Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-08-11
THI, zouAyEs OF THE nEE7lIoIUTIoN.

The ZOUAfEo OF' III ~ AHtOLU tlOp.
TO The Editors Of the M z. Ebeaing Post: &
At this time it may be interesting to your hume
rous readers to know that thatthere were zouayes
in the War of Independece The extract of letter,
written by young soldier in the Connecticut army
to his parents, which follows, states the fact:
aDEAR PARENTS Our company arrived here last
night very late, hungry and tired Training is
good deal harder than old Squire Fell tells Of IF
he'd marched fourteen miles n day for three lays
and carried his prog besides fathers old French war
fussee, calculate he'd not been encouraging to
us boys. / don't find fault mind | only wish to
let you know that are not on May party.
At Milford tavern We were joined by two compa-
MES of soldiers from New Haven and company of
queer fellows, Jack calls them, from the South
ern colonies. They are rihemen, and are command
ed by Col Cresap They don't use any beds, as we
do, but sleep right on the ground, all in row, like
Indanssdo. But their antics in military exercise
are of the curiousest kind. They load and fire
their rifles lying fiat on their bellies After that
they tange themselves all up in knot, and look
just like porcupine with their guns sticking out
all over them. But the wondermost part of their
actions is their hitting mark Any one Of them
can hit a small potato at forty rods distance You
never saw any thing like it. When we get to camp
Twill write more about these rihemen who would
amuse the girls if they could see them cut their
antics"
The rest of the letter is of private nature and
uninteresting to the public. If it is agreeable,
would like you to publish the extract and oblge a
a descendant of the writer.
Us. PRATT
The company described in this letter is also allu-
ded to in Moores Diary Of the Revolution, as fol-
lows:
AUGUST Z, l776-On Friday evening last arrived
at lancaster Pennsylvania, their way to the
American camp, Capt Cresap's company of rifemen,
consisting of one hundred and thirty active, brave
young fellows, many of whom have been in the late
expedition under Lord Dunmore against the Indians.
They bear in their bodies visible marks of their
prowess, and show scars and wounds which would
do honor to Homers Had. They show you, to use
the poets words
"Where the CORD battle bled at every ve.np
One of the warriors in particular, shows the cica-
trices of four bullet holes through his body These
men have been bred in the woods to hardships and
dangers from their infancy. They appear as if they
were entirely unacquainted WITH and had never felt
the passion Of fear. With their rifles in their hands,
they assume a kind of omnipotence over their enc
mics. One cannot much wonder at this when We
mention fact which be fully attested by several
Of the reputable persons who were eye-wtnesses Of
it Two brothers in the company took piece of
board five inches broad and inches long, with
bit of white paper about the size of dollar nailed
in the centre, and while of them supported this
board perpendicularly between his knees the other
at distance Of upwards Of sixty yards and without
cessivey, and spared brothers thigh. Another of
the company held barrel stave perpendicularly in
his hands, with one edge close to his side while one
Of his comrades at the same distance, and in the
manner before mentioned, shot several bullets
through it without any apprehension Of danger on
either side The spectators appearing to be amazed
at these facts told that there upwards of
fifty persons in tic same company who could do the
same thing; that there not one who could not
plug nineteen bullets out Of twenty, as they termed
il, within an inch of the head of teapenny nail
In short to evince the confidence they possessed in
their dexterity with these kind of arms, some of
them proposed to stand with apples their heads,
while others at the distance, undertook to
shoot them off; but the people who the other
experiments declined to be witnesses Of this.
At night great fire was kindled around a pole
planted in the Court House square, where the COM
pany, with the Captain at their head, all naked to
the waist, and painted like savages, except the Cap
tain, who was in an Indian shirt, INDUCED a vast
concourse OF people with a perfect exhibition of
war Dance and ali the maneuvres Of Indians hold
ing council, going to war, circumventing their
mics by detiles ambuscades, attacking, scalping,
and so forth. 1t is said by those who are judges,
that no representation could possibly come nearer
the original The Captains experiences and agility,
in particular, in these experiments astonished every
beholder. This morning they will set out their
march for Cambridge"