Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1876-12-05


and so pitched his tent in their midst on
The frozen ground. Streets were laid out,
and, foot by foot, the city OF huls went
up, I'LL over thousand OF them stretched
away over the surrounding hills. 10
,heSe, the 'sons OF liber y crept and lay
down in the straw.
What passed there for the next three
months, history will never tell us. Il
was written with the pen OF suffering on
individual hearts, but never found Out
ward expression. We can only say that
cold and suffering and starvation We're
there. Washingion's wife joined him.
and the winiry field eoye.el with novels,
presented sad spectacle as she came
upou it, to share with her husband his
privations, and. il possible, lessen his
cares through the long winter. Forage
soon became scarce, and Washington
was soon compelled 10 use the power
conferred on him and ordered all the
grain within seventy miles TO be threshed
out; but be was enyiroued with Tories,
who burned theirs up rather than let II
fail into their hands The snow soon be-
gan to pile in around them. while theiI
clothes Tell away iuy1gs from their backs.
Sickness increased from exposure. and as
ii Heaven itself Was determined 10 aug
meut their misery, eXhauS, their heroic
patience, and drive them TO despair, The
cold set in with severity unknown tor
years. There were no more psradeS. no
more drills, for there wore scarcely
enough lett to perform mere camp duty.
Sickness or rags shut them mp in their
foul novels. The dreary days wore on,
all alike in Suffering. They varied only
as The driving snow piled deeper round
their nuts. or The piercing cold increased,
or TODD grew less. Al day loug, week
in and week ou.. the wind as IL r0ared by,
or the morning aud evening gun SENT
ing its dull echoes over the weary bill,
were the only music TO cheer tho lonelj-
ne,s. The dre9ry m1notony OF the
sc ne WAS broken only by tee pla,oons OF
men. often several times day. bearing,
with reversed arms, clmraic to bis
grave beneath the SNOW. playing the
mourniui tune OF "R syn Castle" as
they marched slowly, heavily forward.
Sometimes naked soldier would borrow
a blanket to Hit to a neighboling hut, and
then fit back again aud ctavl, like a
frightened Wild animal out of sight. Al
along the snowy paths. Washington,
sometimes with the younE Marquis la
layet,e by his side, would often slowly
walk, with his heart breaking at the
sights and sounds that met him ct every
step.
Into the mids, OF this desola;ion the
noble Baron Stouben walked one day,
decA,d with military honors, won OF the
fields OF Europe and g,z.d, one can
guess with what a-toui,hment, on the
army that he had given up home, case
aud country, to lins his fortunes with.
A. length forage gave out, and gauni
famine stalkcd into this scene Of woe aud
desolalion. Not hooi entered the
camp, and The welcome loving OF catt.e
ceased to be heard. Teams and men
came in empty-aandeI. 4 foreign officer,
walking amid the novels, and seeing
men with no covering but a blanket,
fitting through the crevices. the soldiers
muttctiag, NO pay, no provisions, no
rum said he then deSpaired OF American
Independence. Washiugton's heart at
last became filed with fearful forebodngs
aud be looked around him with dismay.
la = letter to General Clinton, in the mid
die Of February, he said For some days
past, there has beeu little less than
famine in camp. \ part OF the armT has
been week without meat of Guy KIDD,
aud the rest three or four days Yet be
adds: Naked and starving as they are,
we cannot enough admire the incompara-
bic patience and fidelity OF the soldiers 5"
No5ly won praise At the same time
Warren wrote 10 Greene: The situation
of the camp is such, that 10 all human
probability, the army must dissolve. The
horses are dying tor want OF forage. The
country in the vicinity OF the camp is
..L,,.,od
Whst onsequences have we nationally to
expect ?" Says DR.. Thatcher: ut IS
with great difficulty that men enough
csn be found in condition tit 10 dis
charge the military camp duties from
day to day, aud for this purpose those
who are naked borrow OF those who have
clothes"
What a picture is this, though sketched
in mere outline by the Commander in
Chief and his officers The Imagination
shrinks from filing up the frightinl de
tails. The army was slowly dying, not
f,om the ravages of shot snd she'll, but
from exposure, sickness and slow starvs-
ton. Night-mooniess, starless tight,
had closed over that city of novels. Even
Washington, IN whom "hope shone like
a pillar OF lire when it had gone oct in
all other men," could not penetrate the
all-pervading darkness. It. was at this
time, when all human help seemed gone
that Mr.. Potts, at whose house he was