*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74134 ***





                           VOL. II      NO. 5
                                  THE
                          MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
                                  WITH
                           NOTES AND QUERIES
                             NOVEMBER, 1905


                             WILLIAM ABBATT
                      281 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

       Published Monthly      $5.00 a Year      50 Cents a Number




                        THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

                         WITH NOTES AND QUERIES

                VOL. II      NOVEMBER, 1905.      NO. 5




                                CONTENTS


 MONUMENT WHERE WAS CLINTON’S COOPERSTOWN
   DAM                                                    _Frontispiece_
                                                                     PAGE
 SULLIVAN’S GREAT MARCH INTO THE INDIAN          REV. W. E. GRIFFIS,
   COUNTRY (_First Paper_)                                    L.H.D. 295
 THE BRITISH NAVY IN THE REVOLUTION
   (_Second Paper_)                           REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON 311
 THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS (_Seventh Paper_)     REV. LIVINGSTON ROWE
                                                            SCHUYLER 315
 REMINISCENCES OF ROBERT FULTON                        J. B. CALHOUN 326
 DOMINIE SOLOMON FROELIGH AND HIS GREAT
   SCHISM                                    REV. J. R. DURYEE, D.D. 330
 A DAY IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP                    LOUISE E. CATLIN 339
 MISCELLANEA OF AMERICAN HISTORY                    EUGENE F. MCPIKE 346
 EDITORIAL                                                           352
 MINOR TOPICS: The Fate of the Pigeons                               353
 INDIAN LEGENDS: _III._ THE LONE BUFFALO          (The Late) CHARLES
                                                              LANMAN 356
 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
     Agreement Between Edmund Munro and
       John Sellon                                                   359
     Letters (three) of Lieut. Edmund Munro
       to His Wife                                                   360
     Original MS. of Abraham Lincoln’s
       Speech, 1859                                                  362
     Letter of Major James McHenry to Gen.
       Greene                                                        362
     Letter of Washington to the Citizens
       of Savannah                                                   364
     Letter of Martha Washington to Mrs. F.
       Washington                                                    364

Entered as a second-class matter, March 1, 1905, at the Post Office at
New York, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

                  _Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt_

[Illustration:

  MONUMENT MARKING SITE OF GEN. CLINTON’S DAM

  COOPERSTOWN, N. Y.
]




                        THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

                         WITH NOTES AND QUERIES

                 VOL. II      NOVEMBER, 1905      NO. 5




             SULLIVAN’S GREAT MARCH INTO THE INDIAN COUNTRY


                               _PREFACE_

Two great flank attacks on the British forces were made by the Americans
during the war of the Revolution. One, in winter, against Quebec, in
1775–76, failed nobly; the other, in summer, into the Iroquois country,
against Tories and Indians, in 1779, was superbly successful. Yet while
Montgomery and Arnold have had their meed of fame, but scant and tardy
justice has been done to Sullivan.

Twelve years’ residence in the lake country of the Empire State, amid
the scenes of the march that destroyed savagery and opened the forests
to civilization, has made its story a most fascinating study. After
repeated examination, on the ground, of the camps, battlefields, scenes
of bridge-building and road-making, of topographical and engineering
difficulties, of marchings and of rest, and even of feasting, along
nearly the whole of the routes of the main army and right wing, I have
learned to appreciate more the magnitude of Sullivan’s task and the
completeness of his successful enterprise. One can more readily
understand why Congress and Washington first ordered the campaign, and
then realized the importance and value of its victories and happy issue.

Critical analysis and comparison of local legends, study of the
mythology—that grows around picturesque scenery and striking names as
naturally as moss on a damp stone—and, most of all, of the original
journals and documents of the men of 1779, have but added to the
pleasure of the narrator. A knowledge of the march of Sullivan’s
Continentals in 1779 makes the landscape between Easton and the Genesee
Valley glow, kindling at once memory, imagination and patriotism.

May art glorify history and the tablet, boulder, and memorial line the
pathway of the Revolutionary patriots with beacon lights of grateful
remembrance.

                                                                W. E. G.


                               CHAPTER I
                       CONGRESS VOTES TO CHASTISE

After the awful massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley in 1778, Congress
passed a vote on the 27th of February, 1779, authorizing Washington to
break the power of the Iroquois Indians by desolating their country.
Only thus could the American frontiers be protected from Tories and
Indians and the rear and flank attacks be stopped.

Until the Revolutionary War the Iroquois had been friends of our fathers
against the French in Canada, with whom the Algonquin Indians had acted
as allies. How did it come to pass that the Iroquois turned to be our
enemies? Lifting up the hatchet and scalping knife against us, they left
at Cherry Valley, and Wyoming, great blood spots, and along the frontier
a line of fire and death. To answer this question, we must go back more
than a century and a half. At that time the North American continent was
divided between two quite different sorts of Indians, the Five Nations
of the Iroquois, who were united in a confederacy, and the much more
numerous Algonquins, who lived all around them.

In 1609, two men, each representing a different civilization, penetrated
the inland waters of America. Henry Hudson, an English captain in a
Dutch ship and with a Dutch crew, sailed up the river that now bears his
name and made the friendly acquaintance of the tribes of Northern New
York. Samuel Champlain, from France, came down the lake that bears his
name, acting not only as friend, but as ally to the Algonquins, who were
ever at war with the Iroquois. The boundary line between these two kinds
of Indians was drawn at Rock Regio, in Lake Champlain, near Burlington,
Vermont.

It happened at this time that hostile parties from the North and South
were out seeking each other. Dressed in bark armor, with bows and
arrows, and stone hatchets, they met in combat, not in ambush, but in
the open field. The Frenchmen, taking sides with the Algonquins, killed
several Iroquois with their firearms. Forthwith, vowing vengeance
against these white men who had interfered, the Indians of the South
resolved to seek Dutch aid. A few years later they appeared at Fort
Orange, near Albany, bringing their beaver and other skins in exchange
for arms and ammunition. Thus armed, they were able to go forth on equal
terms with the Algonquins to the slaughter of the French and their
allies. With them the age of stone was over and the new era of iron and
gunpowder had come.

Arendt Van Curler, whom the red men call “Corlaer,” a well-educated
Hollander, who lived in America from 1630 to 1667, was superintendent of
the Dutch settlement where Albany now stands and later became the
founder of the city of Schenectady. He saw at once the value of a league
of peace with the Iroquois. He traveled among them, learned their
language, won their friendship and held them ever faithful, first to the
Dutch, and then after 1664 to the English. “The covenant of Corlaer”
became with the Iroquois a holy sacrament, and the policy of all English
governors was to “brighten the silver chain” of mutual friendship. Van
Curler was drowned near Rock Regio in Lake Champlain in 1667. Sir
William Johnson from 1738 to 1774 continued, expanded and strengthened
the work of Van Curler. On the other hand the Five Nations became the
Six Nations, when in 1722 the Tuscaroras, driven from the Carolinas in
1713, were formally admitted into the confederacy.

For a century and a half the Indian was a political factor in
determining the question whether the Anglo-Saxon or the Latin
civilization should dominate North America. This question was settled on
the heights of Quebec, in 1763, when England became mistress of the
Continent. During all this time the French were never able, in war or in
peace, by their money or other gifts, by threats or smiles, by political
envoys or religious emissaries, to break the “silver chain” or to shake
the loyalty of the Iroquois to English-speaking men. To this day the
Indians call the governor of New York “Corlaer,” and Queen Victoria,
their ruler, “Kora Kowa,” or the Great Corlaer.

When, under King George, the colonists in America and the corrupt
British parliament and court quarreled and began war, Congress hoped to
keep the friendship or neutrality of the red men. In August, 1775, the
first conference and treaty was made at Albany. Later General Schuyler
was sent into the Mohawk Valley to treat with the Iroquois and met a
council of chiefs at German Flats. “This is a family quarrel,” he said,
“and we want you to keep out of it,” and the red men promised to do so.
General Herkimer also met a great gathering of warriors from the Six
Nations at Unadilla.

On the other side, the British agents at Oswego tried to win over the
savages, and succeeded. The Tories and British were able to present much
more convincing arguments in the shape of abundance of rum, hatchets,
beads, mirrors and guns and powder. Moreover the Indian is always a
conservative. He holds fast to tradition. Hence he was most deeply
touched by the adroit appeal to “the covenant of Corlaer,” and, being
told that the Americans were “rebels,” he sided with the British. The
Iroquois expected, in making this new alliance, that King George would
govern all the whites, while they should conquer and rule all the red
men in North America. It was a great day when General Burgoyne and his
officers in their glittering uniforms confirmed with splendid presents
the decision of the Iroquois to side with the King.

Active in the campaign of 1777, these confederate red men fought with
the Tories and British soldiers against the Americans, especially at the
battle of Oriskany. For a while they were broken and demoralized by
Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga, when the whole British army surrendered.

When in 1778, the red men were rallied by Brant, Butler, McDonald and
Sir John Johnson, they made the head of Seneca Lake, where Geneva now
stands, their headquarters. Here they planned to attack Wyoming, a
settlement, chiefly of Connecticut people, from which most of the able
bodied men were absent in Washington’s army, only old men, boys, women
and children being at home. After the battle and massacre of July 3
another skillfully planned attack on Cherry Valley in New York was made,
and on the 11th of October this settlement was reduced to ashes and the
people murdered or taken prisoners to Canada.

These atrocities decided Congress and Washington to chastise the
savages, desolate their country and paralyze the activity of the Tories.
It was especially necessary to do this, because the British were
encouraging their white and red allies to make the great maize lands of
Central and Western New York a granary from which they could feed their
very mixed army, made up of English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Hessians,
Canadians and Iroquois, besides keeping up a continual fire in the rear
upon the American forces.

But they had Washington, Sullivan, and the American riflemen to reckon
with.


                               CHAPTER II
                     ASSEMBLING FOR THE GREAT MARCH

Whom should Washington select for so difficult and doubtful a task? The
chosen leader must make an expedition, as into a foreign country,
through the unmapped and unsurveyed wilderness of Western New York,
against a foe ever ready by wiles and cunning to ambuscade the invader.
It might be, as in many a dismal case before, that his men would be shot
by invisible marksmen. Who would dare to try to feed an army of regular
troops with no base of supplies? With the precedent of Braddock’s
failure and bloody Oriskany before him, who aspired to lead? It is no
wonder that when Gates was offered the command he declined it at once,
much to Washington’s vexation. The commander-in-chief then summoned
General Sullivan. This descendant of Irish heroes was born at Durham, in
New Hampshire, and grew up to be a stalwart American, a vigorous and
far-seeing patriot. Just as soon, in 1774, as Great Britain forbade the
importation of military stores to America, Sullivan knew there would be
war.

Collecting a body of eager young men, he drilled them in military
tactics. In December, 1774, he attacked Fort William and Mary, at
Newcastle, at the mouth of the Piscataqua river, and took the place in
daylight. In spite of the fire of the garrison, he entered without
losing a man, and pulled down the British flag. This was the first
hostile act of the kind in the war of the Revolution. He carried the
cannon and powder to Durham, where it was stored partly in a barn and
partly in the cellar of the Congregational church edifice, on the site
of which the monument reared to his honor now stands. The powder reached
Bunker Hill in time to fill the horns of the militia. Indeed, this was
about the only supply that our men behind the breastworks and rail fence
had. Sullivan commanded at Boston and on Long Island, and fought at
Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and in Rhode Island.

Up to this time, 1779, the French Alliance had not amounted to anything,
and there were but fifteen thousand regular Continental soldiers fit for
duty. Yet so important did Washington consider this expedition to
destroy the Iroquois power that he detached one-third of his whole
force, or 5000 picked Continentals. In its organization the army of
chastisement consisted of four brigades, a regiment of artillery and
eight companies of riflemen, making about five thousand men, with about
two thousand pack horses and twenty-five hundred cattle and two fleets
of boats for river service, with stores and ammunition. The New
Hampshire brigade, then encamped at Redding, Conn., and the New Jersey
brigade at Elizabeth, N. J., with the Pennsylvania regiments, were
ordered to march to Easton, and thence to move on to Wyoming, from which
point the stores and cannon were to follow the army until they should
reach Tioga Point, where is now Athens. Here they were to be joined by
the New York brigade from Schenectady.

The Chemung and the Susquehanna, flowing from the east and the west out
of the heart of the Indian country, approach very near to each other at
Tioga Point, enclosing a pretty peninsula shaped like an arrow head.
Further down they meet and unite in one stream, the lordly Susquehanna,
on which canoes could reach the cities on the Chesapeake Bay or any of
the rivers flowing into it. Tioga Point was the Southern Door of the
Long House of the Iroquois confederacy, and here, as a base of supplies,
a diamond-shaped fort with a block house at each corner, with hospital
and barracks, was to be built. Upon this the army could fall back in
case of defeat, and here be re-victualed on their return march.

In the rivers, nature provided the only highways, though the Iroquois
during centuries of war, trade and travel had made many trails. From
Tioga Point the Continentals were to march up the Chemung Valley and
thence into the wonderfully fertile lake country of Central New York.
Along the ridge overlooking Seneca Lake they would pass, in order to
strike the Tory headquarters and center of supplies at the lake’s
northern end, where then stood a big Indian village, and now not far
away is the city of Geneva. Thence westwardly they were to move to
Canandaigua and along the great trail at the southern end of the smaller
lakes, Canadice, Hemlock and Conesus, into the valley of the Genesee.
Possibly they might be able to reach the British fort at Niagara.

Indeed, in the great virgin wilderness of Central and Western New York
there was no other way of advance, save through the river valleys and
along Indian trails. When leaving the former and advancing through the
forests, it would be necessary for the axemen to chop their way. In miry
places the pioneers must cut down trees, lay the logs and make corduroy
roads. Swamps must be filled and the smaller streams bridged. In many
parts of the country to be traversed there were indeed large open spaces
where the cornfields of the Indians furnished stores of food, while
their gardens yielded, as our men discovered, twelve kinds of
vegetables. Yet in the main, the army would have to march through a
country covered with timber and brush wood.

A large force of axemen, pioneers, surveyors and road-makers would be
necessary, especially as the artillery must be carried along, for
Washington, being himself a backwoodsman and an Indian fighter, knew the
persuasive power of cannon with the Indians. Brave as the painted
warriors undoubtedly were, they preferred fighting behind logs and trees
under cover. They objected, most decidedly, to stand up in ranks and
coolly keep their places in the presence of howitzers that could tear
them to pieces, not only by a frontal attack, but by sending shells to
burst among and behind them. The Indian had physical stamina, but he
lacked moral courage. Washington knowing this, ordered Colonel Proctor
to take nine pieces of artillery and his regiment of three hundred
artillerists.

Of the guns, two were howitzers of five and a half inch caliber that
could throw bombs, two were six, and four were three pounders. Then
there was a Coehorn mortar, so light that it could be borne by four men.
This diminutive implement of war proved to be very effective, being
usually posted in the advance and easily carried over hill and valley.
Mounted on an iron frame, with hickory legs, it could easily be “laid”
or aimed at any angle. After a discharge it always kicked itself over,
and, because of its long spindle-like limbs, the soldiers called it “the
grasshopper.” Along with Proctor’s (now the Second United States)
Artillery went “a band of music,” that is, a fife and drum corps. In
all, there were about two hundred musicians with their drum and fife
majors. The lively tunes, such as “The White Cockade,” “The Tall
Grenadier,” and “Derry Down,” greatly inspirited our men, while at the
solemn burials in the forest, “Roslin Castle” was the usual dirge.

Each regiment had its chaplain, and until the advance from Tioga Point
in battle array there were frequent services for worship and preaching
at the camps.

Washington’s plan was to have a right and a left wing to the main body.
While Sullivan advanced through the Susquehanna country, Clinton’s New
Yorkers, with part of the Sixth Massachusetts, were to move up the
Mohawk river and valley with two field pieces and a fleet of two hundred
boats. At Canajoharie he was to load his stores and boats on wagons,
each drawn by eight horses, and march over the hills to Otsego Lake,
thence to descend the outlet and enter the Susquehanna at Chenango Point
where Binghamton now stands. Floating past Owego, he was to join
Sullivan at Tioga Point, where the Chemung and Susquehanna unite. This
programme was very successfully carried out.

The left wing, at Pittsburg, was led by Colonel Daniel Brodhead, a
Continental veteran, afterwards Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania. He had
assembled about six hundred men, including some friendly Delawares and
Cherokees, with one month’s provisions, and started August 11,
transporting his cattle and pack horses to Mahoning. Entering the
country of the Mingoes and the Muncey tribes in Western Pennsylvania,
and the Seneca towns in Southwestern New York, he desolated their houses
and corn fields.

“The parings of scalps and the hair of our countrymen at every warrior’s
camp on the path,” wrote Colonel Brodhead to Washington, “are new
inducements to revenge.” Although his men on their return, September 14,
were bare-footed and in rags, and had had no pay for nine months, he
offered to lead an expedition to Detroit. Of two soldiers whom he sent
to General Sullivan, he heard nothing. “I apprehend,” he wrote, “they
have fallen into the enemy’s hands.” Dressing many of his men like
Indians, he sent out various parties that devastated the region, and
made it for a time uninhabitable by the savages. Very few men on our
side were lost, and not a soldier but these two fell into the enemy’s
hands.

