# The Adventures Of A Revolutionary Soldier/Chapter VIII.

CHAPTER VIII.
Campaign of 1782.
A man with morbid pains oppress'd Who feels the nightmare in his breast; Rejoices when the pressure's o'er, And the distress is felt no more: So wars and tumults, when they cease Bring comfort in the thoughts of peace.
The arm of British power in America being dislocated by the capture of lord Cornwallis and his myrmidons, we had not much to disturb us on account of the enemy; I fared rather better than I did when I was here on my journey to Mud Island in 1777. Our duty was not very hard, but I was a soldier yet, and had to submit to soldier's rules and discipline, and soldier's fare.
Either here, or just before, our officers had enlisted a recruit; he had lately been discharged from the New-Jersey line. After enlisting with us, he obtained a furlough to visit his friends; but receiving no money when he engaged with us (which was, I believe, the sole motive of his entering the service at this time) and obtaining his ends in getting home, he took especial care to keep himself there; at least, till he could get another opportunity to try his luck again, which he accordingly did, by enlisting in a corps of new levies in his own State—New-Jersey. My Captain hearing where he was, and how engaged, sent me with two men to find him out, and bring him back to his duty.
And now, my dear reader, excuse me for being so minute in detailing this little excursion, for it yet seems to my fancy, among the privations of that war, like one of those little verdant plats of ground, amid the burning sands of Arabia, so often described by travellers.
One of our Captains and another of our men being about going that way on furlough, I and my two men sat off with them. We received, that day, two or three rations of fresh pork and hard bread. We had no cause to call this pork "carrion," or "hogmeat," for, on the contrary, it was so fat, and being entirely fresh, we could not eat it at all. The first night of our expedition, we boiled our meat; and I asked the landlady for a little sauce, she told me to go to the garden and take as much ​ cabbage as I pleased, and that, boiled with the meat, was all we could eat. The next morning we proceeded; it was cool weather, and about six inches deep of snow on the ground. After two or three days journeying, we arrived in the neighbourhood of the game that we were in pursuit of. It was now sundown; and our furloughed Captain and man, concluded to stop for the night; here we fell in with some soldiers of the corps that our man belonged to. Our captain inquired if they knew such a man, naming him; they equivocated and asked many questions concerning our business. Our officious Captain answered them so much to their satisfaction that Mr. Deserter took so good care of himself that I could not find him, and I cared but little about it. I knew he would get nothing with us, if we caught him, but a striped jacket; and as we concluded the war was nearly ended, we thought it would be but of little service to him, nor his company any to us.
The Captain put me and my two men into the open cold kitchen of a house that they said, had sometime or other, been a tavern; but as it was in the vicinity of the place where I passed the winter of 1779—80, I was acquainted with several of the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, and accordingly sent one of my men to a house hard by, the master of which I knew to be a fine man, and obtained his leave to lodge there. We had a good warm room to sit and lodge in, and as the next day was thanksgiving, we had an excellent supper. In the morning, when we were about to proceed on our journey, the man of the house came into the room and put some bread to the fire to toast; he next produced some cider, as good and rich as wine, then giving each of us a large slice of his toasted bread, he told us to eat it and drink the cider,—observing that he had done so for a number of years and found it the best stimulater imaginable. We again prepared to go on, having given up the idea of finding the deserter. Our landlord then told us that we must not leave his house till we had taken breakfast with him; we thought we were very well dealt by already, but concluded not to refuse a good offer. We therefore staid and had a genuine New-Jersey breakfast, consisting of buckwheat slapjacks, flowing with butter and honey, and a capital dish of chockolate. We then went ​on, determined not to hurry ourselves, so long as the thanksgiving lasted. We found a good dinner at a farmer's house; but I thought that both the good man and his lady looked at us as if they would have been as well pleased with our room as our company; however, we got our dinners and that was quite sufficient for us. At night we applied for lodging at a house near the road; there appeared to be none but females in the house, two matronly ladies and two misses. One of the women said she should have