Willash

gerous by the enemies of the colonists, who sallied forth from the British posts at Detroit, Kaskaskia, and Vincennes, with Indian allies. Convinced of the necessity of possessing these posts, Clarke submitted the plan of an expedition against them, to the Virginia legislature, and early in the Spring of 1778, he was at the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville), with four companies of soldiers. There he was joined by Simon Kenton, another bold pioneer. He marched through the wilderness toward those important posts, and at the close of Summer all but Detroit were in his possession.

Clarke was now promoted to colonel, and was instructed to pacify the western tribes, if possible, and bring them into friendly relations with the Americans. While thus engaged, he was informed of the re-capture of Vincennes. With his usual energy, and followed by less than two hundred men, he traversed the drowned lands of Illinois, through deep morasses and snow-floods, in February, 1779; and on the 19th of that month, appeared before Vincennes. To the astonished garrison, it seemed as if those rough Kentuckians had dropped from

the clouds, for the whole country was inundated. The fort was speedily surrendered, and commander Hamilton (governor of Detroit), and several others, were sent to Virginia as prisoners. Colonel Clarke also captured a quantity of goods, under convoy from Detroit, valued at $50,000; and having sufficiently garrisoned Vincennes and the other posts, he proceeded to build Fort Jefferson, on the western bank of the Mississippi, below the Ohio.

When Arnold invaded Virginia, in 1781, Colonel Clarke joined the forces under the Baron Steuben, and performed signal service until the traitor had departed. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier, the same year, and went beyond the mountains again, hoping to organize an expedition against Detroit. His scheme failed, and, for awhile, Clarke was in command of a post at the Falls of the Ohio. In the Autumn of 1782, he penetrated the Indian country between the Ohio and the Lakes, with a thousand men, and chastised the tribes severely for their marauding excursions into Kentucky, and awed them into comparatively peaceful relations. For these deeds, John Randolph afterward called Clarke the "American Hannibal, who, by the reduction of those military posts in the wilderness, obtained the lakes for the northern boundary of our Union, at the peace in 1783." Clarke made Kentucky his future home; and during Washington's administration, when Genet, the French minister, attempted to organize a force in the West, against the Spaniards, Clarke accepted from him the commission of major-general in the armies of France. The project was abandoned, and the hero of the north-west never appeared in public life afterward. He died near Louisville, Kentucky, in February, 1818, at the age of sixty-six years.

THE

DAVID JONES.

HE ministers of the "church militant" frequently performed double service in the righteous cause of truth, during the War for Independence, for they had both spiritual and temporal enemies to contend with. Among these, the Rev. David Jones was one of the most faithful soldiers in both kinds of warfare. He was born in New Castle county, Delaware, on the 12th of May, 1736, and, as his name imports, was of Welsh descent. He was educated for the gospel ministry under the Rev. Isaac Eaton, at Hopewell, New Jersey, and for many years was pastor of the Upper (Baptist) Freehold church. Impressed with a desire to carry the gospel to the heathen of the wilderness, he proceeded to visit the Indians in the Ohio and Illinois country, in 1772. On his way down the Ohio river, he was accompanied by the brave George Rogers Clarke, whose valor gave the region, afterward known as the North-western Territory, to the struggling colonists, toward the close of the Revolution. Mr. Jones' mission was unsuccessful, and he returned to his charge at Freehold. Because of his zealous espousal of the republican cause, he became very obnoxious to the Tories, who were numerous in Monmouth county. Believing his life to be in danger, he left New Jersey, settled in Chester county, in Pennsylvania, and in the Spring of 1775, took charge of the Great Valley Baptist church. He soon afterward preached a sermon before Colonel Davie's regiment, on the occasion of a Continental Fast, which was published, and produced a salutary effect. It was entitled, Defensive War in a Just Cause, Sinless. In 1776, Mr. Jones was appointed chaplain to Colonel St. Clair's regiment, and proceeded with it to the Northern Department. He was on duty at Ticonderoga, when the British approached, after the defeat of Arnold on the Lake below, and there preached a characteristic sermon to the soldiers, which was afterward published. He served

JOHN EAGAR HOWARD.

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through two campaigns under General Gates, and was chaplain to General Wayne's brigade in the Autumn of 1777. He was with that officer at the Paoli Massacre, where he narrowly escaped death, but lived to make an address at the erection of a monument there, over the remains of his slaughtered comrades, forty years afterward. He was in the battles at Brandywine and Germantown, suffered at White Marsh and Valley Forge, and continued with Wayne in all his varied duties from the battle at Monmouth in June, 1778, until the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in October, 1781. Such was his activity as a soldier, that General Howe offered a reward for him, while the British held possession of Philadelphia; and on one occasion, a detachment of soldiers were sent to the Great Valley to capture him. At the close of the war, he returned to his farm, and resumed his ministerial labors.

When General Wayne took command of the army in the North-western Territory, in 1794, Mr. Jones was appointed his chaplain, and accompanied him to the field; and when, again, in 1812, a war between the United States and Great Britain commenced, the patriotic chaplain of the old conflict entered the army, and served under Generals Brown and Wilkinson, until the close of the contest. He was then seventy-six years of age. When peace came, he again put on the armor of the gospel, and continued his warfare with the enemy of souls until the last. His latest public act was the delivery of the dedicatory address on laying the corner-stone of the Paoli Monument, in 1817. On the 5th of Feb. ruary, 1820, this distinguished servant of God and of the Republic, died in peace, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in the Great Valley churchyard, in sight of the pleasant little village of Valley Forge.

MA

JOHN EAGAR HOWARD.

