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diff --git a/24634.txt b/24634.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30d0d29 --- /dev/null +++ b/24634.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1187 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reminiscences of the Military Life and +Sufferings of Col. Timothy Bigelow, Commander of the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts Line in the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution, by Charles Hersey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Reminiscences of the Military Life and Sufferings of Col. Timothy Bigelow, Commander of the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts Line in the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution + +Author: Charles Hersey + +Release Date: February 18, 2008 [EBook #24634] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + REMINISCENCES + + OF THE + + MILITARY LIFE AND SUFFERINGS + + OF + + COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW, + + COMMANDER OF THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS LINE IN + THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, DURING + + THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. + + + BY CHARLES HERSEY. + + + WORCESTER: + PRINTED BY HENRY J. HOWLAND, + 212 Main Street. + 1860. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without + note. A table of contents, though not present in the original + publication, has been provided below: + + I. A MONUMENT TO COL. BIGELOW. + II. EARLY EFFORTS FOR LIBERTY. + III. THE MINUTE MEN. + IV. MAJOR BIGELOW A PRISONER. + V. IN PENNSYLVANIA. + VI. AT VALLEY FORGE. + VII. THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. + VIII. THE SLAUGHTER AT WYOMING. + IX. SCOUTING. + X. DISASTERS AT THE SOUTH. + XI. BATTLE AT YORKTOWN. + XII. CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION. + + + + + TO + COL. T. BIGELOW LAWRENCE, + A GREAT GRANDSON OF THE HERO OF THESE PAGES, + I Dedicate this feeble effort. + +It is written to perpetuate the memory of one of + + WORCESTER'S MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SONS, + and also of + HIS COMPANIONS IN ARMS, + WHO FOR EIGHT YEARS STRUGGLED SO HARD TO GAIN + THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE COLONIES. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The writer of the following pages was dandled upon the knee of a worthy +sire, who had spent eight years of his life in the struggle for +Independence, and taught me the name of Col. Bigelow, long before I was +able to articulate his name. Many have been the times, while sitting on +my father's lap around the old hearthstone, now more than fifty years +since, that I listened to affecting reminiscences of Col. Bigelow and +others, until his voice would falter, and tears would flow down his aged +and careworn face, and then my mother and elder members of the family +would laugh, and inquire, "what is there in all of that, that should +make you weep?" but I always rejoiced with him, and wept when I saw him +weep. After the death of my father, having engaged in the active scenes +of life, those childish memories in some degree wore away, but the +happiest moments of my life have been spent in company with some old +Revolutionary Patriot, while I listened to the recital of their +sufferings and their final conquest. The first history of the American +Revolution I ever read, is found in Morse's Geography, published in +1814. This I read until I had committed the whole to memory. The next +was what may be found in Lincoln's History of Worcester, published in +1836, and from which I have taken liberal extracts. The next is the +History of the War of Independence of the United States of America, +written by Charles Botta, translated from the Italian by George +Alexander Otis, in 1821; from this also, I have taken extracts. I have +also consulted Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution. In +neither of these histories (except Lincoln's) does the name of Col. +Bigelow occur. Therefore I have depended principally upon tradition, +coming from his own brethren in arms, and corroborated by history. It +has been exceedingly difficult to trace the course and conduct of Col. +Bigelow from any history of the war; but history, aided by tradition, +makes up the history of any man. To illustrate: I get the account of +Col. Bigelow's conduct at the battle of Monmouth, as stated in section +vii, from Mr. Solomon Parsons, which I received from his own lips more +than forty years ago, and saw in his journal; and more than thirty years +since, I heard Gen. Lafayette and Mr. Parsons refer to those scenes,[A] +the remembrance of which drew tears from each of their eyes, and also +from many of the spectators. I find that Mr. Parsons was in Lafayette's +detachment, Gen. Green's division, Gen. Glover's brigade, and Col. +Bigelow's regiment. All of this I knew forty years ago, from tradition. +From history we all know that Gen. Lafayette and Gen. Green were at that +battle, and I am happy to say this whole subject has very recently +become an item of history, which may be found on page 260 of Washburn's +History of Leicester. In this way, and from such sources, I have +gathered the facts embodied in these pages. As to the personal +appearance of Col. Bigelow, I have procured from witnesses who were as +well acquainted and familiar with him and his physiognomy, as the old +residents of this city are with our venerable friend Gov. Lincoln. Some +of them are still living. There is one man now living in this city, who +was thirty years of age when Col. Bigelow died. This man is a native of +Worcester, and knew Col. Bigelow as well as he did any man in town, and +heard him speak in the Old South Church many times, against the +tories.