Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1929-12-27
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In 1774 he was made one of the
provincial deputies and he was also
member Of the Pennsylvania conven-
ton held at Philadelphia to discuss
the impending trouble between the
colonies and the mother country. But
Anthony Wayne was a man of action,
not merely man of words, and New
Years day of 1776 found him at his
home, Waynesborough, impatiently
awaiting word from Philadelphia,
where the Pennsylvania committee Of
safety was about to choose the col
onels for the four battalions, which
were to be sent to the aid of General
Washington and his Continentals be-
fore Boston. Unable to. restrain his
impotence, Wayne, two days later,
babe his Polly and their children q
hasty good-by and set out for Phila-
delphia, there to learn that he had
been appointed colonel Of the first bat
TALON.
So the military career of Anthony
Wayne began and how brilliant that
career was is told in one of the most
interesting biographies Of recent
months-Thomas Boyd's Mad An.
thony Wayne" published by Charles
Scribners' Sons. No better -charac-
ization Of Wayne can be given than
In the scene, as Boyd describes it.
which took place after the long, bit
ter winter at Valley Forge when
Washington summoned his generals to
a council to decide whether or not to
allow the British, who were preparing
to leave Philadelphia for New York.
to pass across New Jersey unmolested.
Gen. Charles Lee spoke longest and
loudest and his advice was to let the
British alone. Then:
Anthony Wayne had sat apart, hold
ing a book beyond which he had
looked with bright-eyed scorn as ten
Of his fellow officers had agreed with
Charles Lee He raised his head.
"weIl, general" asked his Excel
lency. what do you propose to dog"
Wayne answered quickly. Flight.
sir"
But that reply could scarcely have
surprised the commander-in-chief or
any of the others. For when hadn't
the leader of the Pennsylvania line
voted In favor of attack? At Brandy.
wine? At Germantown? At White
Marsh last November? Never. At
tack, attack! 1t was the only word
he knew.
And those two words 'attack" and
flight" were the keynotes of his whole
career, both in the Revolution and dur.
ing the Indian war afterwards. 1t
would have been appropriate If he
could have died on the field of battle.
Instead, he was stricken by illness in
December Of 1885 at the fort at
Presque isle on the shores of Lake
Erie, and there after great suffering
the end came on December 10.
The third member Of the trilogy OF
Revolutionary notables who had New
Years day as their birthday was q
woman. Born on January 1, 1852.
Elizabeth Griscom of Philadelphia.
was married to John Ross. Philadel-
phia merchant, who was also an up
holsterer. His most able assistant
was his wife who had become widely
known for her excellent materials and
the unusual skill with which she
shaped them.
Among her patrons we're the fore
most citizens of Philadelphia and she
numbered among her friends such men
as Washington, Franklin, Adams and
Rittenhouse. So perhaps 1t was nat,
ural that when the Continental con
gress on June Ia, 1777, "Resolved. that
the flag of the thirteen United States
be thirteen stripes alternate red and
white; that the Union be thirteen
stars, white on blue field. represent.
Ing q new constellation" the commit.
tee which was appointed to carry out
this resolution should go to "the wild
ow Ross" to have her make 1t for
them. Whether or not Betsy Ross de
signed the first Stars and Stripes or
whether that honor belongs to Fran
els Hopkinson of New Jersey Is q mat
ter for dispute among historians. AT
any rate Betsy Ross seems to have
been connected in some way with thu
early history Of our national banner
and the "Betsy Ross legend" II legend
1t be. seems to he firmly fixed in our
national tradition of the origin Of our
flag.
There is one event connected with