Show the rif riflemen lemen of 1 iba lae THE VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND COMPANIES by ELMO SCOTT WATSON N THE cool dmn dawn of a summer morning aco years ago a boy awoke and looked out from the window ol of his home in a little massachusetts village and this Is what he saw suddenly ns as though by magic summoned su the whole street was filled with men marching silently and swiftly with moccas ined feet their raccoon caps pushed back the green thrums tossing on sleeve and thigh the boy rubbed his eyes lie he must be dreaming I 1 and yet on they came rank on rank dihe brown deer herding through a rock run mid and on the hunt ing shirts lettered in white across each breast appeared the words liberty or death Dent lif 1 spellbound spell bound the boy cont continued limed to watch that torrent of dusty riflemen pit ln without a break in another moment they were gone their long loping stride had emeled cm i led them through the village and out of sight around the lie bend of the road which led to cambridge but in fit the years to come when that liui hoi beeline a grandfather he would tell hn hi grandchildren yes I 1 taw saw the riflemen as the marched north to help george washington drive general Ge gage and his Britis hers bers out of boston town i 0 0 on june 14 1775 the devond continental congress passed a resolution nit six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in the colony of pennsylvania two in the colony of maryland and two in ohp of virginia and that each company as boun as completed shall march to join the army near boston to be there employed as light infantry under the command of the chief officer of that army pennsyl va nills response was immediate and generous she raised nine companies instead of six and by the middle of july her riflemen were on the march by the end of that month two of the companies had bad reached Cambil dge and by the middle of august the endre entire battalion of riflemen commanded by col william thompson beul col edward hand maj robert magaw and captains john lowdon michael Ilc bael daudel george nagel abraham miller robert Clug gage james chambers william hendricks james ross and matthiew Matt liew smith had reported to washington and had become the second regiment of th the army of the united states swift as had been the northward march of the pennsylvania frontiersmen they found upon their arrival that the riflemen of virginia and maryland had been no less prompt in answerl answering n 9 the call of congress among the first of i the he slim shai ps hooting ged gentry try to reach the scene of action was a company from frederick county virginia commanded by a stalwart fellow whose leadership of these men who bore the long rifle would make him forever famous ue he was daniel morgan within ten days after receiving ills his commission morgan had raised a company of OG DG frederick county men many of whom horn had served with him in the dunmore war on july 14 1775 he be started north from winchester ills his marchin orders according to tradition was the laconic and alliterative command A beeline for boston boys within 21 days he covered the distance of COO CM miles an average of nearly 30 miles a day without losing a single man through sickness or desertion the achievement of morgan and his DG 00 men says nickerson in his book the turning point of the revolution can be paralleled only by that of the five fire hundred men of marseilles who in july 1792 marched miles from the torrid mediterranean to paris dragging with them two little cannon at the rate of 18 miles a day and arrived like morgans company NIt without hout losing a man A third example of rapid ous organization combined with such astonishing endurance would be hard to find when the frederick county riflemen reached cambridge there occurred a dramatic incident in which there was a touch of pathos as well for these virginians from the beautiful shenandoah valley and the wooded slopes of the blue ridge mountains were george neighbors their coming gave that harassed com 7 1731 GEN DANIEL MORGAN mander one of his bis few bright moments at a time when the petty bicke bleke rings and intrigues of jealousy were making ids his task 0 of building an army seem well nigh impossible seeing the dust covered riflemen riflemen rifle meg file into camp the commander ln in calef reined in his horse and asked whence they came their leader answered with words that must have been music to Ing tons ears irom from the right bank of the potomac girl said daniel morgan and washington was so BO movell moved by this reply that he dismounted at once and went along the company front shaking hands with each man while tears rolled down ills his cheeks at the same time that the riflemen of fred 0 av a n V J W FROM THE RIGHT BANK OF THE POTOMAC SIRI I 1 erick crick county virginia were speeding north with danl morgan another company of sharpshooters froni from another rieder lck county maryland was also on tile the march it