God to give her strength to reach her destination.
Hours passed, and at length she became so exhausted that her hope of
reaching the British grew faint. She felt that if she fell again she
would not have the strength to rise. Then suddenly the air was filled
with the war-whoop of the Red Indians, and a score of the dreaded
savages sprang from their hiding-places and surrounded her.
Indians were fighting for the Americans as well as for the British, and
the atrocities which they perpetrated made the war of 1812 one of the
most bitter, most unchivalrous, that had been waged between civilized
nations for many years. Believing her captors to be allies of the
Americans, Laura Secord felt that her last hour had come, but imagine
her joy when, a few moments later she discovered that they were scouts
of the British force.
Quickly she was carried to the British lines, and at her own request
was taken at once to the officer in command, whom she told of the
impending attack. After praising Laura Secord for her bravery, and
ordering that her wants should be attended to immediately, the officer
proceeded to make use of the information she had brought him; and so
well did he lay his plans, and so quickly were they carried out, that
the Americans, instead of surprising the British, were themselves
surprised, and every man in the force captured.
LADY BANKES AND THE SIEGE OF CORFE CASTLE.
During the Great Rebellion many brave deeds were performed by women.
Royalists and Parliamentarians each had their heroines, and we can
honour them all, irrespective of party, for their devotion to the cause
which they had espoused, and rejoice in the fact that they were British
women.
Lady Bankes was a woman whom Roundheads as well as Cavaliers admitted
to be a noble specimen of an English lady. She was the wife of the
Right Honourable Sir John Bankes, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and
a member of His Majesty's Privy Council.
When it began to appear that the differences between King Charles and
his Parliament would be settled by arms, Lady Bankes retired with her
children to Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire. Sir John was on circuit at
the time, but it was soon discovered that he had supplied the king with
money to carry on war against his Parliament, and for this reason he
became a marked man. He was not, however, a Royalist who hoped to keep
his appointment by concealing his opinions from the Roundheads. At the
Salisbury assizes he made his charge to the grand jury an opportunity
for denouncing as guilty of high treason several peers who had taken up
arms against the king. For this Parliament denounced him as a traitor,
and declared his property forfeited.
No attempt was, however, made to seize Corfe Castle until May 1643,
when all the other castles in the neighbourhood having been captured,
it was the only one held by a Royalist. The Parliamentary army was
well aware that Sir John Bankes was not at the castle, and that Lady
Bankes had a very small force of servants to protect her, and
consequently it was, for some time, not considered necessary to capture
it. It was believed that Lady Bankes, shut up in her own castle, was
powerless to harm Cromwell's army. But, eventually, it was decided
that it was unwise not to interfere with a place that was notoriously a
Royalist possession, and it was decided to capture it.
The day fixed for the event was the first of May. On that day it was
the custom of the gentlemen of Corfe Castle to hunt a stag on the
island, and any one who liked to do so might participate in the sport.
The Roundheads decided to attend the hunt, seize the men from the
castle, and then capture the castle itself. But the arrival of an
exceptionally large number of people to attend the hunt aroused the
suspicions of the few Royalists, who quickly withdrew to the castle and
gave instructions that the gates were to be kept shut against anyone
seeking admission.
Having failed to capture the Royalists in the hunting-field, the rebels
came to the castle, and pretending that they were peaceable country
folk, craved permission to be allowed to see the interior. The
permission was refused, and some of the soldiers, angry at the failure
of the plot, forgot the part they were playing, and threatened to
return and gain admission by force. The officers, anxious not to
arouse Lady Bankes's suspicions, loudly reprimanded their men for
making foolish threats, and assured her ladyship that they had no
intention of doing as their men had vowed.
Lady Bankes did not, however, believe the rebel officers, and,
convinced that an attack would shortly be made on the castle, she
prepared to defend it. She had no Royalist troops whatever in the
castle, and her first step, therefore, was to call in a number of men
whom she could rely upon. But no sooner were the men instructed in
their duties than the rebels demanded that the four small guns which
were mounted on the wall should be given up.
