The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-17


The BLUE HENS CmcKENs.-The following
account of the origin of the title of the "Blue
Hens Chickens" which the Delawarians are
proud to claim, is authentic, and was EDuched
for by the late John NJ. Clayton
At the commencement of the Revolutionary
war there resided in Sussex county, Delaware,
gentleman Of fortune, urbanity Of manners, and
great popularity in that and the adjoining county
of May yland, named Caldwell, in the language Of
the county called kilwell. He was sportsman,
whose breed of horses and game-cOCks obtained
wide celebrity and his judgment of the points
of horse or the make Of a fowl none yenturcd
TO dispute. His favOrite axiom was the character
of the progeny depends more on the mother than
on the father; and hence his reply to all ques-
tons respecting the breed of game fowls was, be
your cock ever so game, you cannot depend on
his progeny, but must look to the hen. My obser-
vatiOn has led me to select blue hen, and in no
instance have l failed to hatch good game-cOck
from blue hens egg.
In consequence Of such an opinion expressed
by such Il man, ut all matches and coc1-dghts,
the first question was as to the color of the hen
and frequently certificate sworn to before a
magistrate accompanied the fowls. Such ques-
tiOns engaged the time of the peaceful men Of
Delaware when the news reached them of the
battle of Lexington, fought on the 10Th of April
1875, between the royal troops and the militia of
Massachusetts. This reused the peOble 10 arms
and nowhere was there more martial spirit dis
played than in the State of Delaware. In very
buOIl llulC u lull ItBlHlcHJ WAS IdStut anu u udy
appointed to organize on Dover Green. On the
morning Of that ever memorable day full com
pany from Sussex county was the first to enter
the field, uuder the command of Captain Kilwell.
Peering above the loaded baggage wagon was a
coop Of fowls, the famous blue hens chickens,
growing Justify.
Having been the first on the ground, Captain
Kilwcll'S company was assigned to the right, and
| before the regiment took up the line of march,
the boys were already called the gamecocks, who,
TetOrting on their comrades, called them the
chickens After their gallant conduct in cover
ing the retreat on Long Island, the whole army
saluted the regiment as the "blue hens chickens"
They were on Long Island, and covered the re-
treat; they were ut Trenton and Princeton, at
| Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, in the
north and when the tories in the Carolinas had
made their peace with COTnwallis, and driven the
! wings TO the mountains, lower Virginia oyerruu,
| her Governor and Legislature fled to Carter's
| mountain, a force was gathered al the North, un-
! der General Gates and pushed South; to these
1 were attached the troops of Delaware and Mary
| land, forming brigade under the Baron De kab.
! On the "fetal field OF Camden" Kilwell fell
/ there the gamecOclI fought his last round. Lee,
/ H. his memoirs Of the southern war, tells u6 -
"Ihe regiment Of Delaware was nearly annihi-
/ lated and Lieutenant Colonel Vaughan and Ma
/ jOr Patton being taken, its remnant, less tn IN
| two companies, were afterwards placed under the
! orders OF kirkwoOd, senior Captain. Contrary to
! the usual course of events and the general wish,
| the Virginians (who broke and fled at the nrst
| fire, and who set the injurious example which
! produced the destrustion of our army escaped
! entirely"
! But the spirit of Delaware was not to be sub
dued; fresh recruits soon joined, and again we
| find the "Chickens" fighting under Green ut Gull
ford, and finally present at yorktown on the 18th
| of October, 1881, when CORVALLIS surrendered,
and the War of the Revolution closed in triumph.