In a private letter from Captain [Patrick]
Ferguson, to his kinsman, Dr. Adam
Ferguson, he details a very curious incident, which occurred while he lay, with
his riflemen, in the skirt of a wood, in front of [Gen. Wilhelm von] Knyphausen's division. "We had not lain long," says Captain
Ferguson, "when a Rebel officer, remarkable by a hussar dress, passed
towards our army, within a hundred yards of my right flank, not perceiving us. He was followed by another, dressed in dark
green and blue, mounted on a bay horse, with a remarkably high cocked hat. I ordered three good shots to steal near to
and fire at them; but the idea disgusting me, I recalled the order. The hussar, in returning, made a circuit, but the other passed within a hundred
yards of us, upon which I advanced from the wood towards him. Upon my calling, he stopped; but after looking
at me, he proceeded. I again drew his
attention, and made signs to him to stop, levelling [sic] my piece at him; but he slowly cantered
away. As I was within that distance, at
which, in the quickest firing, I could have lodged half a dozen balls in or
about him, before he was out of my reach, I had only to determine; but it was
not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual, who was
acquitting himself very coolly of his duty—so I let him alone. The day after, I had been telling this story
to some wounded officers who lay in the same room with me, when one of the
surgeons, who had been dressing the wounded Rebel officers, came in, and told
us, that they had been informing him that General Washington was all the
morning with the light troops, and only attended by a French officer in hussar
dress, he himself dressed and mounted in every point as above described. I am not sorry that I did not know at the
time who it was.”
A British writer suggestively remarks,
in this connection, that, "unfortunately Ferguson did not personally know
Washington, otherwise the Rebels would have had a new General to
seek." Had Washington fallen, it is
difficult to calculate its probable effect upon the result of the struggle of
the American people. How slight,
oftentimes, are the incidents which, in the course of events, seem to give direction
to the most momentous concerns of the human race. This singular impulse of Ferguson,
illustrates, in a forcible manner, the over-ruling hand of Providence in
directing the operation of a man's mind when he himself is least of all aware
of it.
There
is, however, some doubt whether it was really Washington whom Ferguson was too
generous to profit by his advantage. James
Fenimore Cooper relates, in the New York Mirror, of April sixteenth, 1831, on
the authority of his late father-in-law, Major John P. DeLancey, some
interesting facts, corroborating the main features of the story. DeLancey was the second in command of
Ferguson's riflemen, and had seen Washington in Philadelphia the year before
the commencement of the war. "During the manoeuvres [sic] which preceded the battle of Brandywine,''
said Mr. Cooper, "these riflemen were kept skirmishing in advance of one
of the British columns. They had crossed
some open ground, in which Ferguson was wounded in the arm, and had taken a
position in the skirts of a thick wood. While Captain DeLancey was occupied in arranging a sling for
Ferguson's wounded arm, it was reported that an American officer of rank,
attended only by a mounted orderly, had ridden into the
open ground, and was then within point-blank rifle shot. Two or three of the best marksmen stepped
forward, and asked leave to bring him down. Ferguson peremptorily refused; but he went to
the wood, and showing himself, menaced the American with several rifles, while
he called to him, and made signs to him to come in. The mounted officer saw his
enemies, drew his reins, and sat looking at them attentively for a few moments.
"A sergeant," continues Mr. Cooper,
"now offered to hit the horse without injuring the rider, but Ferguson
still withheld his consent, affirming that it was Washington reconnoitering,
and that he would not be the instrument of placing the life of so great a man
in jeopardy by so unfair means. The
horseman turned and rode slowly away. To
his last moment, Ferguson maintained that the officer whose life he had spared
was Washington. I have often heard
Captain DeLancey relate these circumstances, and though he never pretended to
be sure of the person of the unknown horseman, it was his opinion, from some
particulars of dress and stature, that it was the Count Pulaski. Though in error as to the person of the
individual whom he spared, the merit of Major Ferguson is not at all diminished
“ by its supposed correction.
Captain Ferguson, as we have seen,
encountered some American sharp-shooters in the battle as keen and skillful as
himself in the use of the rifle, and received a dangerous wound which so
shattered his right arm, as to forever after render it useless. 1
Whether the “Rebel officer” was Washington
or not (and I like to think that it was) is not important here. If God moves the hearts of kings to
accomplish His sovereign purposes (Prov. 21:1), then certainly He can and will
move the hearts of lesser personages to do the same. Ferguson himself will meet his fate on the
slopes of King’s Mountain in October in 1780 after having inadvertently roused
the “over mountain” men to oppose his forces.
That is another great story in itself… perhaps sometime we may cover
that one too, Lord willing.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
1)
Lyman C. Draper, King’s Mountain and Its Heroes (Cincinnati,
OH: Peter G. Thomson, 1881), p. 52-5.
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