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aujoined, and now constitutes a part of the city of Baltimore. The Eagers came from England, probably soon after

the charter to Lord Baltimore; but the records afford little informa tion prior to 1658, when the estate near Baltimore was purchased. During the interval of a century that elapsed between the emigration of these early settlers and the revolution, the ancestors of Colonel HOWARD appear to have pursued the quiet occupation of cultivating their farms, without participating in the political concerns of the colony. At least, no traces can now be discovered of their activity. JOHN EAGER HOWARD, not educated for any particular profession, was induced to take up arms by the circumstances of his country. Upon his expressing a desire to take a part in the approaching struggle, one of the committee of safety offered to procure for him the commission of colonel; but he expressed his distrust of being able to perform the duties appertaining to so high a rank, and preferred the humbler station of a captain. Such a commission was accordingly obtained, in one of those bodies of militia termed flying camps, in the regiment commanded by Colonel J. Carvil Hall. The commission was made dependant upon his ability to recruit thirty

men.

Such was the esteem in which Captain HowARD was held in his neighborhood, that he enlisted a company in two days, and marched immediately to join the army. He was present at the battle of White Plains, and continued to serve until December, 1776, when his corps was dismissed. In the preceding September, congress had wisely resolved to raise eighty-eight battalions to serve during the war, the officers of which were to be commissioned by congress ; and in the organization of the number allotted to Maryland, Captain HOWARD was requested to accept the situation of major. The winter of 1776-7 was industriously devoted to raising troops upon the continental establishment, and early in April we find him marching with part of his regiment to join the army at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, with which he continued until the British crossed over to Staten Island, on the 30th of June, when he received information of the death of his father; upon which Colonel Hall sent him home to superintend the recruiting service. In the following September he rejoined the army, a few days after the battle of Brandywine, and at the battle of Germantown gave conspicuous proofs of that cool courage which afterwards so greatly distinguished him. As the incidents of this action have become the theme of discussion, in consequence of Judge Johnson's account of it in his life of Greene, and as this is not the appropriate occasion to

we shall confine our remarks to the personal share and observation which Major HOWARD experienced. He was then major of the fourth regiment, commanded by Colonel Hall; and in consequence of the latter's being disabled early in the action, and LieutenantColonel Samuel Smith having been detached to Fort Mifflin, Major HOWARD assumed the command of the regiment, which formed a part of Sullivan's division, upon the extreme left when displayed, and upon the west side of the Germantown road. In the attack these troops encountered the British corps of light infantry, which had been posted some distance in advance of the main body, and after a sharp contest, pursued them through their encampment, Major HOWARD passing with his regiment amidst the standing tents. Continuing upon the west side of the road, and passing Chew's house without any serious injury from the fire of the British troops then occupying it, the Maryland troops (almost exclusively composing Sullivan's division) advanced about a quarter of a mile farther towards the main body of the British army, where they maintained their position until the unsuccessful attack upon the house caused a retreat. Upon again passing this temporary fortress, (the unfortunate character of which was amply redeemed as far as Major HOWARD was personally concerned, by his finding it, a few years afterwards, the summer residence of the lady whom he married,) the garrison sallied out and attacked their retiring foe; but a return of the fire killed the officer who commanded the party, and no farther molestation ensued. It was the opinion of Colonel HoWARD, that instead of Musgrave's retreat into the house being a prompt movement, the hasty resolution of military genius stimulated by the pressure of instant danger, it was only the execution of a plan previously digested and arranged in case of attack. After the marriage of Colonel HOWARD, he was repeatedly shown, both by the family and neighbors, the ground where Musgrave had been encamped for some time previous to the battle, and which, from its vicinity to the house, was probably selected for the purpose. So firmly was he persuaded of this, that he did not believe Musgrave to have been with the light infantry when they were defeated, as above stated. The occupancy of the house and consequent halt of a portion of the American troops, certainly exercised a most pernicious influence upon the result of the battle, although it could not have been the only cause of failure, because a body of troops (Muhlenberg and Scott's brigades) passed it upon the eastern, whilst the Marylanders were passing it upon the western side. Those upon the east penetrated

