Chapter II.
1[Return]Lossing.
Chapter III.
1[Return]Winsor's "Cartier to Frontenac."
Chapter IV.
1[Return]See "History of Elections in the American Colonies." Columbia College Series.
Chapter VIII.
1[Return]I was present at a meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society when President (then professor) Andrews, of Brown University, reported in behalf of a committee, that it had been judged inexpedient to publish Comer's Diary. I have since had the privilege of examining the diary in the original, and can understand the grounds of objection.—H. M.
Chapter IX.
1[Return]In the summer of 1883 I represented the ProvidenceJournalat the dedication of Fort Ninigret, a spot set apart from the former Narragansett reservation in memory of the tribe which had given welcome to Roger Williams when he fled from Puritan persecution. I visited at the time the scene of the Great Swamp fight, and also the burying-ground of the latter Narragansett chiefs.
The following lines which were suggested by the occasion, may perhaps be of interest to the reader:
THE GRAVE OF NINIGRET.A stricken pine—a weed-grown moundOn the upland's rugged crest,Point where the hunted Indian foundAt length a place of rest.Thou withered tree, by lightning riven,Of bark and leaf bereft,With lifeless arms erect to heaven,Of thee a remnant's left;The bolt that broke thy giant prideYet spared the sapling green;And tall and stately by thy side'Twill show what thou hast been.But of the Narragansett raceNor kith, nor blood remains;Save that perchance a tainted traceMay lurk in servile veins.The mother's shriek, the warrior's yellThat rent the midnight airWhen Christians made yon swamp a hell,No longer echo there.The cedar brake is yet alive—But not with human tread—Within its shade the plover thrive,The otter makes its bed.The red fox hath his hiding-placeWhere ancient foxes ran.How keener than the sportsman's chaseThe hunt of man by man!
THE GRAVE OF NINIGRET.
THE GRAVE OF NINIGRET.
A stricken pine—a weed-grown moundOn the upland's rugged crest,Point where the hunted Indian foundAt length a place of rest.
A stricken pine—a weed-grown mound
On the upland's rugged crest,
Point where the hunted Indian found
At length a place of rest.
Thou withered tree, by lightning riven,Of bark and leaf bereft,With lifeless arms erect to heaven,Of thee a remnant's left;
Thou withered tree, by lightning riven,
Of bark and leaf bereft,
With lifeless arms erect to heaven,
Of thee a remnant's left;
The bolt that broke thy giant prideYet spared the sapling green;And tall and stately by thy side'Twill show what thou hast been.
The bolt that broke thy giant pride
Yet spared the sapling green;
And tall and stately by thy side
'Twill show what thou hast been.
But of the Narragansett raceNor kith, nor blood remains;Save that perchance a tainted traceMay lurk in servile veins.
But of the Narragansett race
Nor kith, nor blood remains;
Save that perchance a tainted trace
May lurk in servile veins.
The mother's shriek, the warrior's yellThat rent the midnight airWhen Christians made yon swamp a hell,No longer echo there.
The mother's shriek, the warrior's yell
That rent the midnight air
When Christians made yon swamp a hell,
No longer echo there.
The cedar brake is yet alive—But not with human tread—Within its shade the plover thrive,The otter makes its bed.
The cedar brake is yet alive—
But not with human tread—
Within its shade the plover thrive,
The otter makes its bed.
The red fox hath his hiding-placeWhere ancient foxes ran.How keener than the sportsman's chaseThe hunt of man by man!
The red fox hath his hiding-place
Where ancient foxes ran.
How keener than the sportsman's chase
The hunt of man by man!
H. M.
Chapter XI.
1[Return]The Rev. John Miller, in 1695, speaks of "the wickedness and irreligion of the inhabitants, which abounds in all parts of the province, and appears in so many shapes, constituting so many sorts of sin, that I can scarce tell which to begin withal." The reverend gentleman was probably prejudiced.
Chapter XV.
1[Return]"English Free Trade; Its Foundation, Growth and Decline." By Henry Mann.
