English abandon Philadelphia, the American army leaves Valley Forge, to watch their movements. They cross the Delaware at Coryell's Ferry, and take post at Hopewell; they do not venture to cross the Raritan. The English reach Allentown; Gen. Lee occupies Englishtown; Washington encamped at Cranberry; Morgan and Col. Bigelow are harassing the right flank of the English. The British, now upon the heights of Freehold, pass all their baggage to the hills of Middletown for safety, and then comes the battle of Monmouth.

VII.

THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH.

The battle of Monmouth, so called by the Americans, was fought in Freehold, Monmouth county, N. J., situated thirty-five miles southeast from Trenton. The commander-in-chief had detached two brigades to the support of Gen. Wayne, who had been sent on as a vanguard, and had already come up with the British rear. These two brigades were commanded by Gens. Lee and Lafayette. At this time Col. Bigelow was under the command of Gen. Lafayette. This vanguard of the American army had so severely galled the rear of the British, that Gen. Clinton resolved to wheel his whole army and put the Americans to flight at the point of the bayonet. For a short time the conflict was severe. At length Gen. Lee gave way, for which he was afterwards court-martialed and suspended for one year. The light horse, also, of Lafayette's brigade, gave way, and nothing of that celebrated vanguard but Col. Bigelow's regiment, with two or three other regiments, remained. It was said that if Gen. Lee had stood his ground, as he might have done, a decisive victory would have been gained. Col. Bigelow's regiment was the last to quit the field.

It was said by one of Col. Bigelow's men, who was an intimate acquaintance of the writer of this article, and who was wounded at that time, that, at the time he fell, Col. Bigelow seized his musket from him, and fought more like a tiger than like a man. This man was Mr. Solomon Parsons, whose son now occupies and owns the same farm on which his father died, on Apricot street, in this city. Col. Bigelow with his regiment had to retire, but was soon met by Washington, with the main army, who was moving up to the rescue. After the troops of Lee and Lafayette had been rallied, the whole army turned upon the enemy, and then came the tug of war, for "Greek met Greek." The English, flushed with the advantages they had got, and the Americans under the command of their own beloved Washington, many of whom had never fought before by his side, were determined to retake the field, or die in the attempt. The conflict was now terrible indeed, and in the midst of flame, and smoke, and metal hail, Bigelow was conspicuous. The English were repulsed and driven to the woods. The Americans retake the field; night comes on; the whole American army rest on their arms through the night, that they may renew the attack with the dawn of day; day comes on, and the British army has fled, as one of their officers said by moonlight, but it so happened that the moon set that night at 10 o'clock, being but four days old.

Such was the issue of the battle of Freehold, or of Monmouth, as the Americans call it. We have now traced the military history of Col. Bigelow from April 19, 1775, to June 28, 1778.

VIII.

THE SLAUGHTER AT WYOMING.

The history of Col. Bigelow is so interwoven with that of the Revolution, that it is difficult to separate the two. We shall therefore, give in this chapter a short account of the bloody butchery of the inhabitants of that beautiful little colony at Wyoming, and what Col. Bigelow thought of that demoniac cruelty, the bare remembrance of which makes us shudder. Wilkesbarre is the shire town of Luzerne county, Pa. It is situated in the Wyoming valley, one hundred and fourteen miles northeast from Harrisburg, and one hundred and twenty northwest from Philadelphia. This place was settled by emigrants from Connecticut in 1773, under the auspices of one Col. Durkee, who gave it the compound name it bears in honor of two eminent and zealous advocates of the American cause in the British parliament, Wilkes and Barre. Wyoming contained eight townships, each containing a square of five miles, beautifully situated on both sides of the Susquehanna. Wilkesbarre is one of those towns. The inhabitants of this beautiful valley were much engaged in their country's cause, and nearly one thousand of their young men had joined the army, and were absent from home. Most of those remaining at home were tories, although these were not so numerous as the friends of liberty. Yet they formed an alliance with the Indians, and the first of July there appeared before the fort at Wilkesbarre about sixteen hundred armed men, two-thirds of which were tories and one-third Indians. The colony of Wyoming could muster only about five hundred men. In this condition, the tories and Indians fell upon them, and put them nearly all to death; only about sixty escaped. Never was a rout so deplorable; never was a massacre accompanied with so many horrors. The barbarians took the men, women and children promiscuously into houses and barracks, and set fire to them and consumed them all, listening, delighted, to hear the moans and shrieks of the expiring multitude.

The crops of every description were consigned to the flames. The habitations, granaries, and other constructions—the fruit of years of human industry—sunk in ruin, under the destructive strokes of those cannibals. Their fury was also wreaked upon the very beasts. They cut out the tongues of the horses and cattle, and left them to wander in the midst of those fields, lately so luxuriant, but now in desolation, to undergo the torments of a lingering death. Capt. Bedlock was stripped naked, and stuck full of pine splinters and set on fire. Captains Ransom and Durgee were thrown alive into the fire. One of the tories, whose mother had married a second husband, butchered her with his own hand, and then massacred his father-in-law, his own sisters, and their infants in the cradle. Another killed his own father, and exterminated all his family. A third imbued his hands in the blood of his brothers, his sisters, his brother-in-law, and his father-in-law. Other atrocities, if possible still more abominable, we leave in silence. The tories appeared to vie with and even to surpass the savages in barbarity. Such men as these, Col. Bigelow had to contend with in Worcester, in 1774, and upon hearing of this bloody massacre, it was said that Col. Bigelow was filled with horror and indignation, and swore eternal vengeance and condign punishment upon all the tories. Col. Bigelow at this time was at his post in Rhode Island, and on hearing of this bloody tragedy, it was said by the same informant, that he walked his room for one hour without speaking. At length he exclaimed, "Our worst enemies are those of our own household."

IX.

SCOUTING.

After the British evacuated Rhode Island, Col. Bigelow moves on with his regiment, and the next we hear of him he is at "Verplank's Point." The American army was at this time very much divided. The great object of the commander-in-chief was to annoy the British forces as much as possible, and we think that it is not saying too much of Col. Bigelow, that no Colonel in the whole American army was better qualified for that service. His whole life had been and was at this time, devoted to his country's cause. He had left Worcester and all its pleasant associations, with a determination to free the colonies from the mother country, or die in the attempt. He seemed to feel that the whole responsibility of the struggle rested on him. Always ready to obey orders from superior