566 Mm. Ptnuel Grant. 



privation, through a carecx of warfare, 

 lew passed a more arduous ordeal tliai) 

 Mrs. Grant, h;ivin<;, witli an infant family, 

 acrompanied her liusband from the High- 

 lands of Scotland to America, wliere, pre- 

 vious to the rnptnrc with our colonies, he 

 j)iircliased land, and settled in Albany 

 county ; from whence, on the breaking 

 out of tlie war, Major Grant (then an 

 officer on the lialf-pay of Keith's High- 

 landers, with which regiment, and the 

 Black Watch, he had served many years in 

 Germany,) joined the British standard, 

 leaving liis wife and children without the 

 lines, who, after his departure, were con- 

 fined to their farm, from which, on hearing 

 her two eldest sons were commissioned lu 

 the English army, from regard to their 

 safety, the mother was impelled to escape 

 with them in disguise. Under tiie 

 guidance of Tailor, the celebrated spy, 

 sometimes walking, at others on horse- 

 back without saddles, they pursued their 

 way, till, near Hackinsack ferry, they were 

 observed, and hailed by the scouts, on 

 which the party endeavoured to push for- 

 ward, when a sentinel presented his piece 

 at Mrs. Grant, which missed fire three 

 times; no other alternative then offering, 

 they surrendered to the Americans, by 

 whom Tailor was thrown into prison, 

 Mrs. Grant and her children placed under 

 restraint, from which they seized the first 

 opporuunly to free thcn.selvcs; the mother 

 and sons, (the elder eleven years old,) after 

 a «nlk ol' forty-nine miles, through woods 

 and unlrcqiientcd paths, with much diffi- 

 ciilly succeeded in making their way to 

 New York, near which Major Grant was 

 iitationed, in command of the King's Ame- 

 rican regiment. During this hazardous 

 journey of 170 miles, from Albany to Long 

 Island, v^hen in durance at the Hackinsack, 

 IMis. Grant had in her possession tlie silver 

 token which passed between tlie British 

 commanders, and she then was tlie means 

 of having it safely conveyed to the hands 

 of General .Sir Henry Clinton. Having 

 iinilcd will) her husband, and placed ihe 

 young .soldiers under a Cather's prolectiun, 

 Mrs. Grant had lime to indulge the fears 

 of a fond mother, anxious for the welfare 

 of four inlant.s, left at the farm in the 

 charge of servants ; and, subsequently, 

 committed to the pioterlion of Congress, 

 and the then president, Ge.ieral Van Pam- 

 brooke, the proprietor, from whom the 

 major had purchased land, and for whose 

 tender care of, and attention to, the wel- 

 fare of these helpless pledges. Major and 

 INlrs. Grant could never snlficiently ex- 

 press their gratitude. At an early period, 

 that preat man, Washington, sent the 

 children iinto their parents, with all the 

 comfort which his benevolent nature could 

 provide for them. July 1782, after an lio- 

 iionrable and distinguished service on the 

 continents of Etirope and America, wliile 



[July 1, 



campaigning at the Savannah, Major 

 Grant lost liis life, leaving a bereaved 

 widow, and eight orphan.s, to l>eraoan the 

 lo.ss they had sustained, in the premature 

 fall of a devoted husband and tender 

 father. The only provision he had the 

 ability to bequeath, was an nntarnishcti 

 reputation and a succession of gallant 

 achievements : at their parent'.s decease, 

 the eldest child was a youth of sixteen, the 

 youngest a posthumous boy, born six hours 

 after the major's death. On the peace 

 of 82, the two elder sons. Lieutenants 

 Alexander and Sweton Grant, from the 

 reduction of their regiment, were placed on 

 half-pay; and they nitimately proceeded 

 to the island of Antigua, where, under the 

 auspices of a maternal uncle, (Lanchtan 

 Grant, esq.) they settled as planters till 

 1791; then called in, they joined the army 

 nnder General Sir Charles Grey, were at 

 the capture of the West India islands ; and, 

 at Guadaloupe, lead on by Brigadier 

 General Synus, while attack inj; the enemy, 

 both brothers were killed, and most un- 

 fortunately for their family, as they had 

 educated the younger children, and af- 

 forded their venerated mother a liberal 

 support, which ceased with their lives. A 

 third son, Lieutenant James Lauchtai* 

 Grant, in 1802, lost his life on the coast of 

 Africa, while gallantly heading a party of 

 seamen to attack a French settlement, he 

 then acting as a volunteer under the com- 

 mand of Captain Edward Sterling Dickson, 

 Boyal Navy, of his majesty's ship Incon- 

 stant. Major Grant, his five sons, and two 

 grandsons, have thus served as officers of 

 Biitish artillery and infantry, in a conti- 

 nued series, from 1739 to this dale, a 

 period ot eighty-five years. Mrs. Grant 

 had three brothers and three uncles, (all 

 of the clan Grant,) officers of reputation 

 in their native Highland corps, some of 

 whom fell in the fields of Germany, others 

 on tlie plains of America ; and of them, 

 severally. Colonel David Stewart (Garth) 

 lias made honourable mention in his well- 

 known work. It will hardly be credited, 

 (though to the truth we pledge ourselves,) 

 when we further detail, that neither his 

 relict, two daushteis, or any other mend)er 

 of Major Grant's family, though all neces- 

 sitous, have ever received the most trifling 

 reward, or any recompcnce, for the fall and 

 devotion of their dearest relatives to the 

 service of their king and countiy, during a 

 long course of years, besides commissions 

 to the sons, the widow's nsuul pension, 

 and a small pittance from the Compas- 

 sionate List, allowed the two daughters. 

 We sincerely hope the public bounty will 

 be now bestowed on the unprovided sur- 

 vivors of a gallant father and brave bro- 

 thers ; and tiiat, from the national funds, a 

 provision, conmiensurate to their claims 

 and necessiiies, may be awarded the only 

 destitirte oftiipring of a field-officer, whos«^ 



deeds 



