TO THE

SURVIVING OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS

OF

THE AMERICAN WAR OF THE REVOLUTION,

AS A JUST TRIBUTE

OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE,

THIS VOLUME

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

BY

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

ALTHOUGH the diversity of the human character, as well as its exterior form, appear to us infinite, each individual in the immense chain of being, has some efficiency in the purpose of the eternal mind. The wisdom and the council of men, whose inheritance is only obscurity aud want, might often save the sinking fortunes of their country, and grace the triumphs of achievement. Yet such has been the order of this world, that public opinion has inclined to consign to oblivion those least ambitious of power and preferment. This trait in the disposition of man has marked the progress of society time immemorial. Two thousand years ago it was remarked by the historian Euthemenes, that the Grecian Republic was so occupied in distributing favours to idle and powerful men, it could not bestow a thought on useful and obscure citizens. The same opprobrium rests on the American people, in the infancy of their republic. Among them, also, a delusive influence has engendered an opinion of eminence connected with fortune, and a sense of debasement attending on poverty, which tend to render us too regardless of every advantage but that of the rich and insensible, to every indignity but that of the poor. This pernicious apprehension, occasionally, prepares men for the desertion of every duty, for submission to every dignity, and for the commission of every crime that can be accomplished in safety.

Any effort, therefore, to improve this trait in the human character, is enjoined by the obligations of patriotism and philanthrophy. It is hoped Americans may never forget, that while deliberate wisdom only can sustain the mighty fabric of our freedom, magnanimous deeds of courage incident to every condition, were indispensable, though often the humble means, in establishing its foundations.

In contemplating the splendid achievements of our heroes, the breast glows with rapture, while we consign to immortal fame the illustrious deeds which marked the progress of the revolution; and the soul is melted into reverence at the recollection of that exalted wisdom which raised us from vassalage to pre-eminence among the nations; we should hold in grateful and honourable remembrance those daring spirits who contributed their full, though honourable share in that great event.

Who that loves his country, and reveres its institutions, can ever forget Jasper, who, in the humble office of a sergeant, when the flagstaff of his country was severed by a cannon ball, and fell without Fort Maultre, leaped from an embrasure, amid the fire of the foe, mounted the colours, and replaced them on the paraphet? Or the heroic John Camp, who dared the infamy of imputed desertion, and even death, in attempting what the commander-in-chief styled the indespensable, delicate, and hazardous project "of seizing the traitor Arnold, and thereby saving the lamented and unfortunate Andre ?" Or Hunter, the distinguished boy, who, after deeds of dauntless valour, having been captured by the tories, and ordered to instant death, while surrounded by his brutal captors, first breathing a brief prayer to the God of mercy, sprang through them, to the back of their

own chargers, and darted from their pursuit with a velocity that saved him? Or the revered Peyon, a minister of the Gospel, who, when the king's troops committed murder at Lexington, snatched a musket, led on a band of patriots to the attack, and killed, wounded, or took prisoners, a party of the enemy? Or the heroine, who, in the strength of her resolution, forgetting the weakness of her sex, in the disguise of a young man, entered the republican army for three years, encountered the perils of a soldier, and was induced only by the exigency of a severe and seemingly mortal wound, to reveal the sacrifice which delicacy had made to the love of country?

Actions like these, replete as they were with magnanimous valour, were not more than commensurate with the transcendent object of the American war of independence. Among the prominent causes which led to that great event, it will be recol. lected, was that of the claim of the British government to the right of taxing the people of their colonies in America, without their consent. This right was denied by the citizens of Boston, encouraged by their friends throughout the country; who, after all overtures to persuade the parliament of Great Britain to relinquish this assumed right, had proved abortive, formed the fixed resolu, tion of resisting by physical force the collection of such taxes. The duty on the article of tea, it seems, was intended to be reserved as a standing claim, or exercise of the right of laying such duties.

A vessel, owned by the East India Company, containing a cargo of three hundred and forty-two chests of tea, was sent to Boston, and consigned to some individuals in that town. It could not be landed without subjecting the consignees, and