CHAPTER V.
“Come, let a proper text be read,
An' touch it aff wi' vigour,
How graceless Ham leugh at his dad,
Which made Canaan a nigger.”
Burns.
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Ten days after the departure of the —th, Herman
Mordaunt and his family, with our own party, left Albany,
on the summer's business. In that interval, however, great
changes had taken place in the military aspect of things.
Several regiments of King's troops ascended the Hudson;
most of the sloops on the river, of which there could not
have been fewer than thirty or forty, having been employed
in transporting them and their stores. Two or three
corps came across the country, from the eastern colonies,
while several provincial regiments appeared; everything
tending to a concentration at this point, the head of navigation
on the Hudson. Among other men of mark, who accompanied
the troops, was Lord Viscount Howe, the nobleman
of whom Herman Mordaunt had spoken. He bore the
local rank of Brigadier,[7] and seemed to be the very soul of
the army. It was not his personal consideration alone, that
placed him so high in the estimation of the public and of
the troops, but his professional reputation, and professional
services. There were many young men of rank in the
army present; and, as for younger sons of peers, there were
enough to make honourables almost as plenty, at Albany,
as they were at Boston. Most of the colonial families of
mark and sons in the service, too; those of the middle and
southern colonies bearing commissions in regular regiments;
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while the provincial troops from the eastern were led, as
was very usual, in that quarter of the country, by men of
the class of yeomen, in a great degree; the habits of equality
that prevailed in those provinces making few distinctions, on
the score of birth or fortune.
Yet it was said, I remember, that obedience was as
marked, among the provincials from Massachusetts and
Connecticut, as among those that came from farther south;
the men deferring to authority, as the agent of the laws.
They were fine troops, too; better than our own colony
regiments, I must acknowledge; seeming to belong to a
higher class of labourers; while, it must be admitted, that
most of their officers were no very brilliant representatives
of manners, acquirements, or habits, that would be likely to
qualify them for command. It must have been that the
officers and men suited each other; for, it was said all round,
that they stood well, and fought very bravely, whenever
they were particularly well led, as did not always happen to
be the case. As a body of mere physical men, they were
universally allowed to be the finest corps in the army, regulars
and all included.
I saw Lord Howe two or three times, particularly at the
residence of Madam Schuyler, the lady I have already had
occasion to mention, and to whom I had given the letter of
introduction procured by my mother, the Mordaunts visiting
her with great assiduity, and frequently taking me with
them. As for Lord Howe, himself, he almost lived under
the roof of excellent Madam Schuyler; where, indeed, all
the good company assembled at Albany, was, at times, to
be seen.
Our party was a large one; and, it might have passed for
a small corps of the army itself, moving on in advance; as
was the case with corps, or parts of corps, now, almost daily.
Herman Mordaunt had delayed our departure, indeed, expressly
with a view to render the country safe, by letting it
fill with detachments from the army; and our progress,
when we were once in motion, was literally from post to
post; encampment to encampment. It may be well to enumerate
our force, and to relate the order of our march, that
the reader may better comprehend the sort of business we
were on.
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Herman Mordaunt took with him, in addition to the ladies,
a black cook, and a black serving-girl; a negro-man, to
take care of his horses, and another as his house-servant.
He had three white labourers, in addition—men employed
about the teams, and as axe-men, to clear the woods, bridge
the streams, and to do other work of that nature, as it might
be required. On our side, there were us three gentlemen,
Yaap, my own faithful negro, Mr. Traverse, the surveyor,
two chain-bearers, and two axe-men. Guert Ten Eyck
carried with him, also, a negro-man, who was called Pete;
it being contrary to bonos mores to style him Peter or Petrus;
the latter being his true appellation. This made us
ten men strong, of whom eight were white, and two black.
Herman Mordaunt mustered, in all, just the same number,
of which, however, four were females. Thus, by uniting
our forces, we made a party of twenty souls, altogether.
