THE REVOLUTION REMEMBERED

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE WAR

FOR INDEPENDENCE

EDITED BY

JOHN C. DANN

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

1980

 

MOSES HALL’S PENSION APPLICATION, BORN IN ROWAN COUNTY , NORTH CAROLINA HE SERVED NINE TOURS OF DUTY FROM 1780 TO 1781.  HALL MOVED TO KENTUCKY 1N 1788 AND TO MONROE COUNTY , INDIANA IN 1830.  HE SUBMITTED HIS APPLICATION IN 1835 AND WAS GRANTED A PENSION.

 

“HE ENTERED THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE MILITIA OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA AS A PRIVATE SOLDIER AND VOLUNTEER IN THE COMPANY OF INFANTRY COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL IN THE REGIMENT COMMANDED BY COLONEL WILLIAM DAVIDSON.  HE THINKS HE WAS THEN COLONEL; HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN GENERAL.  HE, SAID DAVIDSON, IF NOT GENERAL THEN, WAS AFTERWARDS.  HE, THIS DECLARANT, ENTERED THE SERVICE FOR NO PARTICULAR PERIOD BUT TO SERVE IN AN EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS AND TORIES.  HE WAS RENDEZVOUSED AT BEATTY’S FORD ON THE CATAWBA RIVER .  HE ENTERED THE SERVICE IN THIS TOUR AS NEAR AS HE FEELS SAFE TO STATE IN THE YEAR 1777 OR 1778.

 

HE WAS MARCHED IN SAID COMPANY ABOUT SIXTY OR SEVENTY MILES FROM HOME AT THE FURTHEST POINT, RECONNOITERING THE COUNTY IN VARIOUS AND CIRCUITOUS ROUTES FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCOVERY AND GUARDING THE INHABITANTS.  UPON OUR ADVANCING TOWARDS THEIR HAUNTS, THE TORIES AND INDIANS DISPERSED.  ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF HIS RECOLLECTION, HE SERVED AT LEAST SIX WEEKS IN SAID TOUR.  DURING THIS SAID TOUR, THE MAIN BODY OF THE TROOPS IN WHICH HE SERVED REMAINED NEARLY OR ENTIRELY STATIONARY WHILST SMALL DETACHMENTS SCOUTED AROUND.  IN SAID EXPEDITION, HE CROSSED THE MAIN CATAWBA, THE SOUTH FORK, AND LESS STREAMS.  HE WAS DISMISSED IN THE FORK OF THE CATAWBA.  SOME OF THE TROOPS WITH HIM, IN RETURNING HOME, CROSSING AT BEATTY’S FORD, SOME AT COWAN’S, SOME AT SHERRILL’S, SOME AT ISLAND FORD.  HE CROSSED AT THE LATTER.  HE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY WRITTEN DISCHARGE FOR SAID TOUR, NOR DID ANY OF HIS COMRADES THAT HE KNEW OF.  HE SERVED FAITHFULLY IN SAID SERVICE TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF HIS OFFICERS IN REGULARLY ORGANIZED AND EMBODIED CORPS IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

 

