Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-04-28
Historical.
From the Homc uourngi.
WLsYIWGT0N'S LTFE-GUERD.

Jspublish, with pleasure, the following val
liable original paper, from the iacile pen Of
BEysCN j LOSING, which was read by him
before the New Yor!, Historical Society.
a Tues lay evening. the fi!th instant, Ev-
cyGhiHI relating to General NashingtOu's
Life Guard is of interest. 1t is subject
upon which history is almost silent, and
adit!on las but little to communicate
and about which Mr.. Losing has been
ale by the most di!igent research. to fnd
much that is authentic. Such information
az lie lis, he thus dispeuses -
Among the Connecticut troops who were
engaged in tue battle Of Bunker's Uil, was
company uuacr Captain Thomas Knowlton.
who was mo,Laily wounded in skirmish OH
Harlem Plains on the sixteenth Of Scptcn.-
be-. I776. His was one of the best disci-
|pil1ca companies in the crude army that gath
red so suddenly near Boston. afteg she blood
'hel at Lexington and Concord became
nova. Ttas company aud others were for
ned into a battalion known as the Connect
l.t Rangers. to the command of which
aloWlton was appointed, with the rank OF
1su;cnant Colonel 1t formed part of the
antral division Of the army at Cambridge,
Liter Washington had taken the chief com
-ald and was under bis Immediate control.
| lae corps soou held the same eryisble posi-
I ten, as TO discipline and soldierly department
HCoptain knowlton's company had done
I'D the commander, proud Of his battalion
-sde it a sort Of voluntary body guard to the
i:aerai-i chief, and called it CongreS:
rn
This appellation produced some jealousy
N the army. which Washington perceived
aud, on the eleventh of March, 1875. Ga few
Gays before the termination of the seige o
Boston Le ordered corps to be formed, o
''I'aJle men, as guard for himself, baggage
e@. He directed them TO be chosen from va
aous regiments. specifying their height to b
rom FIVE feet eight inches, to five feet te
|pches, and to be handsomely and we'll made
L consisted of a majors command-oue hun
|Ted and eighty men. Caleb Gibbs, OF Rhod
lSland, was its first chief, and bore the It'll
Cap'ain Commandant, having three lieu
@Eants. When this corps was formed, tha
OF KOowlton was no longer regarded wit
jealousy, as special favorite, although
0utuued to be so IN the estimation Of " ash
InSton Itwas from that corps that the un
hrtunate spy, Nathan Hale, was chosen 10
la Perilous dsty and when Kuowlton fell
1aasLin.toG said, He was al honor 10 an
entry
4 The Life Guard appear to have bee
Na popular. Captain Harding, Of Fai'
Ia Connecticut. writing to Governor Tru'
-, on the twentieth OF May. 1916, said :
an low about fitting out small siooE
sayateersman, that was taken frou. Tory
"a have called the Life Guard, to be cou
~'eded by Mr.. Smedley, to cruise 10 I'll
SWard, etc., etc. On the sixteenth
same month, Washington, then in Ne
'rk, issued the following order Any o.
s's delivered by Caleb Gibbs and Georl
~Ss, Esq'rs (officers OF the General
''a'd.) are to be attended to in the san
~'aner as if sent by az aid-de-camp.
We find no further mention of the Guar
WI IN June following, when members of
&c suspected of being engaged in an all
conspiracy to assassinate Washington al
stat At that time the British Minist
We Ssanzious to open communication b
ven the seaboard and Canada. by takii
r@'Sslon Of the city of New York and oft
Non River, and thereby weakening {
".'efacg OF reyoIted colonies, hy separ