184 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



December, 1842. 



every charge ; imt the l:itier cimhl neither use 

 them nor briiij; them olf: "It wns (says Gen. 

 Wilkinson) trnly a :;iill;mt conflict, in which death 

 by lamiliaritv, h)sl its tenors, ai.<l curtainly a 

 drawn battle* as mjiht alone lerminaleil it : the 

 British army keeping,' its ground iu tlie rer.r near 

 the field ot' action, and onr corps, when they 

 conid no longer distingnish ohjcitls, retiring to 

 their own cam(*. Vet Gen. Burgoyne "claimed 

 tliH victory." Jl had however all tije consequen- 

 ces of deTeat to him, as, while liis loss, which 

 was between five and six hmidred, coidd not he 

 repaired, the American loss was little more than 

 lialC his number, atid was easily repaired by the 

 ndditiotis that were daily tnaking liy the coming 

 ill of new troops. Such was the ardor of the 

 Americans, that as Gen. Wilkinson states, the 

 wounded men, after having their wounds dressed, 

 in many instances, returned again to the battle. 



The battle of the 7tli of October was fouglit on 

 the same groiiml, but was not so stationary as 

 that of the 19th September : it commenced near- 

 er to the American encanipment and farther to 

 the right of the British line, and it extended in 

 its various periods over a greater surtiice. It was 

 brought on by a movement of the British army 

 towards the left of the American line (that i)ai"t 

 farthest tiom the river): tifteen hundred of them 

 iviili.ten pieces of artillery were through the 

 woods first discovered advancing. At the mo- 

 ment measures were taken by Gen. Gates to 

 meet them. Col. Morgan with his riflemen was 

 despatched to a higher eminence at the extreme 

 left, while Poor's brigade marched to attack the 

 centre and the left of the enemy nearer to the 

 river. As soon as the nre of Poor's brigade coiii- 

 ineiiced, Morgan according to orders, pounced 

 down upon the British grenadiers I'roin the emi- 

 nence. The battle soon extended along the 

 whole line, and the fire was most treiiiendous on 

 both sides. Col. Acklaiid, of the British grena- 

 diers opposed to .Morgan was wounded; the 

 grenadiers were ilefeatcd and most of the British 

 artillery taken. The spot was pointed out to us 

 where (as mentioned iu Wilkinson's narrative) 

 Col. Cilley mounted the British field piece, which 

 had been tsvice taken and retaken. Maj. Biiel 

 mentioned the same circumstance of the gallant 

 officer, and .stated that at the request of the men 

 who had taken it. Cilley mounted the piece to 

 perform the ceremony of sweaiin^il true to Amer- 

 ica .' — at this end of the most sanguinary contest, 

 which lasted about one hour, the defeat of the 

 British was complete, and they retreated to their 

 camp, the lines of which were stormed with the 

 greatest fury. 



We weresliown tlie .spot wliere the British 

 general Frazier received his mortal wound. 

 This fine officer, whose presence inspired that 

 courage whicli was apparent in the renewed vig- 

 or of the British troops wherever he happetiei 

 to be, was at the time he received his death- 

 wound rallying and bringing up a detachment 

 from the left of the British line to the assistance 

 of the grenadiers on the right who were at the 

 moment breaking under the attack of Morgan, 

 The house in which Frazier died stood at the 

 foot of the steep or inoiiiul on whicli his remains 

 were interred, about a mile and a half distant 

 from the battle ground, and nearer the river: it 

 has since been removed still nearer and quite to 

 the bank of the same river. 



After this last decisive battle — and decisive it 

 must have been, although the British general had 

 the address to conceal its true character until the 

 terms of the capitulation had lieen agreed on 

 nine days afterwaitls — the British army retreated 

 up the river six miles behind Fish creek to the 

 fort situated on the i)oitit of land at the conflu- 

 ence of the two rivers. Here Burgoyne was in- 

 cessantly annoyed by the fire of the Americans 

 from the opposite sides of both rivers until the 

 hour of the surrender of that army wliose ad 

 vances had inspired such general terror. 



Both battles discovered the American troops, 

 undisciplined as most of tliein were, at least of 

 equal courage to their antagonists; and from a 

 view of the ground and the lesults, in an especial 

 manner that of the 7th October, it is evident that 

 the skill of those who directed the American op- 

 erations was decidedly superior to that which di- 

 rected the proceedings of the eneinv. 



ed by tin 

 ts wi;t 

 s dowi 



is Iroiu his work, 

 When v^el he slio 

 imd never .-it iu h 

 it. The sooner a 

 after feeling the 



111 |>erspuiMg Ml 



md, or drinks 

 f seriously iiiju 

 ixed and weake 



to induce 

 coar.se tov 



\\ ltd woods wil i 



tlic V1T} ing ■'li'i Ics and lines 

 \t iniitt this cuiu>p> s 1 '■wi.et 



t.rac( 



B\ till I ite ail IV d- 

 e itli ol thit heioiiK., 



Iiidy, 

 111 1 lidy 



Darlin?. 



hoiii i 11^1 111(1 new 3 of the 

 ittei I liiigii intr ( onsuinp- 

 I loievi\etlie lecollec- 



aiiil S1UZ1114: his trousers oiil 



When he reached it, he 1. 



confiisioii, and si-eing part o 



cabin, being inslaiitly 

 ssage calle(r the Piper 

 rent, wliich runs with 

 -II ill tniiuiprate weather 



tion ot that iiohli- I'l iiing ol a It m ili »liD saved 

 the lives ol liei lellow i le itiiii s at the iiiimine 

 risque ol ner own, tue Boston Mercantile Jnuri 

 has sought out horn a book recently published in 

 Boston, entitled "Tales of Shipwreck," the fol 

 lowing interesting story : 



Wreck of the Forfarshire. 



