Page:History of Gardner, Massachusetts (1860) - Glazier.djvu/85

Rh , but was unable to proceed in the tempest. About noon, all the insurgents in Worcester paraded before their head quarters, and were dismissed. The companies of Ward, Holden, Spencer, Rutland, Barre, and Petersham, after moving slowly through Main street in distinct bodies, took up the line of march for their respective homes, through roads choked with drifts.

The condition of these deluded men during their stay here, was such as to excite compassion rather than fear. Destitute of almost every necessary of life, in an inclement season, without money to purchase food which their friends could not supply, unwelcome guests in the quarters they occupied, pride restrained the exposure of their wants. Many must have endured the gnawings of hunger in our streets: yet standing with arms in their hands, enduring privations in the midst of plenty, they took nothing by force, and trespassed on no man's rights by violence: some declared they had not tasted food for twenty-four hours; all who made known their situation, were relieved by our citizens with liberal charity.

The forlorn condition of the insurgents was deepened by the distress of their retreat. Their course was amid the wildest revelry of storm and wind in a night of intense cold. Some were frozen to death by the way; others, exhausted with struggling through the deep and drifted snow, sunk down, and would have perished but for the aid of their stouter comrades: when relief was sought among the farm houses, every door was opened at the call of misery, and the wrongs done by the rebel were forgotten in the sufferings of him who claimed hospitality as a stranger.

The whole number assembled at Worcester never exceeded a thousand. The spirit animating the first movements had