The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-07-25

III lag Suddenly, as though by magic
J summoned, the whole street was
filed with men, marching silently
and swiftly with moccasined feet, their rae
coon caps pushed back, the green thrums toss
ing on sleeve and thigh"
The boy rubbed his eyes He must be dream
ing! And yet
ION they came rank on rank, like brown deer
herding through a rock run; and on the hunt
ing-shirts, lettered in white across each breast
appeared the words: Liberty or Deathr"
Spen-bound, the boy continued to watch that
torrent Of dusty rifemen passing without
break" In another moment they were gone
their long Looping stride had carried them through
the village and out of sight around the bend Of
the road which led to Cambridge. But in the
years TO come when that boy became a grand
father, he would tell his grandchildren: "Yes, I
saw the riiemen as they marched north TO help
George Washington drive General Gage and his
Briushers out Of BostOn-town."
On June II, 1775, the Second Continental con-
gress passed a resolution that six companies Of
expert rifemen be Immediately raised In the
Colony Of Pennsylvania, two in the Colony Of
Maryland and two in the Colony Of Virginia. and
that each company as soon as completed shall
march 10 join the army near Boston 10 be there
employed as light infantry under the command
of the chief officer of that army" Pennsyl-
Vanla'S response was lmmedlate ana generous.
She raised nine companies instead Of six and
by the middle of July her rifemen were on the
march. BY the end of that month two of the
companies had reached Cambridge and by the
middle Of August the entire Battalion of Rife
men," commanded by Col William Thompson,
Lieut.. Col. Edward Hand, Mai. Robert Magaw
and Captains John Lowdon, Michael Doudel,
George Nagel Abraham Miller, Robert Cluggage.
James Chambers William Hendricks, James Ross
ton and had become the Second Regiment Of
the Army of the United States"
Swift as had been the northward march of
the Pennsylvania frontiersmen, they found, upon
their arrival, that the rfemen Of Virginia and
Maryland had been no less prompt in answering
the call of congress. Among the first of the
sharpshooting gentry 10 reach the scene Of action
was a company from Frederick county, Virginia,
commanded by a stalwart fellow whose leader
ship Of these men who bore the long rife would
make him forever famous He was Daniel Morgan
Within ten days after receiving his commits
sion, Morgan had raised company of 90 Fred
erick county men, many of whom had served
with him in the Dunmore war. On July IA, 1175,
he started north from Winchester. His march
ing orders. according TO tradition the laconic
and alliterative command: "a Decline for Bos-
ton, boys!" Within q days he covered the dis
lance of 600 miles, an average Of nearly 80 miles
q day, without losing single man through sick
ness or desertion.
The achievement of Morgan and his 90 men,"
says Nickerson in his book 1.-The Turning Point
of the Revolution" "can be paralleled only by
that Of the five hundred men of Marseilles who
in July, 1892, marched 500 miles from the torrid
Mediterranean 10 Paris, dragging with them two
little cannon, at the rate of IS miles day, and
arrived like Morgans company without losing
a man third example of rapid and spontane-
GUS organization combined with such astonish-
ing endurance would be hard TO find"
When the Frederick county riiemen reached
Cambridge, there occurred a dramatic incident
IN which there touch of pathos as well.
For these Virginians from the beautiful Shen-
andoah valley and the wooded slopes of the Blue
Ridge mountains were George Washingtons
neighbors Their coming gave that harassed COM
mander one of his few bright moments at time
when the petty chickering's and intrigues of inter-
colonial jealousy were making his task of build
ing an army seem well-nigh impossible.
Seeing the dust-covered ri1emen file into camp,
the commander-in-chief refined in his horse and
asked whence they came. Their leader answered
with words that must have been music TO Wash
iDgtons ears.
From the right bank Of the Potomac, sir!"
said Daniel Morgan and Washington was so