The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-12-11
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INeiU York LedSer.l
CHRISTOPHER LUDWICK.
Baker General of the Revolutionary
Army.
BY JAMES PARTON.

At the outbI eak of the reyoluti Onary
war iu 1775, there was not in all the
| thirteen Colonies amm unitiOn enough
for one battle on the scale of the Euro
pean wars. Arms, too. of the kind EN-
| ployed in military services were exceed
ingly scarce, and what few muske Is there
were, commanded an eXtravagant price.
Such a repairing of old guns, such a
| search for tiints and accoutrements.s such
furnishing of rusty Sw ,rds and bayO-
nets, such an inquiry into the ingredi-
ents of gunpowder, and such Il hunt af-
ter deposits of saltpetre, were never
seen before in any age of country.
Philadelphia being then the clIieE city
of North America, and open to the en-
emy's fleet, was stirred to its depths on
the question of defence DIR. Franklin,
old as he was, was out on the Delaware
experimenting the construction of che
cG,Lr-dtJrize, (huge beams sunk end
wise in the riyer), to keep the British
fleet from approaching the city; and
the other members of the Philosophical
Society were experimenting Ia. the art of
making powder. Militia were drilling
in the public squares. Committees
charged with various public duties were
constantly in session. All was hustle,
activity, excitement and preparation.
But the grand difficulty remained. The
government of the province had not
arms to put into the thousands of viii
ling hands stretched out to receive
them; nor had it, at the moment, money
in the treasury with which to buy the
few that could have been obtained.
In these circumstances Governor Milf
fin proposed to a committee of citizens
to raise SUN of money by putting their
hands into their own pockets, and open
the same in the purchase of arms. 1t
was at once objected that the sum OBJ
tainable by private subscription would
be mere drop in the bucket-totaily
inadequate to the object. Upon this, a
ploin-looking, sturdy German rose and
addressed the meeting in English, that
was not very well pronounced, but was
very much to the point.
Mr. President, said he, Il am but
poor gingerbread baker, but put my
name down for two hundred pounds"
This mastery Grafton closed the de-
bate. The motion was carried unani-
mously, and a sum was raised that far
exceeded the governors most sanguine
hopes.
Every one in the assembly, and every
one in Philadelphia knew Christopher
LudwIek, the baker of Laetitia Court,
who for many years had supplied the
town with gingerbread of unequallcd
excellence, and had grown rich thereby.
After long period o. wandering and
adventure. he had settled in Philadel-
phia twenty years before, and had ac-
quired universal good will, by the
sterling worth of his character and oy
a certain homely wit and wisdom that
enlivened his conversation. He was one
of the celebrities of the city, and his
neighbors styled him "Governor of Lac
itia Court"
In 1776. when General Washington,
after the loss of New York and the ac-
ton at White Plains. was i'll full retreat
across New Jersey, Philadelphia was
panic-stricken again.
These are the times that try mems
souls,1 wrote Thomas Paine in the ia
nous tract which General Washington
said was equal to a new regiment added
to his flying and dissolving army
Among those who took a musket and
volunteered to defend tine city, was the
gingerbread baker, Christopher Lud-
wick, aged fifty-six. On one occasion
during that season of alarm, when
number of the volueteers, tired of camp
rations, threatened to abandon the ser
vice and go home, Christopher Lud-
wick ran up and dropped upon his
knees before them.
Brother soldiers, he cried, in a tone
of passionate entreaty, listen for a
moment to Christopher Ludwick. When
we hear the cry of fire in Philadelphia,
on the hill at distance from US, we fly
there with our buckets, TO keep it from
our houses So let us keep the great
fire of the British army from our town.
In few days you shall have good bread,
and enough of it,"
The men agreed to remain, and Lud-