action with Cornwallis, and yet to harass him. Early in July, 1781, the
British army marched from Williamsburg, and encamped on the banks of the
James River, so as to cover a ford leading to the island of Jamestown.
Soon after, the baggage and some of the troops passed the ford, but the
main army kept its ground. Lafayette then moved from his encampment,
crossed the Chichahominy, pushed his light troops near the British
position, and advanced with the continentals to make an attempt on the
British rear, after the main body had passed the river. The next day,
the Marquis was told that the main body of the British had crossed the
ford, and that a rear-guard only remained behind. This was what the
British general wanted him to believe, and he posted his troops ready to
receive our men. Well, General Wayne, with eight hundred men, chiefly of
the Pennsylvania line, (including Mr. Harmar, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Wilson,
and myself,) was ordered to advance against the enemy. Now, Wayne
thought he had to fight a rear-guard only, and so he moved forward
boldly and rapidly; but, in a short time, he found himself directly in
front of the whole British army, drawn up to receive him. Retreat was
impracticable, as the enemy then might have had a fair chance to kill or
capture the whole detachment. Wayne thought that the best plan was to
put on a bold face, and so he commenced the attack at once. A fierce
and bloody struggle followed, and I'm not sure but we were gaining the
advantage, when General Lafayette discovered the mistake and ordered a
retreat, and we were compelled to fall back, leaving two cannon in the
hands of the enemy. By General Wayne's presence of mind and courage, you
see, we got off with but the loss of one hundred men. The British lost
the same number."
"The Marquis was, of course, right in ordering a retreat," remarked
young Harmar.
"I suppose so," replied Smith. "Our detachment might have made
considerable havoc among the British, and, perhaps, if promptly
supported, have maintained a long and doubtful battle. But General
Lafayette wanted to save his men until a more certain contest could be
brought about. He was a very young general--younger than Napoleon when
he took command of the army of Italy; but all his movements about that
time indicated that he was as skilful and vigilant as he was brave."
"Americans should ever be grateful to the memory of such a man as
Lafayette," said old Harmar. "He was a true lover of liberty, and a
staunch friend to this land when it most needed friends."
"And that reminds me," added young Harmar, "that I've a song here, which
I wrote for one of the papers, in relation to Lafayette. It is arranged
in the measure of the feeling melody of 'Auld Lang Syne.'"
"Sing it," said Mr. Smith; and the request was echoed by the rest.
Mr. Jackson Harmar, therefore, after sundry excuses in the usual
routine--that he had a cold, &c.--sang the following words in a very
emphatic manner, with an occasional break in the high notes, and
huskiness in the low ones.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
The friend that's true, remember'd not,
And days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
We never can forget;
When dangers press'd, and foes drew near,
Our friend was Lafayette.
When first our fathers bravely drew
'Gainst tyrants and their laws,
On wings of generous zeal he flew
To aid the holy cause.
For auld lang syne, my dear, &c.
He stemm'd the broad Atlantic wave;
He vow'd they should be free;
He led the bravest of the brave
To death or victory.
For auld lang syne, my dear, &c.
Let Brandywine his glory tell,
And Monmouth loud proclaim;
Let York in triumph proudly swell
The measure of his fame.
For auld lang syne, my dear, &c.
Shall sons of freedom e'er forget,
Till time shall cease to move,
The debt they owe to Lafayette
Of gratitude and love?
For auld lang syne, my dear, &c.
The song was listened to with considerable pleasure by the company, and
there was an occasional attempt, on the part of the veterans, to join in
the chorus, which, however, ended in a slight cough and shaking of the
head, as if the attempt was hopeless.
"There's good sentiment in that song," remarked Smith. "It stirs the
heart."
"Mr. Harmar, did you say the piece was your own composition?" inquired
Morton.
"It is one of my humble efforts," modestly replied Mr. Jackson Harmar.
"I'm very glad there are some young men left who can write something
else besides the love trash that's so popular," said Mr. Higgins. Old
men generally have a strong aversion or lofty contempt for everything
relating to the love matters of youth.
"Everything has its time," was the sage remark of Mr. Jackson Harmar;
"or, in the more popular phrase of Mr. Shakespeare, 'Every dog will have
his day!'"