no objection to our staying there through the night, were it not that a woman in the house was then lying at the point of death, (I had often heard this excuse made before;) we readily perceived her drift, and, when turning to go away, one of the men told her that he did not wish to stay, "for," said he, "if old Corpus should chance to come in the dark, for the sick woman, he might in his haste mistake and take me." The woman smiled and we went on. The next house which looked as if hospitality was an inmate, I applied to and obtained admittance. Here, again, we found a plenty of thanksgiving fare. The people of this house were acquainted with numbers of the Connecticut soldiers, who had been here during the winter of '79, and made many inquiries respecting them; they seemed to have a particular regard for the Connecticut forces, as that section of the State was originally settled by Connecticut people, and it still retains the name of "the Connecticut Farms." The good man of the house would not let us depart in the morning, until we had breakfasted. We then bid our kind host farewell and proceeded on; about noon we called at a house, and while we were warming ourselves in the kitchen and chatting with the young people, the good old housewife came into the room and entered into conversation with us upon the hardships of a soldier's life; she lamented much that we had no mothers nor sisters to take care of us; she said she knew what it was, in a measure, to endure the fatigues and hardships of a camp, by the sufferings her sons had undergone in the drafted militia; they had told her how they had suffered hunger and cold, and to cap all, said she, they came home ragged, dirty and lousy as beggars. The young men, who were present, did not seem to relish the latter part of her narrative, for they leered like ​ cross colts. The good woman, all the while, did not say a word to us about eating, but went off to her room and shut the door; we staid a few minutes longer, and were just going away, when the old lady opened her door and said, "Come to your dinners, soldiers," with as much ease and familiarity as though we had belonged to the family. Agreeably to invitation, we went in and found the master of the house sitting in his elbow chair by the fire, who gave us a hearty welcome to the remains of his thanksgiving cheer; we ate a hearty dinner, and an excellent one it was; when, after returning them our sincere thanks for their hospitality, we pursued our journey.
This afternoon we passed a place where, on our march to Virginia, the past summer, a funny incident occurred, which at the time it happened, and at this time, excited considerable merriment. Our Captain (who we always took pains to discommode) had placed himself on the top of an old rail fence, during a momentary halt of the troops; the rail upon which he sat was very slender;—behind him was a meadow, and from the fence, for about a rod, was a bank almost perpendicular. I was sitting on the other end of the rail, when our Sergeant-Major, observing the weakness of the fence, came and seated himself by my side, and giving me a hint, we kept wriggling about till we broke the rail and let the Captain take his chance down the bank, among the bushes, quite to the bottom, taking good care ourselves not to go with him. When he came back he did not look very well pleased with his Irish hoist; whether he mistrusted that we had been the cause of his overturn, I do not know; he said but little, whatever he might think.
​We this forenoon passed through a pretty village, called Maidenhead; (don't stare, dear reader, I did not name it,) an hour or two before we came to this place, I saw a pretty young lady standing in the door of a house, just by the road side. I very innocently inquired of her how far it was to Maidenhead; she answered, "five miles." One of my men, who, though young, did not stand in very imminent danger of being hanged for his beauty, observed to the young lady, "that he thought the commodity scarce in the market, since he had to go so far to seek it." "Don't trouble yourself," said she, "about that, there is no danger of its being more scarce on your account." The fellow leered, and, I believe, wished he had held his tongue.
The next day we arrived at Trenton, where was a commissary and some public stores. I concluded, although we were in a thanksgiving country, yet, as we should soon be where we should not find so much to be thankful for, that I would endeavour to supply the deficiency in some degree. Accordingly I made out a return for three men for three days rations. We went to the commissary's, who told us that he had no kind of meat on hand nor any other provisions but flour, that if we chose to take that, he would allow us a pound and a quarter of flour for a pound of beef. We took it and exchanged it at the baker's, pound for pound, and went on; we arrived at our quarters in Burlington, some time in the evening.
