The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-06-06
president Wi1son@-Mo1rz1ted

ne new Dack TO MS place or peril, ana
held it until the close of the contest.
At the battle of Corinth the Confed-
crate general, Price, discovered him
and ordered his men to take him if
they could not kill him, adding that
he would rather capture that bird
than the whole brigade"
It is of "Old Abe's" conduct at this
same battle Of Corinth that another
historian writes: "The regiment is In
Mowers brigade and old Abe is on
his perch, looking out over the scene.
Cannon are laundering around him;
there are long rolls Of musketry; the
air is thick with bullets. From the
flank comes a fearful volley. enfilading
the line, cutting down scores Of men,
and severing the cord which holds old
Abe to the staff. He flaps his wings.
rises above the two armies, circles out
over the Confederates, then back again
to his friends and lights once more Oh
his perch. The regiment is in retreat.
and Old Abe goes with it. to be in
score of battles and to come out of
them all unframed"
Almost as renowned as "Old Abe" of
the Civil war in our national tradition
is game cock which enjoyed brief
moment of fame during the War of
1872. in 1914 Lieut.. Thomas Mac
Donough was placed in charge of
small American fleet on Lake Cham
plain to resist strong British feet
which was moving down the lake to
attack northern New York. On the
morning of September IL the British
attacked the Americans in Pittsburgh
bay. At the beginning Commodore
Downie, the British commander, on
his flagship. the Confiance, attempted to
break the American line but was met
by devastating fire from the Sara
toga, MacDonough's flagship.
Thereupon the battle resolved itself
into a sort of duel between the two
fagships, both Of which dropped an
Choir and at distance of $50 yards
from each other prepared to 'shoot it
out" The first broadside from tho
Confiance, which had heavier guns
than the Saratoga, all but wrecked
the American vessel. But it did some
thing else. According to one of our
school histories "At the first broadside
fired by the enemy, a young game cock
kept as a pet on board MacDonough's
ship. the Saratoga, flew up upon u
gun; Tapping his wings. he gave
crow of defiance that rang like the
blast of trumpet. Swinging their
hats, MacDonough's men cheered the
plucky bird again and again. He had
foretold victory. That was enough.
They went into the fight with such
ardor. and managed their vessels with
such skill that in less than three hours
all of the British ships that had not
hauled down their flags were scudding
to place of safety as rapidly as pos
sible."
Cyrus Townsend Brady gives
slightly less theatrical version of the
incident. He says ut has been fondly
noted by various writer's that the first
terrible broadside of the Confiance
smashed a chicken coop on one Of the
American vessels, thus liberating a
game cock, which sprang into the rig
ging and with lusty growing encour-
aged the cheering crews. Inasmuch as
nearly every writer puts the chicken
in a different ship, it is safe to con-
clude that there must have been one
chicken there, and the incident prob
ably did occur At any rate. if it was
an American chicken, it would certain
ly crow upon being made free"
Before the battle began "MacDon-
ough babe his waiting crews to prayer.
There at their stations with bowed
heads they knelt down upon the white
decks. soon to be stained with their
own blood, while with his own lips, in
the familiar words of the Book of
Common Prayer. the young comman-
der invoked the protection of the God
of Battles for the coming conllict-a
rare and memorable scene indeed"
Spears, the naval historian, in COM
menting upon these two incidents,
says, with all due respect to religion,
that for the purpose of rousing the
seamen rooster in the rigging is
worth more than dozen prayers on
the quarter deck"