Major General. Yet still, they left the date of his ccmmission, below the date of the commissions of the other five Major Gen- erals. This — to use the homely expression of a brave Revolutionary soldier — ' was breaking his head and giving him a plaster,' with a vengeance. Ere we pass on to the Battle-Day of Saratoga, let me tell you an incident of strange interest, which took place in 1777, during Arnold's command near Fort Edward, on the Hudson River. VIl.— THE BRIDAL EVE. One summer night, the blaze of many lights streaming from the windows of an old mansion, perched yonder among the rocks and woods, flashed far over the dark waters of Lake Champlain. In a quiet and comfortable chamber of that mansion, a party of British officers, sitting around a table spread with wines and viands, discussed a topic of some interest, if it was not the most important in the world, whib the tread of the dancers shook the floor of the adjoining room. Yes, while all gaiety and dance and music in the largest hall of tip lM mansion, whose hundred lights glanced far over the waters of Chaniulmn — THE BRIDAL EVE. l^a rere in this quiet room, with the cool eveniiiir breeze blowing in tlieir faces thro' the opened windows, here this party of British officers had assembled to discuss their wines and their favorite topic. That topic was — the comparative beauty of the women of the world. " As for me," said a handsome young Ensign, " I will match the voluptU' ous forms and dark eyes of Italy, against the beauties of all the world !" " And I," said a bronzed old veteran, who had risen to the Colonelcy bv his long service and hard fighting ; " and I have a pretty lass of a daughiet there m England, whose blue eyes and flaxen hair would shame your tragic beauties of Italy into very ugliness." " I have served in India, as you all must know," said the Major, who sat next to the veteran, " and I never saw painting or statue, much less livmg woman, half so lovely as some of those Hindoo maidens, bending down with water-lillies in their hands ; bending down by the light of torches, over the dark wa-ves of the Ganges," And thus, one after another, Ensign, Colonel, and Major, had given their opinion, until that young American Refugee, yonder at the foot of the table, is left to decide the argument. That American — for I blush to say it — handsome young fellow as he is, with a face full of manly beauty, blue deep eyes, ruddy cheeks, and glossy brown hair, that American is a Refugee, and a Captain in the British army. — He wore the handsome scarlet coat, the glittering epaulette, lace ruffles on his bosom and around his wrists. " Come, Captain, pass the wine this way !" shouted the Ensign ; " pass the wine and decide this great question ! Which are the most beautiful : .he red cheeks of Merry England, the dark eyes of Italy, or the graceful forms of Hindoostan?' The Captain hesitated for a moment, and then tossing oft' a bumper of old Madeira, somewhat flushed as he was with wine, replied : " Mould your three models of beauty, your English lass, your Italian queen, your Hindoo nymph, into one, and add to their charms a thousand graces of color and form and feature, and I would not compare this perfection of loveliness for a single moment, with the wild and artless beauty of — an American girl.'''' The laugh of the three officers, for a moment, drowned the echo of the dance in the next room, " Compare his American milk-maid with the woman of Italy !" *' Or the lass of England !" " Or the graceful Hindoo girl !" This laughing scorn of the British officers, stung the handsome Refugee to the quick. " Hark ye !" he cried, half rising from his seat, with a flushed brow, but a deep and deliberate voice : " To-morrow, I marry a wife : an Ameriam ^irlT— To-'!ight, at midnight too, that American girl will join the danctJ it 174 BENEDICT ARNOLD. tho next room. You shall see her — you shall judge for yourselves Whether the American woman is not the most beautiful in the world !" There was something in the manner of the young Refugee, more than in the nature of his information, that arrested the attention of his brother offi cers. — For a moment they were silent. " We have heard something of your marriage, Captain,''' said the gay Ensign, " but we did not think it would occur so suddenly ? Only think of it I To-morrow you will be gone — settled — verdict brought in — sentence passed — a married man! — But tell me? How will your lady-love be brought to this house to night ? I thought she resided within the rebel lines ?" " She does reside there ! But I have sent a messenger — a friendly Indian chief, on whom I can place the utmost dependence — to bring her from her present home, at dead of night thro' the forest, to this mansion. He is to return by twelve ; it is now half-past eleven !" " Friendly Indian !" eclioed the veteran Colonel; " Rather an odd guar- dian ibr a pretty woman ! — Quite an original idea of a Duenna, I vow !" " And you will match this lady against all the world, for beauty ?" said the Major. " Yes, and if y(»u do not agree with me, this hundred guineas which I lay upon the table, shall serve our mess, for wines, for a month to come ! But if you do agree with me — as without a doubt you will — then you are to re- plafce this gold with a hundred guineas of your own." " Agreed ! It is a wager !" chorussed the Colonel and the two other officers. And in that moment — while the door-way was thronged by fair ladies and gay officers, attracted from the next room by the debate — as the Refu- gee stood, with one hand resting upon the litde pile of gold, his ruddy face grew suddenly pale as a shroud, his blue eyes dilated, until they were en- circled by a line of white enamel, he remained standing there, as if frozen to stone. " Why, captain, what is the matter?" cried the Colonel, starting up in alarm, " do you see a ghost, that you stand gazing there, at the blank wall ?" The other officers also started up in alarm, also asked the cause of this singular demeanor, but still, for the space of a minute or more, the Refugee Captain stood there, more like a dead man suddenly recalled to life, than a living being. That moment passed, he sat down with a cold shiver; made a strong effort as if to command his reason ; and then gave utterance to a forced iaugh. " Ha, ha ! See how I've frigluened you !" he said — and then laughed that cold, unnatural, hollow laugh again. Arid yet, half an hour from that time, he freely co/fessed the nature ef the horrid picUire which he liad seen drawn upon that blank, ivuim totted wall, as if by some supernatural hand. THE BRIDAL EVE. 176 But now, with the wine cup in his hand, he turned from one comrade to another, uttering some forced jest, or looking towards the dcorway, crowded by officers and ladies, he gaily invited them to share in this remarkable argument : Which were the most beautiful women in the world ': As he spoke, the hour struck. Twelve o'clock was there, and with it a footstep, and then a bold Indian form came urging through the crowd of ladies, thronging yonder doorway. Silently, his arms folded on his war-blanket, a look of calm stoicism on his dusky brow, the Indian advanced along the room, and stood at the head of the table. There was no lady with him ! Where is the fair girl ? She who it is to be the Bride to-morrow ? Perhaps tiie Indian has left her in the next room, or in one of the other halls of the old mansion, or perhaps — but the thought is a foolish one — she has refused to obey her lover's request — refused to come to meet him ! There was something awful in the deep silence that reigned through the room, as the solitary Indian stood there, at the head of the table, gazing silently in the lover's face. " Whe7-e is she .?" at last gasped the Refugee. " She has not refused to come ? Tell me — has any accident befallen her by the way ? I know the forest is dark, and the wild path most difficult — tell me : where is the lady for whom I sent you into the Rebel lines ?" For a moment, as the strange horror of that lover's face was before him, the Indian was silent. Then as his answer seemed trembling on his lips the ladies in yonder doorway, the officers from the ball-room, and the party round the table, formed a group around the two central figures — the Indian, standing at the head of the table, his arms folded in his war-blanket — that young officer, half rising from his seat, his lips parted, his face ashy, his clenched hands resting on the dark mahogony of the table. The Indian answered first by an action, then by a word. First the action : Slowly drawing his right hand from his war-blanket, he held it in the light. That right hand clutched with blood-stained fingers, a bleeding scalp, and long and glossy locks of beautiful dark hair ! Thf>n thf word : " Young warrior sent the red man for the scalp of the pale-faced squaw ! Here it is !" Yes — the rude savage had mistaken his message ! Instead of bringing the bride to her lover's arms, he had gone on his way, determined to bring the scalp of the victim to the grasp of her pale face enemy. ;Xot even a groan disturbed the silence of that dreadful moment. Look there ! The lover rises, presses that long hair — so black, so glossy, so beautiful — to his heart, and then — as though a huge weight, filling on his brain, had crushed him, fell with one dead sound on the hard floor. He lay there — stiff, and pale, and cold — his clenched right hand stilJ clutching the bloody scalp, and the long dark hair falling in glossy tresses over the floor ! 