Chapter XVI.
1[Return]John Adams, in his letter to the President of Congress, July 17, 1780, attributes the outbreak of the Revolution to Hutchinson's course in this and other matters. "He was perhaps the only man in the world," wrote Adams, "who could have brought on the controversy between Great Britain and America in the manner and at the time it was done, and involved the two countries in an enmity which must end in their everlasting separation."
2[Return]Wirts' "Life of Patrick Henry," pages 64, 65.
Chapter XVIII.
1[Return]See "The Burgoyne Ballads," by William L. Stone, from whose narrative this sketch is taken.
2[Return]Stone, "The Burgoyne Ballads."
Chapter XIX.
1[Return]Charges were made by André himself, and echoed in Congress at a much later period by Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, who had the custody of André, to the effect that the captors of the ill-fated British officer were corrupt, and only held him because they could profit more than by letting him go. On this point the testimony of Alexander Hamilton, who passed much time with André previous to his execution, and had full opportunity to weigh his statements, ought to be sufficient. In a letter to Colonel Sears General Hamilton thus compared the captors of André with Arnold: "This man" (Arnold), "is in every sense despicable. * * * To his conduct that of the captors of André forms a striking contrast; he tempted their integrity with the offer of his watch, his horse, and any sum of money they should name. They rejected his offers with indignation; and the gold that could seduce a man high in the esteem and confidence of his country, who had the remembrance of his past exploits, the motives of present reputation and future glory to prop his integrity, had no charms for three simple peasants, leaning only on their virtue, and a sense of duty."
2[Return]Walpole is right, however, in pointing out that the unconditional surrender of the refugees by Cornwallis had an important influence in bringing the war to a close by depriving the British of American support and sympathy. "It was a virtual end of the war," he says. "Could one American, unless those shut up in New York and Charleston, even out of prudence and self-preservation, declare for England, by whose general they were so unfeelingly abandoned?"
3[Return]Livingston to Dana, October 22, 1781.
Chapter XX.
1[Return]A number of years ago the Hon. William M. Evarts delivered a speech before the New York Chamber of Commerce in which he congratulated that body on its patriotism "during the Revolution." Having been allowed to examine the records of the Chamber for the revolutionary period, I wrote an article which appeared over my initials in the New YorkSunpointing out that the Chamber, as shown by its own records, had been ultra-loyal, instead of patriotic.—H. M.
2[Return]Costumes of Colonial Times.
Chapter XXII.
1[Return]During the reign of terror Rochambeau was arrested at his estate near Vendome, conducted to Paris, thrown into the Conciergerie and condemned to death. When the car came to convey a number of victims to the guillotine, he was about to mount it, but the official in charge seeing it full thrust him back. "Stand back, old marshal," cried he, roughly, "your turn will come by and by." A sudden change in political affairs saved his life, and enabled him to return to his home near Vendome. Rochambeau survived the Revolution, and received the grand cross of the Legion of Honor and a marshal's pension from the great Napoleon.—From Irving's Life of Washington.
2[Return]As early as 1784 Lord Sheffield said in Parliament: "It is not probable that the American States will have a very free trade in the Mediterranean. It will not be to the interest of any of the great maritime powers to protect them from the Barbary States. If they know their interests they will not encourage American carriers."
3[Return]Mr. William L. Stone, the historical writer, recently published the diary of a relative who served a few months in the Revolution, and who received ten sheep for enlisting. The soldier in question appears to have been in the habit of going home whenever he felt like it to cultivate his crops.
Governor Clinton said of the militia: "They come in the morning and return in the evening, and I never know when I have them, or what my strength is."—Letter to the New York Council of Safety.
