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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1935)
The Riflemen of the Revolution THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANIES By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS the summer of 1775. On the benches outside a tavern in the little Pennsylvania town of Sunbury a group of villagers lounged in the warm sun shine and gossiped idly about the news from the north. At Concord and Lex ington in Massachusetts some farmers had "fit the reg’lars” and there had been blood-letting a-plenty. Away up in New York a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, named Ethan Allen had thundered at the gates of "Old Ti” on the shores of Lake Champlain and demanded the surrender of the fort "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” The king and his ministers had sent three more gen erals, Burgoyne and Clinton and Howe, to Bos ton to help General Gage "hang as rebels and traitors all who continued to resist His Majesty's Government.” Stirring events, these! But in this sleepy lit tle village the possibility of war still seemed far away and unlikely. Then suddenly Its calm was broken. A horseman, galloping in haste and shouting: “Express, ho! Dispatches from Phila delphia 1” as he rode, drew up in a swirl of dust before the inn. And this was the news he brought: On June 14 the Second Continental congress had passed a resolution thnt “six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in the Colony of Pennsylvania, two in the Colony of Maryland and two in the Colony of Virginia, and that each company as soon as completed shall march to join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light Infantry under the com mand of the chief officer of that army.” This chief officer had just been appointed. He was a Virginian named George Washington—the same Washington who hnd distinguished himself at that “bloody business of Braddock” on the Mon ongahela twenty years before and who was even now riding north to “throw Tommy Gage out of Boston.’’ So it was to be war! Farmers Jogging along the country roads on their way to the grist mill, stopped to talk of it over Btake-and-rivet fences with their neighbors. Packhorse men, setting out on trading expedi tions to the west, carried word of it to every backwoods settlement through which they passed. And at once in many a cabin in the clearing, a lanky frontiersman reached up to the pegs above the fireplace and took down his long rifle. In his swift, sure hands it had barked defiance at Pontiac’s warriors; it had brought many a squirrel tumbling down from the highest branch of a tree; and it had stopped short the bounding flight of more than one buck deer. But there was bigger game afield now, game which offered a target that no rifleman, be he “expert” or not, was likely to miss—the British Redcoats! So from their cabins In Buffalo Valley and the other settlements along the west branch of the Susquehanna these backwoodsmen hastened to Sunbury to enroll In the company which their neighbor, John Lowdon, was forming. Lowdon had been born of Quaker parents but apparently he was apostate to the doctrines of the Society of Friends for he had fought as an ensign in the French and Indian war. He was an inn keeper at Lancaster for a time, then moved to Buffalo Valley where he was a leading member of the committee of correspondence. On June 25 Lowdon’s commission as captain of a rifle company was signed by President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson of the Continental congress. Four days later he was leading his company across the river to Nor thumberland to be sworn Into the Continental service. There they remained until one day early in July when young Dick Grosvenor, the com pany drummer, beat the long roll to summon CAPT. SAM BRADY them to take up the march to Reading and Easton and from there start on the long Journey to Boston. In the meantime congress had passed another resolution, directing the Colony of Pennsylvania to raise two more companies, which, with the six already authorized, were to be formed into a battalion and to be commanded by such of ficers as the colonial assembly or convention should recommend. Even before this word came out of Philadelphia the rifle companies were be ing filled to the overflowing. At Samuel Getty’s tavern (later the historic town of Gettysburg), the York county men were rallying to the lead ership of Capt. Michael Doudel. In Berks county they were swarming into Reading to enroll under Capt. George Nagel. In Northampton county recruiting for Capt. Abraham Miller’s company was going