Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

He had shielded his country from the murderous tomahawk of the savage. He had established her boundaries. He had forced her enemies to sue for her protection. He beheld her triumphant, rich in arts, and potent in arms. What more could his patriot spirit wish to see? He died in a hut at Presque Isle, aged about fifty-one years, and was buried on the shore of Lake Erie.

A few years since his bones were taken up by his son, Isaac Wayne, Esq. and entombed in his native county; and by direction of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, an elegant monument was erected. It is to be seen within the cemetry of St. David's church, situated in Chester county. It is constructed of white marble, of the most correct symmetry and beauty. The south front exhibits the following inscription:

In honour of the distinguished
Military services of
Major General
ANTHONY WAYNE,
And as an affectionate tribute
of respect to his memory,
This stone was erected by his
companions in arms,

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE SOCIETY OF

THE CINCINNATI,

July 4th, A. D. 1809,
Thirty fourth anniversary of
The Independence of

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
An event which constitutes
the most

Appropriate eulogium of an American

SOLDIER AND PATRIOT.

The north front exhibits the following inscription:
Major General
ANTHONY WAYNE,
Was born at Waynesborough,

in Chester county,
State of Pennsylvania,
A. D. 1745.

After a life of honour and usefulness,
He died in December, 1796,
at a military post
On the shore of Lake Erie,
Commander in chief of the army of

THE UNITED STATES.

His military achievements

are consecrated

In the history of his country,
and in

The hearts of his countrymen.
His remains
Are here deposited.

WILLIAMS, OTHO HOLLAND, a brigadier general in the American army, was born in the county of Prince George, in Maryland, in the year 1748. He was bred up in the clerk's office of the county, a profession which presented better prospects to a young man, than any other office then procurable under the colonial government of Maryland. He was removed, just before the war broke out, to the clerk's office in the county of Baltimore, of which he had the principal direction; and the business of which he conducted with exemplary propriety. Anxious to draw his sword in defence of his oppressed country, as soon as the last resort became inevitable, Williams was appointed lieutenant in the company of riflemen raised in the county of Frederick, commanded by captain Price, and marched in 1775, to the American camp before Boston. In 1776, a rifle regiment was formed, of which Stephenson was appointed colonel, Rawlings lieutenant colonel, and Williams major.

Stephenson soon dying, the command of the regiment devolved upon Rawlings, who, with his regiment, formed part of the garrison of fort Washington, in the state of New York, when assailed by sir William Howe, pushing Washington over the North river. In this attack, the rifle regiment opposed the Hessian column, and behaved to admiration, holding for a long time, victory in suspense, and severely crippling its adversary. The fort was nevertheless carried by capitulation, and its garrison became prisoners of war. After the surrender of Burgoyne's army, colonel Wilkinson, adjutant general to general Gates, who was personally attached to major Williams, procured his exchange for major Achland, wounded in the first action between the northern armies, and left on the ground, with many others, to the mercy of the American general. While in captivity, Williams became entitled to the command of a regiment; and as soon as he was exchanged, he was placed at the head of the sixth Maryland. The Maryland and Delaware lines having been detached to South Carolina, soon after the reduction of Charleston, colonel Williams accompanied the Baron de Kalb, and after general Gates took command of the army, he was called to the important station of adjutant general to the same. He bore a distinguished part in the battle of the sixteenth of August, and shared with the general in the bitter adversity of that disastrous period.

When Greene took command of the southern army, colonel Williams was retained in the station he then occupied, which he held to the end of the war, enjoying the uninterrupted confidence of his commander, and the esteem of his fellow soldiers.

Throughout the important campaign which followed, he acted a conspicuous part, and greatly contributed, by the honourable and intelligent discharge of the duties of the station which he held, to the successful issue of Greene's operations. At the head of the light troops, during our difficult retreat, he was signally efficient in holding the army safe until it effected its passage across the river Dan; and after Greene's return into North Carolina, when, to save that state, the American general was constrained to put to hazard his inferior force, he was no less useful in thwarting the various attempts of lord Cornwallis to strike his antagonist. He seconded his general in the fields of Guilford, of Hobrick, and of Eutaws, invariably exciting, by his impressive example, officer and soldier to an animated display of skill and courage. After the war he was appointed collector of the port of Baltimore. He died in July, 1794, of a pulmonary complaint.

Brigadier general Williams was about five feet ten inches high, erect and elegant in form, made for activity rather than strength. His countenance was expressive, and the faithful index of his warm and honest heart. Pleasing in his address, he never failed to render himself acceptable, in whatever circle he moved, notwithstanding a sternness of character which was sometimes manifested with too much asperity. He was beneficent to his friends, but very cold to all whose correctress in moral principle became questionable in his mind. As a soldier, he may be called a rigid, not cruel disciplinarian ; obeying with exactitude his superior, he exacted the like obedience from his inferior.

