Indies. From Colombo, Ceylon, fifteen steamships radiate toward the attractive countries of Australia, Africa, the Dutch East Indies, China, Japan, India, and Europe. The number of steamers traversing the great thoroughfares, aside from those in regular service between the United States and the Old World, is said to be more than eleven thousand! The civilization of our time owes a debt of gratitude to the early scientists and inventors. Like the discovery of a continent by Columbus they gave the world something to build upon, and it is doubtful if the managers of the World's Columbian Exposition will encounter, in attempting to exhibit the progress this country has made in four centuries, a more farreaching and significant problem than that of steam navigation. It touches all sides of human life; the theme is as attractive as it is colossal. It has brought the different nations of the earth into hand-shaking acquaintance; with the aid of electricity borrowed from the forces of nature, steam power is at the root of all our present material wealth and prosperity. Every industry on the globe has been revolutionized since the beginning of this century, and in the rapid march of events the steamboat and the steamship have played the most important part of any factor in stimulating production and giving an impulse to trade with distant countries, opening innumerable markets in hitherto unheard-of places. Every nation is now interested in steam navigation; the welfare of the farmer, the merchant, and the artisan is interwoven with that of the heroes who live on the sea. Commerce and the industries go hand in hand, and the magnificent showing of the former is but an index to the flourishing conditions of the latter. It is because the race has been awakened into new life that it displays new growth. The peculiar glory of America—an empire unparalleled in beauty of situation and resources-is in the intelligence, dignity, domestic happiness, right thinking, right acting, moral power, matchless ingenuity, and business integrity of its people, who have contributed their full quota to the solution of scientific problems, through which, within the past eighty-five years, the entire world has been benefited and stirred into active endeavor. It may be truly said that steam navigation has made the Columbian Exposition in its prospective magnitude a possibility, and seems destined to lift it into a vast success in 1893. CAPTURE OF STONY POINT, JULY, 1779 BY MAJOR WILLIAM HULL [From manuscript in the possession of his grandson.] On the morning of the 14th of July, 1779, Major Hull was ordered to march to Sandy Beach and unite his corps to that of General Wayne. Two companies of North Carolina infantry commanded by Major Murfee were directed to join the troops at Sandy Beach. These were placed in the detachment of Major Hull, whose command now consisted of about four hundred men. At eleven o'clock of the morning of the 15th of July the march was commenced over rugged and almost impassable mountains, and continued for fourteen miles, when the detachment arrived, a little before dark in the evening, within a mile and a half of Stony Point. Here it halted., General Wayne with his principal officers reconnoitred the works, and now for the first time was communicated to the troops the object of the enterprise. He stated that the attack was to be made on Stony Point at twelve o'clock that night. That the detachment was to be divided into two columns; to advance with unloaded muskets, and depend entirely on the bayonet; that it was his determination to persevere until in complete possession of the fort; and that if any man attempted to load his piece, leave his station, or retreat, he was instantly to be put to death by the officer or soldier next him. General Wayne then gave in detail the disposition of the troops. The column on the right was to consist of Febiger's and Meigs' regiments and Major Hull's detachment, and to be led by General Wayne himself. The column on the left was to consist of Colonel Butler's regiment. Major Hull was directed to detach Major Murfee's two companies to form in the centre of the two columns, and to advance near to a part of the fort that was not to be assailed, and to keep up a constant fire with a view to distract and draw off attention from the real point of attack; Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury and Major Posey to command a corps of one hundred and fifty volunteers to precede the column on the right, and Major Stewart with one hundred volunteers to precede the column on the left. A forlorn hope of twenty men was attached to each column-one led by Lieutenant Gibbon, the other by Lieutenant Knox. Their duty was to remove the abatis and other obstructions in the way of the troops. About half-past eleven o'clock the two columns commenced their march in platoons. The beach was more than two feet deep with water, and before the right column reached it we were fired upon by the out-guards, which gave the alarm to the garrison. We were now directly under the fort, and closing in a solid column ascended the hill, which was almost perpendicular. When about half way up our course was impeded by two strong rows of abatis, which the forlorn hope had not been able entirely to remove. The column proceeded silently on, clearing away the abatis, passed to the breastwork, cut and tore away the pickets, cleared the cheveaux de frise at the sally-port, mounted the parapet, and entered the fort at the point of the bayonet. All this was done under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, and