“Lossing tells us that he had an interview with some connections of his family, and learned from them that he lived in Canada, to be an old man, and died there. The death of his Jennie was a dreadful blow to him, and he never recovered from it. He had been gay and very talkative when quite young, but after that sad event he was melancholy and taciturn. He never married, and went into society as little as he could without neglecting business. Every year he kept the anniversary of Jennie’s death—he would shut himself in his room and refuse to see any one. His friends felt for him and were careful not to speak of the Revolution in his presence. He bought Jennie’s scalp and kept it as a cherished possession.”
“Grandma, was Jennie buried? And if so, is it known where?” asked Elsie.
“Yes; Lossing tells that a picket-guard of one hundred men, under Lieutenant Van Vechten, was stationed on the hill a little north of the pine-tree on that day that we have been talking about, and at the moment when the house of Mrs. McNeil was attacked and plundered, and she and Jennie were carried off, other parties of Indians, belonging to the same expedition, came rushing through the woods from different points and fell upon the Americans. Several were killed and their scalps borne off. The party that went out from the fort in pursuit found their bodies. Jennie and the officer were found lying near together, close by the spring, and only a few feet from the pine-tree. They were stripped of clothing. They were carried immediately to the fort—the Americans at once evacuated it—and the body of Jennie was sent down the river in the bateau in which she was to have gone to her brother. It seems that he was very fond of her, and took charge of her mutilated corpse with the deepest grief. It was buried at the same time and place with that of the lieutenant, on the west bank of the Hudson, near the mouth of a small creek about three miles below Fort Edward.”
“Did the Indians kill Mrs. McNeil, grandma?” asked Ned.
“No; she lived a good many years, and her grave can be seen in the village cemetery near the ruins of the fort. Lossing says that in the summer of 1826 the remains of Jennie were taken up and put in the same grave with her. A plain white marble slab, with only the name Jane McCrea on it, marks the spot.”
CHAPTER IX
The children’s bedtime had come and they had gone to their sleeping quarters for the night. Grandma Elsie was holding the new baby while having a bit of chat with its mother; most of the other grown people were enjoying themselves together in the parlor, but Lucilla and her father were pacing the front porch, as they so often did, while Mamma Vi put the younger ones to bed.
“Have you had a pleasant time to-day, daughter?” asked the captain.