The Cecil Whig., 1877-02-03

appointed To cooperate Will DIm ltlieu tu
doso. He had passed in secrecy and safety,
breast deep in the water, to and from his
object, aud between IA line of British gal
leys, the Sentinels of which continued to
cry, "All's WELL during his whole pro
gresS, and in full hearing of his troops
\ second attempt of Rudulph was more
successful, and was made upon one of the
galleys which had been stationed in Ash,
ley river, and sufficiently remote from the
Charleston garrison to encourage the plan
of attempting her capture. Disgusting
himself in the garb and manners of coun-
tryman. and coloring and clothing four of
his best soldiers as negroes, he procured
one of those common market boats with
which the negroes Were i'll the habit OF
passing the galley with provisions for the
Charleston garrison. These with a small
stock of poultry aud provisions were placed
conspicuously in his boat. in the bottom Of
which was concealed a small body of armed
soldiers. Hailed by the galley, as he was
about to pass, Rudulph drew nigh, and
showing his chickens, he and his disguised
negroes grappled her and leaping aboard
with his followers, killed the guard and all
who offered any opposition. Some of the
British escaped to the river, but the galley
with her captain and twenty eight sail
ors were captured. \ few days after this
event fighting hand to hand, he dismounted
and made prisoner of the most daring of
the Warh drag0oHs employed in the British
service.
Between the date i1S2, when South Caro-
lima and Georgia were relieved of their Brit
ish foes, and the date of the reorganization
Of the army under Wayne, for the defense
of the western territory against the Indians
in 1893 we are without intelligence in re-
Spect to Rudulph's S emplOymentS or abode.
II is, however, more than likely he settled
in Georgia and there married. 1t is not
certain that he ever returned to Maryland,
but that he married is true. We iiud him,
however, in the army of Wayne on the
Western frontiers. That Wayne, who knew
his value, particularly in such warfare as
he was about to wage with the Indians,
should have sought his services, is not i'm
probable.
The success OF Wayne in retrieving the
failure of ST. Clair and visiting the Indians
with deserved punishment, is too well known
to render any details, particularly as we can
offer none of moment in relation to Ru-
duiph. We know, however, that he was i'll
command of the cavalry under Wayne, and
that he served with distinguished reputa-
tion, in so many words. he was again con
sidercd the very first officer Of his rank in
the American army. Spirit and stratagem.
great promptiiude and readiness Of resource
were his characteristics We are told in
general terms, as decidedly in the Indian
rs in the British war. But we are also
told that he quarreled with Wayne and re-
signed his commission How long lie re-
Great Britain. and before resuming his
military career under Wayne, when and
where he married, and whether before Join
ing or subsequent to his separation from the
western army, are questions unanswered
The next tidings of Rndulph, though
uncertain, describes him as returning home
after the absence of year, and stopping
for might at a brothers Iebulon at Elk.
ton, Md. Here he listens to a domestic
revelation of the most cruel aud humiliat-
ing character, of such sort indeed as to
determine him not again to return to his
family Jnor did he ever again. True to
his resolve, with the dawn OF the ensuing
day, he disappears from the dwelling of
his blother without taking leave. And the
next we hear of him is as an adventuser
about to sail from the Chesapeake with IA
cargo of tobacco, in a small vessel, aud
destined nominaily for ST. Domingo or
FIance. For some time nothing more is
heard from him. Clouds and darkness and
storm came over his course, and that of
France and her colonies The wild pillows
of the reign Of terror are beginning to
roll over the clearer pathway of civilIza-
ton. At this moment and the last glcam
across the career of Rudulph Is afforded US
10y the venerable Mr.. Spalding, of &c lgia,
whose uncle, Major Lachlin Mcintosh, of
Revolutionary memory, who was 4 bosom
friend of RudulphS, and in whose company
young Spalding first beheld and learned to
know and admire the youthful hero, who
was even then pronounced the bravest of
the brave among his American comrades.
He tells US that Rudulph wrote to Mcintosh
Il letter full of the French revolutionary
fire, full Of enthusiasm for the rights of
man in Europe, the object of which WAS to
persuade the latter to seek for fame in revo-
iutionary France. Mcintosh did not adopt
the counsel, and here the correspondence of
i,udulph ends. The clues are cut at this
point. The connecting of this brave young
American. equally with his history and his
country, ceases from tins moment Dad
his vessel 90 down at sea, or did he rise
with the biiiowS of the revolution of France !?
Was he one of the master spirits, OF one of
the victims of that era of equal storm and
caprice? But with the moment of Michael
Ruduiph'S disappearance We have the rise
Of Michael Ney, a man distinguished for the
very qualities in which peculiarly marked
the genius of Rudulph-a man without
much education, but with rare talents and
| force of character. bravest among brave
and exquisitely skilled in strata9em. Mi
| chael is not very ordinary name, and Ncy
/ is almost no name at ali, \ man mortified
in his pride and his affections. and going
/ into voluntary exile, might well assume for
/ a name a negative such as this. But here
we are told of the Ney family. lie is a
| peasant of Alsace, says Headly, Us if this
were, in any way, a conclusive matter. As
| if biography were at all difficult TO be got
up by one who, from nothing, had risen 10
! be chief Of armies and Prince of Mo>kowa.
! The American adventurer, above all 9TH
&Michael RuduIph married a Miss Baker,
of Savannah, Georgia, by whom he had
four chidren-Matilda, Eliza, Mike and
Amelia. After the Revolutionary War he
left his daughter Matilda, who was afflicted
with ST Wins 5 dance and an old ne. rO tQ