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Page 6
Captain _Thomas_ now promis'd me, that the next Day I should be guided
to _Plantane-Garden-River-Plantation_, which was no small Satisfaction
to me. I left the Captain at Eleven o' Clock who gave Orders for the
entertaining the Party, and the spending the Day in Merriment. About
Three, when they were in the midst of their Jollity, one of the Scouts
brought Word, that he had discovered a Party of white Men, who were
coming up the Mountain. The Captain immediately ordered all the Women
and Children to a more remote Village, and sent for the ablest Men from
thence, while he prepared to give the Enemy a warm Reception. Every Man
took a Fusil, a Pistol, and an Axe: Ambuscades were laid in all the
Avenues to the Village; he exhorted his Men to behave themselves
bravely, there being no way to save their Lives, but by exposing them
for the common Safety. He told 'em, they had many Advantages; for the
Whites did not so well, as they, know all the Passages to the Mountain;
and that they could not, at most, march in the widest, above Two
a-breast; that the Way was rugged, troublesome to climb, and expos'd
them to their Fire, while they lay hid in their Ambuscades he had
appointed 'em.
But (said he) were we to meet 'em upon even Terms, yet our
Circumstances ought to inspire Resolution in the most fearful: For,
were any among us of so poor a Spirit, to prefer Slavery to Death,
Experience shews us, all Hopes of Life, even on such vile Terms,
are entirely vain. It is then certainly more eligible to die bravely
in Defence of our Liberty, than to end our Lives in lingring and
exquisite Torments by the Hands of an Executioner. For my Part, I am
resolved never to fall alive into the Hands of the Whites, and I
think every one in the same Circumstances ought to take the same
Resolution.
After this Exhortation, and the Departure of those laid in Ambush, he
order'd me to go with the Women, Children, and _Cuffey_, whom he had
sent to head the Men he had commanded from the other Village. I had not
been gone a Quarter of an Hour, in which time I was hardly got Half a
Mile, before I heard a very warm Firing. We went still higher up the
Mountain, thro' a very difficult Passage; the Village we were order'd
to, was about half a League from that we left, than which it was much
larger, and more populous; for here were at least One Hundred and Twenty
Houses, and as many able Men, with about four times the Number of Women
and Children.
The Alarm had been given them by an Express from Captain _Thomas_, and
we met about half way, near Fifty Negroes arm'd in the manner already
mentioned. They were headed by an old Woman, whom they look'd upon a
Prophetess. _Cuffey_ recommended me to her Protection, took upon him the
Command of the Men, and return'd, after asking this Beldame's Blessing,
which she gave him with Assurance of repelling the Whites.
The Fire all this while was very brisk, and the old Woman said to me,
that she saw those in Ambush run away from the Whites, tho' she lay with
her Face on the Ground. _No matter_, continued she, _let the Cowards
perish, the Whites will burn _Cormaco (the Village I came from)_ that's
all. They come again another Day, then poor Negroes all
lost._
The Shot continued near two Hours, but not with near that Briskness it
began; and the old Woman rising, bid me see the Smoke of _Cormaco_.
_Captain Thomas_, said she, _send away the white Man._
I staid by my Protectress, whom I durst not quit, tho' I did not like
her Company. About half an Hour after the Shot began, and continued for
near that Space pretty brisk, and then ceas'd. Soon after, we saw a
Negro dispatch'd by Captain _Thomas_, who told us the Whites had burnt
_Cormaco_, but were gone away, and that Captain _Thomas_ was coming. He
appeared not long after with _Cuffey_, and about Forty other Negroes.
I learn'd from him, that the _English_, by Fault of their Scouts, had
seized the Places where he design'd his Ambushes, kill'd Part of the Men
he had sent, and pursued the rest to the Village, where they defended
themselves, till the Whites had broke thro' the back Part of some
Houses, and set Fire to the whole Village; that he then retired with his
Men up the Mountains, the Whites following him; but he having the Start,
while they were busied in burning and plundering, he wheel'd round, and
came upon their Backs, and from the Woods and Bushes poured in his Shot;
his Men being all well cover'd, the Whites did them no Harm, and thought
proper to retire with the Loss of Six Men, and many wounded, for there
were Thirty and a Captain. We have lost, said he, Twenty Two Men, and
our Village is burnt. Soon after, we were join'd by about Forty more
Negroes, and we all went to the Village I was order'd to, which they
called _Barbascouta_.
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