Whaley alone to contend with five British barges, full manned. Commodore Whaley had on board his barge sixty-nine men, principally citizens of the counties of Accomack and Northampton. About the middle of the engagement, commodore Whaley's magazine took fire, at which time several of his men were overboard, hanging by the rigging; twentynine men out of sixty-nine were killed on board commodore Whaley's barge, together with the commodore himself. In this engagement, colonel Cropper had to contend with two white men and one negro, all armed with cutlasses and boarding pikes, and defended himself with a musket and bayonet. One of the colonel's antagonists struck him with a cutlass on the head, which nearly brought him down. In the middle of this individual contest, the negro discovering his young master to be the person with whom he and the two whitemen were engaged, cried out, "Save him; he is my young master!" General Cropper afterwards set this faithful man free, and settled him in the city of Baltimore. He was in the service

of his country about forty-five years. Those who were acquainted with him, know how he discharged his duty in every station in which he was placed. He retained to the last hour of his life the vencration and love he bore for general Washington, the saviour of his country. He tried to imitate him in his conduct as a soldier and citizen. The deeds of this great, good, and illustrious American, was the theme of general Cropper at all times. He could not bear to hear the least whisper derogatory to the character of the best of men, and more than once has general Cropper been personally engaged to defend his fame. He had the honour to die possessed with a written document from the pen of this illustrious personage, which evidenced the high opinion he entertained of the worth of the deceased as an officer. This document was treasured up as a miser would treasure his gold, and but few persons were permitted to read it, or hear it read.

General Cropper died at his seat on Bowman's Folly, on the 15th of January, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.

CUSHING, THOMAS, lieutenant governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, was born in the year 1725, and completed his academical education, at the university of Cambridge, in his native state.

While he was very young, the town of Boston called him to fill some of its most respectable offices, and delegated him as its representative to the general court. In this situation bis patriotism, his abilities, and his faculty in dispatching business, led the house of Assembly to chose him their speaker, a place which had for many years been filled by his father

with great reputation. While he was in the chair, the contest with Great Britain ripened to a conclusion, and the station he held not only called out his exertions in the service of his country, but rendered him known, wherever the cause of America was patronised, and indeed throughout the European world. Of the two first continental congresses, which laid a foundation for the independence and happiness of this country, he was a judicious and an active member. On his return to his own state, he was chosen a member of the council, which then constituted its supreme executive. He was also appointed judge of the courts of common pleas, and of probate in the county of Suffolk, which stations he held until the adoption of the present constitution, when he was called to the office of lieutenant-governor, in which he continued until his death.

Under arbitrary, or monarchial governments, a man's being appointed to, or continued in an office, is no certain evidence of his being qualified for it; but in governments, free like ours, the appointment of a person for a long course of years together, to guard the interests of the people, and to transact their important affairs, is the most incontestible proof of his abilities and integrity. This observation was verified in Mr. Cushing. He thoroughly understood the interests of his country, and meant invariably to pursue them. Very few men knew better than he, how to predict the consequences of the public conduct; to balance contending parties; to remove difficulties; and to unite separate and divided interests. His life was a state of constant exertion in the service of his country; its happiness was dear to him in health; it lay near his heart in his last moments; and, while he expressed a satisfaction in having honestly and uprightly, in every department he had filled, aimed at doing good, he manifested the most tender solicitude, for the peace and prosperity of America.

There was a time when Mr. Cushing was considered in Great Britain as the leader of the whigs in this country. He was not esteemed so in Boston. He had less political zeal than Otis, or Adams, or Hancock; but by his pleasant temper, his moderation, his conversing with men of different parties, though he sometimes was lashed by their strokes for want of firmness, he obtained more influence than either, except Mr. Hancock. The reason of his being known so much in the mother country was, that his name was signed to all the public papers, as speaker of the house. Hence he was sometimes exposed to the sarcasms of the ministerial writers. In the pamphlet of Dr. Johnson, called, "Taxation no Tyranny," one object of the Americans is said to be, "to adorn the brows of Mr. Cg with a diadem." He had a rank among the patriots, as a sincere friend to the public good, and

he was also a friend to religion, which he manifested by a constant attendance upon all pious institutions.

Mr. Cushing had a firm constitution, but was subject to the gout. It was this disorder, which deprived his country of his abilities, at a time, when an important change was agitating in her political fabric. On the 19th of February, 1788, he was attacked by the gout in his breast, and, on the 28th of the same month, he died in the sixty-third year of his age, having had the satisfaction to see the new federal constitution ratified by the convention of Massachusetts, a few days before his death.

DARKE, WILLIAM, a brave officer during the revolutionary war, was born in Philadelphia county, in 1736, and when a boy accompanied his parents to Virginia. In the nineteenth year of his age, he joined the army under general Braddock, and shared in the dangers of his defeat, in 1755. In the beginning of the war with Great Britain, he accepted a captain's commission, and served with great reputation till the close of the war, at which time he held the rank of major. In 1791, he received from congress the command of a regiment in the army under general St. Clair, and bore a distinguished part in the unfortunate battle with the Indians on the 4th of November, in the same year. In this battle he lost a favorite son, and narrowly escaped with his own life. In his retirement during his remaining years, he enjoyed the confidence of the state, which had adopted him, and was honoured with the rank of major general in the militia. He died at his seat in Jefferson county, November 26, 1801, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.

