* When General Wayne took command of the army in the Northwestern Territory, against the Indians, in 1794, Mr. Jones was appointed his chaplain, and accompanied him. When the war of 1812 broke out, he again entered the army, being then seventy-six years old, and served under Generals Brown and Wilkinson until the close of that contest. His last public act was to address the people assembled to dedicate the Paoli Monument. He died on the 5th of February, 1820, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in the Great Valley church-yard, in sight of Valley Forge. The portrait here given I copied from an excellent cabinet picture of the chaplain in the possession of his grandson, Horatio Gates Jones, Jr., of Philadelphia, who kindly furnished me with the materials for this brief sketeh of the public services of that eminent patriot and divine.
* I have before me a printed copy of that address, which was published soon afterward. I print it here as a favorable specimen of the manner in which the American soldiers were addressed by their Chaplains.
"ADDRESS: "To General St. Clair's Brigade at Tieonderoga, when the Enemy were hourly expected, October 20,1776. "My Countrymen, Fellow-soldiers, and Friends, "I am sorry that during this campaign I have been favored with so few opportunities of addressing you on subjects of the greatest importance both with respect to this life and that whieh is to come; but what is past can not be recalled, and now time will not admit an enlargement, as we have the greatest reason to expect the advancement of our enemies as speedily as Heaven will permit. [The wind blew to the north, strongly.] Therefore, at present, let it suffice to bring to your remembrance some necessary truths. "It is our common faith, and a very just one too, that all events on earth are under the notice of that God in whom we live, move, and have our being; therefore we must believe that, in this important struggle with the worst of enemies, he has assigned us our post here at Tieonderoga. Our situation is such that, if properly defended, we shall give our enemies a fatal blow, and in great measure prove the means of the salvation of North America. "Such is our present ease, that we are fighting for all that is near and dear to us, while our enemies are engaged in the worst of causes, their design being to subjugate, plunder, and enslave a free people that have done them no harm. Their tyrannical views are so glaring, their cause so horribly bad, that there still remain too much goodness and humanity in Great Britain to engage unanimously against us, therefore they have been obliged (and at a most amazing expense, too) to hire the assistance of a barbarous, mercenary people, that would cut your throats for the small reward of sixpence. No doubt these have hopes of being our task-masters, and would rejoice at our calamities. "Look, oh! look, therefore, at your respective states, and anticipate the consequences if these vassals are suffered to enter! It would fail the most fruitful imagination to represent, in a proper light, what anguish, what horror, what distress would spread over the whole! See, oh! see the dear wives of your bosoms forced from their peaceful habitations, and perhaps used with such indecency that modesty would forbid the description. Behold the fair virgins of your land, whose benevolent souls are now filled with a thousand good wishes and hopes of seeing their admirers return home crowned with victory, would not only meet with a doleful disappointment, but also with such insults and abuses that would induce their tender hearts to pray for the shades of death. See your children exposed as vagabonds to all the calamities of this life! Then, oh! then adieu to all felicity this side the grave!... "Now all these calamities may be prevented if our God be for us—and who can doubt of this who observes the point in which the wind now blows—if you will only acquit yourselves like men, and with firmness of mind go forth against your enemies, resolving either to return with victory or to die gloriously. Every one that may fall in this dispute will be justly esteemed a martyr to liberty, and his name will be had in precious memory while the love of freedom remains in the breasts of men. All whom God will favor to see a glorious victory, will return to their respective states with every mark of honor, and be received with joy and gladness of heart by all friends to liberty and lovers of mankind. "As our present ease is singular, I hope, therefore, that the candid will excuse me, if I now conclude with an uncommon address, in substance principally extracted from the writings of the servants of God in the Old Testament; though, at the same time, it is freely acknowledged that I am not possessed of any similar power either of blessing or cursing.
"1. Blessed be that man who is possessed of true love of
liberty; and let all the people say, Amen.
"2. Blessed be that man who is a friend to the common rights
of mankind; and let all the people say, Amen.
"3. Blessed be that man who is a friend to the United States
of America; and let all the people say, Amen.
"4. Blessed be that man who will use his utmost endeavor to
oppose the tyranny of Great Britain, and to vanquish all her
forces invading North America; and let all the people say.
Amen.
"5. Blessed be that man who is resolved never to submit to
Great Britain; and let all the people say, Amen.
"6. Blessed be that man who in the present dispute esteems
not his life too good to fall a sacrifice in defense of his
country; let his posterity, if any he has, be blessed with
riches, honor, virtue, and true religion; and let all the
people say, Amen.
* "Now, on the other hand, as far as is consistent with the
Holy Scriptures, let all these blessings be turned into
curses to him who deserts the noble cause in which we are
engaged, and turns his back to the enemy before he receives
proper orders to retreat; and let all the people say, Amen.
"Let him be abhorred by all the United States of America.
"Let faintness of heart and fear never forsake him on earth.
"Let him be a magor missabile, a terror to himself and all
around him.
"Let him be accursed in his outgoing, and cursed in his
incoming; cursed in lying down, and cursed in uprising;
cursed in basket, and cursed in store.
"Let him be cursed in all his connections, till his wretched
head with dishonor is laid low in the dust; and let all the
soldiers say, Amen.
"And may the God of all grace, in whom we live, enable us,
in defense of our country, to acquit ourselves like men, to
his honor and praise. Amen and Amen."
* On one occasion, while reconnoitering alone, he saw a dragoon dismount and enter a house for refreshments. Mr. Jones boldly abstracted the horseman's pistols, and, going into the house, claimed him as his prisoner. The dragoon was unarmed, and was obliged to obey the orders of his captor, to mount and ride into the American camp. The event caused great merriment., and Wayne laughed immoderately at the idea of his chaplain's capturing a British dragoon.
The Paoli Monument.—The Inscriptions upon it.
posed of a blue clouded marble pedestal, surmounted by a white marble pyramid.