Soon after this came on my trouble, and that of several others of the men belonging to our corps; some time in the month of January, two of our men were taken down with a species of yellow fever; one recovered and the other died. Directly after, one belonging to our room was seized with it and removed to the hospital, where he recovered; next I was attacked with it, this was in February, it took hold of me in good earnest. I bled violently at the nose, and was so reduced in flesh and strength in a few days, that I was as helpless as an infant;—O! how much I suffered, although I had as good attendance as circumstances would admit. The disorder continued to take hold of our people till there were more than twenty sick with it. Our officers made a hospital in an upper room in one of the wings of the ​ house, and as soon as the men fell sick they were lodged there. About the first of March I began to mend, and recovered what little reason I ever possessed, of which I had been entirely deprived from nearly the first attack of the fever. As soon as I could bear it, I was removed from my room to the hospital among those that were recently taken; for what reason I was put with the sick and dying, I did not know, nor did I ask; I did not care much what they did with me, but nothing ill resulted from it that I know of. The doctor belonging to the Artillery regiment (who attended upon us, we having no doctor in our corps) went home on furlough, and it was a happy circumstance for us, for he was not the best of physicians; besides, he was badly provided to do with; the apothecary's stores in the Revolutionary army were as ill furnished as any others; the doctor, however, left us under the care of a physician belonging to the city, who was a fine man, and to his efforts, under Providence, I verily believe I owed my life; he was a skilful, tender-hearted and diligent man. There was likewise, in the city, a widow woman that rendered us the most essential service during our sickness. As we were unable to eat any thing, and had only our rations of beef and bread to subsist upon, this widow, this pitying angel, used almost every evening to send us a little brass kettle, containing about a pail full of posset, consisting of wine, water, sugar and crackers. O, it was delicious, even to our sick palates. I never knew who our kind benefactress was; all I ever knew concerning her was, that she was a widow. The neighbours would not tell us who she was nor where she lived; all that I, or any others who had been sick, could learn from them was, that she was a very fine, pious and charitable lady. Perhaps she did not wish to have a trumpet sounded before her alms, and therefore kept concealed; I hope heaven will bless her pious soul; yes, she will be rewarded, where it will be said to her, "I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was sick and you visited me," although she did not visit us personally, she ministered more to our comfort than thousands of idle visits, which are oftener of more detriment to sick people than they are benefit.
Four men died in the room into which I was removed, ​ after I was carried there. One occurrence (though nothing strange in such circumstances as I was then in) I took notice of, although I could take notice of little else. We lay on sacks filled with straw, and our beds mostly upon the floor, in a rank on each side of the room, with an alley between. The first man that died, after my being conveyed there, was the first in order from the entering door of the room, on the side I lay; next, the fourth man from him died, there was then four men between this last that died and me. In my weakness I felt prepossessed with a notion, that every fourth man would die, and that, consequently, I should escape, as I was the fifth from the one that died last; and just so it happened, the man next me on the side of those that had died, died next. I believe this circumstance contributed a great deal in retarding my recovery, until the death of this last man, and that after his death, when I thought myself exempted, it helped as much toward my recovery.—Such strange whims will often work great effects both in hindering and forwarding in such cases. When the body is feeble and the head weak, small causes often have great effect upon the sick; I know it by too frequent experience.
Eight men died at this time, the rest recovered, though the most of them very slowly; some were as crazy as coots for weeks after they had gained strength to walk about. My hair came off my head, and I was as bald as an eagle; but after I began to gain strength I soon got about. But it was a grievous sickness to me, the sorest I had ever undergone. Although death is much nearer to me now than it was then, yet I never had thought myself so near death as I did then.
The spring had now began to open and warm weather soon came on. We remained here till the month of May, when one of our sergeants and myself obtained permission to go down to Philadelphia for a couple of days, to visit some of our acquaintance in that city, but particularly to carry some little clothing to one of our men in the hospital there, who was wounded at the siege of Yorktown, and had had his leg amputated above the knee. I carried him, among other things, a pair of stockings and shoes; his nurse told him, that he was more lucky than most other people, for when they got ​ one pair of shoes and stockings, he got two. Poor fellow! I never saw nor heard of him afterwards. Thus poor soldiers pass out of notice.
My comrade and I staid over two days at Philadelphia, intending to return the next day in the packet. That evening, one of our non-commissioned officers came down, who informed us that our corps had marched for Hudson's river, and that our arms and clothing were gone on in the baggage wagons, and that we must immediately follow. We all, however, staid there that night, and early next morning, we sat off by land. We had nothing to burden us, not even provisions or money; consequently, had nothing to hinder us from proving our adroitness at travelling. We walked that day about forty miles, and stopped at night at a small snug house in the State of New-Jersey. We were obliged to take the soft side of the floor for our lodging, having no blankets or any other kind of bedding. I was tired and could have slept almost any where, had I been undisturbed; but there was, belonging to the house, a likely young huzzy; she, with her parents, composed the whole family; at least, they were all I saw. They all went to rest in a back room, and we were left to sleep in the outer room. I had hardly fallen asleep, when some one came bawling at the door; the girl, I suppose, knowing who it was, got up and came blundering over the chairs, through the room where I was lying, making as much noise as a thunder storm, she at length got to the door and talked some time with the man; when she came rattling back and went muttering to her bed. I had but just dropped asleep again, when the same jockey, I supposed, as it appeared to be the same voice, came back and began his yelping again; the poor girl had to scratch open her eyes once more, and come through our territories, making as much confusion as at the first time; they talked pretty loud for nearly an hour, which kept us awake all the time they were there. I wished he had taken an opportunity to visit his Miss when I was farther off. She came in again and went to her room, growling like an old bear. "What did he want?" said the mother to her; "He wanted me to go with him to ——," she mentioned some place. "Why did you not go?" said the good woman; "I should look well going with him ​ at this time of night,—I should—so I should," said she. Before I could get to sleep again it was daybreak;—I wished the girl had been asleep and her wooer gagged, before I had seen or heard either of them. As soon as the day dawned, the man of the house came into the room where we were, and took a large jug, that had stood all night just at my head, and poured out a morning stimulater for himself and then put the jug into a closet; I was sorry I did not know it was so near me, that I might have taken a comforter for the trouble they had caused me.
