feelings that prompted General Lincoln rather to risk a siege than to evacuate Charleston, were most honorable to him as a man and a soldier. There was such a balance of reasons on the question, as under the existing circumstances should exempt his decision from blame or distrust. He could not calculate on the despondence and inactivity of the people who should come to his succor. The suspense and anxiety, the toil and hazard attending the siege, gave the fullest scope to his wisdom, patience and valor. His exertions were incessant. He was on the lines night and day, and for the last fortnight, never undressed to sleep."* Notwithstanding this unfortunate termination of his command, so established was the spotless reputation of the vanquished general, that he continued to enjoy the undiminished respect and confidence of the Congress, the army, and the Commander in Chief."Great praise is due to General Lincoln," says Dr. Ramsay, "for his judicious and spirited conduct in baffling for three months the greatly superior force of Sir Henry Clinton, and Admiral Arbuthnot. Though Charleston and the southern army were lost, yet by their long protracted defence, the British plans were not only retarded but deranged, and North Carolina was saved for the remainder of the year 1780.

General Lincoln was admitted to his parole, and in November following he was exchanged for Major General Phillips, a prisoner of the convention of Saratoga. In the campaign of 1781, General Lincoln commanded a division under Washington, and at the siege of Yorktown he had his full share of the honor of that brilliant and auspicious event. The articles of capitulation stipulated for the same honor in favor of the surrendering army, as had been granted to the garrison of Charleston. General Lincoln was appointed to conduct them to the field where their arms were deposited, and received the customary submission. In the general order of the Commander in Chief the day after the capitulation, General Lincoln was among the general officers whose services were particularly mentioned. In October, 1781, he was chosen by Congress secretary at war, retaining his rank in the army. In this office he continued till October, 1783, when his proffered resignation was accepted by Con

*Notice of General Lincoln in the collection of the Historical Society, vol. 3d, second series, from which I have made other extracts.

+ Lee's memoirs of the war in the southern department.

gress as follows: "Resolved that the resignation of Major General Lincoln, as secretary of war for the United States, be accepted in consideration of the earnest desire which he expresses, the objects of the war being so happily accom plished, to retire to private life, and that he be informed that the United States in Congress assembled entertain a high sense of his perseverance, fortitude, activity and merito rious services in the field, as well as of his diligence, fidelity, and capacity in the execution of the office of secretary at war, which important trust he has discharged to their entire approbation." Having relinquished the duties and cares of public employment, he retired and devoted his attention to his farm; but in 1784, he was chosen one of the commissioners and agents on the part of the state to make and execute a treaty with the Penobscot Indians. When in the year 1786-7, the authority of our state government was in a manner prostrated, and the country alarmed by a most auda cious spirit of insurrection under the guidance of Shays and Day, General Lincoln was appointed by the governor and council, to command a detachment of militia consisting of four or five thousand men to oppose their progress, and com pel them to a submission to the laws. He marched from Boston on the 20th of January, into the counties of Worces ter, Hampshire and Berkshire, where the insurgents had erected their standard. They were embodied in considerable force, and manifested a determined resistance, and a slight skirmish ensued between them and a party of militia under General Shepherd. Lincoln, however, conducted with such address and energy, that the insurgents were routed from one town to another, till they were completely dispersed in all directions; and by his wise and prudent measures the insurrection was happily suppressed without bloodshed, excepting a few individuals who were slain under General Shepherd's command. At the May election, 1787, General Lincoln was elected lieutenant governor by the legis lature, having had a plurality of votes by the people. He was a member of the convention for ratifying the federal constitution, and in the summer of 1789, he received from President Washington the appointment of collector of the port of Boston, which office he sustained till, being admonish ed by the increasing infirmities of age, he requested permission to resign about two years before his death. In 1789, he was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the Creek Indians on the frontiers of the southern states, and in

1793, he was one of the commissioners to effect a peace with the western Indians. The subject of this memoir received from the University of Cambridge, the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He was one of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and he contributed by his pen to the stock of useful materials for their respective publications. Having after his resignation of the office of collector passed about two years in retirement, and in tranquillity of mind, but experiencing the feebleness of age, he received a short attack of disease, by which his honorable life was terminated on the 9th of May, 1810, aged 77 years. The following tribute is on the records of the society of Cincinnati. "At the annual meeting in July, 1810, Major General John Brooks was chosen President of the society, to supply the place of our venerable and much lamented President, General Benjamin Lincoln, who had presided over the society from the organization thereof, in 1783, to the 9th of May, 1810, the day of his decease, with the entire approbation of every member, and the grateful tribute of his surviving comrades, for his happy guidance and affectionate attentions during so long a period," General Lincolo in his very nature was unsusceptible of the spirit of envy. Whoever achieved a noble action to the honor and advantage of his country, whether as a patriot or soldier, was with him the man of merit, and the theme of eulogy, though it might eclipse his own fame. He was universally respected as one of the best of men, of ardent patriotism, and of heroic courage. Major General Knox, whose candor and discriminating judgment no one will deny, was known to estimate next to Washington, in military talents, Generals Greene and Lincoln. Colonel Nathan Rice, a respectable officer, who was a member of his military family, observes, that the sacrifice of as much domestic happiness as falls to the lot of men, to serve his country, would seem to place his patriotism beyond suspicion. The firmness and zeal with which he rendered this service during her struggle, the coolness with which he met danger, his fortitude under bodily pain, privation and disappointment, and the confidence reposed in him by the Commander in Chief, all strongly evince that his country had not misjudged in elevating him to the distinguished rank he held in the army, While at Purysburgh, on the Savannah river, a soldier named Fickling, having been detected in frequent attempts to desert, was tried

