I \\\m n iMii I I 



122 



4^l)c jTarmci's illontl)lij bisitor. 



great arlnry in a |ioiiit where it had heen iiii|ios- 

 sihlB-wiihoiit ihe iii>iaiit lakiiifT (il" lile to pierce 

 the smallest »iz<'<l iiiHiallie iii^li'utiii.'iit. Gen. It. 

 enrvived iht* wonncl nearly iweiilj-five years In 

 a life of activity an<l ni-efiilnes!?, lint nut in hi> 

 last years Hillmiit the r^evere nervous anJ;lli^ll 

 vvlii( h in.iri'i'il his own and llii; enjoyment uf the 

 best /) ichds «hn were near him. 



'J\i riliirn 111 llnheiliin : tlie escape of onr sol- 

 dier, Thomas llaiiit's, is e\'eii more strange tliaii 

 thalollhe Eai I ol IJaloarras. In enlire coiiici- 

 diiM-e with rlie story told ihe editor in June, lt?44, 

 the soldier repealed, one week since, his hair- 

 lireadlh escape at llnlieritin. lie was in the rear- 

 {.Hiard (if the nirearin;,' troops-, in a detachment 

 of alioiii one hmidred men, nnder the K""!"'!''*' 

 ol' the then 1,1. Col. Keed. In the thick woods 

 anil hrnsli. comiiif,' immediately in conflict w ilh 

 a I'ody of liiili.'iiis, lie was seized and marched 

 nnder llie gnidanceof two armed sons of llie lii- 

 resl, permitted to ivirry his own innskel, in which 

 siinalion he proceeded as llieir prisoner for the 

 distance of aiiuiit a mile. He took an opportuni- 

 ty while passing' over a steep liiink lo precipitate 

 one of ilie Indians iijion the rocks in the brook 

 I' low, and despatched or dis;ililed ihe other by 

 a well-diiecied blow, ihrowitii; away his ^Min, and 

 ri;ieatin'j from tli« mass of his enemies at no 

 areat distance, the shots from whom followed 

 him thick and last. Cuming to a ravine, iis (jiiiidi 

 as Ihoiiijht he dropped into il, concealetl among 

 the brakes, .'inil in a lew >iilmitessaw the Indians 

 pass wiihiint discoveiini; him a tree that had 

 i'alleii across idinost directly over where 'he Jay. 

 TaiTviiiil no i;reat lime, he again by a eirciiittiiis 

 route came up and joined his retreating Ameii- 

 can (rieiids. The old soldier can now show upon 

 his body the iii'irks ot' (he bullets shot at him, 

 one directly under his arm, another on Iks leg, 

 and a third ijpon his knee. The examination of 

 his frock made at the lime by the late Lt. 'J'honip- 

 son, of this town, an olHcer ol' his company, and 

 testified to by ("ol., aflei wards Gen. George KeiV, 

 of Loiidoiiderrv, found il pierced willi nineteen 

 bullet holes I 



But it "as ill tlio baitle of the 17lli of Se|)<em- 

 ber, at .Sllllnalcr, an acconni of which will be 

 found to foli'iu this iiitrodiiction, that our solilii r 

 hero made the great and grand escape, of w bleb 

 his miililated face, moiiili, and tongue furnish an 

 iiidiibitable confirmation. Il Is now about twenty 

 years since ihe editor of the Visitor ptissed over 

 and examined the ground of the two battles of 

 the liJili September and 7tli of October, with 

 llie high moiiiid near the Hudson river bank, 

 w here Gen. Kraser was said to have been buried, 

 the one story house where he bled Ijom his 

 woiiiul and died, anil still further up the river 

 the irronnd of the »iirreiiilerol' Biiigoyne's army. 