so far into the British lines, that the gallant ninth Virginia regiment was assailed in front and upon both flanks. Mathews surrendered, but nine bayonet wounds bore evidence that he had resisted to the very last extremity. If the question should occur, why the concert of operations was not renewed after so many corps had passed Chew's house, the answer is given by referring to the dense fog which covered the earth, so that the positions of the various divisions could not be ascertained. General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney described the fog as follows:-"the only way we knew of the enemy's being drawn up in opposition to us was, by their fire and whistling of their balls; and it was some time after they retreated before we knew of it, and that only by our not hearing the whistling of their balls, and seeing no flashes in our front."

Colonel HOWARD said of it, "whilst we were halted, the British army were formed in the school house lane, directly in our front, six or seven hundred yards from us; but owing to the denseness of the fog, which had much increased after the action commenced, we could not see them." The impossibility of knowing where the various divisions of the army were at any given moment, and of transmitting orders to them, even if their positions had been known, caused the battle to become a disjointed series of detached encounters, instead of a concentrated effort to support a fixed plan.

From this period Colonel HOWARD remained with the army, and was present at the battle of Monmouth, although the particular share that he bore in it cannot now be ascertained.

In April, 1780, the Maryland and Delaware troops, amounting to fourteen hundred infantry, were detached from the army to effect a diversion to relieve the city of Charleston, South Carolina, then besieged by the British under Clinton. On the third of May these troops embarked upon Elk river, at the head of the Chesapeake Bay, but were not able to reach Petersburg, in Virginia, until June. As Charleston capitulated on the twelfth of May, they could not possibly have reached the upper part of Carolina in time to have produced any relief to that important post, even if the facilities of transportation in the bay had then been as great as they now are; but it may be interesting to compare the tedious progress of those troops with the rapid movements effected under our present improved communications. In the summer of 1832 an Indian war broke out upon the upper waters of the Mississippi, and a portion of the United States army was transported thither from Old Point Comfort, in Virginia. Their route led them over a part of the same course, revers

ing the direction, which had been followed in 1780; but instead of occupying a month in traversing the waters of the Chesapeake, as had been necessarily the case with the continental army, they had in that space of time reached the far distant regions of the west, in the state of Illinois. Twenty-four hours would now be sufficient to move fourteen hundred troops from the head of Elk river to Petersburg, an operation that in 1780 employed a month. When Washington moved upon Cornwallis, it required four weeks to transport his army from the Hudson to James river, and even then we must admire his celerity; now one week would be more than enough.

On the first of June, 1779, Major HowARD had received the commission of "lieutenant-colonel of the fifth Maryland regiment, in the army of the United States, to take rank as such from the 11th day of March, 1778;" and he availed himself of the vicinity of the troops to Baltimore to arrange his affairs; as, to use his own language, "our march to the southward seemed to be a forlorn hope, and my return very uncertain." He sold some property, which he converted into half joes, leaving fifty in the hands of a friend, as a provision in case of his being taken prisoner.

Upon the arrival of the Baron de Kalb at Petersburg, he received intelligence of the fall of Charleston; but wisely judging that the presence of a body of regular troops in the south would sustain the fortitude of the militia, he pressed on rapidly to Deep Run, in North Carolina, where he was obliged to halt for want of provisions. On the 25th July General Gates arrived in camp and took command of the army, whilst the baron contented himself with the Maryland division. Flushed with the victory and honor obtained at Saratoga, Gates overlooked all considerations flowing from the ill condition of his stores and barren nature of the country before him, and marched forward in quest of his enemy. Blinded by the luxuriance of the laurels upon his brow, and heedless of the advice of those who knew the country, he pressed on, and supported his troops upon such supplies of lean beef as could be caught in the woods; and which, when boiled with unripe corn, constituted their chief diet. Some of the officers directed the meat to be made into soup, and with a refinement of luxury that would amaze the cooks of the present day, contrived to render it palatable by emptying into it the contents of the bags which held their hair powder. It is but justice to mention, however, that they were not confined exclusively to this meagre diet, but occasionally enlarged their bill of fare by the very

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