173 BENEDICT ARNOLD. This was hris bridal eve ! Now tell me, my friends, you who have heard some silly and ignorail pretender, pitifully complain of the destitution of Legend, Poetry, Romance, which characterises our National History — tell me, did you ever read a tra- dition of England, or France or Italy, or Spain, or any land under the Heavens, that might, in point of awful tragedy, compare with the simple History of David Jones and John M'Crea ? For it is but a scene from this narrative, with which you have all been familiar from childhood, that 1 have given you. When the bridegroom, flung there on the floor, with the bloody scalp and long dark tresses in his hands, arose again to the terrible consciousness of life — those words trembled from his lips, in a faint and husky whisper: " Do you remember how, half an hour ago — I stood there — by the table silent, and pale, and horror-stricken — while you all started up round me, asking me what horrid sight I saw ? Then, oh then, I beheld the horrid gcene that home, yonder by the Hudson river, mounting to Heaven in the smoke and flames ! The red forms of Indians going to and fro, amid flame and smoke— tomahawk and torch in hand ! There, amid dead bodies and smoking embers, I beheld her form — my bride — for whom I had sent the messenger — kneeling, pleading for mercy, even as the tomahawk crashed into her brain !" As the horrid picture again came o'er his mind, he sank senseless again, still clutching that terrible memorial — the bloody scalp and long black hair! That was an awful Bridal Eve. VIII. THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RIDER; OR •'WHO WAS THE HERO OF SARATOGA?" There was a day my friends, when the nation rung with the glory of the victor of Saratoga. The name of Horatio Gates was painted on banner, sung in hymns, flashed from transparencies, as the Captor of Burgoyne. Benedict Arnold was not in the batUe at all, if we may believe in the bulletin of Gales, for his name is not even mentioned there. Yet I have a strange story to tell you, concerning the very battle, which supported as it is, by the solemn details of history, throws a strange light on the career of Benedict Arnold. It was the Seventh of October, 1777. Horatio Gates stood before his tent, gazing steadfastly upon the two armies, now arrayed in order of battle. It was a clear bracing day, mellow with the richness of Autumn ; the sky was cloudless, the foliage of the woods scarce tinged with purple and gold ; the buckwheat on yonder fields, irosted into snowy ripene.ss It was a calm, clear da»y, but the tread of legions shook the ground. From THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RIDER. J7-J every bush shot the glimmer of the rifle barrel, on every 'M'llside blazed the sharpened bayonet. Flags were there, too, tossing in the breeze ; here the Banner of the Siars — yonder the Red Cross gonf\ilon. Here in solid lines were arrayed the Continental soldiers, pausing on their arms, their homely costume looking but poor and bumble, when com« pared with the blaze of scarlet uniforms, reddening along yonder hills and over the distant fields. Ah, that hunting shirt of blue was but a rude dress, yet on the 19th of September, scarce two weeks ago, on these very hills, it taught the scarlet-coated Briton a severe lesson of repentance and humility. Here, then, on the morning of this eventful day, which was to decide the fate of America, whether Gates should flee before Burgoyne, or Burgoyne lay down his arms at the feet of Gates, here at the door of his tent stood the American General, his countenance manifesting deep anxiety. Now he gazed upon the glittering array of Burgoyne, as it shone over yonder fields, and now his eye roved over those hardy men in hunting shirts, with rifles in their hands. He remembered the contest of the 19th, when Benedict Arnold, at the head of certain bold riflemen, carried the day, before all the glitter of British arms ; and now — perchance — a fear seized him, that this 7th of October might be a dark day, for Arnold was not there. Thjy had quarrelled, Arnold and Gates, about some matter of military courtesj ' the former was now without a commission ; the latter commanded, alone, and now would have to win glory for himself with his own hands. Gates was sad and thoughtful, as in all the array of his uniforn, he stood before his tent, watching the evolutions of the armies, but all at once a smoke arose, a thunder shook the ground, a chorus of shouts and groans, yelled along the darkened air. The play of death was begun. The two flags — this of Stars, that of the Red Cross— tossed amid the smoke of batUe, while the sky was clouded in leaden folds, and the earth throbbed as with the pulsation of a mighty heart. Suddenly Gates and his officers started with surprise. Along the gentle height on which they stood, there came a Warrior on a Black Horse, rush- ing toward the distant battle. There was something in the appearance of this Horse and his Rider, to strike them with surprise. The Horse was a noble animal ; do you mark that expanse of chest, tliose slender yet sinewy limbs, that waving mane and tail ? Do you mark the head erect, those nos- trils quivering, that eye glaring with terrible light ? Tlien his color — the raven is not darker than his skin, or maiden's cheek more glossy than his «pofless hide.* * There have been certain learned critics, who object to this similie. They state, with commendable gravity, that the idea of a horse — even a war-horse, who ranks, jn the scale of being, next to man — having a hide 'glossy as a maiden's cheek,' hurts iheir delicate perceptions. Their experience teaches them, that the word ' glossy,' coupled with 'black,' must refer to a • glossij black maiden.' Had my ideas ran in that direction, I never would have penned the sentence ; but as I do not possess the large experience of these critics, in relation to 'African maidens,' I must even iei lis BENEDICT ARNOLD. Look upon thai gallant steed, and remerabsi" Use words of Job — Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Cans't thou make him afraid as a grasshopper. The glory of his nostrils is terrible He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; he goeth on to meet th« armed men. He moL-keth at fear and is not affrighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saiih among the trumpets, Ha ! ha ! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. But the Rider presents also a sight of strange and peculiar interest. He is a man of muscular form, with a dark brow gathered in a frown, a darker eye, shooting its glance from beneath the projecting foreliead. His lip is compressed — his cravat, unloosened, exposes the veins of his bared throat, now writhing like serpents. It is plain that his spirit is with the distant battle, for neither looking to the right or left, not even casting a glance aside to Gates, he glares over his horse's head toward the smoke of conflict. No sword waves in his grasp, but while the rein hangs on his horse's neck, his hands rest by his side, the fingers quivering with the same agita- tion that blazes over his face. Altogether it is a magnificent sight, that warrior in the blue uniform on his Black Horse, who moves along the sod at a brisk walk, his tail and mane tossing on the breeze. And as the noble horse moves on, the soldier speaks to him, and calls him by name, and lays his right hand on his glossy neck. " Ho ! Warren — forward !" Then that Black Horse — named after the friend of the soldier, a friend who now is sleeping near Bunker Hill, where he fell — darts forward, with one sudden bound, and is gone like a flash toward the distant battle. This brief scene, this vision of the Horse and his Rider, struck Gates with unfeigned chagrin, his ofliicers with unmingled surprise. " Armstrong l" shouted Gates, turning to a brave man by his side, " Pur- sue that man ! Tell him it is my command that he returns from the field. Away ! Do not lose a minute, for he will do something rash, if left to himself J^^ Armstrong springs to his steed, and while the heaven above, and the broad sweeps of woods .and fields yonder, are darkened by the smoke of conflict, he pursues the Black Horse and his Rider. But that Rider looks over his shoulder with a smile of scorn on his lip, * scowl of defiance on his brow. Look ! He draws his sword — the sharp the sentence stand as it is. They also object to the horse ; saying piteously — " You make him a hero 1" I hove no doubt they would prefer for a hero, an excellent animal, noted for his deep throat and long ears. My taste inclines in a diiferent direc'ion. THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RlDEtv. 