as strong a resistance as could be made by the British bayonet. Our column on the other side entered the fort at the same time. Each of our men had a white paper in his hat, which in the darkness distinguished him from the enemy, and the watchword was, The fort is our own. Our troops reached the area of the garrison, not having fired a gun, the enemy still firing on us. The men made free use of the bayonet, and in every direction was heard, The fort is our own! We were compelled to continue the dreadful slaughter owing to the fierce and obstinate resistance of the enemy. They did not surrender until nearly one hundred men were killed and wounded; after which their arms were secured and they were assembled under a strong guard in an angle of the fort until morning. Major Murfee acted his part with great address, keeping up an incessant fire between the two columns, thus diverting the attention of the assailed from the point of attack. His two companies were the only American troops that fired a gun. In ascending the hill, just after he had passed the abatis, General Wayne was wounded in the head by a musket ball, and immediately fell. He remained on the spot until the British surrendered, when some other officers and myself bore him into the fort, bleeding, but in triumph. Three long and loud cheers were now given, and reverberating in the stillness of night amidst rocks and mountains sent back in echo a glad response to the hearts of the victors. They were quickly answered by the enemy's ships of war in the river, and by the garrison at Verplank's Point, under the belief that the Americans were repulsed. Our troops lost no time in collecting the cannon of the garrison and turning them against the shipping in the river. The officer of the British artillery was requested to furnish the key of the powder magazine; he hesitated, and said that he only received his orders from Colonel Johnson. He was informed that Colonel Johnson was superseded in command, and that there must be no delay, or the consequences might be unpleasant. The key was produced, the pieces of ordnance loaded, and the news of what had happened sent to the shipping from the mouths of the cannon. They made no return to our fire, and the tide being strong, they slipped their cables and were carried down by the current. In the same manner the intelligence was announced at the fort at Verplank's Point, but no reply was made. Soon after the surrender, a lieutenant of my detachment informed me that he had killed one of the men in obedience to orders, and that he regretted it more than he could express. He said that as the column was ascending the hill, the man left his station and was loading his musket. His commander ordered him to return and desist from loading. He refused, saying that he did not understand fighting without firing. The officer immediately ran him through the body. I replied: "You performed a painful duty, by which, perhaps, victory has been secured, and the life of many a brave man saved. Be satisfied." Colonel Johnson remained in his marquee until morning, with others of the officers. I was frequently with him during the night. It was intimated by some one that the garrison had been surprised. Colonel Johnson observed that we should not do ourselves or him the injustice to say that he had been surprised. He begged the gentleman who made the remark to recollect the fact that the firing commenced before we passed the marsh; that all his men were at their stations with their arms and completely dressed before our columns began to ascend the hill. That an incessant fire had been kept up until we entered the works, and the garrison surrendered. Yet it has been represented by some historians of the Revolution that the British were taken by surprise. But the distance from the fort, from which our columns were fired upon, the incessant roar of musketry and artillery while we were ascending the precipice, the condition of the troops when the garrison surrendered, are facts which show that success was owing to the valor, perseverance, and superior physical strength of the assailants. Fifteen Americans were killed and eighty-three wounded. Colonel Johnson in his return reports twenty killed of the British, including one officer, and sixty-eight privates wounded. The prisoners amounted to five hun dred and forty-three. The following day we were employed in burying the dead. I had two narrow escapes; one ball passed through the crown of my hat, another struck my boot. General Washington came to the fort next day, and the interesting scene of his arrival is perfectly fresh in my remembrance. I recollect how cordially he took me by the hand, and the satisfaction and the joy that glowed in his countenance. I attended him with a number of other field officers, General Wayne being prevented by his wound. Washington minutely viewed every part of the fortifications. His attention was particularly drawn to those places where the two columns ascended the hill, mounted the parapets, and first entered the works. He expressed his astonishment that we were enabled to surmount the difficulties and attain our object with so inconsiderable a loss. And here he offered his thanks to Almighty God, that He had been our shield and protector amidst the dangers we had been called to encounter. Contributed by баше в blake MARIETTA, GEORGIA. COLUMBUS A fertile continent thou gav'st mankind, Through sufferings terrible, and great distress, And faith excelled all others-thou stood'st alone. Immortal man, the world yet owes to thee Albert J. Rush. |