IN THE SAME SEASON IN WHICH HE PREFORMED HIS SAID FIRST TOUR (IT IS HIS BEST IMPRESSION), HE AGAIN AND FOR A SECOND TOUR ENTERED THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE MILITIA OF NORTH CAROLINA AS A PRIVATE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER IN THE COMPANY COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL, IN THE REGIMENT COMMAMDED BY COLONEL FRANCIS LOCKE, IN THE BRIGADE COMMANDED BY GENERAL RUTHERFORD, HIS FIRST NAME FORGOTTEN.  HE ENTERED THE SERVICE IN SAID TOUR FOR NO PARTICULAR PERIOD NOW RECOLLECTED BUT TO SERVE IN A EXPEDITION TO RAMSOUR’S MILLS.  HE WAS RENDEZVOUSED IN SAID COMPANY, BEING INFANTRY, HE THINKS AT CHARLOTTE .  HE WAS THEN LIVING IN SAID COUNTY OF ROWAN IN SAID STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA .  HE, WITH SAID TROOPS, MARCHED THROUGH A PART OF ROWAN COUNTY , MECKLENBURG, LINCOLN , AND TO RAMSOUR’S MILLS.  THE BATTLE AT THAT PLACE WAS OVER AS WAS SAID ABOUT TWO HOURS BEFORE THIS APPLICANT AND TROOPS ARRIVED ON THE GROUND.  AFTER BEING UPON AND ABOUT THE BATTLEFIELD FOR A SHORT TIME, HE WAS DISMISSED.  HE SERVED IN THIS EXPEDITION UP TO THE TIME OF HIS DISMISSAL AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS.  HE RETURNED HOME ONE NIGHT OR EVENING, AND AN EXPRESS ARRIVING BY HIS BROTHER, JAMES HALL, GIVING INFORMATION OF THE CELEBRATED TORY COLONEL SAMUEL BRYAN HAVING COLLECTED A CONSIDERABLE FORCE IN THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN, HE AGAIN ENTERED THE SERVICE THE NEXT MORNING.

 

HE ENTERED FOR A THIRD TOUR IN THE MILITIA OF NORTH CAROLINA AS A VOLUNTEER PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE COMPANY OF INFANTRY COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL, THEN LIVING IN THE COUNTY AFORESAID.  HE RENDEZVOUSED AT BRYAN ’S HILL ON LITTLE DUTCHMAN’S CREEK.  AFTER CONTINUING THERE FOR SOME DAYS FOR THEIR NUMBERS TO INCREASE SUFFICIENTLY, THEY MARCHED IN PURSUIT OF SAID COLONEL BRYAN, WHO WITH HIS FORCE WAS MAKING FOR THE BRITISH.  WE CROSSED THE YADKIN AND OTHER LESS STREAMS ON THIS EXPEDITION.  IN THIS TOUR HE SERVED AT LEAST TWO MONTHS.  HE DOES NOT RECOLLECT, WHETHER COLONEL LOCKE AND GENERAL RUTHERFORD WERE ALONG WITH HIS TROOPS IN THIS EXPEDITION OR NOT.  MAJOR JOSEPH DIXON, HE WELL RECOLLECTS, WAS.  AFTER THIS, FOR A SHORT TIME HIS TORY NEIGHBORS WERE THOUGHT TO BE PRETTY WELL SUBDUED.  THE TIME OF ENTERING THIS THIRD TOUR WAS THE NEXT MORNING AFTER RETURNING FROM HIS SAID SECOND TOUR, AND HIS RETURN WAS WITHOUT ANY DELAY.  HE WAS IN SAID SERVICE IN EMBODIED CORPS.

 

ABOUT THREE OR FOUR WEEKS AFTER HIS DISMISSAL FROM SAID THIRD TOUR, HE AGAIN AND FOR A FOURTH TOUR ENTERED THE SAID SERVICE IN THE MILITIA OF NORTH CAROLINA, THEN LIVING AT THE COUNTY AFORESAID AS A VOLUNTEER PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE COMPANY OF RANGERS OR MOUNTED INFANTRY MADE UP AND COMMANDED BY (THE SAID) CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL.  A FEW FOOTMEN BELONGED TO SAID COMPANY.  SAID COMPANY WAS DETACHED AND NOT JOINED TO ANY OTHER TROOPS.  HE, WITH SAID COMPANY, RANGED IN THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN, AND ON THE EAST SIDE OF SAID RIVER.  HE SERVED IN SAID RANGING SERVICE AT LEAST THREE MONTHS.  SAID COMPANY WAS MARCHED TO CAPTAIN CALDWELL’S RESIDENCE.  IMMEDIATELY   AND WITHOUT GOING HOME, HE WAS EMPLOYED TO MAKE UP A TEAM OUT OF THE PUBLIC HORSES AND HAUL A LOAD OF PUBLIC FLOUR TO MAJOR DIXON ’S.  ON THE WAY, HIS WAGON WAS BROKEN, AND HE HAD TO TAKE OUT A HORSE AND RIDE TO MAJOR DIXON’S FOR HELP, WHO SENT HIS SON AND WAGON FOR THAT PURPOSE.  HE HAD BEEN EMPLOYED IN HAULING FIVE OR SIX DAYS AND RETURNED TO CAPTAIN CALDWELL ’S SAID RESIDENCE.  UPON HIS RETURN TO SAID CAPTAIN CALDWELL’S, HE, SAID CAPTAIN, WAS MUSTERING A COMPANY TO MARCH DOWN TO MECKLENBURG , FOR TO JOIN GENERAL GREENE.  HE ENTERED SAID COMPANY AND SERVICE, WITHOUT GOING HOME, FOR THE FOLLOWING FIFTH TOUR.