[B] + +These articles have appeared in the Daily Spy of this city, and at the +suggestion of several distinguished individuals who wished to see them +in a more durable form for reading and preservation, I have concluded to +present them to the public, in the following pages. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] Lafayette's visit, 1824. + +[B] Ebenezer Moore, born 1760, Oct. 10. + + + + +COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW. + + + + +I. + +A MONUMENT TO COL. BIGELOW. + + +It is well known in this community, that one of the descendants of Col. +Bigelow is about to erect a monument to his memory within the enclosure +of our beautiful central park. Col. Timothy Bigelow Lawrence of Boston, +a great grandson of the subject of this notice, received permission from +the city government, last year, to enclose a lot of sufficient size, and +to erect such a monument as he might deem suitable and proper. It is +understood that Col. Lawrence will commence this benevolent and +patriotic work in the spring or early summer.[C] Let me suggest to him, +to the mayor and council, and to all whom it may concern, the propriety +of laying the foundation stone of this monument on the 19th day of +April, which will be the eighty-fifth anniversary of the marching of the +"minute men" from Worcester, under the command of Capt. Bigelow. It +seems to me that Worcester cannot "afford" to let this opportunity pass +without making some signal recognition of the event. Cannot the citizens +of Worcester, for the first time in eighty-five years, gather with their +families around the grave containing the last remains of her noble son? + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[C] June, 1860. We are happy to say, that Col. Lawrence has the work now +in successful progress. + + + + +II. + +EARLY EFFORTS FOR LIBERTY. + + +The name of Timothy Bigelow stands conspicuous in the history of +Worcester. As early as 1773, we find him on a committee with Wm. Young, +David Bancroft, Samuel Curtis, and Stephen Salisbury, to report upon the +grievances under which the province labored, and also upon what was then +called the "Boston Pamphlet," which had been introduced at the town +meeting in March. The writer of this article thinks that this "Boston +Pamphlet" was John Hancock's oration in commemoration of the "Bloody +Massacre" of the 5th of March, 1770. At the adjourned meeting, in May +following, this committee made an elaborate report, recommending a +committee of correspondence. The town adopted the report, and elected as +the committee, Wm. Young, Timothy Bigelow, and John Smith. In December +following, the leading whigs of the town assembled and formed a society, +which afterwards took the name of the American Political Society, and +Nathan Baldwin, Samuel Curtis, and Timothy Bigelow, were chosen a +committee to report a constitution. This society, with Timothy Bigelow +for a leader, did good service to the town and to the country. Their +last and most powerful blow was struck in town meeting, 7th of March, +1774, when the society presented a long preamble and resolutions, which +were considered by the royalists to be treasonable and revolutionary. +"When these resolutions were read," said an eye-witness of the scene to +the writer, "fear, anxiety and awful suspense, sat upon the countenance +of every man of the whig party except Timothy Bigelow, the blacksmith; +while the tories were pale with rage." After a few moments, James +Putnam, the leader of the tories, arose. Putnam was said to be "the best +lawyer in North America. His arguments were marked by strong and clear +reasoning, logical precision and arrangement, and that sound judgment +whose conclusions were presented so forcibly as to command assent." He +made such a speech against the resolutions as had never before been +heard in Worcester; and when he sat down, the same informant said that +"not a man of the whig party thought a single word could be said,--that +old Putnam, the tory, had wiped them all out." Timothy Bigelow at length +arose, without learning, without practice in public speaking, without +wealth,--the tories of Worcester had, at that day, most of the wealth +and learning,--but there he stood upon the floor of the Old South +Church, met the Goliath of the day, and vanquished him. The governor of +Massachusetts Bay, and the crown and parliament of Great Britain, were +brought to feel the effect of his sling and stone. Suffice it to say, +the resolutions were carried triumphantly. This was the first grand +public effort made by Col. Timothy Bigelow, in his part of the great +drama of the American