We started before sunrise this morning, and walked forty-nine miles, when, just before sunset, we overtook our corps. I had eaten nothing all day, but drank several draughts of buttermilk which I begged of the farmer's ladies on the road. The next day we arrived at a large house near King's ferry, usually denominated by the army "The white house," belonging to —— Smith, the man who conducted Major Andre on his way towards New-York, when he was taken. Our troops staid here that night, and the next day and night, the officers in the house and the men in the barns. In the evening of the last day we were here, just at dark, one of our officers came and told me that two of the men had deserted, and had compelled another man to go with them. As they were all what we called "Old Countrymen," it was conjectured that they had gone to the enemy, and I was accordingly ordered to take nine men, who were then in readiness, and endeavour to overtake them before they could reach New-York. I immediately set off, having received my orders, which were, to go to what was called the "English neighbourhood," and if I could not find them, or hear of them, to return. The English neighbourhood was from forty-five to fifty miles distant from the place we were then at. We travelled so hard, that at daylight I had but three men of the nine left with me, the other six having given out by the way. We were now near our journey's end, when the men with me beginning to grow slack, and hearing no tiding of the deserters, we concluded to return. When we had got eight or ten miles on our retrograde movement, we met one of our Lieutenants, on his way to visit his friends who lived in that quarter. He had with him three men for ​an escort, and had picked up those of my party who had given out by the way. We met him just as he arrived at his father's house, a lucky circumstance for us, as we stopped and got something to eat. He then sent me off alone, to a place on the river, where some spy boats (as they were called) were stationed, with directions to request the officers commanding them to take up the three deserters, should they see them. I executed this commission and returned to the Lieutenant, who then told me to take all the men and return to our corps. The country all about here was infested by Tories, especially a certain district through which I had to pass on my return. The Lieutenant charged me not to stop at this place through the night, but to rest short of it, or proceed beyond it. I again set out with my twelve men, little heeding the Tories. It being some time to night when we arrived at the abovementioned Tory-land, we pushed on and did not stop till we got quite back to Smith's house. We, particularly myself and the three men who held out all night, were tired enough, having travelled about ninety miles in twenty-four hours, and I had travelled five or six miles further than any of them, in going to, and returning from the spy boats. We were hungry and tired but had nothing to eat. I had six or seven dollars in specie, which one of our corps (an Irishman) had desired me to keep awhile for him, to avoid the importunity of his friends; but he was not with us; I however ventured to make use of one dollar that evening and the next morning, in purchasing some bread and cheese, and a little something to wet our whistles with. I afterwards paid the man, and he informed me that that dollar did him more good than all the others. I had, the day before this expedition, put on a pair of new shoes, which, not having got fitted to my feet, caused blisters upon them as large as cents.
​ The next morning we set out after our troops, who had gone on for West point, about eighteen or twenty miles; we found them on the eastern side of the river. Here we got some provisions and a day or two after crossed over to West point, where we encamped and worked some time in repairing the fortifications.
Towards the latter part of the Summer, we went on to Connecticut Island, opposite to West point, and were employed awhile in blasting rocks, for the repair of the works on that side of the river. It was not so dreary at this time as it was when we were there wheeling dirt upon the magazine, in 1780. Our duty was not over hard, but the Engineers kept us busy.
