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What are we going to run?' 'Yes,' it was said. 'Well, he replied, 'I will give them one more shot before I run.' Farther of him I do not hear. Our people are out burying their dead now; when they return I can give a more particular account. We design to make a stand here until we have a sufficient reinforcement. What number that must be I cannot now tell, but it is sure the enemy still intend to stop us before we can get to Crown Point. The French General saith, that if we give them one more such a dressing, Crown Point and all their country will be ours. They however design to put a stop to that. But I hope in God they will be disappointed, for I judge, humanly speaking, that all depends on this expedition. Therefore, I pray God would fire the breasts of this people with a true zeal and noble, generous spirit to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. And I trust that all those who value our holy religion and our liberties will spare nothing, even to the one half of their estate. General Johnson was shot in the thigh, but the bone was not broken. Major Gen. Lyman not injured. Both behaved with steadiness and resolution.

"I desire the prayers of God's people for us, that we may not turn our backs upon our enemies, but stand and make a victorious defence for ourselves and our country.

"From your most obedient, humble servant, "SETH POMEROY."

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Northampton, Sept. 13th, 1755. "HONORED AND DEAR SIR:-These, if you behold them, may inform you, that it is with the utmost fear that I now set pen to paper, lest I write to one in the eternal world, but yet trusting and hoping in Him who has defended you heretofore. On Thursday we had the sorrowful news of Col. William Titcomb's death, and that Col. Goothridge was wounded, and by reason of not hearing of your death, I trusted that you were still alive. This we had more certainly yesterday, for at first it was such an account that we could hardly believe it. We are informed that it was a very bloody battle on both sides, hundreds having been killed, and when those who brought the news left you, you were still engaged. By reason of the superiority of your enemies in number, we are all in

the utmost concern to hear the event, and dread it too. You are, though, I conclude, ere this time conquerors, or (I dread to say it) conquered. The assistance by which this comes I expect will be too late to give you any relief, unless it be to assist in carrying off and taking care of the wounded. We are at the utmost loss and wonder that we have not heard from you later, for Wednesday morning was the last news which we had. We fear that the posts are cut off, (as was the post that rode from New Haven between Fort Lyman and you,) for since the

VOL. I. NO. V. NEW SERIES.

31

scout from Hancock went out, it is high time it was returned, but it is not yet heard from. I have been upon the point of sending one of our sons with these men, but one only being returned from New Haven, with other reasons, I have thought at this present that it was not best. "Thus far I wrote and went to bed, determining to finish in the morning, but at midnight a cry came at our door with the joyful news of victory, though stained with blood. Blessed be God for that He hath returned to our arms, and hath spared you, when He hath caused others to fall at your right hand, and at your left. The assistance by which I was going to send this was a company of about sixty men, from North and South Hampton, who were to set out on Sabbath morning by about sunrise, but who stopped upon hearing of the victory, and went immediately to follow the direction of the Court in raising two thousand men, who, I hope, will be with you ere long. As you are now involved by the death of others into a greater business, so I hope and pray that you may have a double portion of the Spirit of God to assist, direct, and quicken you in your undertakings, and that you may be made a blessing to the kingdom of Christ and his church in this part of the world, and in due time be restored to me and your family victorious.

"These from your most affectionate and loving wife, MARY POMEROY. P. S. Your children are all well, and by these present their duty to their protected

father.

The foregoing letters are but a small portion of the correspondence of Col. Pomeroy. These have been selected as specimens of the character and tone of the writings, rather than as any addition to documentary history. In relation to Dieskau, the leader of the French expedition, however, they settle one point which has always been misstated. Even as late as the present year, a very respectable history of the United States, in many respects, copying from other works, asserts that Baron Dieskau, being taken prisoner, was shot dead by a soldier upon the spot, directly after the battle. The facts in the case, as settled by other of these papers than those which we have selected above, are as follows:

Baron Dieskau, being wounded in the battle, was first found by a private of one of Col. Pomeroy's companies, by whom he was robbed of his watch. Upon being taken to Col. Pomeroy's tent, and his wounds being dressed, he informed the latter of what had happened, who imme

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diately took measures to detect the offend- | to the strokes of the hardy woodsman. er. After some time the watch was dis- The mechanic plied his trade undisturbed. covered, and returned to its rightful owner. Each weekday the schoolboy conned his Before he left the camp, in return for the weary task, and the Sabbath witnessed the kindness he had received, Baron Dieskau gathering of a quiet congregation to hear presented the watch as a token of his re- the Word of God. It was, however, the gard to Col. Pomeroy, who ever after- calm upon the surface only. The second wards carried it until his death. It is still day of April converted that apparent quiet in the possession of the family, having now of the elements in the New England popudescended in direct line to the fourth gene- lation, into a tornado of revenge. The ration, and yet does true service, though battle of Lexington, like the touch of the at the expiration of ninety-two years. magician's wand upon the face of the enAfter remaining in this country some time, chanted sleeper, infused new life into the Baron Dieskau sailed for England, where people. The seeds of oppression, sown he died of his wounds. through many years, in a single day sprang up a harvest of armed men. From the plains of the Piscataqua, from the distant hills of Hoosac, from the villages and hamlets of Worcester and Essex, the undisciplined yeomanry rushed to the scene of contest. In eight-and-forty hours after Major Pitcairn's call to the militia assembled before the meeting-house in Lexington, "Lay down your arms, you rebels, and disperse," Boston was invested by an army of fifteen thousand men.

