Page 112 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

108 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

Groton shore, and assisted in building Fort Grismold, on
Groton Banks, which ga~rison Lieut. Colonel EY~E, directed by
the parricide ARNOLD, three years afterwards attacked, and,
after its surrender, mercilessly slaughtered nearly every cap-
tured officer and soldier. Mr. AMES enlisted in Continental
service for the campaign of 1779; and, at its expiration, he
engaged as a substitute in place of a soldier to serve out an
unexpired enlistment in Gen. HUNTINGTON'S brigade. During
the cold winter of 1779-80, he was stationed with the main
army near Morristown, New Jersey. It was e winter of great
suffering, the soldiers living principally in small log huts,
poorly clad, with straw for a bed, and a single blanket for each
man for a covering, and some were destitute of shoes. The
anow was deep, fell early and lasted late; and the cold was
unusually intense. "We have," said WASHINGTON, "had the
yirtue and patience of the army put to the severest trial.
Sometimes it has been five or six days together without bread;
.at other times as many days without meat, and once or twice
$wo or three days without either. * * * At one time the
soldiers ate every kind of horse food but hay. Buckwheat, com-
mon wheat, rye, and Indian corn, composed the meal which
made their bread. As an army, they bore it with the most
heroic patience." "WASHINGTON," says Mr. AMES, "hearing
of our sufferings, came to the barracks, looked in, and spoke
words o P sympathy and encouragement. We told him we hoped
we should live till spring to fight our country's battles."
In the autumn of 1780, while stationed near Tarrytown, Mr.
AMES witnessed the execution of the unfortunate ANDRE, in
front of a stone church. After the close of the campaign of
that year, he returned to Stonington, and engaged on a priva-
teer sixteen gun brig, built at New London, called the La
Fayette, and went from New London to Newport, Rhode
Island. As the La Yayette entered the harbor, a French fleet
entered also; and, the next morning, Mr. AMES was awakened
at the tavern where he lodged, by a singular noisc on the side-
walk, which proved to arise from the tramping of the French