Klated as were llie IJiilisb coiiimandci' and 

 li'i~ troops .liter their success at Ticuiidi roga and 

 iliili('rtoii,as was evinced in the gasconading pro 

 clamatioiis of Bitrgoyne, their reverses ciime 

 fiocii after. Their progress in a wilderness, tit 

 first slow, grew more and more discouraging. — 

 lm|ialienl at the delay of bringing up snslenauce 

 scarcely siiHicleiit to subsist the army without 

 advancing at all, a large force guided by Ihe pro- 

 vincial lories was despatched towards the li'iiit- 

 fiil gronuds of the Hampshire Grants, where the 

 v\ heal and hay crop \\;is just coming off In abiin- 

 d nice for supplies of I'ood and fi)rage. It has 

 bivn related to ns by the late I'hilbrick ruadley, 

 of this town, that near llie line of New Vork, in 

 lliul inoimtalii re;;ioti,lliere was abuiidaiice of the 

 good tilings of the earth cursed at the time with 

 an ubuudatice of lories. These lories at ISen- 

 nliiglou, with their allies the Indians, had their 

 breastwork lo be attacked and coiifpiered as well 

 as the dull Hi'sslaiis cominanded by Baiim, under 

 the conduct of the more refined and .select " ran- 

 gers" mill •'chasseurs" of lie; IJrIlisli army pro- 

 per: Gen. Hiirgoyne's map designates ihe lories' 

 camp as thai of " .AmcrliMn Volunteers." (Jen. 

 Stark, mainly with "American \olniileers" from 

 New llaiiipsliire, soon did llie business for the 

 whole eiitrenclied mass of lleidsel's Dragoons. 

 Kangeis and Germ.'iii (irenailiers, wiih ihe .'\me- 

 rican Volunteers, (Jaiiailiaii.s and Indians — Bri- 

 tish, Hessians, Tories, Canadians and Savages — 

 under the lead of Banin; and followed upon 

 the sami! ilay the defeat ol" l!reym.-iM wilh aii- 

 Ollier similar body of troops who came too late 

 to be beaten with the fust. The prijioners vveie 

 miirclied otl" to Benniii;;lon, the torics tied 



logelher by tjie bed-cords furnished by the pat- 

 riotic American women, and shnl up iti the large 

 ineeliiigliouse on Beiiniiigton Hill, from which 

 iliey VM:re not permitted to have present coin- 

 mnnicatioii v\ lib their li'iends: they were still 

 and nncomplaining, because aware that their 

 coiiduet meilted even something worse. When 

 It is considered that this was an enemy who 

 •'gave MO ipiarter" at Hiibertoii, we might even 

 compliment llie hiimanily of John Stark that his 

 coiiipiered enemy fared no worse. 



'I'hick aiwl heavV; from this moment, came the 

 ie\er.ses of Btirgoyiie's army: it is twenty years 

 since we read \Vilkinsoi''s or any other Ameriiiin 

 account (d'the evi-nis tit Saratoga. If the British 

 oflicers had not been deineiiled, they must have 

 seen the inevitable result even before the battle 

 of ihe lillh of September, because had they then 

 been able to drive (jen. Gates from his enlreiich- 

 menls, and capiiired his army, the Americtins, 

 flocking in from all ipiailers, would have pre- 

 sented a new army lo conipier him by the time 

 he could reach Albany. Such men as the thou- 

 sands w ho flocked to Betmington and the cap- 

 ture of Bnrgoyne from New Hampshire, might 

 be set down as invincible ; and Gen. Bnrgoyne 

 should have learnt this when he viewed, two 

 years before with his spy-glass from Boston, the 

 execution of a portion of the same troops at Bun- 

 ker Hill. 