Of this number, all the males, black and white, were well
armed, each man owning a good rifle, and each of the gentlemen
a brace of pistols in addition. We carried the latter
belted to our bodies, with the weapons, which were small
and fitted to the service, turned behind, in such a way as to
be concealed by our outer garments. The belts were also
hid by the flaps of our nether garments. By this arrangement,
we were well armed without seeming to be so; a precaution
that is sometimes useful in the woods.
It is hardly necessary to say, that we did not plunge into
the forest in the attire in which we had been accustomed to
appear in the streets of New York and Albany. Cocked
hats were laid aside altogether; forest caps, resembling in
form those we had worn in the winter, with the exception
that the fur had been removed, being substituted. The ladies
wore light beavers, suited to their sex; there being little
occasion for any shade for the face, under the dense canopies
of the forest. Veils of green, however, were added, as
the customary American protection for the sex. Anneke
and Mary travelled in habits, made of light woman's cloth,
and in a manner to fit their exquisite forms like gloves. The
skirts were short, to enable them to walk with ease, in the
event of being compelled to go a-foot. A feather or two, in
each hat, had not been forgotten—the offering of the natural
propensity of their sex, to please the eyes of men.
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As for us men, buckskin formed the principal material
of our garments. We all wore buckskin breeches, and
gaiters, and moccasins. The latter, however, had the white-man's
soles; though Guert took a pair or two with him that
were of the pure Indian manufacture. Each of us had a
coatee, made of common cloth; but we all carried huntingshirts,
to be worn as soon as we entered the woods. These
hunting-shirts, green in colour, fringed and ornamented garments,
of the form of shirts to be worn over all, were exceedingly
smart in appearance, and were admirably suited
to the woods. It was thought that the fringes, form, and
colour, blended them so completely with the foliage, as to
render them in a manner invisible to one at a distance; or,
at least, undistinguished. They were much in favour with
all the forest corps of America, and formed the usual uniform
of the riflemen of the woods, whether acting against
man, or only against the wild beasts.
Neither Mr. Worden, nor Jason, moved with the main
party; and it was precisely on account of these distinctions
of dress. As for the divine, he was so good a stickler for
appearances, he would have worn the gown and surplice,
even on a mission to the Indians; which, by-the-way, was
ostensibly his present business; and, at the several occasions,
on which I saw him at cock-fights, he kept on the
clerical coat and shovel-hat. In a word, Mr. Worden never
neglected externals, so far as dress was concerned; and, I
much question, if he would have consented to read prayers
without the surplice, or to preach without the gown, let the
desire for spiritual provender be as great as it might. I
very well remember to have heard my father say, that, on
one occasion, the parson had refused to officiate of a Sunday,
when travelling, rather than bring discredit on the
church, by appearing in the discharge of his holy office,
without the appliances that belonged to the clerical character.
“More harm than good is done to religion, Mr. Littlepage,”
said the Rev. Mr. Worden, on that occasion, “by
thus lessening its rites in vulgar eyes. The first thing is
to teach men to respect holy things, my dear sir; and a
clergyman in his gown and surplice, commands threefold
the respect of one without them. I consider it, therefore, a
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sacred duty to uphold the dignity of my office on all occasions.”
It was in consequence of these opinions, that the divine
travelled in his clerical hat, clerical coat, black breeches,
and band, even when in pursuit of the souls of red men
among the wilds of North America! I will not take it upon
myself to say, these observances had not their use; but I
am very certain they put the reverend gentleman to a great
deal of inconvenience.
As for Jason, he gave a Danbury reason for travelling
in his best. Everybody did so, in his quarter of the country;
and, for his part, he thought it disrespectful to strangers, to
appear among them in old clothes! There was, however,
another and truer reason, and that was economy; for the
troops had so far raised the price of everything, that Jason
did not hesitate to pronounce Albany the dearest place he
had ever been in. There was some truth in this allegation;
and the distance from New York, being no less than one
hundred and sixty miles—so reported—the reader will at
once see, it was the business of quite a month, or even more,
to re-furnish the shelves of the shop that had been emptied.
The Dutch not only moved slow, but they were methodical;
and the shopkeeper whose stores were exhausted in April,
would not be apt to think of replenishing them, until the
regular time and season returned.