revolution. + + + + +III. + +THE MINUTE MEN. + + +In August, 1774, a company of minute men were enrolled under the command +of Capt. Bigelow, and met each evening after the labors of the day, for +drill and martial exercise. Muskets were procured for their arming from +Boston. Their services were soon required for the defence of the +country. At eleven o'clock, A. M., April 19th, 1775, an express came to +town, shouting, as he passed through the street at full speed, "To arms! +to arms! the war is begun!" The bell rang out the alarm, cannons were +fired, and in a short time the minute men were paraded on the green, +under the command of Capt. Timothy Bigelow. After fervent prayer by Rev. +Mr. Maccarty, they took up the line of march. When they arrived at +Sudbury, intelligence of the retreat of the enemy met them, and a second +company of minute men from Worcester, under command of Capt. Benjamin +Flagg, overtook them, when both moved on to Cambridge. + +The writer cannot forbear to mention a few of the names of these +soldiers of freedom. Most of them have descendants now living, and +living on the same farms that their illustrious sires or grandsires +left, when they started with Captains Bigelow and Flagg, to repel the +enemy at Lexington. Eli Chapin was the father of Mrs. Jonathan Flagg and +Mrs. Capt. Campbell; Wm. Trowbridge was the father of Mrs. Lewis Chapin; +Jonathan Stone, grandfather of Emory Stone, Esq., who now owns and +occupies the same estate; Asa Ward, grandfather of Wm. Ward; Simon +Gates, father of David R., who now lives on and owns the same estate; +David Richards was in Capt. Flagg's company, but after he returned, +concluding there was going to be "hot work," to use his own words forty +years afterwards, he turned over to the tories. The organization of the +army was immediately made at Cambridge, and Timothy Bigelow was +appointed Major in Colonel Jonathan Ward's regiment. In the autumn of +1775, Major Bigelow volunteered his services, with his men from +Worcester, in that expedition against Quebec, alike memorable for its +boldness of conception, the chivalrous daring of its execution, and its +melancholy failure. During their march from Cambridge to Quebec, Major +Bigelow and his noble band endured severe hardships, reduced by hunger +to the necessity of eating their camp dogs, and in their last extremity, +cutting their boots and shoes from their feet to sustain life. Had that +winter march through the wilderness been the exploit of a Grecian +phalanx or Roman legion, the narrative of suffering and danger would +have been long since celebrated in song and story. + +One of the three divisions, penetrating through the forest by the route +of the Kennebec, was commanded by Major Bigelow; and during a day's halt +of the troops on this memorable march, Major Bigelow ascended a rugged +height about forty miles northwest from Norridgewock, for the purpose of +observation. This eminence still bears the name of Mount Bigelow. In the +attack on Quebec, on the night of the 31st of December, Major Bigelow +was taken prisoner, with those of his men who were not killed, and +remained in captivity until the summer of 1776. + + + + +IV. + +MAJOR BIGELOW A PRISONER. + + +We left Major Bigelow a prisoner of war. Whether he was confined in +Canada, transported to Halifax, or placed aboard an English prison ship, +does not appear on the record. But tradition has it, that he went aboard +one of those tory vessels, so noted in the history of George the Third. +The severe treatment and cruelty he received here, did not cool his +ardor. His motto was, "I have not begun to fight yet." An exchange +having been effected in the summer of 1776, after an imprisonment of +seven months, he returned and was immediately called into the service +with the rank of lieutenant colonel; and the next February, he was +appointed colonel of the fifteenth regiment of the Massachusetts line in +the continental army. His regiment was composed principally of men from +Worcester, though there were some from Leicester, Auburn, Paxton and +Holden, and a braver band never took the field, or mustered for battle. +High character for courage and discipline, early acquired, was +maintained unsullied to the close of their service. His troops being +drilled, Col. Bigelow marched to join the northern army, under the +command of Gen. Gates, and arrived in season to join the main army at +Saratoga, and to assist in the capture of Gen. Burgoyne. + +At this scene of blood and carnage, Col. Bigelow, with his regiment from +Worcester, behaved with uncommon gallantry. It was said by our +informant, who was on the spot at the time, that the 15th regiment, +under the command of Col. Bigelow, was the most efficient of any on the +ground. + +Col. Bigelow was of fine personal appearance; his figure was tall and +commanding; his bearing was erect and martial, and his step was said to +have been one of the most graceful in the army. With taste for military +life, he was deeply skilled in the science of war, and the troops under +his command and instruction exhibited the highest degree of discipline. +Col. Bigelow possessed a vigorous intellect, an ardent temperament, and +a warm and generous heart. + + + + +V. + +IN