and sentenced to be hanged. The general ordered the execution. The rope broke, a second was procured, which broke also; the case was reported to the general for direc tions. "Let him run," said the general, "I thought he looked like a scape gallows."* Regularity both in business and his mode of living were peculiar traits in his character; habitually temperate, and accustomed to sleep unconfined to time or place. In conversation he was always correct and chaste; on no occasion uttering any thing like profanity or levity on serious subjects, and when others have indulged in these respects in his presence, it was ever received by him with such marked disapprobation of countenance, as to draw from them an instantaneous apology, and regret for the of fence. Having while collector, appointed a violent party man to a place of profit merely from motives of benevolence, he had frequently, with many others abused the general, calling him "a damned old rascal." On the first opportunity the General said to him, 66 so Mr.

, you say I am a damned old rascal, you might have spared the damned," without adding a word more, but it was expressed in a manner that prevented a reply; nor did he remove him from office. In the various characters of parent, husband and master, I ever held him up, says Colonel Rice, as a model

* Major Garden, in his anecdotes of the American Revolution, relates this story with some addition. It happened that as Fickling was led to execution, the sur geon general of the army passed accidentally on his way to his quarters, which were at some distance. When the second rope was procured, the adjutant of the regiment, a stout and heavy man, assayed by every means to break it, but without effect. Fickling was then haltered and again turned off, when to the astonishment of the bystanders the rope untwisted, and he fell a second time uninjured to the ground. A cry for mercy was now general throughout the ranks, which occasioned Major Ladson, aid de camp to General Lincoln, to gallop to head quarters to make a representation of facts, which were no sooner stated than an immediate pardon was granted, accompanied with an order that he should instantaneously be drummed, with every mark of infamy, out of camp, and threatened with instant death if he ever should be found attempting to approach it. In the interim the surgeon general had established himself at his quarters, in a distant barn, little doubting but that the catastrophe was at an end, and Fickling quietly resting in his grave. Midnight was at hand, and he was busily engaged in writing, when hearing the approach of a footstep, he raised his eyes and saw with astonishment the figure of the man who had in his opinion been executed, slowly and with haggard countenance approaching to wards him. "How! how is this?" exclaimed the doctor, "whence come you? what do you want with me? were you not hanged this morning?" "Yes, Sir," replied the resuscitated man, "I am the wretch you saw going to the gallows, and who was hanged.' Keep your distance," said the doctor, "approach me not till you say why you come here." "Simply, Sir," said the supposed spectre, " to solicit food. I am no ghost, Doctor. The rope broke twice while the executioner was doing his office, and the general thought proper to pardon me." "If that be the case," rejoined the Doctor, "eat and be welcome; but I beg of you in future to have a little more consideration, and not intrude so unceremoniously into the apartment of one who had every right to suppose you an inhabitant of the tomb."

of perfection. The law of kindness ever dwelt on his tongue.

This memoir will be concluded by some brief extracts from the Historical Collections. "In General Lincoln's character, strength and softness, the estimable and amiable qualities, were happily blended. His mind was quick and active, yet discriminating and sound. He displayed a fund of thought and information derived from select though limited reading, from careful observation of men and things, from habits of thinking and from conversation. A degree of enthusiasm or exaltation of feeling on the objects of his pursuit belonged to his temperament, but it was under the control of good sense and sober views. He was patient and cool in deliberation, in execution prompt and vigorous. He was conspicuous for plain, strict, inflexible integrity, united however with prudence, candor, and a compassionate disposition. As a military commander, he was judicious, brave, determined, indefatigable. His distinguished merit in this character was never denied, while all have not agreed in opinion on some of his plans in the southern command. Being a soldier of the revolution, he had to anticipate the effect of experience, and might commit mistakes. He was surrounded by difficulties; he met extraordinary disappointments in his calculations of supplies and succors. In the principal instances which issued unfortunately, the storming of Savannah and the siege of Charleston, he had but a choice of evils; and which ever way he decided, the course rejected would have seemed to many persons more eligible. General Lincoln was a federalist of the Washington school. He experienced the benefit of his weight of character and the sense entertained by the community of his public services, in being suffered to retain his office of collector.

"Religion exerted its full influence over the mind and conduct of General Lincoln. He was a Christian of the Antisectarian, Catholic, or liberal sect. He was firm in his faith, serious and affectionate in his piety, without superstition, fanaticism or austerity. He was from early manhood a communicant, and for a great part of his life a deacon of the church. He never shunned an avowal of his belief, nor feared to appear what he was, nor permitted the reality of his convictions to remain in doubt. The person and air of General Lincoln betokened his military vocation. He was of a middle height and erect, broad chested and muscular, in his latter years corpulent, with open intelligent features, a