The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1845-07-19
Flom NOah's Weekly Messenger
YANKEE TRICKS.
REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT.

sponsor Common consent makes wit,
of supidhles; fools Of wise men, gallant,
of Josephs, and rascsls Of honest indi
.vidusls. Common consent stsmpec
sYsnkees'--.in their first dsys--.a
shrswd, incompatible tricksters, and
common consent was pretty near righ
,iusl al that time. Whether the Yam.
KEGS are match for opposition now
we leave to olde, and wiser heads 10 de.
termine. We gained our indepeude nee
by sheer force Of arms. Now and then
fortune would favor our side with lit.
tie extraordinary good event or circum
stance, but mol very frequently. 1t w,,
fight twenty times where il was nance
vre successfully once.--The English,
always on the look out for Squalls and
Yankee tricks not unfrequenlly de.
ceived themselves in the most ludic-
'rops manner.
In,the month of May, 1914, Sir James
Yoe, with feet Of vessels 10 the mum.
ber Of thirteen, OF various sizes, appear
ed Of the mouth Of the Genessee, threat
enlng to anuihilaie Rochester, and de
etroy every Improvement and person 10
. the vicinity. Great alarm was created
by this. Messengers were despatched
at once throughout The country for aid.
The people were aroused like the
: fiery cross of ofRhoderick Dhu the sum.
mon, sped, and whal, think ye, was The
result? In Rochester there were then
sjust thiriy.three people capable Of bear.
ing arms, and about half dozen came
> in 10 help them. Truly formidable ar
my 10 repel an English feet and op-
pose clever of1shot of the British for
ces. Thefirst thing that the little band
Of Americans did was TO throw up a
breasl-work--ruds and slight-near the
deep hollow, beside the Lower Falls.
This breasl-work was called Fort Ben
der. They then hurried down the juno.
ton OF the Gennessee and lake Ontario
because there the enemy declared they
would land. They left behind them
two old men, with several small boys,
10 remove the women and children into
the woods 10 case the British should
land for the provisions, and the des,ruc-
ton Of The bridge atRochester.
The Rochester forces we're command.
ed by Francis Brown and Elisha Ely,
who acted ss captains. Isaac w. Stone
was appointed major. The Americans
Were elegantly accoulred in var;ou, gar
men,s Of shapes and makes almost ante
deluSian. No two men were dressed d
alike. No two men were armed with
the like weapons. Certainly they had
allfirearms; but they were not fashioned
in the same style. The discipline of
these troops were as curious as thei. cos.
tune and equipments. But if they dis.
played an awkward front 10 The warlike
eye, they also exhibited ssgaciiy and
'courage-two qualities quite as much
needed as pretty uniform and tactics
The enemy watched the on-shore pro.
'ceedngs with considerable interest.
They Seheld, as they supposed, nu-
merous bodies of militia marching TO
head quarters, and preparing 10 give
them warm reception. To deceive
the English, the forty men marched
and dcounlremarched necessarily through
lhe woods, from point 10 point, 10 such
manner as 10 convince The soldiers in
the vessels that the whole country was
aroused and preparing for action. The
English thought il was high time TO be
cautious and therefore sent an officer
with flag OF truce 10 the shore. One
Of The militia captains, with ten Of the
bes,-looking and most soIdier.like men,
were sent 10 meet the officer. The
men carried their arms as upright q,
might be consistent with their plan oI
being ready for action, by keeping hold
OF The triggers
The British officer was as,onished
He looked all kinds Of things, ul,ersbIe
and unulterab!e, and with a swelling
ere ssid:--
A&r, DO you receive Gag of truce,
under arms and with cooked lriggers1
'Excuse me, | beg, said the Amer.
can captain, we ore not soldiers, only
back kwoodsmen and know more chou
telling tipber end following the plousf
than Of military laclcs;' saying which
the American, 10 recily his frs, error ),
ordered his men 10 ground armSi
This, Of course still more sslonshed
the Brt1p. lie looked Indignant
then suspleious--hen lilIe terrified
End al last delivered brief message !u
haste, and nconIinently sought ne flee
sgsin. He declared that The ignoranc,
Of tactic was ieigned 20 draw the commo
H. A