The Fortiirshiie left Hull on the evening of 

 Wednesday, September 15, 1838, having on board 

 a valuable cargo, and upwards of forty passen- 

 gers. Her crew consisted of iwetily-one persons ; 

 the captain's wife accompanied him on the voy- 

 age. 



The Forfarshire had not proceeded far when a 

 leak was discovered in the boiler. This render- 

 ed it necessary to extinguish two of the fires, 



had been partiallv repaireil. The vcssi-l conliiiii- 



iiiitil till 



Health.— A great number of diseases arise 

 from checked perspiration, and might be i)revent- 



wliich tiii;e she hail proceeded as tiir as Berwick 

 Bay, when the leak again appeared. It had now 

 become so great that the greatest difficulty was 

 experienced in keeping the boilers filled, the wa- 

 ter escaping through the leak as fjist as it was 

 pumped in. The wind «as blowing strong and 

 the sea running high, and the leak increased so 

 much from the motion of the vessel, that the 

 fires were extinguished, and the engines, of 

 course, became entirely 4iseless. It was now 

 about ten o'clock at night, and they were off St. 

 Abbs' Head, a bold promontory on' the Scottish 

 coast. There being great danger of drifting 

 ashore, the sails were hoisted fore and aft, and 

 the ves.sel put about, in order to get her before 

 the wind, and keep her ofl' the land. She soon 

 became unmanageable, and the tide setting strong 

 to the south, she proceeded iu that direction. It 

 rained heavily during the whole time, and the fog 

 was so dense that it became impossible to tell 

 the situation of the vessel. At length breakers 

 were discovered close to leeward, and the Feme 

 Lights, which about the .same time became visi- 

 ble, put an end to all doubt as to ti.e imminent 

 peril of the unfortunate vessel. An attempt was 

 made to run her between the Feme Islan<ls, but 

 she refiised to obey the helm, and at tliree o'clock 

 on Friday morning, she struck with tremendous 

 force against the outer or Longstone Island. 



At the moment the vessel struck, most of the 

 passengers were below, and many of them asleep 



their lierths. On 



i^y the shock. 



e\pi i-tiii_' I.I >lKirr the liuc cC tlirir iiiiloiiuiiale 

 C(.iii|i;iiiiiiiis, Hhnui they had seen swept away by 

 till- 1.,-iiii: I I, iiinit. In this dieadliil situation 

 their rii.-s iiiiijii-ti'il the attenlion of Grace Darl- 

 ing, the daiii^hter of the keeper of the Outer 

 Feme Lighthouse. With a noble heroism, .she 

 imiiiediatelv ilrteniiiiicd to atlem|it lliiir rescue, 

 in spile of the raging storm, and the all luil cer- 

 tain distnii-tioii which threatened to attend it. 



Having ha-siily awakened hertiither, he launch- 

 ed his liD.it at (lay-break, and, with a genei-ous 

 sympathy, worthy of the father of Grace Darl- 

 ing, prepared to "proceed to their rescue. The 

 gale, in the nieiinlime, continued unabiited, and 

 the boiling of the waves threatened a speedy 

 destriirlioii to their tiail boat, it was, therefore, 

 witli a heart lull ol fearful liirebodiiijjs, that he 

 undertook the perilous enterprise, .\fter watch- 

 ing the wreck liir some time, they discovered that 

 living beings were still clinging to it; and the 

 gallant yoimg woman, with matchless intrepidity, 

 seized an oar and entered the boat. This was 

 enough — her father Ibllowed ; and with the aa- 

 iiice of his daughter, conducted the frail skiff 

 over the liiaiiiiiig billows, to the spot where the 

 wreck appeared. By a diingerniis and desiierate 



serve the frail Imal lioiii lieinu- dashed to pieces, 

 it was rapidly roued bark aiiioiig the awful abyss 

 of waters, and kept floating by the skilliilness 



At length the whole of the survivors, consisting 

 of five of the crew and four of the passengers, 

 were taken from the wreck, and conveyed to the 

 light-house, where she ministered to their wants, 

 and anxiously, for three days and three tiigths, 

 waited on them and soothed their afflictions. 

 Tills periloii.-i acliievement, unexampled in the 

 feats of female foiiiiiide, was witnessed by llie 

 survivors in silent wonder. The weather contin- 

 ued so tempestuous that the main land could 

 not be reai'lii-d lill Siiiidiv, when the nine per- 

 sons, saved by the gi.ll.-uit'lierolsui of the Darl- 

 ings, wiue l.uiihvl ill sali'ty ; thus making the en- 

 tire number of pcrMiiis saved from the wreck, 

 eighteen. All llie oihrrs perished. 



Those who liiiiiid ii-liige on the rock on which 

 the vessel struck, sufleri'd severely, during the 

 night, from the cold and the heavy seas which, at 

 intervals, washed over them. The femalii pas- 

 senger who escaped, .sat with her two children, 

 a boy and a girl, the one eight, and the other 

 eleven years of age, firmly grasped in each hand, 

 long after the bnffetings of the waves had de- 

 prived them of existence. The captain and his 

 wife were washed from the wreck, clasped in 

 each other's arms, and both drowned. 



This daring act of Grace Darling was an act of 

 heroism to which few jiarallels can be Ibnnd. 

 Nor has it been without its reward. Besides the 

 satisfaction of saving nine fellow-creatures from 

 certain destrnctioii, the liime of the heroic act 

 has spread far and wide, and its jiraise been on 

 every tongue. Painters of no mean power have 

 portrayed the scene, and its memory will thus be 

 preserved. Presents have, besides, poured in 

 upon her and her father, and everything has been 