179 olade quivers in the air. He points to the battle, and lo ! he is gone — gone through yonder clouds — while his shout echoes over the fields. Wherever the fight is thickest, through the intervals of batde smoke and cannon glare, you may see, riding madly forward, that strange soldier, mounted on his steed, black as death. Look at him, as with his face red with British blood, he waves his sword, and shouts to the legions. Now you see him fighting in tliat cannon's glare, the next moment he is away off yonder, leading the forlorn hope up the steep cliff. Is it not a magnificent sight, to see that nameless soldier, and that noble Black Steed, dashing like a meteor through the long columns of battle ? And all the while. Major Armstrong, spurring his steed to the utmost, pursues him, but in vain. He shouts to him, but the warrior cannot hear. He can see the Black Horse, through the lifted folds of battle-smoke, now and then he hears the Rider's shout. " Warren ! Ho ! AVarren ! Upon them — charge !" Let us look in for a moment through these clouds of battle. Here, over this thick hedge, bursts a band of American militia men — their rude farmer's coats stained with their blood — while, scattering their arms by the way, they flee before yonder company of red-coat hirelings, who come rushing forward, their solid front of bayonets gleaming in the battle-light. In the moment of their flight, a Black Horse crashes over the field. The unknown warrior reins his steed back on his haunches, right in the path of this broad-shouldered militia man. " Now, coward, advance another step, and I will shoot you to the heart!" shouts the rider, extending a pistol in either hand. " What ! are yon Americans — men — and fly before these British soldiers ? Back and face them once more — seize your arms — face the foe, or I myself will ride you down !" That appeal, uttered with deep, indignant tones, and a face convulsed with passion, is not without its effect. The militia man turns, seizes his gun ; his comrades as if by one impulse, follow his example. They form in solid order along the field, and silently load their pieces ; they wait the onset of those British bayonets. " Reserve your fire until you can touch the point of their bayonets !" was the whispered command of the Unknown. Those militia-men, so lately panic-stricken, now regard the approach of the red-coals in silence, yet calmly and without a tremor. The British came on — nearer and nearer yet — you can see their eyes gleam, you can count the buttons on their scarlet coats. They seek to terrify the militia-men with shouts ; but those plain farmers do not move an inch. In one line — but tweniy men in all — they confront thirty sharp bayonets. The British advance — they are within two yards. "Now upon the rebels — charge bayonet!" shouted the red-coat officer. IHO BENEDICT ARNOLD. They spring forward, with the same bound — look ! Their bayonets al- most tonch the muzzles of these rifles ! At this moment the voice of the Rider was heard. " Now let them have it— /ire .'" A sound is heard — a smoke is seen — twenty Britons are down, some writhing in death, some crawling along the so:], some speechless as stone The remaining ten start back — but then is no time for surprise. " Club your rifles, and charge them home !" shouts the Unknown, and the Black Horse springs forward, followed by the militia-men. Then a confused conflict- — a cry of " quarter !" — a vision of the twenty farmers grouped around the Rider of the Black Horse, greeting him with hearty cheers. Thus it was all the day long. Wherever that Black Horse and his Rider went, there followed victory. The soldiers in every part of the field seemed to know that Rider, for they hailed him with shouts, they obeyed his commands, they rushed after him. over yonder cannon, through yonder line of bayonets. His appearance in any quarter of the field was succeeded by a desperate onset, a terrible charge, or a struggle hand to hand with the soldiers of Burgoyne. Was this not a strange thing? This unknown man, without a command was obeyed by all the soldiers, as though they recognized their General. They acknowledged him for a Leader, wherever he rode ; they followed him to death wherever he gave the word. Now look for him again ! On the summit of yonder hill, the Black Horse stands erect on his haunches, his fore-legs pawing the air, while the rider bends over his neck, and looks toward the clouded valley. The hat has fallen from that Rider's brow ; his face is covered with sweat and blood ; his right-hand grasps that battered sword. How impressive that sight, as an occasional sun-gleam lights the Rider's brow, or a red flash of battle-light, bathes his face, as in rays of blood I At this moment, as the black steed rears on the summit of the hill, look yonder from the opposite valley, dashes Major Armstrong, in search of that Unknown Rider, who sees him coming, turns his horse's head and disap- pears with a laugh of scorn. Slill the gallant Major keeps on his way, in search of this man, who excites the fears of General Gates— this brave Rider, who was about to do " something rash." At last, toward the setting of the sun, the crisis of the conflict came. That fortress yonder on Behmus Height, was to be won, or the Amei> can cause was lost. That fortress was to be gained, or Gates was a dishonored man ; Bur- goyne a triumphant General. THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 181 Thai fortress yonder — you can see it through the battle-clouds — with its wall of red-coats, its lines of British cannon, its forest of bayonets. Kven those bold riflemen, who were in the wilderness with one Benedici Arnold, who stormed the walls of Quebec, with thi%.Arnold and x\Iontgomery, on that cold daybreak of Decdfcber jhirty-first, 1715, even those men of iron fell back, terrified at the siSti That cliff is too steep — that death is too certain. Their officers cannot persuade them to advance. The Americans have lost the field. Even Morgan — that Iron Man among Iron Men — leans on his rifle, and despairs of the field. But look yonder ! In this moment, while all is dismay and horror, here, crashing on, comes the Black Horse and his Rider. That Rider bends from his steed ; you can see his phrenzied face, now covered with sweat, and dust, and blood. He lays his hand on that bold rifleman's shoulder. " Come on !" he cries ; " you will not fail me now !" The rifleman knows that face, that voice. As though living fire had been poured into his veins, he grasps his rifle, and starts toward the rock. " Come on !" cries the Rider of the Black Horse, turning from one scarred face to another. " Come on ! you will not fail me now !" He speaks in that voice which thrills their blood. " You were with me in the Wilderness !" he cries to one ; " and you a. Quebec !" he shouts to another; " do you remember ?" " And you at Montreal !'" " And YOU, there on Lake Champlain ! You know me — you have known me long ! Have I ever spoken to you in vain ? I speak to ymi now — do you see that Rock ? Come on !" And now look, and now hold your breath as that black steed crashes up the steep rock ! Ah, that steed quivers — he totters — he falls I No, no ! Still on. still up the rock, still on toward the fortress ! Now look again — his Rider turns his face — ■ — " Come on. Men of Quebec, where I lead, you will follow !" But that cry is needless. Already the bold riflemen are on the rock. And up and onward, one fierce boltof batde, with that Warrior on his Black Steed, leading the dread way, sweep the Men of the Wilderness, the Heroes of Quebec. Now pour your fires, British cannon. Now lay the dead upon the rock, in tens and twenties. Now — hirelings — shout your British battle-cry if you can ! For look, as the battle-smoke clears away, look there, in the gate of the '"ortress for the Black Steed and his Rider ! That Steed falls dead, pierced by an hundred balls, but there his Rider waves the Banner of the Stars, there — as the British cry for quarter, he lifts 1S2 BENEDICT ARNOLD. . up his voice, and shouts afar to Horatio Gates, waiting yonder in hia tent; he tells him that — " Saratoga is won !" And look! As that^lioiit goes up to^ieaven, he falls upon his Steetl, with his leg shattered J^^ cannon ball._ ^b He lays there, on /ros dead Steed, I^Pding and insensible, while his hand, laid over the necR of the gallant Hotle, still grasps the Banner of the Stars. Who was the Rider of the Black Horse's Do you not guess his name ? Then bend down and gaze upon that shattered limb, and you will see that it bears the scars of a former wound — a hideous wound it must have oeen Now, do you not guess his name ? That wound was received at the Storming of Quebec ; that Rider of the Black Horse was Benedict Arnold. In