Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1838-05-17
From he Massi1loa (OhioJ Gasssss.
RETURN OF THE CAPTIVE.

AV"OV0E PiOu~ W HnCIeuulIy. n WS"S.S
sketch can only be given now. The ample
history of his miSforIunes may hereafter be
presented to the world-and, if given by a
master hand, will command the interest, and
enlist the sympathy of the public.
| In the war of 1872, John Wood, now fifty
| years old, was young and industrious far
mer in Bracken county, Kentucky. He was
! the husband of a young and interesting wo-
man, and the father of two infant children.
| He was living in happiness on farm which
he had earned by his industry, when the gal
liant Captain Butler (whO afterwards fell at
the capture of the British batteries at Fort
Meigs) raised his flag, and solicited the hardy
Kentuckians of Bracken county to enroll
themselves among the defenders of theif
country. John Wood was one of the num-
Der. He suffered all the privations to which
| the army at the north west was exposed, du-
ring the disastrous campaign which resulted
! in the defeat of Winchester at the River Raj
sin. By good fortune he escaped the tona-
hawk of the savage allies of Great Britain,
and was sent a prisoner of war to Quebec.
| He was next, with the American prisoners,
despatched in transport to Plymouth, in
England. From Plymouth, accompanied by
q crowd of fellow prisoners, he was about
to be transferred to Dartmoor, when he
found an opportunity to elude his guards and
| make his escape. He wandered through the
country, stealing through by-ways, until ne
found himself al Bristol. Hunger compelled
him to enter grocery, the head quarters OF
press gang. Here he was pressed, and
despite his protestations that he was a citi-
zen of the United States, and fugitive pris-
oner of war, facts that might have been easl-
ly proved by reference to the military author
tiles at Plymouth, he was hurried on board
His Maiesty's frigate Sea Horse, then the
flag ship of the celebrated Sir Peter Parker,
and compelled to bear arms against his own
countrymen. =,
On board the Sea Horse were several 9TH
er Americans, who, like Wood, had fallen
victims to the British system Of impressment.
They determined on desertion; and when
lying in the port of st. Johns, they succeed
ed in securing boat, in an extremely dark
night, and attempted to reach the eastern
coast of the State of Maine. They were in
stantly pursued, and were obliged to desert
their boat on the shore of New Brunswick,
and seek safety in the woods. After wan
dering about for two days, exhausted with
cold and hunger and fatigue, they were ap..
pretended by a party of British soldiers and
again transferred to the Sea Horse. The
punishment which followed this act of deser-
ton, was inflicted with all that ingenious re-
fnement of cruelty for which the British ma
w is so celebrated.
The Sea Horse attached to the squadron
under Admiral Cockburn, was shortly after
wards ordered to the Chesapeake, and took
an active part in the robbing, burning and
numbering the defenceless inhabitants Of the
coast. Mr. Wood and the impressed Amer
leans were never allowed 10 leave their YES
sells He was On board when Sir Peter Par
ker met his Fate On shore A few days suhse-
Quen1 DO this event. he. N company with sew
en- other impressed Americans attempted nm
escaEe nm kr0Ra day hgh1. by hoaaly jumping
maO hsuEa Ragng zi1s- and FEaaang rEFnafy fOr
the shore One Gf tn munReET M1s shUG by
rhe sEunEna 0m 6Ery- The others reached
the beach. AGr Were unprecedented Immediate
" ON EansaIng, by FGarry cf tine G1BrEnaers
belonging TO tine Sea HOGSe-
By order of Admiral Coed Hurm. they were
sent in irons to Nora Scotia where. after un-
dergoing trial, they were sentenced to be
shoG. The sentence, however. was commuted
to service for Life, in His Britannia Maiesty's
army in the East Indies. They were accord
ingly shipped to England, and thence with a
regiment Of newly levied recruits despatch
ed to Calcutta. For 81 years Mr.. Wood
served as private soldier in the East India
service; and 1s months since, when broken
down in spirit and constitution, he was per-
mitted to sail for England. Destitute and
heart broken, he reached London, stated his
case to the United States consul, and by him
was furnished with the means of reaching
New York. He left New York in January,
and wended his weary pilgrimage toward the
home of his childhood.
1t is now twenty. six years since he left his !
wife and children in Kentucky and not one |
syllable has he heard relative to their situa- |
ton, since the moment of their separation
The citizens here forced a few dollars upon |
him, for, poor and decrepid as he is, he still !
possesses al the pride of aKentuckian,and sent
him on his way by stage to Wellsville, from
which town he intends to embark on steam
boat for Augusta, in Kentucky.
Fancy cannot help asking-what is now
that home to which the war-broken wander
er is returning! Will the wife of his youth
be ready, in the fidelity of her early love, to
hail the return Of her long lost husband q
Or will her duty and affections have been
given to another! Or will she be reposing
beneath the clods of the valley? And his
children If living, they must have long
since entered upon the busy scenes of life
Will they take the weary pilgrim to their
homes and to their bosoms! A thousand
| powerful emotions must rush upon the old
mans heart, as his weary footstep approach
es the spot that was once his home Fancy
cannot fill the picture. May He who stem.
pers the wind to the shorn lamb," support the
weary wanderer in that eventful moment,
which is soon to witness, either the ecstacy
of his happiness. or the utter desolation of
his hopes.
Upwards of $4,000 lbs. of maple sugar
have been manufactured in Sandwich, New
Hampshire. the present year, besides large
quantities in Lisbon. Franconia. and the