As a consequence of these views and motives, the Rev.
Mr. Worden and Mr. Jason Newcome left Albany twenty-four
hours in advance of the rest of our party, with the
understanding they were to join us at a point where the
road led into the woods, and where it was thought the cocked
hat and the skin cap might travel in company harmoniously.
There was, however, a reason for the separation I have not
yet named, in the fact that all of my own set travelled on
foot, three or four pack-horses carrying our necessaries.
Now Mr. Worden had been offered a seat in a government
conveyance, and Jason managed to worm himself into the
party, in some way that to me was ever inexplicable. It is,
however, due to Mr. Newcome to confess that his faculty of
obtaining favours of all sorts, was of a most extraordinary
character; and he certainly never lost any chance of preferment
for want of asking. In this respect, Jason was
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always a moral enigma, to me; there being an absolute
absence, in his mind, of everything like a perception of the
fitness of things, so far as the claims and rights of persons
were connected with rank, education, birth, and experience.
Rank, in the official sense, once possessed, he understood
and respected; but of the claims to entitle one to its enjoyment,
he seemed to have no sort of notion. For property
he had a profound deference, so far as that deference extended
to its importance and influence; but it would have
caused him not the slightest qualm, either in the way of conscience
or feeling, to find himself suddenly installed in the
mansion of the patroons, for instance, and placed in possession
of their estates, provided only he fancied he could
maintain his position. The circumstance that he was dwelling
under the roof that was erected by another man's ancestors,
for instance, and that others were living who had a
better moral right to it, would give him no sort of trouble,
so long as any quirk of the law would sustain him in possession.
In a word, all that was allied to sentiment, in
matters of this nature, was totally lost on Jason Newcome,
who lived and acted, from the hour he first came among us,
as if the game of life were merely a game of puss in the
corner, in which he who inadvertently left his own post unprotected,
would be certain to find another filling his place
as speedily as possible. I have mentioned this propensity
of Jason's at some little length, as I feel certain, should this
history be carried down by my own posterity, as I hope and
design, it will be seen that this disposition to regard the
whole human family as so many tenants in common, of the
estate left by Adam, will lead, in the end, to something extraordinary.
But, leaving the Rev. Mr. Worden and Mr.
Jason Newcome to journey in their public conveyance, I
must return to our own party.
All of us men, with the exception of those who drove the
two wagons of Herman Mordaunt, marched a-foot. Each
of us carried a knapsack, in addition to his rifle and ammunition;
and, it will be imagined, that our day's work was
not a very long one. The first day, we halted at Madam
Schuyler's, by invitation, where we all dined; including the
surveyor. Lord Howe was among the guests, that day;
and he appeared to admire the spirit of Anneke and Mary
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Wallace greatly, in attempting such an expedition, at such
a time.
“You need have no fears, however, ladies, as we shall
keep up strong detachments between you and the French,”
he said, more gravely, after some pleasant trifling on the
subject. “Last summer's work, and the disgraceful manner
in which poor Munro was abandoned to his fate, has
rendered us all keenly alive to the importance of compelling
the enemy to remain at the north end of Lake George; too
many battles having already been fought on this side it, for
the credit of the British arms. We pledge ourselves to your
safety.”
Anneke thanked him for this pledge, and the conversation
changed. There was a young man present, who bore the
name of Schuyler, and who was nearly related to Madam,
with whose air, manner and appearance I was much struck.
His aunt called him `Philip;' and, being about my own age,
during this visit I got into conversation with him. He told
me he was attached to the commissariat under Gen. Bradstreet,
and that he should move on with the army, as soon
as the preparations for its marching were completed. He
then entered into a clear, simple explanation of the supposed
plan of the approaching campaign.
“We shall see you and your friends among us, then, I
hope,” he added, as we were walking on the lawn together,
previously to the summons to dinner; “for, to own to you
the truth, Mr. Littlepage, I do not half like the necessity of
our having so many eastern troops among us, to clear this
colony of its enemies. It is true, a nation must fight its
foes wherever they may happen to be found; but there is so
little in common, between us and the Yankees, that I could
wish we were strong enough to beat back the French
alone.”