was commanded by capt michael Ilc lael cresap the son ot of col thomas cresap a well mell known maryland pioneer young cresap had been an indian trader at redstone near the present site of 0 brownsville Browns ville pa in 1772 the next year found him making his first bid bior for fame as a settler on lands beyond the ohio claimed by george washington here he persisted in staying despite offer to pay him for any improvements lie he had bad made 1 if he would depart and despite the threat ot of a lawsuit it if lie he move but it remained for an incident at the opening of the dunmore m warto ar to make the name of michael cresap famous all along the frontier for he was unjustly accused of murdering the family of the great mingo bliler logan who had confused that massacre with another killing in which cresap as leader of a party of rangers had been involved cresap and ills his riflemen 22 of whom had served alth ith him in the dunmore war left frederick on july IS 18 1773 1775 and marched the miles to cambridge between that date and august 8 it would be interesting to know what feelings were when this erstwhile squatter on 01 his ohio lands entered his camp in cambridge did ills his excellency welcome his arrival any the less gratefully than he be had that of the virginia and pennsylvania sharpshooters it Is not likely that he did for in the greatness of george washington ington there was ans no room for petty prejudices these riflemen be they marylanders virginians or lans were men of the same stripe they were as washington irving describes them stark hunters and bush fighters such stalwart fellows as washington had known in his early campaigns incidentally in all orders he persisted in calling them r riffle companies pro proving again that he was better as a general than as a speller I 1 now that riffle men are here take a look at them as they swagger through the shady streets of cambridge town exciting so irving tells felts us much gaze and wonder among the rustic visitors to the camp they ale aie dressed for the most part in flannel shirts cloth or buckskin breeches buckskin leggings g and moccasins over these they wear fringed linn hunting ting shirts some of brown linen some of buckskin bleached white and a few of linsey woolsey wool scy on their heads rest small round hats bats or coonskin caps the sign and symbol of the frontiersman but the most striking part of their costume Is the display on it of the words liberty or death lossing Lossl ng in his field book of the revolution ol says that the legend was spread in great letters across their hunting shirts w whereas Nhe nereas reas graham morgans chief biographer places it on their headgear but the place where it appeared Is immaterial the sentiment was the thing that counted most and it was patrick henrys starr stirring ng speech in old st johns church in III richmond nd which gave them the motto that was the their r r rallying Y cry on many a hard fought glit field of f the be revolution the remainder of their costume is in keeping with its indian orl origin in even eien though not all of them like Cre saps men are painted like red men into the leather belt which holds the hunting shirt in at the waist are thrust the tomahawk and that keen edged weapon which has caused their redskin enemies to call all frontiersmen the long knives or BI big knives the shot pouch which contains the small round balls of lead the bullet mold and some has flax or tow for cleaning the alie rifle hangs from a strap across the shoulder there too Is the powder horn scraped and scraped until it Is almost as thin and transparent as isinglass in the hollow of their arms or slanting across their brawny shoulders Is tossed carelessly the long rifle which Is so soon to become the terror of tommy gages cages Lobster backs 11 for during the siege of boston many a british soldier I 1 learned arned to ills his sorrow that it was not safe to show his head bend within yards of these d d widow and orphan makers as they called the riflemen SI significant of their deadly accuracy Is the statement of thacher that bat at a review a company of them while on a quick advance fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter at the distance of yards during the autumn of 1775 three companies of riflemen morgans virginians and smiths and hendricks pennsylvanians lans ians accompanied arnold and montgomery on the expedition to quebec hendricks was killed during the assault in december and morgan and most ot of the of riflemen emen were taen taken prisoners on january 1 1770 the army was as reorganized the pennsylvania battalion of RIff riflemen emen became the first pennsylvania regiment of the continental army and were placed under the command of edward hand as colonel later in the year morgan returned to the army through an exchange of prisoners and became colonel of the eleventh virginia regiment later designated as the seventh composed of remnants of the company he had bad led north from frederick at the