Although Brodhead’s “Allegheny expedition,” or “Diversion in favor of
General Sullivan’s expedition,” failed to make direct communication with
the main body of Continentals, yet his was a vital part of the great
expedition of 1779. It aided powerfully in that series of blows which
shattered the Iroquois confederacy. By keeping probably five hundred
Senecas from Sullivan’s front, Brodhead helped to toll the death knell
of savagery on the North American continent.


                              CHAPTER III
                     THE LONG HOUSE OF THE IROQUOIS

The Indian country to be invaded by Sullivan stretched from the Hudson
to Niagara Falls, and was called by the Iroquois “The Long House.” To
this long house there were four “doors,” the northern at Oswego, the
southern at Tioga Point, the eastern at Schenectady, and the western at
Niagara.

In 1779 there were only a few settlements of the white man outside of a
thin line in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. The Six Nations of Iroquois,
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, were
federated together and usually acted as a whole. Many of the Mohawks
living near the settlements were friendly to the American cause, and
almost the entire Oneida tribe had been won over to loyalty to the
Continental Congress through the efforts of Dominie Kirkland, afterwards
a chaplain in Sullivan’s army and the founder of Hamilton College. He
was one of the few white men who had been as far west as the great
“castle” of the Senecas, on Seneca Lake.

The Tuscaroras lived east of Cayuga Lake, the Cayugas between the
largest two of the “finger lakes,” Cayuga and Seneca. The Onondagas
dwelt around the lake which takes their name, and the Senecas, in the
region between the lake named after them and the Genesee river. Roughly
speaking, we may think of Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Elmira, Geneva
and Ithaca as being the centers of the six tribes mentioned in their
order, the central council-fire being with the Onondagas, near Syracuse.

The Senecas were, in 1779, the largest and most active of the tribes,
and “the Seneca country” was a general name for the great region which
Sullivan was to traverse. Our soldiers were to enter the Long House
through the southern door, at Tioga Point, near which, on the fertile
slope of the valley, was Esthertown, or the Indian Queen Esther’s
country and castle. One of their hardest marches would be through the
swampy valley stretching from the town of Chemung west of Esthertown to
the castle of Queen Catherine Montour, her sister, at Montour Falls, N.
Y.

The mention of Queen Esther’s name recalls the fact that the savages
were not entirely alone in their schemes of hostility, but that the
brain and hands of white men assisted them in their bloody forays.
Indeed, it was one of the counts in the Declaration of Independence that
the colonies were justified in their war of independence, because George
III. “has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the
merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” There
were several hundred white men aiding and abetting the Indians in the
arts of war and in methods of fortification. Besides the British
regulars, Johnson’s Greens, loyalists, Canadians and half-breeds, two of
the most eminent Iroquois women called “Queens” had white blood in their
veins. Both boasted descent from the French Count Frontenac, and were
married to powerful chiefs. Esther, at Sheshequin, near Tioga Point, and
Catherine, at Montour Falls, near the modern Watkins Glen, were the
owners of large and well-worked corn fields and of fenced gardens, of
horses, cattle, hogs, and other live stock and of houses made of sawed
and carved timber and spoken of as “palaces.”

It must not be forgotten that from the missionaries of France, who had
at various times lived among the Indians for over a hundred years, and
from the traders, gunsmiths, and friendly whites of various disposition
and ability, supported by the British government, the Iroquois Indians
had reached a comparatively high point of progress. Even when the white
men first met them these federated warriors were the most advanced of
all others within the limits of the United States. They had their own
myths and legends. They met in council and had orators to argue both
sides of a question or proposal. They sent embassies from one tribe to
another, and these envoys were very ceremonious and careful in dress and
etiquette. When they made a treaty of peace they solemnly buried the
hatchet and smoked the calumet, or pipe of friendship. To dig up the
same weapon meant war. Instead of our letters, seals, and documents of
paper and parchment, they used wampum made of shells drilled and laced
together, which in belts or strings served as money, as messages, as
historical records. Some of the Indian orators, Logan, Red Jacket and
others, were very famous. To become such these men practiced elocution
and rhetoric very much the same as do our public speakers. As the
Iroquois raised and stored corn and other vegetable foods, they were
able to wage systematic war and go on long campaigns. Thus they excelled
and conquered the other savages. When they left the stone age, by
obtaining guns from Europeans, their lust of conquest was fired more
than ever. When the white men of Pennsylvania and Virginia paid the
Indians for lands, the avarice of the Iroquois was still further
excited. Many tribes, even as far as Canada and the Mississippi Valley,
were vassals of the confederacy. In the Iroquois we see the highest type
of pagan man.

Our debt to the Indian is very great. He taught our fathers the use of
tobacco, maple sugar, corn, succotash and various methods of getting
food, besides the use of the birch bark canoe, the moccasin, and the
snow shoe.

The Iroquois method of raising corn was very ingenious. On the lands in
river valleys this was easy enough, yet they could win crops even in the
forest. This they did by “girdling.” They cut round the tree trunk near
the ground, and again about ten feet higher, and then stripped off the
bark between the spaces girdled by the knife or hatchet. This caused the
tree to wither and the leaves to fall, quickly letting in the sunshine
on the ground. Thus, the Indian without the trouble of chopping down the
trees and clearing the land got at once the benefit of the soil. In the
autumn, by burning the underbrush and trees, the ground was enriched and
the space easily cleared for next year’s crop. In almost every Iroquois
village there were store houses made of bark or timber, in which the
grain was saved.

The dwellings or long houses were made of wooden framework covered with
bark and built in the form of a modern compartment house. Each had a
long hall or passageway through the middle, with rooms on either side,
one for each family, with a fireplace in the center and the sleeping
bunks against the wall. The walls of these rooms were decorated with
bows and arrows, guns and equipments, and the prizes of the chase, which
all hunters love, and of war, over which warriors gloat. They had also
more horrible ornaments in the scalps of their enemies, both white and
red. These, stretched and dried on hoops, were often painted and
decorated with feathers and strings dyed in bright colors which had
symbolic significance.

Many of Sullivan’s soldiers, who enlisted hoping to rescue white
captives, often their own relatives, were able to recognize in the
Iroquois houses the hair and scalps of fathers, brothers, wives,
children, neighbors or friends. In the case of women, it was especially
easy to do this.

At several places where hill and ravine, or the situation of the rivers
and the inclosed land made natural fortresses, the Iroquois had
“castles.” These were made by driving three rows of young trees,
sharpened at the ends, into the ground to form a palisade which was
fastened at the top. Inside of these were platforms, on which warriors
could stand and shoot arrows or balls against besiegers. Besides barring
the gate tightly, they had heaps of stones ready to throw on the heads
of near assailants and tubs of water prepared to put out fires. It was
expected that the artillery would have to be used against these. The
orders were to burn all the Indian houses and utterly destroy the crops
so that the country would be left uninhabitable. There was no mistake
about the orders of Washington on this point.

While the army was assembling and the stores, boats and horses were in
preparation, other expeditions on a smaller scale had been attempted.
The State of New York, in the autumn of 1778, attempted to send an
expedition among the Mohawks and Onondagas, but on account of the
lateness of the season it was abandoned. In the following year, however,
on April 19, Colonel Van Schaick leading, 558 men of the First New York
regiment made a forced march of 180 miles in six days against the
Onondagas. He burned three of their towns with their storehouses of
food, slew twelve and took prisoners thirty-three of the savages. With
the Onondagas was the hearthstone of the confederacy, and a terrible
humbling done to the Iroquois pride was the extinguishing of the council
fire.

Pennsylvania was also active in clearing the path for Sullivan. In
September, 1778, Colonel Thomas Hartley with about two hundred soldiers
of the Eleventh Pennsylvania regiment, with seventeen horses, advanced
northward from Sunbury up the Lycoming river and into a region of
swamps, mountains, defiles and rocks. His especial object was to destroy
the power of Queen Esther. This squaw had made herself very active in
the massacre at Wyoming. She compelled the prisoners of war to kneel in
a circle around a boulder, still called “Queen Esther’s Rock,” and
tomahawked them one after another. This was in revenge for her son
killed in a skirmish. At Sheshequin, near Tioga Point, Hartley
destroyed, by the torch, her castle and everything else that could be
turned to ashes. Advancing up the Chemung Valley, towards Newtown, the
big Indian town on the flats, near modern Elmira, he found the enemy in
force and was obliged to return. On his way he cleverly defeated the
Indians and Tories who had tried to surround him. He and his men waded
or swam the Lycoming river no fewer than twenty times. He reached
Sunbury again, October 5, having marched nearly three hundred miles,
capturing among other spoil fifty head of cattle and twenty-eight
canoes. In his various battles and skirmishes he lost four men, but
killed eleven of the enemy and took fifteen prisoners. His regiment was
reorganized and became “the new Eleventh regiment,” under Colonel Adam
Hubley, which formed part of Sullivan’s army and ranked among his most
effective troops.

One has but to study the map of Eastern Pennsylvania, a region rich in
swamps, rocks, hills and mountain ranges, to see what difficulties
awaited the general who was to move a large body of troops, with
artillery and wagon trains, from Easton to Wyoming. To go up the Lehigh
Valley was impossible, for between its headwaters and the Susquehanna
were hills insurmountable. On the steel tracks of to-day a double force
of engine power is required. So from Easton, through the Blue Mountains
and Wind Gap, a road was cut through the forest, the stones taken out,
the boulders stacked, the miry hollows corduroyed and the swamps filled.

Marvelous to relate, this military road, about seventy miles long, was
built within ten days. It was indeed one of the wonders of the
Revolution. Several hundred road builders, mostly Continental soldiers,
under Colonels Spencer and Van Cortlandt, did the work in parties, while
guarded by outlying scouts and riflemen. To-day the turnpike road and
the iron rails and bridges of the great railway companies traverse the
region in which “The Sullivan Road” once was, but the achievements of
the modern engineers are in no way more wonderful. In five days the
three brigades of Poor’s New Hampshire men, Hand’s Pennsylvania Light
Corps and Maxwell’s New Jerseymen, with Proctor’s artillery and the
wagon trains, made the march over the new road. Their camps were at Wind
Gap, Larner’s on the Pocono, “Chowder Camp,” near the Tobyhanna, on the
creek near the “Shades of Death,” and at “Great Meadows,” or Bullock’s.
Some of the relics of the road builders, including the section of a tree
carved with the camp name of “Hell’s Kitchen,” are still preserved.

By the building of the military road from Easton to Wyoming, and through
Hartley’s and Van Schaick’s raids, the enemy was now fully convinced
that an invading army was being made ready for their chastisement.
Rousing the whole confederacy of the Six Nations, Brant, the Mohawk, and
Butler, the Tory, sent their warriors to make a series of attacks on the
American settlements, hoping thus to distract and scatter the coming
avengers. Sullivan, however, understood these tactics. He refused to
detach any pursuing parties, and pressed right on. In April he had sent
his advance guard of two hundred of the Eleventh Pennsylvania under
Major Powell to strengthen the garrison at Wyoming. On the 23d, when not
far from the site of Wilkes-Barre, the party having reached, as they
thought, nearly the end of their journey, were desirous of entering the
settlement in good order and in fine personal appearance. They halted,
therefore, to brush and clean themselves, while the officers put on
their coats and ruffles. Then marching forward, but having their
attention called from possible present danger by the presence of a deer
crossing their path, they were led into an Indian ambuscade, in which
several of them were killed. In 1896 a monument was reared to their
memory by the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution.

Another incident previous to the movement of Sullivan’s force was in the
attack, by one hundred British and two hundred Indians under command of
Captain McDonald, fifteen miles above Northumberland, Pa., on Freeland’s
Fort. This they surrounded on the 28th of July, 1779, and compelled the
garrison of thirty-two men to surrender. They also ambuscaded Captain
Boon’s party, which had marched to their relief, killing fourteen of his
men.

During the same week Brant with a party of warriors moved down the
Wallkill valley, destroying the Minisink settlements in Orange county,
New York, killing many and making many prisoners. They decoyed into an
ambush more than 150 militia from Goshen, of whom over 100 were slain.
Brant then moved on to the destruction of the settlement of Lackawaxen,
which was laid in ashes and the inhabitants slain.

All this was done to distract and scatter the avenging army, but every
effort failed, and the Continentals moved steadily on.

General Sullivan was implored, by messengers who brought him the
terrible news, to march to the relief of the burned settlements. Wisely
and firmly he refused to detach a single soldier from his column. He
knew full well that advance into the enemy’s country would compel both
red and white foes to draw away their forces and concentrate. This
policy was really the best means of protecting the settlements. He
therefore hastened his preparations, so as to move on at the first
moment possible. On July 31, at 1 P. M., he broke camp at Wyoming.
Determined not to be led into ambush or to be “Braddocked,” he threw out
the riflemen in advance, to guard against surprise, and moved in line of
battle. The flotilla of boats, the line of twelve hundred pack horses
and seven hundred cattle, the park of artillery and the brigades of
infantry being all ready, the signal was given by firing a cannon on the
_Adventurer_, Proctor’s flagboat lying in the Susquehanna. The march
from Wyoming to Tioga Point, through swamps and over frightful
precipices, was safely made in good order. The procession of boats on
the water and of soldiers on land were each several miles long. Reaching
Sheshequin on the Susquehanna, the soldiers faced the flood, locked arms
and forded the swiftly flowing river at where Milan, Pa., now stands,
and then again crossed the stream to reach the peninsula at Tioga Point,
where they encamped, awaiting the arrival of their right wing, Clinton’s
New York brigade.


                               CHAPTER IV
                     THE MOVEMENT OF THE RIGHT WING

The right wing of the expedition, consisting of the 3rd, 4th and 5th New
York, the 6th Massachusetts, and 4th Pennsylvania, with four companies
of riflemen and two pieces of artillery, was under the command of
General James Clinton. This veteran officer gathered his forces at
Schenectady. He encamped his regiments around this little palisaded
frontier town, while his flotilla of over 215 boats was building in the
boat yards that then lined the Mohawk river, between the stream and the
town’s wooden walls on its north and west sides.

When all was ready, about June 15, the boats were pushed, poled or rowed
up the river to Canajoharie. Then both the stores and the boats were
loaded on wagons drawn by four yokes of oxen, carried over the hills and
unloaded on the beach at Otsego Lake. This very toilsome work was over
by July 3, and on the “Glorious Fourth” was celebrated by a parade,
salute of cannon, divine service and a banquet with thirteen patriotic
toasts. Herds of cattle had been driven from Kingston, N. Y., by the
great western route through the Catskill mountains, to furnish fresh
beef. The soldiers enjoyed their camp life in the fragrant woods, though
eager to move against the enemy.

An engineer and the father of the “father of the Erie Canal,” General
Clinton’s first object was to provide enough water to float his boats
down out of the lake and into and along the shallow Susquehanna, in
order to make junction with Sullivan at Tioga Point. To secure this, in
the dry mid-summer a reservoir was made by damming up the little lake at
its source near the present Cooperstown. The flow of rain not only in
this, but also in the adjoining Schuyler Lake, during four weeks of
waiting to hear from Sullivan, was thus secured. The gain of one month’s
water from sky and earth was apparent. It is uncertain from extant
journals and diaries how high a level was reached, some saying that
three feet, but one declaring that only one foot of water was gained. At
any rate, the rise was sufficient to send the flotilla down into the
valley, as if moving on a toboggan slide.

Monday, August 9, was fixed as the date of movement. On the previous
Saturday, the chaplain, the Reverend Mr. Gano, inquired of the general
whether he could break the news to the army. Being forbidden, he asked
whether he might make choice of any text he pleased. To this full
liberty was granted. When the preacher stood up before his audience he
pronounced the words in Acts xx. 7, “Ready to depart on the morrow”; at
which the faces of all the troops lightened.

The glad work of chopping away the dam was begun on Sunday night when
the water rushed out, so filling the lower channels of the river as to
afford easy passage for the boats. The Tuscaroras dwelling in the valley
looking upon the swollen stream and their inundated cornfields, deemed
themselves under the wrath of the Great Spirit, and fled in alarm. After
every defeat the savages, according to their custom, hung up white dogs
to avert the anger and beg for the pity of their gods. Our men found
these tokens of primitive religion all along the route. As the army
marched overland the various settlements of Indians and Tories were
destroyed by fire and axe.

                                                 WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS.


  ITHACA, N. Y.


                          (_To be continued._)




                   THE BRITISH NAVY IN THE REVOLUTION


                              SECOND PAPER

During the early summer of 1776 the American forces were actively
engaged upon a work of great magnitude, which it was hoped would prevent
the British vessels ascending the Hudson.

The project was the blocking, by means of sunken vessels filled with
stone,[1] of the narrowest portion of the deep channel of the river.

This was, and still is, the waterway extending between what is now known
as Fort Washington Point, about 178th street, then called Jeffrey’s
Hook, and the foreshore below the Palisades about due west of the Point,
under Fort Lee.

Both sides were more or less protected by guns mounted in the earthworks
of Fort Washington and Fort Constitution, the extent and character of
which were not well known to the British commanders, though they seem to
have been kept pretty well informed by treacherous informers of the
progress of the work of obstructing the channel with the sunken vessels,
from the decks of which protruded masts or sharpened poles, forming a
rough “chevaux-de-frise,” a dangerous form of obstruction for wooden
vessels propelled by tide and wind.

