The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-09-01

village oil Ipswich. Old men and boys
CHE middle-aged had marched to Lexins
ton some days before,) and all the .wome
In the place who were not bed.ridden O
SICK, came rushing as with one accord q
the green in front, Of the meeting house
a rumor-no one attempted 10 trace il O
autheniicate it--spread from lip to lip, tina
the British Regulars had landed ON the coas,
and were marching upon the town. A seen,
oil Indescfibabie terror and confusion fol
lowed. Defence was out of the question
as the young and the able bodied men of IN,
entire region round about had marched 1,
Cambridge and Lexington. The news o
the battle at the latter place, exaggerated
in all lis details, had been Just received
terrible stories of the atrocihes committee
by the dreaded "Regulars" had been rela
ted; and il was believed that nothing shor
OF general determination of the patriots
men, women, and children-was conteu,
plated by the British commander. Almos
simultaneously, the people Of Beverly, q
village a few miles distant, were smitter
with the same terror. How the rumor was
communicated, no one could tell. Ii was
there believed that the enemy had fallen
upon Ipswich, and massacred the inhabi-
tants without regard 10 age or sex.
Ii was about the middle of the afternoon
of this day tina. the. people Of Newbury,
ten miles farther north, assembled in an in.
formal meeting at the town-house, TO hear
accounts from the Lexington fight, and TO
consider what action was necessary in con-
sequence Of that event. Parson Carey was
about opening The meeting with prayer,
when hurried hoof-beats sounded I'D the
street, and messenger, loose-haired and
painting for breath, rushed up the staircase.
Turn out Turn out, for Gods sake!" he
cried, ''or you will all be killed. The
Regulars are marching on US; they are at
Ipswich now, cutting and slashing all be-
fore them!' Universal CONSERVATION was
the immediate result Of this fearful an
.nouncement Parson Carey's prayer died
on bis Lips the congregation dispersed over
the town, carrying TO every house the tidings
that the Regulars had come Men on
horseback went galloPing up and down the
streets, shouting the alarm. Women and
children echoed it from every corner. The
panic became irresistible, uncomfortable.
Cries were heard that the dreaded invaders
had reached Oldtown bridge, liule dis
lance from the village. and that they were
killing all whom they encountered. Flight
was resolved upon. Every horse and We
hicle in the town was put in reguisition;
men, women, and children, hurried, as for
life, towards the north. Some threw their
silver and pewter ware and other valuables
into wells. Large numbers crossed the
Merrimack, and spent the night in the de-
serted houses Of Salisbury, whose inhabi-
tants, stricken by the strange terror, had
fed into New Hampshire, to take Up their
lodgings in dwellings also abandoned by
their owners. A few individuals refused 10
fly with the multitude; come, unable To
move, by reason of sickness. were left be-
hind by their relatives. One old gentleman
whose excessive corpulence rendered retreat
on his part impossible, made a virtue Of ne
cessity, and, seating himself in his door
way, with lis loaded Kings arm, up
braided his more nimble neighoors, advis-
ing them TO do as he did, an6 stop and
shoot the devils" Many ludicrous instan-
ces of the intensity of the terror might be
related. One man got his family into a
boat, to go to Ram Island for safety. lie
imagined he was pursued by the enemy
through the dusk Of the evening. and was
annoyed by the crying Of an infant in the
after part of the boat ado throw that
seualling brat overheard he called to his
wife, cor we shall be all discovered and
killed A poor woman ran four or five
miles up the river, and stopped to take
breath and nurse her child, when she found
to her great horror that she had brought off
the cat instead Of the baby! 20 ..
All through that memorable night, the
terror swept onward towards the north with
a speed which seems almost miraculous,
producing everywhere the same results. At
midnight, a horseman clad only in shirt
and brooches dashed by our grandfather's
door, in Haverhill, twenty miles up the
river. "Turn out! Get a musket turn
oul!" he shouted; "the Regulars are landing
on Plum island" ''l'm glad Of it" re-
sponded the old gentleman from his cham
Der window, 81 wish they were all there,
and Obliged to stay there" When it is un-
derstood that Plum Island is little more
than a naked sand ridge, the benevolence
Of this wish can be readily appreciated.
All the boats on the river were constant
ly employed for several hours in conveying
across the terrified fngitives. Through the
dead waste and middle Of the night they
fed over the border into New Hampshire
Some feared TO take the fiequented roads,
and wandered over wooded hills and through
swamps where the SHOWS Of the late winter
had scarcely melted. They heard the tramp
and outcry Of those behind them, and fan
cied that the sounds were made by pursuing
enemies. Fast as they fed, the terror, BY
some unaccountaDle means outstripped
them. They found houses deserted, and
streets stIewn with household stufs, abal,-
boned in the hurry Of escape. Towards
however, the TIDE partially turned.
Grown men began to feel ashamed Of their
fears. The old Anglo-Saxon hardihood
paused, and looked the terror in its face
Single, or in small parties, armed with
such weapons as they found at hand, among
which. long poles, sharpened and charrsd
at the end, were conspicuous, they began to
retrsce their steps. In the mean time, such
Of the good people Of Ipswich as were I'M
able or unwilling to leave their homes be-
came convinced that the terrible rumor
which had nearly depopulated their settle