American Prisoners of the Revolution | Page 4

through it, without any apprehension of danger on either side.
"The spectators appearing to be amazed at these feats, were told that
there were upwards of fifty persons in the same company who could do

the same thing; that there was not one who could not 'plug nineteen
bullets out of twenty,' as they termed it, within an inch of the head of a
ten-penny nail.
"In short, to evince the confidence they possessed in these kind of arms,
some of them proposed to stand with apples on their heads, while
others at the same distance undertook to shoot them off, but the people
who saw the other experiments declined to be witnesses of this.
"At night a great fire was kindled around a pole planted in the Court
House Square, where the company with the Captain at their head, all
naked to the waist and painted like savages (except the Captain, who
was in an Indian shirt), indulged a vast concourse of people with a
perfect exhibition of a war-dance and all the manoeuvres of Indians;
holding council, going to war; circumventing their enemies by defiles;
ambuscades; attacking; scalping, etc. It is said by those who are judges
that no representation could possibly come nearer the original. The
Captain's expertness and agility, in particular, in these experiments,
astonished every beholder. This morning they will set out on their
march for Cambridge."
From the Virginia Gazette of July 22nd, 1775, we make the following
extract: "A correspondent informs us that one of the gentlemen
appointed to command a company of riflemen to be raised in one of the
frontier counties of Pennsylvania had so many applications from the
people in his neighborhood, to be enrolled in the service, that a greater
number presented themselves than his instructions permitted him to
engage, and being unwilling to give offence to any he thought of the
following expedient: He, with a piece of chalk, drew on a board the
figure of a nose of the common size, which he placed at the distance of
150 yards, declaring that those who came nearest the mark should be
enlisted. Sixty odd hit the object.--General Gage, take care of your
nose!"
From the Pennsylvania Journal, July 25th, 1775: "Captain Dowdle
with his company of riflemen from Yorktown, Pa., arrived at
Cambridge about one o'clock today, and since has made proposals to
General Washington to attack the transport stationed at Charles River.

He will engage to take her with thirty men. The General thinks it best
to decline at present, but at the same time commends the spirit of
Captain Dowdle and his brave men, who, though they just came a very
long march, offered to execute the plan immediately."
In the third volume of American Archives, is an extract from a letter to
a gentleman in Philadelphia, dated Frederick Town, Maryland, August
1st, 1775, which speaks of the same company of riflemen whose
wonderful marksmanship we have already noted. The writer says:
"Notwithstanding the urgency of my business I have been detained here
three days by a circumstance truly agreeable. I have had the happiness
of seeing Captain Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable
company of upwards of one hundred and thirty men from the
mountains and backwoods; painted like Indians; armed with
tomahawks and rifles; dressed in hunting shirts and moccasins; and,
tho' some of them had travelled hundreds of miles from the banks of
the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit
than at the first hour of their march.
"I was favored by being constantly in Captain Cresap's company, and
watched the behavior of his men and the manner in which he treated
them, for is seems that all who go out to war under him do not only pay
the most willing obedience to him as their commander, but in every
instance of distress look up to him as their friend and father. A great
part of his time was spent in listening to and relieving their wants,
without any apparent sense of fatigue and trouble. When complaints
were before him he determined with kindness and spirit, and on every
occasion condescended to please without losing dignity.
"Yesterday, July 31st, the company were supplied with a small quantity
of powder, from the magazine, which wanted airing, and was not in
good order for rifles: in the evening, however, they were drawn out to
show the gentlemen of the town their dexterity in shooting. A clap
board with a mark the size of a dollar was put up; they began to fire
offhand, and the bystanders were surprised. Few shots were made that
were not close to, or into, the paper. When they had shot some time in
this way, some lay on their backs, some