Littlepage Manuscripts: Satanstoe, The Chainbearer & The Redskins (Complete Edition). James Fenimore Cooper
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them and their stores. Two or three corps came across the country, from the eastern colonies, while several provincial regiments appeared; everything tending to a concentration at this point, the head of navigation on the Hudson. Among other men of mark, who accompanied the troops, was Lord Viscount Howe, the nobleman of whom Herman Mordaunt had spoken. He bore the local rank of Brigadier, 32 and seemed to be the very soul of the army. It was not his personal consideration alone, that placed him so high in the estimation of the public and of the troops, but his professional reputation, and professional services. There were many young men of rank in the army present; and, as for younger sons of peers, there were enough to make honourables almost as plenty, at Albany, as they were at Boston. Most of the colonial families of mark had sons in the service, too; those of the middle and southern colonies bearing commissions in regular regiments, while the provincial troops from the eastern were led, as was very usual, in that quarter of the country, by men of the class of yeomen, in a great degree; the habits of equality that prevailed in those provinces making few distinctions, on the score of birth or fortune.
Yet it was said, I remember, that obedience was as marked, among the provincials from Massachusetts and Connecticut, as among those that came from farther south; the men deferring to authority, as the agent of the laws. They were fine troops, too; better than our own colony regiments, I must acknowledge; seeming to belong to a higher class of labourers; while, it must be admitted, that most of their officers were no very brilliant representatives of manners, acquirements, or habits, that would be likely to qualify them for command. It must have been that the officers and men suited each other; for, it was said all round, that they stood well, and fought very bravely, whenever they were particularly well led, as did not always happen to be the case. As a body of mere physical men, they were universally allowed to be the finest corps in the army, regulars and all included.
I saw Lord Howe two or three times, particularly at the residence of Madam Schuyler, the lady I have already had occasion to mention, and to whom I had given the letter of introduction procured by my mother, the Mordaunts visiting her with great assiduity, and frequently taking me with them. As for Lord Howe, himself, he almost lived under the roof of excellent Madam Schuyler; where, indeed, all the good company assembled at Albany, was, at times, to be seen.
Our party was a large one; and, it might have passed for a small corps of the army itself, moving on in advance; as was the case with corps, or parts of corps, now, almost daily. Herman Mordaunt had delayed our departure, indeed, expressly with a view to render the country safe, by letting it fill with detachments from the army; and our progress, when we were once in motion, was literally from post to post; encampment to encampment. It may be well to enumerate our force, and to relate the order of our march, that the reader may better comprehend the sort of business we were on.
Herman Mordaunt took with him, in addition to the ladies, a black cook, and a black serving-girl; a negro-man, to lake care of his horses, and another as his house-servant. He had three white labourers, in addition—men employed about the teams, and as axe-men, to clear the woods, bridge the streams, and to do other work of that nature, as it might be required. On our side, there were us three gentlemen, Yaap, my own faithful negro, Mr. Traverse, the surveyor, two chain-bearers, and two axe-men. Guert Ten Eyck carried with him, also, a negro-man, who was called Pete; it being contrary to bonos mores to style him Peter or Petrus; the latter being his true appellation. This made us ten men strong, of whom eight were white, and two black. Herman Mordaunt mustered, in all, just the same number, of which, however, four were females. Thus, by uniting our forces, we made a party of twenty souls, altogether. Of this number, all the males, black and white, were well armed, each man owning a good rifle, and each of the gentlemen a brace of pistols in addition. We carried the latter belted to our bodies, with the weapons, which were small and fitted to the service, turned behind, in such a way as to be concealed by our outer garments. The belts were also hid by the flaps of our nether garments. By this arrangement, we were well armed without seeming to be so; a precaution that is sometimes useful in the woods.
It is hardly necessary to say, that we did not plunge into the forest in the attire in which we had been accustomed to appear in the streets of New York and Albany. Cocked hats were laid aside altogether; forest caps, resembling in form those we had worn in the winter, with the exception that the fur had been removed, being substituted. The ladies wore light beavers, suited to their sex; there being little occasion for any shade for the face, under the dense canopies of the forest. Veils of green, however, were added, as the customary American protection for the sex. Anneke and Mary travelled in habits, made of light woman’s cloth, and in a manner to fit their exquisite forms like gloves. The skirts were short, to enable them to walk with ease, in the event of being compelled to go a-foot. A feather or two, in each hat, had not been forgotten—the offering of the natural propensity of their sex, to please the eyes of men.
As for us men, buckskin formed the principal material of our garments. We all wore buckskin breeches, and gaiters, and moccasins. The latter, however, had the white-man’s soles; though Guert took a pair or two with him that were of the pure Indian manufacture. Each of us had a coatee, made of common cloth; but we all carried hunting-shirts, to be worn as soon as we entered the woods. These hunting-shirts, green in colour, fringed and ornamented garments, of the form of shirts to be worn over all, were exceedingly smart in appearance, and were admirably suited to the woods. It was thought that the fringes, form, and colour, blended them so completely with the foliage, as to render them in a manner invisible to one at a distance; or at least, undistinguished. They were much in favour with all the forest corps of America, and formed the usual uniform of the riflemen of the woods, whether acting against man, or only against the wild beasts.
Neither Mr. Worden, nor Jason, moved with the main party; and it was precisely on account of these distinctions of dress. As for the divine, he was so good a stickler for appearances, he would have worn the gown and surplice, even on a mission to the Indians; which, by-the-way, was ostensibly his present business; and, at the several occasions, on which I saw him at cock-fights, he kept on the clerical coat and shovel-hat. In a word, Mr. Worden never neglected externals, so far as dress was concerned; and, I much question, if he would have consented to read prayers without the surplice, or to preach without the gown, let the desire for spiritual provender be as great as it might. I very well remember to have heard my father say, that, on one occasion, the parson had refused to officiate of a Sunday, when travelling, rather than bring discredit on the church, by appearing in the discharge of his holy office, without the appliances that belonged to the clerical character.
“More harm than good is done to religion, Mr. Littlepage,” said the Rev. Mr. Worden, on that occasion, “by thus lessening its rites in vulgar eyes. The first thing is to teach men to respect holy things, my dear sir; and a clergyman in his gown and surplice, commands threefold the respect of one without them. I consider it, therefore, a sacred duty to uphold the dignity of my office on all occasions.”
It was in consequence of these opinions, that the divine travelled in his clerical hat, clerical coat, black breeches, and band, even when in pursuit of the souls of red men among the wilds of North America! I will not take it upon myself to say, these observances had not their use; but I am very certain they put the reverend gentleman to a great deal of inconvenience.
As for Jason, he gave a Danbury reason for travelling in his best. Everybody did so, in his quarter of the country; and, for his part, he thought it disrespectful to strangers, to appear among them in old clothes! There was, however, another and truer reason, and that was economy; for the troops had so far raised the price of everything, that Jason did not hesitate to pronounce Albany the dearest place he had ever been in. There was some truth in this allegation; and the distance from New York, being no less than one hundred and sixty miles—so reported—the reader will at once see, it was the business of quite a month, or even more, to re-furnish the shelves of the shop that had been emptied. The Dutch not only moved slow, but they were methodical; and the shopkeeper whose stores were exhausted in April, would not be apt to think of replenishing them, until the regular time and season returned.
As a consequence of these views and motives, the Rev. Mr. Worden and Mr. Jason Newcome left Albany twenty-four hours in advance of the rest of our party, with the understanding they were to join us at a point where the road led into the woods, and where it was thought the