 

HE ENTERED SAID MILITIA OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR A FIFTH TOUR AS A PRIVATE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER IN SAID COMPANY COMMANDED BY SAID CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL AND JOINED AND WAS UNDER THE COMMAND OF COLONEL DAVIE.  HE JOINED WITH SAID COMPANY [UNDER] THE COMMAND OF SAID COLONEL AT SOME NOTED OLD FIELD, THE NAME OF WHICH HE HAS FORGOTTEN, BETWEEN SALISBURY AND CHARLOTTE .  HE AND SAID TROOPS MARCHED DOWN TO MECKLENBURG BY WAY OF [BLANK] TO CHARLOTTE .  HE WITH SAID TROOPS WAS STATIONED NEAR CHARLOTTE AND RECONNOITERED THE COUNTRY AROUND THEM.  HE WAS MARCHED ONCE TO WAXHAW.  WHILST THERE, THE BRITISH CAME INTO CHARLOTTE, AND A SKIRMISH TOOK PLACE BETWEEN COLONEL DAVIE AND THE ENEMY, WHEN THE MAIN BODY OF WHICH CAME UP, WE HAD TO GIVE WAY.  OUR SMALL SCOUTING PARTIES FREQUENTLY FIRED AT THE BRITISH AS THEY PASSED ABOUT IN LARGE FORAGING PARTIES.  HE SERVED AT LEAST THREE MONTHS IN THIS TOUR, PROBABLY LONGER.  SOME OF THOSE WHO SERVED IN SAID CAMPAIGN, HE IS INFORMED, SAY THEY SERVED LONGER.  OUR OBJECT IN THIS TOUR WAS TO ANNOY THE ENEMY AND TO IMPRESS THEM WITH OUR INTENTION TO RESIST THEM TO THE LAST.  AFTER SOME TIME, THEY (THE BRITISH) MOVED OFF FROM CHARLOTTE SOUTHWARD, AND I WAS DISMISSED.  I CANNOT RECOLLECT AT WHAT PLACE; IT WAS NOT ONE OF NOTORIETY.  THERE WAS FAITHFULLY AND TO THE SATISFACTION OF HIS OFFICERS IN SAID SERVICE AND IN A CORPS REGULARLY EMBODIED IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

 

NOT MORE THAN TEN DAYS OR TWO WEEKS AFTER THIS LAST NAMED TOUR OR EXPEDITION TO MECKLENBURG, HE AGAIN, FOR A SIXTH TOUR, ENTERED THE SERVICE IN THE MILITIA OF SAID STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA IN THE COMPANY OF MOUNTED INFANTRY COMMANDED BY THE SAME CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL.  HE DID NOT ENTER SAID SERVICE IN SAID EXPEDITION FOR ANY PARTICULAR PERIOD OF SERVICE.  THE OBJECT OF SUCH EXPEDITION WAS TO GO INTO THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN AGAINST THE TORIES AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF COLLECTING PROVISIONS FOR THE MAIN ARMY.  HE DOES NOT RECOLLECT ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS EXPEDITION.  HE, WITH SAID COMPANY, MARCHED INTO THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN AND WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS OBSTACLES SUCCEEDED IN THE PURPOSE OF THE EXPEDITION.  SAID COMPANY WAS NOT ATTACHED TO ANY OTHER TROOPS OR HIGHER COMMAND.  DURING SAID EXPEDITION HE WAS IN THE SAID SERVICE AT LEAST SIX WEEKS.  SAID COMPANY WAS A REGULARLY AUTHORIZED AND EMBODIED CORPS.  HE SERVED SAID TOUR SIX WEEKS FAITHFULLY AND TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF HIS OFFICERS IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