PENNSYLVANIA. + + +We left Col. Bigelow with the American army, under the command of Gen. +Gates, on the banks of the Hudson, exulting over the capture of Burgoyne +and the flower of the British army. The next we hear of him, he, with +his regiment, together with Col. Morgan's celebrated rifle corps and one +or two other regiments, are ordered to march to the relief of the army +in Pennsylvania, under the command of Gen. Washington. This campaign in +Pennsylvania was very disastrous to the American army. Being poorly +clothed, and more poorly fed, they were not in condition to meet the +tried veterans of the English army. It was said of this reinforcement +from Gen. Gates' army, that they were men of approved courage, and +flushed with recent victory, but squalid in their appearance, from +fatigue and want of necessaries. But when Col. Bigelow led his regiment +into line with the main army at White Marsh, a small place about +fourteen miles from Philadelphia, he was recognized by the +commander-in-chief, as the very identical Capt. Bigelow whom he had seen +at Cambridge with a company of minute men from Worcester; and while +Washington held Col. Bigelow by the hand to introduce him to his brother +officers, he said, "This, gentlemen officers, is Col. Bigelow, and the +15th regiment of the Massachusetts line under his command. This, +gentlemen, is the man who vanquished the former royalists in his own +native town. He marched the first company of minute men from Worcester +at the alarm from Lexington. He shared largely in the sufferings of the +campaign against Quebec, and was taken prisoner there. After his +exchange he raised a regiment in his own neighborhood, and joining the +northern army under Gen. Gates, participated in the struggle with +Burgoyne, and shares largely in the honor of that victory." + +It was said by an eye-witness, that "this was an exceedingly interesting +and affecting event, and could not fail to satisfy every one of the high +estimation in which the commander-in-chief held Col. Bigelow." + +The American army was now watching the movements of Sir William Howe, +commander of the British army, who soon landed his troops at the head of +Elk river, in two columns, the right commanded by Gen. Knyphausen, the +left by Lord Cornwallis. After several skirmishes, the two armies met +upon the banks of the Brandywine. In this battle, the Americans were +unsuccessful, and soon after the British army took possession of +Philadelphia, and the American army took their position at Germantown, +which is six miles northwest from Philadelphia. Here again the Americans +are repulsed, and each army retires to winter quarters, the British to +Philadelphia, the American to Valley Forge. + + + + +VI. + +AT VALLEY FORGE. + + +Valley Forge is on the west side of the Schuylkill, twenty miles from +Philadelphia, and this is where Col. Bigelow spent the winter of +1777-78, with his regiment, and here is where the soldiers of freedom +suffered most intensely. The British general had derived no other fruit +from all his recent victories, than of having procured excellent winter +quarters for his army in Philadelphia. Here they spent the winter within +the splendid mansions of that city, feasting upon the best the country +afforded; while the American army were suffering in their mud huts, half +clothed, with famine staring them in the face. Many of the soldiers were +seen to drop dead with cold and hunger; others had their bare feet cut +by the ice, and left their tracks in blood. The American army exhibited +in their quarters at Valley Forge such examples of constancy and +resignation, as were never paralleled before. In such pressing danger of +famine and the dissolution of the army, mutiny appeared almost +inevitable. At this alarming crisis, Col. Bigelow had a party of +officers and soldiers convene at his headquarters one evening,--such a +party as we should call in these days a surprise party,--when the +subject of abandoning the cause was fully discussed. Col. Bigelow heard +all that was to be said on the subject. Some of his men argued that +Congress could not clothe or feed them, and they did not feel it to be +their duty to abandon their families and homes, to starve in that cold +climate. When all had been said by as many as wished to express their +minds, Col. Bigelow arose and said:--"Gentlemen, I have heard all the +remarks of discontent offered here this evening, but as for me, I have +long since come to the conclusion, to stand by the American cause, come +what will. I have enlisted for life. I have cheerfully left my home and +family. All the friends I have, are the friends of my country. I expect +to suffer with hunger, with cold, and with fatigue, and, if need be, I +expect to lay down my life for the liberty of these colonies." Such +remarks as these could not fail of having the desired effect. + +About this time a large herd of cattle was driven into the camp from New +Jersey and Connecticut. Worcester had sent Col. Bigelow's regiment +sixty-two sets of shirts, shoes and stockings, as their proportion for +the army. Other towns did their part. Worcester sent L78 in lawful +money, which was taken up at the Old South church after divine service. +Now the Marquis