Show Forgot hespos by ELMO SCOTT WATSON bayonets of the revolution THE battle of long island AT august 27 1770 was one of the times when the fate of the american definitely hung in the balance defeat there not only would have meant annihilation of the continental army but the capture of washington and most of his most valuable that the affair at long island did not end in a total rout Is due mainly to a young maryland major named mordecal gist in the absence of col one small wood of the first maryland regiment and the lieutenant colonel major gist led the regiment in no less thai five furious ballint charges which held the british in check at a moment later be and his men covered washington s retreat and because of their effective use of the bayonet on this occasion gist and his regiment became known as the bayonets of the revolution gist was bom in 1743 and as the threat of the revolution became more serious he joined with other patriotic men in that city in forming the baltimore independent company 10 which he was elected captain the first ever raised in maryland to defend co lonia rights when the maryland companies became continental line troops gist became a major in regiment and after his conduct at long island he was promoted to the rank of colonial when more maryland militia were raised washington put gist in command to assist in repelling the british by way of the chesapeake and after doing this gist joined the main army brandywine by cutting his way through a detachment of the enemy in 1779 congress raised gist to the rank of brigadier general and put him in command of the second brigide of the maryland line which was sent sooth there to win further honors at the battle of camden of bis part in that battle general lee wrote de and gist yet held the enemy on f our right in suspense aleut col howard at the head of williams regiment drove the corps in front 0 it of line rowdon could not bring the brigade of gist to recede bold was the pressure of the foe firm as a rock the resistance of gist gist the bock of camden was present at the surrender of cornwallis ls as a mem her of staff and after the revolution he became first vice president or mar land of the order ot cincinnati however he chose to live in south carolina instead of maryland and be died in charleston august 2 i 1792 fists patriotism was expressed not only on the battlefield but also in his home to his oldest son born during athe darkest period of the revolution phe gave the name of independent and ito his youngest born after liberty was won be gave the equally apt name of states I 1 A winner of the west WHEN the french and indian war i ended it was decided that eng ush speaking people and not french should rule the north american conal aalt but there was still one factor to take into consideration before that rule should be established the red man traditional ally of the french true the conspiracy of pontiac had tailed but he still barred the way six expeditions sent by the british to receive the surrender of the french posts in that country hd h d been turned back in some cases the envoys were stripped beaten and threatened by drunken indians it looked as though the englishman would have to fight again for what he had already won fortunately however general gage british commander in chief heeded the recommendation of col henry B nguet the victor at bushy run that george croghan an english trader and agent be In trusted with the task of occupying the western country lv negotiation so gage supplied croghan with more than worth of gold silver and presents for the tribes in the illinois country and in january be set ont from philadelphia in advance of his convoy of eighty pack horses soon after his arrival at fort patt came the that the unruly frontiersmen of pennsylvania had attacked his convoy seized all the presents charged him with corrupt relations with the indians and threatened his life it he ever returned undiscouraged by this crog ban procured new presents by giving his personal note for them and accompanied compa nied by delaware shawnee and seneca chiefs and a few white men ie set out on his dangerous mission A month later his party was attacked by hostile indians and all of his followers except two white men and three indians were either killed or wounded 1 I myself was toma hawked wrote croghan back to phil but my skull being pretty thick the hatchet would not enter so TOU see a thick skull Is of service on come occasions finally after a series of mis treatments and forced marches in captivity croghan reached what Is now indiana and was finally set free pushing on into illinois he at lt was able to find pontiac whom he t won over by his diplomacy so that the great chief promised that be would no longer oppose british occupation of the west lal union I 1 1 L |