The Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley Part 40

"I didn't count on bein' able to pa.s.s myself off for a boy, even among blind men," the old soldier said, with a laugh, and I cried, hotly:

"That isn't answerin' my question, sergeant. Is there any good reason why you should stand stiffly here while we're tryin' to make up our minds what to do?"

"Yes, lad, I believe there is."

"What may it be, if you're willin' to tell us?"

"It shouldn't be hard to guess. All my life long I've followed soldierin'

as another man follows a trade, an' I'm not the one who ought to speak when lads are makin' up their minds as to the future, lest I say that which pleases me, an' may not be the best thing for them."

"Answer me one question squarely, Sergeant Corney, without beatin' about the bush. Do you think we're too young to enlist as soldiers, if it so be the lads decide that the Minute Boys ought to do all they can for the Cause?"

"Not a bit of it; it strikes me your company has shown that it may be of value in any army, an' I'll go bail Colonel Gansevoort will agree with me.

What say you, Peter Sitz?"

"Speakin' for my Jacob, he's shown that his services are not to be despised in sich warfare as we're like to have in the valley; but it must be for him to say what he'll do, without word or look from me."

Now it was that I began to understand what these two were driving at. They were minded that we of the company should decide the question before us without aid from them, and it was not difficult to guess that, in their opinion, the Minute Boys ought to remain where they could do the best service for the colony.

However, I was determined that they should be present while we discussed the matter, and by dint of much coaxing finally succeeded in my purpose.

When we were all together I put the matter before the lads to the best of my ability, asking each to say if he was minded to go home at once, or whether he would be willing to regularly enlist in the American army, and before any other could speak John Sammons made a suggestion which showed him to be a lad of rare good sense.

"It seems to me that it would be a good idea to first learn whether we're wanted in the army. There's hardly one among us of an age to be taken as a recruit, an' if they won't let us enlist as a full company, allowin' our own officers to remain in command, I for my part would rather go home."

There could be no question but that very many of us shared John's ideas, and then came the question as to how we might learn what we wanted to know.

This we could not determine upon until Peter Sitz said, quietly:

"Most likely Colonel Gansevoort can tell you in short order; but, if he can't, he won't be long in findin' out from General Arnold."

This was just the suggestion we needed, and then came the question as to who would go to the commandant. I flatly refused, because it would look too much as if I was eager to hold my rank as captain, and after considerable tongue-wagging it was decided that Jacob should tackle the job, his father agreeing to go with him to headquarters.

While these two were absent we talked much among ourselves, and I soon learned that every member of the company was willing to remain in service if it could be done as regularly enlisted men, holding together as a separate company.

Sergeant Corney would take no part in the discussion. He flatly refused to give an opinion until after the matter had been fully decided; but I knew full well the old man would remain with us, even though we were only a company of boys.

Then Jacob and his father returned, and there was no need of further talk.

"The commandant says that we have only to present ourselves before General Schuyler in order to be enlisted as we desire," Jacob reported. "He promises to write a letter to the general at once, telling him of how much service we have been here in the fort, an' agrees to provide us with provisions for the march, with two baggage-wagons to haul the stores.

We're to have from the plunder gotten out of St. Leger's camp all we may need in way of an outfit, so that we'll really show up before the commander equipped for service without cost to the colonies."

Thus the matter was settled. With such a generous offer from the commandant never a member of the company could have hung back had he so desired; but I am proud to say that each and every one of them was eager to join the army, since it might be done as regular soldiers.

Then it was that Sergeant Corney had his say, and he was by no means n.i.g.g.ardly with words.

First he congratulated us on having performed such good service that the commander under whom we served was pleased to do all in his power to give us a good send-off, and then declared that he had rather enlist with us than in any regiment of the army. If we had decided to go to Cherry Valley, it was his purpose to join General Arnold's force; but now that he could remain with the Minute Boys he was content.

We were proud lads that day, for it seemed as if every officer and soldier in the fort was eager to give us some word of praise, and those with whom we had served watched jealously when our equipment was being selected from the plunder of the British camp, lest we might not get the best of everything.

We had our hands full of business making ready for the march, when Reuben c.o.x came shyly up to where Sergeant Corney and I were looking after the stowage of goods in the wagons, and said to me in a half-whisper, as if fearing others might hear him:

"I don't reckon your company is any place for a man who has shown himself sich a sneak as I am, eh?"

