In the Current of the Revolution 165 



geance in the days of triumphant reprisal. They 

 contain tales of the most heroic courage and of the 

 vilest poltroonery; for the iron times brought out 

 all that was best and all that was basest in the hu- 

 man breast. We read of husbands leaving their 

 wives, and women their children, to the most dread- 

 ful of fates, on the chance that they themselves 

 might thereby escape; and, on the other hand, we 

 read again and again of the noblest acts of self- 

 sacrifice, where the man freely gave his life for that 

 of his wife or child, his brother or his friend. Many 

 deeds of unflinching loyalty are recorded, but very, 

 very few where magnanimity was shown to a fallen 

 foe. The women shared the stern qualities of the 

 men ; often it happened that, when the house-owner 

 had been shot down, his wife made good the de- 

 fence of the cabin with rifle or with axe, hewing 

 valiantly at the savages who tried to break through 

 the door, or dig under the puncheon floor, or, per- 

 haps, burst down through the roof or wide chimney. 

 Many hundreds of these tales could be gathered to- 

 gether; one or two are worth giving, not as being 

 unique, but rather as samples of innumerable others 

 of the same kind. 



In those days 76 there lived beside the Ohio, in ex- 

 treme Northwestern Virginia, two tall brothers, 

 famed for their strength, agility, and courage. They 

 were named Adam and Andrew Poe. In the sum- 



76 1781, De Haas; Doddridge, whom the other compilers 

 follow, gives a wrong date (1782), and reverses the parts the 

 two brothers played. 