“We have the same sovereign and the same allegiance,”
I answered; “if you can call that something in common.”
“That is true; yet, I think you must have enough Dutch
blood about you to understand me. My duty calls me much
among the different regiments; and, I will own, that I find
more trouble with one New England regiment, than with a
whole brigade of the other troops. They have generals,
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and colonels, and majors, enough for the army of the Duke
of Marlborough!”
“It is certain, there is no want of military rank among
them—and they are particularly fond of referring to it.”
“Quite true,” answered young Schuyler, smiling. “You
will hear the word `general' or `colonel' oftener used, in
one of their cantonments, in a day, than you shall hear it
at Head Quarters in a month. They have capital points
about them, too; yet, somehow or other, we do not like
each other.”
Twenty years later in life, I had reason to remember this
remark, as well as to reflect on the character of the man
who had uttered it. I, or my successors, will probably have
occasion to advert to matters connected with this feeling, in
the later passages of this record.
I had also a little conversation with Lord Howe, who
complimented me on what had passed on the river. He had
evidently received an account of that affair from some one
who was much my friend, and saw fit to allude to the subject
in a way that was very agreeable to myself. This
short conversation was not worth repeating, but it opened
the way to an acquaintance that subsequently was connected
with some events of interest.
About an hour after dinner, our party took its leave of
Madam Schuyler, and moved on. The day's march was
intended to be short, though by this time the roads were settled,
and tolerably good. Of roads, however, we were not
long to enjoy the advantages, for they extended only some
thirty miles to the north of Albany, in our direction. With
the exception of the military route, which led direct to the
head-waters of Lake Champlain, this was about the extent
of all the avenues that penetrated the interior, in that quarter
of the country. Our direction was to the northward and
eastward, both Ravensnest and Mooseridge lying slightly in
the direction of the Hampshire Grants.
As soon as we reached the point on the great northern
road, or that which led towards Skeenesborough, Herman
Mordaunt was obliged to quit his wagons, and to put all the
females on horseback. The most necessary of the stores
were placed on pack-horses; and, after a delay of half a
day, time lost in making these arrangements, we proceeded.
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The wagons were to follow, but at a slow pace, the ladies
being compelled to abandon them on account of the ruggedness
of the ways, which would have rendered their motion
not easy to be borne. Our cavalcade and train of footmen
made a respectable display along the uneven road, which
soon became very little more than a line cut through the
forest, with an occasional wheel-track, but without the least
attempt to level the surface of the ground by any artificial
means. This was the place where we were to overtake Mr.
Worden and Jason, and where we did find their effects; the
owners themselves having gone on in advance, leaving word
that we should fall in with them somewhere on the route.
Guert and I marched in front, our youth and vigour enabling
us to do this with great ease to ourselves. Knowing
that the ladies were well cared for, on horseback, we pushed
on, in order to make provision for their reception, at a house
a few miles distant, where we were to pass the night. This
building was of logs, of course, and stood quite alone in the
wilderness, having, however, some twenty or thirty acres
of cleared land around it; and it would not do to pass it, at
that time of the day. The distance from this solitary dwelling
to the first habitation on Herman Mordaunt's property,
was eighteen miles; and that was a length of road that would
require the whole of a long May day to overcome, under
our circumstances.
Guert and myself might have been about a mile in advance
of the rest of the party, when we saw a sort of semiclearing
before us, that we mistook at first for our restingplace.
A few acres had been chopped over, letting in the
light of the day upon the gloom of the forest, but the second
growth was already shooting up, covering the area with high
bushes. As we drew nearer, we saw it was a small, abandoned
clearing. Entering it, voices were heard at no great
distance, and we stopped; for the human voice is not heard,
in such a place, without causing the traveller to pause, and
stand to his arms. This we did; after which we listened
with some curiosity and caution.
“High!” exclaimed some one, very distinctly, in English.