Lady Bankes refused to surrender them, and some days later forty seamen
came and demanded them. Now at that hour Lady Bankes had only five men
in the castle, but pretending that she had a large garrison, she
refused the seamen's demand, and caused one of the guns to be fired
over their heads. The report of this gun, which only carried a
three-pound ball, so alarmed the seamen that they fled in dismay. They
must have been very different from the men who sailed under Blake, and
made the Commonwealth's navy world-famed.
No sooner had the timorous seamen fled than Lady Bankes summoned to the
castle all her tenants and friendly neighbours, to assist her to hold
the place until her husband should return. They came in quickly, many
bringing arms, and vowed to fight for her and King Charles; but the
Roundheads, discovering who had entered the castle, went to the homes
of these men, and told their wives that unless their husbands returned
home their houses would be burned to the ground. The frightened wives
thereupon made their way to the castle and implored their husbands to
return. Some of the men did as their wives desired, but others would
not break the promise they had made to the mistress of Corfe Castle.
The enemy now decided to starve out Lady Bankes, and threatened to kill
anyone caught conveying food to the castle. This measure was
effective, for Lady Bankes, being without sufficient food and
ammunition to withstand a siege, agreed to deliver up the guns, on the
condition that she should remain in possession of the castle unmolested.
Lady Bankes had, however, little confidence in the honour of the
attacking party, and felt assured that they would before long, in spite
of their promise, endeavour to take possession of the castle. This was
made evident by the behaviour of the soldiers, who, although they did
not enter the castle, did not hesitate to boast that it belonged to
them, and that they would take possession of it whenever it was
required. But Lady Bankes was determined that it should not, if she
could possibly prevent it, fall into the hands of the enemy. Therefore
she gave instructions that the men appointed to watch the castle should
be supplied liberally with food and drink, with the result that they
neglected to do their duty, and allowed Lady Bankes to smuggle in
sufficient provisions and ammunition to withstand a long siege.
Moreover, Lady Bankes despatched a messenger to Prince Maurice, asking
him to send a force to help her hold the castle against the enemy, and
in reply to her appeal Captain Lawrence and some eighty men arrived
upon the scene.
The Parliamentarians had now become aware of the fact that Lady Bankes
was taking steps to render the castle capable of withstanding a siege,
and they decided to occupy it at once.
On June 23, 1643, Sir Walter Earle arrived before the castle with a
force of about 600 men, and called upon Lady Bankes to surrender, which
she firmly but courteously declined to do. Her refusal greatly
incensed the besiegers, who thereupon took an oath that 'if they found
the defendants obstinate not to yield, they would maintain the siege to
victory, and then deny quarter unto all, killing without mercy men,
women and children.'
The Parliamentarians, possessing several pieces of ordnance, opened
fire on the castle from all quarters, but did comparatively little
damage, and their attempts to carry it by assault were equally
unsuccessful.
When some days had passed, and the attacking forces were no nearer
capturing the castle than when they first arrived, the Earl of Warwick
sent to their assistance 150 sailors, a large supply of ammunition and
numerous scaling-ladders. Possessing these ladders, the Roundheads
anticipated that the castle would soon be in their hands. They divided
their force into two parties, one assaulting the middle ward, which was
defended by Captain Lawrence, and the other, the upper ward, where Lady
Bankes, her daughters, women-servants and five soldiers were the sole
defenders.
As the Parliamentarians fixed their ladders against the castle wall
Lady Bankes and her brave assistants showered down upon them red-hot
stones and flaming wood. The soldiers too, delighted at the bravery of
the mistress of the castle, fought desperately, and not one of the
enemy succeeded in gaining entrance to the castle.
Sir Walter Earle, seeing that he could not carry the castle by assault,
withdrew with a loss of one hundred killed and wounded. He would in
all probability have made another attack, but during the evening the
news reached him that the king's forces were approaching, and overcome
by fear he ordered a retreat, leaving behind muskets, ammunition and
guns, all of which fell into the hands of Lady Bankes and her gallant
garrison.