In many tlirillliig events that occurred between 

 the 7ih Jul\ ;it Hnberlou, and the 19lli Septem- 

 ber at Stillwaier, the Americans retiring belbre a 

 superior fmee iiiilil ihe army of Gen. Gates en- 

 trenched iL-ell' at a point on the lliidsou river, 

 winch Gen. Bnrgoyne decided to be on that side 

 a position '• nnatiackable" — Soldier Haines par- 

 ticipated, not to be mentioned in an official report 

 because he wa- not an officer. In this personal af- 

 fair, allhoiigb forgetful of llie daily occurrences 

 around him, the soldier tells the same slory as 

 we minuted in the streets fourleeii months before, 

 when bis memory was more bright. In that 

 fight, which lasted sevi'fal hours, he remembers 

 Ilie cannon taken and retaken iinill it was left 

 to lb" Americans, mounted and cluistened by 

 Col. Cilley. Near the close of the action, while 

 he was standing in a side position lo the front 

 in wliic!'. the lines of the two armies were 

 mixed logelher, wilh fixeil bayonets, he received 

 a musket hall under his left ear which perliiraled 

 tlie jaw upon the upper pari. Hiking out eleven ol 

 !i fine set of leelh, and nearly culling in two his 

 tongue, coming out about one inch higher in the 

 cheek on Ihi! one side than the place where il 

 en*ereil on the other. On either side of his face 

 is tl're scar showing the enlrance and exit of this 

 miisket ball ; and opening his mouth sixty-eight 

 years after his liead was perforated wilh the btil- 

 ii-t, we discover the scarred tongue wlih the bul- 

 let furrow cut out more than half Its depth, and 

 llie four remaiiiin:; teeth which have been pre- 

 served, the places of those shot out never having 

 been siipplii'd. With such a sliol, the soldier 

 fell as a dc;ad man, where he lay on iho ground 

 all but insensible for llirec days and three niglils: 

 he knew enough to be aware lliat two dead Bil- 

 llsh soldiers lay near liliii whom he pierced with 

 Ills own bayoiiel, and he says he felt glad they 

 were dead as reviuige for the shot he had receiv- 

 ed. Ills first removal was to be dragged upon 

 Ills back alioiil twelve rods iiinler the most ex- 

 criielating pain, althongh he had no power or 

 streoglh lo cry oiij. Mis lioily,abonl to bedispo.sed 

 111' ulih the dead w!po siiironuded him, the late 

 Kolierl H. VVilkiiis being present, declared iliat 

 he was not dead and slionid not yet be buried. — 

 With his nioiiih and loiigue and jaws entirely 

 disabk'd, when taken to the hospilal, lor nine 

 weeks no sustenance could he commiinicalcd to 

 his stomach, but the liquid inlrodnced beyond 

 the wounded part by a feaiher. Thirty jears 

 after this wound was received, a pot lion of lead 

 which had lodged near Ihe rools of his loniMie, 

 came out. Uccoveiiiig slowly, he renialiied In 

 llie hospital Ihirleeii months ; and was discharged 

 al'iera live years service in the year 1780. Capl. 

 lOlieneZi'r V\\v of I'emhroke, l.t. Josliua Thomp- 

 son of Concord, and Unsign Center of Derry- 

 field, (now Manchesler,) were his company otli- 

 cers. His first eiillsiment was for three years — 

 ifterwards during the wiir. (?iileb Stark was the 

 idjiilaiit of his rei;imeiit ill the time of the bnllle 

 • if SillUvtiter. The reginicnt commanded by 

 (Jol. Cilley was ihc same as that commanded by 



John S'.uk ;il Bunker Hill, he having been ad 

 vanced to a Brigadier and read out of the service 

 of the Conlliiental Congress fiir a short time liv 

 more courtly pretenders, until he vohmteered 

 and raised the corps under the Slate of New 

 Hampshire, wilh which lie performed the work 

 at Beiminglon, after which no man ilared to 

 ipie.-llon tb.a John Stark was number one in any 

 glial enterprise against the eiieiny. 



The miraculous preservalion of il;e soldier's 

 life yvas atlriliiiled by his physicians lo the cir- 

 eiimstaiice of the blood being so entirely drained 

 from his body as lo leave no food for fever or pn- 

 iridlij lo operate upon : his returning strength wiih 

 so slow that he could not draw an usual full 

 breath for seven months: Ids voice came not lo 

 be li.irilly audible fiir the space of (he U'ars. 