“Jack!” said another voice, in a sort of answering second,
that could not well be mistaken.
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“There 's three for low;—is that good?” put in the first
speaker.
“It will do, sir; but here are a ten and an ace. Ten
and three, and four and two make nineteen;—I 'm game.”
“High, low, Jack and game!” whispered Guert; “here
are fellows playing at cards, near us; let us go on and beat
up their quarters.”
We did so; and, pushing aside some bushes, broke, quite
unexpectedly to all parties, on the Rev. Mr. Worden and
Jason Newcome, playing the game of `All Fours on a stump;'
or, if not literally in the classic position of using `the stump,'
substituting the trunk of a fallen tree for their table. As
we broke suddenly in upon the card-players, Jason gave
unequivocal signs of a disposition to conceal his hand, by
thrusting the cards he held into his bosom, while he rapidly
put the remainder of the pack under his thigh, pressing it
down in a way completely to conceal it. This sudden
movement was merely the effect of a puritanical education,
which, having taught him to consider that as a sin which
was not necessarily a sin at all, exacted from him that hypocrisy
which is the tribute that vice pays to virtue! Very
different was the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Worden. Taught
to discriminate better, and unaccustomed to set up arbitrary
rules of his own as the law of God, this loose observer of
his professional obligations in other matters, made a very
proper distinction in this. Instead of giving the least manifestation
of confusion or alarm, the log on which he was
seated was not more unmoved than he remained, at our sudden
appearance at his side.
“I hope, Corny, my dear boy,” Mr. Worden cried, “that
you did not forget to purchase a few packs of cards; which,
I plainly see, will be a great resource for us, in this woody
region. These cards of Jason's are so thumbed and handled,
that they are not fit to be touched by a gentleman, as
I will show you. — Why, what has become of the pack,
Master Newcome?—It was on the log but a minute ago!”
Jason actually blushed! Yes, for a wonder, shame induced
Jason Newcome to change colour! The cards were
reluctantly produced from beneath his leg, and there the
schoolmaster sat, as it might be in presence of his school,
actually convicted of being engaged in the damning sin of
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handling certain spotted pieces of paper, invented for, and
used in the combinations of a game played for amusement.
“Had it been push-pin, now,” Guert whispered, “it would
give Mr. Newcome no trouble at all; but he does not admire
the idea of being caught at `All Fours, on a stump.' We
must say a word to relieve the poor sinner's distress. I have
cards, Mr. Worden, and they shall be much at your service,
as soon as we can come at our effects. There is one pack
in my knapsack, but it is a little soiled by use, though somewhat
cleaner than that. If you wish it, I will hand it to
you. I never travel without carrying one or two clean
packs with me.”
“Not just now, sir, I thank you. I love a game of Whist,
or Picquet, but cannot say I am an admirer of All Fours.
As Mr. Newcome knows no other, we were merely killing
half an hour, at that game; but I have enough of it to last
me for the summer. I am glad that cards have not been
forgotten, however; for, I dare say, we can make up a very
respectable party at Whist, when we all meet.”
“That we can, sir, and a party that shall have its good
players. Miss Mary Wallace plays as good a hand at Whist,
as a woman should, Mr. Worden; and a very pretty accomplishment
it is, for a lady to possess; useful, sir, as well as
entertaining; for anything is preferable to dummy. I do
not think a woman should play quite as well as a man, our
sex having a natural claim to lead, in all such things; but
it is very convenient, sometimes, to find a lady who can
hold her hand with coolness and skill.”
“I would not marry a woman who did not understand
Picquet,” exclaimed the Rev. Mr. Worden; “to say nothing
of Whist, and one or two other games. But, let us be
moving, since the hour is getting late.”
Move on we did, and in due time we all reached the place
at which we were to halt for the night. This looked like
plunging into the wilderness indeed; for the house had but
two rooms, one of which was appropriated to the use of the
females, while most of us men took up our lodgings in the
barn. Anneke and Mary Wallace, however, showed the
most perfect good-humour; and our dinner, or supper might
better be the name, was composed of deliciously fat and
tender broiled pigeons. It was the pigeon season, the woods
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being full of the birds; and we were told, we might expect
to feast on the young to satiety.