this hour, while the sun was setting over the field of the Seventh of October — while the mists of battle lay piled in heavy clouds above the walls of the conquered fortress, — here, up the steep rock came Major Armstrong, seeking for the man who "might do somelhing rash!''' He found him at last, but it was in the gate of the fortress, on the body of the dead steed, bleeding from his wound, that he discovered the face of Benedict Arnold, the Victor of Behmus Heights. This was not the moment to deliver the message of Gates. No ! for this Rash Man had won laurels for his brow, defeated Burgoyne for him, rescued the army from disgrace and defeat. He had done something — rash. Therefore, Armstrong, brave and generous as he was, bent over the wounded man, lifted him from among the heaps of dead, and bore him to a place of repose. Would it be credited by persons unacquainted with our history — would the fact which I record with blushes and shame for the pettiness of human nature, be believed, unless supported by evidence that cannot lie? General Gates, in his bulletin cf the battle, did not mention the name of Benedict Arnold ! Methinks, even now, I see the same Horatio flying from the bloody field of Camden — where an army was annihilated — his hair turning white as snow, as he pursues his terrible flight, without once resting for eighty miles — methinks I hear him call for another Arnold, to win this battle, as Saratoga was won ! The conduct of Arnold in this battle became known, in spite of the dastJ'rdly opposition of his enemies, and — says a distinguished and honest historian — Congress relented at this late hour with an ill-grace, and sent him a commission, giving him the full rank which he claimed. He was now in truth, crowned as he stood, with the laurels of the Wil- ARNOLD, THE MILITARY COMMANDER OF PHILADELrHlA. IbS ilerness, Quebec and Saratoga, Major General Arnold, of the Continental Army. At the same time that George Washington received the account of Ar- nold's daring at Saratoga, he also neceived from a Nobleman of France, three splendid sets of epaulettes and ^Jprd-knots, with the request to retain one for himself, and bestow the other^on the two bravest men of his arniy. George Washington sent one set of epaulettes with a sword-knot to Ben- edict Arnold. When we next look for Arnold, w^. find him confined to his room, with a painful wound. For the entire winter the limb wiiich had been first broken at Quebec, broken again at Saratoga, kept him a prisoner in the close confinement of his chamber. Then let us behold him entering New Haven, in triumph as the Hero of Saratoga. There are troops of soldiers, the thunder of cannon, little chil- dren strewing the way with flowers. Was it not a glorious welcome for the Druggist, who two years ago, was pasting labels on phials in yonder drug store ? — A glorious welcome for the little boy, who used to strew the road with pounded glass, so that other little boys might cut their feet ? — In this hour of Arnold's triumph, when covered with renown, he comes back to his childhood's home, may we not imagine his Mother looking from Heaven upon the glory of her child ? Yes, sainted Mother of Arnold, who long years ago, laid your babe upon the sacramental altar, baptized with the tears and prayers of a Mother's agony, now look from heaven, and pray to God that he may die, with all his honorable wounds about him ! • IX.— ARNOLD, THE MILITARY COMMANDER OF PHILADELPHIA. Let us look for Arnold again ! We will find him passing through the streets of old Philadelphia, in his glittering coach, with six splendid horses, and liveried outriders ; riding in state as the Governor of Philadelphia. Then we look for him again. In the dim and solemn aisle of Christ Church, at the sunset hour, behold a new and touching scene in the life of Benedict Arnold. It is the sunset hour, and through the shadows of the range of pillars, which support the venerable roof of the church, the light of the declining day, streams in belts of golden sunshine. As you look, the sound of the organ fills the church, and a passing ray streams over the holy letters, I H S. There beside the altar are grouped the guests, there you behold the Priest of God, arrayed in his sacerdotal robe, and there — O, look upon them well. in this last hour of the summer day — the centre of the circle, stand the Bridegroom and Bride. 184 BENEDICT ARNOLD A lovely girl, scarce eighteen years in age, with golden hair and eyes oi deep clear blue, rests her small hand upon a warrior's arm, and looks up lovingly into his battle-worn face. She is clad in silks, and pearls, and gold. He in the glorious uniform of the Revolution, the blue coat, faced with bufF and fringed with gold. The sword lhag wife, gleam with a light that is too intense for love, too vivid for hope ? That deep and steady gleam looks to me like a fire, kindled at the altar of Ambition. The compression of that parting lip, the proud arch of that white nock, the queenly tread of that small foot, all bespeak the consciousness of power. Does the the wife of Benedict Arnold, looking through a dark and troubled future, behold the darkness dissipated by the sunshine of a Royal Court? Does she — with that young breast heaving with impatient ambition — already behold Arnold the Patriot, transformed into Arnold the Courtier — and Traitor ? Future pages of this strange history, alone can solve these questions. We must look at Arnold now, as by this marriage and his important position — the Military Commander of the greatest city on the Continent — he is brought into contact with a proud and treacherous aristocracy — as he feasts, as he drinks, as he revels with them. From that hour, date his ruin. That profligate and treacherous aristocracy, would ruin an angel from heaven, if an angel could ever sink so low, as to be touched by the poison of its atmosphere. We can form our estimate of the character of this Aristocracy in the Revolution, from the remnant which survives among us, at the present hour. Yes, we have it among us yet, existing in an organized band of pretenders, whose political and religious creed is comprised in one word — England — lovers of monarchy and every thing that looks like monarchy, in the shape of privileged orders, and chartered infamies ; Tory in heart now as they were Tories in speech, in the days of the Revolution. ARNOLD, THE MILITARY COMMANDER OF THILADELi'FIIA. 185 ! never think of this Aristocracy, without being reminded of iliose Italian inendicants, who are seen in your streets, clad in shabby tinsel, too proud to work the work of honest toil, and yet not too proud to obtain a livelihood by the tricks of a juggler and mountebank. — I do not mean the aristocracy of worth, or beauty, or intellect, which gets Its title-deeds from God, and wears its coat of arms in the heart, and which if ever man saw, 1 see before me now * But I do mean that aristocracy, whose heraldry is written in the same ledger of a broken bank, that chronicles the wholesale robbery of the widow and the orphan, by privileged theft and chartered fraud. If we must have an Aristocracy, o.' in other words a privileged class, en- titled by law to trample on those who toil, eat their bread, and strip from them one by one, the holy rights for which their fathers fought in the Rev- olution, let us I pray you, have a iN'obility, like that of England, made respectable by the lineage of a few hundred years. Let us — if we must have an Aristocracy — constitute by law, every survivor of the Revolution, every child of a hero of the Past, a Noble of the Land. This will at least bear some historical justice on its face. But to make these Tory children of Tory fathers, a privileged order, is it not a very contemptable thing ? As laughable as the act of the Holy Alli- ance, who established the Restoration of the Bourbons, on the foundation laid by Napoleon. We have all seen the deeds of the Tory Aristocracy of Philadelphia. To-day, it starves some poor child of genius — whom it has deluded with hopes of patronage — and suffers him to go starving and mad, from the quiet of his studio, to the darkness of the Insane Asylum. To-morrow, it parades in its parlies, and soirees some pitiful foreign vagrant, who calls him^ self a Count or Duke, and wears a fierce beard, and speaks distressing Eng- lish. This aristocracy never listens to a lecture on science, or history^ much less a play from Shakspeare, but at the same time, will overflow a theatre, to hear a foreign mountebank do something which is called singing, or to witness the indecent postures of some poor creature, who belies the sacred name of Woman, which obscene display is entitled dancing. There is nothing which this aristocracy hates so fervently, as Genius> native to the soil. It starved and neglected that great original mind, Charles Brockden Brown, and left him to die in his solitary room, while all Europe was ringing with his praise. It never reads an American book, unless highly perfumed and sweetened with soft words, and tricked out in pretty pictures. It takes its history, literature, religion, second-hand from England, and bitterly regrets that the plainness of our Presidential office, is so strong contrasted with the imp.e- On the occasion of the third lecture, before the Wirt Institui*. 