de la Fayette, with his money and with the French +troops, had arrived; now Count D'Estaing, with his powerful fleet, were +in the American waters; now Gen. Gates, with the remainder of the +northern army, had arrived to join the army of Washington. Spring comes; +and the day that the English abandon Philadelphia, the American army +leaves Valley Forge, to watch their movements. They cross the Delaware +at Coryell's Ferry, and take post at Hopewell; they do not venture to +cross the Raritan. The English reach Allentown; Gen. Lee occupies +Englishtown; Washington encamped at Cranberry; Morgan and Col. Bigelow +are harassing the right flank of the English. The British, now upon the +heights of Freehold, pass all their baggage to the hills of Middletown +for safety, and then comes the battle of Monmouth. + + + + +VII. + +THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. + + +The battle of Monmouth, so called by the Americans, was fought in +Freehold, Monmouth county, N. J., situated thirty-five miles southeast +from Trenton. The commander-in-chief had detached two brigades to the +support of Gen. Wayne, who had been sent on as a vanguard, and had +already come up with the British rear. These two brigades were commanded +by Gens. Lee and Lafayette. At this time Col. Bigelow was under the +command of Gen. Lafayette. This vanguard of the American army had so +severely galled the rear of the British, that Gen. Clinton resolved to +wheel his whole army and put the Americans to flight at the point of the +bayonet. For a short time the conflict was severe. At length Gen. Lee +gave way, for which he was afterwards court-martialed and suspended for +one year. The light horse, also, of Lafayette's brigade, gave way, and +nothing of that celebrated vanguard but Col. Bigelow's regiment, with +two or three other regiments, remained. It was said that if Gen. Lee had +stood his ground, as he might have done, a decisive victory would have +been gained. Col. Bigelow's regiment was the last to quit the field. + +It was said by one of Col. Bigelow's men, who was an intimate +acquaintance of the writer of this article, and who was wounded at that +time, that, at the time he fell, Col. Bigelow seized his musket from +him, and fought more like a tiger than like a man. This man was Mr. +Solomon Parsons, whose son now occupies and owns the same farm on which +his father died, on Apricot street, in this city. Col. Bigelow with his +regiment had to retire, but was soon met by Washington, with the main +army, who was moving up to the rescue. After the troops of Lee and +Lafayette had been rallied, the whole army turned upon the enemy, and +then came the tug of war, for "Greek met Greek." The English, flushed +with the advantages they had got, and the Americans under the command of +their own beloved Washington, many of whom had never fought before by +his side, were determined to retake the field, or die in the attempt. +The conflict was now terrible indeed, and in the midst of flame, and +smoke, and metal hail, Bigelow was conspicuous. The English were +repulsed and driven to the woods. The Americans retake the field; night +comes on; the whole American army rest on their arms through the night, +that they may renew the attack with the dawn of day; day comes on, and +the British army has fled, as one of their officers said by moonlight, +but it so happened that the moon set that night at 10 o'clock, being but +four days old. + +Such was the issue of the battle of Freehold, or of Monmouth, as the +Americans call it. We have now traced the military history of Col. +Bigelow from April 19, 1775, to June 28, 1778. + + + + +VIII. + +THE SLAUGHTER AT WYOMING. + + +The history of Col. Bigelow is so interwoven with that of the +Revolution, that it is difficult to separate the two. We shall +therefore, give in this chapter a short account of the bloody butchery +of the inhabitants of that beautiful little colony at Wyoming, and what +Col. Bigelow thought of that demoniac cruelty, the bare remembrance of +which makes us shudder. Wilkesbarre is the shire town of Luzerne county, +Pa. It is situated in the Wyoming valley, one hundred and fourteen miles +northeast from Harrisburg, and one hundred and twenty northwest from +Philadelphia. This place was settled by emigrants from Connecticut in +1773, under the auspices of one Col. Durkee, who gave it the compound +name it bears in honor of two eminent and zealous advocates of the +American cause in the British parliament, Wilkes and Barre. Wyoming +contained eight townships, each containing a square of five miles, +beautifully situated on both sides of the Susquehanna. Wilkesbarre is +one of those towns. The inhabitants of this beautiful valley were much +engaged in their country's cause, and nearly one thousand of their +young men had joined the army, and were absent from home. Most of those +remaining at home were tories, although these were not so numerous as +the friends of liberty. Yet they formed an alliance with the Indians, +and the first of July there appeared before the fort at Wilkesbarre +about sixteen hundred armed men, two-thirds of which were tories and +one-third Indians. The colony of Wyoming could muster only about five +hundred men. In