Captain Molly

, „J M HE British army, overnineteen thousand strong-, under Sir llcnry Clinton, had evacuated the city oí l'hiladelphia,on the 18th of June, 1778, and was mare hing1 through New Jersey toward Í N e w York. ] I anjiing on the rear of the enemy was the American army, numbering less than twelve thousand men, commandcd by Generáis Washington, Loe, Greene, Lafayette and Wayne. The British, sxipplied with every comfort, had spent the winter in idleness and dissipation; the Continental troops, in the rude huts at Valley Forge, had suffered cold, hunger and every other privation to the limits of human endurance. The dauntless personality of Washington had alone kept them from disbanding and yielding to despair. The patriots were eager to strike a blow at the insolent invaders who had lived on the fat of the land while they had starved. Washington, Greene, Lafayette and Wayne favored an attack in spite of the great superiority of the opposing forces; they desired by a gallant and desperate effort to dissipate ttíe gloom that was settling over the hopes of liberty; but General Lee and nearly all of the other officers, both foreign and American, maintained that it was not wise to risk a battle. There was hesitation, but Washington finally decided to fight. The advanced corps, four thousand men under General Lee, moved upon the enemy near Monmouth courthouse on the 28th of June. Seven hundred men skirmished in the rear of the British. Every thinsr seemed to be in favor of the Americans. But scarcely was the attack well commenced than Lee began to manifest a strange vacillation. Contradietory orders were issued, confusión resulted, the troops began to waver. Lafayette, alarmed, sent word to Washington that something was wrong. Soon Lee permitted a retreat and his whole force feil back. Washington, galloping forward, would not believe the stories of the first fugitives whom he met. An officer rode by and declared with an oath that the Americans ".veré flying from a shadow. W'ashington's suspicions were excited and his great soul boiled with indignation. Ascending a little hill, he met Lee on the summit. Rising in his stirrups, his nostrils expanding liice those of a war-horse in the hea of conflict, the Commander-in-Chief said, in thundering tones: 'Whatis the meaning of all this, sir?" Washington's appearanee was terrible. Lee, a man as ill-favored in feature as he was warped in miad, cowered before the majestic mien oí his superior, and at first could make no clear reply. Hot words ensued, and Lee was disrespectful. Leaving Lee angry but crestfallen, Washington, amid a storm of búllete, rallied the troops on the eminence, and checked the advance of the British. Then, having recoveved his customary calmness, he turned to Lee and asked if he would retain the command on the height. Full of áetermination to retrieve his reputation as a General, the mortified Lee replied: "Your orders shall be obeyed, and I shall not be the first to leave the ground.' At this moment Washington's attention was attracted to a woman who was bringing a bueket of water from a spring to her husband who was loading and firing a cannon. Khe was the brave Irish lassie, Mollie Pitcher, destined soon to be known throughout the land as a heroïne. She was of medium height, had a well-rounded figure, and her movements singularly evinced masculine strength combined with feminine grace. Her large and shapely head was covered with a luxuriant gTOwth of golden hair, her complexion was fair, her features were pleasing, and, according to one who knew her well, she had a "handsome, piereing eye." She was an Amazon, but she w;is a fine-looking one, and although she was of too rugged a nature and had been trained in too rough a school to possess the charms of a gentle anl well-bred woman, there was in her a certain hoydenish and mischievous disposition, a brightness and originality not possible to women who are controlled by conventionalities, and a f reedoin from f ear, that drew to her much masculine admiration. She was not without a little coquetry, and shrewdly turned it to her pecuniary advantage; for she was wont to walk in front of the lines of our allies, the gallant Prench, with her cocked hat extended and the response w;is sometimes so generousthat the hat was nearlj Qlled with ooins. Herdress as half masculino, she wearing not oniy a coclsea nat, Dut also a soicuer's coat that came down f ar enough to conceal_a larje part of her .petticoats. Sho ■ such . tvoman evo-: :d cl t for the fivst ' tle at ous ;:' iiton wheu the British ■ Ithe ramparts, Mollie's