About noon the next day, we reached the first clearing
on the estate of Ravensnest. The country through which
we were travelling was rolling rather than bold; but it possessed
a feature of grandeur in its boundless forests. Our
route, that day, lay under lofty arches of young leaves, the
buds just breaking into the first green of the foliage, tall,
straight columns, sixty, eighty, and sometimes a hundred
feet of the trunks of the trees, rising almost without a branch.
The pines, in particular, were really majestic, most of them
being a hundred and fifty feet in height, and a few, as I
should think, nearly if not quite two hundred. As everything
grows towards the upper light, in the forest, this ought
not to surprise those who are accustomed to see vegetation
expand its powers in wide-spreading tops, and low, gnarled
branches that almost touch the ground, as is the case in the
open fields, and on the lawns of the older regions. As is
usual in the American virgin forest, there was very little
under-brush; and we could see frequently a considerable
distance through these long vistas of trees; or, indeed, until
the number of the stems intercepted the sight.
The clearings of Ravensnest were neither very large nor
very inviting. In that day, the settlement of new lands was
a slow and painful operation, and was generally made at a
great outlay to the proprietor. Various expedients were
adopted to free the earth from its load of trees;[8] for, at that
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time, the commerce of the colonies did not reward the toil
of the settler in the same liberal manner as has since occurred.
Herman Mordaunt, as we moved along, related to
me the cost and trouble he had been at already, in getting
the ten or fifteen families who were on his property, in the
first place, to the spot itself; and, in the second place, to
induce them to remain there. Not only was he obliged to
grant leases for three lives, or, in some cases, for thirty or
forty years, at rents that were merely nominal, but, as a
rule, the first six or eight years the tenants were to pay no
rent at all. On the contrary, he was obliged to extend to
them many favours, in various ways, that cost no inconsiderable
sum in the course of the year. Among other things,
his agent kept a small shop, that contained the most ordinary
supplies used by families of the class of the settler, and
these he sold at little more than cost, for their accommodation,
receiving his pay in such articles as they could raise
from their half-tilled fields, or their sugar-bushes, and turning
those again into money, only after they were transported
to Albany, at the end of a considerable period. In a word,
the commencement of such a settlement was an arduous
undertaking, and the experiment was not very likely to succeed,
unless the landlord had both capital and patience.
The political economist can have no difficulty in discovering
the causes of the circumstances just mentioned. They
were to be found in the fact that people were scarce, while
land was superabundant. In such a condition of society, the
tenant had the choice of his farm, instead of the landlord's
having a selection of his tenants, and the latter were to be
bought only on such conditions as suited themselves.
“You see,” continued Herman Mordaunt, as we walked
together, conversing on this subject, “that my twenty thousand
acres are not likely to be of much use to myself, even
should they prove to be of any to my daughter. A century
hence, indeed, my descendants may benefit from all this
outlay of money and trouble; but it is not probable that
either I or Anneke will ever see the principal and interest
of the sums that will be expended in the way of roads,
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bridges, mills, and other things of that sort. Years must go
by, before the light rents which will only begin to be paid a
year or two hence, and then only by a very few tenants,
can amount to a sufficient sum to meet the expenses of keeping
up the settlement, to say nothing of the quit-rents to be
paid to the crown.”
“This is not very encouraging to a new beginner in the
occupation of a landlord,” I answered; “and, when I look
into the facts, I confess, I am surprised that so many gentlemen
in the colony are willing to invest the sums they annually
do in wild lands.”
“Every man who is at his ease in his moneyed affairs,
Corny, feels a disposition to make some provision for his
posterity. This estate, if kept together, and in single hands,
may make some descendant of mine a man of fortune. Half
a century will produce a great change in this colony; and,
at the end of that period, a child of Anneke's may be thankful
that his mother had a father who was willing to throw
away a few thousands of his own, the surplus of a fortune
that was sufficient for his wants without them, in order that
his grandson may see them converted into tens, or possibly
into hundreds of thousands.”