After this siege, which had lasted for six weeks, Lady Bankes was
allowed to remain for two years in undisturbed possession of the
castle; but she lived in the knowledge that at any time another attempt
to capture it might be made, as it was the only place of any importance
between Exeter and London that remained loyal to the royal cause.
Threats were constantly reaching her from certain members of the
Parliamentary party, and to add to her trials her husband, whom she had
not seen for two years, died at Oxford on December 28, 1644.
In October, 1645, the Parliamentary army decided to make another and
more determined effort to capture Corfe Castle, and a large force was
sent to besiege it. Lady Bankes and her handful of men had now pitted
against them some of the best regiments in the victorious
Parliamentarian army, but they scorned to surrender to them.
It was in January of the following year that a young officer--Colonel
Cromwell--determined to make an effort to rescue Lady Bankes, and
riding with a specially picked troop from Oxford he passed through the
enemy without its being discovered that he was a Royalist until he
arrived at Wareham, the governor of which fired upon the troop. A
fight ensued, but the daring troopers speedily captured the governor
and other leading men, and rode off to Corfe Castle, only, however, to
find that between them and the besieged lay a strong force of the
enemy. They did not hesitate, but prepared instantly for the fight,
and the besieged, cheering them loudly, made ready to sally forth and
assist them.
Afraid of being caught between the two Royalist parties, the besiegers
retired, and Colonel Cromwell rode up in triumph to the castle walls,
and handed over to Lady Bankes, for safe custody, the Governor of
Wareham and other prisoners whom he had taken.
Greatly to Colonel Cromwell's surprise, Lady Bankes declined to avail
herself of the opportunity for escape which he had contrived, declaring
that she would defend the castle as long as she possessed ammunition.
Thinking that he could render the king greater service in the open than
in a besieged castle, Colonel Cromwell rode off with his troop, but
losing his way he and many of his men were captured by the enemy.
Those who evaded capture made their way back to Corfe Castle, and
assisted in its defence.
Days passed without the enemy improving his position in the slightest
degree, and Lady Bankes would have kept the royal flag flying for many
months more, had there not been traitors in the castle. Colonel
Lawrence, who had gallantly assisted in the first defence of Corfe
Castle, was persuaded by the Governor of Wareham to help him to escape,
and to accompany him on his flight. The treachery of Lawrence was a
heavy blow for Lady Bankes, but she did not despair, believing it
impossible that any other of her friends would turn traitor.
Unfortunately she was mistaken. An officer, who had hitherto been
loyal and energetic as Colonel Lawrence, secretly sent word to the
officer commanding the besieging force that if protection were given
him he would deliver up the castle. The proposal was welcomed, and
after much secret correspondence it was settled that fifty men of the
Parliamentarian army should disguise themselves as Royalists, and be
admitted into the castle by the traitor.
This plan succeeded. The men were admitted without arousing any
suspicion, and not until the following morning did the garrison
discover that they had been betrayed. A brief fight ensued, but
resistance was useless, and with a sad heart Lady Bankes surrendered
the castle which she had so nobly defended for nearly three years.
The Parliamentarian officer who accepted the surrender was a humane
man, and took care that his troops should not fulfil their vow to put
to death every man, woman and child found in the castle. After the
place had been plundered, an attempt was made to destroy it, but the
walls were so massive that its destruction was impossible, and to-day
much of it is still standing.
Lady Bankes was not kept prisoner for long, and Oliver Cromwell
ordained that she should not be made to suffer for her loyalty and
bravery. Throughout the Commonwealth the heroine of Corfe Castle lived
peacefully, and did not die until Charles II. had been upon the throne
nearly a year. She died on April 11, 1661, and in Ruislip Church,
Middlesex, there is a monument, erected to her memory by her son, Sir
Ralph Bankes, on which is inscribed a record of her brave defence.
LADY HARRIET ACLAND.
A HEROINE OF THE AMERICAN WAR.
