VIRGINIAN DEEPw 159 



is what I heard from the lips of an ofiiccr of tlie 

 Third New York Higlilaiul Brigade. 



This company of Highhmders (in imitation of the 

 custom of the mother countr}-) had adopted the stag 

 as the emblem of that lightness and agility with 

 which a Highlander climbs mountains and traverses 

 plains. Tlie dog was an emblem of fidelity ; and it 

 is worth mentioning here, that during the War of 

 Independence, the American Highlanders gave their 

 leader, AVashington, remarkable proofs of activity 

 and courage, which caused the republican general 

 to confer upon them certain privileges which they 

 have continued to hold uninterruptedly since 1781. 

 At the battle of Yorktown, when General Corn- 

 wallis, attacked on one side by the American troops 

 under Washington, and on the other by the French 

 fleet under Count de Grasse, was obliged to sur- 

 render with seven thousand men, the Captain of the 

 third brigade of Highlanders, one John Davidson, 

 was deputed to receive the sword of the conquered 

 general. Whereupon, Cornwallis begged him to 

 accept, as a proof of his esteem, a Scottish clay- 

 more which had long been preserved in his faniil}-. 

 This relic was presented by Davidson to his brigade, 

 and is still carried by the captain of the New York 

 Highlanders. As for the deer and dog which had 

 excited my curiosity, this is their story. The 

 former had been brought from Virginia to New- 

 York by my friend William Porter. In 1836, a 



