In the Days of Poor Richard
2
Solomon, being the ablest bush scout in the American army, was neededfor every great enterprise in the wilderness. So when a small forcewas sent up the Penobscot River to dislodge a regiment of British fromNova Scotia, in the late summer of 1779, he went with it. The fleetwhich conveyed the Americans was in command of a rugged old sea captainfrom Connecticut of the name of Saltonstall who had little knowledge ofthe arts of war. He neglected the precautions which a carefulcommander would have taken.
A force larger than his own should have guarded the mouth of the river.Of this Solomon gave him warning, but Captain Saltonstall did not sharethe apprehension of the great scout. In consequence they were pursuedand overhauled far up the river by a British fleet. Saltonstall in apanic ran his boats ashore and blew them up with powder. Again a forceof Americans was compelled to suffer the bitter penalty of ignorance.The soldiers and crews ran wild in the bush a hundred miles from anysettlement. It was not possible to organize them. They fled in alldirections. Solomon had taken with him a bark canoe. This he carried,heading eastward and followed by a large company, poorly provisioned.A number of the ships' boats which had been lowered--and moved, beforethe destruction began, were carried on the advice of Solomon.Fortunately this party was not pursued. Nearly every man in it had hisgun and ammunition. The scout had picked up a goodly outfit of axesand shovels and put them in the boats. He organized his retreat withsentries, rear guard, signals and a plan of defense. The carriers wereshifted every hour. After two days of hard travel through the deepwoods they came to a lake more than two miles long and about half aswide. Their provisions were gone save a few biscuit and a sack ofsalt. There were sixty-four men in the party.
Solomon organized a drive. A great loop of weary men was flung aroundthe end of the lake more than a mile from its shore. Then they beganapproaching the camp, barking like dogs as they advanced. In thismanner three deer and a moose were driven to the water and slain.These relieved the pangs of hunger and insured the party, for somelittle time, against starvation. They were, however, a long way fromhelp in an unknown wilderness with a prospect of deadly hardships.Solomon knew that the streams in this territory ran toward the sea andfor that reason he had burdened the party with boats and tools.
The able scout explored a long stretch of the lake's outlet whichflowed toward the south. It had a considerable channel but not enoughwater for boats or canoes even. That night he began cutting timber fora dam at the end of the lake above its outlet. Near sundown, next day,the dam was finished and the water began rising. A rain hurried theprocess. Two days later the big water plane had begun to spill intoits outlet and flood the near meadow flats. The party got the boats inplace some twenty rods below and ready to be launched. Solomon drovethe plug out of his dam and the pent-up water began to pour through.The stream was soon flooded and the boats floating. Thus with aspirited water horse to carry them they began their journey to the sea.Men stood in the bow and stern of each boat with poles to push it alongand keep it off the banks. Some ten miles below they swung into alarge river and went on, more swiftly, with the aid of oars and paddles.
Thus Solomon became the hero of this ill-fated expedition. After thathe was often referred to in the army as the River Maker, although theingenious man was better known as the Lightning Hurler, that phrasehaving been coined in Jack's account of his adventures with Solomon inthe great north bush. In the ranks he had been regarded with a kind ofawe as a most redoubtable man of mysterious and uncanny gifts since heand Jack had arrived in the Highlands fresh from their adventure of"shifting the skeer"--as Solomon was wont to put it--whereupon, with nogreat delay, the rash Colonel Burley had his Binkussing. The scout wasoften urged to make a display of his terrible weapon but he held histongue about it, nor would he play with the lightning or be induced tohurl it upon white men.
"That's only fer to save a man from bein' burnt alive an' et up," heused to say.
At the White Pine Mills near the sea they were taken aboard a lumbership bound for Boston. Solomon returned with a great and growinginfluence among the common soldiers. He had spent a week in Newportand many of his comrades had reached the camp of Washington in advanceof the scout's arrival.
When Solomon--a worn and ragged veteran--gained the foot of theHighlands, late in October, he learned to his joy that Stony Point andKing's Ferry had been abandoned by the British. He found Jack at StonyPoint and told him the story of his wasted months. Then Jack gave hisfriend the news of the war.
D'Estaing with a French fleet had arrived early in the month. This hadled to the evacuation of Newport and Stony Point to strengthen theBritish position in New York. But South Carolina had been conquered bythe British. It took seven hundred dollars to buy a pair of shoes withthe money of that state, so that great difficulties had fallen in theway of arming and equipping a capable fighting force.
"I do not talk of it to others, but the troubles of our belovedWashington are appalling," Jack went on. "The devil loves to work withthe righteous, waiting his time. He had his envoy even among thedisciples of Jesus. He is among us in the person of BenedictArnold--lover of gold. The new recruits are mostly of his stripe. Heis their Captain. They demand big bounties. The faithful old guard,who have fought for the love of liberty and are still waiting for theirpay, see their new comrades taking high rewards. It isn't fair.Naturally the old boys hate the newcomers. They feel like putting acoat of tar and feathers on every one of them. You and I have got togo to work and put the gold seekers out of the temple. They need tohear some of your plain talk. Our greatest peril is Arnoldism."
"You jest wait an' hear to me," said Solomon. "I got suthin' to saythat'll make their ears bleed passin' through 'em."
The evening of his arrival in camp Solomon talked at the generalassembly of the troops. He was introduced with most felicitous goodhumor by Washington's able secretary, Mr. Alexander Hamilton. Theingenious and rare accomplishments of the scout and his heroic loyaltywere rubbed with the rhetoric of an able talker until they shone.
"Boys, ye kint make no hero out o' an old scrag o' a man like me,"Solomon began. "You may b'lieve what Mr. Hamilton says but I knowbetter. I been chased by Death an' grabbed by the coat-tails frequent,but I been lucky enough to pull away. That's all. You new recruits'a' been told how great ye be. I'm a-goin' fer to tell ye the truth.I don't like the way ye look at this job. It ain't no job o' workin'out. We're all workin' fer ourselves. It's my fight an' it's yerfight. I won't let no king put a halter on my head an', with the stalein one hand an' a whip in t' other, lead me up to the tax collector topay fer his fun. I'd ruther fight him. Some o' you has fam'lies.Don't worry 'bout 'em. They'll be took care of. I got some confidencein the Lord myself. Couldn't 'a' lived without it. Look a' me. I'mso ragged that I got patches o' sunburn on my back an' belly. I'm whatye might call a speckled man. My feet 'a' been bled. My body lookslike an ol' tree that has been clawed by a bear an' bit by woodpeckers.I've stuck my poker into the fire o' hell. I've been singed an' frostbit an' half starved an' ripped by bullets, an' all the pay I want isliberty an' it ain't due yit. I've done so little I'm 'shamed o'myself. Money! Lord God o' Israel! If any man has come here fer tomake money let him stan' up while we all pray fer his soul. These 'ereUnited States is your hum an' my hum an' erway down the trail afore usthey's millions 'pon millions o' folks comin' an' we want 'em to befree. We're a-fightin' fer 'em an' fer ourselves. If ye don't fightye'll git nothin' but taxes to pay the cost o' lickin' ye. It'll costa hundred times more to be licked than it'll cost to win. Ye won'tfind any o' the ol' boys o' Washington squealin' erbout pay. We'relookin' fer brothers an' not pigs. Git down on yer knees with me,every one o' ye, while the Chaplain asks God A'mighty to take us allinto His army."
The words of Solomon put the new men in better spirit and there waslittle complaining after that. They called that speech "The Binkussingof the Recruits." Solomon was the soul of the old guard.