forward swiftly and from Bedford county in the west came word that Capt. Robert Cluggage’s men were almost ready to march. Cumberland county was providing two compa nies, commanded by Capt. James Chambers and Capt. William Hendricks. In fact, so prompt had been the response of the Pennsylvania backwoodsmen to the call, that on July 11 congress was notified that two companies Instead of one had been enlisted in Lancaster county by Capt. James Ross and Capt Matthew Smith and that the Battalion of Rifle men, “raised for the defense of American lib A RIFLEMAN OF 1775 (From the Painting by Chappel.) erty and for repelling any hostile invasion thereof” would consist of nine companies. They were to be commanded by Col. William Thomp son of Carlisle with Edward Hand of Lancaster as lieutenant-colonel and Robert Magaw as major, all "men whose courage we have the highest opinion of.” Each company consisted of one captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter, and 68 privates. The cap tain received $20 a month, the lieutenants $13%, the sergeants $8, the corporals and the drummer or trumpeter $li/3, and the privates $6%. These riflemen were a miscellaneous lot. The majority of them were Irish, German or Welsh, the second generation of some of the thousands of immigrants who, in the early years of the Eighteenth century had settled in William Penn’s colony. Then, too, there were many de scendants of the Scots who had been driven by religious persecution from their native high lands in the Seventeenth century. They had sought temporary refuge in the province of Ulster, Ireland, whence "between the years 1720 and 1740, thousands of them migrated to Amer ica and peopled the hills of Pennsylvania’s fron tier with a sturdy, rugged race that was destined to play an important part in the formation of our national charactc:”.” Besides these, there were others of pure English stock and, to make the cosmopolitan nature of the battalion more complete, the rolls of Captain Lowdon’s com pany carried the name of John Shawnee, a Shawanese Indian warrior. On these same rolls were three other names which should have made Lowdon’s company for ever famous. One of them was a German, Peter Bentz. Pennsylvania would later hail him, under the name of Peter Pence, as one of her great est Indian fighters. Another was a seventeen year-old boy, a red headed Irish lad named Sam uel Brady. The future would see him making the name of "Capt. Sam Brady, Chief of Rangers” a household word along the Pennsylvanla-Ohio Border. It would know him as the hero of "Brady’s Leap” across the chasm of the Cuya hoga river in northern Ohio. But this would be only one of many of his hairbreadth escapes from the red men. The third was another Irishman, a rollicking, dark-eyed Celt named Timothy Murphy. Two years later the sharp crack of his long rifle would sound the doom of a British army as his bullet punctuated the death sentence of Gen. STffton Eraser at Saratoga. Another year would add to his fame ns "the most redoubtedly notori ous marksman in North America and, as the “Scout of the Schoharie,” he would become the terror of his Iroquois and Tory enemies in New York. No less notable than the eagerness of such men as these to enlist in the tight for liberty was their speed in reaching the theater of war. "Between the 28th. of July and the 2d. instant, the rifle men under the command of Captains Smith, Lowdon, Doudel, Chambers, Nagel, Miller and Hendricks passed through New Windsor (a few miles north of West Point) in the New York government on their way to Boston," said a New York Item in the Philadelphia Evening Post of August 17, 1775. But it was evidently incorrect, so far as two of the companies— Nagel’s and Doudel’s—were concerned. A letter, dated from Cambridge July 24, 1775, says: "The Reading company of rifles got Into camp last Tuesday (18th.); the rest are hourly expected and much wanted.” Thus the men from Berks county had the honor of being the first Penn sylvania company to appear on the scene of action. By July 25 they had been Joined by their •harpshooting brethren from York county under Captain Doudel. Captain Chambers' company ar rived on August 7 and Captain Hendricks’ on August 8. On the same day Tim Murphy, Sam Brady, Peter Bents and their mates in Captain Lowry’s company shuffled their well-worn moc casins through the grass on the campus of Har vard college and shook the dust of the weary miles from their green-thrummed hunting shirts. Ten days later Captain Boss and his company swung into camp, to be met with much good natured banter at his tardy arrival, because his “Lancaster county Dutchmen