Home / Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. / Passage

History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900

Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. 307 words

The heroic Wayne, leading one of the columns, received a wound on the head, and, thinking he was dying, said: "Carry me into the fort and let me die at the head of my column." In his report to Washington he used these noble words: " The humanity of our brave soldiery, who scorned to take the lives of a vanquished foe when calling for mercy, reflects the highest honor on them and accounts for the few of the enemy killed on the oeeasiem." The enemy's killed were only 63. It will be recalled that in the storming of Forts Clinton and Montgomery the Americans lost 250 out of a. total no larger than that of the British at Stony Point; and indeed it is notorious that the victors upon the former occasion ruthlessly bayoneted most of the defenders who failed to escape. By this glorious exploit Wayne was exalted to the highest pinnacle of fame, and to the present day the splendor of it has not faded away. Probably no hero of a single military coup de main was ever hailed with greater applause than was showered upon W7ayne. Even the malignant, backbiting General Charles Lee wrote to him from his disgraceful retirement a letter of glowing enthusiasm -- although at the trial of Lee Wayne had been one of the chief witnesses against him. On the other hand, whilst the recollection of this prodigious

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deed of valor was still fresh in men's minds, Major Andre, who was to be the next central object of sentimental attention, found it fitting to select Wayne, of all American generals, as the hero of his Hudibrasian poem, "The Cow Chace." Wayne happened to be distinguished for unconthness of general demeanor no less than for lion-like daring before the armed foe and woman-like tenderness before the vanquished.