this condition, the tories and Indians fell upon them, +and put them nearly all to death; only about sixty escaped. Never was a +rout so deplorable; never was a massacre accompanied with so many +horrors. The barbarians took the men, women and children promiscuously +into houses and barracks, and set fire to them and consumed them all, +listening, delighted, to hear the moans and shrieks of the expiring +multitude. + +The crops of every description were consigned to the flames. The +habitations, granaries, and other constructions--the fruit of years of +human industry--sunk in ruin, under the destructive strokes of those +cannibals. Their fury was also wreaked upon the very beasts. They cut +out the tongues of the horses and cattle, and left them to wander in the +midst of those fields, lately so luxuriant, but now in desolation, to +undergo the torments of a lingering death. Capt. Bedlock was stripped +naked, and stuck full of pine splinters and set on fire. Captains Ransom +and Durgee were thrown alive into the fire. One of the tories, whose +mother had married a second husband, butchered her with his own hand, +and then massacred his father-in-law, his own sisters, and their infants +in the cradle. Another killed his own father, and exterminated all his +family. A third imbued his hands in the blood of his brothers, his +sisters, his brother-in-law, and his father-in-law. Other atrocities, if +possible still more abominable, we leave in silence. The tories appeared +to vie with and even to surpass the savages in barbarity. Such men as +these, Col. Bigelow had to contend with in Worcester, in 1774, and upon +hearing of this bloody massacre, it was said that Col. Bigelow was +filled with horror and indignation, and swore eternal vengeance and +condign punishment upon all the tories. Col. Bigelow at this time was +at his post in Rhode Island, and on hearing of this bloody tragedy, it +was said by the same informant, that he walked his room for one hour +without speaking. At length he exclaimed, "Our worst enemies are those +of our own household." + + + + +IX. + +SCOUTING. + + +After the British evacuated Rhode Island, Col. Bigelow moves on with his +regiment, and the next we hear of him he is at "Verplank's Point." The +American army was at this time very much divided. The great object of +the commander-in-chief was to annoy the British forces as much as +possible, and we think that it is not saying too much of Col. Bigelow, +that no Colonel in the whole American army was better qualified for that +service. His whole life had been and was at this time, devoted to his +country's cause. He had left Worcester and all its pleasant +associations, with a determination to free the colonies from the mother +country, or die in the attempt. He seemed to feel that the whole +responsibility of the struggle rested on him. Always ready to obey +orders from superior officers cheerfully, and never wanting in energy to +execute them. The deep snows of Quebec had not cooled his ardor. The +fetid stench of an English prison ship could not abate his love of +liberty and country. The blood and carnage of Saratoga and of Monmouth +had given him confidence. The blood-stained soil of Valley Forge had +inured him to hardships to which others would have yielded. + +The news of the bloody butchery at Wyoming had aroused his iron nerve to +its utmost tension against tories, and in this condition he was ordered +with his regiment to Robinson's Farms, N. J. Here he breaks up a "nest" +of tories, who were supplying the English with hay, grain and other +things necessary for their army. An anecdote of this bloodless battle +was related to the writer by one of Col. Bigelow's men, who was present +at the time. The English had sent a company of men to guard their teams +while removing some hay they were receiving from their friends the +tories, when Col. Bigelow came up with his regiment, and ordered them to +disperse. The tories were insolent; the English captain refused to go +until the hay went with them. Upon this Col. Bigelow ordered a part of +his men to fire upon them. At this moment, one of Col. Bigelow's men, +from Worcester, who had just joined the regiment, and, we are sorry to +say, was a coward, exclaimed at the top of his voice, "In the name of +God, why don't Col. Bigelow order us to retreat?" This man in after life +received a pension from government, and died respected a few years since +in this city. His children are now living here, and therefore we shall +not call his name. He was always afraid of gunpowder. The English were +also frightened and fled, leaving the hay on the hands of Col. Bigelow, +who, having no use for it, returned it to its tory owner, on the express +condition that he should not sell it to the British. + +Colonel Bigelow is now ordered to Peekskill. This is a town on the +Hudson, forty-six miles north of New York, and one hundred and six miles +south of Albany. Here he frightened the tories, and drove the British +down the river to New York. Col. Bigelow is again at Verplank's, and +Stony Point, guarding the pass called King's Ferry. Gen. Clinton moves +upon them with the British army, and Commodore Collier with the British +squadron ascends the river; the British