At the capture of Fort Clinton by the British in October, 1777, "Molly" was "in at the finish." When the enemy scaled the parapet, her husband, an artilleryman, dropped his portfire and fled. But Molly caught it up and discharged the last gun fired. Nine months later, at the Monmouth battle, while she was devotedly bringing water to her husband, who was serving a gun, he fell dead at her feet from a British shot. Although the officer in command ordered the piece withdrawn, Molly dropped her water-bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed she would fill her husband's place at the gun and thus avenge his death. Next morning, covered with dirt and blood, she was presented to Washington by General Greene, and was appointed a sergeant and placed upon the half-pay list for life. She became a universal favorite with the army and usually appeared in artillery dress, with a cocked hat. She was afterward provided for at the Point by the Government authorities and died in that vicinity about the age of thirty-three. WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY. Colonel Henry Knox, who was appointed chief of artillery by Washington in November, 1775, was the first to propose the establishment of a military academy, of the Woolwich type, in this country. In a letter to his wife, dated September 5, 1776, he said: "We must have a standing army. The militia get sick, or think themselves so, and run home." Later in the same month, in a letter to Adams, he wrote: "Military academies must be instituted at any expense. We are fighting against a people well acquainted with the theory and practice of war, and brave by discipline and habit."