ARYLAND may boast of many lovely sons, but she cherishes the memory of none more warmly than that of John Eagar Howard. He was born in Baltimore county, on the 4th of June, 1752. He was a very young man when the War for Independence commenced, and entered eagerly into the plans of the republicans. He became a soldier in 1776, and commanded a company of militia in the service known as The Flying Camps, under General Hugh Mercer. In that capacity he served at White Plains, in the Autumn of that year; and when, in December, 1776, that corps was disbanded, he accepted the commission of major in one of the Continental battalions of his native State. Then commenced his useful military career. In the Spring of 1777, he joined the army under Washington, at Middlebrook, in New Jersey, but returned home in June, on account of the death of his father. He again joined the army, a few days after the battle on the Brandywine, in September; distinguished himself for cool courage in the engagement at Germantown; and afterward wrote a graphic account of the whole affair. He was also at the battle on the plains of Monmouth the following year; and in June, 1779, he was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel in the 5th Maryland regiment, "to take rank from the 11th day of May, 1778." In 1780, he went to the field of duty, in the South, when De Kalb

1. Near the Paoli Tavern, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, General Wayne was surprised a few nights after the battle on the Brandywine, by General Grey of the British army, and a large number of his command were slain. That event is known in history as the Paoli Massacre.

2. While reconnoitring alone one night, Chaplain Jones saw a dragoon dismount, and enter a house for refreshments. Mr. Jones boldly approached, seized the horseman's pistols, and going into the house, claimed the owner as his prisoner. The unarmed dragoon was compelled to obey his captor's orders, to mount and ride into the American camp. The event produced great merriment, and Wayne laughed immoderately at the idea of a British dragoon being captured by his chaplain.

marched thither with Maryland and Delaware troops, with the vain hope of aiding the besieged Lincoln, at Charleston. He served under Gates until after the disastrous battle near Camden, in August, and his corps formed a part of the Southern army, under General Greene, at the close of that year. In January following, he won unfading laurels by his skill and bravery at the Cowpens, under Morgan, and received a vote of thanks and a silver medal from Congress. At Guilford, a month afterward, he greatly distinguished himself when Greene and Cornwallis contended for the mastery. There he was wounded, returned home, and did not engage in active military services afterward. When peace came, the intrepid soldier was conquered by the charms of Margaret, daughter of Chief Justice Chew, around whose house, at Germantown, he had battled manfully, and they were married. He sought the pleasures of domestic life, but in the Autumn of 1788, he was drawn from his retirement, to fill the chair of chief magistrate of his native State. He held that office three years. In 1794, he declined the proffered commission of major-general of militia, and the following year he also declined the office of Secretary of War, to which President Washington invited him. He was then a member of the Maryland Senate; and in 1796, he was chosen to a seat in the Senate of the United States, where he served until 1803. Then he retired from public life forever; yet when, in 1814, the British made hostile demonstrations against Baltimore, the old veteran, unmindful of the weight of threescore years, prepared to take the field. The battle at North Point rendered such a step unnecessary, and he sat down in the midst of an affectionate family, to enjoy thirteen years more of his earthly pilgrimage. His wife was taken from him, by death, early in 1827; and on the 12th of October, of that year, he followed her to the spirit land, at the age of seventyfive years. Honor, wealth, and the ardent love of friends, were his lot in life; and few men ever went down to the grave more truly beloved and lamented, than John Eagar Howard.

AN

RICHARD BLAND.

MONG the galaxy of patriots who composed the real strength of the Virginia House of Burgesses, in 1774, no one was more beloved and reverenced, than Richard Bland, who was born early in the last century. He was a member of the colonial legislature of Virginia many years, and a leader of the popular branch, or House of Burgesses. Although a true republican, he was not prepared, at the moment, to stand by Patrick Henry in his denunciations of British tyranny, in 1765, yet he did not flinch, soon afterward, when duty demanded bold action. He was one of the committee to prepare a remonstrance with parliament, in 1768; and in 1773, he was one of the first general committee of correspondence, proposed by Dabney Carr. He was chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress in 1774, but declined the appointment the following year, because, as he said, he was " 'an old man, almost deprived of sight." Francis Lightfoot Lee, who signed the Declaration of Independence the following year, was appointed in his place; and three years afterward, the aged patriot went to his final rest. Mr. Wirt speaks of him as "one of the most enlightened men in the colony; a man of finished education, and of the most unbending habits of application. His perfect mastery of every fact connected with the settlement and progress of the colony, had given him the name of the Virginia Antiquary. He was a politician of the first class, a profound logician, and was also considered as the first writer in the colony."

ILLIONS for defence, but not one cent for tribute," were the noble words

French government, some unaccredited agents demanded a loan from the United States, as a prerequisite to a treaty which he had been sent to negotiate. That sentiment expressed the national standard of independent integrity, ever maintained in our intercourse with foreign nations. The author of it was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 25th of February, 1746. His father was chief justice of South Carolina, and held a high social position there. At the age of seven years Charles, with his brother Thomas, were taken to England by their father, to be educated. He was first at Westminster, then at Oxford, and when his collegiate course was completed, he studied law in the Temple. On his return to Charleston, in 1769, he commenced a successful professional career, and at the same time became an active participator in the popular movements against the imperial government. He had taken a part against the Stamp Act, in England, and he was a full-fledged patriot on his arrival home. When, in 1775, Christopher Gadsden became colonel of a regiment raised by the Provin

1. Jackson's instructions to foreign ministers were, "Ask nothing but what is right, and submit to nothing that is wrong."