storm the fort named the Fort of +Lafayette, at Verplank's; the fortress had to surrender, but not until +Col. Bigelow showed them the points of his bayonets. It was said of this +conflict, that Col. Bigelow ordered his men to draw their charge and +approach the enemy with fixed bayonets, while he himself laid aside his +sword and took a musket from a sick soldier, and with it fought more +like a tiger than a man. This fort, being overpowered by the enemy, at +length gave way and surrendered at discretion. The policy of the English +is now to resume the war of devastation, and the army is ordered into +South Carolina. Gen. Gates is ordered to the command of the southern +army. + + + + +X. + +DISASTERS AT THE SOUTH. + + +Gen. Gates takes the command of the southern army. The British at this +time had almost undisputed possession of South Carolina, Georgia and +North Carolina. In this condition Gates resolved to risk a general +battle with Lord Cornwallis, and for which he was severely blamed. He +lost the battle, hence the blame. If, on the other hand, he had gained +it, he would have gained another laurel to place by the side of the one +gained at Saratoga. At this battle, Gen. Gates lost more than two +thousand men, and among them three valuable officers. Gen. Gregory was +killed, and Baron de Kalb and Gen. Rutherford of Carolina were taken +prisoners. This was the result of the battle at Camden. At this time, +Col. Bigelow was watching the movements of the British troops in New +York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In this stage of the narrative, the +writer cannot refrain from a passing tribute of respect to the memory of +those patriotic women of South Carolina, who displayed so ardent, so +rare a love of country, that scarcely could there be found in ancient or +modern history an instance more worthy to excite surprise and +admiration. They repaired on board ships, they descended into dungeons +where their husbands, children or friends were in confinement. They +carried them consolation and encouragement. "Summon your magnanimity," +they said, "yield not to the fury of tyrants; hesitate not to prefer +prisons to infamy, death to servitude. America has fixed her eyes on her +beloved defenders; you will reap, doubt it not, the fruit of your +sufferings; they will produce liberty, that parent of all blessing; they +will shelter her forever from the assaults of British banditti; you are +the martyrs of a cause the most grateful to Heaven, and sacred to man." +By such words these generous women mitigated the miseries of the unhappy +prisoners. Exasperated at their constancy, the English condemned the +most zealous of them to banishment and confiscation. In bidding a last +farewell to their fathers, their children, their brothers, their +husbands, these heroines, far from betraying the least mark of +weakness, which in men might have been excused, exhorted them to arm +themselves with intrepidity. They conjured them not to allow fortune to +vanquish them, nor to suffer the love they bore their families to render +them unmindful of all they owed their country. A supernatural alacrity +seemed to animate them, when they accompanied their husbands into +distant countries, and even when they immured themselves with them in +the fetid ships into which they were inhumanly crowded. Reduced to the +most frightful indigence, they were seen to beg bread for themselves and +families. Among those who were nurtured in the lap of opulence, many +passed suddenly from the most delicate and the most elegant style of +living, to the rudest toils, and to the humblest services. But +humiliation could not triumph over their resolution and cheerfulness; +their example was a support to their companions in misfortune. To this +heroism of the women of Carolina it is principally to be imputed, that +the love, and even the name of liberty, were not totally extinguished in +the southern provinces. Col. Bigelow, hearing of the loss of Gates' +army, and the appointment of Gen. Green to the command of the southern +department, solicited and received orders from the commander-in-chief to +move on with his regiment to join Green; but did not arrive in season to +participate in the battles of Hobkirk and of Eutaw Springs, which closed +the campaign in the south. + + + + +XI. + +BATTLE AT YORKTOWN. + + +Yorktown is a port of entry in Virginia, 70 miles E. S. E. from +Richmond, on the south side of York river, opposite Gloucester. The +British army from the South had encamped at this place and fortified it. +Col. Bigelow had arrived with his regiment to join Gen. Green. Col. +Bigelow is now in Gen. Lafayette's detachment. Lafayette's second +officer is Col. Hamilton, aid-de-camp of the commander-in-chief, a young +man of the highest expectations, and accompanied by Col. Laurens, son +of the former President of Congress. + +Another detachment was commanded by the Baron de Viomesnit, the Count +Charles de Damas, and the Count de Deux-Ponts. The commanders addressed +their soldiers a short exhortation to inflame their courage; they +represented that this last effort would bring them to the close of their +glorious toils. The attack was extremely impetuous. Gen. Lafayette is +ordered to