During all the spring and early summer the British naval force in the
waters around New York was represented by two very active vessels, the
sixty-four-gun man-of-war _Asia_, Captain George Vandeput, and the
forty-four-gun frigate _Phœnix_, commanded by an able and energetic
officer, Sir Hyde Parker, Jr., son of a well-known commander of the same
name, who had already done good service for his king.

On June 30, the advance guard of the British fleet under Vice-Admiral
Molyneux Shuldham, Rear-Admiral of the White, arrived at New York from
Halifax. His flagship was the _Chatham_, of fifty guns and with her was
her consort, the _Centurion_, also of fifty, and the twenty gun frigate
_Rose_, which took a very active part in later affairs. By the first
week of July the force under Shuldham had increased to fifty-four armed
vessels of all ratings, aggregating about 1200 guns in broadside, with
fully eighty supply vessels and transports laden with troops under the
command of General Howe, who had made the journey from Halifax in the
frigate _Greyhound_, of thirty guns.

On the 7th of July, while messengers from Philadelphia were bearing the
news of the Declaration of Independence to New York, Governor Tryon and
Howe were consulting aboard the _Greyhound_ as to the expediency of
sending a naval force up the North River in order to obstruct the
supplies of the Americans. Action on this scheme was evidently deferred
pending the expected arrival of Admiral Lord Howe, the general’s
brother, with a powerful addition to the fleet.

No sooner was the arrival of this force announced by its advance guard
than a squadron was ordered up the North River in a bold attempt to
force their way past the obstructions at Fort Washington.

The vessels selected were the _Phœnix_ and _Rose_, with the armed
schooner _Tryal_, and two bomb-ketches, tenders of the two frigates,
respectively the _Shuldham_ and _Charlotta_.

It will be remembered that on passing the town of New York these vessels
opened a bombardment, which it has been claimed was unprovoked by firing
from the defences, and that a distressing bloodshed and panic among the
inhabitants resulted.

The log or journal of Captain Hyde Parker relates the events as follows:

“Saturday 13th. Wind. S. W. Moderate breeze and fair weather. At 3 made
the signal and weigh’d and came to sail in company with the _Rose_,
_Tryal_ Schooner with the _Shuldham_ and _Charlotta_ Tenders, at ¾ past
3 the Battery at Red Hook on Long Island began fireing on us, on our
standing on, the Batterys on Governors Isl^d and on Powle’s Hook
commenced a heavy fireing at us. At 5 minutes past 4 being then between
the last mentioned batterys we began fireing upon them at ½ past 5 we
pass’d the Batterys near Town and at 7 anchor’d in Tapon Bay abrest of
TarryTown in 7 fathom.... In passing the Batterys Rece’d two shott in
the Hull, one on the Bowsprit and several through the Sails, and had one
Seaman and two marines wounded.”

The log of Mr. Savage Landor,[2] sailing master of the _Rose_, gives
further details, as follows:

 Week day  Mo  Winds REMARKS IN YORK RIVER
   July    dy
          1776
  Friday  12th N.W.  First part light Breez^s Middle & latter
                 light Breez^s & clear. PM Came in H. M.
                         Armd Brigg _Hallifax_.
 Saturday 13th S.W.  Little wind and clear w^r Came in H M sloop
                     _Kingsfisher_ at ½ past 1 H M ship _Phenix_ made
                     the Sig^l to unmoor d^o & hove short on the B^t B^r
                     ½ past 2 the _Phenix_ made the signal to weigh d^o
                     and Came to Sail as did y^e _Phenix_ & _Tryal_
                     Arm^d Schooner & 2 Tenders Steering up the North
                     River at ½ past 3 the Rebels began a Constant
                     fireing on us and the _Phenix_ From the Red Hook
                     Governours Island Powles Hook and the Town as we
                     past and continued there fireing from 6 different
                     Batterys on the E^t shore above the Town for 11
                     miles as high as Margetts Hooke ret^d a Constant
                     fire’g to all the Batterys as we past. they shot
                     away the Starboard foreshroud, Fore tackle Pendant,
                     forelift, fore topsail Clewline, Sprit sail and
                     Main topsail Braces, one 18 Pound Shott thr’o the
                     head of the Foremast one thr’o the Pinnace several
                     thr’o the Sails and some in the hul^l: at ½ past 5
                     passd the last battery there Number of Guns not
                     known Weight of mettle from 12 to 32 pounders at 8
                     anch^d in Torpand [Tappan] Bay 28 miles above the
                     Town with the B^t B^r [best bower anchor] in 6½ f^m
                     low water soft bottom Veerd to ½ a Cable Carried
                     out the Stream Anchor to N W to Steady the Ship
                     Terry town E ½ N The high Bluff head on the Western
                     shore S W b W ½ d^o anchr^d the _Phenix_, _Tryal_
                     Schooner & 2 Tenders. A M Sailmakers Employed
                     repair^g Sails damaged by the Shot. Emp^d
                     repairing, Carpenters fishing the Foremast.

The journal of the Captain, Sir James Wallace, is nearly identical in
the main features recorded; repeating that “the Rebels began to fire
upon us and the _Phenix_,” and confirming the material damage done to
the ship. As to this it may be remembered that Anthony Glean, who fired
the first gun at the squadron from the guns at the Battery, claimed that
his shot took effect on the hull of the _Rose_, and the good gunnery of
the Americans is evident from the general damage inflicted.

                                                 REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON.


  NEW YORK CITY.


[Illustration: [Fleuron]]




                        THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS

  IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WITH PARTICULAR
    REFERENCE TO CONDITIONS IN THE ROYAL COLONY OF NEW YORK.


                        CHAPTER IV (_Concluded_)
                  THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN NEW YORK

In the fall of 1767 a pamphlet of which a few copies were reprinted from
a London edition, appeared in New York and created considerable
excitement. It was entitled “The Conduct of Cadwallader Colden, Esq.
Lieutenant-Governor of New York, relating to the judges’
commissions:—Appeals to the King; and Stamp Duty.” It had been presented
by the grand jury in October as a libellous reflection on the Council,
the Assembly and the Courts of Justice in the province of New York, and,
as its sub-title would indicate, was a defense of Colden’s conduct, when
acting as Governor. In the course of the argument reference was made to
the action of the two branches of the Assembly in these matters, and
both bodies took umbrage and appointed a joint committee to investigate,
and if possible discover, the author and the person responsible for the
republication in New York.[3]

The committee carried on its work with vigor, summoning among others the
printers of the province and also Colden’s son and son-in-law,[4] and
the matter finally ended in a report by the committee to the General
Assembly and the adoption of the following resolutions.[5]

“Resolved, ... That the said pamphlet highly reflects upon the honor,
justice and dignity of his Majesty’s Council, the General Assembly, and
the Judges of the Supreme Court; and contains the most malignant
aspersions, upon the inhabitants of this colony in general.

Resolved, That the said pamphlet tends to destroy the confidence of the
people, in two of the branches of the legislature, and the officers
concerned in the due administration of justice; to render the government
odious and contemptible, to abate that due respect to authority, so
necessary to peace and good order, to excite disadvantageous suspicions
and jealousies in the minds of the people of Great Britain, against his
Majesty’s subjects in this colony, and to expose the colony in general,
to the resentments of the crown and both houses of Parliament.

Resolved, That as the House has not been able to discover the author of
the said pamphlet, a dissolution of the general assembly is speedily
expected; his Excellency the Governor be humbly requested, in case the
author should hereafter be discovered, to order a prosecution to be
issued against him, that such punishment may be inflicted on so great an
offender as the law directs.”

This is an instance where neither branch of the Assembly can force an
avowal of authorship from those who are suspected; a little later we
shall find in the Parker-McDougall case that the Governor and Council
did not consider it beneath their dignity to resort to very questionable
actions when they were trying to find the person responsible for a
pamphlet which displeased them.

It is not necessary to enter here on the details of the circumstances
which finally led to the repeal of the Stamp Act and the passage of the
Mutiny Act.[6] The more extreme party had viewed with great disquietude
the passage of the latter act, and the way in which the Assembly had
yielded in the matter of meeting its provisions. When the Governor, Sir
Henry Moore, died on Sept. 11th, 1769 and Lieutenant-Governor Colden
once more took up the reins of government, the feeling was intensified,
and on Dec. 16th, two printed papers appeared, the first signed “A Son
of Liberty,” and the second “Legion” in which “the betrayed inhabitants
of the City and Colony of New York” were invited to meet on the
following Monday at the House of De La Montayne in the Fields near the
City, and there take steps to set forth their rights and vindicate the
privileges which the Assembly seemed unable to successfully assert.

At this meeting which was largely attended a speech was made by John
Lamb a prosperous merchant of the city.

Meanwhile the Assembly had had its attention called to the papers and
had declared the first to be “false, seditious and infamous,” and had
branded the second as “an infamous libel,” and had requested the
Lieutenant-Governor to issue his proclamation, offering a reward of £100
for the discovery of the author.[7] After the meeting in the Fields the
Assembly ordered Lamb to appear before it, and examined him as to “his
conduct about the two libels” but as it did not appear that his actions
at the Fields had been in consequence of the two libels he was allowed
to depart.[8] But the Assembly had not given up all hope of finding and
prosecuting the author of the two pamphlets. One of Parker’s journeymen
for the sake of the reward, gave information against him, and on Feb.
7th Parker was arrested and examined by the Governor and Council. While
the latter was detained in a room off the Council Chamber, his
apprentices were arrested, and brought before the Council, and although
for a long time they stoutly refused to admit any knowledge of the
papers, one of them by gross intimidation was finally brought to admit
that the papers had been printed in his master’s office.

Parker was then brought back before the Council, told that his
apprentice had admitted that it had been printed by him, and threatened,
in case he refused to name the author, with the loss of his position as
Secretary of the Post Office. Finally Parker, being promised indemnity,
gave information which resulted in the arrest on a bench warrant of
Alexander McDougall, who was taken before the Chief Justice, and on
refusal to admit the fact of authorship, committed to prison.

Some seven years before this, in 1763, John Wilkes, member of
Parliament, and editor of the “North Briton” had been arrested on a
general warrant for having attacked in No. 45 of his journal the Bute
administration and abused the King, charging the latter with falsehood.
Wilkes was discharged on the ground of parliamentary privilege, and the
question being carried before the Chief Justice, Lord Camden, the latter
declared general warrants to be illegal. Wilkes was expelled by a
subservient Parliament, but was regarded by great numbers in the nation
as a martyr to the cause of liberty and freedom of discussion.

Now it happened that the vote of the Assembly declaring the hand bills
libellous had been printed on the forty-fifth page of the journal. For
either this reason, or more probably because of No. 45 of the “North
Briton” (which number was often used as a party-cry in England),
“Forty-five” became the watchword of the Sons of Liberty, at this time a
numerous body. McDougall was overrun with visitors at the jail and was
forced to issue in the “New York Weekly Journal” for Feb. 15th, a card
to his friends in which he appointed the hours from three to six in the
afternoon to receive them.

In the same number of the Journal appears an account of one of these
receptions:

“Yesterday, the forty-fifth day of the year, forty-five gentlemen, real
enemies to internal taxation, by, or in obedience to external authority,
and cordial friends to Capt. McDougall, and the glorious cause of
American liberty, went in decent procession to the New Gaol; and dined
with him on forty-five pounds of beef, cut from a bullock of forty-five
months old, and with a number of other friends who joined them in the
afternoon, drank a variety of toasts, expressive not only of the most
undissembled loyalty, but of the warmest attachment to Liberty, its
renowned advocates in Great Britain and America, and the freedom of the
press. Before the evening the whole company, who conducted themselves
with great decency, separated in the most cordial manner, but not
without the firmest resolution to continue united in the glorious
cause.” In April he was indicted by the Grand Jury for libel, and being
brought to the bar pleaded not guilty and was admitted to bail.

While matters were in this condition the Assembly again took the matter
up. On Dec. 13, 1770, the Speaker was directed to order McDougall to
attend at the Bar of the House to answer a complaint made against him by
Mr. De Noyellis for being the supposed author or publisher of the paper
signed “A Son of Liberty.”[9] On his attending, McDougall was asked
whether he was or was not the author of the paper. He replied “That as
the grand jury and house of Assembly had declared the paper in question
to be a libel, he could not answer the question. Secondly, that as he
was under prosecution in the Supreme Court, he conceived it would be an
infraction of the laws of Justice to punish a British subject twice for
one offense, for that no line could be run, that he might be punished
without end; but he would not be understood to deny the authority of the
house to punish for a breach of privilege, when no cognizance is taken
of it in another Court.”

The Assembly decided that this was a contempt of the authority of the
house, and, since he refused to ask pardon of the house, he was ordered
into the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and placed in the county jail.

A writ of Habeas Corpus was sued out before the Court of Justice,
whereupon the sheriff notified the house and asked what he should do. A
committee was appointed on Jan. 22d, 1771, “to search the journals of
the house of Commons, for precedents in cases where writs of habeas
corpus have been issued, to bring persons committed by the Commons
before other Courts.” The committee reported on Feb. 16, that several
precedents had been found, which precedents were ordered printed in the
Journal of the House. It was also determined that the sheriff should be
indemnified for his action in not obeying the order of the Court.

The Assembly was prorogued on March 4, 1771, and did not come together
till Jan. 7, 1772, and we hear no more of the McDougall affair. About
this time Parker died and as he was the principal witness in the case it
was probably considered useless to bring up the indictment before the
Court.

From this time on, pamphlets, opposing the Crown and its policy of
repression, continued to appear in ever increasing number, but the
government made no serious sign of opposition, and seemed to have given
up in despair the attempt to control a press which the majority of the
people warmly supported.


                               CHAPTER V
                   THE PRESS IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

In the Southern colonies we find, as we should expect, an absence of any
very important cases bearing on the subject under consideration.

The ideas of Sir Wm. Berkeley, (for thirty-eight years Governor of
Virginia), in regard to the dissemination of information, may be
gathered from a reply made by him to some enquiries of the Lords
Commissioners of Foreign Plantations.

The question being “What course is taken about the instructing the
people, within your government in the Christian religion; and what
provision is there made for the paying of your minister?” his answer is:
“The same course that is taken in England out of towns: every man
according to his ability instructing his children. We have forty-eight
parishes, and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent should be
better if they would pray oftener and preach less. But of all other
commodities, so of this, the worst is sent us, and we had few that we
could boast of, since the persecution in Cromwell’s tiranny drove divers
worthy men hither. But, I thank God, we have not free schools nor
printing; and I hope we shall not have these hundred years. For learning
has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world; and
printing has divulged them and libels against the government. God keep
us from both.”[10]

At the beginning of the last quarter of the seventeenth century Virginia
suffered from internal disorders (as Bacon’s Rebellion), due to
political disturbances having their origin in the English Civil War.
Lord Culpepper, the Governor, was inclined to stretch the royal
prerogative to its furthest limit and met the murmurings of the Assembly
with a cold and gloomy dignity.[11]

The Assembly insisting on its rights as given in the charters, Lord
Culpepper dissolved the body and endeavored to stamp out all remembrance
of past freedom. In the Bland MS. p. 498,[12] we find the following
entry: “Feb. 21, 1682, John Buckner called before the Lord Culpepper and
his Council for printing the laws of 1680, without his Excellency’s
license, and he and the printer ordered to enter into bond in £100 not
to print anything thereafter, until his majesty’s pleasure should be
known.” Thus, the press was strangled at its birth, since we have no
record or copy of any other work, and that the government continued to
watch carefully lest it should appear again is proven by the
Instructions of Lord Effingham, the next Governor, in which he is
ordered “to allow no person to use a printing press on any occasion
whatsoever.”[13]

In the period between 1733, when Wm. Parks established his press at
Williamsburg, and 1765 when Wm. Rind began to issue a paper at
Williamsburg, there was but the single press in Virginia, and being the
organ of the government it may be easily imagined that it had no great
temptation to struggle for the liberty of the press.

With the exception of libel suits against Wm. Parks about the year 1740
(by which the House of Burgesses sought to punish him for publishing an
article reflecting on one of the members), and the presentment in 1766
of Rind, and of Purdie and Dixon, the publishers of the two Virginia
Gazettes (for referring in a way considered improper, to the bailment of
Colonel Chiswell), in both of which instances the prosecution failed
utterly in its attempt,—there is nothing on the subject which claims our
attention.

In South Carolina the press was encouraged, liberal inducements being
held out to any printer who would settle in the colony. As a result of
this policy we find the printing press in operation from the year 1730,
a newspaper being published in 1731. In the early period of the history
of the press in the colony the only cause of serious trouble that we
find was one involving Peter Timothy, of the Gazette, who had published
a letter by one Hugh Bryan in which occurred the statement that “the
clergy of South Carolina broke their Canons daily.” With Timothy were
also arrested Bryan and George Whitefield, the Evangelist, who had
corrected the manuscript. All three were admitted to bail, and the
matter was dropped.