 

A VERY SHORT TIME AFTER THE SAID EXPEDITION INTO THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN TO COLLECT PROVISIONS FOR THE MAIN ARMY, HEARING THAT A NUMBER OF PERSONS WERE GOING THROUGH THE COUNTRY ADMINISTERING OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE TO [THE] BRITISH CAUSE, ABOUT TWENTY, INCLUDING THIS APPLICANT, ORGANIZED THEMSELVES UNDER THE COMMAND OF SAID CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL AND PURSUED SAID PERSONS OR AGENTS OF THE BRITISH AND TORIES AS FAR AS SALEM, OR MORAVIAN TOWN, BUT NEVER OVERTOOK THEM.  IN THIS EXPEDITION HE SERVED AT LEAST TEN DAYS.  IN THIS, HIS SEVENTH TOUR, HE WAS A VOLUNTEER PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE MILITIA OF SAID STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA .  SAID DETACHMENT WAS INFANTRY.  DURING SAID TOUR, HE WAS WITH SAID COMPANY THE SAME WAY EMBODIED AND WAS RAISED BY COMPETENT AUTHORITY.

 

AFTER THE LAST-NAMED EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SAID BRITISH AND TORY EMISSARIES, I ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT WITH AND AT THE REQUEST OF SAID CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL AND SAID MAJOR JOSEPH DIXON TO GO TO CHISWELL’S LEAD MINES AND HAUL A WAGON LOAD OF LEAD FROM SAID MINES TO THE RESIDENCE OF SAID CAPTAIN CALDWELL.  ACCORDING TO SAID CONTRACT AND PROMISE OF SAID OFFICERS, I WAS TO HAVE CREDIT FOR, AND SAID HAULING WAS TO COUNT, ONE TOUR OF THREE MONTHS.  I, WITH OTHER TEAMSTERS UNDER THE COMMAND OF A WAGON MASTER, PROCEEDED TO SAID MINES AND HAULED AND DELIVERED A GOOD FULL LOAD OF LEAD TO SAID CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL AT HIS RESIDENCE.  IN THIS, MY EIGHTH EXPEDITION, I WAS AT CONSIDERABLE TROUBLE AND EXPENSE AND RISK OF LIFE.  I WOULD MUCH HAVE PREFERRED TO HAVE BEEN IN THE LINES WITH MY GUN AND KNAPSACK OR MOUNTED IN A COMPANY OF HORSE.  EVERY PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE WOULD SANCTION AN ALLOWANCE FOR THIS TOUR.  NOT ONLY HIS LIFE, AS IN OTHER TOURS, BUT HIS PROPERTY IN ADDITION WAS RISKED.

 

AFTER THIS EXPEDITION AFTER LEAD, HOW LONG HE CANNOT STATE, HE ENTERED THE SERVICE FOR THE FOLLOWING TOUR.  TO THE BEST OF HIS RECOLLECTION IT WAS IN THE YEAR 1779 OR 1780, HE THINKS IN THE FALL SEASON OF THE YEAR.  THEN LIVING IN SAID COUNTY OF ROWAN IN THE SAID STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA , HE ENTERED THE SERVICE IN THE MILITIA OF SAID STATE IN THE COMPANY OF MOUNTED MEN OR MOUNTED INFANTRY COMMANDED BY HUGH HALL.  HE THINKS SAID HALL’S COMMISSION WAS THAT OF LIEUTENANT, BUT COMMANDED SAID COMPANY ON ACCOUNT OF, AND IN THE ABSENCE OF CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL.  THEY, THIS APPLICANT AND SAID COMPANY, MARCHED IN AN EXPEDITION TO AND THROUGH THE COUNTIES OF WILKES AND SURRY IN SAID STATE AGAINST SAID TORIES.  THEY DISPERSED BEFORE WE REACHED THEIR RESORTING PLACES.

