Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1871-08-26
Thrilling Adventure.


GENERAL MoRGAN'S ESCAPE FROM
THE INDGANS.-In the Life of Major
General Greene. by George W. Greene,
we find the following account ola thrill
ling adventure of Daniel Morgan. Mr.
Greene describes the occasion of his re
ceiving wound in the old French war.
The scene was III the valley Of the
Shenandoah, not many miles from Win
chester, and the occasion an ambuscade
of French and Indians Morgan had
been sent with an escort of two horse
men to carry a dispatch to the comman-
der of the garrison at Win
chester His road lay along a narrow
path formed by huge precipice, known
in that region as the Hanging Rock,
which, iutting over a small stream, left
no other passage for tootman or rider
but the scanty space between 1t and the
margin OF the watcr-courSe. 1t was the
very spot for an ambUScade, and local
traditions told OF a fierce battle which
had been fought there by the DelawareS
and Catawbas many years before. a
party of French and Indians were row
living among the rocks which command
cd the way, pecrihg out unseen, like II
gers on the watch for prey
The first to come within their tolls
were Morgan and his unfortunate escort.
How far the associations and nature Of
the spot excited their suspicious we do
not know, for Morgan never told, and
his companions did not live to tell. 1t
was their only path. and they rode bold
ly into it. Their unseen enemy had but
to choose his moment and fire. II was
the work of an instant; at the first fire
the two soldiers dropped dead from Their
saddles, and Morgan reelcd in his with
a desperate wound \ bullet had en-
tered the back of his neck, grazed the
bone, passed into his mouth near the
sock Of the jaw-honc and knocking out
al the teeth ON the left side OF his face,
came out through the left check. The
blood gushed after it, and though he
kept his seat with an iron will, he felt
that his strength was already beginning
to fail. The wound he did not doubt
was mortal he felt that he must die /;
but he shrank from the thought Of being
mutilated by the scalping- knife of his
savage foe. Some mems thoughts are
like instincts in these moments of su-
prcme danger Mor@an's horse, n fleet,
tilly, had stopped short at the sudden
alarm, standing motionless with eX
panded noStril and startled eye. But
she was swift Of foot and true to her
masters voice. That voice was gone
now but leaning over his saddle-bow,
Morgan claspcd her neck with his gi-
gantic arms, and AS she felt the pressure
she started forward at the top Of her
speed. The enemy saw that he was
wounded saw, too that they could not
reach him with their rifles without injur-
inc the horse. which they were anxious
to preserve, and bending all their attcn-
ton to secure the other horses and the
scalps, which they value most Of all, left
him to single warrior. In later life
Morgan loved to tell how he watched
the expression of that Indians face as
he ran with open mouth by the horses
side, looking every moment to see his
victim fall how doubt came over 1t.
and then a gradual conviction that the
horse was too swift for him, and at last,
how he hurled his tomahawk with a
hand made uncertain by age and exer-
ton, and seeing that he had missed,
turned back with a yell of bafied fury.
Fortunately for Morgan his horse had,
with the singular instinct OF that self
reasoning animal, turned back toward
the fort. When she reached the gate
her rider was insensible.