Page images
PDF
EPUB

Friendship, the richest balm that flows,
Was meant to heal our sharpest woes,
But runs not always pure;

And Love-has sorrows of his own,
Which not an herb beneath the moon
Is found of power to cure.

Soft Pity, mild, dejected maid,
With tenderest hand applies her aid
To dry the frequent tear;
But her own griefs, of finer kind,
Too deeply wound the feeling mind
With anguish more severe.

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH.

The Dying Warrior.

On the 7th of October, says the Baroness of Reidesel, I expected Generals Burgoyne, Phillips, and Fraser to dine with us. I saw a great movement among the troops: my husband told me, it was merely a reconnoisance; which gave me no concern, as it often happened. I walked out of the house, and met several Indians in their war dresses, with guns in their hands. When I asked them where they were going, they cried out, "War! war!" (meaning that they were going to battle.) This filled me with apprehension, and I had scarcely got home, before I heard reports of car.non and musketry, which grew louder by degrees, till, at last, the noise became excessive.

About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, instead of the guest whom I expected, General Fraser was brought on a litter, mortally wounded. The table, which was already set, was instantly removed, and a bed placed in its stead, for the wounded general. I sat trembling in a corner The noise grew louder, and the alarm

increased: the thought that my husband might perhaps be brought in, wounded in the same manner, was terrible to me, and distressed me exceedingly. General Fraser said to the surgeon, Tell me if my wound is mortal, do not flatter me." The ball had passed through his body; and, unhappily for the general, he had eaten a very hearty breakfast, by which the stomach was distended, and the ball, as the surgeon said, had passed through it. I heard him often exclaim, with a sigh, "O fatal ambition! Poor General Burgoyne! O my poor wife!"

He was asked, if he had any request to make, to which he replied, that, "If General Burgoyne would permit it, he should like to be buried, at 6 o'clock in the evening, on the top of a mountain, in a redoubt which had been built there." I did not know which way to turn; all the other rooms were full of sick. Towards evening, my husband coming, then I forgot all my sorrows, and thanked God that he was spared to me. He ate in great haste, with me and his aid-decamp, behind the house.

We had been told that we had the advantage of the enemy, but the sorrowful faces I beheld, told a different tale; and, before my husband went away, he took me on one side, and said every thing was going very bad; that I must keep myself in readiness to leave the place, but not mention it to any one. I made the pretence that I would move the next morning into my new house, and had every thing packed up ready.

I spent much of the night in comforting the wife of the wounded general, and then went again to my children, whom I had put to bed. I could not go to sleep, as I had General Fraser, and all the other wounded gentlemen, in my room; and I was sadly afraid my children would awake, and, by their crying, disturb the dying man in his last moments, who often addressed me, and apologized" for the trouble he gave me.'

[ocr errors]

About 3 o'clock in the morning, I was told he could not hold out much longer; I had desired to be informed of the near approach of this sad crisis, and I then wrapped up my children in their clothes, and went with them into the room below. About 8 o'clock in the morning, he died.

After he was laid out, and his corpse wrapped up in a sheet, we came again into the room, and had this sorrowful sight before us the whole day; and, to add to the melancholy scene, almost every moment some officer of my acquaintance was brought in wounded. The cannonade commenced again; a retreat was spoken of, but not the smallest motion was made towards it. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I saw the house, which had just been built for me, in flames, and the enemy was now not far off. We knew that General Burgoyne would not refuse the last request of General Fraser, though, by his acceding to it, an unnecessary delay was occasioned, by which the inconvenience of the army was much increased.

At six o'clock, the corpse was brought out, and we saw all the generals attend it to the mountain; the chaplain performed the funeral service, rendered unusually solemn and awful from its being accompanied by constant peals from the enemy's artillery. Many cannon balls flew close by me, but I had my eyes directed towards the mountain, where my husband was standing, amidst the fire of the enemy, and, of course. I could not think of my own danger.

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIXTH.

The Horrors of War.

As soon as the funeral service was finished, and the grave of General Fraser was closed, an order was issued, that the army should retreat. My calash,

says the Baroness of Reidesel, was prepared, but I would not consent to go before the troops. Major Harnage, although suffering from his wounds, crept from his bed, as he did not wish to remain in the hospital, which was left with a flag of truce. When Gen

eral Reidesel saw me in the midst of danger, he ordered my woman and children to be brought into the calash, and intimated to me to depart without delay.

[ocr errors]

I still prayed to remain, but my husband, knowing my weak side, said, "Well, then, your children must go, that at least they may be safe from danger.' I then agreed to enter the calash with them, and we set off at 8 o'clock. The retreat was ordered to be conducted with the greatest silence; many fires were lighted, and several tents left standing. We travelled continually during the night, and the day following.

About evening, we arrived at Saratoga; my dress was wet through and through with rain, and in that state I had to remain the whole night, having no place to change it; I, however, got close to a large fire, and, at last, lay down on some straw. At this moment, General Phillips came up to me, and I asked him why we had not continued our retreat, as my husband had promised to cover it, and bring the army through? "Poor, dear woman, "said he, "I wonder how, drenched as you are, you have the courage still to persevere, and venture further in this kind of weather. I wish," continued he, "you was our commanding general; General Burgoyne is tired, and means to halt here to-night, and give us our supper."

On the morning of the 7th, at 10 o'clock, General Burgoyne ordered the retreat to be continued, and caused the handsome houses and mills of General Schuyler to be burnt; we marched, however, but a short distance, and then halted. The greatest misery, at this time, prevailed in the army; and more than thirty officers came to me, for whom tea and coffee was prepared, and I shared with them all my provi

sions, with which my calash was in general well supplied.

About two o'clock in the afternoon, we again heard a firing of cannon and small arms; instantly, all was alarm, and every thing in motion. My husband told me to go to a house not far off. I immediately seated myself in my calash, with my children, and drove off; but scarcely had we reached it, before I discovered five or six armed men on the other side of the Hudson. Instinctively, I threw my children down in the calash, and then concealed myself with them. At that moment, the fellows fired, and wounded an already wounded English soldier, who was behind me; poor fellow, I pitied him exceedingly, but, at that moment, had no means or power to relieve him.

A terrible cannonading was commenced by the enemy, which was directed against the house in which I sought to obtain shelter for myself and children, under the mistaken idea that all the generals were in it; alas! it contained nothing but the wounded, and women. We were, at last, obliged to resort to the cellar for refuge; and in one corner of this, I remained the whole day, my children sleeping on the earth, with their heads on my lap: and in the same situation I passed a sleepless night. Eleven cannon-balls passed through the house, and we could distinctly hear

them roll away.

One poor soldier, who was lying on a table, for the purpose of having his leg amputated, was struck by a shot, which carried away his other. His comrades had left him; and, when we went to his assistance, we found him in a corner of the room, into which he had crept, more dead than alive, scarcely breathing. My reflections on the danger to which my husband was exposed, now agonized me exceedingly; and the thoughts of my children, and the necessity of struggling for their preservation, alone supported me.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »