Then before he required the men to imitate him, he went through the manual exercise by word and motion, deliberately pronounced and performed. He then proceeded to exercise them with the most perfect temper. Never did man possess a temper more happy, or one more subdued or better disciplined.
After a few lessons, he dismissed the Company, saying that if they wished to hear more about the war, he would tell them what he understood about it. The men formed a circle about him, and he talked to them for about an hour.
After that he challenged an acquaintance to a game of quoits. And they closed the day with foot-races and other athletic exercises.
Horace Binney (Retold)
SERVING THE CAUSE
Young John Marshall became a Lieutenant in the first regiment of Minute Men raised in Virginia. These were the citizen soldiery of the Colonies, who “were raised in a minute; armed in a minute; marched in a minute; fought in a minute; and vanquished in a minute.”
His father Thomas Marshall was Major of this Virginia regiment of Minute Men. Their appearance was calculated to strike terror into the hearts of an enemy. They were dressed in green hunting-shirts, home-spun, home-woven, and home-made, with the words,
Liberty or Death!
in large white letters on their bosoms.
They wore in their hats, buck-tails, and in their belts, tomahawks and scalping knives. Their savage, warlike appearance excited the terror of the inhabitants as they marched through the country.