Forty-Nine Anecdotes

I^st Anecdote

New-Haven, 11 October, 1784.

A young American, having for some time earned the approbation of General Washington for his service & valor, received from Congress a captain’s commission some time after the Battle of Brandywine; his wife wished to follow him, & share with him the fatigues & dangers of the campaign of 1778—.

One day, pursuing a detachment of Royalists, the leader of that party killed him with a gunshot a moment before his capture:—he had the generosity, as he expired, to order that his death not be avenged, & that the prisoners be conducted to General Quarters—.

What was the grief felt by his wife when she saw the body of her husband pale & bloody, carried by his troops?—And when, among the prisoners she was told had killed him, she recognized a brother she tenderly loved, but who, despite her exhortations, had joined the Royalist Party;—pierced with horror & despair, this man wanted to kill himself, but fraternal love, momentarily balancing all other sentiments, this unfortunate wife was reduced to the necessity of calming the brother’s despair;—driven by tenderness, she had the magnanimity to pardon the murderer of her husband, & the enemy of her country, on the condition that he quit the service of a King become an instrument of tyranny.—He did so, to be sure.—Since that time, she lives on her farm exclusively occupied with the education of the sole child she had.

II^nd Anecdote

This year¹ has passed away at Providence² Mrs. Elisabeth Burden, aged one hundred three years and twenty-three days;—her life had been but an agreeable journey, without maladies & infirmities.—She had crossed this long space respected, cherished by all her friends & her numerous posterity.— Her husband & she were among the first who came from Boston to settle here,³ she had seen all the fields of this district cleared, for planting & orchards:—she saw all the houses of this city built;—she alone had remained, like a venerable witness of the labors of our ancestors—.

We have also just lost, in the district of Rehoboth, Mr. William Dryer, aged one hundred years;—he saw a fourth generation that altogether amounted to one hundred sixty-nine persons, of whom only thirty-five had died at the time of his decease—.

On January 20, 1785, Isaac Chase of Sutton in the state of Massachusetts- Bay, aged ninety-seven years, & enjoying good health, had a great-greatgreat grandson, born of Amariah Chase;—what renders this child extraordinary is that he today has living two grandfathers and two grandmothers, two great-grandfathers and two great-grandmothers, two great-greatgrandfathers and two great-great-grandmothers, fifty-seven uncles and sixty-three aunts.⁴

III^rd Anecdote

An English soldier who had had the good fortune to save the life of an Officer⁵ of the twenty-third regiment during the Braddock campaign,⁶ received from his colonel, in 1772, the offer of retirement at Chelsea—.⁷

Before accepting, he wrote to this Officer who had long since left service, retiring to the banks of the great Potawmak River; here is the response he received—.

After having assured this veteran that he had not forgotten the Braddock affair;—he wrote him:

“My friend, as for the retirement at Chelsea your colonel has offered you, do what you judge appropriate, but I doubt it will be sufficient to alleviate your infirmities and soothe your wounds;—since you prefer to remain in America, rest assured;—as soon as you receive your pension, come join me on the banks of the Potawmak;—I have acquired there an excellent plantation that satisfies my needs & pleasures.—Come, my dear soldier, lay down your rifle in the corner of my hearth.—It will be a great pleasure to me & to Mrs. Gates to render your twilight years calm, peaceful, & happy: you will want for nothing—.”

HORATIO GATES—.

IV^th Anecdote

John Roberts & Isaac Smith of Sommersworth district in New Hampshire, after having followed general Arnold in his grueling march from the headwaters of...