We were unusually
silent all morning; no passengers came by the house, except to the mill, &
we don’t place much dependence on Mill news.
About twelve o’clock,
cousin Jesse1 heard that Gen. Howe’s army moved down towards
Philadelphia. Then my dear, our hopes & fears were engaged for you.
However, my advice is, summon up all your resolution, call Fortitude to your
aid, and don't suffer your spirits to sink, my dear; there's nothing like
courage; 'tis what I stand in need of myself, but unfortunately have
little of it in my composition.
I was standing in
the kitchen2 about 12, when somebody came to me in a hurry,
screaming, "Sally, Sally, here are the light horse!" This was by far
the greatest fright I had endured; fear tack'd wings to my feet; I was at the
house in a moment; at the porch I stopt, and it really was the light horse.
I ran immediately
to the western door, where the family were assembled, anxiously waiting for the
event. They rode up to the door and halted, and enquired if we had horses to
sell; he was answer'd negatively.
"Have not you,
sir," to my father, "two black horses?"
"Yes, but have
no mind to dispose of them."
My terror had by
this time nearly subsided. The officer and men behav'd perfectly civil; the
first drank two glasses of wine, rode away, bidding his men follow, which,
after adieus in number, they did. The officer was Lieutenant Lindsay,3
of Bland's regiment, Lee's troop. The men, to our great joy, were Americans, and
but 4 in all. What made us imagine them British, they wore blue and red, which
with us is not common.
It has rained all
this afternoon, and to present appearances, will all night. In all probability
the English will take possession of the city to-morrow or next day.
What a change will it be! May the Almighty take you under His protection, for
without His divine aid all human assistance is vain.
"May
heaven's guardian arm protect my absent friends,
From
danger guard them, and from want defend."
Forgive my dear,
the repetition of these lines, but they just darted into my mind. Nothing
worth relating has occurred this afternoon. Now for trifles. I have set a
stocking on the needles, and intend to be mighty industrious. This evening
some of our folks heard a very heavy cannon. We supposed it to be
fir'd by the English. The report seem'd to come from Philada. We hear the
American army will be within five miles of us tonight.
1 JESSE FOULKE, son of William and
Hannah, and brother to Caleb and Amos. He was therefore a "connection by
marriage," but not of kin, at all; the term "cousin"
is purely complimentary. He was born Nov. 9, 1742, and died unmarried, March
16, 1821. He and his unmarried sister Priscilla continued to occupy the old
Foulke mansion, and lived to advanced years. — H. M. J.
2 The kitchen was "a small distance from
the house." See infra, under date of June 5, 1778.
3 WILLIAM LINDSAY, whose father, William
Lindsay, had come from Jamaica and settled at Port Royal, Caroline County,
Virginia, was appointed a Cornet in Colonel Bland's Regiment of Virginia
Light Dragoons, June 16, 1776. On the 18th of December of the
same year he was raised to the rank of Lieutenant. March 15, 1777, he
became Third Lieutenant of the First Continental Dragoons. He
received a wound near Valley Forge, January 21, 1778. On the 7th of April
following he was made Captain of Lee's Battalion of Light
Dragoons. He resigned from the Army, October 1, 1778. He lived for a time near
Fredericksburg, but having received the first appointment to the office of Collector of the
Customs for Norfolk and Portsmouth under the Federal government, he removed
with his family to the latter place. He died September 1, 1797, while on a trip
to Newport, Rhode Island, and was buried there in Trinity churchyard. By his
wife, Martha Fox, he had several children, of whom Colonel William
Lindsay was a prominent officer of the United States Army. — Bland
MSS., Cong. Lib., Wash.; Heitman; "Lindsay Genealogy," 225 (Albany,
1889); Norfolk Herald, Sept. 29, 1838; Columbian Sentinel (Boston), September
13, 1797.
SOURCE: Albert Cook
Myers, Editor, Sally Wister's Journal A True Narrative Being A Quaker
Maiden's Account Of Her Experiences With Officers Of The
Continental Army, 1777-1778, pp. 69-73