12 186 BENEDICT ARNOLD. rial grandeur of Greal Britain's hereditary sovereign — a Queen, who imporu a husband froin the poverty of some German Kingdom, three miles squarci and saddles her People with an annual Prince or Princess, whose advent costs one hundred thousand yellow guineas. This aristocracy never can tolerate native Genius, Because, in its fer- menting corruption, it resembles a hot-bed, it plausibly fancies that every- thing which springs from such a soil, must be at once worthless and ephemeral. In one word, when we survey its varied phrases of pretension and mean- ness, we must regret, that some bold Lexicographer had not poured into one syllable, the whole vocabulary of scorn, in order to coin a word to be ap- plied to this thing, which always creeps when it attempts to fly, crawls when it would soar — this Aristocracy of the Quaker City. This Tory aristocracy existed in full vigor, at the time Arnold assumed the command in Philadelphia. You will observe that his position was one of singular difficulty ; Wash- ington himself would not have given general satisfaction, had he been in Arnold's place. In after time, Jackson at New Orleans, excited the enmity of a bitter faction, because he held the same power, which Arnold once exercised — that of a Military Governor, who commands in the same town with a Civil Magistracy. You will remember, that the very Aristocracy, who yesterday had been feasting General Howe, sharing the orgies of the British soldiery, swimming in the intoxication of the Meschianza, were now patriots of the first water. The moment the last British boat pushed from the wharf, these gendemen changed their politics. The sound of the first American trooper's horse, echoing through the streets of the city, accomplished their conversion. Yesterday, Monarchists, Tories ; to-day. Patriots, Whigs, these gentlemen, with dexterity peculiar to their race, soon crept into positions of power and trust Frnm their prominence, as well as from his marriage with Miss Shippen, Arnold was thrown into constant intimacy with these pliable politicians. Having grounded these facts well in your minds, you will be prepared to hear the grumbling of these newly-pledged patriots, when Arnold — who j'esterday was such a splendid fellow, sprinkling his gold in banquets and festivals — obeyed a Resolution of the Continental Congress, and by procln- mation, prohibited the sale of all goods, in the city, until it was ascertained whether any of the property belonged to the King of Great Britain or his subjects. This touched the Tory-Whigs on the tenderest point. Patriotism was a beautiful thing with them, so long as it vented itself in fine words ; but when it touched King George's property, or the property of King George's friends, they began to change their opinion. Their indignation knew no bounds. They dared not attack Washington, ARNOLD, THE MILITARY COMMANDER OF PHILADELPHIA. 187 ihey dared not assail the Congress. Therefore, they opened their batteries of mahgnancy and calumniation against Arnold. Wher^ that brave man had one fault, they magnified it into ten. Where he was guilty of one wrong act, they charged him with a thousand. Not seven months of Arnold's command had transpired, before Congress and Washington were harrassed with letters asking for the trial and disgrace of Arnold. At last the matter was brought before Congress, and a Committee of that body, after a thorough examination, gave to Benedict Arnold, " a vindicatioM from any criminalty in the matters charged against him." Then the war was opened against Arnold anew ; then the Mob — not the mechanics or men of toil — but the Rabble who do no work, and yet have time to do all the riots in your large cities, were taught to hoot his name in Bcorn, to stone him in the streets, hi:n, the Hero of Quebec. Yes, the out- lasts of the city, were taught to cover him with filth, to wound with theii missiles, the very limb that had been broken by a cannon ball, on the barriei of Quebec. Congress did not act upon the Report of the Committee. Why was this ? That report was referred to a joint Committe of Congress and the Assem- bly. At last General Washington was harrassed into appointing a Court Martial. It was done, the day fixed, but the accusers of Arnold were not ready for trial. Yes, loud as they were in their clamors, they asked delay ?ifter delay, and a year passed. All the while, these men were darkening the character of Arnold, all the while he stood before the world in the light of an untried criminal. The Hero of Quebec was denied a right, which is granted to the vilest felon. Accused of a crime, he was refused the reasonable justice of a speedy trial. At last, after his accusers had delayed the trial, on various pretences, after the sword of the 'unconvicted criminal,' resigned on the 18th of March, 1779, had been taken up again by him, on the 1st of June, the day ap- pointed for his trial, in order to defend his country once again, at last, on the 20th of December, 1779, the Court Martial was assembled at the head- quarters of W^ashington, near Morristown. At last the day came — Arnold was tried — and after a month consumed in the careful examination of witnesses and papers, was found guilty of two colossal enormities. Before we look at them, let us remember, that his accusers, on this occasion, were General Joseph Reed, and other members of the Supreme Executive council of Pennsylvania. , Here are the offences : I. An irregularity, without criminal intention, in granting a written vrotectinn to a vessel, before his command in Philadelphia, while at I'a!- ley Forge. II. UfiING THE PUBLIC WAGONS OF PENNSYLVANIA, FOR THE TRANSPORTA TTON OF PRIVATE PROPERTY FROM EgG HaRBOR. I8B BEJNEDICT ARNOLD. Those were his colossal crimes ! The other two charges were passed aside by the court. It was upon these charges that the whole prosecution rested — a militarv irregularity in granting a written protection, before he assumed command in Phiiadelpliia, and — O, the enormity of the crime almost exceeds the power of belief — a sacriligious use of the baggage wagons of Pennsylvania ! For tiiis Benedict Arnold had been pursued for at least thirteen months, with a malignity insatiable as the blood-hounds thirst. For this he had been held up to all tiie world as a criminal, for this pelted in the streets, and for this, the Hero of Quebec and Saratoga and Champlain, was to be pub- licly disgraced, reprimanded by George Washington. Let us hear what that honest man, Jared Sparks, says of the matter: "• // was proiied to the court, that although the wagons had been em- ployed for transporting private p-operty, they were nevertheless used at private expense, without a design to defraud the public, or impede the military service.'''' And tiie man who had poured out his blood like water, on the frozen ground of Quebec, was to be stamped with eternal infamy for " using the PUBLIC WAGONS OF PENNSYLVANIA !" You will pardon the italics and capitals. These words ought to be in- scribed in letters of fire on a column of adamant ! Is it possible for an honest man to read this part of the tragedy, without feeling the blood boil in his veins ? My friends, here is the only belief we can entertain in relation to this mutter. At the same time that we admit that Arnold was betrayed into serious faults through his intimacy with the Tory aristocracy of Philadel- phia, as well as from the inherent rashness of his character — that very rajhness forming one of the elements of his iron-souled bravery — we must also admit, that among the most prominent of his accusers or persecutors, as you please, — was " a man whose foot hud once been lifted to take the step which Jlrnold afterwards took.'''' Before large and respectable audiences of my countrymen, assembled in at least three States of this Union, I have repeatedly stated that I was " prepared to prove this fact, from evidence that cannot lie." No answer was ever made to the assertion. In the public papers I have repeated the statement, expressing my readiness to meet any person, in a frank and searching discussion of the question — IFas AnxohCs chief accuser in heart a Traitor? Still no answer ! It is true, that other and unimportant points of my history have been fiercely attacked. For example, when following the finger of history, I awarded to Arnold t' e glory of Saratoga, a very respectable but decidedly anonymous critic, brought all his artillery to bear upon a line, which had a reference to the preparation of buckwheat cakes! So, when I expressed my readiness to examine the character of Arnold's ARNOLD, THE MILITARY COMMANDER OF PHILADELPHIA. 