ELSIE'S YOUNG
FOLKS
IN PEACE AND WAR
BY
MARTHA FINLEY
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1900.
BY
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.
ELSIE'S YOUNG FOLKS.
CHAPTER I.
It was a lovely summer day, bright and clear, but the heat so
tempered--there on the coast of Maine--by the delicious sea breeze that
it was delightful and exhilarating. The owner and passengers of the
_Dolphin_ had forsaken her more than a fortnight ago, and since spent
their days and nights at a lovely villa on shore there in Bar Harbor;
but now no longer able to resist the attractions of the beautiful
sea, the most of them had come aboard, and were sitting, standing, or
roaming about the deck.
"Oh, I'm so glad to be in our own dear sea home again!" cried Elsie
Raymond. "Aren't you, Ned?"
"Yes; though we have been having a splendid time on shore in Bar
Harbor."
"Yes, so we have; but as we expect to be back again in a few days, we
needn't fret at all about leaving it."
"No, nor we needn't if we were just going back to Woodburn, our own
beautiful home--certainly a better place than this in fall and winter,
anyhow."
"But I'm glad to have a sail again," said Elsie.
"Brother Max says we'll soon see some places where they had sea fights
in our two wars with England," remarked Ned, with satisfaction.
"Oh, does he? I mean to ask papa or grandma to tell us about them,"
exclaimed Elsie, in tones of excitement.
"Oh, yes, let's!" cried Ned. "But the men are taking up the anchor," he
added hastily, "and I must see that first. Come," catching his sister's
hand and hurrying her along to a good position from which to view the
operation.
That duly attended to, they sought out their grandma, who happened to
be at the moment sitting a little apart from the others, and made
their request. She smilingly consented to tell them all she could
recall on the subject that would be interesting to them, and bidding
them seat themselves close beside her she began.
"Your father has told me that we are now going out to the extreme
eastern point of the State--and of our country--the United States. West
Quoddy Head is its name now, but in very early times it was called
Nurumbega. In 1580 John Walken, in the service of Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
conducted an expedition to its shores, and reached the Penobscot River.
In 1603 two vessels, the _Speedwell_ and the _Discoverer_, entered the
Penobscot Bay and the mouth of a river--probably the Saco. About three
years after that two French Jesuits, with several families, settled
on Mount Desert Island. A few years later some twenty-five French
colonists landed on Mount Desert and founded a settlement called St.
Saviour. But not long afterward they were driven away by some English
under command of Captain Argal, who considered them trespassers upon
English soil. That, I think, is enough of the very early history of
Maine, for to-day, at least."
"Oh, yes, grandma! but won't you please tell about Revolutionary times
and the war of 1812-14?" pleaded Elsie. "Maine was one of the thirteen
colonies, wasn't she?"
"No, dear; she was considered a part of Massachusetts at that time, and
did not become a separate State until 1820."
"Oh, didn't the people there care about the Revolution and help in it?"
asked Elsie in a tone of disappointment.
"Yes, dear, they did. In a county convention in 1774 Sheriff William
Tyng declared his intention to obey province law and not that of
parliament. He advised a firm and persevering opposition to every
design, dark or open, framed to abridge our English liberties."
"English!" exclaimed Ned, in a half scornful tone, at which his grandma
smiled, and stroking his curls caressingly, said, "Yes, Neddie, at
that time--before the Revolutionary War--our people liked to call
themselves English."
"But we don't now, grandma; we're Americans."
"Yes; that is the name we have given ourselves in these days; but we
consider the English our relations--a sort of cousins."
"Well, then I hope we and they will never fight any more," said Elsie.
"But, please, grandma, tell us something more of what has happened
along this coast."
"In 1775," continued her grandma, "the British kept the coast of New
England from Falmouth (now called Portland) to New London in continual
alarm; they were out in every direction plundering the people to supply
their camp with provisions."
"In this State, grandma?" asked Ned.
"Yes; and in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They bombarded Stonington,
in Connecticut, shattered houses and killed two men. That was in August
or September. In October Mowatt was sent to Falmouth in Maine to get a
supply of provisions from the people there, and to demand a surrender
of their arms. They refused and defied him; then--after giving time for
the women and children to leave the town--he bombarded and set it on
fire. More than four hundred houses were destroyed--nearly all the town
of about five hundred buildings."
"What a cruel thing!" exclaimed Elsie; "I suppose they had to give up
then?"
"No," said Mrs. Travilla; "so brave and determined were they that they
repulsed the marauders and would not let them land."
"Grandma," asked Elsie, "didn't Arnold go through Maine with an army to
attack Canada about that time?"
