Produced by David Widger                           MYTHS AND LEGENDS                                   OF                              OUR OWN LAND                                   By                           Charles M Skinner                                Vol 3                       ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARECONTENTSThe Phantom DragoonDelaware Water GapThe Phantom DrummerThe Missing Soldier of Valley ForgeThe Last Shot at GermantownA Blow in the DarkThe Torys ConversionLord Percys DreamSaved by the BibleParricide of the WissahickonThe Blacksmith at BrandywineFather and SonThe Envy of ManitouThe Last Revel in Printz HallThe Two RingsFlame Scalps of the ChartiersThe Consecration of WashingtonMarionON AND NEAR THE DELAWARETHE PHANTOM DRAGOONThe height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark Delaware iscalled Iron Hill because it is rich in hematite ore but about the timeof General Howes advance to the Brandywine it might well have won itsname because of the panoply of warthe sullen guns the flashing swordsand glistening bayonetsthat appeared among the British tents pitched onit After the redcoats had established camp here the American outpostswere advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at Welsh Tract ChurchOn his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown into great alarm by theappearance of a figure robed from head to foot in white that rode ahorse at a charging gait within ten feet of his face When guard wasrelieved the soldier begged that he might never be assigned to that postagain His nerves were strong in the presence of an enemy in thefleshbut an enemy out of the grave Ugh He would desert rather thanencounter that shape again His request was granted The sentry whosucceeded him was startled in the small hours by a rush of hoofs andthe flash of a pallid form He fired at it and thought that he heard thesound of a mocking laugh come backEvery night the phantom horseman made his rounds and several times thesentinels shot at him without effect the white horse and white ridershowing no annoyance at these assaults When it came the turn of asceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail hetook the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himselfHe looked well to the priming of his musket and at midnight withdrew outof the moonshine and waited with his gun resting on a fence It was notlong before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching and in spite ofhimself the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted figurethat might have represented Death on the pale horse came into view buthe jammed his hat down set his teeth and sighted his flintlock withdeliberation The rider was near when bang went the corporals musketand a white form was lying in the road a horse speeding into thedistance Scrambling over the fence the corporal reassured ran to theform and turned it over a British scout quite dead The daring fellowrelying on the superstitious fears of the rustics in his front had madea nightly ride as a ghost in order to keep the American outposts fromadvancing and also to guess from elevated points at the strength anddisposition of their troops He wore a cuirass of steel but that did notprotect his brain from the corporals bulletDELAWARE WATER GAPThe Indian name of this beautiful region Minisink the water is goneagrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind theBlue Ridge and that it burst its way through the hills at this pointSimilar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at MountHolyoke on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk and Runaway Pond New Hampshiregot its name by a like performance The aborigines whatever may be saidagainst them enjoyed natural beauty and their habitations were oftenmade in this delightful region their councils being attended by chiefTamanend or Tammany a Delaware whose wisdom and virtues were such asto raise him to the place of patron saint of America The notoriousTammany Society of New York is named for him When this chief became oldand feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain Pennsylvaniaand there he tried to kill himself by stabbing but failing in that heflung burning leaves over himself and so perished He was buried wherehe died It was a princess of his tribe that gave the name of LoversLeap to a cliff on Mount Tammany by leaping from it to her deathbecause her love for a young European was not reciprocatedThere is a silvermine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi theknowledge of its location having perished with the death of a reclusewho coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegaldollars going townward every winter to squander his earnings During theRevolution Oran the Hawk a Tory and renegade was vexatious to thepeople of Delaware Valley and a detachment of colonial troops was sentin pursuit of him They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up theslopes of Tammany though he checked their progress by rolling stonesamong them