True to the Old Flag; a Tale of the American War of Independence
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F/A BY # G A H E N T Y PEARSON TRIES THE ICE. TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG A TALE OF THE AMEEICAN WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. BY G. A. HENTY, " " Author of The Lion of the North," With Clive in India," "Through the Fray," " " " In Freedom's Cause," The Dragon and the Raven," Facing Death," Ac. WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY GORDON BROWNE. LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED; NEW YOEK: CHARLES SCEIBNEE'S SONS, 743 AND 745 BROADWAY. UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES PKEFACE. MY DEAR LADS, You have probably been accustomed to regard the war between England and her Colonies in America as one in which we were not only beaten but to some extent humiliated. Owing to the war having been an unsuccessful one for our arms, British writers have avoided the subject, and it has been left for American historians to describe. These, writing for their own countrymen, and drawing for their facts upon gazettes, letters, and other documents emanating from one side only, have naturally, and no doubt insensibly, given a very strong colour to their own views of the events, and English writers have been too much inclined to accept their account implicitly. There is, however, another and very different side to the story, and this I have endeavoured to show you. The whole of the facts and details connected with the war can be relied upon as accurate. They are drawn from the valuable account of the struggle written by Major Stedman, who served under Howe, Clinton, and Cornwallis, and from other authentic contemporary sources. You will see that although unsuccess- ful and success was, under the circumstances, a sheer impossi- bility the British troops fought with a bravery which was never exceeded, and that their victories in actual conflict vi PREFACE. vastly outnumbered their defeats. Indeed it may be doubted whether in any war in which this country has been engaged have our soldiers exhibited the qualities of endurance and courage in a higher degree. Yours very sincerely, G. A. HENTY. CONTENTS. Chap. Page I. A FRONTIER FARM, .... 9 II. AN INDIAN RAID, 25 III. THE RED-SKIN ATTACK 42 IV. THE FIGHT AT LEXINGTON 60 V. BUNKER'S HILL, 76 VI. SCOUTING, 95 VII. IN THE FOEEST, 114 VIII. QUEBEC 132 IX. THE SUBPRISE OF TBENTON, 152 X. A TBEAOHEBOUS PLANTEB, 172 XL THE CAPTUBE OF PHILADELPHIA, 200 XII. THE SETTLEB'S HUT, 218 XIII. SARATOGA, 237 XIV. RESCUED, 258 XV. THE ISLAND REFUGE, 277 XVI. THE GBEAT STOBM, 295 XVII. THE Scour's STORY, 310 XVIII. THE SIEGE OF SAVANNAH, 328 XIX. IN AN AMEBIOAN PRISON, . 349 XX. THE WAB IN SOUTH CAROLINA, 367 XXI. THB END OF THE STRUGGLE, . * 385 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page PEARSON TBIBS THE ICE, Frontispiece 322 "THAT WAS A PRETTY GOOD SHOT," 33 THB BEGINNING OP THE WAR, 70 THE SECOND ADVANCE AT BUNKER'S HILL, 84 JOHN COFFIN AND BAIRNSFEATHER IN THE BATTERY, . .136 MB. JACKSON'S SUSPICIONS AROUSED 178 A TREACHEROUS FRIEND CAUGHT, 181 THE DEFENCE OF THE HUT, 226 DONALD CAMERON'S DESPAIR, 251 "THE INDIAN DARTED OFF ACROSS THE ICE," 280 WATCHING THE INDIANS' APPROACH, 286 " THE HlGHLANDEBS MAINTAINED A DESPERATE RESISTANCE," . 334 MAPS. PLAN OF THE ACTION AT BUNKER'S HILL, 83 SKETCH OF GEN. PUTTENHAM'S POSITION AND BRITISH ADVANCE, 147 PLAN OF BUBGOYNE'S POSITION AT SARATOGA, 245 PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF SAVANNAH, 339 PLAN OF THE BATTLE FOUGHT NEAR CAMDEN 347 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF GUILDFOBD, 371 TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG: A TALE OF THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. CHAPTER I. A FRONTIER FARM. " Concord, March 1, 1774. I next with [^ Y DEAR COUSIN, am leaving week my husband for England, where we intend to ^LP pass some time visiting his friends. John and I have determined to accept the invitation you gave us last summer for Harold to come and spend a few months with you. His father thinks that a great future will ere many years open in the West, and that it is therefore well the boy should learn something of frontier life; for myself, I would rather that he stayed quietly at home, for he is at present over fond of adven- ture; but as my husband is meditating selling his estate here and moving west, it is perhaps better for him." "Massachusetts is in a ferment, as indeed are all the Eas- tern states, and the people talk openly of armed resistance against the government. My husband being of English birth, and having served in the king's army, cannot brook 10 THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE. what he calls the rebellious talk which is common among his neighbours, and is