battle ground between two tribes in deadly strife. If so, the dead of the victorious party only were buried here; as it is well known, that the Indian will not bury an enemy in the same grave with his own tribe. The slain of the other party would either be left to bleach on the ground; or be burned, or thrown in the creek. The mound may, however, have been a place of regular burial for a long lapse of time, and accumulated by degrees to its great size. Old Mr. Hays, who owned the land at an early day, and gave his name to the Creek; often argued with some of his neighbors, as to what race of people were buried there; and as the only means of determining the point in dispute, it is said he directed his own body to be buried on the westward hill facing the mound, that at the resurection, he might see them arise. On the low grounds of the Cowpasture, or Wallawhutoola river, in Bath county, and on the land of Warwick Gatewood, is a mound very similar to the one just described; which also contains a large quantity of human bones. Some years since, Col. Adam Dickenson, who then owned and lived on the land, in a conversation I had with him, related to me, that many years before that time, as he was sitting in his porch one afternoon, his attention was arrested by a company of strange looking men coming up the bottom lands of the river. They seemed to him to be in quest of something, when, all at once they made a sudden angle, and went straight to the mound. He saw them walking over it and round and round; seeming to be engaged in earnest talk. After remaining a length of time, they left it and came to the house. The company, I think he told me, consisted of ten or twelve Indians; all rather young men except one, who seemed to be borne down with extreme old age. By signs, they asked for something to eat; which was soon given them; after which they immediately departed. Col. D. knew nothing of their language; and supposing that they either could not, or did not wish to speak English, he found out nothing of their tribe, where they were from or where they were going. Thus was lost the only chance of knowing what tribe was buried here; and when; and whether or no, they were slain in battle. No doubt they were a part of a tribe who once inhabited this part of the country; and the old Indian, just before he died, had brought them there to show them the grave of their ancestors. Perhaps, when young he had been led there by his aged father to note the spot. The poor Indian held no pen to keep a record of the daring deeds of his fathers. He must therefore take the only expedient left, that of handing them down by tradition. This decrepit old warrior, on trembling limbs, had now made his last pilgrimage to the tomb of his forefathers, leading with him a younger band of their descendants. It affords the Red, as well as the White man, a mournful pleasure to look on the heap of earth which covers his kindred. No doubt this old son of the forest was able, with untutored eloquence, to portray their feats of renown in the chase, as they bounded over these mountains after the Buffalo, the Elk, and the Deer. And how would he dwell, in the rapture of memory, on their strong arm in the day of battle. He would tell how the westward press of the pale face had driven his tribe from their ancient hunting ground. And once more his eye, dim with age, would kindle with fire, as he beheld the mark of the plough drawing down the earth thrown over his fathers. It is a levelling age we live in. The grasping desire for land, which seizes on the Indian's home, will not spare his grave, when he is gone. And when, after many years, having laid his bow aside, he may wander back to shed. his last tear over the grave of his ancestors, there will not be a green sod left to point him to their sleeping dust. MONTANUS. SERGEANT CHAMPE. The story of Sergeant Champe so graphically told by Gen. Lee, in his "Memoirs of the War in the Southern department of the United States,"* has excited so much interest, and affords so heroic an example of patriotism and courage, that I might well wish its authenticity had never been impugned, and that succeeding generations might read it with the same unlimited faith with which many have heretofore regarded it; but, as its value consists in its truth, if it be not authentic, its moral is lost; and I will proceed to offer some remarks upon it. I will first examine the narrative upon the facts which appear on its face. The mission of Champe had two main objects in view; the abduction of Arnold from New York, with the view of saving the life of Andre, and the punishment of the traitor, and the obtaining of information concerning a suspected general. I quote, for the sake of accuracy, the words of Gen. Lee, addressed to Champe :"That by succeeding in the safe delivery of Arnold, he not only gratified his General in the most acceptable man. ner, but he would be hailed as the avenger of the reputation of the army, stained by foul and wicked perfidy; and, what could not be but highly pleasing, he would be the instrument of saving the life of Major Andre, soon to be brought * Lee's Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 159. before a Court of Inquiry, the decision of which could not be doubted, from the universally known circumstances of the case, and had been anticipated in the General's instructions," &c., &c.—Vol. 2, pp. 163-4. Again, on page 176, Gen. Lee details the events consequent upon the arrival of Champe in New York, and his examination before Sir Henry Clinton, who puts these questions to Champe: "what was Major Andre's situa tion-whether any change had taken place in the manner of his confinement-what was the current opinion of his probable fate-and whether it was thought Washington would treat him as a spy." Again, on page 179, Gen. Lee states that Champe "had that morning, (the last of September,) been appointed one of Arnold's sergeants.” Now it so happens that Andre was executed on the 2nd of October, as is stated by Gen. Lee himself, and as is the fact, and yet it appears from the General's narrative, also p. 186, that Washington's letter approving the scheme of Champe's desertion and giving his advice in the case, was not written until the twentieth of October, eighteen days after the execution of Andre. It also appears from the let ter of Gen. Lee, dated the twenty-first of October, and to be found in Sparks' Washington, vol. 7, page 547, that "the virtuous sergeant deserted last night," or nineteen days after the event which it was one of his principal ob jects to have prevented. That the date of Washington's letter is correct, is proved by Lee's written the day after its date, and farther by the letter of Lee dated the 25th of October, in which he announces the safe arrival of Champe in New York, to Washington. Sparks' Washington, vol. 7, p. 547. It is thus settled beyond doubt that Champe's desertion could not have had any reference whatever to the case of Andre, which, as the reader will see by turning to the "Memoirs," constitutes one of the most touching topics in the whole narrative. Indeed, Gen. Lee publishes in a note to page 181, a letter addressed to himself by Washington, dated the thirteenth of October, in which the writer thanks him for most important information obtained through the agency of Champe in New York, as is stated in the text of the Memoirs, when it is certain Champe did not desert until the night of the twentieth, and did not reach New York until the twenty-fifth. This letter of Washington's does not expressly mention the agency of Champe, which, however, is elaborately stated in the text, and is wholly inexplicable, unless, indeed, we suppose that the date, instead of being the thirteenth of October, was in fact the third of November, when the intelligence from Champe might have reached Lee, and been communicated to Washington; and that Lee, finding no date to the letter, or believing there was a mistake in the month, made the correction to accord with the general train of his recollections, which we have shown to be erroneous. We must therefore conclude, that all that part of the machinery of the story of Champe referring to Andre is fabulous, and the result of an erring memory after a lapse of years, and congratulate ourselves, that, although the story is somewhat marred by the error, its eloquent moral is not impaired by it. I am also inclined to believe, that Gen. Lee did have some connexion with a previous scheme to save Andre, which after so long a time he had forgotten, or confounded with that of Champe, for it appears" that a Sergeant, who was one of an escort that accompanied Capt. Ogden to Paulus Hook as the bearer of despatches from Gen. Washington to Sir Henry Clinton, deserted at that place during the night of the 30th September. The sergeant had been instructed to desert, and to act as a spy in New York for certain purposes. It may have been a part of his com |