At last, my master took me up, put me in complete order, loaded me
and set me down in the same place, saying as he did so, "Now all is
ready." His wife sighed heavily. He looked at her and said, "My
dear, would you not have us defend our children and firesides
against the oppressors?"
"Yes," she said, "go, but my heart must ache at the thought of what
may happen. If I could only go with you!"
They sat silent for a long time, holding each other's hands, and
looking at their children, till, just at sunrise, his brother John,
that sleeping child's grandfather, rushed into the house, crying,
"They are in sight from the hill. Come, Tom, quickly, come to the
church." My master seized me in a moment, kissed his wife and
children, and without speaking hastened to the place where the few
men of the then very small town were assembled to resist the
invaders.
Presently about eight hundred men, all armed with muskets as good as
I was, and of the same fashion, were seen. These men had two cannon
with them which made a fearful show to the poor colonists, as the
Americans were then called.
Our men were about one hundred in number. The lordly English marched
up within a few rods of us, and one called out, "Disperse, you
rebels. Lay down your arms, and disperse."
Our men did not however lay down their arms. My master grasped me
tighter than before. We did not stir an inch. Immediately the
British officers fired their pistols, then a few of their men fired
their muskets, and, at last, the whole party fired upon our little
band as we were retreating.
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