 

WE TURNED AND, WITHOUT GOING HOME, MARCHED DOWN BY MORAVIAN TOWN, OR SALEM, THROUGH GUILFORD COUNTY, HAWFIELDS, AND IN PURSUIT OF CORNWALLIS.  WE WERE MARCHED IN CIRCUITOUS ROUTES AROUND AND ABOUT HILLSBORO AND THAT PART OF THE STATE.  A LITTLE AFTER A SKIRMISH ON THE ALAMANCE, AND NOT FAR FROM THE HAW RIVER , WE WERE JOINED BY COLONEL LEE AND HIS LIGHT HORSE.  I WAS ON PICKET GUARD AT THE TIME.  OUR SAID COMPANY BELONGED TO AND WAS JOINED TO A HIGHER, THEIR CAPTAIN’S COMMAND.  THEY WERE (OUR SAID COMPANY) COMMANDED BY MAJOR JOSEPH DIXON.  WHETHER HE HAD A BATTALION, OR OWING TO THE ABSENCE OF A COLONEL HAD COMMANDED A REGIMENT, I CANNOT NOW STATE .

 

WHEN I ORDERED THOSE IN FRONT OF COLONEL LEE’S TROOPS TO HALT AND GIVE THE COUNTERSIGN, THEY WERE UNABLE TO DO SO, AND I PROPOSED TO COLONEL LEE, NOT BEING CERTAIN WHO THEY WERE, WHETHER FRIENDS OR FOES, THAT I WOULD SEND MY COMRADE WHO WAS STANDING GUARD NEXT TO ME AND ONE OF HIS MEN IN TO MAJOR DIXON WHILST THE COLONEL LEE SHOULD STAND WITH ME, WHICH WAS DONE.  DURING THIS TIME, PERHAPS HALF AN HOUR OR MORE, I HAD THE SATISFACTION OF AN INTIMATE AND FAMILIAR CONVERSATION WITH COLONEL LEE.  HE WAS ONE OF THE FINEST LOOKING MEN AND BEST RIDERS ON HORSEBACK.  SHORTLY AFTER THIS, AND DURING MY SAID TOUR, A BODY OF TORIES HAD RAISED, AS WE WERE THEN INFORMED, WITH THE VIEW OF REINFORCING COLONEL TARELTON.

 

OUR TROOPS AND THIS BODY OF TORIES AND COLONEL TARELTON ALL BEING IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD, OUR TROOPS ON THE MARCH MET SAID BODY OF TORIES AT A PLACE CALLED THE RACE PATHS, AND, MISTAKING OUR TROOPS FOR TARELTON’S, COLONEL LEE AND OFFICERS KEPT UP THE DECEPTION, AND COLONEL LEE AND HIS LIGHT HORSE MARCHING ON ONE COLUMN OR LINE, AND MAJOR OR COLONEL DIXON’S COMMAND IN ANOTHER, SOME INTERVAL APART, THE TORIES PASSED INTO THIS INTERVAL BETWEEN OUR LINES.  OR, PERHAPS WHICH IS THE FACT, THE TORIES HAVING HALTED, OUR LINES PASSED ONE ON EACH SIDE OF THEM WHILST MARCHING ALONG TO COVER THEM SO AS TO PLACE THEM BETWEEN OUR SAID LINES.  THEY FREQUENTLY UTTERED SALUTATIONS OF A FRIENDLY KIND, BELIEVING US TO BE BRITISH.  COLONEL LEE KNEW WHAT HE WAS ABOUT AND SO DID MAJOR DIXON .  BUT I RECOLLECT THAT MY CAPTAIN HALL, PERCEIVING THEY WERE TORIES AND THINKING THAT COLONEL LEE DID NOT KNOW IT AND WAS IMPOSED UPON BY THEIR CRIES OF FRIENDSHIP AND MISUNDERSTOOD THEM TO BE OUR FRIENDS INSTEAD OF THE BRITISH, HE CALLED TO COLONEL LEE ACROSS THE TORIES LINE AND TOLD HIM, ‘COLONEL LEE, THEY ARE EVERY BLOOD OF THEM TORIES!’  COLONEL LEE GAVE HIM A SIGN TO PROCEED ON WITH THE EXECUTION OF THE COMMAND, WHICH WAS TO MARCH ON UNTIL A DIFFERENT COMMAND WAS GIVEN.  IN A FEW MINUTES OR LESS TIME, AND AT THE INSTANT THEY, THE TORIES, WERE COMPLETELY COVERED BY OUR LINES UPON BOTH FLANKS, OR FRONT AND REAR AS THE CASE MAY HAVE BEEN, THE BUGLE SOUNDED THE ATTACK, AND THE SLAUGHTER BEGAN, THE TORIES CRYING OUT, ‘YOUR OWN MEN, YOUR OWN MEN, AS GOOD SUBJECTS OF HIS MAJESTY AS IN AMERICA’.  IT WAS SAID THAT UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED OF THESE TORIES WERE SLAIN ON THE GROUND.  THEY WERE, I THINK, HEADED BY A COLONEL PYLE OR PYLES.  TARELTON AT THIS TIME WAS IN A FEW MILES OF US, AND IN PURSUING HIM NEXT MORNING WE FOUND HE HAD ENCAMPED IN FOUR OR FIVE MILES OF THE SAID RACE PATHS (WHERE WE MET THE TORIES UNDER COLONEL PYLE) THE NIGHT AFTER THAT AFFAIR. 