In 1773 one of the most important cases that ever occurred in the
colonies came about through the publication in the South Carolina
Gazette, then owned by Timothy and a partner whom he had lately taken,
named Thomas Powell, but managed entirely by the latter, of a portion of
the proceedings of the Council on the previous day. Being summoned to
attend the body, he admitted that he was the publisher of the Gazette,
and that he had printed the proceedings, which on being asked he said
had been brought to him by the Hon. Wm. Henry Drayton, a member of the
Council. The Council then adjudged him “guilty of a high breach of the
privileges, and a contempt of the house.”

Powell refused to ask pardon of the Council which then,

“Resolved, That Thomas Powell, who hath this day been adjudged by this
house, to have been guilty of a high breach of privilege, and a contempt
of this house, be for his said offense committed to the Common Gaol of
Charleston; and that his Honor, the President of this house, do issue
his warrant accordingly.”

Mr. Drayton, who was present, and had acknowledged his share in the
affair, protested strongly, but without avail, and Powell was placed in
prison. Two days later, on Sept. 2d, the Hon. Rawlins Lowndes, and Mr.
George Gabriel Powell, the former being Speaker of the Assembly, and the
latter one of the members of the body, and both being justices of the
peace, had Powell brought before them on a writ of Habeas Corpus and
discharged him. The Council then took action in these resolutions:

“Resolved, That the power of commitment is so necessarily incident to
each house of Assembly, that without it neither their authority nor
dignity can in any degree whatsoever be maintained or supported.

Resolved, That Rawlins Lowndes, Esqr., Speaker of the Commons House of
Assembly, and George Gabriel Powell, Esqr. member of the said house,
being two justices of the peace, _unus quorum_, lately assistant judges
and justices of his majesty’s court of Common Pleas, have, by virtue of
habeas corpus by them issued, caused the body of T. Powell to be brought
before them, on the second of this instant September, and the said
justices, disregarding the commitment of this house, did presumptuously
discharge T. Powell out of the custody of the sheriff under the
commitment of this house.

Resolved, That the said justices have been guilty of the most atrocious
contempt of this house.”

The resolution which follows calls upon the Assembly to disavow the
action of these men and give them up to receive proper punishment. This
the Assembly refused to do, and then both houses carried the matter on
petition to the Crown, and it had not been settled when the breaking out
of the Revolutionary War put an end to the affair.

In this case the attempt of the upper house to destroy the liberty of
the press, was opposed by the desire of the lower house to uphold it,
and the fact that this occurred on the eve of the Revolution is
significant, teaching us that even to the last the principle that the
press must be free had not been established in the American colonies.


                               CHAPTER VI
                               CONCLUSION

We have had brought before us all the instances of any importance,
throughout the American colonies of efforts on the part of the
government to control the liberty of the press. Let us now attempt to
deduce from them the general principles which governed the matter.

In the first place it is clear that, as the several colonies differed
the one from another in their relations with and dependence upon the
home government and their Governor, who represented that government, so
too the press was in some colonies far more free from control than in
others. In Massachusetts, where interference from outside was always
resisted, control by the Governor was seldom attempted. Before the
administration of Governor Andros the Crown made no attempt to
interfere; Andros himself appointed Edward Randolph (vide p. 9) as
licenser, and Bartholomew Green, the Boston publisher testifies (vide p.
10) to the fact that in his time (the end of the seventeenth century),
Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton took a keen interest in the productions of
the press, and refused to allow any publications without a previous
application to him, with a copy of the matter to be published. After
this period the control by the Crown again was lost in that as also in
political matters.

In Pennsylvania we have an instance of a Governor representing an
individual proprietor. Here the struggle between the people and Penn’s
representative in political matters was carried over into the field
occupied by the press, and so we find in the early period of the
existence of the press a dual authority exercised, the Crown and the
Quarterly Meeting, both claiming the right of censorship (vide p. 23).
In the first half of the eighteenth century the power of the Quakers
passed away as far as our subject is concerned, but the control
exercised by the Crown continued, although more and more questioned,
until the breaking out of the Revolutionary struggle.

In New York the Governor himself was responsible for the introduction of
the press and for forty years (1692–1734), it took no active part in
political agitations, maintaining a cautious neutrality under Bradford.
In this colony it was rather a question of the right to freedom of
speech, a question raised in the prosecution of Col. Nicholas Bayard.
From the period of the Zenger trial newspapers continued to increase and
the twenty-five years before 1775 witnessed a continuous production of
pamphlets in which the Crown and its representative were attacked, the
efforts to punish by the government being in almost every case entirely
futile. The press divides itself into two groups, the supporters and
opponents of the Governor, and the party newspaper becomes a reality.

In the Southern colonies the press never attained any liberty, the
government being ever on the watch to repress the smallest attempt at
freedom of discussion and criticism.

In the second place we find that the attitude assumed by the inhabitants
of the colonies, as expressed by the actions of their representatives,
varied in the different colonies. We do find this general similarity,
that in all there was a very jealous upholding of the rights of the
legislative body as against criticism. That can be easily established by
a perusal of the Minutes of any of the Assemblies. But in Massachusetts
a distinction seems to have been early established between a criticism
of the proceedings of the General Court as such, and a criticism of the
policy of the government. In Pennsylvania this view was only in the
latter period arrived at; in New York the General Assembly was
constantly taking offense at writings appearing in the newspapers or
distributed in the form of pamphlets; while in Virginia the question
never arose because there was no criticism.

Everywhere we find that there was, as time goes on, a general advance
towards freedom of discussion. But this is best seen in nonpolitical
matters. With the failure by Parliament in 1695 to renew the Licensing
Act all publication became at least theoretically free except in so far
as it was restrained by the law of libel. To just what extent this law
could be stretched was always a matter of dispute. The maxim “the
greater the truth, the greater the libel” must certainly have exercised
an influence to deter the publications of the time from the discussion
of private affairs. In fact in many instances the news contained in an
issue of a newspaper was practically nothing, the few columns being
occupied with a very bald statement of Indian affairs, or the relations
with France or perhaps a short account of something which had taken
place in England or on the Continent. The needs of the community, as
better roads or the impounding of wandering cattle, were lightly touched
on, but there was but slight evidence of any conception of the idea that
the press could lead and direct public opinion as to municipal affairs.

In political matters not directly affecting the Crown there was also a
slight advance towards freedom of discussion, which, as the time of the
Revolution approached, became very much extended. But here again no
general rule can be established for the more radical colonies, as
Massachusetts, would naturally be far in advance of the more
conservative, while between would stand New York.

Of one thing we may be confident. In no colony would the Governor, as
representing the Crown, permit a criticism of its actions to pass
without censure, and, if possible, punishment. When the Evening Post of
Boston (vide p. 14) published in 1741 the paragraph in regard to the
expected overthrow of the Walpole Ministry, the Attorney-General was at
once ordered to file an Information against the printer, Thomas Fleet,
and although no further proceedings were ever taken, the omission was
due rather to want of confidence in the Massachusetts jury than to any
leniency on the part of the Governor. In the case of McDougall (vide p.
65), we find the writer of a pamphlet obnoxious to the Crown kept in
prison even against a writ of Habeas Corpus, and only released when the
death of the principal witness in the case made his conviction
impossible.

The liberty of the press was still further curtailed by the influence
exerted by certain classes in the community. There was always a strong
feeling among those who had grants of land (either directly from the
Crown or by the Crown as confirmatory of purchases already made from the
Indians), against any discussion of their rights over those who were
their tenants. This influence would of course be of importance only in
the colonies where grants were numerous, as in the colony of New York.
But another class influence, that of the Clergy, was far stronger at all
times and universal in its extent. In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania it
is hardly possible to overestimate the importance of this influence, and
in none of the colonies can it be neglected if we desire to properly
appreciate the difficulties that faced the printer in his struggle for
the right of free discussion. The troubles of Wm. Bradford, the elder in
Pennsylvania (vide p. 26), and of James Franklin in Massachusetts (vide
p. 11), give us a pretty clear idea of the troubles that would beset the
man who did not keep himself out of controversy. Just as the New England
Election Sermons give us perhaps the best means of understanding the
influence of the Clergy in the field of politics, so these quarrels
between printer and Quarterly Meeting or Presbytery show us the feeling
toward freedom of discussion.

                                               LIVINGSTON ROWE SCHUYLER.


  NEW YORK CITY.


                       (_Concluded next month._)




                     REMINISCENCES OF ROBERT FULTON


Among the relics of Robert Fulton in possession of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers at their house in New York City is a manuscript
(hitherto unpublished, it is believed), in which in 1859 the only
surviving associate of the inventor recorded his recollections. These
simple and obviously honest reminiscences from the hand of a plain man
become of interest, however deficient in literary art. He was J. B.
Calhoun of Brooklyn, and told his story thus:

“In 1807 Mr. Fulton’s first boat, the _North River_, of Clermont,
commenced running on the Hudson River to Albany. Between 1809 and 1811,
he had two more, the _Car of Neptune_ and the _Paragon_. Each steamer
had two masts—on the foremast was a square sail, two topsails, and a
jib. On the mainmast was a spanker and topsail. The foremast had at the
heel trunnions by which the mast could be lowered when the wind was
ahead. When the wind was fair, all hands, passengers too, were called to
raise the mast and set sail.

These steamers had high or poop decks some four feet above the main
deck; the entrance to the cabin was by the old-fashioned ship
companionway—not a house on deck. These steamers, being on the bottom as
flat as a house floor, each had two heavy side lee boards, to prevent
making leeway when sail was set. In those days neither the pilot nor
engineer had an assistant, nor the captain any clerk. In leaving New
York at five, the pilot would take the wheel until supper; after supper
he would again take the wheel and keep it till next morning; he had no
fine pilot-house, not even an awning to protect him from the hot sun nor
the most severe weather. When coming to landings, instead of a bell to
ring, the pilot blew a tin horn some five feet long; the bell was used
only for meal times....

Mr. Fulton had at North Point, Jersey City, four large shops, and a
dry-dock some 200 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 16 feet deep to repair
his boats in; the first dry-dock in this country. In those days such a
thing as a cut-off, a throttle-valve, or an eccentric was not known by
the engineer.

To make the trip to Albany took from twenty-six to thirty hours, burning
in that time about thirty cords of firewood. None of Mr. Fulton’s
steamers made the trip in less than twenty-five hours. In 1813 Mr. Louis
Rhoda, Mr. Fulton’s chief engineer, was killed on the trial trip of the
ferry-steamboat on the East River, the _Nassau_, by being caught in the
engine when in motion. He had his entire right shoulder taken from his
body by the crank. Mr. Rhoda was the first engineer killed in this
country.”

Then follows a paragraph descriptive of Fulton’s personal appearance and
manners. The sketch adds:

“His death was rather sudden; so much so that many attributed it to
suicide. This was not so; he died a calm, natural death in the bosom of
his family, at No. 5 Broadway, opposite the Bowling Green. In attending
court at Trenton, N. J., he had taken a cold, and on returning home to
New York the ferryboat on which he was was caught in the ice, and was
thus delayed some three hours. It was a cold, stormy day in January;
this confirmed and increased his illness, which finally sent him to his
grave.”

In 1811 Mr. Fulton built at Pittsburgh, Pa., a boat for the New Orleans
trade; she was called the _New Orleans_, the first steamer on the Ohio
and Mississippi Rivers.

In 1810–11 a company was formed—they built two boats to run in
opposition to Mr. Fulton’s. One was called _Perseverance_, Captain
Bunker, and the other _The Hope_, Captain Sherman, afterwards well known
on Lake Champlain. These steamers were some faster than Mr. Fulton’s.
After a long contest in courts of law, the two Albany boats were
confiscated to Mr. Fulton, and he had them soon broken up at Albany, in
sight of their former owners.

In 1812–13 some gentlemen in New York built a steamer called the
_Fulton_, to run to Albany, by Mr. Fulton’s consent, under the following
terms: The new boat was to charge $10 for each passenger, paying Mr.
Fulton $3 out of every $10 paid by the passengers; this did not prove
profitable, and the next season the _Fulton_ was placed on the East
River and the Sound, being the first steamer ever before on the
Sound.... It was expected that the steamer _Fulton_ would make the trip
to Albany in thirteen or fourteen hours’ time, but I think she never
made the trip in less than sixteen or seventeen hours.

The first steamer on the Potomac River, Va., was built by Mr. Fulton in
the last days of his life; she was called the _Washington_; she was
intended to run between Washington City and Norfolk; she went there in
May, 1815; the writer of these lines went out with her and stayed long
enough to teach a black man, a slave, how to start and how to manage the
engine.

The first steamer for the great Western Lakes was built at Black Rock on
the Niagara River by Mr. Noah Brown of New York, in 1818. She was a
handsome vessel of 360 tons’ burden, full brig-rigged. She was called
the _Walk-in-the-Water_. She was owned by Dr. J. B. Stewart, then of
Albany. The writer put up her engine. She was totally lost in a terrible
gale on Lake Erie, in October, 1820. In these years from 1818 to 1820,
no dividends were made from the earnings of the steamer. Such was the
little travel on those lakes at these times that if the steamer carried
thirty or forty passengers, it was doing pretty well. The strength of
the Black Rock Rapids was so strong that besides the power of the
engine, it required the use of eight pairs of oxen to get the steamer up
the rapids on to the lake, a distance of two miles.

The first steamer that made the trip to Albany in twelve hours was the
steamer _Sun_, of which the writer was the engineer. She was a double
engine, called the Woolf engine, high and low pressure—had six
high-pressure boilers, 24 feet long, and 30 inches in diameter, intended
to carry 120 pounds of steam—cylinder, four feet stroke.

The first attempt to use hard coal on a steamer on the Hudson River was
made by the Messrs. Mowatt on the steamer _Sun_ and the _Henry Eckford_
in 1825. Wood and coal were tried together; then coal alone. The trial
was not successful, but it was soon seen that what was wanted was a
strong draft or the use of some kind of a blower. The writer received
$50 for making the trial. In those days, blowers were unknown. The first
blower was introduced by the late Robert L. Stevens, on board the _North
America_ in 1826.

About the year 1827 the steam chimney was introduced by the late J. P.
Allaire. He claimed he had a patent for the same, but I think he had
not.

In 1825 the steam towing business was commenced by the late Mowatts on
the Hudson River, with the steamboat _Henry Eckford_ and six barges.
About the same year Mr. William C. Redfield introduced the
passenger-barge, towing, with the steamers _Swift-sure_ and _Abe
Commerce_ and the barges _Lady Clinton_ and _Lady Van Rensselaer_; it
was an aristocratic [venture]—got up to catch the support of the rich
and powerful, but it did not succeed well, and in two years it went
down.

All the fixtures about the ferry landings, the bridges, the floating box
underneath, the chains and pulleys, were all invented by Mr. Fulton.

I have many things in my memory in regard to him. All of the above was
written wholly from memory; not one word or a line of reference have I
had before me while writing this historical record of old times. When I
get in good health I have much to say on these subjects.

Apparently he never “got in good health,” for no other record of his
than this is known.

[Illustration: [Fleuron]]




             DOMINIE SOLOMON FROELIGH AND HIS GREAT SCHISM


No region in the vicinity of New York has more natural beauty or
historic interest than that lying west of the Palisades. Until a few
years ago it was to most people an almost unknown land. Hackensack,
Englewood, Paterson, and Passaic were familiar names; but the country
north of these was seldom visited. Recently the valleys of the Ramapo,
Pascack, Saddle, and Hackensack Rivers have attracted many suburban
homeseekers, and their character is rapidly changing. Yet their charm
still centers in the ancient stone farmhouses that speak of a
civilization that has lasted for two hundred and fifty years. In some of
the villages are churches built in early colonial times, and about these
cluster the graves of the forefathers. New names have been given to many
of the hamlets, and the present residents know little and care less for
their past history. Only in musty records, and fading memories, do the
ancient Indian and Dutch names survive. Ka Keat, Mahakemack, Minesing,
Aquackanock, are some of these. From Tappan on the north to English
Neighborhood on the south, a distance of thirty miles, this country,
except in the four chief towns, was until a generation ago stagnant; its
population was no greater than at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. A few years since, the writer journeyed with a friend to one of
its ancient churchyards, to commit to its grave the body of an aged
lady. There it rests with those of ten generations of the Bogarts,
Brinkerhoffs, Demarests, Zabriskies, and other historic families.

A number of natives had gathered at the porch of the church on the
capstone of whose arch was engraved “Nisi Dominus Frustra.” As this is
the motto of the Reformed Church of America I, as one of its ministers,
felt at home. The day was stormy, and I asked that the building might be
opened for a funeral service. The gentleman addressed said he feared
that this was impossible, as the pastor was opposed to such a
proceeding. The parsonage was next to the church, and I sent word to the
minister asking him to assist me in the burial office. My card was
returned with a curt refusal. The old sexton was more communicative, and
from him I learned the story of this “True Reformed Dutch Church”; could
this have been reported word for word it would rival in interest the
best of Miss Wilkins’ or Mrs. Wiggin’s tales.

Two facts remain in my memory; first, that Dr. Solomon Froeligh was to
this peculiar people all that Knox had been to those who sat under the
Scotch Reformer; and, second, that the True Reformed Dutch Church was
the remnant of God’s elect; for the rest of Christendom had irrevocably
passed under condemnation.

