[Gecco-general] Oceed to destroy it effectually.--For which purpose I possess ample means. T. M

[Follman <se...@xy...>]

1817, 37 THE BATTLE OF STONINGTON, BY PHILIP FRENEAU, 38 CELEBRATIONS OF
THE ANNIVERSARY, 42 NOTES, 47 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The repulse of a
British squadron, at Stonington, by a few undisciplined volunteers,
having only two effective guns, imperfectly protected by a low
earth-work,--and this repulse accomplished without the loss of a single
life,--was not the least glorious achievement of the War of 1812-14. The
fiftieth anniversary of the action is close at hand. Few who
witnessed,--only three or four who participated in it, survive. In this
day of great events, when armies and navies are gathered on a scale of
magnitude of which our fathers never dreamed,--when from the heights of
modern science, we look back to the guns and the ships of war of the
last generation, as to the toys of childhood,--when we are in the very
crisis of a war greater in itself, and waged for a grander issue, than
the world has hitherto witnessed,--it is not surprising that so few find
leisure or inclination to look from the present to the past, or to
recall to memory the heroism of their fathers. Yet there are some for
whom the story of _The Attack_ has not yet lost its interest. They
learned it in childhood, from the lips of those who shared the perils
and the glory of the action. They grew up, amid associations which could
hardly fail to kindle an honest pride in their birth-place. To them, the
"Tenth of August" was not merely a school-holiday, but an anniversary
entitled to equal honors with Independence Day itself. They have helped
draw the "old Eighteens," through the streets of the Borough, in solemn
procession to the site of the demolished Battery. They have seen the
cherished Flag--pierced and torn in a dozen places by the enemy's
shot,--float again from the flag-staff, in honor of the day: and some of
them were standing by when "Old Hickory" bared his head to salute it,
and bade the citizens preserve, with all care, this precious memorial of
the courage and patriotism of their townsmen. It is for these--the c