For eighteen years following the expedition to Crown Point, Col. Pomeroy held many offices of trust in his native State. Those eighteen years constituted the severe minority of New England. Discreet and cautious about uniting with the new measures which an oppressed and indignant people were ever concerting, he was still ever earnest and bold in advocating their rights, and firm in resisting encroachments upon their liberties. No flatteries could blind him to the true perception of the right, no offers of emolument seduce him from his faithfulness to his country. To the Earl of Loudon, who had demanded to know of him in 1756, "whether the troops, raised by the several colonies, would act in conjunction with his Majesty's forces, according to his Majesty's command," he replied, "Yes; but only upon the condition, that the terms agreed upon by the several governments should not be altered." As a commander of the militia of western Massachusetts, as Justice of the Peace under the King's seal; as the senior military officer in the State, and as a member of the provincial Congress, he exhibited at all times an energy of action, an earnestness and sincerity of purpose, a purity of motive, and an independence of unlawful restraint, which gave him great influence over the better portion of all parties in the country.

The early spring of 1775 was marked by no unusual disturbance in New England. To the eye of a stranger, everything would have appeared indicative of quiet and contentment. The winter snows had gradually melted away, and the husbandman drove his team afield, or ploughed the soil without molestation. The forest resounded as wont

Although then entering his seventieth year, Col. Pomeroy was immediately upon the ground, and was elected General-inchief by the officers assembled, with the concurrence of the Congress at Watertown. Aided first by Ward and then by Putnam, he succeeded in infusing order into the undisciplined ranks of the rude soldiery, and in converting the tumultuous camp into the regularity of a besieging army. For nearly two months, his labors, in conjunction with his brother officers, were directed to enlisting, enrolling, arming and disciplining a regular and efficient army, laboring all day upon the field, and corresponding with the colonial legislatures, the committees, and men of standing in the country, throughout the night. Worn down at length with the unceasing toils of his office, he sought relaxation in the absence of a few days upon his farm on the Connecticut. Arriving there on the evening of the 15th of June, he had barely passed a single night at home, when a messenger from the camp summoned him again to Boston. "We have determined," says Putnam in his letter, "to draw our forces nearer the city, and to take possession of the heights of Charlestown." Foreseeing that such a step would bring about imme

diate hostilities, and doubting its eventual | advantage, the old man unharnessed one of the horses from the team, and ordering him to be immediately saddled, started at noon of the 16th of June for the camp. By riding all the night, and twice obtaining a fresh horse upon the road, he reached the scene of action at two o'clock in the afternoon. The troops of the enemy were then landing from Boston. The heights in every direction were covered with spectators. The balls of the ships of war were sweeping the neck of land over which he must pass to reach Bunker's hill. Alighting from his horse, and remarking to his attendant that he was "too valuable an animal to be shot," he went over the narrow pass on foot, and safely reached the intrenchment. As he appeared in sight, a shout of welcome went up from the troops. Putnam, seizing him by the hand, exclaimed, "You here, Pomeroy? God! I believe a cannon would wake you up, if you slept in the grave!" Refusing the repeated proffers of the general command, though urgently solicited, the old warrior advanced into the trench and took charge of the Connecticut troops. With a gun of his own manufacture, which he had carried thirty years before at the siege of Louisburg, he directed the fire of his men during those two hours of terrible struggle for the birth of American liberties. Towards Pitcairn there existed in the hearts of the colonial troops a deadly hatred. Observing him at the head of a column, which, once repulsed, were now again returning to the attack, he pointed him out to the men who stood at his side, and in a moment Pitcairn fell mortally wounded.

The details of the battle of Bunker Hill are too well known to be repeated here. During the last attack, Gen. Pomeroy's gun was indented by a musket ball, so that he could no longer discharge it. The old man then passed up and down the trench, encouraging his men, loading their muskets, removing the wounded, and directing the last scattering fire, until he perceived that the intrenchments above him had been gained by the British. His men beginning to retreat too hastily, he is said to have cried out, "Don't run, boys! Don't run! Fight them with the

breech of your muskets, as I do! It shan't be said of Seth Pomeroy, that he was shot in the back!"