189 "hief accuser, a very prominent individual, who has made that accuser's deeds the subject of laborious and filial panegyric, instead of meeting the Vuestion like a man, crept away into some dark corner of liistory, and called a sincere patriot by tlie portentous name of— Infidel ! This was very much iike the case of the patriot John Bull, who, hearing a Frenchman examme ne character of George the Third, in no very measured terms, replied by a bitter attack on the Emperor of Timbuctoo ! Having therefore, repeatedly stated that I was ready to give a careful and impartial investigation of the history of Arnold's chief accuser, I will now enter upon the subject as a question comprised within the limits of legiti- mate history. Is it not reasonable to suppose, that the man who took upon himself the work of crushing Benedict Arnold, must have been a very good citizen, a very sincere patriot, and if not a great warrior, at least a very honest statesman ? Have we not a right to examine the character of this accuser ? Remem- ber — this trial and disgrace of Arnold, was the main cause of his treason — and then dispute our right to search the character of his Accuser, if you can. Let us then, summon a solemn Court of history. Let us invoke tlie Ghost of Washington to preside over its deliberations. Yes, approaching that Ghost, with an awful reverence, let us ask this important question. " Was not General John Cadwallader your bosom friend, O, Washington, the man whose heart and hand you implicitly trusted ? Did he not defend you from the calumniation of your enemies ? Was he not, in one word, a Knight of the Revolution, without fear and without reproach ?" And the word that answers our question, swelling from the lips of Wash- ington, is — " Yes !" We will ask anf)ther question. "In the dark days of December, 1776, when with a handful of half-clad men, you opposed the entire force of the British army, on the banks of the Delaware, who then, O, Washington, stood by your side, shared in your counsels, and received your confidence ?" " Benedict Arnold !" If these answers, which the Ghost of Washington whispers from every page of history, be true, it follows that General John Cadwallader is an im- partial witness in this case, and that Benedict Arnold was a sincere Patriot in the winter of 1776. Then let us listen to the details of facts, stated by General Cadwallader. and by him published to the world, attested by his proper signature. 190 BENEDICT ARNOLD. X.-WIIO WAS THIS ACCUSER1 In December, 1776, a few days before the battle of Trenton, m the dark est hour of the Revolution, when Washington and his army were menaced with immediate destruction, an important conversation took place at Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware. The interlocutors were John Cadvvallader and the Adjutant General of the Continental Army. The conversation was explicit ; no disguise about its meaning, not a doubt in the sound or purport of its every word. The adjutant general of the Continental army, to whom Washington had entrusted duties, involving, in their faithful performance, the well-being, percliance the existence of that army, remarked to General Cadwallader: "• That he did not understand following the fortunes of a broken-down and shattered army " At the very moment that he said tliis, Benedict Arnold was out yonder, on the brink of the ice bound river, assisting with his heart and hand, the movements of George Washington. But sheltered by the convenient silence of a comfortable chamber, the Adjutant General continued: " Tliai the time allowed by General Howe, for offering pardons and protections to persons who would come in, before the 1st of January, 1777, had nearly expired " The philosophical nature of this remark becomes evident, when you re- member that at the very hour when the Adjutant General spoke, there was a price set upon the head of the Rebel Washington. " And — " continued this A.djutant General — " / have advised the Lieu- tenant Colonel, my brother, now at Burlington, to remain there, and take protection and fiwear allegiance, and in so doing he will be perfectly justifiable^ You will all admit, th;\t this was beautiful nnd refreshing language from any one, especially from the Adjutant General of the Continental army. Much more was said of similar import, but the amount of the whole con- versation was in one word, that the Adjutant General, tired and sick of the Rebel cause, was about to swear allegiance to his Majesty, King George. General Cadwallader, the bosom friend of Washington, heard these re- marks with surprise, with deep sorrow. From pity to the Adjutant Gen- ei-al, he locked them within the silence of his own breast, until the brilhant attack at Trenton, which took place a few days afterwards, made it a safe as well as comfortable thing, for the trembling patriot to remain true to his country's flag. WHO WaC T3T:S ACCUS^.Tl' 191 Time passed, and General Cadwallader communicatev^ thi? conversation 10 certain prominent men of the time, thinking it bet'er from piotives of kindness, to avoid a public exposure of the Adjutant General's intended Treason. But in the year 1778, a circumstance took place which forced the truth from the lips of this memorable witness. It was in a Court of Justice. A young man charged with Treason, was on trial for his life. The Adjutant General, now transformed into an At- torney General, urged his conviction with all the vehemence of which he was capable. There may have been some extenuating circumstances in the young man's case, or perhaps, the manner of the Attorney General, betrayed more than patriotic zeal, for General Cadwallader a spectator in the Court filled with indignation that he could not master, uttered these memorable words : " // argues the effrontery of baseness — " said the brave officer, directing his eagle eye toward the Attorney General — " in one man to pursite an- other man to death, for taking a step which his own foot had once beer raised to take.'''' These were hard words. The steady look and pointed finger, and deej voice of Cadwallader, made them intelligible to the entire Court. The Adjutant General never forgot them. In the course of some four or five years, a discussion was provoked, faff after fact came out in its proper colors, and General Cadwallader accused the Adjutant General before the whole world, of the painful dereliction stated in the previous pages. He did not merely accuse, but supported his accusation by such evidence that we are forced to the conclusion in plain words, that either the Adjutant General was a Traitor in heart, speech and purpose, or General Cadwal- lader was a gross calumniator. 'J'he evidence which he produced in his published pamphlet, was a thou- sand times stronger than that which stripped the laurel from Arnold's brow. As a part of this evidence, we find a letter from Alexander Hamilton, dated Philada. March 14, 1783, in which that distinguished statesman affirms his remembrance of a conversation, which occurred between him and General Cadwallader, in '77, and which embraced a distinct narrative of the derelic- tion of the Adjutant General in December, '76. Benjamin Rush, and other eminent men of that time, by letters dated 5th Oct. 1782, March 12, 1783, and March 3, 1783, either record their re- membrance of a conversation, with General Cadwallader, in which he nar- rated the treasonable sentiments of the Adjutant General, or distinctly af- firm a conversation with that individual himself, had before the battle of Trenton, and full of Disloyalty to the Continental cause. Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Rush, were never given to falsehood. And then comes a statement from Major Wm. Bradford, which dated 192 BENEDICT ARNOLD. March 15, 1783, strips the Adjutant General of every vestige of patriotisit.. This brave officer states, that while he was at IJristol, in command of the Philadelphia militia, in 1776, the Adjutant General went over to Burlmg- ton, where the enemy were, and was gone three days and nights. It wan the opinion of Col. Bayard, that he had gone over to swear allegiance to King George. Such is but a portion of the testimony, presented in the memorable pamphlet, signed by the bosom friend of Washington, John Cadwalbuier. This case demands no elaborate argument, no expenditure of invective. Either the Adjutant General was a Traitor, or John Cadwallader a * * * *. There is no skulking away from the question. One way or other it must be decided by every honest man, who peruses the evidence. You will remember that 1 give no opinion about the matter. There are the facts ; judge every honest man for himself. That Jolin Cadwallader was no base calumniator, is attested by the records of history, by the friendship of Washington. To what fearful conclusion then, are we led ? That the Adjutant General in the dark days of 1776, not only avowed tiis intention of deserting the Continental army, but was in fact, three days and nights in the camp of the enemy. Was tills the conduct of a Patriot, or — it is a dark word, and burns tlie forehead on which it is branded — A Traitor ! This adjutant general, was General Joseph Reed, President of the Su- prerhe Council of Pennsylvania, and the prominent accuser of Benedict AllNOLD. In his defence before the Court Martial, Arnold used these words : — " I can with boldness say to my persecutors in general, and to the chief of them in particular — that in the hour of danger, when the affairs of America wore a gloomy aspect, when our illustrious general was retreating through America, with a handful of men, I did not propose to my associates basely to quit the General, and sacrifice the cause of my country to my per- sonal safety, by going over to the enemy, and making my peace." — Can you see his eye flash, as he looks upon the " Chief of his Per secutors ?" XI.