Milford chronicle., 1930-10-24
REVOLUTIONARY
ANCESTORY OF
Blue HENS CHICKS
Significance OF State Legend And
Figures On State Seal.

Ra-ta-ta-tal Ra-ta-ta-tai Hear the
beat of the drums and the shrill of
the fife. Our men are going to war.
Our brave men in blue are going to
join General Washington and lick
the stuffing out of the British! WO-
men and children gather on the
streets to watch them go by. They
wave, they cheer, they laugh, they
cry! They have the spirit of '76 in
them and they will not keep their
men back. So Delaware goes to war
in 1775. They, who go for her, go
to bring back liberty and indepen-
dence, and they will fight until lib
erty and independence are obtained.
They are English. They have every
Englishman's right to freedom. Yet
England cannot see it, and her Col
Onies will have to teach her. Della
ware will be one of them. So her
men march on. heads high, to gain
their rights.
At night the soldiers sit around
the campfres. They tell stories and
sing. But the Delaware boys, now
far from home, are in camp gloom
lily wishing they had something to
do to pass away time. One of their
men comes toward them carrying
something that looks strangely ia
miliar in his hands.
What have you got, Bill?" asks
one.
Bill laughs and answers, Il
brought them from home. They're
the Blue Hens game cocks"
With hilarious shouts the soldiers
at once set them fighting. 1t is an
enjoyable amusement for them, and
laughing they urge the bluish-gray
chickens on. These chickens,
though they probably do not know
it, are historic figures now, and we
shall soon know why. The men who
had these fighting chickens were
headed by Jonathan Caldwell and
they became known as "Caldwells !
Fighting Game. Cocks" for as they
said, they would fight like the blue
chickens and refuse to be defeated
They took the two chickens with |
them and wherever else there were |
fighting cocks they made the two |
kinds fight. The blue chickens, off !
springs of Kent's blue hens, always .
won out and Caldwell's men kept |
their name. They themselves fought
like the game cocks. They fought .
to win. Indeed the Continental Con-
gress spoke of their bravery. But as
h. s-,as
Game Cocks" was changed, and the
men became known as the BLUE
Hens Chickens" Caldwell's men
were not the only ones to hold that
name and when. the Delaware regi-
ment came home it retained the
name. The blue Hens Chickens"
had won their liberty and independ-
ence.
But what about posterity? The
answer to this of course is our seal.
Although it does not have the Blue
Hen and her chickens on it now, the
words liberty and independence are
on it and that is all that is neces-
sary. Around these words is a veil
of memory and CaldWell's Blue
Hens Chickens are part of it. The
rest of the seal is significant also.
On the left of the crown stands a
man with hoe, on the right a man
with a musket. Above the crown is
a ship in full sail signifying both
commerce and shipbuilding. Inside
the crown there is a sheaf of wheat
and ear of Indian corn. Below it and
divided from it by a river is an OK.
These figures represent farming and
cattle raising. Under this seal in
majestic letters are the words lib
erty and independence which need
no explaining. This seal and all it
signifies have been given us by our
Revolutionary ancestors who were
the first to bear the name of the
Blue Hens Chickens" and we
should feel honOred that God lets us
live in the times of liberty and in
dependence for which our forefath-
ers lived, fought, and died.
Alice Breme