With these experiences in mind I have as far as possible gathered the
facts that outline the story of a schism which, nearly a hundred years
ago, threatened to disrupt the Reformed Dutch Church, then relatively
among the largest of Protestant denominations. Dr. Chambers, in the
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopædia, has stated: “The True Reformed Dutch Church
is the result of a secession led by the Rev. Solomon Froeligh, a learned
man. The reasons assigned for the separation were that the Dutch Church
had become erroneous in doctrine, lax in discipline, and corrupt in
practice. The secession, however, did not adopt any new standards. At
one time it was very formidable, numbering over one hundred churches and
as many ministers. But it now numbers hardly a dozen churches. It was a
great injury to the church from which it seceded, but it is hard to see
what service it has been to its own members, or to anybody else.” This
statement, while judicious, is hardly comprehensive. The cause of the
disruption was perverse human nature; pride, envy, and jealousy had much
to do with it, and the effect was that a people who might have led in
the moral and material growth of the State retrograded. The evil it
caused brought disaster to upwards of a thousand families who had
possessed every advantage of birth, property, and intelligence.

The beginning of the settlement of the region I have described was
almost coeval with that of New Amsterdam. Later the occupation of New
York by the English led to a large emigration thither of Dutch families
from Manhattan and Long Island. Slowly and painfully these early
settlers removed the forests, drained the swamps, and established their
homes. The organization of Dutch churches in the neighborhoods of this
section began immediately. The people were intelligent and devout as
well as thrifty. Godly and learned clergymen, among whom were
Taschmaker, Varick, Bertholf, Schuyler, and Van Benschoten, soon
gathered large congregations. The story of the labors of these men is
one of a heroism and devotion hardly equalled in colonial history. The
minutes of the synod of 1778 reported seventeen strong churches in the
district. In 1818 the classes of Bergen and Paramus, into which it was
divided, reported 2,400 communicant members, and more than 15,000
persons in the congregations. At this later date some of these churches
were larger than those in the cities of New York and Albany.

For many years the most influential man in the region, and in the
estimation of his admirers in the Dutch Church, was Dr. Solomon
Froeligh, minister of the Collegiate Churches of Hackensack and
Schraalenburgh. Born near Albany in 1750, he had spent his boyhood in
Walkill valley. There, and in the adjacent Catskill district, the
venerable Schuneman ruled for fifty years like a bishop of mediæval
times. He was the lawyer, physician, pastor, and friend of a large and
scattered flock, among whom his wisdom and authority were unquestioned.
A narrative of his life and labors is told in a story of some sixty
years ago called “The Dutch Dominie of the Catskills.” Through his
guidance Froeligh was led to dedicate himself to the ministry. For ten
years he studied under Dr. Dirck Romeyn of Schenectady—the founder of
Union College—and Dr. Peter Wilson of Hackensack, for many years a
leading professor in Kings College. Although he never visited Princeton,
the College of New Jersey conferred on Froeligh at eighteen years of age
the degree of master of arts, because of his profound attainments. He
became a favorite of Dr. John Livingston, whom Mrs. Jay, the wife of the
chief justice, named to Washington as the first citizen of New York.
This great man, long the unquestioned leader of the Dutch Church, was
accustomed to make progresses through the various congregations; on two
at least of these, and the time occupied was frequently several months,
Froeligh accompanied him. Upon his licensure in 1775 he received four
calls, of which he accepted that of the Collegiate Churches of Queens
County, Jamaica, Newtown, Success, and Oyster Bay. In 1776 his house
near Newtown, containing his valuable library, and all his earthly
possessions, was burned by the British, and he barely escaped death at
their hands. For the eight succeeding years he went up and down New York
and New Jersey as a missionary and fearless patriot. At the close of the
war for independence he accepted a call to become the colleague of the
Rev. Warmardus Kuypers in the pastorate of the Collegiate Churches of
Hackensack and Schraalenburgh. Shortly after this, he was named by the
General Synod of the Church together with Drs. Livingston and Romeyn, a
professor of theology. For thirty years he held this office, and trained
for the ministry nearly one hundred young men.

By inheritance Dr. Froeligh was a strong, self-sufficient man. His
education and life accentuated these traits. His intercourse during the
impressionable years of youth with such masters as Schuneman, Romeyn and
Livingston must have developed in him an aptitude to command. In
scholarship he was in a narrow sense profound. His early possession of
the seat of authority led to a certain dogmatism. He was pronounced
hyper-Calvinist, and ever ready to defend his extreme views. The synods
of the Church were in that day the great events of each year, not only
for clergymen but laymen. In these Dr. Froeligh was ever the leading
controversialist. Both tradition and records show that he was strenuous
to harshness in manner, unyielding, and exacting in statement, and
always ready to estrange a friend rather than bend in the least.
Combined with these traits there was in him a vein of mysticism. He
dreamed dreams and saw visions that were to him authoritative
communications of the Most High. Naturally such a man gathered about him
devoted and obedient followers, and at the same time offended and
antagonized many. Religion and politics were then, far more than in our
day, issues of intense personal moment to all thoughtful persons. Party
spirit blazed fiercely in every community. In the memorable Presidential
contest of 1800, when the Federalist party was defeated, Dr. Froeligh
was an elector and voted for Jefferson. What this meant to most of the
ministers and influential laymen of the Church, who were devoted to
Hamilton, can be surmised.

As years passed his character did not soften, nor could he accept defeat
gracefully. Gradually, new and younger leaders in the Church came to the
front. Men like Milldoler, Brownlee, Broadhead, and Fonda, whom he would
not treat as his equals, paid him less and less deference. But his chief
antipathy was his neighbor of Paramus, once his own scholar, Dr. Wilhelm
Eltinge. They were men much alike in character, who invariably stood on
opposite sides of every question.

Now the churches of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, while ruled by one
Consistory, were far from friendly to each other. They were rich in
property, having inherited thousands of acres of farm land, and their
members were noted for their wealth. Even before Froeligh’s day there
was bitter rivalry between the two. Mr. Kuypers, Froeligh’s colleague,
was a gentle and infirm man, who, above all things, hated discord. He
readily yielded to his energetic associate. As the years passed the
friction between the communities and factions in each church grew.
Questions as to the sale of property, the rebuilding of churches,
assessments of costs, and the like were constantly rising. On these
friends parted and even families divided. At length four separate
consistories and congregations were established, one for each minister
in each place, but all in one corporation. During the earlier years of
his settlement Dr. Froeligh sought to act the part of peacemaker. Not
understanding the grounds for the fierce disputes, he diligently set
himself to enforce agreement, and by the exercise of his masterful will
partially succeeded.

In 1799 Mr. Kuypers died, and the question of his successor became a
burning one. The dominie was, of course, intensely interested, and took
a decided stand against a majority. During a summer storm a bolt of
lightning split the tablet over the door of the largest church, on which
was engraved “Endraacht maakt macht”—union makes strength. Taking this
as a sign from heaven, Dr. Froeligh proclaimed in his sermon on the
following Sunday, “It is our belief founded on what we have seen and
know of this people that, according to the sign given on July 10, the
Triune God has made them two. The fire of divine grace is on one side,
and the fire of discord and rage is on the other.” Even under such
conditions the dominie was master of the situation, and held the reins
tightly. He was sole minister of four rich churches, and by
ecclesiastical law each meeting of the consistory was subject to his
call. By the civil law he was president of the corporation, and no
business could be transacted without his presence. At last, in 1800, the
General Synod of the Church intervened, and by the exercise of its
supreme authority placed Dr. J. V. C. Romeyn in Mr. Kuypers’ stead. It
also divided the old Classis of Hackensack into two, with Dr. Froeligh’s
two churches in that of Paramus, and Dr. Romeyn’s in that of Bergen. Dr.
Froeligh entered a solemn protest against this action, and began a
course of systematic effort to undo the arrangement. For eighteen years
the controversy continued. It is needless to particularize the phases of
this unhappy church quarrel. At last, in 1818, the crisis came.
Proceedings under church law were instituted against Dr. Froeligh on the
question whether the ministry or spiritual consistory composed of the
elders of a church, was the responsible party in the matter of receiving
or dismissing members. The Classis of Paramus sided with Dr. Froeligh,
the next higher court, the Particular Synod, sustained Dr. Romeyn, and
then, in 1822, the General Synod, in perhaps the most memorable trial in
her history, decided against Dr. Froeligh. Thereupon, he and the
ministers and elders of nine churches, signed their names to a document
declaring that they had formed themselves into a separate body by the
name and title of “The True Reformed Dutch Church in America.”

Those who recall Mrs. Stowe’s story, “The Minister’s Wooing,” need not
be told of the great controversy in New England caused by the sermons of
Dr. Hopkins of Newport. In the light of to-day, few if any in the
ministry accept his theology because of its narrowness. But a hundred
years ago men like Froeligh regarded Hopkins as a dangerous heretic, and
sought to cast out of the church as Pelagians those who sided with him.
So long as the dominie could rule the Classis of Paramus he was
reasonably content, but when Dr. Eltinge and a majority of its members
approved of the Hopkins position, the Dutch Church seemed without the
pale. Doubtless his greatest sorrow was that the old leaders he most
admired, like Dr. Livingston, refused to join in the controversy. The
younger men who were shaping the missionary activities of the church,
and planning the constitution that was adopted in 1832, ignored him. No
wonder he became embittered. But he had a large following of sincere,
earnest, though narrow men. They had been in their early years his
students and he was still their oracle. So the schism became formidable.
After taking this final step he made a proselyting tour among the
churches in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys. A score of these joined his
new communion. As many more were completely disrupted, and soon ceased
to exist. Side by side in fifty hitherto peaceful, united, and
prosperous villages rival congregations began a bitter warfare.
Accusations against the teaching character and morals of ministers and
laymen were published. In the church courts notable trials were held. In
some cases the peace of the State was broken, and the civil authorities
invoked. Indeed, the actions at law caused by this secession in New York
and New Jersey led to the establishment of principles as to the rights
of members in church property that are to-day the basis of the
ecclesiastical law in both States. Probably the most famous case was
that of the Church of the English Neighborhood in New Jersey. It was
argued before the Supreme Court by Messrs. Wood and Hornblower on one
side, and Van Arsdale and Theodore Frelinghuysen on the other. Chief
Justice Ewing delivered the opinion of the court. These five named
leaders are probably the most prominent in the history of the New Jersey
bar.

As I have gathered from many sources the facts herein set forth, the
most interesting and impressive feature of the controversy is the sane
and dignified manner with which the church met the issue. Every lawful
means was adopted to first reunite and then recover the seceding
churches, and, so far as the records show, this was ever in the spirit
of the Christian rule of kindness. When these efforts failed all loyal
members were urged to live in charity with their neighbors.

Until 1850 the “True Reformed Dutch Church” grew in strength. It
concentrated all its powers on the one aim of proselyting adherents from
the mother Church. Wherever possible it effected discord in
congregations and families. It took no part in the missionary or
philanthropic movements of the day. Its members gloried in being a
“peculiar people,” whose “good works” consisted in nursing pride and
standing apart from all others.

I have hardly touched on the pathetic side of this history. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century the Dutch Reformed Church in America
stood in a unique position. In the center of the country she was the
oldest Protestant communion, and relatively the strongest. More nearly
than any other her policy coincided with that of the United States. In
temper and trend she was highly irenic. Her liturgy and confessions were
simply Christian; and her genius made her one with true Christians of
every name. No wonder that the hopes of a great multitude, both within
and without her communion, for a homogeneous body that should do away
with the multitude of ecclesiastical divisions centered in her. It was
largely due to the schism Dr. Froeligh led that these hopes were
shattered. The natural growth of the Church was checked at the most
important period of the country’s development. Beginning at the close of
the Revolution, wise and devoted leaders had planted a large number of
Dutch churches on the then frontiers; these were everywhere prospering.
In Central and Western New York, in Upper Canada, in West New Jersey,
and Eastern Pennsylvania new congregations were constantly being
organized. Then came the disruption. Fully two-thirds of these newer
churches were broken up. In North Jersey, and Rockland County, New York,
an unwholesome emigration of embittered people began. Families were
broken up, neighbors estranged, and the material as well as moral growth
of the section was checked.

Possibly other communities as well as churches gained large accessions
through this secession. But people of this description are too selfish
and disputatious to foster the peace of any neighborhood. It is well
that their children should ignore and forget the ways of their fathers.

Now all that is left of the True Dutch Church are some ten dying
congregations. Each year or so one of these is disrupted. Civil and
sometimes criminal actions at law follow, and the costs of the
proceedings absorb the remainders of the property. But the remnant still
cling to their name and glory in their history; for they still invoke
the shades of Doctor Solomon Froeligh.


  _Evening Post_, N. Y.


                                                       JOSEPH R. DURYEE.

                  *       *       *       *       *

[Dominie Freligh was an ardent patriot, as is shown by the letter
herewith, which presents an odd mixture of piety, patriotism and butter.

The original is in the possession of Mr. William Nelson, Secretary of
the N. J. Historical Society, to whom we are indebted for permission to
reproduce it.

The reference in its closing lines to “ladies’ headdress” is easily
understood by a glance at the Mischianza _coiffure_ of the period, as
sketched by Major André—who at the date of this letter had been dead
less than four months.—ED.]


                                    N. Millstone (N. J.) Feb^r. 6th 1781

  Rev^d. & very Dear Sir

  I Acknowledge herewith the Recept of Yours by M^r. Braket. It Affords
  me Singular Pleasure that a Protecting Providence has hitherto
  favoured you in your Present Precarious Situation—_Hackinsack_ is
  often to me a Subject of Admiration; a Vilage Contiguous to the
  Enimies Lines & Accessible from all Quarters Abounding with Whigs,
  warmly attached to their Country’s Interest, & a Larger Number
  according to its Dimensions than Perhaps any town in the State Could
  produce, to be Preserved, is indeed a Striking Instance of Divine
  Protection and Seems to indicate, that Notwithstanding your Complaint
  of religious Defection there is Still a Remnant—As far as I am Capable
  I shall take pleasure in Satisfying Your Curiosity Respecting the
  State of religion here—I Can Assure You Sir it wears a Pleasing
  Aspect; Several Make Profession of their faith & Confidence in Christ
  & Corroborate it with a Corresponding Practice, Several have been
  Awakened Since my last & Some who had degenerated from their former
  Exemplary piety, Seem to revive, & much regret their Backsliding: The
  Exercises of one in particular are very remarkable; a man formerly of
  a most Abandoned Profligate life; now Under the Severest Conviction.
  Discourses on their own Experiences; Efforts to Obtain knowledge of
  the Sacred truths, & family Devotion Prevails much Among them, and as
  Little Enthusiasm I think as I ever knew at a Similar Juncture—I much
  approve of Your Observation _that the End of a thing is better than
  its beginning_ and when I add to this the Numerous Instances of
  Dfection, I cannot fear that there will be a _Lot’s wife_ among them
  however I fondly hope the Whole Will not proove to be Wild-fire. Such
  is their taste for the Gospel, that they Would exact from me more
  Preaching than is Consistent in itself or my Circumstances of body &
  mind Would Admit of ——

  I am Pleased with the mode in which the late Mutiny in the Jersey Line
  was Suppressed & Could Wish the Same Steps had been taken with the
  Pensylvanians—The Soldiers in Our Army have Doubtless many Causes of
  Complaint, but a spirit of insurrection Should never be indulged in an
  Army, They Marched thro this place in remarkable good Order; The fate
  of _Sir Harry’s_ Wretched Emisaries Which, I presume you have heard
  Prooves Your Conjecture Respecting the Enemy’s Joy on the Occasion to
  have been Judicious—Recruiting Business we hear goes on in Pensylvania
  With Unexpected Success—If M^r Bracket tarrys with us till Thursday I
  shall Probably have it in my Power to Send you The paper;

  I had Engaged a Quantity of butter, but from the bad Prospect of any
  Conveyance this winter I declined, should a proper Conveyance Occur I
  shall Endeavour to Procure Some for you: The Rev^d M^r. _Leydt_ is
  recovered from his illness that had nearly Prooved the Cause of his
  Death, & is hammering away at the Ladies’ headdress with as much
  Vehemence As ever—M^r. Hardenbergh it is reported will move in the
  Spring:

  I have the honour to be With Sincere

                             Respect & Esteem
                                         Your Fellowlabourer in C
                                                 & Truy humble Servt
                                                         SOLOMON FRELIGH

  (Addressed:)
          The Rev^d M^r D: Romeyn
  fav^d M^r. Braket }
  at Hackinsack.    }




                    A DAY IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP


  [The stories and legends associated with the Swamp are many. The most
  authentic and pathetic of all, and the one which Thomas Moore has made
  the theme of a poem, is to this effect: a young man who lost his mind
  on the death of the girl he loved, disappeared, and was never heard
  from. As he had frequently said, in his delirium, that she was not
  dead, but gone in a canoe to the Swamp, it is supposed that he
  wandered there in search of her, and died from exposure.

                                                  CHARLES LANMAN, 1847.]


                And all night long, by her fire-fly lamp
                She paddles her light canoe.—MOORE.


It seemed as if we had hardly been asleep an hour when a knock resounded
on our door, and a voice from the outside said: “Six o’clock, ladies;
breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes, and the carriage will be
here at half-past six.”