— THE DISGRACE OF ARNOLD. At last the day of the Reprimand came — Father of Mercy what a scene! That man Arnold, brave and proud as Lucifer, standing among the gene- rals, beside whom he had fought and bled — standing ihe centre of all eyes, in the place of the Criminal, with the eye of Washington fixed upon nim in reproof — with a throng of the meaner things of the Revolution. .wh ra the British King might have bought, had he thought them worth the THE DISGRACE OF ARNOLD. 193 nuying, grouped about him ; these petty men — who had been warming themselves at comfortable tires, while the hands of Arnold were freezing on the ramparts of Quebec — exulting at his disgrace, glorying in his shame, chuckling at his fall It was too much for Arnold. That moment the iron entered his soul, and festered there. From that moment he stood resolved in his work of treason. From that moment his country lost a soldier, history one of her brightest names. Washington his right-hand man, the Revolution its bravest Knight. In one word, from that moment John Andre lost his life, Benedict Arnold his honor ; Sir Henry Clinton gained a — Traitor. He could have borne reproof from the lips of Washington, but to be re- buked while the dwarf-patriots were standing by, while the litde 'great men' were lookers on ! — It was indeed, too much for Arnold. It is true, that the reprimand of Washington was the softest thing that might bear the name — " / reprimand you for having forgotten, that in proportion as you have rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have shown moderation towards our citizens. Exhibit again those splendid qualities, which have placed you in the rank of our most distinguished generals." — These were the words of Washington, worthy of his hero-heart, but from that moment, Arnold the Patriot was dead. At that instant from the terrible chaos of dark thoughts, wounded pride, lacerated honor, sprung into birth a hideous phantom, known by history as — Arnold the Traitor. Had he but taken the advice of Washington, had he but looked derision upon his foes ! Raising himself in all his proud height, his eye blazing with that stern fire which lighted up his bronzed face on the ramparts of Quebec, his voice deep, hollow, ringing with the accents of scorn, he should have spoken to his enemies words like these : " Look ! Pitiful creatures of an hour, how your poisoned arrows fall harmless from this bosom, like water from the rock ! Things of an hour, creatures of falsehood, who ' trafficked to be bought,' while I served my country in hunger and blood and cold, I hurl my defiance to your very hearts ! I will yet live down your persecution. In the name of Washing- ton and the Revolution, I swear it ! I will yet write my name there — on the zenith of my country's fame, — there, where the vulture beak of slander the hyena fang of malice, cannot taint nor touch it !" But he failed to do this. Unlike Jackson, who covered with the glory of New- Orleans, rested patiently for thirty years, under the odium of an unjust fine, Arnold did not possess the power — to live down persecution. He was lOSt. In order to unde-rstand the scene of his reprimand in all its details, wc must wander back through the shadows of seventy years. 194 BENEDICT ARNOLD. That fine old mansion of Morristown rises before us, m the calm light of a winter's day. There is snow upon the ground, but it is frozen, until it resembles an immense mirror, which flashes back to the sky the liglit of the sun. Yonder we behold the mansion, standing on a gentle eminence Those poplars before the door, or rather beside the fence at the foot of the elevation, are stripped of their foliage. The elm yonder, bared of its green leaves, shines with a thousand limbs of ice and snow. All is cold, serene, desolate. We enter this mansion. Without pausing to survey its massive front, or steep roof or projecting eves, we ascend the range of steps, give the word to the sentinels, and pass beneath these pillars which guard the hall door. Step gently along this hall — nter with uncovered brow, into this large room, where the light of a cheerful hickory fire glowing upon the hearth, mingles with the winter-sunshine, softened as it is by the thick curtains along yonder windows. Gaze with reverence, for great men are gathered here. Do not let your eye wander to those antique chairs, fashioned of walnut, and carved into various fantastic forms, nor to the heavy mouldings of the mantle-piece, nor to the oval mirror encircled by a wreath of gold flowers. But by the hearty glow of the hearthside flame, gaze I beseech, upon this company of heroes, who dressed in blue and buff stand side by side, leaving an open space before the fire. A large table is there, on whose green cloth, are laid various papers, burdened with seals, and traced with celebrated signatures. In the midst, you behold a sword resting in its sheath, its handle carved in the shape of an eagle's beak. That sword has seen brave days in the Wilderness and at Quebec. Three figures arrest your attention. Neither the knightly visage of Wayne, nor the open countenance of the Boy-General, La Fayette, nor the bluff hearty good-humor of Knox, com- mand your gaze. They are all there. There too, Cadwallader the bosom friend of Washington, and Greene so calmly sagacious, and all the heroes of that time of trial. Yet it is not upon these you gaze, though their faces are all darkened by an expression of sincere sorrow. It is upon those three figures near the fire tiiat you look, and hush eacli whisper as you gaze. The first standing with his face to the light, his form rising above the others, superior to them all in calm majesty of look and bearing. The sunshine streaming through the closed curtains reveals that face, which a crown could not adorn, nor the title of King ennoble. It is the face of Washington, revealing in every calm, fixed outline, a heart too high for the emoty bauble of a crown, a soul too pure for the anointed disgrace of Royal Power. He is very calm, but still you can trace upon his countenance a look of deep, aye, poignant regret. THE DISGRACE OF ARNOLD. 195 His eye is fixed upon the figure opposite. Standing with his back to the window, a man of some thirty-nine years, vigorous in each muscular limb, majestic in his breadth of chest, and in the erect bearing of his neck and head, rests one hand upon the table and gazes upon Washington with a setded look. Ilis brow is bathed in the light of the hearth. Do you see the red glare that flasiies over each rigid feature ? Does it not impart to that bold brow and firm lips and massive chin, an ex- pression almost — supernatural ? As he stands there, you see him move one foot uneasily. The limb broken once at Quebec, shattered once at Saratoga pains him. That of course, is Arnold. You hear the words of the Reprimand pass from the lips of Washington. You listen with painful intensity. Not a whisper in this thronged room, scarcely a breath ! You hear the flame crackle, and the crumbling wood fall in hot coals along the hearth. Arnold hears it, all — every word of that solemn Reprimand. Does his cheek blench ? His eye change its fixed glance ? His lip quiver? No ! As those words fall from the lips of Washington, he merely sufl'ers his head to droop slowly downward, until his eyes seem glaring upward, from compressrd brows. But the light of those eyes is strange, yes, — vivid, deadly. — Meanwhile, looking between Washington and Arnold, do you see that figure, resting one arm upon the mantel-piece, while his face is turned away, and his eyes seem earnesUy perusing the hot coals of the fire ? That is a very singular face, with parchment skin, and cold stony eyes, and thin, pinched lips. The form — by no means commanding, or peculiar, either for hejght or dignity — is attired in the glorious blue and buff uniform. Who is this person ? Behold that glance of Arnold, shooting its scorn from the woven eye- brows, and answer the question, every heart for itself. That glance surveys the figure near the fire, and pours a volume of derision in a single look. Who is this gentlemen ? Ask the Secret records of the Revolution, and ask quickly, for ihe day comes, when they will be secret no longer. At last this scene — which saddens you, without your knowing why — is over. The reprimand is spoken. Arnold raises his head, surveys the whole company, first, Washington, with a look of deep respect, then the warrior laces of his brothers in arms, and last of all, that figure by the firesiae. O, the withering scorn of that momentary gaze ! The flame light falls upon Arnold's brow, and reveals him, very calm, somewhat pale, but utterly Resolved. So, do I imagine the scene of the Reprimand. So, taking for granted, that his enemies, who had hunted him for thirteen months, were present at the scene of his disgrace — do I, in my own mind, delineate this picture of the Past. — 196 BENEDICT ARNOLD XII.