"I should like to see patriotic songs more popular," remarked Morton;
and it is highly probable the conversation would have continued on
this subject, but Mrs. Harmar and the children kept up a constant clamor
for more stories, and old Harmar consented to amuse them and the rest of
the company with a story which, he said, he had seen in several papers,
and told in several different ways, none of which were correct. The true
circumstances he would then relate in order that his son might make a
story of it for his forthcoming work,--"Legends of the Times that tried
Men's Souls."
STORY OF THE OUTLAW OF THE PINES.
"In the fall and winter of 1776," began Mr. Harmar, "the people of New
Jersey experienced their full share of the miseries of civil war. During
no period of the Revolutionary contest did the enemy's troops act more
cruelly or more unlike civilized men. As they marched through the
Jerseys, driving our poor 'rebel' army before them, they committed all
kinds of outrages on helpless women and old men; but this conduct was
destined to recoil upon the heads of the foe. The people were roused
to resist the invaders, and the militia was organised throughout the
State--silently but surely. Our victories at Trenton and Princeton were
received as the signals for action. As the enemy retired on Brunswick,
they were followed by the exasperated farmers, and harassed terribly.
But, at the time when my story commences, the red-coats were in
quiet possession of New Jersey, from Burlington to New York. General
Washington had come over on this side of the Delaware.
"It was late in December. The weather was bitter cold, and the enemy
seldom stirred from their quarters to visit the interior of the State.
This respite would have been refreshing to the harassed farmer, if the
withdrawal of the regular troops had not left free play for the more
desperate servants of King George, or others who pretended to be such.
One of these pretenders was named Fagan. He was the leader of about
twenty ruffians as free from any particle of human feeling as himself.
There was no romance about the black character of Fagan; he was a
perfect wretch; he robbed for gain, and murdered to conceal the robbery.
The hiding-place of the band was in the pine barrens of New Jersey, and
they thence received the name of 'the pine robbers' from the people of
the country. Their violence and cruelty towards women and even children
had made them the terror of all classes. The whigs charged their doings
on the tories and refugees; but the robbers were against both parties.
They plundered a tory in the name of the continentals, and were true to
the Crown when a whig chanced to be in their power.
"Well, I'm going to tell you about one of their exploits. Not many miles
from Trenton, on the road to Bordentown, was the farm-house of Nathaniel
Collins, a Quaker, but who was not strict enough for his sect. He was
disowned by them on account of encouraging his two sons to join the
continental army, and for showing a disposition to do the same himself.
He was about sixty years old at the time of which I speak, but still
a large, powerful man, with the glow of health on his cheek and
intelligence in his eye. Though disowned by the Quaker sect, Nathaniel
Collins retained their dress, manners, and habits, and always defended
them from the attacks of their enemies.
"One night, the old Quaker, his wife Hannah, cousin Rachel, and daughter
Amy, were sitting up till a very late hour. They expected Nathan's sons
home from the Continental army. These sons had chosen the night to cross
the river, to avoid the notice of the Hessians at Trenton. Well, the
family waited till the clock struck one, but the sons did not appear,
and Nathan was getting impatient. At last footsteps were heard on the
road.
"'There they are at last!' eagerly exclaimed Amy.
"'Let me see,' said Nathan, as, with the placid manner characteristic
of a Friend, he moved to a window which commanded a view of the kitchen
door, at which a knocking had commenced. He could distinguish six men,
armed and equipped like militia, and another, whose pinioned arms
proclaimed him a prisoner. His sons were not of the party; and as the
persons of the strangers were unknown, and the guise of a militia-man
was often assumed by Fagan, our friend was not 'easy in his mind how to
act.' His first idea was to feign deafness; but a second knock, loud
enough to wake all but the dead, changed his intention--he raised the
window and hailed the men:
"'Friends, what's your will?'
'A little refreshment of fire and food, if you please; we have been far
on duty, and are half frozen and quite starved.' 'We don't entertain
them who go to war.'
'Yes; but you will not refuse a little refreshment to poor fellows like
us, this cold night; that would be as much against the principles of
your society as war.'
'Thee's from Trenton?'
'No, I thank you; Nathaniel Collins is too well known as a friend to the
country, and an honest man, to aid a refugee--we know that.'
