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LIFE OF DAVID PERRY.
Chapter VII
![]() ![]() This Spring Gen. Ethan Allen went and took Crown Point from the British, together with a number of cannon, which were of great service to us, as we had but a small quantity of artillery. ![]() ![]() When the fort was completed on Prospect-Hill, our cannon were placed within point-blank shot of the enemy; and as I was walking one day with an old experienced officer, I asked him why he did not fire upon the enemy? He said, if, by our formidable appearance, we could keep them where they were, we should do well, for we had not amunition enough to last one day and a half. There was but little fighting this season, except some small skirmishes between the sentinels of the out-posts, which were soon put a stop to. ![]() ![]()
In the heat of Summer, the men were attacked with the Dysentery,
and considerable numbers of them died. The people flocked in from
the country, to see the camps and their friends, and took the disorder;
and it spread all over the New-England states: it carried off a great many
more in the country than in the camp, which seemed to dishearten the
people very much. But in the latter part of winter General Washington
marched a considerable force on to Dorchester Point, in the night,
erected temporary batteries, and conveyed his cannon to them --
and in the morning, when the British came to find their fleet exposed
to his fire, they sent word to him, that if he fired on their shipping,
they would burn the town: but if he would let them pass out of the
harbor unmolested, they would quit the place; and they did so. --
Gen. Washington expected their next object would be New-York,
and marched all his [troops immediately for that city. He] went by
land, and arrived there before the enemy did by water: but, for want
of men and ammunition, he was obliged to evacuate the city to them. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |