LITMIR.BIZ

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      By Frank R. Stockton

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      The battle of Monmouth, N. J., was fought June 29, 1778. It was the first battle the Americans had with the British after the terrible winter at Valley Forge. It would have been a signal victory for Washington's troops had General Charles Lee obeyed Washington's orders. Notwithstanding Lee's acts, the American troops held their ground till nightfall, when the British quietly retreated.

      At the battle of Monmouth, a young Irishwoman,

       wife of an artilleryman, played a very notable part

       in the working of the American cannon on that eventful

       day in June.

      Molly was born with the soul of a soldier, and although 5

       she did not belong to the army she much preferred going

       to war to staying at home and attending to domestic affairs.

       She was in the habit of following her husband on his various

       marches, and on the day of the Monmouth battle she was

       with him on the field. 10

      The day was very hot. The rays of the sun came down

       with such force that many of the soldiers were taken sick

       and some died; and the constant discharges of musketry

       and artillery did not make the air any cooler. Molly devoted

       herself to keeping her husband as comfortable as 15

       possible, and she made frequent trips to a spring not far

       away to bring him water; and on this account he was one

       of the freshest and coolest artillerymen on the ground.

       In fact, there was no man belonging to the battery who was

       able to manage one of these great guns better than Pitcher. 20

       Returning from one of her trips to the spring, Molly

       had almost reached the place where her husband was

       stationed when a bullet from the enemy struck the poor

       man and stretched him dead, so that Molly had no sooner

       caught sight of her husband than she saw him fall. She 5

       ran to the gun, but scarcely had reached it before she heard

       one of the officers order the cannon to be wheeled back out

       of the way, saying that there was no one there who could

       serve it as it had been served.

      Now Molly's eyes flashed fire. One might have thought 10

       that she would have been prostrated with grief at the loss

       of her husband, but as we have said, she had within her

       the soul of a soldier. She had seen her husband, who was

       the same to her as a comrade, fall, and she was filled with

       an intense desire to avenge his death. She cried out to 15

       the officer not to send the gun away but to let her serve it;

       and scarcely waiting to hear what he would say, she sprang

       to the cannon and began to load it and fire it. She had so

       often attended her husband and even helped him in his

       work that she knew all about this sort of thing, and her 20

       gun was managed well and rapidly.

      It might be supposed that it would be a very strange

       thing to see a woman on the battlefield firing a cannon;

       but even if the enemy had watched Molly with a spyglass,

       they would not have noticed anything to excite their surprise. 25

       She wore an ordinary skirt, like other women of

       the time; but over this was an artilleryman's coat and on

       her head was a cocked hat with some jaunty feathers stuck

       in it, so that she looked almost as much like a man as the

       rest of the soldiers of the battery. 30

      During the rest of the battle Molly bravely served her

       gun; and if she did as much execution in the ranks of the

       redcoats as she wanted to do, the loss in the regiments in

       front of her must have been very great. Of course all the

       men in the battery knew Molly Pitcher, and they watched

       her with the greatest interest and admiration. She would

       not allow anyone to take her place, but kept on loading and 5

       firing until the work of the day was done. Then the

       officers and men crowded about her with congratulations

       and praise.

      The next day General Greene went to Molly—whom he

       found in very much the condition in which she had left 10

       the battlefield, stained with dirt and powder, with her

       fine feathers gone and her cocked hat dilapidated—and

       conducted her, just as she was, to General Washington.

       When the commander in chief heard what she had done,

       he gave her warm words of praise. He determined to 15

       bestow upon her a substantial reward; for anyone who was

       brave enough and able enough to step in and fill an important

       place, as Molly had filled her husband's place,

       certainly deserved a reward. It was not according to the

       rules of war to give a commission to a woman; but as 20

       Molly had acted the part of a man, Washington considered

       it right to pay her for her services as if she had been a man.

       He therefore gave her the commission of a sergeant and

       recommended that her name be placed on the list of half-pay

       officers for life. 25

      —Stories of New Jersey.

      1. How did Molly come to be on the battlefield? Describe her as she looked in an artilleryman's garb. Relate briefly her deed of heroism. How was it rewarded?

      2. What other heroines of history can you recall?

      3. Frank R. Stockton (1834–1902) is a well-known name in American literature. He wrote many books, among which Rudder Grange stands high. His short stories, however, are his best work.

KING PHILIP TO THE WHITE SETTLERS

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      By Edward Everett

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      For thirty years Massasoit was the firm friend of the early settlers in New England. But when his son Philip came to rule over the Indian tribe their former friendship for the whites was broken. In 1675 Philip led his 10,000 warriors against the white settlers. King Philip's War lasted into 1676 when Philip was captured and slain. The following is a supposed

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