already on bad terms with many around us. I myself am, as it were, a neutral; as an Ame- rican woman, it seems to me that the colonists have been dealt with somewhat hardlyby the English parliament, and that the measures of the latter have been high-handed and arbitrary; upon the other hand, I naturally incline toward my husband's views. He maintains that as the king's army has driven out the French and gives protection to the colony, it is only fair that the colonists should contribute to its expenses. The English ask for no contributions towards the expenses of their own country, but demand that at least the expenses of the protection of the colony shall not be charged upon the heavily-taxed people at home. As to the law that the colony shall trade only with the mother country, my husband says that this is the rule in the colonies of Spain, France, Portugal, and the Nether- lands, and that the people here, who can obtain what land they choose, and till it without rent, should not grumble at paying this small tax to the mother country. How- ever it be, I fear that troubles will come; and this place being the head and focus of the party hostile to England, my husband, feeling himself out of accord with all his neighbours, saving a few loyal gentlemen like himself, is thinking much and seriously of selling our estate here and of moving away into the new countries of the West, where he will be free from all the disputation and con- tentious talk which occupies men's time here. " Indeed, Cousin, times have sadly changed since you were staying with us five years ago. Then our life was a peaceful and quiet one; now there is nothing but wrang- ling and strife. The dissenting clergy are, as my husband REASONS FOB MOVING WEST. 11 says was the case in England before the great civil war, the fomenters of this discontent. There are many busybodies who pass their time in stirring up the people by violent harangues and seditious writing; therefore everyone takes one side or the other, and there is neither peace nor comfort in life. " Accustomed as I have always been to living in ease and affluence, I dread somewhat the thought of a life on the Indian frontier. One has heard so many dreadful stories of Indian fights and massacres, that I tremble a little at the prospect; but I do not mention this to John, for as other women are, like yourself, brave enough to support these dangers, I would not appear a coward in his eyes. You will see, Cousin, that as this prospect is before us, it is well that Harold should learn the ways of a frontier life. Moreover, John does not like the thought of leaving him here while we are in England, for, as he says, the boy might learn to be- come a rebel in his absence; therefore, my dear cousin, we have resolved to send him to you. An opportunity offers in the fact that a gentleman of our acquaintance is, with his family, going this week west with the intention of settling there; and he will, he tells us, go first to Detroit, whence he will be able to send Harold forward to your farm. The boy himself is delighted at the thought, and promises to return an accomplished backwoodsman. John joins me in kind love to yourself and your husband, and believe me to remain your affectionate cousin, " MAKY WILSON." Four months after the date of the above letter a lad some fifteen years old was walking with a man of middle age, on the shores of Lake Huron. Behind them was 12 A BACKWOODS CLEARING. a large clearing of about a hundred acres in extent; a comfortable house, with buildings for cattle, stood at a distance of some three hundred yards from the lake; broad fields of yellow corn waved brightly in the sun; and from the edge of the clearing came the sound of a woodman's axe, showing that the proprietor was still enlarging the limits of his farm. Surrounding the house, at a distance of twenty yards, was a strong stockade some seven feet in height, formed of young trees pointed at the upper end, squared and fixed firmly in the ground. The house itself, although far more spacious and comfort- able than the majority of backwood farmhouses, was built in the usual fashion, of solid logs, and was evidently designed to resist attack. William Welch had settled ten years before on this spot, which was then far removed from the nearest habi- tation. It would have been a very imprudent act, under ordinary circumstances, to have established himself in so lonely a position, so far removed from the possibility of assistance in case of attack. He settled there, however, just after Pontiac, who was at the head of an alliance of all the Indian tribes of those parts, had, after the long and desperate siege of Fort Pitt, made peace with us upon finding that his friends the French had given up all thought of further resistance to the English, and had entirely abandoned the country.