Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-02-22

mand.
1.-THE blue bunting on which was in
scribed in white the immortal words OF
the dying Lawrence, Never give up
the ship was run up to the masthead
of the Laurence, the ship occupied by
the Commodore, and as it was unfurled
it seemed to be a sigral for battle. The
hour was about noon, our usual time
for eating, but 10 man thought of hun
ger. Ordinarily while drilling, six,
and sometimes eight, men had been re-
quired to move the twenty-four pound
ers with which the CaledDnid was armed !;
now three of us could silly load and
fire our gun as often as ne man could
musket.
The sight of the banner at the Lar
rence's masthead nerved very man with
almost superhuman strength. Itseemed
to ME as if 1 had been transformed into
a tiger. Suddenly we saw the flag COM
ing down, and then our light faded -
our hearts went down with that flag.
Never shall forget the feelings l then
experienced. Though over half CEN
fury is gone,-though nearly seventy
years have rolled away since that day,
its scenes and the feelings then ex-
perienced are as vivid as my thoughts
of half-hour ago. thought the day
was lost, - that the glory we had
dreamed of was gone. 1 became reck-
less then; we all became reckless.
Though we fought desperately we
fought without a purpose. Soon we
saw row-boat, manned by six men,
leave the Laurence, and then, oh joy |!
we saw man rise up in that boat and
fling out the same old blue bunting. Our
spirits revived. We were again in
spired, for we knew that the officer
holding that bunting was our own be-
loved commander, and we knew there
fore that the day was not yet lost. We
saw the frail little bark making for the
Niagara, and soon after saw the old
flag climbing the Niagara masts l tell
you it would have done any patriotic
mans soul good to have heard the yell
that went up with that banner. We
fought then as though the fate of our
country were in balance, as if on the
issue Of this battle hung the salvation
of the world, as if our every individual
responsibility were national one.
"The Niagara crowded in between
the enemy's men-of-war's-men, and
vomited forth her broadsides. By the
order of Perry, the Caledonia closed up
nearer, and gave it to the impudent
British fresh from the mouths of her
twenty-four Founders. The whole line
followed her example. The effect was
terrible. The whole lake appeared to
be enveloped in flame and smoke, while
the air was full of flying iron and shat
tered timbers. 1t was a reception
which the British had not expected,
and his pride was soon conjured. One
by one the enemies jacks kissed the
deck, and one by one his guns became
silent, until just before o'clock-three
hours and forty minutes after the
struggle began-the last gun was fired,
and that gun was on the Caledonia,
and was manned by myself and
three others. and not by Stephen Chap
lain, as has been before stated. The
gun finished the battle, and finished its
work at the same time, for that last
shot at the British disabled her. At her
breech seam was made wide enough to
insert a case-knife. Discovering the
seam 1 called Capt. Turner's attention to
it, when he exclaimed, My God how
we have escaped; another shot and we
would have been blown to atoms 1 I
remember distinctly that this was the
last shot fred. / can recall all the cir
cumstances.
eve of the Caledonia felt very
proud, particularly proud when We
heard of the Commodore's mess: &c,
now of household familiarity, we aye
met the enemy, and they are ours, and
prouder still when we read that in
Perry's official report he would say. that
the Caledonia did more real damage
to the enemy than any other vessel,
and our Kentucky bosoms were almost
ready to burst when Col. Todd told us
that he heard Commodore Perry say to
Gen. Harrison, in speaking of the men
which the latter had sent him, that if
it had not been for those twenty men
sent him from Seneca he believed he
would have lost the battle.
Notwithstanding the fact that on
the deck of the Caledonia it would have
been hard, after the battle, to have
AOuhu q cPoo lal ScI tuuu b udu mana
not torn or damaged by the flying mis-
siles, I escaped without a scratch.
There were a good many dead and
wounded on the ship, however. The
dead privates were thrown into the lake,
the dead officers were carried ashore
and buried, and the wounded were all
tenderly cared for. Then we took
short trip over to Maiden, after which
we We're made again land-lubbers.
About this time our term of service
had expired, and we were marched
back to Washington, Mason county.
KY, and were there mustered out. In
honor of this occasion grand cham
payne supper was given. It was at
this supper that Capt. Graham, of the
regular army, proposed, I think for the
first time, the well-known toast. Here's
champagne to our real friends, and
real pain to our sham friends"
At the conclusion of the old gentle
mans interesting narrative he fell back
on his pillow exhausted. Soon after
he requested that some of his old relics
and souvenirs be brought out and ex-
hibited. Among them was gold medal
presented to Mr.. Norris in 1860 by the