Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1843-09-28
N I s. @ u Z u A 81 e O
(From the Cincinnati Chroniclc.)
NJ AIRY CRAIG.

Early in the spring of 1913, and as soon as
the snow banks had well disappeared after the
long and tedious winter, tall robust man, of
middle age, and melancholy countenancc,
might have been seen. day after day, examin-
ing the ancient tombstones in the different
Cemeteries about New York. He had come
from the "Far West" the place of his nativity
ard the active scenes of his life, and was
searching the graveyards of the city for the
tombstone OF his maternal grandparents
father and mother of Mary Craig
10 the enquirer, the strangers story was
SIMPLE though interesting, and exhibits one Of
! the many instances where real life surpasses
in affecting incident even romance itself.
"John Craig, the father of Mary Craig, en-
igrated from Scotland to New York about the
year 1867, Mary, his youngest daughter, hav
ing been born on the voyage to this country
He had barely become comfortably settled in
his new home, when he was called to bid his
family final adieu, Mary then being but six
years old. The widow and her children re-
manned in the city of New York until the
breaking out of the Revolutionary War, about
three years after, and when Mary had attain
ed her ninth year. At this early age, howev-
er, she had imbibed Wing principles, and her
whole soul was embarked in the success of
that struggle for liberty. Soon after, the citv
fell INTO the hands of the British, and her
mother being left among strangers in distant
lanl, and meeting with an acquaintance and
countryman from Scotland, in the captain of
British vessel Of war then in the harbor, was
induced to give him her hand in marriage
The captain was Of course devoted royalst.
and his principles so opposed to the politics
oil Mary that she could otbrook the insults to
which her opinions were exposed, though per-
sonaly treated by her stcp-tathcr with great
kindness andrespect Mary therefore left home
and took shelter under thehosp tabe roof ofDr.
llalsed, of Elizabethtown point, where she
found a welcome home and congcnial political
sentiments. Here, during the remainder of that
bloody war, Mary was exposed to its dangers
and hardships.
at is known that Elizabethtown was the
theatre of frequent engagements between the
contending parties, and sometimes in the pos
session of one, and sometimes of the other.
Often the inhabitants, men especially, were
compelled to fly at midnight from their homes
to escape capture and Imprisonment, if not
death Some times all, male and female, on
account of the invasion of the Hessian hor9es,
and when they had not the force to oppose
them, were under the necessity Of flying for
safety W sonlc pldce oil security. On such
occasions Mary sometimes remained behind
to prevent by her intreacs the wanton de-
structlon OF her patrons property. Here her
life was frequently threatened for her inpor-
tunlty, and on one occasion sword was drawn
TO execute that threat At other times she
would drive her benefactor's gig with his wife
and child in it, through the darkness of mid
night TO his retreat seven or eight miles from
Ellzabethtown. Often during the engagement
between the contending armies, the Doctors
house was the hospital of the wounded and
dying patriots, and she was the surgeons as
sistant in staunching wounds, taking off shat
tered limbs, and administering drink and food
to the wounded and dying. Thus Nary's time
was spent during that long and bloody struggle
AT its close she found herself separated forev-
er from her friends. At the recapture of N ew
York, her sttp-iather had removed to Nova
Scotia, whittier he took all of Mary's family,
and circumstances prevented them from ever
meeting again.
"The war ended, but not Mary's hardshios
and exposures, Soon after the Revolution
she was married TO young man who had ac :
companied Symmes i'll his first tour of obser-
Walton to- the Mlamles, with which he was so
delighted that he determined to migrate to the