In the time of the Revolution, a regiment of Hessian soldiers hired
to fight on the British side were camped in South Carolina. They took
possession of the lower part of the house of a farmer named Gibbes. The
family were forced to retire to the upper story.
Two American boats came up the Stono River, and attacked these
Hessians. Cannon balls were soon falling all about the house. Mr.
Gibbes, who was so ill that he could hardly walk, got leave to move his
family to another place. To do this, the whole family had to cross a
field where the cannon balls were flying thick. At last they got out of
reach of the cannons. Then they remembered that a little baby had been
left behind. Neither Mr. Gibbes nor his wife was able to travel back to
the house again. The negroes were too much frightened to go. All the
rest were children.
Little Mary Anne Gibbes was only thirteen years old. The baby that had
been left was her cousin.
"I will go and get him," she said.
It was a dark and stormy night. She went back into the heat of the
battle. When she reached the house, the soldier who stood at the door
would not let her go in. But, with tears in her eyes, she begged so
hard that he let her pass. In the third story of the house she found
the baby.
Then downstairs, and out into the darkness and the crash of battle, she
went. The cannon balls scattered dust over her and the baby when they
struck near her, but she got back to her family at last, carrying the
baby safe in her arms.