The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-01-17

The DAYS OF OLD.-The following interest
: ing document was recently found among the
: papers ot major John shaefmyer, a deceased
: patriot OF the revolution. It is discourse de-
llyered on the eve OF the battle Of Brandywine
, by rev Jacob Troute to a large portion of the
American soldiers, in presence of gen. Wash.
inggton, gen. Wayne, and other officers of the
army.
Soldiers and countrymen! We have me-
, this evening perhaps for the last time. We
have shared the toll OF the march, peril Of the
fight, and the dismay of the retreat alike. we
have endured the cold and hunger, the contumc-
" OF the eternal foe and courage of the foreign
oppressor. We have sat night after night by
the campfire, We have together heard the roll
Of the reveilie which called Us to duty, OF the
beat of the tattoo which gave the signal for the
hardy sleep of the solder, with the earth for his
bed and the knapsack for his pillow
And now, soldiers and brethren, we have met
in this peaceful valley on the eve Of battle, in
the sunlight that tomorrow morn will plimmer
on scenes of blood. We have met amid the
whitening tents of our rencampment, in the time
of terror and gloom have gathered together,
God grant that it may not be for the last time
I 1t is a solemn moment Brethren, does not
the solemn voice of nature seem to echo the
sympathies of the hour? The flag Of our coun-
try droops heavily from yonder staff, the breeze
has died away along the green plain of Chadd 5
I Ford, the plain that spreads before us glitters
in the sunlight, the heights of Brandywine
arise, gloomy and grand, beyond the waters of
yonder stream, all nature holds pause Of sol
emn silence on the eve of the uproar and blood
shed strife Of tomorrow
Ihey that take the sword shall perish by the sword
And have they not taken the sword9
| Let the desolate plain, the blood val
ley, the burned farm-houses, backening in the
sun, the sacked village and the ravaged town,
answer, letthe whitened bones Of the butchered
farmer strewn along the fields of his homestead
answer, let the starving mother, with the babe
cllngng to the withered breast that can afford
no sustenance, let her answer-with the death
rattle mingling with the murmuring tones that
marked the last struggle Of her life, let the
mother and the babe answer.
It was but day past, and our land slept in
the quiet OF peace. War was nothere Fraud
and woe and want dweltnot among us. From
the eternal solitude of the green woods arose
the blue smoke Of the settlers cabin, and golden
fields Of corn looked from amid the waste Of the
wilderness, and the glad music Of human voices
aWoke the silence of the forest
Now, God of mercy, behold the change! I'm
der the shadow of apretext, under the sanctity
of the name of God, invoking the Redeemer to
their aid, do these foreign l,irelings slay our
people. They throng our towns, they darken
our plains, and now they encompass our posts
on the lonely plain of Chadd's Ford
'sIhey that take the sword shall perish by the sword
Brethren, think me not unworthy Of belief
when tell you that the doom Of the British is
sealed. Think me not vain when tell YOU
that, beyond the cloud that now enshrouds us |
see, gathering thick and fast, the darker cloud
and thicker storm of divine retribution!
They may conquer us to morrow. Might and
wrong may prevail, and we may be driven from
| the field, but the hour Of Gods own vengeance
will come
Ay, if in the vast solitudes of eternal space
there throbs the being of an awful God quick
to avenge and sure to punish guilt, then the man
George Brunswick, called king, will feel in his
BRAIN and heart the vengeance Of the eternal Je.
hovah! A blight will light upon his lfe-a
wlthered brain and An accursed intellect, a
| blight will be upon his children, and on his peo-
pie. Great God, how dread the punishment!
A crowded populace, peopling the dense towns
where the man of money thrives, while the la
borer starves, want striding among the people
IN all forms Of terror, an ignorant and Godefy-
ing priesthood chuckling over the miseries Of
millions, proud and mercess nobility adding
wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upon
robbery and fraud, royalty corrupt to the very
heart, and arlstocracy rotten to the core, crime
and want linked hand in hand and tempting
r,,ar, frI do, Il Il. al
of the doom and retribution that shall come
upon the English throne and the English people
Soldiers! look around upon your familiar
faces with strange interest! Tomorrow morn
ing we 90 forth to the batte-for need tell
you that your unworthy minister will march
with you invoking Gods aid in the firht?-we
will march forthto battle! Need exhort YOU
to fight the good fght-to fight for your home
steads, for your wives and children?
My friends, | might urge you to fight by the
calling memories of British wrong Walton, I
might tell you of your father, butchered in the
silence of the night, on the plains Of Trenton, |
might picture his gray hairs dabbed in blood /,
might ring his death shrek in your ears.
Shelmire | Imightt tell uof butchered moth
er and sister outraged, the lonely farmhouse,
the night assault, the roof in flames, the shouts
Of the troops as they dispatched their victims,
the cries for mercy and pleadings Of innocence
for pity lmigh paint this all again, in the vivid
colors of the terrible reality, if | thought cour-
age needed such wild excitement
But know you are strong in the midst of the |
Lord. You will march forth to battle on the
morrow with light hearts and determined spirit,
though the solemn duty the duty Of asenging
the dead-may rest heavy on your souls.
And in the hour of battle, when all around I
is darkness, lit by the lurid cannon glare and I
the piercing musket flash, when the wounded +
strew the ground, and the dead litter your path
then remember, soldiers, that God is with you.
The eternal God fights for you, he rides on the
battle cloud, he sweeps onward with the march
of the hurricane charge. /
God, the awful and infinite, fights for you, land
you will triumph.
"They thatta the sword shall perish BY the sword "
You have taken the sword, but not in the I
spirit of wrong or ravage. You have taken the
fo,. bo,,ac ,ro,r ,pivas