"Yes; about the middle of August a committee of Congress visited
Washington in his camp, and together they formed a plan to send a
force into Canada by way of the Kennebec River to co-operate with
General Schuyler, who was preparing to invade that province by way of
the Northern lakes. Arnold was well known to be brave. He had been
complaining of being ill-used upon Lake Champlain. Washington desired
to silence his complaints, and knowing that this expedition was suited
to his talents he appointed him to command, and gave him the commission
of colonel in the Continental army.
"The force under his command consisted of eleven hundred hardy men--ten
companies of musketeers from New England, and three companies of
riflemen from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Those riflemen were commanded
by Captain Daniel Morgan, who afterward did such good work for our
country in her hard struggle for liberty. Arnold and his troops marched
from Cambridge to Newburyport, where they embarked on transports which
carried them to the mouth of the Kennebec. They went up that river in
bateaux and rendezvoused at Fort Western, opposite the present town of
Augusta. Now they had come to the edge of a vast and almost uninhabited
wilderness."
"And had to go through it, grandma?" asked Ned.
"Yes; they were very brave men, ready to encounter difficulties and
dangers for the sake of securing their country's freedom. Two small
parties were sent on in advance to reconnoitre, and the rest moved
forward in four divisions, Morgan with his riflemen in the van. Arnold,
who was the last, passed up the river in a canoe."
"Hadn't they a very hard time going through that wilderness, grandma?"
asked Elsie.
"Yes, very hard indeed; over craggy knolls, deep ravines, through
creeks and ponds and deep morasses; sometimes paddling along a stream
in their canoes--sometimes carrying them around a fall on their
shoulders. Suddenly, at length, they came to a mountain covered with
snow. At its foot they encamped for three days. Then they went on
again, but a heavy rain set in, sending down such torrents from the
hills that the river rose eight feet in one night. The water came
roaring down the valley where our soldiers were, so unexpectedly and
powerfully that they had scarcely time to retreat and get into their
bateaux before the whole plain was flooded with water. Seven boats were
overturned and the provisions in them lost. Many of them were made
sick, too, by the storm and exposure, and so grew sad and discouraged.
Some gave up and went back to their homes, while Arnold went on with
the rest. The rain changed to snow, and there was ice in the water in
which the poor fellows had to wade to push their bateaux along through
ponds and marshes near the sources of the Dead River.
"At last they reached Lake Megantic. They encamped on its eastern
shore, and the next morning Arnold, with a party of fifty-five men on
shore with Captain Nanchet and thirteen with himself in five bateaux
and a birch canoe, pushed on down the river to a French settlement to
get provisions to send back to his almost starving men. They passed
seventeen falls, marching through snow two inches deep, then reached
the Highlands which separate the waters of New England from Canada. But
as it is of the history of Maine I am telling you, and Arnold and his
band have now passed out of it, we will leave the rest of his story
for another time."
"He did a good deal more for his country before he turned traitor,
didn't he, grandma?" asked Elsie.
"Yes; he fought bravely again and again. The great victory at Saratoga
was largely due to him; in a less degree to Morgan."
"Daniel Morgan who commanded at the battle of the Cowpens?" asked Elsie.
"The very same," replied Mrs. Travilla.
"Didn't some other things happen along this coast, grandma?" asked Ned.
"Yes, indeed; several things. In the war of 1812-14 there occurred a
naval battle near Portland, between the American ship _Enterprise_
and the English brig _Boxer_. On the morning of the 1st of September,
1813, the _Enterprise_ sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and on
the morning of the 3d chased a schooner suspected of being a British
privateer, into Portland harbor. The next day she left that harbor
and steered eastward looking for British cruisers. On the 5th they
discovered in a bay what Captain Burrows supposed to be a vessel of
war getting under way. She was a British brig, and on sighting the
_Enterprise_ she displayed four British ensigns, fired several guns
as signals to boats that had been sent ashore to return, and crowding
canvas, bore down gallantly for the _Enterprise_.
"Seeing that, Burrows cleared his ship for action, sailed out a proper
distance from land to have plenty of sea room for the fight, then
shortened sail and edged toward the _Boxer_. That was at three o'clock
in the afternoon. Twenty minutes later the two brigs closed within half
pistol shot, and both opened fire at the same time. The sea was almost
quiet, there was but little wind, and that condition of things made the
cannonading very destructive. Ten minutes after the firing began the
_Enterprise_ ranged ahead of the _Boxer_, steered across her bows and
delivered her fire with such precision and destructive energy that at
four o'clock the British officer in command shouted through his trumpet
that he had surrendered, but his flag being nailed to the mast, could
not be lowered until the _Enterprise_ should cease firing."