With half-shut eyes we made our toilet, and we were even too sleepy to
enjoy the well-cooked breakfast which was spread for us in the
dining-room of the little Suffolk inn where we had taken lodging for the
night on our arrival by train from Norfolk.

We were not thoroughly awake and interested in the adventure we were
about to undertake, until we found ourselves with guide books and lunch
box on the back seat of a springless carriage, the front seat of which
was occupied by a fat negro, with a good-natured grin, who answered to
the name of “Moses.” We had a three-mile drive before us to the entrance
of the Swamp, where we were to meet our guide and take the boat.

The first stage of our journey lay through the main street of a sleepy
little Virginia town. The sun had not yet dried the dewdrops, and the
old white, pillared houses on either side of the highway, where the
great elms overlapped their branches, were still wrapped in the quiet of
the early morning. Farther along the street, when we reached the shops,
there were more signs of life. Men, who looked like planters of
antebellum days, were taking possession of the chairs which occupied the
sidewalk and the porch of a small hotel. Negroes and mules and great
bunches of bananas were seen on every hand. But we soon left all these
behind and were out in the open country. Level, green fields lay on
either side of us. It was a lonely road, in spite of the greenness and
the sunshine round about us. Occasionally we passed a weather-beaten
negro cabin, and once we saw, looming in the distance, a white
plantation mansion, stately still, in spite of years of neglect.

It seemed to us that this monotonous road might run on indefinitely,
when, suddenly, Moses halted his horses, without apparent cause.

“He’ah we is, I reckon, missus,” said he.

“It can’t be,” returned my traveling companion. “I see nothing like a
swamp.” And then we both of us looked closely at the only object in the
landscape—a clump of willow bushes, seeming to cover the beginning of a
brook that led nowhere in particular.

“Yes’m, he’ah we be su’ah,” reiterated Moses. “An’ he’ah’s Massa
Alphonso now,” and he pointed to a light-haired, lank Virginian, who, at
that moment, appeared from behind the bushes, and stood leaning on an
oar.

The man combined the stateliness of a courtier with the roughness of a
hunter, and the grace of his attitude and his blonde beauty led the
Spinster to christen him “The Lohengrin of the Swamp.”

The object of this unspoken christening now came forward and introduced
himself as our guide. “An’ now, I reckon we might as well be a-startin’,
ladies,” said he. “Wait, ma’am, I’ll help you down the bank. It’s mighty
steep right here, but there wasn’t no other place nigh so good for
hitchin’ the boat. You, Mose, you be back to-night at six o’clock sharp
for the ladies. D’ye understand?”

“Yes, sah’, yes, sah’, su’ah,” and Moses clattered away.

Once settled in the boat, the scene changed. We seemed to have entered
the beginning of an indefinitely long arbor, covered with grapevines. Of
course, there were, in reality, no grapevines, but the willows and the
short, bushy trees which completely overhung the four-foot wide channel
in which our boat rode made the illusion perfect.

“This is beautiful,” said the Spinster, as she watched the sunshine
glinting through the pale-green leaves, still dew-covered, and falling
in bright reflections on the face of the dark water beneath.

“It’s fine!” I echoed; “but when do we enter the swamp, guide?”

“We’re in the swamp now, ma’am. It’ll be just like this for ten miles,
and then we’ll come to the lake.”

“Why—why,” I almost stammered in my amazement, “I thought the swamp was
dark and gloomy, with moss hanging from tall, mournful pine trees, and
not a sound to be heard in the wilderness. If it’s like this, with
bird-calls and sunshine and bright green leaves, why do they call it
‘dismal’?”

Alphonso smiled at my eagerness. “There’s more to it than shows just at
first, ma’am,” he answered. “There are more sad stories about this swamp
than all the sunshine can make bright. In the first place this channel
we’re riding in right now was dug by chain-gangs of slaves. They say the
poor creatures died here in heaps from swamp fever. But that didn’t make
any difference to their owners. They was made to dig right into the
heart of the swamp to get at the juniper trees. You see they are very
valuable—the most valuable wood, I guess, that grows; and they are only
to be found here in this swamp. I’ll show you some of them when we come
to them. They are tall and slim and straight. No, we shan’t get to any
until we are a good bit farther along. I told you the swamp was all
alike, but I didn’t mean that exactly. There’s a good bit of difference,
the deeper in we get, though you might not notice the difference unless
I pointed it out. The trees will be larger and taller, and the
bird-calls will be different—more wild, like, and there’ll be owls and
herons to be seen, and maybe a stork or two. I hope on account o’ you
ladies we shan’t meet no bears, but you see I’ve brought my gun along.
There’s always a chance.”

I was more interested in his story of the slave gangs than in the bears.
“Do you actually mean,” I asked, “that in former times slaves dug this
channel ten miles long to Lake Drummond?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s an actual fact; but they got some advantages from
it, too, for while they was digging they got to know the swamp pretty
well, and they discovered there was islands hidden away in the center of
the swamp, though miles distant from this channel. The slaves kept their
discovery to themselves, and later on fugitive slaves made use of it. If
they could only reach these islands they were safe from their pursuers,
and it’s said that children and even grandchildren of the first runaways
were born, and lived, and died on these islands.”

“I don’t see what they had to eat,” suggested the prosaic Spinster.

“You don’t understand, ma’am. These islands are just as dry and nice as
any land about here, and the swamp soil is mighty rich, so of course
they could just grow anything they had a mind to. Of course they were
helped also by friendly slaves on the plantations ’round here, and then
they had their cattle and honey to help out.”

“Cattle and honey!” exclaimed the Spinster.

“Yes, ma’am; and they’re here yet. I get all the honey maw and I want to
eat from the hives of wild bees here, and most of my beef comes from
here, too. Besides, many a quarter I’ve sold. There’s no better eatin’
than the swamp cattle. But a cur’us thing about ’em is that their horns
is polished just like ivory. It comes from pickin’ up their livin’ in
the swamp and brushin’ constant against tree trunks and reeds and the
like.”

“I don’t see how they came here in the first place, and I don’t see what
they live on in the second place,” continued the Spinster, glancing at
the edges of the swamp on either side of our narrow channel, which
seemingly consisted only of masses of dead leaves, dank moss, and reeds.

“Oh, I suppose they was tame cattle in the first place that strayed in
here an’ then stayed an’ multiplied just as the slaves did. An’ as for
eatin’, you ain’t seen the swamp grass, ma’am; it’s mighty rich.”

“I should think it would be unhealthy here,” said I. “I don’t see how
those fugitive slaves flourished to the third generation.”

“Well, no; that’s the queer part of it. It ain’t unhealthy. Those
niggers who dug this ditch died of fever, but the swamp itself ain’t
unhealthy. On the contrary, the medical folks say it’s a good place for
consumptives, and that this swamp water you see here, just as brown as
coffee, is good for ’em to drink. There’s been some talk of puttin’ up a
hotel on the shore of Lake Drummond for a health resort, and cuttin’ a
channel wide enough for a steamboat to run regular, but I hope they
won’t get to it in my time. I can’t hope that the Swamp’ll last much
longer,” he continued, with a sigh. “You see how black and rich the
ground is, and if it was drained and cleared it would be mighty
productive. Some capitalists are already talking of doing that and
dividing it off into farms.”

This was a plan that pleased the Spinster, and she kept our guide
talking on this and kindred topics until the sun, creeping on, stood
directly overhead, and it was noon, and we had reached the limit of our
journey.

We forgot our prosaic talk of so short a time before when we stood on
the shores of Lake Drummond. There lay the magic lake, boldly gray, even
in brightest sunshine. Waves which were born from the winds of the
wilderness lapped the pebbles at our feet. Although the sun shone warm
upon us, it could not overcome the feeling of awe-struck loneliness.

“Do you notice,” said my companion softly, “that even the bird-calls of
the swamp have ceased?”

I nodded without speaking. It seemed unfitting to break by words the
ghostlike silence that brooded over this water so far from the life and
ways of men.

A moment later the guide joined us and brought us down from this high
plane by his unconcerned talk.

“Yes,” he said, “this lake’s just on the boundary line between North
Carolina and Virginia. We came through ten miles of Virginia swamp this
morning to get to it, and we’d have to pole through ten miles of North
Carolina swamp if we tried to get out through the other side across the
lake there.”

“What sources feed Lake Drummond?” asked the Spinster, shaking herself
free from the abstraction that had preceded Alphonso’s entrance upon the
scene.

“Nobody knows,” returned the guide, shaking his head. “Nobody knows
where it comes from nor where it goes. The black folks around here say
that the lake belongs to the devil and the scientific people say it’s of
volcanic origin. Perhaps that amounts to the same thing.” Then he
changed the subject by briskly demanding if we were ready for lunch.

We ate our luncheon in the rough wooden house, which, with its
shake-down beds and pine board tables, served as quarters for the
hunters and scientists, sometimes for weeks at a time. Perhaps its
limited accommodations satisfied them. We should not have been
contented.

We were not sorry to find ourselves once more in our comfortable boat
and started on our homeward journey.

“I reckon we don’t get any bears this trip,” remarked Alphonso, after we
had progressed a considerable distance.

“Do you often get them?” asked the Spinster.

“Sure, though it’s kind o’ between seasons for them now. They ain’t out
lookin’ after berries or honey. I might say that I bag ’em mighty
frequent,” he continued. “That is, when I’m hunting by myself. When I’m
guidin’ other folks they do more missin’ than hittin’, I’m bound to
say,” he added with a laugh.

We had heard the evening before that Alphonso was considered the best
shot in Nansemond County, so that we did not doubt his personal prowess,
but the humorous twinkle in his eye encouraged us to ask for stories of
the misadventures of other people, and we heard various seriocomic tales
of grave professors who could draw a trigger and yet miss a bear within
six feet of them, or let a bear-cub crawl away unhurt, not from a sense
of pity, but from absent-mindedness.

“But I don’t mind so much their missin’ of the game,” said Alphonso, “as
I do their wanderin’ off by themselves an’ gettin’ lost in this ’ere
swamp. It takes me such a pile o’ walkin’ before I can round ’em up
again. I remember once I was fool enough to let a party of three go off
huntin’ by themselves. It took me two days before I found ’em again, an’
I can tell you I was gettin’ mighty anxious. My! didn’t they enjoy the
wild-cow beefsteak I cooked for ’em that night!”

As he spun his yarns, we hoped to beguile Alphonso into a more personal
strain and get him to tell about his own life and his mother to whom he
had more than once alluded. Although evidently unwilling to do so, he
did tell us enough of his life so that we could piece together his story
and account for his opposing characteristics. It seemed that his mother
had been an heiress and a belle in the days before the war. She had
married a colonel who was killed in one of the first battles, and her
only child, Alphonso, had at the age of eleven been thrust out into the
world to gain a living for himself and his mother. This he had succeeded
in doing, but there had been no time for education—that is, for
book-knowledge. Chivalry of manner he had learned from his lady-mother.
The wiles of Cupid he had likewise shunned. As he told us, he was an
“old bach,” and lived alone with “maw,” and reckoned he’d continue so to
do, When we tried to gather more details of his life, he showed himself
shy, as well as modest, and parried our most skillful questions. His
last evasion led to an incident which proved much to our advantage.

“Look-a-there,” he cried, not answering the Spinster’s last quiz. “Do
you see that owl, ma’am, perched on that dead branch in the top of that
pine tree? He’s the largest I’ve seen this year. Would you like him?
He’d make a mighty nice specimen in case you’re collectin’.”

The Spinster’s eye and mine met in consultation. The decision was
unanimous, and an instant later the guide’s unerring rifle rang out and
the owl was fluttering in the water dead. He was picked up and his
plumage smoothed, and he was carefully bestowed under one of the boat
seats. The small remaining portion of our journey was given up to talk
about our new possession and how he should ultimately be disposed of,
and in this manner our day with Alphonso, “the Lohengrin of the Swamp,”
drew to a close. We were met at the appointed time and place by fat
Moses with the springless carriage. Alphonso bade us a courteous adieu,
again leaning against his oar in the attitude of the morning.

Moses drove us back to the station at a rapid pace, chuckling the while
at our owl which lay on the seat beside him and which he said “looked
just like de debbil.” We arrived at the station in time to procure a box
for our owl, and then boarding the train arrived safely in Norfolk that
night.

                                                       LOUISE E. CATLIN.


  _Evening Post_, N. Y.


[Illustration: [Fleuron]]




                    MISCELLANEA OF AMERICAN HISTORY:
                            A REFERENCE LIST


The short list following is partly supplemental to _Larned’s Literature
of American History_; its regular A. L. A. continuations; the various
cumulative indexes to periodicals and Miss Kroeger’s Guide to reference
books (_q. v._). This little collection, which may be extended, is
intended merely ta present some clews to additional means of historical
research.

   KEY:—

     010 Bibliography (general).

     017 Catalogs (sale).

     580 Botany (ancient America).

     913 Antiquities.

     920 Biography.

     929 Genealogy.

     973 History (U. S.).


                      010 BIBLIOGRAPHY (general).

  =Cole, George Watson.= Compiling a bibliography. Practical hints with
        illustrative examples concerning the collection, recording and
        arrangement of bibliographical materials, by George Watson Cole.
        An address delivered before the Pratt Institute School of
        Library Training, March 15, 1901; reprinted, with additions,
        from the _Library Journal_ [26:791,–859]; New York, The Library
        Journal, 1902. 21 pp. 23½ x 19 cm. [“Two hundred and fifty
        copies printed for private distribution.”]

  =Cole, George Watson.= American bibliography, general and local. (In
        the _Library Journal_, 19, No. 1 [Jan., 1904]:—5–9.)


                          017 CATALOGS (sale).

  =Bibliotheca Americana.= Being a collection of books ... for sale by
        George Harding, 64, Gt. Russel St., Bloomsbury, London, W. C.,
        England. New series, No. 112 (1905). 36 pp.

  =Edwards’s= American catalogue. Parts 1–3 (1904–1905). _Books for sale
        by_ Francis Edwards, 83, High Street, Marylebone, London, W.,
        England. _Partially annotated._

_Contents_: Part 1 (Oct., 1904). The American continent; voyages of
discovery, general histories, collections, atlases, and maps (pp. 1–35);
natural history; geology, botany, zoölogy (pp. 36–53); North American
Indians and prehistoric remains of man in North America (pp. 54–69);
languages of North American Indians (pp. 70–72). Part 2 (1904–1905?)
_relates_ to Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland, Alaska and Yukon
territory. Part 3 (June, 1905), The United States; Colonial period
1606–1764 (pp. 137–169); Revolution, 1765–83 (pp. 170–202);
Constitution, 1784–1811 (pp. 203–216); War of 1812 (pp. 217–221);
Settling of Great West, 1816–60 (pp. 222–240); Civil War, 1860–65 (pp.
241–248); Reconstruction, 1866–_date_ (pp. 249–254); Texas (pp.
255–256).

=Gray’s= international bulletin. _Books for sale_ by Henry Gray, Goldsmith’s
        Estate, East Acton, London, W., England. _Monthly_, Foreign
        series, No. 1 (1904–5?) pp. 32. _Contents_: Americana and
        Coloniana.


                     580 BOTANY (ancient America).

  =Cook, O. F.= Food plants of ancient America. (_In_ annual report of
        the ... Smithsonian Institution ... for the year ending June 30,
        1903, Washington: Government printing office, 1904; _see_ pp.
        481–497.)

“Revision of article on The American Origin of Agriculture, in _Popular
Science Monthly_, October, 1902.” Sets forth some inferences to be drawn
from evidences of ancient trans-Pacific communication; distribution of
food-plants, etc.


                            913 ANTIQUITIES

=Butterworth, Hezekiah=, _ed._ The Mysterious Races. (_See his_ Young Folks’
        History of America, chap. 1, 13–28, Boston: D. Lothrop & Co.,
        1881, _illustrated_.)

=Field Columbian Museum=, _Chicago_. List and prices of publications issued
        by Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, U. S. A. [1904.] 12^o. 9 pp.

          _See_ serial Nos. 8, 16, 23, 28, relating to archæology of
                Mexico, Peru and Yucatan.

  =Hewett, Edgar L.= Antiquities of the southwest and their
        preservation. By Edgar L. Hewett [of the] National Museum,
        Washington. (_In_ THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY, ... New York, 1, No.
        5 [May, 1905]: 291–300.)

  =Holmes, W. H.= Report ... on the Congress of Americanists, held at
        Stuttgart, Germany, Aug. 18–23, 1904. (In _Smithsonian
        Miscellaneous Collections, quarterly issue_, vol. 47, No. 1558,
        pp. 391–395.)

        Contains programme of the congress, with titles of addresses;
        also a list of publications, “a set of 75 bound volumes relating
        mainly to American Archæology and Ethnology, published by the
        Smithsonian Institution and its two bureaus—the National Museum
        and the Bureau of American Ethnology.”

  =McAdam, William.= Records of ancient races in the Mississippi Valley;
        being an account of some of the pictographs, sculptured
        hieroglyphs, symbolic devices, emblems and traditions of the
        prehistoric races of America, with some suggestions as to their
        origin. With cuts and views illustrating over three hundred
        objects and symbolic devices. St. Louis: C. R. Barnes Publishing
        Co., 1887. 120 pp., 8vo.

