The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-05
COL. SAMUEL BREWERS RECT.
Their Service. in the Field-Rolls of
Names Gallant Sons.
NUMBER TWO.

NUMBER TWO.
Col. Brewers 18th Mass. Regt., when
it entered active service, in the spring of
1777, became part of the army at Fort
Ticonderoga, under the command of Gen.
Arthur St. Clair. On June 9th Capt.
James Donnells Company went to mann
the fleet on Lake George. July 2, the
regiment was engaged for an hour and a
half with the enemy and drove them back.
On the morning of July 18th the British
forced the garrison to abandon Fort
Ticonderoga, obliging them to beat a
hasty retreat to save the army. The
Americans lost many stores, and the
effect, at the time, was very depressing to
the colouists. This regiment retreated to
Rutland, VT, then to Fort Edward; the
thirtieth to Fort Miller, and then to the
Ferry above Saratoga. On Avg. LIST, they
marched to Saratoga and encamped, and
the fifteenth, proceeded to Van Shack S
Island at the mouth of the Mohawk river,
arriving the next day. Here they re-
manned until Septemb her Sth, when they
marched to Saltwater, where the regi-
nent was engaged in the stubborn
fought battle of the nineteenth. The
gallant nine hundred Americans had
checked the advance of Burgoyne's army
at Hubbardton, on July 7th and both
armies had been getting ready for active
operations. Both were anxious to again
me ct on the battlefield, and the battle OF
Saltwater was the result of that feeling.
The Americans gained more confidence. in
that conflict, and forced the British to
respect and fear their presence.
Brewers Regiment remained at Still
water until the decisive battle of Sara
toga, Oct. Z, in which they took an active
part, and shared in its glory, but lost
several men. On the tenth, they started
in pursuit of the British army and wit
messed the crowning event of that cam
paign, the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne' s
army, Oct. 18th. They saw the proud
British regulars lay down their arms
men who but a short time before had
referred to them ass Yankee peasants" A
British soldier wrote
1--WE can stand no more chance among
Than to throw an old cat into Bedlam
without claws"
On Oct. IS. the regiment marched to
Albany to check the advance of Clinton
and his army up the Hudson river, at
which place they embarked on transports
and landed at Kings Ferry, in the night
of Nov. 18th, where they encamped. Two
days after, the army marched into New
r.. L., n off of
Plympton. The seventeenth, they marched
through Morristown, and crossed the
Delaware at Carell's Ferry, 80 miles above
Philadelphia, the twentieth. Two days
later Brewers regiment arrived at the
headquarters Of Washington's army, at
Whitemarsh, Il miles north OF Philadel-
phia.
ment was in sight OF the British army
and was often engaged in skirmishing.
On the seventh they were under arms all
day, also the next day. The British re-
treated to Philadelphia the eighth, and on
the nineteenth our regiment marched to
Valley Forge and commenced preparation
to go into winter quarters. Here james
Dempsey, of Capt. Donnell's company,
brokeshis arm in telling a tree. On the
twentieth they had little to. eat and it
was the same the next day. The Thrift
eth, the Sohuylkill river froZe over and
the soldiers were enabled to cross on the
ice Then commenced the building OF
those historic log huts, in which the men
froze and starved through what has al
ways seemed, to the people of this coun-
try, the coolest winter in our history.
The soldiers shivered by scnnty campfres
built of wood drawn by themselves to
camp, mile or more, on sleds OF their
own construction, into which they had
harnesSed themselves as beasts OF burden.
Often they would sit by the fires all night
long because they feared that if they lay
down they would freeze to death before
morning The men were COVERED with
but battered clothing and many were
Obliged to keep their feet tied up In rags,
as they had no shoes. Sometimes the
companies would not have more than two
pairs Of shoes among all the soldiers, and
they could be tracked by the blood on the
snow from their bleeding feet. Here the
officers signed the oaths OF allegiance to
their country and the thousands OF brave
and heroic soldiers exhibited fortltude
a1d constancy that will always be the sd-
miration of every true American.
What think We, who sit in security by
your comfortable firesides protected by II
grand government founded ON those
PATRIOTS misery, can II monument be
built too high, on that camp ground, to
commemorate the patriotism and virtues
of the suffering and bleeding soldiers of
Valley Forge?
q Col. Brewers regimentssmoved out of
the log huts into tents, June ~, and the
nineteenth crossed the Schuylkill river
and encamped These soldiers fought i'll
the battle Of Monmouth that hot sultry
Sunday, June IS, i77s and suffered with
the rest of the army. The heat was nearly
as fatal to the soldiers as the British bull
let's. This was the last battle in the north
during the war and it was here that Gen.
Washington rode onto the field in time
to save Gnn. Chas. Lees defeated army
and changed disaster into almost de-
cisive victory.
After Monmouth, the regiment marched
with the army to Kings Ferry, crossed
the Hudson river July Il, and the next
day encamped at Peekskill. On the eigh
tenth they were mustered at White
Plains.
August Ii, Brewers regiment marched
with the army under Gen. Gates to Dan.
bury, Conn to protect the stores collected