Beagle, Mary
John M. McDonald interview — 1848-10-19
Mary Beagle may actually be Mary Bedell. She briefly describes the Battle of Pines Bridge and notes that the Black enlisted men of the American 1st Rhode Island Regiment suffered heavy casualties. She recalls that Colonel Christopher Greene and Major Ebenezer Flagg, the officers of the regiment who were killed during the battle, were buried in a “splendid military funeral” at the First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown a few days after the battle. She concludes by recalling the discipline of the French army during their encampments in present-day Yorktown in August 1781 and September-October 1782.
Manuscript page facsimiles
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Transcription
- Hufeland Index Page 730 -
<left margin> Mary Beagle – Remembers Davenports house – Negroes killed at Widow Griffens. – <left margin>
October 19th. Mary Beagle of Somers: “I remember when Davenport’s house was taken, and Colonel Greene and Major Flagg killed. The Rhode Island negroes who lay about Pines Bridge were very much cut to pieces. They lay for the most part at the widow Griffen’s and widow Remsen’s and Captain David Montross’s, on the north side of the Croton. There was a splendid military funeral of the officers who fell a few days afterwards. When the French army lay here, officers and privates all conducted with the greatest propriety, paying liberally for everything they bought or took in hard money – the soldiers cutting crowns and dollars into halves, quarters and eights, in order to make change.