The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1Richardson, Major (John)
History
The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1
Richardson, Major (John)
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Fiction; War stories
Meanwhile the sentinels at the several posts having been
relieved, and every thing ready for their departure, the
American army, leaving their arms piled in the area,
commenced their evacuation of the Fort, the artillery
and troops of the line taking the lead. Scarcely had
these defiled across the draw-bridge into the road that
conducted to a large esplanade in front, to which their
baggage had previously been transported, when--amid a
roar of artillery from the opposite batteries, the
flotilla, and ramparts themselves--the flag of America
was lowered, and that of England raised in its stead. In
the enthusiasm of the moment, the men on the rampart
employed on duty gave three cheers, which were answered
by the columns without, who only waited until the last
of the Garrison should have crossed the drawbridge, before
they entered themselves. Watchfully alive to the order
that had been received, Captain Granville and Henry
Grantham lingered near the gate, regarding, yet with an
air of carelessness, every countenance among the irregular
troops as they issued forth. Hitherto their search had
been ineffectual, and to their great surprise, although
the last: few files of the prisoners were now in the act
of passing them, there was not the slightest trace of
Desborough. It was well known that the fort had no other
outlet, and any man attempting to escape over the ramparts,
must have been seen and taken either by the troops or by
the Indians, who in the far distance completely surrounded
them. Captain Granville intimated the possibility of
Henry Grantham having been deceived in the voice, but
the latter as pertinaciously declared he could not be
mistaken, for, independently of his former knowledge of
the man, his tones had so peculiarly struck him on the
day when he made boastful confession of his father's
murder, that no time could efface them from his memory.
This short discussion terminated just as the last few
files were passing. Immediately in the rear of these were
the litters, on which were borne such of the wounded as
could be removed from the hospital without danger. These
were some thirty in number, and it seemed to both officers
as somewhat singular, that the faces of all were, in
defiance of the heat of the day, covered with the sheets
that had been spread over each litter. For a moment the
suspicion occurred Jo Grantham, that Desborough might be
of the number; but when he reflected on the impossibility
that any of the wounded men could be the same whose voice
had sounded so recently in the full vigour of health in
his ear, he abandoned the idea. Most of the wounded, as
they passed, indicated by low and feeble moaning, the
inconvenience they experienced from the motion to which
they were subjected, and more or less expressed by the
contortions of their limbs, the extent of their sufferings.
An exception to this very natural conduct was remarked
by Grantham, in the person of one occupying nearly a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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