Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-09-22
EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY.
COLCHESTER ON THE OCCoQUAN.
Continued
No d

No. q.
Our sketch OF Colchester would be
incomplete without more particular
allusion to the iron works Of John
BalIandine mentioned by the English
raveler Burnaby. The glowing fires
Of the furnaces which melted the ores
into cannon and shot for the continent
al army, long since ceased TO cast their
glare upon the hurrying waters OF tie
O.co guam. The din of the ponderous
hammers which beat and fashioned in
the early days the anchors and plow
shares has been silent hundred years,
,ut the ruins of the old works yet vis-
,le, the heaps OF Stag here and there
remainil g, the dried up sluiceways and
the almost obliterated wagon roads OF
other days are fraught with a.socia-
,ots which vvldIy call up to memory
+. hero OF FIVE wars whose sacrl i ees, pa
triutism and soldierly deeds our coun-
~ has been slow to properly appreciate
aud itlingly recogolze. When Din
widdie and Braddock snd Commodore
Keppel with their snowy retiuues aud
scorts passed through the town, apd
the rangers of Wagner marched away
as slready noted, this hero, not vt
twenty years of age, was filing the
umble roll OF teamsier in the employ
=. B llapdine, hauling ore to his fur
mace for few shillings day. HIS ad
venturous spirit caught the military
enthusiasm of the times. He left ore
and furnace and turned his horses
u ads up the Kings Highwey in the
direction OF the military encampments
It Alexandria W ere all was activity
and busy preparations for the expedl-
tion over the mountains. Hencetorth
fpr maoy years his hitherto prosslc life
vas 10 be ole of strange adventures,
more like the marvels OF romance than
the actual realities of history. In the
Inevitable course of his destiny
be was to be most c)n-
4plcuous actor and directing spirit
10 the momeDtous events and
Hicuus ances which called into being
.nd shaped the grand conditions of our
An e-ican republic.
Br. ddock's qusrtermaster need
ii wagoners to carry up the baggage
.nd supplies of the army. He joined
the expedition though not as an en-
lsted man, but as driver OF his own
team. And now we follow him in his
oilsome course over the newly opened
and rugged ways of the forests and
8 yamps, and through the bridgeless
,.r.ams OF the wilderness regioi; aud
re long we find him under the direc-
llon of a British subaltern iD charge of
the entire wagon train. And no one
could have been selected better Qusli-
tie for the difficult position for all his
boyhood occu 1atlon, first as farmer
in New Jersey, aud afterwards as
canister in Virginia, hauling merchsn-
disc from tidewater to the frontier
posts. or iron ore to the furnace Of Bal
iendine, had been Il ting preparation
for his responsible charge. Handy
With an axe, he could readily Tell II
rec; with his st.oug shoulder ne could
move mired wheel; with his ln!ultlve
<uowl, de of horses, he could coax
nem iuio drawing the laden wagon
trough TIE difficult places, aud his
g ,od Judgment and management In
pred the other teams!ers. 1t was
wren giving orders one day about the
na-.,ge over rocky road that he had
\ di.pute with British lieutenant,
who ln his rage struck him with his
sword. This was too much for our
,tripllng tesmster. He could not brook
ne officers insoleuce and so felled him
with his strong arm to the ground.
For this act of insubordiDativn he was
sentel ced by drumhesd courtmartial
20 be tied TO tree and receive on his
,.reback four hu, dred and pinety-nine
ashes. He submitted heroically and,
,s he afterwards related, counted every
lash. After the bArbsrity was finished
he flesh hung in strips from his back,
but he survived the ordeal, vowlng
that sooner or later he would have bis
vengeance on Royal George" sDd
truly be was as good as his word as the
sequel proved.
Ninety nine out hundred men taken
in the ordinary, with less OF fmorel cour'
aoe and honest conviction, would have
skunk away from their post in utter ao-
;eotness and modification at this humil
,atiug treatment and been heard of no
more Not so with our hero. He KEEP
faithfully on along the rugged lines he
had chos N and which were to lead TO
friumph and success. His manliness
and integrity won for him confidence
and respect. The insolent officer cam
70 him in remorse and contrltlon end
asked to be forgiven for having been
he cause of his 6endish treatment.
'rbe name of this military upstart nc
psee of history has handed down TO US.
4 marise6 oblivion covers it, while that
Of another officer, not one of those who
c,r,e over the seas with Brsddock be
d;zened with lace and tinsel, but one OF
The Virginia provincial line in blue apo
buff anu homespun, who very soo9 a.,
- ba1pinn hand OF