        Based on much personal research by the author, who died about
        April 16, 1895, on which date the _Alton_ (Illinois) _Daily
        Republican_ printed a two-column obituary notice, he having been
        a resident of that city.

  The “Old Mill” at Newport: A new study of an old puzzle. _Scribner’s
        Monthly_, 17, No. 5 (March, 1879): 632–641.

        Makes some architectural comparisons of the tower with other
        similar ancient structures, in an attempt thus to solve the
        problem of the former’s origin.

  =Prescott, William H.= Origin of the Mexican civilization—analogies
        with the Old World. (_See his_ Conquest of Mexico, 3, appendix,
        part 1: 309–352, Philadelphia: David McKay, 1892. [‘Preliminary
        notice,’ pp. 309–310].)

        “The civilization of Anahuac was, in some degree, influenced by
        that of Eastern Asia; ... the discrepancies are such as to carry
        back the communication to a very remote period,” _extract_, p.
        352. Accompanied by very extensive notes and citations of
        authorities.

  =Thomas, Cyrus.= Central American hieroglyphic writing. (_In_ annual
        report of the ... Smithsonian Institution ... for the year
        ending June 30, 1903, Washington: Government Printing Office,
        1904; _see_ pp. 705–721, _illustrated_.)

  =U. S.= _Smithsonian Institution_. Classified list of Smithsonian
        publications, available for distribution, April, 1904.
        Washington: published by the Institution, 1904. (No. 1461.) 29
        pp. 8^o. _See_ pp. 6–8, Archæology.

  =U. S.= _Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology._ List
        of publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, with index
        to authors and titles. Extract from the twentieth annual report
        of the Bureau. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. 26
        pp. [_paged_ cxcix-ccxxiv], 29½ cm.


                             920 BIOGRAPHY.

  Twelve =contemporary= estimates of Washington. (In _Self Culture_, 2,
        No. 6 [March, 1896]: 851–857.)

          Accounts quoted (presumably) _verbatim_.

        =Elliott, Agnes M.= _Comp._ Contemporary biography. References
        to books and magazine articles on prominent men and women of the
        time. Compiled by Agnes M. Elliott. [Pittsburgh]: Carnegie
        Library, 1903, pp. 171, 23 cm.


                             929 GENEALOGY.

  =Allaben, Frank.= Concerning genealogies; being suggestions of value
        for all interested in family history. New York: The Grafton
        Press, 1904 (?) 12mo. 75 cts. _Not examined._

  =American= genealogies or family histories, and other historical
        works, for sale by Joel Munsell’s Sons, Albany, N. Y. 48 pp. 12½
        cm.

          Contains a large number of surnames arranged alphabetically,
                with date, number of pages and price of publication.

        =Genealogical=, heraldic and historical publications of the
        Grafton Press. New York: 1905. 16 pp.

        =Gray’s= International Bulletin. _Books for sale by_ Henry Gray,
        Goldsmith’s Estate, East Acton, London, W., England. _Monthly_,
        No. 242 (1904–5?); pp. 16. _Contents_: Family history, British
        and foreign.

          _Same._ Subject series, No. 1 (1904–5?); pp. 32. _Contents_:
                Family history and other personalia.

          Partly annotated, and arranged in alphabetical order by
                surnames, with some cross references.

        =McPike, Eugene Fairfield.= Genealogy in America. (_Notes and
        Queries_, London, tenth series, 2:63.) [Relates to the attitude
        of Washington, Adams, Franklin, Garfield and Oliver Wendell
        Holmes toward genealogical research. Authorities cited.]


                          973 HISTORY (U. S.).

  =Clark, A. Howard.= List of publications of the American Historical
        Association, 1885–1902, and the American Society of Church
        History, 1888–1897. Contents of _American Historical Review_,
        1895–1902, by A. Howard Clark, Washington: Government Printing
        Office, 1903, p. 65, _paged_ 575–639.

          Reprinted from the Annual Report of the American Historical
                Association for 1902, vol. 1, pp. 575–639. Gives titles
                of all articles forming contents of each publication,
                and concludes with an excellent index.

        [=Deshler, C: D.=] A Glimpse of “Seventy-six.” _Harper’s New
        Monthly Magazine_, 49, No. 290 (July, 1874): 230–245.

          An interesting account by one who was personally acquainted
                with many survivors of the American Revolution.
                Accompanied by illustrations of colonial furniture.

        =Finney, B. A.= Public libraries and local history. (_Public
        Libraries_, 10, No. 1 [Jan., 1905]: 1–6.) [Read before the Ann
        Arbor Library Club, March 12, 1903.] _Same._ Also issued
        separately.

        =Guest=, _Captain_ =Moses=. 1755–1828. Poems on several
        occasions. To which are annexed extracts from a journal kept by
        the author while he followed the sea, and during a journey from
        New Brunswick, in New Jersey, to Montreal and Quebec _Ed._ 2.
        Cincinnati: Looker & Reynolds, 1824. 160 pp., 12^o _in half
        sheets_.

          Most of these poems were written during the American
                Revolution. Captain Guest belonged to the New Jersey
                militia and captured Lt.-Col. J. G. Simcoe, of the
                Queen’s Rangers, Oct. 26, 1779. This incident is
                described in his journal, which, however, begins 16
                March, 1784. He removed to Cincinnati in 1817.

        [=McLaughlin, Andrew C.=] [Descriptions of work undertaken by
        the Bureau of Historical Research, established by the Carnegie
        Institution of Washington.] (_Am. Hist. Review_, 9, No. 3
        [April, 1904]: 635–636; _caption_ Notes and News: America.)

        =McLaughlin, Andrew C.= Historical research. (_In_ Carnegie
        Institution of Washington, Year book, No. 3 [1904], pp. 65–67.)

          Describes the work and plans of the Bureau of Historical
                Research, established by the Carnegie Institution;
                includes mention of its (completed) Guide to the
                Archives of the Government of the U. S., at Washington;
                of preliminary report by Prof. Chas. M. Andrews of Bryn
                Mawr, on the character, extent and location (in British
                archives) of material for the study of American history;
                of a bibliography of current (1903) writings on American
                history, etc. As the director is the editor of the
                _American Historical Review_, some of the material
                collected by the Bureau appears in that periodical.

        [=Putnam, Herbert.=] Publication of historical material by the
        Government. (_In his_ report of the librarian of Congress for
        the ... year ending June 30, 1904; pp. 66–70; 171–181.)

          “The library seems in a peculiarly favorable position to
                publish such of the MSS. in its possession as seem to
                deserve publication. It will begin with those that most
                obviously require it. The first of these is the Journals
                of the Continental Congress, of which admittedly no one
                of the three existing editions is either complete or
                accurate.” _Extract_, p. 69. Other important historical
                collections mentioned.

        =Richardson, Ernest Cushing=, and =Morse, Anson Ely=. Writings
        on American history, 1902. An attempt at an exhaustive
        bibliography of books and articles on United States history,
        published during the year 1902, and some memoranda on other
        portions of America. Princeton, N. J.: The Library Book Store,
        1904. P. xxi + 294.

          A similar collection for 1903 has been undertaken by the
                Bureau of Historical Research, Carnegie Institution,
                Washington, D. C.

        =Tarbell, Ida M.= The Story of the Declaration of Independence.
        (In _McClure’s Magazine_, 17, [July, 1901]: 223–235.)

          “Illustrated with portraits and autographs of the signers.”

                                                EUGENE FAIRFIELD MCPIKE.


  CHICAGO.




                               EDITORIAL


Although the year now nearly ended has been one of extreme labor on the
part of the Editor, he feels a reasonable degree of pride in that his
efforts to produce a magazine worthy of being known as the successor of
Mrs. Lamb’s MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, have been recognized as
successful, by many of his subscribers. That the venture could be
financially profitable the first year, was not expected—yet the
deficiency is not large, and may even yet be extinguished by the receipt
of a comparatively small number of subscriptions before the New Year is
upon us.

It is not the Editor’s custom to make unlimited promises for a coming
year—he much prefers to let the performance of 1905 stand as a fair
sample of what may be expected in 1906, and promises only to improve on
it if he can. It is so obvious that the standard of a periodical depends
on the growth of its subscription list, that he alludes to it only to
emphasize the fact that an historical periodical is particularly so
dependent, as advertising receipts from such an one can never be
large—advertisers as a rule seeking only those of great circulation.
Hence the need that all who claim to be interested in our Nation’s
history should prove that interest by subscribing to this, the only
monthly devoted to the subject and not confining itself to any one
section of the United States.

Its value can also be enhanced by the receipt of queries or historical
items appropriate to its columns—and the Editor wishes such whether from
subscribers or those who may read it only in our public libraries.

To those who have aided him by contributing MSS. during the year, he
returns his warmest thanks, appreciating fully that only by such aid has
it been possible to successfully conduct the publication.

The irregularity in publishing the monthly parts, has been
unavoidable—but subscribers may rest assured that all possible will be
done to reduce this to a minimum. It has been as much of an annoyance to
the Editor as to his subscribers, but may be occasionally inevitable in
the absence of the usual “quantity of matter awaiting publication,”
which more fortunate editors have been known to mention to aspirants for
literary fame.




                              MINOR TOPICS
                        THE FATE OF THE PIGEONS


  [The description of the vast flocks of the wild pigeons (_Ectopistes
  migratoria_), given in Mr. Ryman’s article in the October MAGAZINE,
  makes the following article, from a recent number of _Forest and
  Stream_, of timely interest. The Editor remembers that in 1892, when
  he desired to give a game dinner in New York, he was unable to add
  these birds to his list, although making application to dealers as far
  west as Minneapolis. The description of a flight of pigeons, given by
  Audubon and Wilson in their works, is of remarkable value, as showing
  the great change wrought in a comparatively short period of time by
  the increase of population in the former haunts of these valuable
  birds.—ED.]


Being old enough at the time to fully appreciate the grand sight of the
myriads of wild pigeons as they moved back and forth through the
Mississippi valley in the late seventies, it did not occur to the writer
when they suddenly disappeared that it meant they had done so for all
time.

As the years pass and no satisfactory explanation has been advanced, the
subject fairly nettles the thoughtful lover of nature. Superficial
humane zealots as usual credit the trapshooters with wanton slaughter,
which is positively silly when it is remembered that a single flock, one
of a hundred that passed in a day, would supply pigeons for trapshooting
for several years. That disease exterminated them is not impossible, and
is by far more reasonable than the trap or net explanation, twenty-five
or more years of guessing having failed to locate or account for the
birds.

The suggestion here offered (for what it is worth), which was brought
about by a dream, may, if followed up, give a clew to the whereabouts or
fate of the birds which sportsmen of the last generation will ever
remember as the most graceful and skillful flyers known. The dream above
mentioned need not be given in detail, nor could it be at this time;
however, the writer dreamed of a pow-wow with a venerable Indian who,
when asked what had become of the pigeons, stated, to quote him
literally (as dreamed), that “Pigeon heap d——n fool, fly in big water
[meaning the Gulf of Mexico], no come back.”

I am without any element of superstition, but this dream and Indian
affirmation have haunted me for months. I have just returned from the
Gulf coast, where, strange as it may seem, the dream has in a measure
been confirmed as follows:

Having waded through a slough several times in quest of jack snipe,
which were there in large numbers, and having killed and bagged many, I
came to an inviting log near the edge of the swamp, which made a good
resting place for a tired shooter. While seated there making up my mind
whether I should quit shooting or go back after the snipe again, an old
negro driving an antiquated mule attached to a creaking, ramshackle
wagon with dished wheels, drove up. A few pieces of webbing, some chains
for traces, and a bridle and reins of common clothesline made a
perfectly harmonious outfit.

“Whoa, Jake!” commanded the old man as he rolled up to my resting place.
“Good mo’nin’, sah. You all been spo’tin’ some dis mo’nin’.”

I assured him I had bagged a lot of jacks.

“I dun hear pow’ful lots o’ gun firin’ as I come along back.”

His aged and gray head was set with bright eyes, and his old face beamed
with good nature. I decided to do some of the questioning, so I started
in with an inquiry as to whether Jake, who stood within reach of my seat
on the log, had been or was a kicker. His owner assured me he was gentle
and “never was a fool mule.”

“How long have you lived here, uncle?” I inquired.

“I don’t live here; I lives up dis road ’bout fo’ miles.”

“Yes, but how long have you lived in Texas, or near the Gulf?” I asked.

“Good Lo’d! I dun always been here,” and, as if to emphasize the
statement, his old face wrinkled more than usual.

“Do you remember the pigeons, years ago?” I asked.

“I shore does, sah.”

“What became of them?” I asked, recalling the dream.

“Whar you all come from to ast dis nigger such fool things! Of cou’se I
knows.”

“Well, I don’t,” I remarked; “but would like to very much.”

“You never dun heard of de black fog and the ‘norther’ on dis beach
’bout twenty-five years ago?”

“I never have; but what has that to do with it?”

“Beg your pa’don, sah, I guess you-all ain’t jokin’?”

I assured him I was not, and he began the story of the disappearance of
the pigeons something like this:

“When me and Tom Clay was out huntin’ ’coons and bob cats one day, de
fog came so thick it was most pitch dark in dis woods, and we was ’fraid
to go to the island where Mars Judge Tobin lived, and we was workin’,
and jes had to stay right dar in dat timber fo’ days and fo’ nights—coze
we shore would git lost if we rowed de boat in dat fog. Well, de second
mo’nin’ along come de ‘norther’ an’ dun blowed dis timber most to
pieces, but not de fog. By an’ bye I hear a sound, I dun heard befo’,
pigeons was a-flyin’ over, and de sound kep’ up all dat day till mos’
dark. Den dey come fallin’ thro’ de trees around us with their wings
busted, and heads busted, like they was plum crazy; an’ when dey seen
our fire dey fluttered into it and put it clean out. Yas, sah, dat’s
God’s truf, I dun tole you all. Next mo’nin’ all dat could fly started
off to’d the ocean, an’ the noise of more a-comin’ kep’ up all day till
mos’ night. Dat noise was shore mighty bad, an’ we dun been ’bout scared
to death when de fog lifted, an’ we started fo’ home in de boat. Den we
was scared agin, fo’ de bay was mos’ covered with dead pigeons an’ blood
an’ feathers, an’ mos’ every kind of a fish was dar jes helpin’ hisself,
an’ so thick we could jes row de boat. We dun busted right into a nest
of sharks feedin’ on pigeons, an’ one throwed his tail so hard he
knocked de oar out of de boat mos’ ten feet. Next mo’nin’ all the
pigeons was dun gone, excep’ on de beach was some washed up, an’ a
pow’ful lot of dead fish, little ones’ s’pose got killed in de rush for
pigeons. I neber did see a big flock since, an’ ain’t seen nary one fo’
yeahs now.”

“Then you think they perished in the Gulf?” I asked.

“I dun seen um, I knows I know it!” he replied.

Will some kind reader help me in this matter and interview some old sea
dog who may have met the unfortunate birds further out to sea, and
verify this negro’s story, and the characteristic statement that “pigeon
heap fool, fly in big water, and no come back,” of the visionary Indian?




                          INDIAN LEGENDS: III.
                            THE LONE BUFFALO


Among the legends which the traveler frequently hears, while crossing
the prairies of the Far West, I remember one which accounts in a most
romantic manner for the origin of thunder. A summer storm was sweeping
over the land, and I had sought a temporary shelter in the lodge of a
Sioux or Dacotah Indian on the banks of the St. Peter’s River. Vividly
flashed the lightning, and an occasional peal of thunder echoed through
the firmament. While the storm continued my host and his family paid but
little attention to my comfort, for they were all evidently stricken
with terror. I endeavored to quell their fears, and for that purpose
asked them a variety of questions respecting their people, but they only
replied by repeating, in a dismal tone the name of the _Lone Buffalo_.
My curiosity was of course excited, and it may readily be imagined that
I did not resume my journey without obtaining an explanation of the
mystic words; and from him who first uttered them in the Sioux lodge I
subsequently obtained the following legend:

There was a chief of the Sioux nation whose name was the Master Bear. He
was famous as a prophet and hunter, and was a particular favorite with
the Master of Life. In an evil hour he partook of the white man’s
fire-water, and in a fighting broil unfortunately took the life of a
brother chief. According to ancient custom blood was demanded for blood,
and when next the Master Bear went forth to hunt, he was waylaid, shot
through the heart with an arrow, and his body deposited in front of his
widow’s lodge. Bitterly did the woman bewail her misfortune, now
mutilating her body in the most heroic manner, and anon narrating to her
only son, a mere infant, the prominent events of her husband’s life.
Night came, and with her child lashed upon her back, the woman erected a
scaffold on the margin of a neighboring stream, and with none to lend
her a helping hand, enveloped the corpse in her more valuable robes, and
fastened it upon the scaffold. She completed her task just as the day
was breaking, when she returned to the lodge, and shutting herself
therein, spent the three following days without tasting food.

During her retirement the widow had a dream in which she was visited by
the Master of Life. He endeavored to console her in her sorrow, and for
the reason that he had loved her husband, promised to make her son a
more famous warrior and medicine man than his father had been. And what
was more remarkable, this prophecy was to be realized within the period
of a few weeks. She told her story in the village, and was laughed at
for her credulity.