were so slow.” Ah though there Is no record of the date of arrival of the companies commanded by Captains Smith, Cluggage and Miller, It was evidently prior to August 18. An army return from Washington’s headquarters of that date shows that the Penn sylvania riflemen had three field officers, nine captains, 27 lieutenants, the adjutant, quarter master, surgeon and mate, 29 sergeants, 13 drummers and flfers and 713 privates present and fit for duty. Besides these regularly enlisted men there were several “gentlemen volunteers” who had accompanied the riflemen on their march. Among them were Edward Burd, Jesse Lukens, Matthew Duncan, and John Joseph Henry, who later rose to prominence In the history of their state. But more Important than these was a young doctor named James Wilkinson. A native of Tidewater, Md., he had studied medicine In Philadelphia and there made the acquaintance of officers of a British regiment, the Royal Irish. His association with them, as he later wrote, “inspired in me that love of things military ever after the guiding star of my life.” So he accompanied Colonel Thomp son’s riflemen to Cambridge where began that amazing career which carried him eventually to the high position of commander in chief of the Army of the United States despite the fact that he was, In the words of one historian, "venal, cowardous, treacherous, a bribe-taker from Spain, a traitor to the United States, and faith less in all relations, public and private." Soon after the arrival of the Pennsylvania companies at Cambridge, the battalion became the “Second Regiment of the Army of the United Colonies,” thus losing their identity as "riflemen” GEN. EDWARD HAND In the “light Infnntry” authorized by congress. But they lost none of their characteristic light ing qualities, for, as one of their captains wrote home, “the riflemen go where they please and keep the regulars In continual hot water.” Iiarly in September Captain Hendricks’ and Captain Smith's companies accompanied Arnold and Montgomery on their ill-fated expedition against Quebec where Hendricks was killed and most of the riflemen taken prisoners. In the meantime the other companies were giving their officers nnd the commander--in-chief plenty of trouble by rebelling against attempts to enforce discipline. But their “disobedient and mutinous behavior" was somewhat forgiven by their con duct in a skirmish at Lechmere’s Point in No vember which won for Colonel Thompson and his regiment the public thanks of Washington. On January 1, 1776, the army was reorganized nnd these rifleman became members of the First Regiment of the Continental Army. In March Thompson became a brigadier-general and Hand succeeded him ns colonel. Under his leadership the regiment distinguished itself at the Battles of Long Island, Brandywine, Germantown, Pnoll nnd Monmouth and Its members, frequently re ferred to In terms of their commander, made the name “a Hand Riflemau” a badge of special distinction for a "first-class fighting man” In the Struggle for American liberty. 6 Western Newsoecet Union. TREMENDOUS II TRIFLES I By ELMO SCOTT WATSON MILLION DOLLAR COW-PATH IN THE 1850's, Dr. Jared Ilassett owned a small farm In the heart of what Is now Chicago's famous "Loop." He also had a cow named "Bessie” for whom he built a barn. Prom it ran a path by which she went out to graze along the road. When Doctor Bassett sold some of his property, the deed contained a provision for a 10-foot easement over which "Bessie" could make her way unhampered between the road and the cow barn. Years passed. Both the good doctor and "Bessie” were dead. Forgotten was the pro vision for the 10-foot easement. In 1925 a corporation acquired the site of the Bassett fnrm for an office building. Then . . . conster nation ! There was the deed, and the provision for the cow path which could not be blocked. The tnatter was taken to the courts but Its legality was upheld. So the corporation went ahead with the building, keeping Bessie’s path clear. They did, however, asurp her “air rights” (which she never knew she had, anyway). Above the 18-foot level the build ing Jutted out at right angles, cov ering the cow path and extending upward twenty stories. Today in the structure at 100 West Monroe street, there is a por tal that is never closed. For the ghost of Bessie may want to come back some day and go from the barn-that-was to the road that is now busy Monroe street. If that passage could have been included in the building it would have meant at least $12,000 to owners of the prop erty in yearly rentals. But, then, Chicago could not have had a "mil lion-dollnr cowpath 