Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-04-29

nay Commission and he let me pass. Al
that time C05hwaliis having learned that
the Pennsyiy. 1ia line had arrived at Cul
peper Court use, changed his route. Hi
first design WAS to burn Hunters Iror
! Works, aboy Falmouth, which were yer,
valuable. HJs information must have beer
very bad; the Pennsylvania line, as it was
called, had been disbanded for mutiny il
the north and again reunited, and did moi
humber moro than 600 or 700 men, com
manded by Gen. Wayne. Gen. Weedon,
at the same time, commanded small BODY
of militia nedr fredericksburg, from which
he had nothing to fear in his progress to
burn the iron-works He, however, began
to retire. when the Marquis re-crossed the
Rappahann0ck at the Raccoon Ford, and
by opening an old road, threw himself be-
tween CORVALLIS and our remaining stores
in the upper country, and followed Corn
wallis at respectful distance. The corps
Of Tarleton ann Simcoe, in the meantime,
rejoired him and he halted but one day on
the heights shove Goochland Court house,
when the. Marquis also retrograded and
placed the. army behind Mechinek's Creek,
I think they called it, in Fluvanna. Both
armies proceeded slowly to Richmond, and
at Westham found a corps, of which my
brother Robert, afterwards Governor of the
State, was volunteer. He was captured
by troop of Simcoe's regiment, command
ed by Capt. Soller. CORVALLIS kept on his
halted few miles below New Kent Court
house, where, on July 4th, the army was
reviewed and fired fen de joie. / was
attached to Gen. Lawson's brigade, and had
some opportunity to know the whole force
of tho ADnnrinan r. of
eight thousand militia, Stephens and Law
sons brigades; of one thousand light in
fantry, New England troops, brought on by
by the Marquis, (fne troops they were,)
the Pennsylvania line, as it was called, be-
tween six and seven hundred men, COM
manded by Gen. Wayne, with good train
of artillery; one thousand riflemen, under
Gen. Campbell, of Wang's Mountains, and
part Of the Virginia Continental troops
under Col. Febiger, a Dane; vidette
corps of dragons under Capt: Larkin
Smith; and single campany of Harrison's
regiment of artillery, to which belonged;
there we're some additional militia under
Maj. Willis. The British army was more
efficient; seven thousand infantry. who had
fought the battles of the south; Tarleton's
and Simcoe's full regiments of cavalry and
a train of artillery. These were all troops
that could not be driven out of field of
battle. The Marquis, in few days, marched
to the crossroads and the Burnt Ordinary,
sixteen miles from Williamsburg. The
skirmish at Hot-water by Col. Butler, of
the Pennsylvania line, and Maj. John Will
lis, with some Virginia militia, had occurred
a few days before. While the army lay on
this ground, CORVALLIS marched from Will
iamsburg to Green Spring or Jamestown.
The morning of that battle, Maj. George
Washington, an old school-mate, and an
aid to the Marquis, was at our quarters,
and was asked if the Marquis knew where
Lord CORVALLIS was, and whether he had
crossed the river? His reply was, that
Gen, Wayne had been sent on that morn
ing to find out where he was. Tarleton, in
his journal, says that one or two days before
he lad bribed white man and negro to
go out, and if they met with any American
to inform them that the
British army, except small portion of it,
had crossed the river. It was this negro
who fell in with Gen. Wayne, who, on his
report, marched down and attacked the
whole British army Tarleton is wrong in
supposing that the Marquis intended to
bring On general engagement; on the con-
trary, at ~ O'Clock, when he learned that
Wayne was in some danger, he ordered
Col. Galvon, who belonged to his light in
fantry, to run down with only one hundred
men to his relief, while he, with Capt. John
f. MERGERS troop of horse, who had lately
joined, and some militia and ridemen fol-
lowed to support him. The Marquis GER
tainly had no idea of a general battle, as
the rest of the army remained in their en-
campment the whole of one day. Gen.
Wayne brought on the battle; relying on
the intelligence of the negro, whom Tarle-
ton had bribed, for his troops suffered very
much. He, as Tarleton says, attacked the
whole British army, and got off only by
Cornwallis's supposing that general ac-
tion was intended by the Marquis, and tax
ing time to prepare for it. Wayne not only
lost his artillery, but had, think, eleven
officers badly wounded, whom l saw the
next morning in the hands of the surgeon
at the church in the rear of our encamp-
ment. think it is very certain the Marquis,
did Lord Cornwalis either. His object was
to cross the river and fall down to Ports
mouth, that he might send the re-enforce-
ments required of him by Gen. Clin-
ton, who apprehended an attack by Gen.
Washington and the Count ROcham-
beau, who was hourly expected to arrive
with the French troops from the West In
dies. cat Williamsburg, in 1924, on our
return from York, there came an old man
by the name of Powell, who had been the
Marquis's guide, after the army fell down
between the two rivers, James and York,
and he asked Gen. Lafayette if he remem-
bered the fine horse that was killed under
him at the battle of Green Spring? To
which the General replied, the horse was a
very fine one, given to him by dear Vir
ginia friend, who, I suppose, was Gen.
Nelson; but he was not killed under him.
He had a leg broken by six FOUNDER, and
he made his bowman cut his throat.)
l was born on the 27th of August, 1853,
at Smithfeld, the residence of our beloved
father, Richard Brooke, upon the Rappa-l
hammock, four miles below Fredericksburg.
Tradition says that it was called after Capt.
John Smith, but there is nothing in the
history of Virginia that sustains the sup
position that Capt. John Smith was ever
SO high up the Rappahannock. 1 think it
was called after Capt Lawrence Smith.
1t belonged to one Tanner, in England,
who authorized his agent to sell it, when it
was bought by my grandfather Taliaferro,
who then resided at Epson, the adjoining
estate, and he gave it to my mother, God
bless her."