“Posterity will, at least, owe us a debt of gratitude, Mr.
Mordaunt; for I now see that Mooseridge is not likely to
make either Dirck or myself very affluent patroons.”
“On that you may rely. Satanstoe will produce you
more than the large tracts you possess in this quarter.”
“Do you no longer fear, sir, that the war, and apprehension
of Indian ravages, may drive your people off?”
“Not much at present, though the danger was great at
one time. The war may do me good, as well as harm.
The armies consume everything they can get — soldiers
resembling locusts, in this respect. My tenants have had
the commissaries among them; and, I am told, every blade
of grass they can spare—all their surplus grain, potatoes,
butter, cheese, and, in a word, everything that can be eaten,
and with which they are willing to part, has been contracted
for at the top of the market. The King pays in gold, and
the sight of the precious metals will keep even a Yankee
from moving.”
About the time this was said, we came in sight of the spot
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[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]
Herman Mordaunt had christened Ravensnest; a name that
had since been applied to the whole property. It was a log
building, that stood on the verge of a low cliff of rocks, at a
point where a bird of that appellation had originally a nest
on the uppermost branches of a dead hemlock. The building
had been placed, and erected, with a view to defence,
having served for some time as a sort of rallying point to
the families of the tenantry, in the event of an Indian alarm.
At the commencement of the present war, taking into view
the exposed position of his possessions on that frontier,—
frontier as to settlement, if not as to territorial limits,—Herman
Mordaunt had caused some attention to be paid to his
fortifications; which, though they might not have satisfied
Mons. Vauban, were not altogether without merit, considered
in reference to their use in case of a surprise.
The house formed three sides of a parallelogram, the
open portion of the court in the centre, facing the cliff. A
strong picket served to make a defence against bullets on that
side; while the dead walls of solid logs were quite impregnable
against any assault known in forest warfare, but that
of fire. All the windows opened on the court; while the
single outer door was picketed, and otherwise protected by
coverings of plank. I was glad to see by the extent of this
rude structure, which was a hundred feet long by fifty in
depth, that Anneke and Mary Wallace would not be likely
to be straitened for room. Such proved to be the fact;
Herman Mordaunt's agent having prepared four or five
apartments for the family, that rendered them as comfortable
as people could well expect to be in such a situation. Everything
was plain, and many things were rude; but shelter,
warmth and security had not been neglected.
eaf075v2.n7[7] The ordinary American reader may not know that the rank of
Brigadier, in the British army, is not a step in the regular line of
promotion, as with us. In England, the regular military gradations
are from Colonel to Major-general, Lieut. General, General, and Field
Marshal. The rank of Brigadier is barely recognised, like that of
Commodore, in the navy, to be used on emergencies; usually as brevet,
local rank, to enable the government to employ clever colonels
at need.
eaf075v2.n8[8] The late venerable Hendrick Frey was a man well known to all
who dwelt in the valley of the Mohawk. He had been a friend, contemporary,
and it is believed an executor of the celebrated Sir William
Johnson, Bart. Thirty years since, he related to the writer the
following anecdote. Young Johnson first appeared in the valley as
the agent of a property belonging to his kinsman, Admiral Sir Peter
Warren, K. B.; who, having married in the colony, had acquired
several estates in it. Among other tracts was one called Warrensbush,
on the Mohawk, on which young Johnson first resided. Finding
it difficult to get rid of the trees around his dwelling, Johnson
sent down to the admiral, at New York, to provide some purchases
with which to haul the trees down to the earth, after grubbing and
cutting the roots on one side. An acre was lowered in this manner,
each tree necessarily lying at a larger angle to the earth than the
next beneath it. An easterly wind came one night, and, to Johnson's
surprise, he found half his trees erect again, on rising in the
morning! The mode of clearing lands by `purchases' was then
abandoned. — Editor.
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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 [1845], Satanstoe, or, The littlepage manuscripts: a tale of the colony volume 2 (Burgess, Stringer & Co., New York) [word count] [eaf075v2].
