was offered the arduous command of the southern department, he replied to the Commander-in-chief, "Knox is the man for this difficult undertaking; all obstacles vanish before him; his resources are influite."—" True," replied Washington, "and therefore I cannot part with him."

On the resignation of General Lincoln, Knox was appointed secretary of the war department, during the period of the confederation; and when the federal government was organized, in 1789, he was appointed to the same office. He held this office about five years. In 1794, he retired from office to a private station; without a voice to dispute his talents, or to impeach his integrity.

He removed, with his family, to Thomastown in the district of Maine; and there resided the greater part of the remainder of his life. He erected a spacious mansion, a monument of the taste of the owner, as his deportment in it, was in proof of liberality, amiableness and hospitality. On every occasion which called for public spirit, his was conspicuous and proper.

In the year 1798, when our country was menaced with a French war, our hero was again selected to unite with Washington, Hamilton, and others, to maintain the rights and honour of the

nation.

During several years of his residence at Thomastown, he filled a seat at the council board of Massachusetts; and the degree of Doctor of laws was conferred on him by the president and trustees of Dartmouth college.

General Knox died at Thomastown, October 25th, 1806, aged fifty-six years. His death was occasioned by his swallowing the bone of a chicken.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

JOHN LAURENS

SON of Henry Laurens, president of Congress, was born in the year 1755. He joined the army in 1777. He distinguished himself in every action under General Washington, and was amongst the first who entered the British lines at Yorktown. In 1781, he was sent by Congress on a mission to France, to solicit a loan of money, and to procure military stores: he returned in August of the same year, and received the thanks of Congress, for the zeal and success with which he executed the mission. After a delay of three days in Philadelphia, he rejoined the army. On the 27th of August, 1782, in opposing a foraging party of the British near Combahee river in South Carolina, he was mortally wounded. He died at the He died at the age of twenty

seven years.

His abilities were exhibited in the legislature and in the cabinet, as well as in the field. He was zealous for the rights of humanity, and, living in a country of slaves, contended that personal liberty was the birth-right of every human being, however diversified by country, colour, or powers of mind. His insinuating address won the hearts of all his acquaintance, while his sincerity and virtue secured their lasting esteem.

MAJOR-GENERAL

THOMAS MIFFLIN,

Formerly Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. THIS soldier and statesman was born of quaker parents, about the year 1744. He was a zealous and early supporter of the principles of the revo

lution, and a steady opposer of the unconstitutional measures of the British ministry and Parliament; he was among the first officers commissioned in the continental army, being appointed quarter-master general in 1765. For this offence, he was read out of the society of quakers. He was a member of the first Congress in 1774; in 1787, he was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States; in 1788, he succeeded Franklin as President of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania; he presided in the convention which framed a constitution for Pennsylvania, and he was chosen the first governor of that state. Thus did this useful citizen take an active part in almost every measure, which, during his life, tended to raise the consequence, support the honour, and forward the interest of his country. He was succeeded in the office of governor by Mr. McKean, in the year 1799. On the 20th of January, 1800, he died at Lancaster, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

MAJOR-GENERAL

WILLIAM MOULTRIE.

THIS gentleman was a soldier from an early period of his life. He was a volunteer in the Cherokee war, in 1760; he was afterwards in another expedition under Colonel Montgomery, and he commanded a company in the third expedition, which, in 1761, compelled the Cherokees to sue for peace. He was amongt the foremost, at the commencement of the late revolution, to assert the liberties of his country; and braved every danger to redress her wrongs. In the begin ning of the war, he was colonel of the second

regiment of South Carolina; his defence of Sullivan's island, with three hundred and forty-four regulars and a few militia, June 28, 1776, gained him the unanimous thanks of Congress; and, in compliment to him, the fort was from that time, called Fort Moultrie. In 1779, he gained a victory over the British, in the battle near Beaufort. In 1780, he was second in command, in Charleston, during the siege. After the city surrendered he was sent to Philadelphia. In 1782, he returned, and was repeatedly chosen governor of the state of South Carolina.

Notwithstanding his labours, his victories, and public services, however zealous, however glorious, however serviceable, the enemy had the audacity to make choice of him as a fit object to be gained over to them by bribery. His talents, his experience and enterprize would be an invaluable acquisition to the enemy, if it could be employed on the continent; and, if it could not be so employed, then the depriving the Americans of him would be of importance nearly as great; it was, in the eyes of a selfish greedy enemy, highly probable that a man who had suffered so much in his private property, would listen to a proposal which would enable him to go to Jamaica as colonel of a British regiment, the commander of which, Lord Charles Montague, politely offered as a proof of his sincerity, to quit the command, and serve under him, "No," replied the indignant Moultrie," not the fee-simple of that valuable island of Jamaica should induce me to part with my integrity."

This incorruptible patriot died at Charleston, September 27, 1805, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL

COUNT PULASKI.

THIS gallant soldier was a native of Poland, whose disastrous history is well known. Vainly struggling to restore the lost independence of his country, he was forced to seek personal safety by its abandonment. Pulaski, with a few men, in the year 1771, carried off King Stanislaus from the middle of his capitol, though surrounded by a numerous body of guards, and a Russian army. The King soon escaped and declared Pulaski an outlaw. Hearing of the glorious struggle in to the wilds of America, and associated himself with our perils and our fortune.

which we were engaged, he hasteneth our per

On his arrival in the United States, Congress honoured him with the commission of Brigadiergeneral, with a view, as was rumoured, of placing him at the head of the American cavalry, the

of service in which he had been bred. But his ignorance of our language, and the distaste of our officers to foreign superiority, stifled this project. He was then authorised to raise a legionary corps, appointing his own officers.

Indefatigable and persevering, the Count collected about two hundred infantry and two hundred horse, made up of all sorts, chiefly of German deserters. His officers were generally foreign, with some Americans. With this assemblage, the Count took the field; and after serving some time in the Northern army, he was sent to the South, and fell at the battle of Savannah.

On the 9th October, 1779, during the assault on Savannah, and at the moment when, under a severe fire from the enemy, a column of the American army led by General Lincoln and the Count