The daily gazette., 1879-07-22
john H.ephe,soSJ J,rosnm,.sioa IN the

out iOO htbI w SoboiN''' ~ n
That regiment of 500 men was raised
before the Declarationzot Independence
and mustered on the Courthouse Green
al Dover, where 1t received the news the
day following the fourth of July, and
soon marched for New York. The quiet
meadows and freshes of the Delaware
had been but a few weeks out Of sight
when they were hemmed in with the rest
of SterliDg's brigade on the heights of
BROOKLYN and lost two officers and thirty
one men. The regiment was there COM
manded by Major. Thomas MtDonough, |
the father of the naval victor on Lake
Champlain. Its Colonel, John Uaslet of
Dover, an Irish doctor and minister, was
abseIit at that battle, but he had'onIy Q
little While to regret his want OF career.
lie died charging the British lines at
Princeton, January 3, 1777, andis buried
under a monument in the Presbyterian
ground at Dover, to which place his re-
mains We're removed by the Legislature
in lS4l. His son, Joseph IIasle', was
the only man Delaware has twic. made
governor. Cunning Bedford, lieutenant
colonel Of the regiment, was volunteer
and great fkv6fftexoe aF*shineton, who
a so had Military Secret ny, Tench
Tighman, from the Delaware peninsula.
The provisional Delaware regiment
was disbanded after the battle of Prince
ton, and the veteran Delaware regiment
was mustered in at the brink OF winter,
l77G, and thence forward recruited from
Delaware until the end of the war. Its
colonel was David Hall, lawyer OF
Lewes, who had been wounded at Ger
mantown. He was made governor Of
Delaware in 1902. Tho Lieutenant
Colonel, Charles Pope Smyri a, resign
ed in 1870. The Majors, J, seph Vaughan
of Bridgeville, and John Patten of Dover
both farmers, were taken prisoners at the
battle of Camden. Robert Kirkwood of
Newark, therefore became colonel, and
was the leading regular officer of Della
ware in tie Revolution. -7.
KIRKwooD. ....i..
His life is so bold and homely that,
even af er this long lapse Of time, 1t
touches the heat and the sympathies,
and gives a plaintiveness to the modest
farmerhood of Delaware.
L Having fought at Brooklyn and White
Plains, aud at Brandywine, Germantown
and Monmouth, he took command of the
iDelaware line as its senior captain when
lit was left mere fragment after the
slaughter at Camden, 1SS remaining out
of about 500. He led those men at Cow
PENS and on Greenes great retreat, also
a,Guilford and uobkirk's Hill and Eutaw
Springs. "The gallant Infantry of Della
ware" Greene frequently called them.
Tue regiment was moved to Sassafras
Driver, up the Chesapeake, marched TO
\ fChristiana Bridge and disbanded. "No
II 7 i,anr .axxf n apr,,x o n
"surpasscd it in soldiership hut as the
line of Delaware consisted of only one
regiment and that reduced to a captains
command, Kirkwood could never be pro
NOTED in regular routine" The veteran
subsidized 20 keep village store until thu
army of st. Clair was raised to subdut
the Indians of Ohio. There in the mas.
sacre of the army, the oldest captain O.
d the oldest regiments. lighting his thirty
third battle, fell dead, closing in modesty
an eventful but unrewarded life.
THE DELAWARE M'LANEs.
Delaware had two military battalion!
u ON home guard, "The Flying Camp,
a 1uhder Colonel Samuel Patterson, mil
l1er of Christiana, and The I'd Battalion
, commanded by Colonel Henry Neill o.
Appoqininimink. They were not engag
ed in battle. But its celebrated part
isan company commanded by Captaii
Allen McLane, attrac ed as much atten
tion as Mosby's command ia the Rebel
lion. 1t contained about thirty men a
anucleus, all of whom had to be Ticke'
and tried I " their nerve, strength O
| subtl,tv, a ID they ranked as foot sol
dlers, although generally "troopers.
McJ.ane was 81 years old when com
missioned by the United States, and hi
best work was performed while the Bri
tsh occupied Philadelphia, the Unitet
! States having then no regular cavalry
r except that which Pulaski, who liye'
awhile at Port Penn, Delaware, wher
!, his dwelling yet stands, was drilling q
= Valley Forge. McIane was attached IL
7 Lees legion of riders, but it seems tina
, his prowess gave him separate fame
J aud pictures were current in taverns an
, clubs after the Revolution of his indvid
: fual encounters. Once, at Shoemaker
. stown, roadside place, since adorned b.
8 Jay Cooke, the banker, he was ridini
I far ahead of his command with a couple
: of scouts behind him for the purpose G
: silently notifying him of danger, whe
e he heard the men cry, "Colonel, tn
:. British !" and they dropped away. Th
: British lined the road. Mcl.ane dashe
f to the woods, though his fine fires
f horse was wounded. He next rod
through p cset upon considerabl
force at a farm house, the picket sup
[ posing he meant TO surrender, but Ii
; swerved from the main body while a
: their musket's mouths, the cry rngin
: in his ears of "Surrender or die y 1
: number pursued him, but only two, wit
: unusual spirit, kept up the chase TN
weariedly, until their three horses wer
: exhausted and could only walk. Nj
4 Lane then sought an individual encour
q ter by slackening his pace at times an
i conversing with the pursuers. 'Sur
r. render, you - rebel, or We'll Gu
J, syou to pieces !" But when one, MOI
G hardy than the other, pushed his hoI S
r afresh and seized McLane by the co
It lar, the partisan, fired a bali througll hi
; heart, aud the Britishtrooper tumble
e dead III tile road.
v Almost at that moment he received
IS sword slash across the veins and tendon
IN Eof the back of the left hand from the SUI
X Fviving adventurer, and thus .wounde
4 Eprofiisely, assnearly' lifted ont of I'll
@ Saddle by the enemy's hand upon his co
n lar. Without flinching, and steady {
1t purpose as an exeeutiOneer, MeLane pu
n his second pistol. between the bray
e mans eyes and scattered his brains i
=