husband, being about to fire a cannon. dropped a ed match and fled. Mol lic picked it up, touched off the piece, and thcn ran away, laughing heartily. It was the last resista (by the Americana thut day. At Monmouth her services as a water carrier were greatly needed, the day beinp so intensely hot that several of the Ainericans and fifty-nine of the British died solely f rom "the effeets of extreme heat and fatig-ue, and drinking too muoh cold water." Mr. Pitcher was a g-ood-natured fellow to whom Mollie was greatly attached in spite of her Bomowhat way ward conduct. Mollie had almost reached her husband with tlie water, when he suddenly threw up his hands, and with a groan íall to the gTOimd. A bullet had pierced his side near the heart. With a ■wild and heartrending cry she feil upon her knees and clasped him in her arms. His g-lazing eyes sought her countenanoe, and as she kissed him he whispered: "Load the cannon, Mollie, andavenge my death." "That I will, John," she cried. She looked at him lain. He was dead. Tenderly relinquishing her grasp of the beloved form she arose to her feet, dashed tcars from eyes that now beg-an to flash with anger, and with an heroic mien took her station at the cannon, and rammed home a charge with the strenglh of a giant. With ha,t removed from his head Washington, who had been a most sympathetic witness of the scène, rode up and said: "My dear girl, I can not express in words my admiration and gratitude. God bless you." "I am only doing my dutv. your Excellency," cried Mollie, raising her eyes but a moment, and then ramming the charge with redoubled vigor. Throughout the hotly contestad engagement on and about the little wooded hill, Mollie was the most efficiënt cannoneer lor the Americana. Even amid the roar and smoke of that memorable confiict the soldiers turned their eyes toward her with admiration and gathered encouragement from her dauntless valor. She looked remarkably beautiful. and even grand, as she sent messenger after messenger of death amid the ranks of the enemy, while her golden hair feil in attractivo confusión over her shoulders and her handsome eyes were filled with the ardor of battle. Men could not fly when a woman showed such bravery. But at last the British came on with great f orce, having cavalry and inf antry skillful with tlie bayonet, and the Americans were obliged to retire across a morass to another eminence, to which Washington, after taking leave of Mollie, had ridden, and had there placed the main army in battle array. True to his word, General Lee was the last man to leave the advanced position. His first retreat, f or which Washington so severely rebuked him, has been the subject of much dispute. It is claimed for Lee that the confusión of histroops was largely due to the f act that it was difficult to direct their movements on ground badly cut up into woods and morasses, and that he retreated because he found that he had attacked not a mere covering party, as he had at flrst supposed, but the main body of the enemy. On the contrary, Washington had promised to come to his aid w ith an ampie forcé, and Lee's attitude toward his chief both on the field and subsequently was eminently disrespectfuL He was tried by court-martial, and his sentence was suspension from the army for one year. It proved to be the close of his career as a military man. The Americans were not driven from the second eminence, and after another sharp conflict the arrival of darkness caused a cessation of hostilities. During the night the British verv qnietly retired, and the next morning the Americans, to their great surprise, saw u deserted camp. The sun was risen scarcely an hour when General Greene, accompanied by Mollie Pitcher, approacüed the tree at the foot of which, stretched on his cloak, Washington had passed the night. The Commander-in-Chief was still under the tree, and beside him stood his aid-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton, afterwardstbe famous statesman, and Generáis Lafayette, Knox and Cadwalader. The distinguished men saluted the brave woman with much respect and stood witk uncovered heads while Washington conferred upon her the commission of sergeant and praised her Spartan courage. Turning to bis Generáis, Washington concluded with these words, spoken with great emotion: "Gentlemen, a nation whose women are capable of such Talor can never be conquered." At the recommendation of Washington -Congress placed Mollie on the list of half-pay officers for life, and during the remainder of her days she was popularly known as ''Captain Molly."