The Coolidge examiner., 1935-07-26
The Rifemen of the Revolution
THE VIRGINIA AND
MARYLAND COMPANIES
~ ELMO SCOTT WATSON

HF1 Ing leo years ago a boy awoke and
lEl IL looked OUT from the window 81 his
Sl - home IN a littie Massachusetts, vii
e. = lare. And this Is what he saw:
III Suddenly. as though BY magic
ESEI summoned. the whole street was
Allied with men. marching silently
and swiftly. with moccasined feet. their rae
coon caps pushed hack. the green thrums toss
Ing on Sleeve and thigh"
The boy rubbed his eyes lie must be dream
irE And yet
~On they came. rank on rank. Ike brown deer
hsrding through n rock run and the hunt
ins shirts. leJiered IN white across each breast
appeared the words: Liberty or Deathr~
SpeIlbound the boy continued 20 watch that
torrent of dusty riaemen passing without
break In another moment they wcre gone
their long Looping stride had carried them through
the village and out Of sight around the bend az
the road which led 20 Cambridge. Bot In the
years 20 come. when that boy became grand
father. be would ten his grandchildren: Yes ]
saw the rihemen as they marched north to help
Ceo-re Washington drive General Gage aud bis
Briushers out OF Bos,on-town."
on June Il. l775 the Second Continental con
rress passed a resolution that six companies Of
expert riaemen be Immediately raised IN the
Colony % Pennsylvania. two In the Colony of
that each company soon completed shall
march 20 ioin the army near Boston. 70 b. there
employed as light infantry under the command
of the chief officer Of that army pennsyl
vanas response was immediate and generous
She raised nine companies instead % sir and
by the middle Of July her rlhemen were on the
march By the end of that month two Of the
companies bad reached Cambridge and BY the
middle % August the entire battalion os Rife
men." commanded By Col William Thompson
Lieut.. Col Edward Hand. Mai Robert MAEaw
and Captains John Lowdon. Michael Dondel
George NaEei. Abraham Miller. Robert Ciuggage
James Chambers. william Hendricks. James Ross
aud Matthew Smith. had reported TO Washing.
tna and had become the Second Regiment OF
the Army of the United states"
Swift as had been the northward march o,
the Pennsylvania frontiersmen they found. upon
their arrival. that the rliemen OF Virginia and
Maryland bad been no less prompt In answering
the call Of congress. Among the FIRST of the
sharpshootinE gentry 10 reach the scene Of action
q company from Frederick county. Virginia
commanded by n sialwart fellow whose leader
ship OF these men who bore the long rife would
make him forever famous lie was Daniel Morgan.
Within two years he had become an ensign
in the Virginia militia and during the Pontiac
uprising % l1t3 he rose 20 a captalncy. Al the
outbreak Of Dunmores war IN iT7s he was one
o. the arSt 90 lead company OF frontier militia
against the Indians
Within ten days after receiving his commits.
sion. Morgan had raised company OF &C Fred-
eTick county men. many OF whom had served
with him In the Dunmore on July L. lT75.
he started north from Winchester His march.
.nE orders. according to tradition. the laconic
and alliteratiye command: "A beellne for Bos-
ton. boys within Il days he covered the dis
iaace of co miles. an average of nearly ~ miles
Cess or desertion
The achievement Of Morgan and his a5 men,"
says Nickerson in hls book. The Turning Point
Of the Revolution" "ean be paralleled only by
that 81 the nve hundred men OF MarsellleS who
In July. i7ye. marched 500 miles from the torrid