Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/185

158 Hannah Weston, who was a granddaughter of the famous Hannah Dustin, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on the 27th day of November, 1758, and died on the 12th of December, 1856, living very nearly a hundred years. Her father, Captain Samuel Watts, gentleman, received his title as Captain by the royal concession of King George III, on the fourth day of May, 1756, under the hand of Governor Wentworth and Seal-at-Arms of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1775 Hannah Weston was living with her husband and his sister, Rebecca, in a humble cottage in Jonesboro, Maine, with no thought of heroism or fame in the minds of any of the three. But word was brought to Josiah Weston that there was danger threatening their neighbors in Machias, who were about to strike a bold blow against England's tyranny and for American liberty. The people of Machias had erected a liberty pole which was plainly visible to the English warship "Margaretta" lying in the harbor. They had been ordered, in the name of the King, to take down the pole or suffer an attack by the British soldiers from the warship, commanded by Captain Moore. The Americans, under a young man known as Jerry O'Brien, determined to anticipate the attack and a messenger was sent to Josiah Weston's cottage for help and ammunition. Weston rallied a goodly number of men to go to the rescue, but there was little ammunition for them to take with them. As the recruits passed down the road, Hannah Weston sighed, for she believed her husband had gone on an almost desperate venture; there was to be much fighting and the American troops had each hardly enough powder to shoot a partridge. But suddenly a new thought flashed through her brain, and hastily putting on her shawl and bonnet she hastened out of the cottage. At twilight the young woman returned carrying in her arms a bag of something that appeared both bulky and heavy. 'Why whatever have you got there?" asked Rebecca Weston, her husband's sister, in a voice that expressed querulous surprise. "Bullets," said Hannah Weston triumphantly. She emptied the bag of its contents. Out they tumbled and clattered—pewter mugs, platters, saucers and all sorts and sizes of spoons before the round-eyed maiden. "Quick, Rebecca!" continued Hannah, "We must melt these and make bullets for the men at Machias." "Machias!" gasped the girl, "Machias is a good sixteen miles away." "Never mind that; they must have ammunition. If there be not time to melt them, these pewter dishes must go as they are."

By the time the first streaks of light were showing under the Eastern sky the two women were ready to start out upon their journey. The pewter platters and spoons were secured in Hannah's strongest pillow-case, which made a burden of forty pounds to be borne over a distance of forest and marsh little traveled save by the Indians and the wolves. Shouldering the pillow-case full of material for ammunition, Hannah Weston, followed by Rebecca who carried a smaller bundle of food, set out upon her perilous enterprise with that confidence in God's protection that animated the women of those dark days with courage and upheld them with fortitude. It was necessary to leave the path at frequent intervals, and the masses of tangled woods and briers rendered progress so slow that the day was far advanced before they had reached one half of the journey's length that lay before them. Rebecca was almost fainting from fatigue, and Hannah, whose courage had