"And did she, grandma?" asked Ned.
"Yes; I do not think our men ever fired on a foe whom they believed to
be ready to surrender. Captain Blyth of the _Boxer_ was already dead,
having been nearly cut in two by an eighteen-pound ball, and Captain
Burrows was mortally wounded. He had been helping the men to run out a
carronade, and while doing so a shot, supposed to be a canister ball,
struck his thigh, causing a fatal wound. He lived eight hours, and must
have suffered terrible agony. He refused to be carried below until the
sword of the commander of the _Boxer_ should be brought to him. He took
it eagerly when brought, saying, 'Now I am satisfied; I die contented.'"
"What did they do for a commander after their captain was so dreadfully
injured?" asked Elsie.
"Lieutenant Edward R. M'Call took command of the _Enterprise_ and
showed great skill and courage," replied Grandma Elsie. "On the
morning of the 7th he took both vessels into Portland Harbor, and the
next day the bodies of the two commanders were buried side by side in
the same cemetery, and with all the honors to which their rank and
powers entitled them."
"Were the ships quite spoiled, grandma?" asked Ned.
"The _Enterprise_ was not, but the _Boxer_ was much cut up in both
hull and rigging," she replied. "The battle showed that the Americans
exceeded the English in both nautical skill and marksmanship. Lossing
tells us that a London paper, speaking of the battle, said, 'The fact
seems to be but too clearly established that the Americans have some
superior mode of firing, and we cannot be too anxiously employed in
discovering to what circumstances that superiority is owing.'"
"I think the man who wrote that was feeling mortified that one of their
vessels had been whipped by one of ours," remarked Ned sagely.
"Yes," said Grandma Elsie, "I think the nailing of their flag to the
mast showed that they felt confident of victory. Cooper tells in his
history that when the _Enterprise_ hailed to know if the _Boxer_ had
struck--as she kept her flag flying--one of the officers of the British
vessel leaped upon a gun, shook both fists at the Americans, and
shouted 'No, no, no!' adding some opprobrious epithets."
"Oh, didn't that make our fellows angry?" asked Ned.
"I think not," replied Grandma Elsie; "it seems to have amused them, as
they saw that he was ordered down by his superiors."
"Was it a long fight, grandma?" asked Elsie.
"It had lasted only thirty-five minutes when the _Boxer_ surrendered."
"Had a great many of her men been killed?" asked Ned.
"I don't know," replied his grandma, "but on the _Enterprise_ there
was but one besides Burrows; Midshipman Kervin Waters, who had been
mortally wounded, died a few weeks later. He was buried by the side of
his gallant leader--Burrows."
"Oh, dear!" sighed little Elsie, "war is so dreadful!"
"It is indeed," said her grandma, "and it was made especially dreadful
at that time to the people of this country by reason of our being so
much weaker than England in men, money, and ships."
"But it was a blessing that our seamen were so much more skilful than
hers, Grandma Elsie," said Max, who had drawn near in time to hear the
last few sentences. "Our little navy did good work in that war, small
as she was in comparison with the enemy's. We had but twenty ships to
her thousand, yet showed ourselves strong enough to put an end to her
tyrannical conduct toward our poor sailors. She has never interfered
again in that way with them."
"And never will, I think," added Grandma Elsie. "The two Anglo-Saxon
nations are good friends now, and I trust always will be."
"I hope so indeed," said Max. "We must be prepared for war, but I hope
may be long able to maintain peace with all other nations."
"A hope in which we can all join, I think," said Mrs. Travilla,
glancing around upon the circle of interested faces; for all the
_Dolphin's_ passengers had by this time gathered about them.
"You were talking of the war of 1812, were you, mother?" asked Captain
Raymond.
"Yes; I was telling the children of the fight between the _Boxer_ and
the _Enterprise_," replied Mrs. Travilla.
"And oh, won't you tell us some more, grandma?" entreated Ned.
"I think your father could do it better," she said, looking
persuasively at the captain.
"I am not at all sure of that," he said; "but if you wish it I will
tell what I can remember of such occurrences at the points along the
coast which we are about to visit. But first let me beg that every
one will feel free to leave the vicinity should my story seem to them
dull and prosy," he added, with a smiling glance about upon the little
company.
There was a moment's pause; then Violet said laughingly, "That was very
kind and thoughtful my dear, and I for one shall not hesitate to go
should I feel inclined."
The captain responded with a bow and smile; then, after a moment's
pause, began upon the chosen theme.