of death; but the heights of Charlestown will bear eternal testimony how suddenly, in the cause of freedom the peaceful citizen can become the invincible warrior-stung by oppression, he springs forward from his tranquil pursuits, undaunted by opposition, and undismayed by danger, to fight even to death for the defence of his rights. Parents, wives, children, and country, all the hallowed properties of existence, are to him the talisman that takes fear from his heart, and nerves his arm to victory. In the requiem over those who have fallen in the cause of their country, which IN HONOUR OF He devoted his Life to the The Congress of the United It was resolved likewise, 'That Time with his own eternal lips shall the eldest son of General Warren sing," the praises of WARREN shall be distinctly heard. should be educated from that time at the expense of the United States." On the first of July, 1780, congress recognising these former resolutions, further resolved, "That it should be recommended to the executive of Massachusetts Bay to make provision for the maintenance and education of his three younger children. And that congress would defray the expense to the amount of the half pay of a major-general, to commence at the time of his death, The blood of those patriots who have fallen in the defence of Republics has often "cried from the ground” against the ingratitude of the country for which it was shed. No monument was reared to their fame, no record of their virtues written; no fostering hand extended to their offspring-but they and their deeds were neglected and for-and continue till the youngest of the gotten. Toward Warren there was no ingratitude-our country is free from this stain. Congress were the guardians of his honour, and remembered that his children were unprotected orphans. Within a year after his death, Congress passed the following resolutions: 'That a monument be erected to the memory of Genera! Warren, in the town of Boston, with the following inscription: children should be of age.' The part of the resolutions relating to the education of the children, was carried into effect accordingly. The monument is not yet erected, but it is not too late. The shade of Warren will not repine at this neglect, while the ashes of Washington rcpose without gravestone or epitaph."* * Biographical Sketches. PELEG WADSWORTH, ever, did not cease from the kitchen, till the general unbarred the door, when the soldiers rushed into the room; and one of them, who had been badly wounded, pointing a musket at his breast, exclaimed with an oath, you have taken my life, and I will take yours.' But Lieutenant Stockton turned the musket, and saved his life. The commanding officer now applauded the general for his admirable defence, and "THE following is an abstract of | provided with a pair of pistols, a an interesting narrative taken from blunderbuss, and a fusee, which he the travels of the late Dr. Dwight. employed with great dexterity, being 'After the failure of the expedi- determined to defend himself to the tion against the British garrison at last moment. With his pistols, Penobscot, General Peleg Wads- which he discharged several times, worth was appointed in the spring he defended the windows of his of 1780, to the command of a party room, and a door which opened into of state troops in Camden, in the the kitchen. His blunderbuss he District of Maine. At the expira- snapped several times, but unfortution of the period for which the nately it missed fire; he then seized troops were engaged, in February his fusee, which he discharged on following, General Wadsworth dis- some who were breaking through missed his troops, retaining six sol- one of the windows, and obliged diers only as his guard, and he was them to flee. He next defended making preparations to depart from himself with his bayonet, till he rethe place. A neighbouring inhabit-ceived a ball through his left arm, ant communicated his situation to when he surrendered, which termithe British commander at Penob-nated the contest. The firing, howscot, and a party of twenty-five soldiers, commanded by Lieutenant Stockton, was sent to make him a prisoner. They embarked in a small schooner, and landing within four miles of the general's quarters, they were concealed at the house of one Snow, a methodist preacher, professedly a friend to him, but really a traitor, till eleven o'clock in the evening, where they made their arrangements for the attack on the general's quarters. The party rush-assisted in putting on his clothes, ed suddenly on the sentinel, who gave the alarm, and one of his comrades instantly opened the door of the kitchen, and the enemy were so near as to enter with the sentinel. The lady of the general, and her friend Miss Fenno, of Boston, were in the house at the time; and Mrs. Wadsworth escaped from the room of her husband into that of Miss Fenno. The assailants soon became masters of the whole house, except the room where the general was, and which was strongly barred, and they kept up a constant firing of musketry into the windows and doors, except into those of the ladies' room. Gen. Wadsworth was saying, 'you see we are în a critical situation; you must excuse haste.'’ Mrs. Wadsworth threw a blanket over him, and Miss Fenno applied a handkerchief closely around his wounded arm. In this condition, though much exhausted, he, with a wounded American soldier, was directed to march on foot, while two British wounded soldiers were mounted on a horse taken from the general's barn. They departed in great haste. When they had proceeded about a mile, they met at a small house a number of people who had collected, and who inquired if they had taken General Wadsworth. They said no, and added that they must leave a wounded man in their eare; and if they paid proper attention to him, they should be con.pensated; but if not, they would burn down their house; but the man appeared to be dying. General Wadsworth was now mounted on the horse, behind the other wounded soldier, and was warned that his safety depended on his silence. Having crossed over a frozen millpond, about a mile in length, they were met by some of their party who had been left behind. At this place they found the British privateer which brought the party from the fort the captain, on being told that he must return there with the prisoner and the party, and seeing some of his men wounded, became outrageous, and damned the general for a rebel, demanded how he dared to fire on the king's troops, and ordered bim to help launch the boat, or he would put his hanger through his body. The genera! replied that he was a prisoner, and badly wounded, and could not assist in launching the boat. Lieutenant Stockton, on hearing of this abusive treatment, in a manner honourable to himself, told the captain that the prisoner was a gentleman, had made a brave defence, and was to be treated accordingly, and added, that his conduct should be represented to General Campbell. After this the captain treated the prisoner with great civility, and afforded him every comfort in his power. General Wadsworth had left the ladies in the house, not a window of which escaped destruction. The doors were broken down, and two of the rooms were set on fire, the floors covered with blood, and on one of them lay a brave old soldier dangerously wounded, begging for death, that he might be released from misery. The anxiety and distress of Mrs. Wadsworth was inexpressible, and that of the general was greatly increased by the uncertainty in his mind respecting the fate of his little son, only five years old, who had been exposed to every danger by the firing into the house; but he had the happiness afterward to hear of his safety. Having arrived at the British post, the capture of General Wadsworth was soon announced, and the shore thronged with specta tors, to see the man who, through the preceding year, had disappointed all the designs of the British in that quarter; and loud shouts were heard from the rabble which covered the shore; but when he arrived at the tort, and was conducted into the officers' guard-room, he was treated with politeness. General Campbell, the commandant of the British gar rison, sent his compliments to him, and a surgeon to dress his wounds; assuring him that his situation should be made comfortable. The next morning Gen. Campbell invited him to breakfast, and at table paid him many compliments on the defence he had made, observing, however, that he had exposed himself in a degree not perfectly justifiable. General Wadsworth replied, that from the manner of the attack he had no reason to suspect any design of taking him alive, and that he in tended therefore to sell his life as dearly as possible. But, sir,' says General Campbell, I understand that the captain of the privateer treated you very ill; I shall see that matter set right.' He then informed the prisoner, that a room in the officers' barracks within the fort was prepared for him, and that he should send his orderly sergeant daily to attend him to breakfast and dinner at his table. Having retired to his solitary apartment, and while his spirits were extremely depressed by a recollection of the past, and by his present situation, he received from General Campbell several books of amusement, and soon after a visit from him, kindly endeavouring to cheer the spirits of his prisoner by conversation. Not long after, the officers of the party called, and among others the redoubtable captain of the privateer, who called to ask pardon for what had fallen from him when in a passion: adding that it was not in his nature to treat a gentleman prisoner ill; that the unexpected disappointment of his cruise had thrown him off his guard, and he hoped that this would be deemed a sufficient apology. This General Wadsworth accepted. At the hour of dining he was invited to the table of the commandant, where he met with all the principal officers of the garrison, and from whom he received particular attention and politeness. General Wadsworth soon made application to the commandant for a flag of truce, by which means he could transmit a letter to the governor of Massachusetts, and another to Mrs. Wadsworth: this was granted, on the condition that the letter to the governor should be inspected. The flag was intrusted to Lieutenant Stockton, and on his return, the general was relieved from all anxiety respecting his wife and family. General Campbell, and the officers of the garrison, continued their civilities for some time, and endeavoured, by books and personal visits, to render his situation as pleasant as circumstances would At the end of five weeks, his wound being nearly healed, he requested of General Campbell the customary privilege of a parole, and received in reply, that his case had been reported to the commanding officer at New-York, and that no alteration could be made till orders were received from that quarter. In about two months, Mrs. Wadsworth and Miss Fenno arrived; and General Campbell, and some of the officers, contributed to render their visit agreeable to all concerned. About the same time, orders were received from the commanding general at New-York, which were concealed from General Wadsworth; but he finally learnt that he was not to be paroled nor exchanged, but was to be sent to England as a rebel of too much