Noble Deeds Of American Women Part 31

Her work as a foreign missionary was quickly finished. She labored longer as a home missionary among the Moheagans, who live in the neighborhood of Norwich, and there displayed most conspicuously the moral heroism of her nature. In conjunction with Sarah Breed, she commenced her philanthropic operations in the year 1827. "The first object that drew them from the sphere of their own church, was the project of opening a Sabbath school for the poor Indian children of Moheagan. Satisfied that this was a work which Heaven would approve, they marked out their plans, and pursued them with untiring energy.

Boldly they went forth, and, guided by the rising smoke or sounding axe, visited the Moheagans from field to field, and from hut to hut, till they had thoroughly informed themselves of their numbers, condition, and prospects. The opposition they encountered, the ridicule and opprobrium showered upon them from some quarters, the sullenness of the natives, the bl.u.s.ter of the white tenants, the brush wood and dry branches thrown across their pathway, could not discourage them. They saw no 'lions in the way,' while mercy, with pleading looks, beckoned them forward."

The Moheagans then numbered a little more than one hundred, only one of whom was a professor of religion. She was ninety-seven years of age. In her hut the first prayer meeting and the first Sabbath school gathered by these young ladies, were held.

Miss Breed soon removed from that part of the country, and Miss Huntington continued her labors for awhile alone. She was at that time very active in securing the formation of a society and the circulation of a subscription, having for their object the erection of a chapel. She found, ere long, a faithful co-worker in Miss Elizabeth Raymond. They taught a school in conjunction, and aside from their duties as teachers, were, at times, "advisers, counsellors, lawgivers, milliners, mantuamakers, tailoresses and almoners."[84]

[84] Missionary Offering, p. 86. We are indebted to the same source for most of the particulars embraced in this article.

"The school was kept in a house on Fort Hill, leased to a respectable farmer in whose family the young teachers boarded by alternate weeks, each going to the scene of labor every other Sabbath morning and remaining till the evening of the succeeding Sabbath, so that both were present in the Sabbath school, which was twice as large as the other. A single incident will serve to show the dauntless resolution which Miss Huntington carried into her pursuits. Just at the expiration of one of her terms of service during the winter, a heavy and tempestuous fall of snow blocked up the roads with such high drifts, that a friend who had been accustomed to go for her and convey her home in bad weather, and had started for this purpose in his sleigh, turned back, discouraged. No path had been broken, and the undertaking was so hazardous that he conceived no female would venture forth at such a time. He therefore called at her father's house to say that he should delay going for her till the morrow. What was his surprise to be met at the door by the young lady herself, who had reached home just before, having walked the whole distance on the hard crust of snow, _alone_, and some of the way over banks of snow that entirely obliterated the walls and fences by the roadside."

While at Moheagan, Miss Huntington corresponded with the Hon. Lewis Ca.s.s, then Secretary of War, and secured his influence and the aid of that department. In 1832, a grant of nine hundred dollars was made from the fund devoted to the Indian department, five hundred being appropriated towards the erection of missionary buildings and four for the support of a teacher. Before leaving the Moheagan, for a wider field, this devoted and heroic missionary had the happiness of seeing a chapel, parsonage and school house, standing on "the sequestered land"[85] of her forest friends, and had thus partially repaid the debt of social and moral obligation to a tribe who fed the first and famis.h.i.+ng settlers in Connecticut, and strove to protect them against the tomahawk of inimical tribes, and whose whoop was friendly to freedom when British aggressors were overriding American rights.

[85] That was its original name. It is a reserved tract; contains between two and three thousand acres, and a considerable part is now occupied by white tenants. Its situation is on the Thames, between New London and Norwich.

A BROTHER SAVED BY HIS SISTER.

Brave spirits are a balsam to themselves.

CARTWRIGHT.

During the invasion of the Mohawk valley by Sir John Johnson, Samson Sammons, of Johnstown, and his three sons, were taken captive early one morning in May. The females were not made prisoners. While a soldier was standing sentinel over the youngest son, named Thomas, who was about eighteen, the latter, who was not more than half dressed, said he was not going to Canada in such a plight; that he should need his shoes especially; and asked permission to go to his chamber and get his clothes. The favor was not granted; but Thomas, resolving to have his shoes, stepped towards the door, when the barbarous soldier pointed a bayonet at his back, and made a plunge. At that moment a sister, who had watched every movement with breathless anxiety, sprang forward, seized the gun, threw herself across its barrel, bore it to the ground, and thus saved her brother's life. After a brief struggle, the soldier disengaged his weapon, but before he had time to make another plunge, an officer rushed forward and asked what was the trouble. The heroic girl stated the case, when the soldier was severely rebuked, and her brother permitted to obtain his shoes and all the raiment he desired.[86]

[86] It may be interesting to the reader to know that Thomas Sammons did not go to Canada. He was released in the afternoon of the same day, with some other persons who had been taken prisoners during the forenoon.

Feigning extreme lameness in one foot, he attracted the attention and excited the sympathy of the widow of a British officer: she had resided in the neighborhood, knew many of the captives, and as some were her personal friends, she asked Sir John to permit their release. He did so; and on going into the field to select them, writes Colonel Stone, "she adroitly smuggled young Sammons into the group, and led him away in safety."