'Soap the old fox well,' whispered one of the band.
'Come, friend, make haste and let us in, we are almost perished, and
have far to go before sunrise, or we may change places with our prisoner
here before sunset.'
'But what does the party here, this side of the river, right under the
Hessians' nose, if--'
'Oh, we are minute-men, sent from within by Captain Smallcross, to seize
this deserter--don't you mean to let us in?'
"Nathaniel closed the window and said, 'I don't know what to make of
these men. Amy, call the boys; tell them to make haste and bring their
guns, but keep them out of sight, where they will be handy.'
"As the command was obeyed, and the three young men, laborers on the
farm, appeared and placed their guns behind the inner, their master
unbolted the outer door and admitted five of the armed men--the prisoner
and one of his captors remaining without. Nathaniel thought this
unnecessary of so cold a night, and a little suspicious--'Will not thy
companions enter also?'
"'No, thank you; he guards the prisoner.'
'But why may not the prisoner, too?' 'Pshaw! he's nothing but a
deserter. The cold will be good for _him_.'
"'I must say,' quote Nathan, 'exercised,' as he afterwards owned, past
endurance, 'thy conduct neither becomes thy nature as a man, or thy
calling, which should teach thee more feeling--I'll take the poor fellow
something to eat myself.'
"The old man had reached the door on his merciful errand, meaning it is
true, to satisfy his curiosity at the same time, when he who had acted
as leader of the party sprang from his chair, and, placing his hand on
his host's breast, pushed him rudely back. 'Stand back--back, I say, and
mind your own business, if you _are_ a Quaker.'
"There was a momentary struggle in Nathan's mind, whether to knock
the fellow down, as from appearances he easily might, or to yield,
in obedience to his _principles._ 'It was strongly on his mind,' he
confessed, to pursue the former course, but prudence conquered, and
he quietly withdrew to the upper end of the apartment, where his men
lounged on a bench, apparently half asleep, and indistinctly visible
in the light of the fire and one small candle, which burned near the
strangers. In the interim, the old cook had been summoned, and had
arranged some cold provisions on the table. 'Old Annie,' the cook, was
the child of Indian and mulatto parents, but possessed none of the
features of her darker relation, except a capacious mouth and lips
to match. She refused to associate with either negroes or Indians,
considering herself as belonging to neither, and indulging a
sovereign contempt for both. Her favorite term of reproach was 'Injin'
and 'nigger,' and when they failed _separately_ to express her feelings,
she put the two together, a compliment always paid the Hessians, when
she had occasion to mention them. A party of these marauders had, on
a visit to her master's house, stolen her fall's store of sausages;
thenceforth she vowed eternal hatred to the race--a vow she never forgot
to the day of her death.
"The strangers ate their repast, showing anything but confidence in
their entertainer, and ate, each man with his gun resting on his
shoulder. During the whole meal, he who called himself their captain was
uneasy and restless. For some time, he appeared to be engaged in a very
close scrutiny of the household, who occupied the other end of the
kitchen--a scrutiny which, owing to the darkness, could not yield him
much satisfaction. He then whispered anxiously and angrily with his men,
who answered in a dogged, obstinate fashion, that evidently displeased
him; till, finally, rising from his seat, he bade them follow, and
scarcely taking time to thank Nathan for his food and fire, passed out
of the door and made from the house.
"'Well, now, that beats me!' said Elnathan, as he and his comrades
looked at each other in astonishment at the abrupt departure and
singular conduct of their guests.
"'That are a queer lark, any how!' responded John; 'it beats all
natur'.'
''The Injins,' said Ann. 'If that is not Fagan or some of his gang,
never trust me!--why did you not give them a shot, the 'tarnal thieves?'
"But our household troop were too glad to get rid of their visitors to
interrupt their retreat. The house was secured again, the men had thrown
themselves down, and some of them were already asleep, when another
knock at the same door brought them as one man to their feet. On opening
the door, a laborer attached to a neighboring farm presented himself,
breathless from haste, and almost dead with fear. When he so far
recovered his speech as to be able to tell his story, he proved to
be the man whom the pretended militia-men had brought with them as a
prisoner, and his captors were found to be no less than Fagan and a
portion of his band. They had that night robbed five different houses
before they attempted our Friend's. Aware that his sons were from
home, they expected to find the old man unsupported, but having gained
admission into the house, they were surprised at the appearance of three
additional men. Fagan, however, was bent upon completing his enterprise
in spite of all opposition; but his followers obstinately refused. At
the foot of the avenue a bitter quarrel ensued, Fagan taxing his men
with cowardice; but the fear of pursuit silenced them at length. The
next question was, how to dispose of their prisoner, whom they had
seized in one of their 'affairs,' and, for want of some means of
securing him, brought with them. Fagan, as the shortest way, proposed,
as he had before, to cut his throat; but the proposal was overruled as
unnecessary. He was unbound, and, upon his solemn promise to return
without giving the alarm, one of the band returned him his silver and
a little money they had abstracted from his chest. In consideration
whereof he made to the nearest house and gave the alarm, impelled by
instinct more than anything else.
"Suddenly, the man's narrative was interrupted by an explosion of
fire-arms, which broke upon the clear, frosty night, and startled even
Nathan. Another and another followed before a word was uttered.
"'What can that be? It must be at Trenton.'
"'By jingo,' exclaimed Elnathan, forgetting, in his excitement, that
his master was present, 'if I don't believe our men ain't giving the
Hessians a salute this morning with ball _cartridges_--there it goes
again!--I say, John, it's a piert scrimmage.'
"In his own anxiety, Nathan forgot to correct his servant's profanity.
'It must be--but how they got over through the ice without wings--'
"'No matter 'zackly how, marster, it's them. I'll warrant them's hard
plums for a Christmas pudding. Ha! ha! they get it this morning,--them
tarnation Hessian niggers!'
"'Ann, thee'll never forgive the Hessians thy sausages and pork.'
"'Forgive--not I. All my nice sausages and buckwheat cakes, ready
buttered--and all for them 'are yaller varments.'
"The firing having continued some minutes, though less in volleys
than at first, gradually ceased, and all was quiet, as if nothing had
happened to disturb the deathlike stillness of the night. Yet, in
that brief hall hour, the fate of a continent was decided--the almost
desperate cause of the colonies had been retrieved. The victory of
Trenton had been achieved.
"The attention of Nathan was diverted, by this first incident, from the
other events of the night, but was soon recalled to the pursuit of
the robbers, and the relief of their victims, who, from their late
prisoner's account, had been left in an unpleasant condition. His men
being dispatched to collect aid, Nathan now remained with old Anne; the
sole efficient defender of the house. He was not doomed to wait their
return undisturbed--the indistinct sound, as of many feet, was heard
advancing along the road to Bordentown.
"'It's them Hessians,' said Anne. But Nathan thought not--it was not
the tread of regular troops, but the confused rush of a multitude. He
hastened to an upper window to reconnoitre. The day had begun to break,
and he easily distinguished a large body of men in Hessian uniform,
hurrying along the road in broken ranks. As they came nearer, he
perceived many individuals half clad and imperfectly equipped. The whole
consisted of about six hundred men. Before their rear was lost behind a
turn in the road another body appeared in rapid pursuit. They marched in
closer order and more regular array. In the stillness of the morning the
voice of an officer could be distinctly heard urging on the men. They
bore the well-known standard of the colonies. It all flashed on Nathan's
mind--Washington _had_ crossed the river, and was in pursuit of the
routed foe. The excited old man forgot his years, as he almost sprang
down stairs to the open air, proclaiming the tidings as he went. Even
the correct Hannah, who had preserved her faith unbroken, in spite of
her husband's and sons' contumacy, and the, if possible, still _more_
particular Rachel, were startled from their usual composure, and gave
vent to their joy.
"'Well, now, _does_ thee say so?' said the latter, eagerly following the
others to the door. 'I hope it is not unfriendly to rejoice for such a
cause.'
"'I hope not, cousin Rachel,' said Amy; 'nor to be proud that _our_ boys
had a share in the glorious deed.'
"Amy was left to herself, and broke loose upon this occasion from the
bonds of Quaker propriety; but no one observed the transgression--except
old Anne.
