Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1843-10-12
THE ROMANCE OF THE PAST.

Wehaye on our table, the address of the Hon George
Robertson, delivered on the 18th OF July, ls43 Camp
Madison NY IL IS full Ot interesting historical details
abounds in wise remark and Just reflection The orator
did well however IN going 10 the early days of the West
10 the frst settlements when thick peril surrounded every
log hut aud when every inhabant cultivated his field or
worshpped his God, with his hands, and when wo
man, as well as man, felt ~ If she too, sustain even
the sturder duties of life. Scenes like these were often m
incident and wild adventure and sound IN M
more like hcon than truth The following narration is
among many referred by Judge Robertson and will
not fail 10 interest many not all reade-Cn Gns
And IN 1.-THE Blue Lick defeat" August the 2Oth 1852
the cormOrant OF death fed greedy on the flower of the
hTs' settlement On thai, darkest of their gloomy days eve
y settler lost arend and nearly every family prop And
that bloody field, the Colonies Todd nnd Trgr the chi
various Capt iaTand and the gallant son of Boone Law
undsunguished among promlscuous slain all manpe
by devounng wolves and vuIurcs, recogniz
cd by their trends who three days after the battle buried
the fragments. \ few OF their crumbling bones sine. col
ecied by their countrynen, now lie exposed, the ele
meats IN confused pile, on the summit Of the bleak and
rocky PLAIN where the heroes fell We cannot now imag
inc the grief and dependence with which the mourn in
tesence OF that days catastrophe covered land Blu,
the survivors, though woy bereayed not TO be dis
couraged dsmnyed They resolved never to look
back auer in their first and last resolve TO CONQUER tho
wilderness or die IN the attempt Srae God stood by and
sustained the noble but toForu banifor their cause was
his,
On the long roll Of that days reported slain were the
names OF few who had IN fact, been captured and after
surviving the ordeao the gauntlet. had been permitted To
live as cnptyes. Among these an excellent husband
and iaheT who with eleven other cnptses had been TIA
htn py Wlbe, ana painted black the signal Of
tuc and death 10 all The night after tho battle these
twelve prisoners were stripped and placed in limo
Oh los-he 10 whom have specially alluded
being at extremity Of the devoted row. The cruel
capoTs then beginning the other end slaughtered lev
en- one by one but when they the only survivor
though they raised him up also and drew their bloody
knives strike under each upfted ARM they paused and a
ter u long powwOw, spared his e-why he never knew
For about one year Of his friends excepting his faithful
wife, doubted his death She hoping against reason still
insisted that he lived and would her Wooed by
To- mp
cany that she could not dyesi herself vi the belief that
her husband survived. Her expostulaing friends f.
naly succeeding IN their efforts sc her a6ectonue in.
siinci, she reluctantly yielded and the nupa day vas fix
ed But just before It dawned the crack of rifle was
heard near her lonely cabn-nt the familiar sound she
lonped out, like liberated awn, calculating spng-
"hars Johns gum" Ii Iohnis gun sure enough and
IN an instant, she wns, her lost husbands
arms. But nine years afterwards, that same hus
band fell in "S Glars dcfcatund the same disappoin
ed, but perseverng lover renewed his sui-and nj last
the widow became his wife The Of these romantic
incidents was within gunsho OF my natal homestead; and
with that noble wife and matron myself well nc
qGaniri,