4[Return]M. Barbé Marbois, who was Secretary of the French Legation in the United States during the Revolution, says of Washington: "The sound judgment of Washington, his steadiness and ability, had long since elevated him above all his rivals and far beyond the reach of envy. His enemies still labored, however, to fasten upon him, as a general, the reproach of mediocrity. It is true that the military career of this great man is not marked by any of those achievements which seem prodigious, and of which the splendor dazzles and astonishes the universe, but sublime virtues unsullied with the least stain are a species of prodigy. His conduct throughout the whole course of the war invariably attracted and deserved the veneration and confidence of his fellow-citizens. The good of his country was the sole end of his exertions, never personal glory. In war and in peace, Washington is in my eyes the most perfect model that can be offered to those who would devote themselves to the service of their country and assert the cause of liberty."
Chapter XXIV.
1[Return]In the famous sea-fight between the American frigate United States and the British frigate Macedonian several American seamen on the British vessel, through their spokesman, John Card, who was described by one of his shipmates as being "as brave a seamen as ever trod a plank," frankly told Captain Garden their objections to fighting the American flag. The British commander savagely ordered them back to their quarters, threatening to shoot them if they again made the request. Half an hour later Jack Card was stretched out on the Macedonian's deck weltering in his blood, slain by a shot from his countrymen.—Maclay's History of the United States Navy, D. Appleton & Co.
2[Return]The Constitution may still be seen in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, N. H. The following famous poem, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, saved the grand old vessel from destruction in 1833:
"Ay, tear the tattered ensign down!Long has it waved on high,And many an eye has danced to seeThat banner in the sky;Beneath it rung the battle-shout,And burst the cannon's roar—The meteor of the ocean airShall sweep the clouds no more.Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,Where knelt the vanquished foe,When winds were hurrying o'er the floodAnd waves were white below,No more shall feel the victor's tread,Or know the conquered knee—The harpies of the shore shall pluckThe eagle of the sea!Oh, better that her shattered hulkShould sink beneath the wave;Her thunders shook the mighty deep.And there should be her grave;Nail to the mast her holy flag,Set every threadbare sail,And give her to the god of stormThe lightning and the gale!"
"Ay, tear the tattered ensign down!Long has it waved on high,And many an eye has danced to seeThat banner in the sky;Beneath it rung the battle-shout,And burst the cannon's roar—The meteor of the ocean airShall sweep the clouds no more.
"Ay, tear the tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle-shout,
And burst the cannon's roar—
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,Where knelt the vanquished foe,When winds were hurrying o'er the floodAnd waves were white below,No more shall feel the victor's tread,Or know the conquered knee—The harpies of the shore shall pluckThe eagle of the sea!
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee—
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered hulkShould sink beneath the wave;Her thunders shook the mighty deep.And there should be her grave;Nail to the mast her holy flag,Set every threadbare sail,And give her to the god of stormThe lightning and the gale!"
Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep.
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storm
The lightning and the gale!"
3[Return]From statements of witnesses on the Macedonian, in Maclay's "History of the United States Navy."
Chapter XXVI.
1[Return]Malden, on the Detroit River, eighteen miles below the city of Detroit, is now known as Amherstburg.
2[Return]"At half past two, the wind springing up, Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the Niagara, into close action. I immediately went on board of her, when he anticipated my wish by volunteering to bring the schooners, which had been kept astern by the lightness of the wind, into close action. At forty-five minutes past two the signal was made for close action. The Niagara being very little injured I determined to pass through the enemy's line, bore up and passed ahead of their two ships and a brig, large schooner and sloop from the larboard side, at half pistol shot distance. The smaller vessels at this time having gotten within grape and canister distance, under the direction of Captain Elliott, and keeping up a well-directed fire, the two ships, a brig and a schooner, surrendered, a schooner and a sloop making a vain attempt to escape."—Perry's account of the battle.
3[Return]John Kinzie was born at Quebec in 1763. After the war he went back to Chicago, and died January 6, 1828, aged 65 years.
Chapter XXVII.
1[Return]A similar remark has been incorrectly attributed to Jackson.
2[Return]More than half of Jackson's command was composed of negroes, who were principally employed with the spade, but several battalions of them were armed, and in the presence of the whole army received the thanks of General Jackson for their gallantry. On each anniversary the negro survivors of the battle always turned out in large numbers—so large, indeed, as to excite the suspicion that they were not all genuine.—Albert D. Richardson.