attack the right redoubt, while the Baron de Viomesnit is to +attack the left. This was done at the point of the bayonet. Suffice it +to say, that both redoubts were carried. One of Col. Bigelow's men, on +being inquired of by the writer where his Colonel was at this time, +answered, "Why, old Col. Tim _was everywhere all the time_, and you +would thought if you had been there, that there was nobody else in the +struggle but Col. Bigelow and his regiment." Before the morning of the +19th, those redoubts were all repaired and manned by the allies. + +Now comes the celebrated 19th day of October, 1781. The day began to +appear, the allies open a tremendous fire from all their batteries; the +bombs showered copiously, the French fleet, under the command of Count +De Grasse, are opening a most deadly fire from the harbor. Lord +Cornwallis sends in a flag to General Washington, proposing a cessation +of arms for twenty-four hours. Washington would not consent to it, and +would grant but two hours, and during this interval he should expect the +propositions of the British commander. The proposition is made and +accepted. The British flotilla, consisting of two frigates, the +Guadaloupe and Fowey, besides about twenty transports (twenty others had +been burnt during the siege), one hundred and sixty pieces of field +artillery, mostly brass, with eight mortars, more than seven thousand +prisoners, exclusive of seamen, five hundred and fifty slain, including +one officer (Major Cochrane), were surrendered into the hands of the +armies of France and America, whose loss was about four hundred and +fifty in killed and wounded. + +At the news of so glorious, so important a victory, transports of +exultation broke out from one extremity of America to the other. Nobody +dared longer to doubt of independence. A poet in Col. Bigelow's +regiment, made a short song commemorative of this event, in which +occurred these lines, + + "Count DeGrasse he lies in the harbor, + And Washington is on shore." + +A wag in Worcester, after they had returned, changed it so as to make it +read thus: + + "Count DeGrasse he lies in the harbor, + And Bigelow is on shore." + +Such was the end of the campaign of Virginia, which was well nigh being +that of the American war. This laid the foundation of a general peace. +Thus ended a long and arduous conflict, in which Great Britain expended +an hundred million of money, with an hundred thousand lives, and won +nothing. The United States endured great cruelty and distress from their +enemies, lost many lives and much treasure, but finally delivered +themselves from a foreign dominion, and gained a rank among the nations +of the earth. + + + + +XII. + +CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION. + + +After the surrender of Yorktown, the American army divide. Part of the +troops return to the banks of the Hudson, to watch the motions of +Clinton, who had still a large force at New York. The rest were sent to +South Carolina, to reinforce General Green, and confirm the authority of +Congress in those provinces. + +Col. Bigelow and his regiment were among those that returned to the +Hudson. The Marquis de la Fayette embarked about the same time for +Europe, bearing with him the affection of the whole American people. In +a few months, Gen. Green had driven the British from the southern +colonies, and they retire to New York, to join the main army. + +Col. Bigelow is ordered to leave West Point, where he was stationed, and +proceed to Rhode Island. + +The next Spring, 1782, Sir Guy Carlton arrived in America and took +command of the British army at New York. Immediately after his arrival, +he acquainted General Washington and Congress, that negotiations for a +peace had been commenced at Paris. On the 30th of November, of that +year, the provisional articles of peace were signed. + +Col. Bigelow returned to Worcester, but was very soon stationed at West +Point, for what purpose the writer could never ascertain. Afterwards he +was assigned to the command of the national arsenal at Springfield. +After his term of service was out there, he returned again to Worcester, +with a frame physically impaired by long hardship, toil and exposure, +with blighted worldly prospects, with the remains of private +property--considerable at the outset--seriously diminished by the many +sacrifices of his martial career. + +In 1780, Col. Bigelow with others obtained a grant of 23040 acres of +land in Vermont, and founded a town on which was bestowed the name of +Montpelier, now the capital of the State. A severe domestic affliction +in 1787, the loss of his second son, Andrew, uniting with other +disappointments, depressed his energy, and cast over his mind a gloom, +presaging the approaching night of premature old age. He died March +31st, 1790, in the 51st year of his age. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Reminiscences of the Military Life and +Sufferings of Col. Timothy Bigelow, Commander of the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts Line in the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution, by Charles Hersey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES COL. 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