Abstract
Forty-Nine Anecdotes Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur Translated by Ed White (bio) Ist Anecdote New-Haven, 11 October, 1784. A young American, having for some time earned the approbation of General Washington for his service & valor, received from Congress a captain’s commission some time after the Battle of Brandywine; his wife wished to follow him, & share with him the fatigues & dangers of the campaign of 1778—. One day, pursuing a detachment of Royalists, the leader of that party killed him with a gunshot a moment before his capture:—he had the generosity, as he expired, to order that his death not be avenged, & that the prisoners be conducted to General Quarters—. What was the grief felt by his wife when she saw the body of her husband pale & bloody, carried by his troops?—And when, among the prisoners she was told had killed him, she recognized a brother she tenderly loved, but who, despite her exhortations, had joined the Royalist Party;—pierced with horror & despair, this man wanted to kill himself, but fraternal love, momentarily balancing all other sentiments, this unfortunate wife was reduced to the necessity of calming the brother’s despair;—driven by tenderness, she had the magnanimity to pardon the murderer of her husband, & the enemy of her country, on the condition that he quit the service of a King become an instrument of tyranny.—He did so, to be sure.—Since that time, she lives on her farm exclusively occupied with the education of the sole child she had. [End Page 409] IInd Anecdote This year1 has passed away at Providence2 Mrs. Elisabeth Burden, aged one hundred three years and twenty-three days;—her life had been but an agreeable journey, without maladies & infirmities.—She had crossed this long space respected, cherished by all her friends & her numerous posterity.— Her husband & she were among the first who came from Boston to settle here,3 she had seen all the fields of this district cleared, for planting & orchards:—she saw all the houses of this city built;—she alone had remained, like a venerable witness of the labors of our ancestors—. We have also just lost, in the district of Rehoboth, Mr. William Dryer, aged one hundred years;—he saw a fourth generation that altogether amounted to one hundred sixty-nine persons, of whom only thirty-five had died at the time of his decease—. On January 20, 1785, Isaac Chase of Sutton in the state of Massachusetts- Bay, aged ninety-seven years, & enjoying good health, had a great-greatgreat grandson, born of Amariah Chase;—what renders this child extraordinary is that he today has living two grandfathers and two grandmothers, two great-grandfathers and two great-grandmothers, two great-greatgrandfathers and two great-great-grandmothers, fifty-seven uncles and sixty-three aunts.4 IIIrd Anecdote An English soldier who had had the good fortune to save the life of an Officer5 of the twenty-third regiment during the Braddock campaign,6 received from his colonel, in 1772, the offer of retirement at Chelsea—.7 Before accepting, he wrote to this Officer who had long since left service, retiring to the banks of the great Potawmak River; here is the response he received—. After having assured this veteran that he had not forgotten the Braddock affair;—he wrote him: “My friend, as for the retirement at Chelsea your colonel has offered you, do what you judge appropriate, but I doubt it will be sufficient to alleviate your infirmities and soothe your wounds;—since you prefer to remain in America, rest assured;—as soon as you receive your pension, come join me on the banks of the Potawmak;—I have acquired there an excellent plantation [End Page 410] that satisfies my needs & pleasures.—Come, my dear soldier, lay down your rifle in the corner of my hearth.—It will be a great pleasure to me & to Mrs. Gates to render your twilight years calm, peaceful, & happy: you will want for nothing—.” HORATIO GATES—. IVth Anecdote John Roberts & Isaac Smith of Sommersworth district in New Hampshire, after having followed general Arnold in his grueling march from the headwaters of...
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