V.
IN PENNSYLVANIA.
We left Col. Bigelow with the American army, under the command of Gen. Gates, on the banks of the Hudson, exulting over the capture of Burgoyne and the flower of the British army. The next we hear of him, he, with his regiment, together with Col. Morgan's celebrated rifle corps and one or two other regiments, are ordered to march to the relief of the army in Pennsylvania, under the command of Gen. Washington. This campaign in Pennsylvania was very disastrous to the American army. Being poorly clothed, and more poorly fed, they were not in condition to meet the tried veterans of the English army. It was said of this reinforcement from Gen. Gates' army, that they were men of approved courage, and flushed with recent victory, but squalid in their appearance, from fatigue and want of necessaries. But when Col. Bigelow led his regiment into line with the main army at White Marsh, a small place about fourteen miles from Philadelphia, he was recognized by the commander-in-chief, as the very identical Capt. Bigelow whom he had seen at Cambridge with a company of minute men from Worcester; and while Washington held Col. Bigelow by the hand to introduce him to his brother officers, he said, "This, gentlemen officers, is Col. Bigelow, and the 15th regiment of the Massachusetts line under his command. This, gentlemen, is the man who vanquished the former royalists in his own native town. He marched the first company of minute men from Worcester at the alarm from Lexington. He shared largely in the sufferings of the campaign against Quebec, and was taken prisoner there. After his exchange he raised a regiment in his own neighborhood, and joining the northern army under Gen. Gates, participated in the struggle with Burgoyne, and shares largely in the honor of that victory."
It was said by an eye-witness, that "this was an exceedingly interesting and affecting event, and could not fail to satisfy every one of the high estimation in which the commander-in-chief held Col. Bigelow."
The American army was now watching the movements of Sir William Howe, commander of the British army, who soon landed his troops at the head of Elk river, in two columns, the right commanded by Gen. Knyphausen, the left by Lord Cornwallis. After several skirmishes, the two armies met upon the banks of the Brandywine. In this battle, the Americans were unsuccessful, and soon after the British army took possession of Philadelphia, and the American army took their position at Germantown, which is six miles northwest from Philadelphia. Here again the Americans are repulsed, and each army retires to winter quarters, the British to Philadelphia, the American to Valley Forge.
VI.
AT VALLEY FORGE.
Valley Forge is on the west side of the Schuylkill, twenty miles from Philadelphia, and this is where Col. Bigelow spent the winter of 1777-78, with his regiment, and here is where the soldiers of freedom suffered most intensely. The British general had derived no other fruit from all his recent victories, than of having procured excellent winter quarters for his army in Philadelphia. Here they spent the winter within the splendid mansions of that city, feasting upon the best the country afforded; while the American army were suffering in their mud huts, half clothed, with famine staring them in the face. Many of the soldiers were seen to drop dead with cold and hunger; others had their bare feet cut by the ice, and left their tracks in blood. The American army exhibited in their quarters at Valley Forge such examples of constancy and resignation, as were never paralleled before. In such pressing danger of famine and the dissolution of the army, mutiny appeared almost inevitable. At this alarming crisis, Col. Bigelow had a party of officers and soldiers convene at his headquarters one evening,—such a party as we should call in these days a surprise party,—when the subject of abandoning the cause was fully discussed. Col. Bigelow heard all that was to be said on the subject. Some of his men argued that Congress could not clothe or feed them, and they did not feel it to be their duty to abandon their families and homes, to starve in that cold climate. When all had been said by as many as wished to express their minds, Col. Bigelow arose and said:—"Gentlemen, I have heard all the remarks of discontent offered here this evening, but as for me, I have long since come to the conclusion, to stand by the American cause, come what will. I have enlisted for life. I have cheerfully left my home and family. All the friends I have, are the friends of my country. I expect to suffer with hunger, with cold, and with fatigue, and, if need be, I expect to lay down my life for the liberty of these colonies." Such remarks as these could not fail of having the desired effect.