DAVIE, RICHARDSON, WILLIAM, of North Carolina, was born in the village of Egremont, near White Haven, in England, on the 20th June, 1756.

His father, visiting South Carolina soon after the peace of 1763, brought with him this son; and, returning to England, confided him to the care of the reverend William Richardson, his maternal uncle; who, becoming much attached to his nephew, not only took charge of his education, but adopted him as his son and heir. At the proper age, William was sent to an academy in North Carolina, from whence he was, after a few years, removed to the college of Nassau-hall in Princeton, New Jersey, then becoming the resort of most of the southern youth, under the auspices of the learned and respectable doctor Witherspoon. Here he finished his education, graduating in the autumn of 1776, a year memorable in our military as well as civil annals.

Returning home, young Davie found himself shut out for a time from the army, as the commissions for the troops just le

vied had been issued. He went to Salisbury, where he commenced the study of the law. The war continuing, contrary to the expectation which generally prevailed when it began, Davie could no longer resist his ardent wish to plant himself among the defenders of his country. Inducing a worthy and popular friend, rather too old for military service, to raise a troop of dragoons, as the readiest mode of accomplishing his wish, Davie obtained a lieutenancy in this troop. Without delay the captain joined the South army, and soon afterwards returned home on furlough. The command of the troop devolving on lieutenant Davie, it was at his request annexed to the legion of count Pulaski, where captain Davie continued, until promoted by major general Lincoln, to the station of brigade major of cavalry. In this office Davie served until the affair of Stono, devoting his leisure to the acquirement of professional knowledge, and rising fast in the esteem of the general and army. When Lincoln attempted to dislodge lieutenant colonel Maitland from his intrenched camp on the Stono, Davie received a severe wound, and was removed from camp to the hospital in Charleston, where he was confined for five months.

Soon after his recovery he was empowered by the government of North Carolina, to raise a small legionary corps, consisting of one troop of dragoons and two companies of mounted infantry; at the head of which he was placed with the rank of major.

Quickly succeeding in completing his corps, in whose equipment he expended the last remaining shilling of an estate bequeathed to him by his uncle, he took the field, and was sedulously engaged in protecting the country between Charlotte and Cambden, from the enemy's predatory incursions. On the fatal 16th of August, he was hastening with his corps to join our army, when he met our dispersed and flying troops. He nevertheless continued to advance towards the conquerer; and by his prudence, zeal, and vigilance, saved a few of our waggons and many of our stragglers. Acquainted with the movement of Sumpter, and justly apprehending that he would be destroyed unless speedily advised of the defeat of Gates, he despatched instantly a courier to that officer, communicating what had happened, performing, in the midst of distress and confusion, the part of an experienced captain. The abandonment of all the southern region of North Carolina, which followed this signal overthrow, and the general despondency which prevailed, is well known, and have been recorded; nor have the fortunate and active services of major Davie been overlooked. So much was his conduct respected by the government of North Carolina, that he was,

in the course of September, promoted to the rank of colonel commandant of the cavalry of the state.

In this station he was found by general Greene on assuming the command of the Southern army; whose attention had been occupied from his entrance into North Carolina, in remedying the disorder in the quarter master and commissary departments. To the first Carrington had been called; and Davie was now induced to take upon himself the last, much as he preferred the station he then possessed. At the head of this department colonel Davie remained throughout the trying campaign which followed; contributing greatly by his talents, his zeal, his local knowledge, and his influence, to the maintenance of the difficult and successful operations which followed. While before Ninety-Six, Greene foreseeing the difficulties again to be encountered, in consequence of the accession of force to the enemy by the arrival of three regiments of infantry from Ireland, determined to send a confidential officer to the legislature of North Carolina, then in session, to represent to them his relative condition, and to urge their adoption of effectual measures without delay, for the collection of magazines of provisions, and the reinforcing of his army. Colonel Davie was selected by Greene for this important mission, and immediately repaired to the seat of government, where he ably and faithfully exerted himself to give effect to the views of his general.

The events of the autumn assuring the quick approach of peace, colonel Davie returned home; and having shortly afterwards intermarried with miss Sarah Jones, daughter of general Allen Jones, of North Carolina, he selected the town of Halifax, on the Roanoke, for his residence; where he resumed his profession, the practice of law.

At the bar, colonel Davie soon rose to great eminence; and indeed, in a few years, became one of its principal leaders and ornaments. He was possessed of great sagacity, profound knowledge, and masculine eloquence. His manners were conciliatory, but imposing and commanding. The late Alfred Moore, who was afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, and who was a very able lawyer, as well as an excellent man, was the intimate friend of colonel Davie, and his rival, in their honourable career at the bar. Colonel Davie was appointed by the legislature of North Carolina, to represent that respectable state in the Convention, called at Philadelphia, in the year 1787.

Being at that time a young man, he did not take a prominent part in the discussion which resulted in the formation of that constitution, which has been so severely tested, and found to be so admirably adapted to the government of our country,