In the month of September, while we lay here and our tents were pitched about promiscuously, by reason of the ruggedness of the ground, our Captain had pitched his marquee in an old gravel pit, at some distance from the tents of the men. One day, two or three of our young hotheads told me that they and some others of the men, whom they mentioned, were about to have some fun with "the old man," as they generally called the Captain. I inquired what their plans were, and they informed me that they had put some powder into a canteen and were going to give him a bit of a hoist. I asked them to let me see their apparatus, before they put their project in execution; accordingly, they soon after showed me a wooden canteen with more, as I judged, than three pounds of gunpowder in it, with a stopper of touchwood for a fuze, affixed to it, all, they said, in prime order. I told them they were crazy, that the powder they had in the canteen would "hoist" him out of time; but they insisted upon proceeding,—it would only frighten him, they said, and that was all they wished to do,—it would make him a little more complaisant. I then told them that if they persisted in their determination and would not promise me on the spot to give up their scheme, I would that instant go to the Captain and lay the whole affair before him. At length, after endeavouring, without effect, to obtain my consent to try a little under his berth, they concluded to give up the affair altogether; and thus, I verily believe, I saved the old man's life; although I do not think that they meant any thing more than to frighten ​ him. But the men hated him, and did not much care what happened to him.
There was the foundation of some barracks, which the British had burnt in their excursion up the North river, in the year 1777, it was composed of stone and lime, perfectly level, and, perhaps, a hundred feet long; the bushes had grown up around it, excepting the side next the river; the place formed a very pretty spot for a contemplative evening's walk. The Captain used frequently, in fine weather, to be seen pacing backward and forward upon this wall, between sunset and dark. The men observed him and itched to discommode him, but, since they had made me privy to their roguery, they dare not play any of their tricks upon him without consulting me, for fear of being discovered. They therefore applied to me for my consent to "cut some caper" with him, as they called it. Their plan now was, to set an old musket, (which they had somewhere obtained,) in the manner that hunters set them to kill wild animals, (charged only with powder.) I consented to let them try this experiment; but, after all, it never took effect; either the Captain discovered it, or it failed by accident, or from some other cause, for I never heard any thing more about it. I did not wish him to receive any personal injury from their roguery; but I cared very little how much they frightened him. I did not consider myself as being under very heavy obligations to him for his civilities to me, and many of the men considered themselves under still less.
One young man, who was the ringleader of this "gunpowder plot," had a particular grudge against the old man, which urged him on to devise mishchief against him. I imagine that he considered himself justified by his conscience in doing so, in consequence of several affronts, as he termed them, which he had received from him. I will mention one or two to which I was knowing, that the reader may be able to form some judgment as to the cause he had to be revenged on the poor old Captain.—He once purloined a flour barrel, I think, from the baker, for the purpose of making a washing tub. The pretended owner complained to the Captain, who, apparently, took no notice of it at the time; however, as it appeared, not long afterwards, he did not forget it, for ​ this man, one morning, soon after, went off without leave with some others, (who had permission,) across the mountain to New-Windsor, eight or ten miles distant, and did not return till after evening roll-call, at which time he was reported as absent without leave. The Sergeant-Major (who belonged to our company) chanced that evening to call the roll. He was a sheer sycophant and would, at any time, have a man punished, if he could by so doing ingratiate himself with the officers. He therefore, as might be expected, informed the Captain of the whole affair. The Captain ordered the Sergeant-Major to send the delinquent to him as soon as he returned, which he accordingly did. The Captain used but very little reasoning with him, before he began to use harder arguments than words could convey, urged by the weight of his rattan; after he had satiated his vengeance upon the poor culprit for playing the truant, he told him that the flour barrel was still to settle for, and then paid him for that, principal and interest.