— ARNOLD AT LANDSDOWNE. Aged petsons, survivors of the Revolution, have told me singular and im- pressive stories of Arnold's appearance and demeanor, while in Philadelphia. after this trial. He wandered from place to place, with an even and steady gait, neithei looking to one side nor to the other, scarcely even speaking to any one, eimer in courtesy or in anger, but preserving a settled calm of look and manner. And when the Mob stoned him, he never looked back, but patiently re- ceived their missiles in his face, and on his wounded limb. He had grown patient. They tell me, that his features, swarthy and battle-worn, lost every trace of vivacity : they were rigidly fixed ; the lips compressed, the brow calm and unfrowning, wore an expression that no one could read, while his eyes had a wildnesH in their gleam, a fire in their glance, that told somewhat of the supernatural struggle at work within him, the Battle between Arnold's Revenge and Arnold's Pride. Who shall tell the horrors of that mental combat ? At this time, he brings to mind the Hebrew Giant, Sampson. Yes, Ar- nold imagined that his pursuers had put out the eyes of his honor, and shorn oft' the locks of his strength. He fancied himself brought forth before all America, to make sport for the tricksters and trimmers, in Camp and Congress — the cowardly Philistines of that heroic time. His fall had been determined with himself, but he also, resolved that the ruins which were to crush him should neither be small nor insignificant. He was to fall, but he would drag down the temple with him. The Ruin should be great and everlasting. He would carve out for him- ss-lf, a monument of eternal infamy, from the rock of his patriot greatness. Look yonder, my friends, into the retirement of Arnold's home. Not the home in the city, amid the crowded haunts of life, but this man- sion, rising from the summit of a hill, that slopes gently away for a mile, until its grassy breast melts into the embrace of the Schuylkill. It is almost a Palace, this beautiful place of Landsdowne, which once occupied by the Penn funnily, is now the retreat of Benedict Arnold. Here, amid these beautiful woods, he hides his sorrow. Here, along these grav- elled walks, beneath the shade of overhanging trees, he paces all day long. Sometimes he gazes on the distant rocks of Laurel Hill. Sometimes he strays by the Schuylkill, and its clear waters mirror his face, lowering with (earful jiassions. At times, secluding himself in these silent chambers, he , utters certain words in a low voice. — Fancy the lion of the forest, captured, tied, his limbs, severed one by one, and you have the case of Benedict Arnold. — ARNOLD AT LANDSDOWNE. 197 This proud mansion, once rung with the clamor of a Three day's festival. It was when Arnold, recently appointed General in command of Piiiladei- phia, received the French Minister, Monsieur Gerard, For three days, liveries, uniforms, gold, jewels and laces, fluttered and shone, over the wide sweep of this beautiful lawn. The wine ran, day and night, free as the Schuylkill's waves. The mansion, luxuriously furnished, displayed in every room the gaiety of the French Court, combined with the glitter and show of an oriental Divan. Beneath the trees banquets were spread ; on the river, boats, shapen like Venetian gondolas, glided sofdy, freighted with a precious treasure of voluptuous beauty. At nio"ht, the wood and the mansion, and the river broke out, all at once 'with a blaze of light. It was like a scene of enchantment. \nd amid all these scenes, one Woman, pre-eminently beautiful, glided along, her young form, swelling in every vein, with a sense of life, her eyes gleaming passion, pride, fascination. Her long hair waved to her half bared bosom. Her small foot, encased in delicate slipper, bounded in the dance like a feather blown by a gentle wind, so light, so easy, so undulating. Every eye was centred on her form. How often Arnold would stand in the shadow, gazing upon her as she went to and fro, and thinking that all this treasure of warm loveliness, this world of enticing beauty, was his own ! His wife, his newly-married Bride ! — But those glorious days were now changed. The guests were gone ; long since gone. Gone the honor, the gold, the friends. Then, the cele- brated Arnold, surrounded by parasites ; now the disgraced Arnold, living alone in these shades, in company with his wife. It is of that wife and of her influence that I would speak. — Do you see that lovely woman, clinging to the breast of the stern-browed warrior ? It is the evening hour. Through the window pours the red flush of sunset, bath- ing both forms in rosy light. Those tresses fall over her wiiite shoulders. and along the manly arms which gird her to his heart. Do you think he loves her ? Look at his eye, blazing from the shadow of his brow ; that glance surveys her form, and "-nthers a softened fire from her look. And she rests in his arms, just as you have seen a solitary whit lily repose on the bosom of a broad green leaf, which the waves urged gently to and fro. She is indeed a beautiful woman — but listen ? What words are these, that she whispers in his ear ? Does she tell him how much nobler will be Arnold the Patriot, enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, than Arnold the Courtier, dancing atten- dance in the ante-ciiamber of King George ? Does she — following the example of many an humble country-woman, zhd not like her, in satins and gold, but in plain homespun — place in her Husband's hand, the patriot's sword ? Do those mild blue eyes, looking 198 BENEDICT ARNOLD. up into his stem face, gleam with the iioly flame of patriotism or with a base love for the baubles of a Court ? Let History answer. 1 make no charge against the wife of Arnold. May the soJ lay iigiiily on her beautiful frame, which has long since mouldered into dust. Peace to her ashes — if we invoke her memory, it is only for the sake of the terri- ble lesson which it teaches. Had she, instead of a King-worshipper, a lover of titles and courts and shows, been a Hero-woman, Arnold might have been saved. But he loved her. She clung to him in his disgrace. When the world frowned, her bosom received his burning brow, and pillowed his torn heart. She was with him in his loneliness. Was it strange, that her voice whispering to him at all hours, should sway his soul with a powerful, nay. an irresistable influence ? Imagine him neglected by Congress, disgraced in the camp, pelted in the streets, striding to his home, his heart beating against his breast, like a lion in its cage. There, in his Home, a beautiful girl welcomes him. She, at least, is true. She may have married him because he was so renowned, because he bore his honors with so proud a grace, but now, she is Home, Friend, World to him — That single fact should make the flowers grow more beautifully above her grave. — She is ambitious. Perchance, when sleeping on his breast, she dreams \)f a royal court, and there, attired in coronet and star, she beholds, — Earl Arnold ! Then when she wakes, bending her lips to his ear, she whispers her dream, and not only a dream, but lays the plan of — Treason. Is it improbable that Arnold was fatally swayed by ihe words of this bewitching wife ? Again I repeat, had this wife, instead of a lover of courts and pomps and names, been a Hero-Woman, her heart true to the cause of freedom, her soul beating warmly for Washington and his cause, there would never have been written, on the adamantine column which towers from history — dedi- cated to the memory of Infamous Men the name of — Benedict Arnold. Let Woman learn this lesson, and get it by heart. The influence of his wife was one of the main causes of Arnold's treason. A terrible lesson, to be remembered and told again, when this hand is dust ! How did she influence his life ? By forcing herself into the rostrum or the pulpit ? By sharing in the debates of the Congress, the broils of the camp 1 No ? These women who write big books and mount high pulpits, talking theology and science by the hour, never influence anybody. They are admired for the same reason that the mob rushes to see a Mermaid or link from the Sea Serpent's tail. Not on account of the usefulness, biil merely foi