Afliu' the close of the revi/lntion, the occupa- 

 tion of the soldier wtis mainly thai of a sailor 

 until an invalid's pension was settled upon him 

 and he removed iiilo the Interior. He salleil from 

 Porlsmonib under a ('apt. York In the firsl .Ame- 

 rican packet ship built at I'^xeler for the lairope- 

 aii trade. While lying at Plymouth, Eugl.iiii!, as 

 if Ihe vicissitudes of an eventful life were never 

 lo he changed, with other sailors he was impress- 

 ed on board a British man-of-war, where he w;is 

 kept nine weeks, residing day and night in the 

 main-top ! (Japt. York remained all this time desi- 

 rous to procure the discharge of his crew : the .\d- 

 miraioflhe port, at length, yielding, assenled to 

 the discharge of such as the captain would swear 

 10 be native .Americans. Happening to know that 

 fact of our soldier, he was dl>cliargei!, coming 

 flown handover hand "as quick as llghliiing " 

 from Ihe main top, in vvliich he had reposed, 

 swinging ill a bainmock, when iiotilied that he 

 iiiighl again join bis capt.in. 



Two years after his discharge from the army, 

 the sohlier was married lo his present and only 

 wife: she is five years yoniiger than himself — a 

 sensible, discreet woman, having and showing 

 all the I'oncern for her husband that a much 

 younger wife might evince for an older husband 

 In his second cliihlhnod. She was a lialhe of 

 Rxeter, \. H. ; the danghler of Uoberl Lord, 

 who died away from home In the army of the 

 revolution, leaylng six small I'blldreii nearly des- 

 titute as to properly. The iiiotber of Mrs. H. 

 was arieryvards a member of the .soldier's family 

 at Ills present domicil, supported by him in help- 

 less old age milil her death thirty years auo. — 

 With the aged pjiir has always resided a maiileii 

 d.iiighler, now foriy-seven years of age, who, a.-i 

 the Uoiiiali virgin, devotes herself to the old ai;e 

 of her parents ; especially lo that of her more 

 aged Hither, iinil who will deserve a pension after 

 his decease; another daughter, a widow, has re- 

 tiiined to her liilber's roof; and a son married, 

 wilh an interesting' wife and children, find it 

 good also to be with such parents. .\ son of the 

 old geiillemen, for years a respcciidile liirmer of 

 Chichesler, having gone the way of all the earth, 

 has left a son who comnuinds the regiment of 

 militia in which he resides. Two oilier sons re- 

 side beyond the liiiiils of the Slate. 



The old soldier for several yi'ars lias received 

 a double pension, that of all invalid, and under 

 the act of 1818. I'oor as he ever has hern, this 

 alone has made his last years comfortable : he 

 has hardly received as nmcli in his whole lite as 

 the single drall of a \y Idow married to an ofiicer 

 of the revohiiloii had drawn at one time. He 

 has always worked with his hands : of lale he 

 sreins to be fast fiiillng — the first lime, the day 

 before our c.ill upon him, he had called his cane 

 to his assistance to wtilk iibonl his house. May 

 (Jod bless his few reinainiiig days! 



In relation to tho brave Col. I^benezer Fran- 

 cis, our iiifiint curiosity was exclud by the story 

 told of liN dealh and the battle of lliiberlou, as 

 iiiativ as lifiy years ago. He was of a family of 

 liinr sons born in the town of iMedliud, Massa- 

 ehnsells. whose filher w lib his fiimilj aflrrv\ards 

 removed lo lieveily, near Salem. A brother of 

 (^ol. rraiicis, (Thomas) who was a company offi- 

 cer at lluberlou, miuried a sister of thai giaiid- 

 falher who was seven years ii soldier in the 

 Irench war of 17(10, and in llic, war of the Kev- 

 olntion. By our lonnixions, tho Francis fami- 

 ly was one spoken of 'as always greatly be- 

 loved ; and, above all the rest, was the eslpem- 

 e<l senior of the four sous who fell at lliiber- 

 ton. John Francis, u third brother to the do- 



