Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1860-11-09
bee; now-I am ma--let me whisper in your

"Now, help me, priest" he said, in a
voice growing suddenly tremulous "help
me put on this coat Of blue and silver
For you see, and a ghostly smile played
over his face, 'thete is no one to wipe the
cold drops from my brow; no wife, no
child must meet death alone; but
will meet him as met him in battle,with.
out fear"
While he stood arraying himself in that
worm. eaten coat of blue and silver, the
good preacher spoke to him Of Jesus. Yes,
Of that great faith which pierccs the clouds
of human guilt, and rolls them back from
the face of God.
"Faith echoed the strange man, who
stood there erect, with the death-light in
his eye. "Faith, can it give me back my
honor? Lock ye, priest, there over the
waves, sits George Washington, telling to
his comrades the pleasant story Of the
eight years war--there in his royal hall
sits George of England, bewailing in his
idiotic voice the loss of his colonies. And
here am /, who was the first to raise
the flag of freedom, the first to strike the
blow against that King-hero am, dying
like dog
The awe-stricken preacher started back
from the look of the dying man while
throb, throb, beat the death watch in the
shattered wall.
"Hush!' silence along the lines thercl
he muttered in that wild, absent tone, as
though speaking to the dead "silence
along the lincsl Hark, you Montgomery
We will meet there in victory or death =
I1istl silence, my men, not whisper, as
you move up those steep rocksl Now on,
my boys, now on Men. up with the ban
ner of the stars up with the flag of free
dom, though the night is dark and the snow
fallsl Now! nowl' shrieked the death
stricken man, towering there in the blue
uniform, with his clenched hands waving
in the air, "now, now! Ono blow, and
Quebec is ours!'
And look. His eyes grew CLASSY, and
with that word on his lips, he stands there;
ah. what hideous picture of despair, erect
Elivid, ghastlyl There for moment, and
then he falls! All, look at that proud
form, thrown cold and stiff W on the damp
floor In that CLASSY eye there fingers even
yet, horrible energy, sublimity of despair
Who is this rude man, dying here alone
in this rude garret, this man, who, in al
his crime, still treasured up his blue uni
form and faded flag?
Who is this being of terrible remorse?-
This man, whose memories link something
Of heaven and more of help
Let us look at the parchment and tn,
Gag
/ The old minister unrolls that faded flag
it was blue banner, cleaning with thir
\ teen stars.
He unrols that parchment. 1t is
Colonels commission in the Contincnta
Army, addressed to BENEDICT ARNOLD
And there, in that rude hut, while III,
heart throbbed like death watch in tn,
shattered wall unknown, unwept, in al
the bitterness of desolation, lay the corps,
of that patriot and traitor.
0, that our own true Washington hat
been there, to sever that good right arm
and embalm it among the holiest memo
ries of the past.
For that right arm had struck many
gallant blow for freedom, yonder at Ticon
deroga, at Quebec, Champlain, and Sara
toga ; that arm, yonder beneath the snoV
white mountain, on tho deep silence of tn
dead, first raised into sight the banner o
the STARS.
1t was during the renowned expedition
through the wilderness to Quebec, tha
Arnold encamped for two or three days be
side the River of the Dead near sno,
white mountain, which rose in lovely gran
, deur over all other mountains, into the au
f tumnO sky. A single soldier asccnde
the mountain with the hope of beholdin
, from its summit the rocks and spires O
Quebec. When he came down Arnol
! took from his breast, where. four days i
privation and danger, he had carried it,
blue banner cleaning with thirteen star.
He Used it into the light, and for the frs
time tho Continental Banner hoated owe
the soli;udcs of Dead River This is
fact attested by history and corroboratc
: by tradition.