Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-01
ITaE GREAT JEHOVAH. wAsHrNeroN ANn L.l .,1.r.1.

Our fellow citizen, Charles Peterson, sh sn | a lad of about fourteen, was with ths multi
 tude, introduced to him by Captain John | Miles and as the son of Frenchman mar
 ried to a New Haven lady. Lafayette, who was ever ready on an occasion, at once took | the hand of the boy in one of his and rest | ing the palm of the other on his head, saj jd
 'I am glad to know you, my little man, for | the son of Frenchman will always make 2 l good American We we'll remember Iafsv- 1 cite, especially his profile, with it's high re-
 treating forehead and long, straight, well | formed nose
 writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica l like many of his countrymen, rejoicing to l get slur upon the memory of any eminent
 Frenchman, especially upon one who had ! proved such griping, doubling-up pill to 1 John Bull as Lafayette, quotes Napoleon as having once said Lafayette is 8 fool" This l was not Napoleon's true estimate, for he wss l strong friend of his and highly valued him. It was only through his most psrsist, cut efforts that Lafayette, after years of suf- feripg in an Austrian prison, was flst.y Is- leased. That Napoleon may have SC spokep Is not improbable, as he was given to playful | irony akin to that which sometimes prompts
 some among us to smilingly say when speak- ing of one they may highly value, f'Oh, hes a goose !''
 When Lafayette visited New Haven ne was sixty seven years of age, and the revolution
 
 still he well remembered one of its old citi-
 zens who introduced him to his fellow citi-
 zens. He knew him because he had bee
 twice publicly thanked by Washington in Ias
 presence and that of the army for here SC.
 This citizen Captain John Miles -Early in the Revolution he had been enliSed here
 by Benedict Arnold with ten otber young men of our town for company or heavy artillery composed wholly ofNew England men, which did grand service through the entire war. This compapS by their efficient work were especially dreaded by the enemy On an occasion the British took them ma wares and charged feraeSy up to the mouths ot Her n,s d4te.ai,, sff an tne,E SPters 4 tnsft9s0 hS-A~ t0's77t usgae ensI1~'d- Fot an artilleryman Hiuched. Each man was armed with blunderbuss, 8 sword pistols and a long knife and all four vera used. The British fell in heaps around the guns they had sworn to capture, aud their comrades were driven back by the intrepid Miles and his heroes. This artillery company wRs g great dependence of Washington, wes always with him in every action, and the ceptu.s of its guns would have been sore misf 3rtu1e. For this defence Washington publicly lharksd Miles. The second occasion for his thu li was in this wise: When on the North at or near West Point vessel Rnohnre fs mid stream captured and then ses OF att by the enemy. Washington was greatly sN cited, 'tthe only occasion in which I eHer abr, him excited" /" said Miles in speaking of th. event, and he had been with him in all lis battles. And there was reason, for that sel contained valuable supplies of proEis and munitions, the loss of which would imperiled the safety of the army. Washi &, ton called aloud to those around, "A conn sion to any man who will swim to that vets and extinguish the fire y Thirteen stripped and plunged in and soon their hof 2. were targets for British sharpshooters c7- the opposite bank. The bullets fell sroult them on ths water like hail stones. The 1iIs was extinguished and the vessel saved, but only three of the thirteen returned. The other ten had sunk to watery graves Cap tain Miles was one of the three, but he al ready was an officer, and so was given 6 double commission. Miles went into ousi- ness after the war and lost all ReceivtDg in his old age 8 considerable sum bnok pen sion, he sought ont his old creditors Knd paid them in full Then he had small saC' left with which he bought humble home, a it. tie red cottage on Union street opI osile the market, where he lived as happy, Ls said, es heart could wish, owing no man and without e care or trouble in the world. This old hero died about the year 1884. ''V ag' sort of looking man was he ?" we asked our in formant. ''When knew him." he replied. ''he was bent with age, a short, st-1ngly- built man, with bald head and a rouHd. fGn face beGning with goodness. He afagi Gap tain Goffe Phipps, grandfather of o1r Sellow= and were inseparable, ever trudging around town together, two old friends, Damon ana Pythias like I was with him on his aesth- bed and saw him die. As he lay there 2a isls back awaiting his last roll call he raised botn hands as one in prayer and said, Now in 2 few moments the curtain will lift and shall see as I am soen.'"