opening of the war and other sharpshooters recruited for the regiment regime nL in june 1777 washington convinced that the ability of these frontiersmen from pennsylvania abla anla maryland and clr virginia enla might prove a decisive factor in the war it if concentrated in one unit and led by the right officers decided to organize such it a corps As a result the corps of riflemen or the corps of rangers washington used both names in referring to it came into existence it was also known as morgans riflemen and morgans Part izan zan corps because its colonel was dante daniel morgan richard butler of the ninth pennsylvania was made lieu tenant colonel and capt joseph morris of new jersey became major the captains according to Wilkin wilkinsons sons memoirs were samuel J cabell thomas posey gabriel long of maryland other authorities list him as a virginian van swearingen of the eighth pennsylvania james parr of the first pennsylvania ins boone of the twelfth pennsylvania matthew henderson ne of the ninth pennsylvania and a captain knox knos whose former affiliation Is unknown the corps consisted of approximately men transferred from the various regiments serving in the continental line of this number pennsylvanians ians supplied officers and men virginia and maryland 65 63 the riflemen soon justified faith in their ability and they behaved so gallantly as to win special mention from ills excellency in a letter to co congress in it he spoke of their conduct and bravery where they constantly advanced upon an enemy far superior in numbers and well secured behind re doubts when the threat of Bur goynes invasion loomed on the northern horizon the commander ln in chief decided that general gates cates needed these rangers more than he did in a letter to gov george clinton of new york he be said 1 I am forwarding as fast as possible to join the northern army col morgans corps of riflemen amounting to five hundred these are all chosen men selected from the army at large well acquainted with the use of rifles and with that mode of fighting which Is necessary to make them a good counterpoise to the indians and they have distinguished themselves on a variety of occasions since the formation of the corps in skirmishes with the enemy morgan and his men were mere destined to distinguish themselves even more in the saratoga campaign they m were ere invaluable both in the desultory sniping attacks on Burg Bur goynes osnes camp and in pitched battle under the leadership of the dashing benedict arnold they won laurels on the bloody field of freemans freemanb Fre emans farm and added to them at the decisive battle of stillwater although gates cates basely deprived both morgan and arnold of the credit that was justly theirs in tact fact it was at stillwater that one of the riflemen fired another shot heard round the world for when a ball from tile the rifle ride of timothy murphy the pennsylvanian Pennsyl struck down gen simon fraser eraser Bur Pur goynes ablest subordinate he sealed the doom of luckless gentleman jo johnnys annys army and made saratoga the turning point of the revolution early in 1778 morgan whose health had been broken by the hardships he had undergone returned to his home in vir virginia enla to recuperate thereupon major posey successor to major morris who had been killed in an eng engagement ment during the winter of 1777 became commander but the old wagoner was back in the field in time to lead his riflemen to further honors at the battle of monmouth soon afterwards he gave up the command again the corps was broken up and various companies assigned to different regiments the disbandment of morgans rifle corps prevented the establishment of what might have been a splendid tradition in the history of amerlean american arms A recent historian has pointed out that some 35 years before congress con giess tess authorized the raising of ten companies of border riflemen george 11 II had looked to the highland border of north britain for a regiment to have the virtues peculiar to the frontier and ten were raised from the highlanders High landers whose duty had been to watch upon the braes this regiment became the black watch famous today the famous american rifle corps would have had its identity preserved in the american army if a similar useful traditionalism had prevailed in the united states it has not and there are no morgans rifles it Is true that there are no morgans rifles in the american army today but the glory of that name is imperishably preserved in the record of their achievements on the battlefields of saratoga arid and monmouth ind and along the trail which sullivan the town destroyer blazed through the gloomy forests of the iroquois country from tioga to genesee castle and so long as the story of the struggle for american liberty Is repeated so 90 long V will III the riflemen of the revolution be a shining name in the annals of our nation fi 0 western newspaper 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