It was at the beginning of the year 1776 that Major Acland was ordered
to proceed with his regiment to America, to take part in the attempt to
quell the rising of the colonists. His wife, to whom he had been
married six years, at once asked to be allowed to accompany him, but he
hesitated to give his consent, being doubtful whether she would be able
to bear the hardships of a campaign.
Hitherto her life had been one of comfort. She was the third daughter
of the first Earl of Ilchester, and her training had not been such as
would qualify her for roughing it. Major Acland did not, however,
offer any objections when his wife, fearing that he thought the life
would be too hard for her, declared that she had made up her mind to
accompany him.
Arriving in Canada, she soon found that campaigning was more arduous
than she had imagined. Her husband's regiment was continually on the
march, and she suffered greatly from cold, fatigue and want of proper
food.
When they had been in Canada about a year, Major Acland became
dangerously ill, and his wife, herself in ill-health, was his only
nurse. Although the twenty-seven years of her life had been without
any experience of nursing, she soon became efficient, and before long
had the pleasure of knowing that by her care and attention she had
saved her husband's life. But before Major Acland had fully regained
his strength he was ordered to rejoin his regiment, to take part in the
attack upon Ticonderoga.
So far Lady Harriet had followed her husband from place to place, and
she prepared to accompany him to Ticonderoga; but, knowing that the
fight would be a severe one, he insisted upon her remaining behind.
She obeyed him, but was miserable during his absence, and would have
preferred the greatest hardships to sitting idle, waiting to hear the
result of the battle. It was a hard-fought one, but Ticonderoga was
captured by the British, and the news filled Lady Harriet with joy, for
her husband, who sent her the message, told her that he was unhurt.
The joy was short-lived, however. Two days later Lady Harriet was
informed that on the day following the capture of Ticonderoga her
husband had been dangerously wounded. Reproaching herself for having
been away from him in time of danger, she started off at once to where
he lay, and by careful nursing she again saved his life.
Lady Harriet had decided, during her husband's last illness, to follow
him everywhere, no matter how great the danger; and when she was once
more on the march some of the artillerymen, anxious to make her
self-imposed task lighter, constructed for her a small two-wheeled
carriage.
Major Acland commanded the grenadiers, whose duty it was to be at the
most advanced post of the army, and consequently Lady Harriet was
always in danger of being killed or captured. She, like the officers,
lay down in her clothes, so that she might be ready at any moment to
advance. One night the tent in which she and her husband were sleeping
caught fire, and had it not been for the prompt and gallant conduct of
an orderly-sergeant, who at great personal risk dragged them out, they
would have been suffocated or burnt to death. As it was, Major Acland
was severely burnt, and all their personal belongings were lost.
Instead of being disheartened by the hardships and mishaps which fell
to her lot, Lady Harriet became more cheerful as time went on; but
another severe trial was in store for her. Major Acland informed her
that as they would in all probability engage the enemy in a day or two,
she would have to remain in the care of the baggage guard, which was
unlikely to be exposed to danger. Lady Harriet protested, being
anxious to accompany her husband into battle, but she was compelled to
do as the major desired. Here among the baggage she had for companions
two other ladies, wives of officers.
When the action began Lady Harriet was seated in a small hut which she
had found unoccupied, and here she remained listening to the artillery
and musketry fire, and praying that her husband might come out of the
fight uninjured. Soon, however, she had to vacate the hut, for the
surgeons told her that they required it, as the fight was fierce, and
the men were falling fast. Unwittingly the surgeons had alarmed her.
If men were falling fast there was little chance of her husband, whose
place was in the front line of attack, escaping injury.
For four hours the battle raged fiercely, but Lady Harriet could obtain
no news other husband. He was not among the wounded or dead who had
been brought to the rear, but she feared that at any moment she might
see him lying white and still on a stretcher. The two ladies who
waited with her were equally anxious for news from the front, and for
them it came soon, and cruelly. The husband of one was brought back
mortally wounded, and a little later the other was told that her
husband had been shot dead.
The battle ceased, and the last of the wounded was brought to the
surgeons, but still Lady Harriet was without news of Major Acland, and
it was not until many hours later that she heard he was still alive.