 

THAT EVENING AFTER OUR BATTLE WITH THE TORIES, WE HAVING A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF PRISONERS, I RECOLLECT A SCENE, WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPRESSION UPON MY MIND.  I WAS INVITED BY SOME OF MY COMRADES TO GO AND SEE SOME OF THE PRISONERS.  WE WENT TO WHERE SIX WERE STANDING TOGETHER, SOME DISCUSSION TAKING PLACE, I HEARD SOME OF OUR MEN CRY OUT, ‘REMEMBER BUFORD,’ AND THE PRISONERS WERE IMMEDIATELY HEWED TO PIECES WITH BROADSWORDS.  AT FIRST I BORE THE SCENE WITHOUT ANT EMOTION, BUT UPON A MOMENTS REFLECTION, I FELT SUCH HORROR AS I NEVER DID BEFORE NOR HAVE SINCE, AND, RETURNING TO MY QUARTERS AND THROWING MYSELF UPON MY BLANKET, I CONTEMPLATED THE CRUELTIES OF WAR UNTIL OVERCOME AND UNMANNED BY A DISTRESSING GLOOM FROM WHICH I WAS NOT RELIEVED UNTIL COMMENCING OUR MARCH NEXT MORNING BEFORE DAY BY MOONLIGHT.  I CAME TO TARELTON’S CAMP, WHICH HE HAD JUST ABANDONED LEAVING LIVELY RAILFIRES.  BEING ON THE LEFT OF THE ROAD AS WE MARCHED ALONG, I DISCOVERED LYING UPON THE GROUND SOMETHING WITH APPEARANCE OF A MAN.  UPON APPROACHING HIM, HE PROVED TO BE A YOUTH ABOUT SIXTEEN WHO, HAVING COME OUT TO VIEW THE BRITISH THROUGH CURIOSITY, FOR FEAR HE MIGHT GIVE INFORMATION TO OUR TROOPS, THEY HAD RUN HIM THROUGH WITH A BAYONET AND LEFT HIM FOR DEAD.  THOUGH ABLE TO SPEAK, HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED.  THE SIGHT OF THIS UNOFFENDING BOY, BUTCHERED RATHER THAN BE ENCUMBERED IN THE [ILLEGIBLE] ON THE MARCH, I ASSUME, RELIEVED ME OF MY DISTRESSFUL FEELINGS FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF THE TORIES, AND I DESIRED NOTHING SO MUCH AS THE OPPORTUNITY OF PARTICIPATING IN THEIR DESTRUCTION.”

 

JOHN’S NOTE; THERE IS MORE NARRATIVE, BUT IT IS NOT IN OUR AREA OF INTEREST.