Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-10-02
YANKEE TRICKS.
A REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT.

Common consent is queer sponse'"-
Common consent makes wits Of stupldlues,
fools of wise men, gallan,s Of Josephs, ond
rascals Of honest individuals. Common
conseu, stamped yankees, in their first
days, as shrewd, incompatible trlcks'ers,
and common consent was pretty near right
lust At that time. Whether the 1t is |
now, we leave to older and wiser heads to
determine, We gained our independence
by sheer force Of arms. Now and then
fortune woul id favor our side with little
extraordinary good event or circumstance,
but not very unfrequcntly. 1t was fight
len times where it was manGvre success
fully once The English always on the
lookout for squalls" ard yankee tricks,
not unlrequent;y deceived themselves in
a most ludicrous manner.
In the month of May, 1914, Sir James
Yoe, with a feet OF vessels to the number
of thirteen, of various sizes, appeared OF
the mouth Of the Gennessee, threatening
to annihiate Rochester, and destroy every
Improvement and person in the vicinity
Great alarm was created by this, Messen-
gers were despatched at once throughout
the country for aid The people were
aroused--like the fiery cross Of Roderlck
Dhu, the simmons sped, and what think
We, was the result? In Rochester there
we're then just thirty-lhree people capable
Of bearing arms, and about half a dozen
came to help them Truly formidable
army to rcpeI an English fleet, aud op
pose a clever o1-shuol Of the British forces
The first thing that the ljUle band Of A.
mericans did was TO throw up breas
work-ruJe and sIight--near deep hol
low, beside the Lower Falls. This breast
work was called Fort Bender. They ther
hurried down the junction Of the Gennes
see aud Like because there the enem,
declared they would land. They left be
hind them two old men, with several small
boys TO remove the women aud children
into the woods in case the British shoult
land 70: the provisions, nd the destruction
Of the tge at Rochester
The Rochester forces were commando
by Francis Brown and Elisha Ely. VIII
acted as captains The Americans wer
elegantly ACQUIRED in various garments 1
shapes aud makes almost antediuvian. -
Notwo men were armed with like weapon:
Certainly they had all fire arms, but the
were not fashioned in the same style, TIL
discipline Of these troops were as curiou
as their custUme aid equipments. But
they displayed an awkward front to tn
warlike eye, they exhibited scgacity an
couragc-two qualities quite as much nee
ded as Il pretty uniform and good tactic
The enemy watched the on-shore procce
dings with considerable interests. The
beheld as they supposed, numerous bodie
Of militia marching to head quarters, an
preparing to give them warm reception
To deceive the English, the forty men ha
marched and counter-marched through tn
whole woods from point to point, in such
! manner as to convince the soldiers in til
vessels that the whole country was arouse
= and preparing for action. The Englis
thought it was high time to be cautious, an
- therefore sent an officer with flag of lruc
to the shore. One of the militia captain
with ten Of the best looking and most SO
dier-lke men, we're sent 10 meet the Office
The men carried their arms as upright I
might be consistent with their plan of bein
ready for action by keeping hold Of the
triggers.
The British officer was astonshed. II
looked all kinds Of things utlerable an
unutterable, and with a swelling crest sale
Sir, do you receive flag Of truce und1
r arms aud with cooked uiggers'
Excuse me, | beg said the America
captain, I'VE are not soldiers, only bacI
J woodSmen, and know more about fcllin
trees and following the plough than Of mi
i,ary tactics; saying which the American t
= rectl(y his first error, ordered his men t
t ground arms.
; This, Of course, still more astonishe
the Briton. He looked indignant--the
susplcious--then little terrified, and &
last delivered brief message in haste
and incontinently sought the fleet agar
s He declared tina: the ignorance wa
. teigned to draw the commodore into som
I anarc, and informed those who sent hir
: that some Yankee trick was under pre-
t cess Of development.
} Tho Dri,ish H. L.. Il =.