On the following day, when the village boys were throwing the ball upon
the plain, a noble youth suddenly made his appearance among the players,
and eclipsed them all in the bounds he made, and the wildness of his
shouts. He was a stranger to all, but when the widow’s dream was
remembered, he was recognized as her son, and treated with respect. But
the youth was yet without a name, for his mother had told him that he
should win one for himself by his individual prowess.

Only a few days had elapsed, when it was rumored that a party of Pawnees
had overtaken and destroyed a Sioux hunter, when it was immediately
determined in council that a party of one hundred warriors should start
upon the war-path and revenge the injury. Another council was held for
the purpose of appointing a leader, when a young man suddenly entered
the ring and claimed the privilege of leading the way. His authority was
angrily questioned, but the stranger only replied by pointing to the
brilliant eagle’s feathers on his head, and by shaking from his belt a
large number of fresh Pawnee scalps. They remembered the stranger boy,
and acknowledged the supremacy of the stranger man.

Night settled upon the prairie world, and the Sioux warriors started
upon the war-path. Morning dawned and a Pawnee village was in ashes, and
the bodies of many hundred men, women and children were left upon the
ground as food for the wolf and vulture. The Sioux warriors returned to
their own encampment when it was ascertained that the nameless leader
had taken more than twice as many scalps as his brother warriors. Then
it was that a feeling of jealousy arose, which was soon quieted,
however, by the news that the Crow Indians had stolen a number of horses
and many valuable furs from a Sioux hunter as he was returning from the
mountains. Another warlike expedition was planned, and as before the
nameless warrior took the lead.

The sun was near his setting, and as the Sioux party looked down upon a
Crow village, which occupied the center of a charming valley, the Sioux
chief commanded the attention of his braves and addressed them in the
following language:

“I am about to die, my brothers, and must speak my mind. To be fortunate
in war is your chief ambition and because I have been successful you are
unhappy. Is this right? Have you acted like men? I despise you for your
meanness and I intend to prove to you this night that I am the bravest
man in the nation. The task will cost me my life, but I am anxious that
my nature should be changed and I shall be satisfied. I intend to enter
the Crow village alone, but before departing, I have one favor to
request. If I succeed in destroying that village, and lose my life, I
want you, when I am dead, to cut off my head and protect it with care.
You must then kill one of the largest buffaloes in the country and cut
off his head. You must then bring his body and my head together, and
breathe upon them, when I shall be free to roam in the Spirit-land at
all times, and over our great prairie-land wherever I please. And when
your hearts are troubled with wickedness remember the _Lone Buffalo_.”

The attack upon the Crow village was successful, but according to his
prophecy the _Lone Buffalo_ received his death wound, and his brother
warriors remembered his parting request. The fate of the hero’s mother
is unknown, but the Indians believe that it is she who annually sends
from the Spirit-land the warm winds of spring, which cover the prairies
with grass for the sustenance of the Buffalo race. As to the _Lone
Buffalo_, he is never seen even by the most cunning hunter, excepting
when the moon is at its full. At such times he is invariably alone,
cropping his food in some remote part of the prairies; and whenever the
heavens resound with the moanings of the thunder, the red man banishes
from his breast every feeling of jealousy, for he believes it to be the
warning voice of the _Lone Buffalo_.

                                                         CHARLES LANMAN.




                           ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS


             AGREEMENT BETWEEN EDMUND MUNRO AND JOHN SELLON


  [Edmund Munro of Lexington, Mass. [1736–1778], lieutenant in the
  French and Indian war. Served at the battle of Lexington, April 19,
  1775; Lieutenant, Captain Miles’s company, Colonel Reed’s regiment,
  also Quartermaster at Ticonderoga and with the Northern army in the
  campaign ending with Burgoyne’s surrender; also Captain, Colonel
  Bigelow’s (13th Mass.) regiment, Continental army; killed in the
  battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778.

  The agreement between him and Sellon, executed at Crown Point, is a
  curious proof of the caution of the New England nature. Sellon
  practically insures him against loss, for a premium of £3. It is a
  unique document, as far as we know.—ED.]


                                              CROWN POINT _July 1. 1762_

Whereas Mr. Edmund Munro Has Served as an Adjutant in the Massachusetts
forces Last Winter, by order of the Gov^r of this Place, and by Virtue
of a Warrant Granted to Him Last Year by Gov^r Bernard And Whereas the
Afors^d Munro is under some Apprehensions that the Massachusetts
Government will not grant Him Pay for His Doing the Duty of an Adjutant,
from the 17^{th} Day of Nov^r Last till the 4^{th} day of March 1762

For and in Consideration of a Note of Hand Given to me the Subscriber
Payable to me or my Order for the Sum of Three Pounds Law^l Money
Bearing Equal Date with this I Do hereby Covenant, Seal and make Sure,
and if the Province does not Pay Him, the afors^d Munro, for the Service
aforementioned, in that case I Promise to pay or Cause to be paid unto
him the Pay allowed for the Service of Adjutant for the term of time
afors^d in Six Months, and Witness my Hand N. B.—if the afores^d Munro
did not Receive a Warrant or Commission to serve as Adjutant Last Year
in Col Hoar’s Regt then the above Obligation to be void and of None
Effect But if he did Receive a Warrant or Commission to act as Adjutant
then the above obligation to Remain in full Force and Virtue

                                                              JN* SELLON

Test. THOMAS COWDIN


             LETTERS OF LIEUTENANT EDMUND MUNRO TO HIS WIFE


      [Contributed by his great grandson, Dr. F. H. Brown, Boston.]


                                       TICONDEROGA 16^{th} _August_ 1776

  MY DEAR—

  I arived at this place the 12^{th} Instant after a very fatiguing
  march through the woods with 75 of the Company, the Capt. Lieut.
  Ensign with the remainder of the Company are not arived yet. We had
  rain almost every day, we are well fortified and Ready for the King’s
  troops if they see cause to pay us a visit The troops that have been
  here this Summer are sickly Moses Harrington died about ten days ago.
  Daniel Simonds & Samuel Munro are sick but Like to recover, there is
  none sick of the Small Pox & it is thought there is no Danger, By the
  last account from Canada it is thought that the King’s troops will not
  be like to come near us this summer, our whole army are Employed in
  fortifying this place which will soon be strong enough if well man^d
  to stand a rangle with all Brittain. Francis Bowman & Wm Crosby are
  well & desire to be remembered to their friends Lexington men are in
  good Health If you will leave a letter at Buckmans the Post will bring
  it to me I shall be glad you could write me as I shall not rest easy
  till I hear from you, by the next post I hope to send you some money.
  my love to our little ones as you & they are never out of my mind My
  compliments to all friends I remain my Dear your Loving Husband

                                                              EDMD MUNRO


                                         VALEY FORGE, _May_ 17^{th} 1778

  MY DEAR,

  I send these lines with my warmest love & respect to you & the Little
  ones Wishing they may find you & them & all friends in perfect Health
  & Prosperity. I am in good Health through divine goodness. I have
  nothing new to write you; the Lexington men are in a good State of
  health, Except Levi Mead & pomp,[14] they are not well, but so that
  (they) keep about. I am going on command tomorrow morning down to the
  Enemy’s lines, there are two thousand going on the command I am of the
  mind that we shall have a dispute with them before we return Give my
  dutifull respects to Father & Mother Compliments to all Friends. I
  conclude, Wishing you & the little ones the Best of Heaven’s
  Blessings, and remain, my dear,

  Your Most Effectionate Husband

                                                              EDMD MUNRO

  Inclosed is a Lancaster news paper which you will see the account of
  the grand fue de joy we had on the Sixth of May instant which is a
  true & particular account of that day


                                            VALLEY FORGE, 12 _June_ 1778

  MY DEAR,

  I send these lines with the Most effectionate love & Respect, to you &
  the children, wishing they may find you in Perfect Health &
  prosperity. I am well & in High spirits through divine goodness
  Lexington men are all well; news we have none except the Commissioners
  are arived from Great Brittain at Philadelphia in order to settle the
  dispute between us & them They have Sent a Flag of truce, what they
  had to offer is forwarded to Congress The new establishment of the
  army is arived in camp; there is to be a Large Reducement of officers,
  but as it has not taken place as yet, it is not known who are to be
  Reduced The new arrangement is on a Better footing than it was before.
  As it is to take place soon I will let you know my destiny by Mr
  Williams who is in a fair way to recover of the Small Pox; by him I am
  in Hopes to send you some money. I receiv^d you letter & a Pair gloves
  I hope to reward you for your kindness to your satisfaction Be kind
  enough to let me know whether you have Drawn a Blank or a Prize in
  States Lottery

  My due respects to all Friends

                      I am my dear your most effectionate
                                                        Husband
                                                              EDMD MUNRO


    ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF LINCOLN’S SPEECH ON THE FORMATION OF THE
           REPUBLICAN PARTY. No date, but delivered in 1859.


  [An extremely valuable Lincoln document, perhaps the best that was
  ever offered at public sale. It was accompanied by a letter from Mrs.
  E. J. Grinsley of Springfield, Ill., dated April 10th, 1866,
  presenting the Speech to the Rev. E. P. Hammond.

  Mrs. Grinsley in her letter calls it “_part of an address_,” but it
  reads like a short but complete speech.]

  The following is the text:


Upon those men who are in sentiment opposed to the spread and
nationalization of slavery, rests the task of preventing it. The
Republican organization is the embodyment of that sentiment; though, as
yet, it by no means embraces all the individuals holding that sentiment.
The party is newly formed; and in forming, old party ties had to be
broken, and the attractions of party pride and influential leaders were
wholly wanting—In spite of old differences, prejudices, and animosities,
its members were drawn together by a permanent common danger—They formed
and manœuvered in the face of the disciplined enemy, and in the teeth of
all his persistent misrepresentations— Of course, they fell far short of
gathering in all their own—And yet, a year ago, they stood up, an army
over thirteen hundred thousand strong—That army is, to-day, THE BEST
HOPE OF THE NATION AND OF THE WORLD— Their work is before them; and FROM
WHICH THEY MAY NOT GUILTLESSLY TURN AWAY.


                   MAJOR JAMES M’HENRY TO GEN. GREENE


  [Part of letter of Major Jamel McHenry, member of the Continental
  Congress, military secretary to Washington, and afterwards Secretary
  of War, to General Greene. It is dated at Ambler’s Plantation,
  (opposite James Island, Va.), July 8, 1781. It is not signed, but is
  of great historical interest. He says:]


On the 4th Instant, the Enemy evacuated Williamsburg, where some Stores
fell into our Hands, and retreated to this Place, under the Cannon of
their Shipping. Next Morning we advanced to Bird’s Tavern and a Part of
the Army took Post at Narrell’s Mills about nine Miles from the British
Camp.—The Sixth I detached an advanced Corps under Gen’l Wayne, with a
View of reconnoitering the Enemy’s Situation. Their light Parties being
drawn in, the Pickets which lay close to their Encampment were gallantly
attacked by some Riflemen, whose Skill was employed to great Effect,
Having ascertained that Lord Cornwallis had sent off his Baggage, under
a proper Escort and posted his Army in an open Field fortified by the
Shipping, I returned to the Detachment which I found more generally
engaged. A Piece of Cannon had been attempted by the Van Guard under
Major Galvan, whose conduct deserves high Applause. Upon this the whole
British Army came out and advanced to the thin Wood occupied by Gen’l
Wayne. His Corps chiefly composed of Pennsylvanians, and some light
Infantry did not exceed eight hundred Men, with three Field Pieces. But
notwithstanding their Numbers at Sight of the British Army, the Troops
ran to the encounter, a short Skirmish ensued with a close Warm and well
directed firing, but as the Enemy’s Right and Left, of Course greatly
out flanked ours, I sent Gen’l Wayne Orders to retire Half a Mile to
where Colonels Vose and Barber’s light Infantry Battalions had arrived
by a rapid Move and where I ordered them to form, In this Position they
remained ’till some Hours after Sunset, The Militia under Gen’l Lawson
had been advanced and the Continentals were at Narrel’s Mill, when the
Enemy retreated in the Night to James Island, which they also evacuated,
crossing over to the South Side of the River. Their Ground at this Place
and the Island was successively occupied by Gen’l Muhlenberg, many
valuable Horses were left on their Retreat. From every account the
Enemy’s Loss has been very great and much Pains taken to conceal it.
Their Light Infantry the Brigade of Guards and two British Regiments
formed the first Line. The Remainder of their Army, the Second, the
Cavalry paraded, but did nothing. By the enclosed Returns you will see
what Part of General Wayne’s Detachment Suffered most. The services
rendered by the Officers make me happy to think that although many were
wounded, we have lost none. Most of the Field Officers had their horses
killed. The same accident to every Horse of two Field Pieces made it
impossible to move them unless men had been sacrificed. But it is enough
for the Glory of Gen’l Wayne, and the Officers and Men he commanded, to
have attacked the whole British Army, with a reconnoitering Party only,
close to their encampment, and by this severe Skirmish hastened their
Retreat over the River. Colo. Bayer of the Riflemen is a Prisoner.


            LETTER OF WASHINGTON TO THE CITIZENS OF SAVANNAH

                                                         _May 13, 1798._

  _To the Citizens of Savannah, and the inhabitants of its vicinity_:

GENTLEMEN.—I am extremely happy in the occasion now afforded me to
express my sense of your goodness, and to declare the sincere and
affectionate gratitude which it inspires.

The retrospect of past scenes, as it exhibits the virtuous character of
our country, enhances the happiness of the present hour, and gives the
most pleasing anticipation of progressive prosperity—

The individual satisfaction, to be derived from the grateful reflection,
must be enjoyed in a peculiar degree by the deserving citizens of
Georgia—a State no less distinguished by its services, than by its
sufferings in the cause of freedom.

That the city of Savannah may largely partake of every public benefit,
which our free and equal government can dispense, and that the happiness
of its vicinity may reply to the best wishes of its inhabitants is my
sincere prayer.

                                                         G^O WASHINGTON.


                      LETTER OF MARTHA WASHINGTON

                                 PHILADELPHIA, _December the 3rd, 1792_.

  _To Mrs. Frances Washington_:

MY DEAR FANNY.—Your Letter of the 2d of November came to my hands
yesterday—I am truly glad that the Major has had some little relief, and
I trust ere this he has found ease from the pain in his breast and side.
I beg my dear Fanny to write one day in every week and that we shall
know when to expect her letters, we are very anxious when the southern
post comes to hear from you. I write to you by every Mondays Post, your
letters come to us on Saturday.—I hope you will pay some attention to
your own health, as I feared you were in very delicate situation when I
left you at Mount Vernon. Thank god we are all tolerable well hear—Tho I
know you are with your friends that is ready to give you every
assistance and kindness, yet if there is any thing hear that you cannot
get whare you are that you may want, I beg you will let us know and it
will give us pleasure to supply you with it.

I am happy to hear that your dear little Babes keep well.

Our compliments to Mr. Bassett—my love and good wishes to your self and
the Major,—Your Brothers and Sisters,—Kiss the children for me.

                              I am my dear Fanny Your most affectionate
                                                          M. WASHINGTON.

-----

Footnote 1:

  A plan destined to be tried on a larger scale, but with equal
  futility, at Charleston Harbor, in 1861—so does History repeat
  herself.

Footnote 2:

  Ancestor of the poet Landor.

Footnote 3:

  Min. of Legislative Council, and of General Assembly, Dec. 23 and 30,
  1767.

Footnote 4:

  Letter of Colden to Earl of Shelburne, Jan. 21, 1768. Doc. Rel. Col.
  Hist. N. Y., VIII, p. 6.

Footnote 5:

  Minutes, General Assembly, Feb. 6, 1768.

Footnote 6:

  Vide Isaac Q. Leake, “Memoir of the Life and Times of General John
  Lamb,” Chapters II and III.

Footnote 7:

  Minutes, General Assembly, Dec. 18th and 19th, 1769.

Footnote 8:

  Minutes, General Assembly, Dec. 31, 1769.

Footnote 9:

  Minutes, General Assembly of that date.

Footnote 10:

  Original in a book in the Office of the General Court, labelled
  “Inquisitions &c., 1665–1676” p. 239, printed in Hening’s Statutes at
  Large, II, 517.

Footnote 11:

  Burke, Hist. Virginia, II, 237.

Footnote 12:

  Quoted by Hening, Statutes at Large, II, 518.

Footnote 13:

  Chalmer’s Annals, Vol. I, p. 345.

Footnote 14:

  Pomp was a black man, wounded at the battle of Lexington, and probably
  a servant to Captain Munro.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                     A Beautiful Book at a Bargain


   NAVAL AND MILITARY TROPHIES, AND RELICS OF HEROES OF GREAT BRITAIN

     _Text by R. R. HOLMES_      ⁂      _Illustrations by W. GIBB_

                Folio (12×16), Cloth.      London, 1896

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------------------------------------------------------------------------




                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES


 ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
 ● Placed the initial advertisement page following the footnotes.
 ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last
     chapter.
 ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
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 ● The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to
     individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like
     1^{st}).



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74134 ***