Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-31
ODD INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 N1s1ozx
THE BATTLE OF THE Kres. :.

The picturesque though farcial con- met Of the battle of the kegs, is one or the most amusing incidents in Ameri- can history. While the kegs were con- structed with a serious purpose their 1nefectiveness resulted in being one of the few of the humorous episodes of this serious conflict
 Early in January of ITS, when the British were occupying Philadelphia, there Were great many minor opera tions about the city, some of which were dlrected by the patriots against the Brit ish army and fleet stationed there. The shipping passed to and fro along the riv
 CT, and was frequently assailed at diff ferent point by the Americans, sometimes from the shore, and sometimes with boats and small crafts and the vessels in the harbor were a temptation t6 patriots and
 their ingenuity to invent means to de-
 stroy them.
 Finally David Bushnell, the inventor | of the American torpedo, as well as of | other submarine machinery, prepared a
 number of 'infernais," as the British
 termed them, and set them afoat in
 the Delaware river a number of miles above the city in order to annoy the
 royal shipping.
 The excitement began in the early
 morning of January 5. and became a
 subject of general alarm and consterna- ! tioh, ending in much merry-making
 among the American Wings and of yex-
 ation and disappointment on the part
 of the British. When the alarm of ex- plosion first occurred the whole city was set in commotion. Horns, drums and trumphets everywhere sounded to arms
 with appalling noise, and cavalry and horsemen dashed to and fro in gay con-
 fusion.
 The kegs which gave this dire aiarr
 were made in Bordentuwn. They were to be charged with powder and fitted with spring triggers, which would ex T plode them upon contact with a hart substance. One of these kegs go adrift and hoated to Philadelphia, ant , upon an. attempt to secure it by sev eral boys in a boat 1t exploded, kill
 ing and inturfng several of them.
 This put the British on the qui vive , and upon the appearance of othe kegs a few days afterwards they wer, mercilessly boAobarded until ever,
 head of every keg was beaten in Tn kegs themselves could not be seen, be ing under water, but the buoys tha loated them we're visible. It so hap pened, however, that at the very tim ; Con January 8, 177S) when the schem
 was set in operation, the British fear
 ing the making of ice had warped i
 their shipping to the wharves and s
 escaped much of the intended mischie Many were the stories that were cir 3 culated. Some of the British soldier asserted that the kegs were filled wit armed rebels and that they had see
 the points of their bayonets sticlzin n out of the bungholes. Others. that the s were filled with invetrate connbust e bles which would set the Delaware 1 I flames and consume all the shippinl n Others deemed them magic machine
 which would mount the wharves an n roll all faming.- into the city. Gre; n were the exers.ons of officers and me- d and incessant were the firipgs-so tn; not chip or stick escaped theig vigi Il anee.
 n Bushnell, the recognized command' I- of the ''battle of the kegs was
 Saybrook man, and his turtle" a sul
 marine vessel, was invented by him
 Yale college. He 1t was who tried 1T blow up the Cereberus frigate at Ne e London in ITS. His chief assistants d this farcial battle were Joseph Bolto " of Rhode Island and Ezra Lee. of Ne " York Francis Hopkinson, the Phil l. delphia poet, wrote an amusing sati j. on the incident, which was close pa 10 aphrase of an account of the affa Id which was published in the Burlingto y. N. J., Gazette on January il.
 l. (Tomorrow-Taking the First Census