At the time of the appointment of Washington as General-in-chief of the colonial troops, Pomeroy received the appointment of Brigadier General. His health, however, had suffered too much from his recent exertions, and he could not with consistency take charge of the arduous duties its acceptance would involve. Declining entering longer into the labors of active service, he retired to his farm, from whence he viewed with unabated interest the progress of the war of our Independence. Notwithstanding his advanced years, the military ardor of his youth had not diminished, and in 1777, at the request of Gen. Washington, though against the earnest remonstrances of his physician and family, he again accepted command. A few weeks, however, had elapsed only after his arrival at his post at Peekskill, before he was again attacked with serious illness. After lingering a few days, his disease overcame his system. He died at Peekskill on the 15th of February, 1777, and was buried there with military honors.

In personal appearance, during the early part of his military life, Pomeroy had few superiors. He was full six feet tall, spare in person, but erect, well built, and of great agility and muscular strength, Without unusual- quickness of apprehension, he possessed, what was far better, a sound judgment, which, always coming to its conclusions carefully, was rarely in error. To this he added a firmness of decision, which could not be shaken, and which was undoubtedly the great element of his success in life. He was remarkable for a strict regard to principle, which he oftentimes carried to sternness. His courage, fearless in so many instances that it became proverbial, sprang rather from this absolute adherence to principle, than from indifference to danger. Indeed, it would appear from his journal, that he possessed a sensibility actively alive to every approach of danger, which often led him to exaggerate its importance. He said to his son Lemuel, at a time when he showed some reluctance to go alone through the woods, which

were supposed to be infested with hostile | duty. But if you are ever tempted to do Indians, after the strayed cattle: Lem, a mean thing, or a wrong thing, be the never fear to do your duty. No matter greatest coward in the world." where it calls you, no matter how great N. S. D. the danger, never be afraid to do your

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LIFE AND WRITINGS OF CHIEF JUSTICE DURFEE.*

advantage of being descended from a family of considerable antiquity, of high respectability and of independent estate. At the age of eighteen, young Durfee was sent to Brown University, where he occupied a place in the foremost rank of scholarship, and of general literary attainments, though without showing any signs of extraordinary precocity, but rather earning a well merit

THE writings of the late Job Durfee, Chief Justice of Rhode Island, have not yet attracted that degree of public attention to which they are entitled; for they are the fruits of one of the most highly gifted minds of our country. Unhappily, his genius was extinguished before having reached, by a considerable distance, its zenith; and many of his valuable and more popular labors, moreover, still remained reputation for habits of physical indounpublished. But we trust that the duty of giving to the public a complete edition of them will not be left unperformed; though Rhode Island would seem, indeed, to be somewhat neglectful of her literary reputation. Illustrious as was her early career, no history of the State has yet been written; the lives of several of her founders have not found a chronicler; the military papers of General Greene are allowed to collect ingloriously the dust of time; while not so much as a stone points out the spots where rest the remains of men so learned, and so conspicuous in action, as Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, and John Clarke.

But we are happy to attempt the discharge of any literary obligation we may owe to a State, the smallness of whose territory is no measure of the greatness of its deserts; and to introduce this interesting thinker to the better acquaintance of our readers, by a brief sketch of his life and writings.

Job Durfee was born in the year 1790, in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The son of a Chief Justice of the court of common pleas for the county of Newport, he enjoyed the

lence, unusual even in college. The year of his graduation, the goodness of his parts being already recognized, his young ambition had a chance of displaying itself in a Fourth of July oration, which, though published, has shared the oblivious fate of a very large number of patriotic productions of this species; and a twelvemonth afterwards, his unfledged muse made its first attempt to soar, in a poem, pronounced before the Society of United Brothers, in Brown University, with the resounding title of the "Vision of Petrarch." But writing verses was not, happily, the principal occupation of the young Bachelor of Arts; for, on leaving college, he had entered upon the study of the law, under both the parental eye and roof. Yet, before completing his course of legal studies, being somewhat conspicuous in the place of his nativity from his social position, his liberal education and promising talents, he was invited by his townsmen to represent them in the General Assembly of the State; and he accordingly commenced his public life at the early age of twenty-six.

Four years of Mr. Durfee's legislative career passed away, marked by nothing more

*What-cheer, or Roger Williams in Banishment. A Poem. By JOB DURFEE, Esq. Providence: Cranston & Hammond. 1832.

Charge of the Hon. Chief Justice DURFEE, delivered to the Grand Jury at the March Term of the Supreme Judicial Court, at Bristol, Rhode Island. A.D. 1842.

An Oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Brown University, Providence, R. I. on Commencement day, September 6th, 1843, by JOB DURFEE. Providence: B. Cranston & Co. 1843.

A Discourse delivered before the Rhode Island Historical Society, on the evening of Wednesday, January 13th, 1846. By Hon. JOB DURFEE, Chief Justice of Rhode Island. Providence: Charles Burnett, Jr. 1846.

The Panidea: or an Omnipresent Reason considered as the creative and sustaining Logos. By THEOPTES, (Hon. Job Durfee, LL.D.) Boston: Thomas H. Webb & Co. 1846.

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