Another affair, in which the Captain and he differed in opinion, happened while we were lying at West point: it was as follows: This man used sometimes to attend on the sergeants' mess, as they were allowed a waiter or cook, he acted as such at the time I mention. One morning after roll-call, we (the sergeants) allowed him, at his own request, to go and work for a farmer in the neighbourhood of the camp; he had done so before, and it was quite agreeable to us all, for he received his wages for his work in milk, butter, &c. which he always brought into the mess. On the day mentioned, he was at work at the farmer's pulling flax; the farmer had an orchard close by where our man was at work; the soldiers, as they passed, used often to pillage some of the good man's apples. To prevent these depredations upon his property, in some measure, he requested our soldier to take an old musket belonging to the house, loaded with powder only, and when any of the plunderers passed by, to pretend that he was a sentinel, and drive them off; not content with going thus far, he must put a small blighted apple into his musket for a ball. It was not long before he had an opportunity to exercise his sentryship, for several soldiers coming by and taking the liberty, as usual, to take some fruit, they were ordered off by our hero, ​ and not obeying so soon as he desired, or expected, he fired his apple amongst them, which did not seem to be very agreeable to their feelings. They knew to what corps he belonged by his uniform; and ours was the first they came to on entering the garrison. As the poor fellow's ill luck would have it, the Sergeant-Major was the first they encountered upon entering. They made bitter complaint against the pretended sentry, and he carried it directly to the Captain, without losing a morsel by the way. The Captain ordered him to send the man to him as soon as he came home. The Captain's marquee had a shade over and round the entrance. I was upon quarters guard at a tent in the rear of the Captain's, when, just after roll-call, I saw poor Pilgarlick repairing to the Captain's tent; I pretty well knew what would be the consequence of his visit; I listened, heard some discourse between them, but the distance was so great that I could hear but little distinctly, but I soon heard the ratan in motion again, very plainly. As soon as the action was over, the man came to me at the guard; I asked him what the Captain and he had been at, as they had, to appearance, been very lively. "I will tell you," said he, "the Sergeant-Major had told the Captain that I had deserted, but when he found I had not, he sent for me to come and see him, and you cannot conceive how glad he was to see me, and nothing would do, but I must dance a jig with him; I told him I had much rather not, as, possibly, it might injure his character to be seen dancing with a private soldier; but it would not signify, a jig we must have at all events, and he got hold of my hand and began to whistle, and I began to dance, and a fine jig I suppose he thought we had.—The plague seize his old carcass, I wish he was twisted up fifteen miles above the seven stars, there to remain till every hair of his head was a meteor, and every limb a comet." I could not help laughing at his buffoonery, though I thought if I had been in his place I should not have turned it off so lightly.
After we had ended our stone blasting, we went to building a new range of barracks, and elegant ones too; they were two stories high with wings at each end, brick chimnies, and a gallery in front the whole length of the building, with large flights of steps to ascend to the ​ gallery and the upper room—large enough to accommodate two or three regiments.
Levity and Folly are twin sisters, and are restive jades; when they are yoked together in the same vehicle and have Indiscretion for a driver, they will very often draw a man into wild and ridiculous scrapes, as I know by experience. They run me into one about this time, which I will relate, as I think it an "adventure," and a "suffering," though a foolish one, such an one as I shall not easily forget, if it should not seem of much consequence to any one but myself.
Several of our men, and myself among the rest, by permission of our officers, took a boat one day and went to the western side of the river for the purpose of gathering chessnuts. Two or three miles above West point is a remarkable mountain, jutting quite into the river, called Butter hill, from the colour of the rocks that compose it, which are of a yellowish hue. The end of the mountain next the river is almost perpendicular, and in many places quite so; it runs off gradually to the westward where it is on all sides easy of ascent. Not finding the nuts so plenty as I wished or expected, and being drawn on by the two nags I have mentioned above, I took it into my head to leave my associates and climb this mountain, where I expected to have a prospect of the country around me that would compensate me for all my trouble in climbing the hill, and then by going along on the top I could descend it with ease. My mates tried to dissuade me from the undertaking, but no, I was determined to go, and go I did—a part of the way—I clambered up, sometimes upon my hands and knees, and sometimes pulling myself up by the small bushes that grew in the cliffs of the rocks; passing many places in imminent danger of falling; passing round crags of rocks on the very edges of frightful precipices, not daring to look back; when, after I had ascended perhaps five or six hundred feet, and thought I had nearly obtained my object, I arrived at a spot where I was completely gravelled, and could go no farther one way or the other; I then had to stop of course, and ventured to look back, being forced to do so; I saw the tall trees below me in the valley, reduced in size to whortleberry bushes. I sat down on a crag of the rock, which was hardly broad enough ​ for me to rest upon, and then began to reflect on my folly; to go farther was impossible, to get down again alive seemed equally so, especially when I recollected the many dangerous places I had passed in climbing up; and to call for help was vain, for no one could do aught for me, if they were ever so willing. I thought of my more than madness in attempting such a hazardous, foolish exploit, without any cause for it but my idle curiosity. I recollected the advice of my comrades; and when all these considerations rushing on my mind at once, it almost made me desperate. I had a mind to sit still where I was and starve to death, or, throw myself down the rocks, and put an end to my life and anxiety together. Had the mountain been all solid gold and I the sole possessor of it, I would at that instant, have given every ounce of it to have been in the situation I was but two hours before, but, as the poet says,
"He had slighted good counsel, had reckon'd it cheap; And now the sad fruit of his folly must reap."
