Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/202

Rh engaged in the disastrous conflict. His niece found him in a house near the scene of slaughter, wounded unto death. It was evident that life was fast departing. Perfect consciousness still remained and with dying energy he entreated that he might once more behold his wife and child. Such a request was sacred to the affectionate and sympathetic girl. She lost no time in hastening home, where she caught and saddled the horse used by the family, placed upon the animal the delicate wife, whose strength would not permit her to walk, and taking the child herself, bore it in her arms the whole distance and presented it to receive the blessing of its dying father.

With pictures of cruelty like the scene at Groton fresh in her memory, it is not surprising that Mrs. Bailey during the subsequent years of her life was noted for bitterness of feeling toward the enemies of her country. In those times of trial she nourished the ardent love of her native land and the energy and resolution which in later days prompted the patriotic act that has made her name so celebrated as the "Heroine of Groton." On the 13th of July, 1813, a British squadron appearing in New London Harbor, an attack, evidently the enemy's object, was momentarily expected. The most intense excitement prevailed among the crowds assembled on both sides of the river, and the ancient fort was again manned for a desperate defence. In the midst of the preparations for resistance, however, it was discovered that there was a want of flannel to make the cartridges. There being no time to cross the ferry to New London, Mrs. Bailey proposed appealing to the people living in the neighborhood, and herself went from house to house to make the collection, even taking garments from her own person to contribute to the stock. This characteristic instance of enthusiasm in the cause of her country, together with the impression produced by her remarkable character, acquired for her a degree of popularity which elevated her, as "Mother Bailey," to almost the position of patron saint in her state.

Her maiden name was Anna Marner until she married Captain Elijah Bailey of Groton. Her descendants throughout Connecticut have made a museum of Revolutionary relics from her belongings, but her gift to them has been the inheritance of strong mental faculties and ardent patriotism.

In South Carolina, Emily Geiger's ride, though not as dramatic, is accorded all the eulogy of that of Paul Revere, as wrung from New England. It occurred when General Nathaniel Greene was moving his army toward Ninety-six, the most important post in the interior of South Carolina—it being his intention, to capture this place if possible. Pursued by the British army under Lord Rawdon, he withdrew northward across the Saluda river. Here he heard that Rawdon's force had been divided and therefore immediately determined to send for General Sumter a hundred miles away, so that together they might make an attack upon the General. But in order to do this a courier must be dispatched quickly, and the journey was a difficult one through forests and across many rivers. By far the greatest hazard, however, lay in the fact that British soldiers guarded all the roads and that a large portion of the people living in that region were Tories. Indeed the