Chapter XXVIII.
1[Return]Espana was hanged and quartered. A writer in the New YorkSun, commenting on Espana's death, said that "thus in the eighteenth century Spain repeated the barbarism perpetrated by England on William Wallace in 1305." It is unnecessary to go back to William Wallace or off the American continent for an act of barbarity similar to Espana's execution. In the same decade, one McLean, a former resident, if not a citizen of the United States, was hanged and quartered in Canada, by the sentence of a British court, on a trumped up charge of having been engaged in a treasonable conspiracy.
2[Return]See Huntington's "View of South America and Mexico."
3[Return]"The Spanish-American question is essentially settled. There will be no Congress upon it, and things will take their own course on that continent which cannot be otherwise than favorable to us. I have no objection to monarchy in Mexico; quite otherwise. Mr. Harvey's instructions authorize him to countenance and encourage any reasonable project for establishing it (project on the part of the Mexicans I mean), even in the person of a Spanish Infanta. But, as to putting it forward as a project, or proposition of ours, that is out of the question. Monarchy in Mexico, and monarchy in Brazil, would cure the evils of universal democracy, and prevent the drawing of the line of demarkation, which I most dread, America versus Europe. The United States naturally enough aim at this division, and cherish the democracy which leads to it. But I do not much apprehend their influence, even if I believed it. I do not altogether see any of the evidence of their activity in America. Mexico and they are too neighborly to be friends."—Canning, to the British Minister at Madrid, December 31, 1823.
4[Return]"They (the United States) have aided us materially. The Congress (Verona) was broken in all its limbs before, but the President's (Monroe's) speech gives it the coup de grace. While I was hesitating in September what shape to give the protest and declaration I sounded Mr. Rush, the American Minister here, as to his powers and disposition to join in any step which we might take to prevent a hostile enterprise on the part of the European powers against Spanish America. He had not powers, but he would have taken upon himself to join with us if we would have begun by recognizing the Spanish-American States. This we could not do, and so we went on alone. But I have no doubt that his report to his government of this sounding, which he probably represented as an overture, had a great share in producing the explicit declarations of the President."—Canning to the British Minister at Madrid.
Chapter XXIX.
1[Return]Notes on a journey in America from the coast of Virginia to the territory of Illinois, by M. Birkbeck.
Chapter XXX.
1[Return]It is sad to know that this patriot missionary and his admirable wife were massacred in 1847, with a number of other persons, at their mission station of Waiilatpwi by the very Indians they were educating. There is reason to believe the massacre was indirectly the result of Whitman's service to his country in rescuing Oregon from the Hudson Bay Company. The treaty of 1846 greatly irritated that powerful corporation, and this feeling inevitably spread to the Indians who depended upon the company for supplies, and who naturally sympathized with its policy of keeping the land for fur-bearing animals and savage humanity. It is unnecessary to suspect the company or the Roman Catholic missionaries attached to the company of any plot against Whitman's life. It was sufficient for the savages to know that the company hated Whitman, and that the American Protestant missionaries sought to convert them not only to Christianity, but also to industry.
2[Return]The "Dorr war," however, was very real to the people of Rhode Island. About thirteen years ago the writer was present in the office of the clerk of a Rhode Island town, when an old lady entered, and told the clerk that she wanted to see the record of a deed. Upon being asked to indicate the probable date, she said it was "before the war." On inquiry by the clerk it appeared that she meant the "Dorr war."
Chapter XXXI.
1[Return]"The Bivouac of the Dead."—O'Hara.
Chapter XXXIII.
1[Return]France and the Confederate Navy.
Chapter XXXIV.
1[Return]Life of General Robert E. Lee. D. Appleton & Co.
Chapter XXXVI.
1[Return]As one of the survivors of the massacre of November 25, 1864, at Salisbury, North Carolina, I know whereof I speak.