"'That's right, Amy Collins; I like to hear you say so. How them
Hessians can run--the 'tarnal niggers; they steal sausages better than
they stand bullets. I told 'em it would be so, when they was here
beguzzlen my buckwheat cakes, in plain English; only the outlandish
Injins couldn't understand their mother tongue. They're got enough
swallowen without chawen, this morning. I wish them nothen but Jineral
Maxwell at their tails, tickling 'em with continental bagonets.'
"'That friend speaks my mind,' said Elnathan, with a half-sanctimonious,
half-waggish look, and slight nasal twang.
"'Mine too,' as devoutly responded a companion, whom he had just brought
to assist in the pursuit of the robbers.
"The whole family had assembled at the door to watch the motions of the
troops. The front ranks had already passed down the road, when a
horseman, at full speed, galloped along the line of march to the extreme
right, and commanded a halt. After a few minutes delay, two or three
officers, followed by a party carrying a wounded man, emerged from the
ranks and approached the house. This was too much for the composure of
our late overjoyed family; all hastened to meet their wounded or dead
relation, but were disappointed agreeably--the brothers were indeed of
the party, but unhurt.
"'Charles--boys--what means--'
'Nothing, father, except that we paid the Hessians a friendly visit this
morning. You saw them?'
'A part--where are the rest?'
'Oh, we could not consent to turn them out of their comfortable quarters
this cold night, so we insisted on their remaining, having first gone
through the trifling ceremony of grounding their arms.'
"The greeting between the young soldiers and their more peaceful
relations could not have been more cordial if their hands had been
unstained with blood. Nathaniel proffered refreshments to the whole
detachment; old Anne trembled for her diminished stock of sausages, and
remarked to Elnathan, that it would take a ''tarnal griddle' to bake
cakes for 'all that posse cotatus.' But the offer was declined by the
officer in command, who only desired our friends to take charge of the
wounded Hessian, whom his own men had deserted in the road.
[Illustration: THE OUTLAW OF THE PINES.]
"In the meanwhile, about forty men had assembled at Nathan's summons to
pursue the robbers, some of them having first visited those who had
suffered from the previous night's depredations. In one instance, they
found a farmer tied in his own stable, with his horse gear, and his wife,
with the bed-cord, to some of the furniture in her own apartment. In
another place, the whole household was quietly disposed down a shallow
well, up to their knees in water, and half frozen. In a third, a
solitary man, who was the only inmate at the time, having fled, in his
fright, to the house-top, was left there by the unfeeling thieves, who
secured the trap-door within. But the last party who arrived had a
bloody tale to tell: they had been to the house of Joseph Farr, the
sexton to a neighboring Baptist church; a reputation for the possession
of concealed gold proved fatal to him. On entering his house, the door
of which stood open, the party sent to his relief stumbled over his
body. After having most cruelly beaten him, in the hope of extorting
the gold he was said to possess, the murderers, upon his positive
denial, pierced him in twenty places with their bayonets. The old
bedridden wife was still alive in her bed, though the blood had soaked
through the miserable pallet and run in a stream into the fire-place.
Their daughter, a woman of fifty years, fled from the house as the
murderers entered, and was pursued by one of them, nearly overtaken,
and even wounded in the arm by his bayonet; but his foot slipped in
making the thrust, and she escaped slightly hurt.
"This bloody business aroused the whole country; a persevering and
active pursuit was commenced. The murderers had many miles to traverse
before they could reach a safe retreat, and were obliged to lighten
themselves of their heavier plunder in the chase. Four were shot down
in the pursuit; the knapsack of a fifth was found partly concealed in a
thicket, and pierced with a ball, which had also penetrated a large mass
of continental money in sheets, and, by the blood on the inner covering,
had done good service on the wearer. It was believed that he contrived
to conceal himself in a thicket, and died there; as he was never heard
of after. Fagan alone escaped unhurt to the pines, and for days defied
all the exertions of the whig farmers. By this time, the pursuing party
had increased to nearly two hundred men. The part of the wood in which
he was known to be concealed, was surrounded and fired, till the wretch
was literally burnt from his den, and, in an attempt to escape from one
flaming thicket to another, taken alive, although not unwounded. One of
the gang, who had not participated in the deeds I have mentioned, was
secured at the same time.