Home / Macdonald, John MacLean. The Last of the Guides. In The McDonald Papers, Part II, Chapter 7, Publications of the WCHS, Vol. V. 1926-27. / Passage

The McDonald Papers, Part II, Chapter 7: The Last of the Guides

Macdonald, John MacLean. The Last of the Guides. In The McDonald Papers, Part II, Chapter 7, Publications of the WCHS, Vol. V. 1926-27. 347 words

He used to relate that when the allies, marching from the east near the Bronx and passing over the high grounds around Morrisania House came in sight of the enemy, the fire which the British artillery opened upon them from the fortifications at Randall's Island and Snake-hill--from the batteries at Harlem and from the ships of war at anchor in the river, was terrible and incessant; and obeying the instinct of self- preservation, which became suddenly predominant--he urged his horse forward at full speed and rode for safety behind the old Morrisania mill. Here he pulled up, and looking back, saw Washington, Rochambeau, and other officers riding along calmly under the fire as though nothing unusual had

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occurred. His self-possession now returned; and, ashamed at having given way to an impulse of fear, he at once pricked back with all the rapidity to which he could urge his horse, and resumed his place in the order of march; while the com-manding officers, with good natured peals of laughter, wel-comed him back and commended his courage. Mr. Corsa knew personally every individual of that cele-brated band of volunteers called the "Westchester Guides," of whom he himself was the last and youngest; and he was among the most confidential friends of the heroic Abraham Dyckman, who fell prematurely at the close of the revolu-tionary contest. Possessed of a memory unusually retentive, and residing constantly upon the borders of the "neutral ground," he was acquainted with all the distinguished parti-sans both from above and below, and with nearly all the military operations whether great or small that occurred along this portion of the British lines; and which, until within the last few days of his life, he continued to describe in minute detail. Upon the conclusion of the revolutionary war, his father's lands, by a compulsory sale passed out of the family; and although without any means at the time, he did not hesitate to purchase, with money borrowed upon mortgage, a con-tiguous farm--which industry and good management enabled him, not many years after, to disencumber.