consequence to be at liberty, Not long afterward Major admit of. Benjamin Burton, a brave and wor thy man, who had served under Gen. Wadsworth the preceding summer, was taken and brought into the fort, and lodged in the same room with Genreal Wadsworth. He had been informed, that both himself and the general were to be sent, immediately after the return of a privateer, now out on a cruise, either to New-York or Halifax, and thence to England. The prisoners immediately resolved to make a desperate attempt to effect their escape. They were confined in a grated room in the officers' barracks, within the fort. The walls of this fortress, exclusively of the depth of the ditch surrounding it, were twenty feet high, with fraising on the top, and chevaux de frise at the bottom. Two sentinels were always in the entry, and their door, the upper part of which was of glass, might be opened by these watchmen when ever they thought proper, and was actually opened at seasons of peculiar darkness and silence. At the exterior doors of the entries, sentinels were also stationed; as were others in the body of the fort, and at the quarters of General Campbell. At the guard-house, a strong guard was daily mounted. Several sentinels were stationed on the walls of the fort, and a complete line occupied them by night. Without the ditch, glacis and abattis, another complete set of soldiers patroled through the night, also. The gate of the fort was shut at sunset, and a piquet guard was placed on or near the isthmus leading from the fort to the main land. The room in which they were confined was railed with boards. One of these they determined to cut off so as to make a hole large enough to pass through, and then to creep along till they should come to the next or middle entry; and then lower themselves down into this entry by a blanket. If they should not be discovered, the passage to the walls of the fort was easy. In of heavy rain kept the sentinels within their boxes, and favoured his escape. Having now fastened his blanket round a picket at the top, he let himself down through the chevaux de frise to the ground, and in a manner astonishing to himself made his way into the open field. Here he was obliged to grope his way among rocks, stumps, and brush in the darkness of night, till he reached the cove: happily the tide had ebbed and enabled him to cross the water about a mile in breadth, and not more than three feet deep. About two o'clock in the morning General Wadsworth found himself a mile and a half from the fort, and he proceeded through a thick wood and brush to the Penobscot River, and after passing some distance from the fort, to his unspeakable joy he saw his friend Burton advancing towards him. Major Burton the evening, after the sentinels had seen the prisoners retire to bed, General Wadsworth got up and standing on a chair, attempted to cut with his knife the intended opening, but soon found it impracticable. The next day by giving a soldier a dollar they procured a gimblet. With this instrument they proceeded cautiously and as silently as possible to perforate the board, and in order to conceal every appearance from their servants and from the officers their visiters, they carefully covered the gimblet boles with chewed bread. At the end of three weeks their labours were so far completed that it only remained to cut with a knife the parts which were left to hold the piece in its place. When their preparations were finished, they learned that a priva-along the shore, being seven miles teer in which they were to embark was daily expected. In the evening of the 18th of June, a very severe storm of rain, with great darkness and al-had been obliged to encounter in his most incessant lightning came on. This the prisoners considered as the propitious moment. Having extinguished their lights, they began to cut the corners of the board, and in less than an hour the intended opening was completed. The noise which the operation occasioned was drowned by the rain falling on the roof. Major Burton first ascended to the ceiling, and pressed himself through the opening. Gen. Wadsworth next, having put the corner of his blanket through the hole and made it fast by a strong wooden skewer, attempted to make his way through, standing on a chair below, but it was with extreme difficulty that he at length effected it, and reached the middle entry. From this he passed through the door which he found open, and made his way to the wall of the fort, and had to encounter the greatest difficulty before he could ascend to the top. He had now to creep along the top of the fort between the sentry boxes at the very moment when the relief was shifting sentinels, but the falling course equal difficulties with his companion, and such were the incredible perils, dangers, and obstructions, which they surmounted, that their escape may be considered almost miraculous. It was now necessary they should cross the Penobscot River, and very fortunately they discovered a canoe with oars on the shore suited to their purpose. While on the river they discovered a barge with a party of British from the fort in pursuit of them, but by taking an oblique course, and plying their oars to the utmost, they happily eluded the eyes of their pursuers and arrived safe on the western shore. After having wandered in the wilderness for several days and nights, exposed to extreme fatigue and cold, and with no other food than a little dry bread and meat, which they brought in their pockets from the fort, they reached the settlements on the River St. George, and no further difficulties attended their return to their respective families."* Thatcher's Journal. |