"Would you like to go with us?" I asked, in surprise, and pitying from the bottom of my heart the man who was so deeply repentant.

"That I would, Captain Campbell. It may be in time I can live down my record, providin' there be any one who'll look to what I may do, instead of always thinkin' of what I have done."

"But the men in the fort have been kind to you of late, c.o.x?" I said, questioningly.

"Ay, that they have, considerin' what I've done, an' how nearly I came to workin' the worst of harm to all hands here; but I can see by their eyes that they're always thinkin' I may play the same dirty game agin, though G.o.d knows I'd stand at the stake with never a whimper till the life was burned out of me rather than do one of them another wrong."

Had I felt at liberty to decide the matter then and there, c.o.x would have been a member of the Minute Boys without further parley; but it was only right I should consult the others, therefore I told him to come again within an hour, when I would give him an answer.

He thanked me humbly, and was about to go away, when Sergeant Corney took him by the hand as he said:

"What's in the past can't be brought back for the fixin'; but we've got in our own keepin' the shapin' of the to-morrows. I'm thinkin' you won't go astray agin, Reuben c.o.x, an' whenever I see a chance to speak a good word for you it shall be said."

The man's face lighted up wonderfully, and in my heart I thanked the old sergeant over and over for having been thus kind to one who, having committed the worst crime possible for a soldier, stood ready to give up his life cheerfully to the end that he might atone.

I called the lads together without loss of time, repeating to them what c.o.x had said, and again was I made glad when they agreed without hesitation to take him among us.

John Sammons was sent to bring up the new member of the company, and Sergeant Corney said, grimly, as he tried without avail to pucker his wrinkled face into a frown:

"At this rate you'll soon lose the right to call yourselves Minute _Boys_, because this 'ere company is fast becomin' a refuge for the aged and outcast."

There was to be mourning as well as gladness among us on this the last day we were to spend in Fort Schuyler.

Toward noon a messenger from the general commanding came in, bringing with him the sad news that General Herkimer was dead of his wounds, or, perhaps I should say, because of his wounds.

As we were told, the general was safely taken to his home after the battle, being carried on a litter the entire distance. The weather was very warm, and soon the wound became gangrenous. Nine days after his arrival, a young French surgeon who had been with General Arnold's force visited the house, and claimed that the injured limb should be cut off without delay, as the only means of saving the sufferer's life.

The family doctor objected very strongly; but the general's family had faith in the Frenchman, although it is claimed he had evidently been drinking heavily, and the leg was cut off. The operation was performed so unskilfully that it was impossible to entirely check the flow of blood, and the Frenchman, indulging in more wine, became so badly intoxicated that, even had he known how, it would have been beyond his power to take the proper measures.

There was no other surgeon to be had, and toward the close of the day, when the brave old general came to understand that his end was very near, he asked for the Bible, from which he read aloud the thirty-eighth psalm, immediately afterward sinking back upon the pillow dead.

"Murdered if ever a man was!" Sergeant Corney cried, when the sad story had been brought to an end, and I was of the same opinion.

There are several forms of mutiny, and some of them are called by other names, but all as dangerous as they are wicked. Because many of those who badgered the brave old soldier to his death paid the full penalty of their crime in the ravine under the hatchet or knife of the savages, it may not be well to say harsh words concerning them; but so long as I live there will always be anger in my heart whenever I hear their names mentioned.

During that evening, after everything had been made ready for the march at an early hour next morning, we lads gave to Peter Sitz messages for the loved ones at Cherry Valley, promising that we would never bring disgrace upon the settlement, and so burdening his mind with this matter and the other that, if the poor man remembered but the half of all the words we entrusted him with, he must have had a most prodigious memory.

Right proud was I when I marched out of the fort next morning at the head of my company, followed by the two baggage-wagons; but yet there was a sorrow in my heart because it seemed, in a certain degree, at least, as if by becoming regularly enlisted men we gave up our claim to the name of Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley.

Those under whom we served did not view the matter in the same light I did, however, for we kept the t.i.tle we liked best during all the time we served in the army.

It would please me to set down here an account of the adventures which were ours after becoming enlisted men, but it must not be done, else I might never bring the tale to a close, for we saw very much during the time our people were convincing the king, and surely did our duty at Bemis Heights, otherwise our company would never have been mentioned in the flattering terms it then was.