ravaged alike on the young, the hopeful and the beautiful, as it did on the withered, and the defiled, and her hopeful page of life was closed suddenly and forever.

CAPTURE, IMPRISONMENT, AND ESCAPE OF GENERAL WADSWORTH.

"In the spring of 1780, General Peleg Wadsworth was ap pointed to the command of a party of state troops in Camden, in the district of Maine. At the expiration of the period for which the troops were engaged, in February following, General Wadsworth dismissed his troops, retaining six soldiers only as his guard, as he was making preparations to depart from the place. A neighboring inhabitant communicated his situation to the British commander at Penobscot, and a party of twenty-five soldiers commanded by Lieut. Stockton, was sent to make him a prisoner. They embarked in a small schooner, and landing within four miles of the General's quarters, they were concealed in the house of one Snow, a Methodist preacher, professedly a friend to him, but really a traitor, till eleven o'clock in the evening, when they made their arrangements for the attack on the general's quarters

"The party rushed suddenly on the sentinel, who gave the alarm, and one of his comrades instantly opened the door of the kitchen, and the enemy were so near as to enter with the sentinel. The lady of the general, and her friend, Miss Fenno of Boston, were in the house at the time, and Mrs. Wadsworth escaped from the room of her husband into that of Miss Fenno.

"The assailants soon became masters of the whole house, except

the room where the general was, and which was strongly barred, and they kept up a constant firing of musketry into the windows and doors except into those of the ladies' room. General Wadsworth was provided with a pair of pistols, a blunderbuss and a fusee, which he employed with great dexterity, being determined to defend himself to the last moment. With his pistols, which he discharged several times, he defended the rooms of his window and a door which opened into a kitchen. His blunderbuss he snapped several times, but unfortunately it missed fire, he then secured his fusee, which he discharged on some who were breaking through the windows, and obliged them to flee. He next defended himself with his bayonet, till he received a ball through his left arm, when he surrendered, which terminated the contest. The firing, however, did not cease from the kitchen until the general unbarred the door, when the soldiers rushed into the room, and one of them who had been badly wounded, pointing a musket at his breast, exclaimed with an oath, 'you have taken my life and I will take yours.' But Lieutenant Stockton turned the musket aside and saved his life. The commanding officer now applauded the general for his admirable defence, and assisted in putting on his clothes, saying, 'you see we are in a critical situation, and therefore you must excuse haste.' Mrs. Wadsworth threw a blanket over him, and Miss Fenno affixed a handkerchief closely around his wounded arm.

"In this condition, though much exhausted, he, with a wounded American soldier, was directed to march on foot, while the British wounded soldiers were mounted on a horse taken from the general's barn. They departed in great haste. When they proceded about a mile, they met at a small house, a number of people collected, and who inquired if they had taken General Wads

worth. They said no, and added, that they must leave a wounded man in their care, and if they paid proper attention to him, they should be compensated, but if not, they would burn down their house; but the man appeared to be dying. General Wadsworth was mounted on the horse behind the other wounded soldier, and was warned that his safety depended on his silence. Having crossed over a frozen mill-pond about a mile in length, they were met by some of their party who had been left behind. At this place they found a British privateer which brought the party from the fort. The captain on being told that he must return there with the prisoner and the party, and seeing some of his men wounded, became outrageous, and d-d the general for a rebel, demanded how he dared to fire on the king's troops, and ordered him to help launch the boat, or he would put his hanger through his body. The general replied, that he was a prisoner, and badly wounded, and could not assist in launching the boat. Lieutenant Stockton, on hearing of this abusive treatment, in a manner honorable to himself, told the captain that the prisoner was a gentleman, had made a brave defence, and was to be treated accordingly, and added, that his conduct should be represented to General Campbell. After this the captain treated the prisoner with great civility and afforded him every comfort in his power. "General Wadsworth had left the ladies in the house, not a window of which escaped destruction. The doors were broken down and two of the rooms were on fire, the floors were covered with blood, and on one of them lay a brave old soldier danger. ously wounded, begging for death, that he might be released from misery. The anxiety and distress of Mrs. Wadsworth was inexpressible, and that of the general was greatly increased by the uncertainty in his mind respecting the fate of his little son, only

five years old, who had been exposed to every danger by the firing into the house, but he had the happiness afterwards of hearing of his safety.

"Having arrived at the British fort, the capture of General Wadsworth was soon announced, and the shore thronged with spectators, to see the man, who through the preceding year had disappointed all the designs of the British in that quarter; and loud shouts were heard from the rabble that covered the shore; but when he arrived at the fort and was conducted into the officer's guard room, he was treated with politeness. General Campbell, the commandant of the British garrison, sent his compliments to him, and a surgeon to dress his wound, assuring him that his situation should be made comfortable. The next morning, General Campbell invited him to breakfast, and at table paid him many compliments in the defence he had made, observing however, that he had exposed himself in a degree not perfectly justifiable. General Wadsworth replied, that from the manner of the attack, he had no reason to suspect any design of taking him alive, and that he intended therefore to sell his life as dearly as possible. He was then informed, that a room in the officer's barracks within the fort, was prepared for him, and that an orderly sergeant should daily attend him to breakfast and dinner at the commandant's table. Having retired to his solitary apartment, and while his spirits were extremely depressed by a recollection of the past, and by his present situation, he received from General Campbell several books of amusement, and soon after a visit from him, kindly endeavoring to cheer the spirits of his prisoner by conversation. The principal officers of the garrison also called upon him, and from them all, whom he daily met at the commandant's table, he received particular attention and kindness.

"He now made application for a flag of truce, by which means he could transmit a letter to the governor of Massachusetts, and another to Mrs. Wadsworth. This was granted, on the condition that the letter to the governor should be inspected. The flag was entrusted to Lieutenant Stockton, and on his return, the general was relieved from all anxiety respecting his wife and family. At the end of five weeks, he requested of General Campbell, the customary privilege of parole, and received in reply, that his case had been reported to the commanding officer at New York, and that no alteration could be made, till orders were received from that quarter. In about two months time, Mrs. Wadsworth and Miss Fenno arrived, and the officers of the garrison contributed to render their visit agreeable to all concerned.

"About the same time, orders were received from the commanding general at New York, which were concealed from General Wadsworth, but he finally learnt that he was not to be paroled nor exchanged, but was to be sent to England as a rebel of too much consequence to be at liberty. Not long afterwards, Major Benjamin Benton, a brave and worthy man, who had served under the general the preceding summer, was taken and brought into the fort, and lodged in the same room with him. He had been informed, that both himself and the general, were to be sent immediately after the return of a privateer now on a cruise, either to New York or Halifax, and thence to England. The prisoners immediately resolved to make a desperate effort to effect their escape. They were confined in a grated room in the officer's barracks within the fort. The walls of this fortress, exclusively of the depth of the ditch surrounding it, were twenty feet high, with fraising on the top, and chevanx de frise at the bottom. Two sentinels were always in the entry, and their door-the upper