Withdrawing now a
few paces, one of the Americans took a deliberate aim; the young soldier
instantly turned to run, but as he wheeled round for the purpose (for
his enemies were facing him), a ball entered his left side, just under
the armpit, and springing frantically several feet into the air, he fell
dead to the ground. He was then stripped, and left on the spot.
This horrid relation I should have thought, for the credit of his
country, an American would have kept secret; but as I before observed,
he was by no means disposed to take the part of these so-called
patriots, although he stated that many atrocities were committed by the
British, some of which he related, and which were, he said, never
recorded; these, I fear, if exposed, would not much redound to their
credit with the present generation.
At first I could not understand why the soldier was ordered before being
shot to pull his jacket off; this he explained by saying, that a rent in
the garment made by the ball of a fusee, would have lessened its value;
and further, that the American soldiers were averse, from superstitious
fear at the time, to wearing any article of dress in which an enemy had
yielded his breath; notwithstanding which repugnance, the American
soldiers not long after dismissed the objection, from the extreme
scantiness of the clothing afforded them.
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