Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1840-06-04


10 Mrs. Washington; and MIR. Randolph,
on being appointed secretary Of state, Of
tered him situation in his Office Gener-
nj Henry Lee, of Virginia, however, hag-
ing ah>ut the same time proposed to him to
take commission in the army, he without
hesitation agreed to accept II, as intinlte-
~ more congcnial with his taste and ac-
live disposition than any other situation
that lie could hope to acquire: yet justly
apprehensive that his choice would not
meet the appreciation Of his connexions,
he settled ii that general Lee should soiic
il the commission at the war Office without
communicating the matter to either OF his
friends, MIR. Randolph or Mr. Morris; but
the president happening TO mention the af-
fair to Mr.. Morris, the latter immediately
required our young gentleman attendance
at his house; upon which our young SOL
dier saspecting that the object Of the sum
mons was to dissuade him from going into
the army, flew to the war office, received
his commission in the first regiment of U.
S, infantry, thence fastening to Judge
Wilson took the necessary oaths before him,
and then proceeded with those documents
in his pocket to the house of his patron
aud friend. who expressed his entire disap-
probation OF the step he had taken, but
said that he would no longer oppose 1t;
and added, "You are going to fine
country, where. if yoa should leave the
army you may establish yourself to advan-
tage" The regiment in which he was
commissioned was then employed on the
western waters, under general St. Clair;
and from subsequent events it would seem
rs if Mr.. Morris had spoken in the spirit
no less OF the prophet than the friend; for
that very country soon after became the
scene of his fame, and the high-road to his
fortune and honour.
After spending in Philadelphia few
weeks during which he was employed in
the recruiting service, he proceeded to
join his regiment, and arrived at fort
Washington in the northwestern territory,
a few days after the defeat of general St.
Clars army by the Indians. His arrival
is yet remembered by several persons at
who, when he became
man of consequence and popularity in that
country, took pleasure in describing his
person. The ensign might have been for
cotton, but the governor and the MAJOR
general bonyed up all the minute crcum-
stances, which would have sunk with the
poor subaltern officer to the bottom of
oblivion. Accordingly, we are told that
ensign Harrison. when he joined his corps
was STRIPPING of nineteen years of age;
sail, thin, puerile in his person, and to all
appearance but wretchedly qualified for the
hardships to which soldiery is liable in the
4 I'll
.ened by all the comfort and delicacy in
which the wealthy "a niles of the southern
states rear up their children, was our mil
itary novice at once exposed to the most
trying circumstances.
The broken remains of genera, ST,
Glars army were every day arriving at the
fort, naked, broken down and dispried.
The period Of service Of the militia had
expired: the detachment OF the second
regiment Of regulars that was in the action
under St. Cluir, was entirely cut up, and
thus the task maintaining the line of posts
that had been erected, of establishing new
ones, and of aGording conveys for provis-
sions, devOlved upon an lnconsderable
body composed of between three and four
hundred of the first regiment, and the mis-
cradle fragments Of generaA st. Glars
shattered army. The situation of our
Young soldier was now such as might well
have discouraged the stoutest heart, and
disposed him to listen to the admontlons
oi his friends in Phladelp hia-nay, so
formidable was the prospect before him
that friend whom he met by accident at
The fort, after giving him lively picture
OF the excessive hardships to which he
mus, necessarily by exposed, with frame
and constitution so wholly unequal to it,
exhorted him to resign his commission and
return home again, assuring him that even
though he should be able to sustain those
hardships, it was scarcely possible he
should resist the seductive habits of intern
perance which at that time prevailed in
the army. All these remonstrances were
nnavailing. Taking counsel partly from
his own private inclnatons, and partly
from nice sensibility TO shame, which sug-
gested, in exaggerated colours, the impro.
,prie,y of retreatng from his purpose at
such a crisis, and perhaps little too from
ahe apprehension of being ridiculed by his
former associates, he determined to perse-
we're. and was soon after appointed TO the
command Of detachment of twenty men
ordered to escort number Of pack-horses
to- fort Hamilton; duty which, though it
was attended with singular dlfficties, dis
sresses and prvations, and with all the
lardships incident to Indian warfare, such
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