Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-03-11
rHomAs RrrcHIE A YANKEE.

The ankindess cut the veteran RITcHTE
has received upon bis war worn shield. Is nm
doubtedly the discovery made BY the Wash
ington correspondent of the Cincinnati Nom
pareil that the said RITcHIE is q native OF
Yankeedom" This astounding revelation
is announced by the discoverer with cool
ness as unruffled as If be were stating the
most ordinary fact eshould like to know
to what the universal Yankee nation will not
lay claim to next. Perhaps We shall soon be
informed that the James River Is tributary
of the Connecticut, and that Capt JoHE
SMITH was the founder Of the Commonwealth
Of Massachusetts. THOMAS Richie q ma
tive of Yankeedom I, Why, if there is any
thing which Mr. THOMAS RrrcnrE is not It is
Just that Mr.. Brooks, Of the New York
Express, was more accurate than this writer
when, in his sketch Of Mr.. RITcHrE. he said.
" Once be discovered there was North, -
that people breathed and walked on the
Eastern side of the Potomac river, and be
went on voyage Of discovery there. He
visited Quincy, the residence of JoHN z.
ADAMS, and held his horse ont Of doors,
while his family gratifed their curiosity with
in. VAN buren, found him out at Albany,
and wooed and won the spirit, with all the
coquetry that be would maiden in her
teens. But did be ever hear Of the West ?
The Ohio, | dare say, be knows,-loves the
shores of Western Virginia. but does be
know that people live and breathe on the
Wabash the Miami, and the Illinois The
real fact though is, be knows no world but
what stretches from the base Of the Blue
Ridge to the Lower James River. The
Ocean is all poetry to him. His eye, his
mind, his spirit are left on this earth only on
condition that it forgets all other creation
but the Lowlands of Virginia. His geogra-
phy is not four hundred miles inclusive. The
world, if he were to write book, would be
bounded on the East by the Potomac, on the
South by the Dismal Swamp, on the West
by the Roanoke, and on the North by the
Blue Ridge"
We subjoin Mr.. RIrcHrE's reply to the
correspondent Of the Cincinnati paper. He
declines the proffered honor in very grace
full manner. Really, we wonder at his calm
ness, considering the enormity of the Ale
cation Rich. Rep.
"a Washington correspondent of the
Cincinnati Nonpareil february y has made
a discovery about ourselves which is rather
new to u.s.: Thomas R1TcHIE is native Of
Yankecdom whence be emigrated to Virgin
ia when the fact is that be is native of
Virginia. New England has SO many noble
sons to boast Of, that she may well spare SO
humble citizen as ourself from the cata-
logue We have no objection to bis descrip-
ton Of our person, when he speaks of us as
nervous as ever was Gen. JACKSON, to whom
RIrcHIE is very similar in the structure Of
his body We consider the remark as more
a compliment than arcproach, when he says:
There in no secresy about him; and his de-
signs may be seen as readily as you perceive
the fancy fish in globe of glass in one
biographical fact the Nonpareil correspondent
is correct, that Capt. JonN RITcHIE, Of the
United States artillery, who was killed at
the battle of Niagara. in 1914, was his
brother We trust our readers will excuse
us for confirming this statement; for we are
proud Of claiming relationship to the man
who bravely shed his blood for his country,
and persisted at the side Of his gun at the
battle of Bridgewater.