where the surgeon of the village was refused permission to dress his wounds. A British surgeon was called in, who bungingly did the work. The next day he was removed to the Prison ship, where, notwithstanding his mangled condition, he was obliged to sleep on the bare floor of the transport, until a lieutenant privately provided him with a mattrass. His arm mortified, and death ensued.

BRITISH BARBARITY.

ON Arnold's expedition into Connecticut, it became necessary, in order to secure possession of New London, to capture Fort Griswold, situated on the opposite side of the river. Col. Eyre, with a large body of men, was dispatched against it; and although the Americans resisted spiritedly, the works were carried by the enemy. During the contest, one of the guns in the fort was becoming useless for the want of wadding, when a patriotic lady, who was in the fort, instantly loosed a flannel petticoat from her person, and threw it to the gunners, with the exclamation, "this will enable you to fire a few shots more."

The scene that ensued upon the surrender of the fort, is one of the blackest stains on the English flag. But few of the Americans were killed during the contest, but after the surrender, seventy of them were massacred in cold blood. When Major Montgomery entered the fort, (his superior, Col. Eyre, being wounded) he asked who commanded it. The brave Col. Ledyard, responded very civilly, "I once had that honor, the command is your's now ;" at the same time offering his sword. The brutal Major instantly

This

seized it, and plunged it into the breast of his unarmed foe. An American officer standing by, instantly revenged this treachery by cutting down Montgomery, but was in turn slaughtered. example of the officer was instantly followed by a general slaughter of the prisoners. The British afterward loaded an ox-cart with wounded Americans, and started it down a hill with the intention of running it into the river, but just as it obtained considerable velocity, it struck a large tree, and the concussion was so great, that several were killed by it, and all put to the keenest torture. What are we to think of suca wanton barbarity! But even this did not satisfy them. After removing their own dead and wounded, they laid a train of powder to the magazine, and left the fort, although there were several wounded Americans within it. But the explosion was prevented by a wounded soldier, who crawled upon the train, and saturated it with his life blood, so that the fire could not communicate with the magazine.

ADVENTURE OF CHARLES MORGAN.

CHARLES MORGAN, was a shrewd private of the Jersey brigade, a good soldier, and had attracted the notice of the Marquis de la Fayette. In the course of the movements on James river, the marquis was anxious to procure exact information of the force under Cornwallis, and if possible, to penetrate his lordship's designs; he considered Charles as a proper agent for the accomplishment of his purposes, and proposed to him to enter the British camp in the character of a deserter, but in reality as a spy. Charles undertook the perilous enterprise, merely stipulating that, if he were

detected, the marquis should cause it to be inserted in the Jersey newspapers, that he was acting under the orders of his commanding officer.

The pretended deserter entered the British lines and was conducted into the presence of Cornwallis. On being questioned by that nobleman, concerning his motives for desertion, he replied, "that he had been with the American army from the beginning of the war, and that while under General Washington, he was satisfied; but now that they had put them under a Frenchman, he did not like it, and therefore had deserted." Charles was received without suspicion, was punctual in discharging his duty as a soldier, and carefully observed everything that passed. One day while on duty with his comrades, Cornwallis, who was in close conversation with some of his officers, called him and asked, "How long will it take the marquis to cross James river?"

"Three hours, my lord," was the answer.

"Three hours!" exclaimed his lordship, "will it not take three days?"

"No, my lord," said Charles; "the marquis has so many boats, each boat will carry so many men; and if your lordship will take the trouble of calculating, you will find he can cross in three hours." Turning to his officers, the earl said, in the hearing of the American, "the scheme will not do."

Charles was now resolved to abandon his new friends and for that purpose plied his comrades with grog, till they were all in high spirits with the liquor. He then began to complain of the wants in the British camp, extolled the plentiful provision enjoyed by the Americans, and concluded by proposing to them to desert: they agreed to accompany him, and left it to him to manage the sentinels. To the first he offered, in a very friendly

manner, a draught of rum from his canteen; but, while the soldier was drinking, Charles seized his arms, and then proposed to him to desert with them, which he did through necessity. The second sentinel was served in the same way; and Charles hastened to the American camp at the head of seven British deserters. On presenting himself before his employer, the marquis exclaimed, "Ah, Charles! have you got back?"

"Yes sir," was the answer, "and have brought seven more with me." The marquis offered him money, but he declined accepting it, and only desired to have his gun again: the marquis then proposed to raise him to the rank of a corporal or sergeant, but Charles' reply was, "I will not have any promotion; I have abilities for a common soldier, and have a good character: should I be promoted, my abilities may not answer, and I may lose my character." He, however, generously requested for his fellow-soldiers, who were not so well supplied with stockings, shoes, and clothing, as himself, the marquis' interference to procure a supply of their wants.

EXPLOITS ON THE FRONTIERS.

THE following daring exploits, which we draw from various sources, admirably illustrate the sagacity and coolness of our backwoodsmen. Had they been performed by mailed and gauntletted knights of old, and sung by minstrel chroniclers, they would to this day, be the favored themes of poets, and have become immortalized. Assuredly they are as well worthy a place in history, when enacted by those, whose unconquerable spirits helped to form and rear the independence of our country, as if performed by the half-robber hero of the middle ages. Heroism is heroism, and no more, whether it glows beneath a leather-jerkin or a steeled breast-plate.

DAVID ELERSON.

DAVID ELERSON was one of those bold spirits, who took an active part in the Border Wars of the Revolution, along the Mohawk Valley, and on the western frontiers of the State of New York. He followed Sullivan in his celebrated invasion of the Indian Territory in 1779, and while Morgan's rifle corps, to which he belonged, was stationed at the head of Otsego Lake, occurred the following adventure:

"He had rambled off to an old clearing, at the distance of a mile or more from the camp, to gather pulse for dinner. Having