PATRIOTIC SACRIFICE OF MRS. BORDEN.

They love their land because it is their own.

HALLECK.

At the darkest period of the Revolution, New Jersey was, for a short time, full of British soldiers, and Lord Cornwallis was stationed at Bordentown.[87] He visited Mrs. Borden one day, at her elegant mansion, and made an effort to intimidate her. He told her that if she would persuade her husband and son, who were then in the American army, to join his forces, none of her property should be destroyed; but if she refused to make such exertions, he would burn her house, and lay waste her whole estate. Unintimidated and patriotic, she made the following bold reply, which caused the execution of the threat: "The sight of my house in flames would be a treat to me, for I have seen enough to know that you never injure what you have power to keep and enjoy. The application of a torch to my dwelling I should regard as the signal for your departure." And such it was.

[87] Major Garden.

MARGARET CORBIN.

Where cannon boomed, where bayonets clashed, There was thy fiery way.

SARA J. CLARKE.

An act similar to that recorded of Mrs. Pitcher at the battle of Monmouth, was performed by Mrs. Margaret Corbin at the attack on Fort Was.h.i.+ngton. Her husband belonged to the artillery; and, standing by his side and seeing him fall, she unhesitatingly took his place and heroically performed his duties. Her services were appreciated by the officers of the army, and honorably noticed by Congress. This body pa.s.sed the following resolution in July, 1779:

"Resolved,--That Margaret Corbin, wounded and disabled at the battle of Fort Was.h.i.+ngton, while she heroically filled the post of her husband, who was killed by her side serving a piece of artillery, do receive during her natural life, or continuance of said disability, one-half the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in service of these States; and that she now receive out of public stores, one suit of clothes or value thereof in money."

BRAVERY OF MRS. CHANNING.

----The truly brave, When they behold the brave oppressed with odds, Are touched with a desire to s.h.i.+eld or save.

BYRON.

Soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, the family of Dr.

Channing,[88] being in England, removed to France, and shortly afterwards sailed for the United States. The vessel, said to be stout and well-armed, was attacked on the voyage by a privateer, and a fierce engagement ensued. During its continuance, Mrs. Channing stood on the deck, exhorting the crew not to give up, encouraging them with words of cheer, handing them cartridges, and aiding such of them as were disabled by wounds. When, at length, the colors of the vessel were struck, she seized her husband's pistols and side arms, and flung them into the sea, declaring that she would prefer death to the witnessing of their surrender into the hands of the foe.

[88] This anecdote, which is recorded in several works, cannot refer to the late William Ellery Channing, as he was not born at the commencement of the Revolution.

COMMENDABLE COURAGE.

Have chivalry's bold days A deed of wilder bravery In all their stirring lays?

SARA J. CLARKE

An incident which occurred at one of the forts in the Mohawk valley, might have been mentioned in connection with the heroism of Schoharie women. It is briefly related by the author of Border Wars of the American Revolution. "An interesting young woman," he writes, "whose name yet lives in story among her own mountains, perceiving, as she thought, symptoms of fear in a soldier who had been ordered to a well without the works, and within range of the enemy's fire, for water, s.n.a.t.c.hed the bucket from his hands, and ran forth for it herself.

Without changing color, or giving the slightest evidence of fear, she drew and brought back bucket after bucket to the thirsty soldiers, and providentially escaped without injury."

THE HEROINE OF Sh.e.l.l'S BUSH.

I dare do all that may become a man.

Who dares do more, is none.

SHAKSPEARE.

For three-fourths of a century, there has been a wealthy settlement of Germans four or five miles north of the village of Herkimer, in the upper part of the Mohawk valley, called Sh.e.l.l's Bush. Among the early settlers, was John Christian Sh.e.l.l, who had a family of six brave sons and a no less brave wife. When, on the sixth of August, 1781, a Scotch refugee named Donald McDonald, at the head of sixty-six tories and Indians, attacked that settlement, Mrs. Sh.e.l.l acted the part of an heroic dame. The house was built for border emergencies, and when the enemy approached, the husband and older boys[89] fled from the fields, entered their castle, and strongly barricaded the doors. From two o'clock in the afternoon until twilight, the besieged kept up an almost incessant firing, Mrs. Sh.e.l.l loading the guns for her husband and older sons to discharge. During the siege, McDonald attempted to force the door with a crow bar, and was shot in the leg, seized by Sh.e.l.l and drawn within doors. Exasperated at this bold feat, the enemy soon attempted to carry the fortress by a.s.sault, five of them leaping upon the walls and thrusting their guns through the loopholes. At that moment the cool and courageous woman seized an axe, smote the barrels and bent and spoiled them. Her husband then resorted to stratagem to drive the besiegers away: running up stairs and calling to Mrs. Sh.e.l.l in a very loud voice, he said that Captain Small was approaching with help from Fort Dayton.

Then raising his voice to its highest pitch, he exclaimed, "Captain Small, march your company round upon this side of the house. Captain Getman, you had better wheel your men off to the left, and come up upon that side."[90] Fearing the phantom troops whom Mr. Sh.e.l.l's imagination had conjured, the enemy shouldered their guns--crooked barreled and all--and quickly buried themselves in the dense forest.