CHAPTER VII.

PRESBYTERIAN ZEAL AND SUFFERING.

THE zeal of Presbyterians during the war exposed them to special cruelties at the hands of the British soldiery. Among the foremost patriots of that day was the Rev. Jaines Caldwell, pastor of the Presbyterian church of Elizabethtown, N. J.

he may

"Descended from the Huguenots," writes the Rev. Dr. Sprague in his "Annals," "and imbibing the spirit of the Scotch Covenanters, he be said to have inherited a feeling of opposition to tyrants. Connected with his congregation were the Daytons, the Ogdens, Francis Barber, William Crane, Oliver Spencer, Elias Boudinot, William Livingston, Abram Clark, and others who became eminent for their wisdom, piety, valor and patriotism."

When the news of the passage of the Declaration of Independence reached the New Jersey brigade, of which he was chaplain, the men were called together, and Parson Caldwell gave this toast: "Harmony, honor and all prosperity to the free and independent United States of America; wise legislators, brave and victorious armies, both by sea and land, to the United States of America." His church was given up to be used as a hospital for the sick. Its bell sounded the alarm on the approach of the foe.

In an attack upon Springfield, when the wadding of the patriots gave out, Caldwell ran to the Presbyterian church; and returning with his arms and pockets filled with "Watts' Psalms and Hymns," he scattered them among the soldiers, exclaiming, "Now, boys, give them Watts!"

In vexation at his patriotism, British officers offered large rewards for his capture. Failing in this, the British soldiery set fire to his church and shot his wife through the win

dow of her own room in the midst of her nine children, dragged her bleeding corpse into the street and laid the house and other surrounding buildings in ashes. The following poem by Bret Harte tells the story:

"Here's the spot. Look around you. Above on the height Lay the Hessians encamped. By that church on the right Stood the gaunt Jersey farmers. And here ran a wall. You may dig anywhere, and you'll turn up a ball. Nothing more. Grasses spring, waters run, flowers blow Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago.

"Nothing more did I say? Stay one moment; you've heard Of Caldwell, the parson, who once preached the word Down at Springfield? What, no? Come, that's bad! Why, he had

All the Jerseys aflame.

And they gave him the name
Of the 'rebel high priest.' He stuck in their gorge,
For he loved the Lord God, and he hated King George.

"He had cause, you may say. When the Hessians that day
Marched up with Knyph usen, they stopped on the way
At the 'Farms,' where his wife, with a child in her arms,
Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew
But God and that one of the hireling crew

Who fired the shot. Enough! there she lay,

And Caldwell the chaplain, her husband, away.

"Did he preach? did he pray? Think of him as you stand By the old church to-day; think of him and that band

Of militant ploughboys. See the smoke and the heat
Of that reckless advance, of that straggling retreat!
Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in your view,
And what could you, what should you, what would you do?

Why, just what he did. They were left in the lurch

For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church, Broke the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out in the

road

With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw down his load
At their feet. Then above all the shouting and shots
Rang his voice: 'Put Watts into 'em! boys, give 'em Watts!'

"And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago.
You may dig anywhere, and you'll turn up a ball,
But not always a hero like this; and that's all."

Dr. Thomas Smyth writes: "The battles of the Cowpens, of King's Mountain, and also the severe skirmish known as Huck's Defeat, are celebrated as giving a turningpoint to the contests of the Revolution. General Morgan, who commanded at the Cowpens, was a Presbyterian elder. General Pickens, who made all the arrangements for the battle, was a Presbyterian elder, and nearly all under their command were Pres

byterians. In the battle of King's Mountain Colonel Campbell, Colonel James Williams, Colonel Cleaveland, Colonel Shelby and Colonel Sevier were all Presbyterian elders, and the body of their troops were from Presbyterian settlements. At Huck's Defeat, in York, Colonel Bratton and Major Dickson were both elders in the Presbyterian Church. Major Samuel Morrow, who was with Colonel Sumpter in four engagements and took part in many other engagements, was for about fifty years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church.

"It may also be mentioned that Marion, Huger and other distinguished men of Revolutionary memory were of Huguenot —that is, of full-blooded Presbyterian-descent."

On this point we find the following in the lamented Gillett's "History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States:"

"In initiating the Revolution and in sustaining the patriotic resistance of their coun