In the field of battle he was self-possessed, intelligent, and ardent; in camp, circumspect, attentive and systematic; in council, sincere, deep and perspicacious. During the campaigns of general Greene, he was uniformly one of his few advisers, and held his unchanged confidence: nor was he less esteemed by his brother officers, or less respected by his soldiery.

Previous to the disbandonment of the army, congress manifested their sense of Williams's merit and services, by pro moting him to the rank of brigadier general.

WOOSTER, DAVID, major general in the revolutionary war, was born at Stratford, in 1711, and was graduated at Yale college in 1738. At the commencement of the war with Great Britain, he was appointed to the chief command of the troops in the service of Connecticut, and made a brigadier

general in the continental service; but this commission he afterwards resigned. In 1776, he was appointed the first major general of the militia of his native state. While opposing a detachment of British troops, whose object was to destroy the public stores at Danbury, he was mortally wounded at Ridgefield, April 27, 1777, and died on the second of May. Though seventy years old, general Wooster behaved with the vigor and spirit of youth. Congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory, as an acknowledgment of his merit and services.

WYTHE, GEORGE, Chancellor of Virginia, and a distinguished friend of his country, was born in the county of Elizabeth city, in 1726. At school he learned only to read and write, and to apply the five first rules in arithmetic.

With

out the assistance of any instructor he acquired an accurate knowledge of the Greek, and he read the best authors in that as well as in the Latin language. He made himself also a profound lawyer.

Having obtained a license to practice law, he took his station at the bar of the old general court, with many other great men, whose merit has been the boast of Virginia. Among them he was conspicuous, not for his eloquence or ingenuity in maintaining a bad cause, but for his sound sense and learning, and rigid attachment to justice. He never undertook the support of a cause which he knew to be bad, or which did not appear to be just or honourable. He was even known, when he doubted the statement of his client, to insist upon his making an affidavit to its truth, and in every instance, where it was in his power, he examined the witnesses as to the facts intended to be proved before he brought the suit, or agreed to defend it.

When the time arrived, which Heaven had destined for the separation of the wide, confederated republic of America, from the dominion of Great Britain, Mr. Wythe was one of the instruments in the hand of Providence for accomplishing that great work. He took a decided part in the very first movements of opposition. Not content merely to fall in with the wishes of his fellow citizens, he assisted in persuading them not to submit to British tyranny. With a prophetic mind he looked forward to the event of an approaching war, and resolutely prepared to encounter all its evils rather than resign his attachment to liberty. With his pupil and friend, Thomas Jefferson, he roused the people to resistance. As the controversy grew warm, his zeal became proportionably fervent. He joined a corps of volunteers, accustomed himself to military discipline, and was ready to march at the call of his country. But that country, to whose interests he was so

sincerely attached, had other duties of more importance for him to perform. It was his destiny to obtain distinction as a statesman, legislator and judge, and not as a warrior. Before the war commenced, he was elected a member of the Virginia assembly. After having been for some time speaker of the house of burgesses. he was sent by the members of that body as one of their delegates to the congress, which assembled May 10, 1775, and did not separate until it had declared the independence of America. In that most enlightened and patriotic assembly, he possessed no small share of influence. He was one of those who signed the memorable declaration, by which the heroic legislators of this country pledged "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour," to maintain and defend its violated rights. But the voice of his native state soon called him from the busy scenes, where his talents had been so ably exerted. In November, 1776, he was appointed one of a committee to revise the laws of Virginia. This was a work of very great labour and difficulty. After finishing the task of new modelling the laws, he was employed to carry them into effect, by being placed in the difficult office of judge of a court of equity. He was one of the three judges of the high court of chancery, and afterwards sole chancellor of Virginia, in which station he continued until the day of his death, during a period of more than twenty years.

He was a member of the Virginia convention, which in June 1788, considered the proposed constitution of the United States. He was ever attached to the constitution on account of the principles of freedom and justice which it contained; and in every change of affairs he was steady in supporting the rights of man. His political opinions were always firmly republican. He presided twice successively in the college of electors in Virginia, and twice voted for a president whose political opinions coincided with his own.

He died in June, 1806, in the eighty first year of his age. It was supposed that he was poisoned; but the person suspected was acquitted by a jury of his countrymen. By his last will he bequeathed his valuable library and philosophical apparatus to his friend Mr. Jefferson, and distributed the remainder of his little property among the grand children of his sister, and the slaves, whom he had set free.

Chancellor Wythe possessed a soul replete with benevolence. He was of a social and affectionate disposition. His integrity was never even suspected. While he practised at the bar, when offers of an extraordinary but well merited compensation were made to him by clients whose causes he had gained, he would say, that the laborer was indeed worthy of his hire, but the lawful fee was all he had a right to

« AnteriorContinuar »