However, after taking breath a little, (for truly I was almost breathless from fatigue, setting aside the danger,) I came to the resolution to make a trial to free myself from the preposterous hobble I had so foolishly poked my unthinking skull into for nothing. I could but die if I fell, and I should die if I staid there. Accordingly, I sat out on my downward passage. Every one knows, that has had the trial, that it is much easier and safer in ascending than descending such places. I was sensible of this, and therefore took good care, that, as much as I wished to be at the bottom of the hill, I did not go down faster than was necessary. By much care, more labour, and abundance of danger, for about an hour, undergoing fear and horrour in the extreme, I arrived where I set out from about two hours and a half before. I could hardly stand upon my feet when I reached the foot of the mountain. I looked up the hill with horrour and pleasure; horrour at the sight and thought of the risk I had run for my life, and pleasure to find myself safe once more on level land. I made myself a promise, that nothing but absolute necessity should ever carry me off on such another foolish expedition, so long as I was ​ allowed sense and reason enough to keep myself from running headlong into the fire.
Another scrape of a similar complexion, I got into about this time, when I ran as great or greater risk of losing my life, than I did in the one just related. I have before, in this narrative, informed the reader of my propensity to gunning whenever I could get an opportunity to indulge myself in it. The mountains on the Hudson, called the Highlands, had an abundance of partridges, heath-hens and grey squirrels upon them, especially on the western side of the river. I had one day got over the river and among those hills for an afternoon's hunting. I had not been long there, when, going along by the side of a steep mountain, I saw and shot a squirrel, but only badly wounding it; it fell from the tree just before me, upon a flat part of the rock, which projected from the side of the mountain, and was about twenty feet wide, and perhaps, two or three rods long, as steep as the ordinary roof of a house; the lower edge, or what might be denominated the eves, hung over a frightful precipice, eighty or a hundred feet perpendicular. My game, as I said before, fell upon this rock and was scrambling off across it. I laid down my gun and gave it chase. When I had got about half way across this rock and nearly up with the squirrel, being so intent upon overtaking it that I did not observe the danger I was in, I slipped and fell upon my side and slid directly down the rock, towards the precipice, until my feet were within a foot or two of the brink. There happened, providentially, to be a small savine, or red cedar bush, about the size of a man's wrist at the root, which had grown out of a crevice in the rock, but had fallen down, yet hung by a single root, not larger than a pipe stem; this tree, as it lay, reached almost to the lower edge of the rock. When I had got to the top end of it, and was in full motion directly for the edge of the rock, I instinctively caught hold of the tree, which immediately stopped my way; but when I looked up and saw by what a slender hold I depended, I own that I felt affrighted; however, by using great caution and bearing with as little weight on the tree as possible, I got up to the upper part of the rock, where it was more level. When I had got upon my feet again, I made off, thankful for whole bones, though not with an entire whole skin. ​ I cannot think of the risk I then ran for my hide, without my feet involuntarily moving, even at this late hour of my life.
In the first part of the month of November I was sent down the river, about five miles, with fifteen men to cut wood for our winter's use; our duty was, to cut the wood of proper lengths for the fire and then carry it on our backs to the shore, from whence it was carried to the garrison in batteaux by those who had remained at home. We continued at this business till christmas, when we were ordered to the garrison. I sent off our tents, &c. by the boats, and, on christmas-day, we set off ourselves by land. It was a violently cold, windy, snow-stormy day, and we had to travel eight or ten miles, roundabout, to get home, with the wind directly in our faces. It began to snow before daylight and we started about eight o'clock in the morning; before we reached home the snow had fallen eighteen inches deep, and not a single track but those we made ourselves. I froze my right ear considerably; but otherwise, we all arrived safely at camp, although I was very unwell for several days after. Afflictions always attended the poor soldiers.
As soon as the storm had ceased, we removed into our new barracks; one half of a regiment of Artillerists and a regiment of Invalids, having removed into them before us. And now, having provided our wood for the winter, built our barracks, stowed ourselves away snugly in them, and winter having handsomely set in, it will, of course, bring my seventh campaign to a close.