1” * * * WIDOWER TO WHITE HOUSE OF ALL the members of the cab inet of President Andrew Jack eon, the secretary of state, Martin Van Buren, had no wife. He had married Hannuh Hoes In 1807 but she died In 1819. Van Buren had never re-marrled. In January, 1828, Secretary of War John Eaton married Peggy O’Neal Tlmberlake. Immediately Vice President Calhoun’s wife ele vated her nose. Sniff—snifT 1 Peg gy O’Neal was a tavern keeper’s daughter. The scandal mongers were whispering that Peggy’s first husband had cut his throat because she was untrue to him. Accept “that woman” as an equal? Never! Other Washington wives also ele vated their noses. “Old Hickory” Jackson was furious. Mrs. Calhoun and the cabinet ladles must accept Peggy. But they wouldn’t and their husbands couldn’t make them. Calhoun wanted to be President. But h1s wife continued to snub Peg gy and Jackson continued to fight for her. Now Martin Van Buren had no wife to embarrass his am bitions. The widower-secretury of state called on Peggy . . . He danced with her. He gave a din ner in her honor and “Old Hickory” was mightily pleased. The row over Peggy went along and grew worse. The upshot was that the whole cabinet, including Van Buren, resigned! But In 18.'12 he becutne Vice President when Jackson was re-elected, and Presi dent In 18.T7. Andrew Jackson had a hand In bringing that about. • • • “SEE A PIN—” — BE a pin and pick It up; all ^ through the duy, you’ll have good luck." So says one of the maxima of our forefathers. At first. It didn’t seern like a lucky day for Jacques Laffltte, a young Frenchman who had come to Paris to gel a Job. He hod a letter of Introduction to the great Swiss banker, Perregeaux, and that won him an interview, but a very brief one. Perregenux told the young fellow very decisively that there was no place In his great Institution for him at present and probably would not he very soon. He hud better try elsewhere. Curtly dismissed from the beauti fully furnished office. Laffltte walked dejectedly out through the palatial courtyard. Suddenly he noticed a pin in \he path before him. Some what absent-mindedly, he stooped down, picked up this trifle and care fully stuck it in the lapel of his coat. He didn’t know that Perregeaux wns watching him from the window nor that the great banker, who was a stickler for economy and order liness In his employees, had noticed him pick ”n the pin. But that eve ning a note was brought to Laffitte’s lodgings. It wns from Perregeaux. It said, “A place Is made for you In my office that you may occupy tomorrow morning.” Laffltte became one of the great financiers of France. A pin was the tremendous trifle that started him on his career. C. Western Newspaper Union. Plants Stimulated by New Chemical Compound “Auxin” Is a word destined to be bandied about like “hormone” and “vitamin.” For auxin has an ex traordinary effect on plant growth. Cut off the tip of an oat sprout and growth ceases. Apply a trace of auxin—It can be extracted from the cut tip—and growth Is resumed Itub auxin on one side of the sprout and growth occurs only on that side Interested In such experiments as he was. A. E. Hitchcock, working at the Boyce Thompson Institute for plant research, decided to ex periment with a commercially avail able compound known as lndole-3-n proplonic acid, and this for the rea son that the compound Is chemically similar to auxin. He found no diffi culty in making the leaves and stems of tomato, marigold, buckwheat and tobacco plants bond. A little of the chemicnl caused a bending away from the point of application, and much chemicnl, townrd the point of application. Carbon monoxide, ethylene, acety lene and proplylene—all gases— brought about similar responses. This naturally raises questions. What happens to the plant when it Is smeared or treated with gases? W’hy should such widely different chem icals and gases produce the same re sults? Can It be that all have Just one common active agent? If so, what is it? And what Is Its relation to life processes?—New York Times. rm Manufactured by baking powder Specialists who make nothing but bak ing powder —under supervision of expert chemists. as 44 years ago I Sf eeeees fer aSe FULL PACK NO SLACK FILLING I fin. MjMwa MOTORISTS WISE SIMONIZ Makes the Finish Last Longer Insist on Simonir and Simonir Kleener for your car. Always use them, and it will never look dull again. If you want to make your car atay beautiful, there is just one way to do it—Simoniz the finish! So, buy a can of Simoniz and Simoniz Kleener. The remarkable Simoniz Kleener quickly restores the lustre. 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