Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1847-07-02

success! Onward, and with another blow the
day is ours!"
"OnwarI!" exclaimed Lieutenant colonel HIM.
lIlon. "This is the very crisis Of the action
While We ouack the house. the enemy will raj.
~, and we shall see the laurel ofyictory plucked
IRON our brows in the very moment Of triumph"
"Onward and over ihem" cried captain Ira
ey' snow the day is our own--in ten minutes
We may fee from the very field Of triumph with
The British pressing on in our rear.w
! The cry was echoed by all the junior members
ot the staff, but their opinion was overuled, By
that Of the veteran Knox, who supported by 9TH
er senior officers, advised an immediate attack
upon the house.
I The roar Of steady fire Of the musque,ry
pouring from every window, from every nook
and Granny Of Chew's house, now came rolling
through the fog, and scattered death and confu-
sion through the American troops, who rushed in.
i 10 the very jaws Of the enemy's artillery.
Chew's house become the centre Of the fierce.
! ly contested fight. Greenes column to the cast,
were engaged hand 10 hand, with the forces Of
the enemy in that quarter; Armstrong was thun.
dering away into the ranks Of the foe, westward
oflhe house, and every moment decreased the
distance, between the various wings Of the oppo.
sing armies and the centre Of the battle. The
American artillery, was anayed, on the opposite
side Of the Germantown road, at the distance Of
two hundred yards from the house, with the
mouths ofthe cannon so arroyed, that the balls
would strike the northwest corner Of the man.
sion.
The thunder Of the cannon opened full on
the house, but the aim Of the gunners was rem
dered uncertain by the pressure of the fog; and
American infantry were about 10 advance and at.
tempt 10 carry the temporary fortress by storm,
when it was determined TO send flag of truce
and summon colonel Musgrayc to surrender. A
young and gallant officer, Of Lee partizan legion
was selected from among the throng who offered
10 bear the flag. Assuming the snow-white en-.
bIem Of peace, held sacred by all nations, the
brave soldier approached the house, and was
within twenty PAGES Of the hall door. when a
blaze of flame issued from the window, and the
young officer measured his grave upon the sod,
while the flag Of truce was stained with the warm
! blood Of his heart. A yell Of horor broke from
the American army at this ghastIy spectacle, and
the attack upon the house was renewed with a
keen desire on the part Of each soldier to avenge
the young officer, and as each column marched
up TO the mansion, the name ofthe murdered man
accompanied each peal Of musquetry and swell
! led high above the thunder ofthe cannon.
The plan flhe attack on Chew's house forced
nearly one half Of the central body, TO stand bv
and witness the slaughter of their comrades be-
fore their very eyes, without being able TO raise a
hand in their defence.
Taking advantage Of this inactivity, general
Grey wheeled the front of the left wing of the
British army from his position east of German
town, into the centre ofthe fight and supported
by the fourth brigade under general Agnew, oppo.
sed successful and terrible resistance 10 the sue
cess of the American arms. The fire oflhe Brit
ish musquetry, enveloping the field in one con-
linued sheet Of flame, was answered bv the A.
merican fire flashing like forked lightning at
quick intervals, and from the depths of the fog
arose the sounds of host charging against host,
the roar of the cannon, the cries, the shrieks, the
groans Of the wounded and dying and the vol
ces Of the different commanders, urging their
men on 10 their various pOsts in the scene of con-
tlict, but amid all the wild uproar of the battle, the
muttcrcd shouts Of the Black Rangers broke upon
the air, and their sable uniform cleaned thr ough
the white wreatbes Of smoke, as they Numbered
along the field in the thickeSt ofthe fight, accom-
panyng each deadly fire, with the war cry,-
This for Dennis McDermot!" and each mortal
stroke Of The short, straight sword, with the shout
-"This for the trumpeter boy"
Like dark thunder cloud emitting fire and
flame from every point the Rangers swept
through the foe in one firm phalanx, making
lane of dead wherever they passed, and leaving
the wounded and the dying scattered in heaps in
their rear.
The Americans fought, each man Of them, as
though the issue of the fight depended upon his
separate hand and blow; they fought gaIIantly;
they fought desperately; they fought undismayed
by The heaps Of dead that piled each step of
ground on which hey trod; but they fought against
hope. The thick and gloomy mist still hung over
the field like a shroud for their dead, and with lis
evil omens blasted every prospect of success.
The fog threw the Americans on the left into
inextrcabIe confusion, and they turned their
arms against each other. Many brave Cont
mental soldier leycled his musket through the
mist, at what he supposed foe, and found him
self the murderer Of friend.
The brave colonel Matthews, Of Grcene's for.
mdable column, passed TO the east of Chew's
house, and drove the British before him like a
tornado; on every side they fled before the terror
of his arms; and his regiment was soon swelIed
by the addition of three hundred prisoners. Re-
turning to the main body in the heat and glow of
triumph, he fell in with body of iriends-as he
thought-and found himself prisoner in the
heart of the British army.
Herbert Tracy and his Rangers, came gallop-
ing up to the side of Washington in the thickest
of the fight, to see whether nothing might be
done 10 retrieve the fatal mistake of the halt at
Chews house.
Never had Herbert seen the commander-in-
chief moved by such deep and powerful emotion,
as stirred through every fibre of his command,
ing frame when moment after moment, he lean
ed to one side Of his steed, and received the re-
ports of disaster and partial defeat, from aid-de-
camp after aid-do-camp who were Fastening.