Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-05-04
STEALING A GENERAL.
Story Of the Capture Of Pompous
Old General Prescott.

pOln6 VI bu0 DFlblS0 OnlC9fS VINO
served in the revolutionary war had a
very happy talent for making them
selves hated by the American people,
and few succeeded better In this than
Brigndier-G General Richard Prescott,
Commandant of Montreal in 1775. 1t
was his brutal treatment OF Ethan
Allen which first made him odious.
That popular hero, elated by his easy
capture Of Ticonderoga, and misled by
false information, attempted to take
Montreal by sudden dash with band
of thirty Americans and eighty Cana
dians. The Canadians promptly ran
away, and Colonel Allen soon found
himself prisoner OF war, face to face
with Gen raj Prescott, in the barrac,5
yard of the Montreal troops.
The two men presented a striking
contrast. Prescott, in his stiff regi-
mentals and sitter manners, an officer
Of the old school in every sense, saw
before him hgure as little like a mill
tary officer as he had ever seen in his
life. Allen was dressed in the hunting
shirt of the period, a loose, double
breasted-jacket OF deer-skin. His vest
and breeches we're OF coarse wooden
stuff, and he had on his head a red
wOrsted cap. In spite of appearances,
however, he was a commissioned officer
in the service of the United Colonies,
not yet independent States.
"Are you that Allen who took tt
conderogaP" asked General Prescott.
Il am the very man." replied Allen.
Upon hearing this, Prescott burst
into great fury, called him rebel,
and other opprobrious names. He also
raised his cane in a menacing way.
Upon seeing this, Allen shook his fist,
and said:
This is the beetle of mortality for
you, if you ofler to strike
"You shall brace halter at Tyburn," !"
replied the British General.
Nor was this an unmeaning threat at
that period, for it had not yet entered
into the British mind to regard the
American captives as prisoners OF war.
Aliens comrades were handcuffed to-
gether in pairs, and sent on board the
British transports anchored in the St.
Lawrence. Colonel Allen was chained
with leg-irons of thirty pounds weight
with a heavy bar appended to them,
eight feet long. The irons clasped his
ankles so tight that he could not lie
down except upon his back. In this
condition. he was placed in the hold Of
vessel, and conveyed to England,
where he was confined in Pendennis
Castle. in Cornwall, and treated with
a rigor extraordinary even for that
time.
1t was in September, 1875, when AL.
len was captured, Two months after.
Generals Prescott was himself taken
prisoner by the gallant Montgomery.
It happened that just before this pleas
ing event, General Washington had re.
ceived letter from Levi Allen, brother
of Ethan, inclosing affidavits proving
the cruelty TO which the hero Of Ticon.
deroga was subjected. and announcing
his project of going to Eng and, "rais-
ing mob in London" and so deliver
ing his brother from captivity.
Il bog your Excellency will countenance my
going; can muster more than one hundred
pounds, my own prop erty; shall regard spend
ing that no more than one copper. Your Ex
cellency must know that Allen was not only a
brother, but real friend, that sticketh closer
than bro her"
General Washington, OF course. dis
couraged this wild project but urged
upon Congress to treat General Pres
colt exactly as the British Government
were treating Colonel Ethan Allen.
Congress complied in part with this
suggestion. AS soon as Prescott reach.
ed Philadelphia he was placed in soil.
tary confinement in the Jail He was
not put in irons, and soon after. on the
plea of ill-health, he was released upon
parole. AS there were many tory fam.
flies then residing in Philadelphia, he
was made a British lion. Besides
lodging in the best hotel of the city,
he was frequently invited to dine with
families of distinction. which did moi
tend to diminish ths Odium in which be
was held.
In few weeks Prescott was ex-
changed, and was appointed soon after
to command the British'forces in Rhode
Island.
Colonel Allen. too. was delivered
from his shaekles and treated with an
approach to decency. He was ex-
changed, also, and returned to America,