Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-12-14

toned passed, at not exceeding
hundred yards. a
Down, boys, down, cried Morgan
as the horse approached; nor did th
clansmen Of the Black Roderick dis
appear more promptly amid thei
native heather than did Morgan
woodsmen, in the present instance
each to his tree or rock. Lie clos
there, my lads, till we see what thes
fellows are about,
Meantime the horsemenhad game,
the height, and the officer, dropping
the rein on the chargers neck, witt
.spy-gIass reconnoitered the Ameri
can lines. The troops closed VI
their files, and were either caressine
the noble animals they rode, adjust
ing their equipments, or gazing upor
the surrounding scenery, now fast
Frightening in the beams ofa rising
sun.
Morgan looked at Long, and Long
at his superior, while the riaemen,
with painting chests and sparkling
eyes, were only waiting some signal
from their officers 'to let the ruin fly.
At length the martial ardor Of
Morgan overcame his prudence and
sense of military subordination.-
Forgetful of consequences, reckless
of everything but his enemy, now
within his grasp, he waved his hand,
and loud and sharp rang the report
of their rifles amid the surrounding
echoes.
At point blank distance, the GER
tain and deadly aim of the Hunting
Shirts of the Revolutionary army is
too well known to history to need re-
mark at this time of day. In the
instance we have recorded, the effect
of the fire of the riaemen ives tre-
mendous. OF the horsemen, some
had fallen to rise no more, while their
liberated chargers rushed wildly over
the adjoining plains; Others, wounded,
but entangled with their stirrups,
we're dragged by the infuriated ami
mails expiringly along, while the very
few who were unscathed spurred hard
to regain the shelter Of the British
lines.
While the smoke yet canopied the
scene of slaughter, and the plctu-
rescue forms of the woodsmen ap-
peared among the foliage, as they
we're reloading their pieces, the CO.
ossal figure of Morgan stood apart.
LIE seemed the very genius of war,
md gloomily he contemplated the
havoc his order had made. He spoke
1ot, be moved not, but looked as one
lbsorbed in the intensity of thought.
The martial shout with which ne was
wont to cheer his comrades in the
TOUR of combat vas hushed; the
hell from which he had blown full
many a note of battle and of tri-
lmphon the field of Saratoga, hung
,y his side; no srder was given to
poil the slainof their arms and equip
nents, for which there was always a
county from Congress-nor of their
hirts, of which there was SO much
leed at that, the sorest period of
,ur country's privation all, all were
.bandoned, as with an abstracted air
md a voice struggling for utterance,
Morgan, suddenly turning to his cap
ain, exclaimed -'Long, TO the camp,
o the camp The Eivorite captain
the riaemen with trailed
rms fell into file, and Long and his
,arty soon disappeared, but not be-
ore the hardy fellows had exchanged
opinions on the strange termination
f the late affair. And they agreed,
lem. con-, that their colonelw was tricked,
for assuredly after such
ire as they had given the enemy,
uch an emptying of saddles and scat
ering of the troopers, he would not
AVE ordered his poor rifle boys from
he field without so much as few
hirts or pairs of stockings being di-
rided among them. Yes, said tall,
can and swarthy looking fellow, an
indian hunter from the frontier, as
le carefully placed his moccasined
eet in the footprints of the filelead-
#, yes, my lads, itstands to reason,
,ur Colonel is tricked.' 6
Morgan followed slowly on the trail
# his men. The full force of his
military guilt had rushed upon his
mind, even before the report Of his
.iaes had ceased to echo in the neigh |