Her joy was tempered by the knowledge that the fighting would be
renewed before many days had elapsed.
At last, on October 7, 1777, the second battle of Saratoga was fought.
Lady Harriet was once again doomed to listen to the sound of cannon and
musketry, and to see a sad procession of wounded moving to the rear.
As time passed without any news of her husband reaching her, she began
to hope that he would pass through the battle uninjured; but this was
not to be. Soon the news came that the British, under General
Burgoyne, had been defeated, and that Major Acland, seriously wounded,
had been taken prisoner.
For a time Lady Harriet was overcome with grief, but growing calmer she
determined to make an attempt to join her husband in the American camp
and nurse him there. 'When the army was upon the point of moving after
the halt described,' General Burgoyne wrote in his account of the
campaign, 'I received a message from Lady Harriet, submitting to my
decision a proposal (and expressing an earnest solicitude to execute
it, if not interfering with my designs) of passing to the camp of the
enemy, and requesting General Gates's permission to attend her husband.
Though I was ready to believe (for I had experienced) that patience and
fortitude in a supreme degree were to be found, as well as every other
virtue, under the most tender forms, I was astonished at this proposal.
After so long an agitation of the spirits, exhausted not only for want
of rest, but absolutely want of food, drenched in rains for twelve
hours together, that a woman should be capable such an undertaking as
delivering herself to the enemy, probably in the night, and uncertain
of what hands she might first fall into, appeared an effort above human
nature. The assistance I was enabled to give was small indeed; I had
not even a cup of wine to offer her; but I was told she had found, from
some kind and fortunate hand, a little rum and dirty water. All I
could furnish to her was an open boat and a few lines, written upon
dirty and wet paper, to General Gates, recommending her to his
protection.'
Accompanied by an army chaplain and two servants, Lady Harriet
proceeded up the Hudson River in an open boat to the enemy's outposts;
but the American sentry, fearing treachery, refused to allow her to
land, and ignoring the white handkerchief which she held aloft,
threatened to shoot anyone in the boat who ventured to move. For eight
hours, unprotected from the night air, Lady Harriet sat shivering in
the boat, but at daybreak she prevailed upon the sentry to have her
letter delivered to General Gates. The American general readily gave
permission for her to join her husband, who, she found, had been shot
through both legs, in addition to having received several minor wounds.
His condition was serious, but Lady Harriet succeeded in nursing him
into comparatively good health.
When Major Acland was sufficiently recovered to be able to travel he
returned with his wife to England, where the story of Lady Harriet's
bravery and devotion was already well-known. A portrait of her, in
which she is depicted standing in the boat holding aloft a white
handkerchief, was exhibited in the Royal Academy and engraved. Sir
Joshua Reynolds also painted a portrait of her.
Lady Harriet, 'the heroine of the American War,' lived, admired and
respected, for thirty-seven years after her husband's death, dying
deeply mourned at Tatton, Somersetshire, on July 21, 1815.
'Let such as are affected by these circumstances of alarm, hardship and
danger, recollect,' General Burgoyne wrote, 'that the subject of them
was a woman, of the most tender and delicate frame, of the gentlest
manners, habituated to all the soft elegances and refined enjoyments
that attend high birth and fortune. Her mind alone was formed for such
trials.' But in very many cases heroines have been women from whom few
would have expected heroism. The blustering braggart does not often
prove to be a hero in time of danger, and the gentle, unassuming woman
is the type of which heroines are frequently made. The aristocracy the
middle and the lower classes, have each given us many heroines of this
type.
AIMEE LADOINSKI AND THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW.
Napoleon was entering Moscow in triumph. It was night, and the streets
of the Russian capital were deserted, but at a window of one house past
which the victorious troops were marching sat a French lady, eagerly
scanning the faces of the officers. Her husband, Captain Ladoinski, of
the Polish Lancers, was somewhere among the troops, but she failed to
recognise him as he rode by. Soon, however, he was at her house, and
great was the joy of meeting after long separation.