ords, they showed a fondness for
procuring _fowl meat_ by _foul means_, in opposition to the principles
of honesty and good morals. As soon as the depredations were
discovered by Mrs. Reinhardt she immediately laid in her complaints at
head-quarters. Whereupon his lordship, placing greater stress upon the
sanctity of the eighth commandment than his loyal soldiers, promptly
replied, "Madam, you shall be protected," and accordingly had a guard
placed over her property until his departure.

Another incident relating to the advance of the British army is to the
following effect. As Tarleton's cavalry passed through the southern
part of Lincoln county (now Gaston) they rode up to the residence of
Benjamin Ormand, on the head-waters of Long Creek, and tied one of the
horses, which they had taken, to the top of a small white oak, growing
in his yard. This little Revolutionary _sapling_ is still living in
the serenity of a robust old age, and now measures, two feet from the
ground, _twenty-seven feet in circumference!_ Its branches extend all
around in different directions from forty to fifty feet, and the tree
is supposed to contain at least ten cords of wood.

When Tarleton's cavalry were on the point of leaving, they took the
blanket from the cradle in which James Ormand, the baby, was lying,
and used it as a saddle-blanket, and the large family Bible of
Benjamin Ormand was converted into a _saddle!!_

The Bible was afterward found near Beattie's Ford, on the Catawba
river, in the line of the British march, and restored to its proper
owner. Mr. Z.S. Ormand, a grandson of Benjamin Ormand, and a worthy
citizen of Gaston county, now lives at the old homestead, where the
Bible, considerably injured, can be seen at any time, as an abused
relic of the past, and invested with a most singular history.
Tarleton's cavalry also seized and carried off the bedding and
blankets in the house, and some of the cooking utensils in the
kitchen.

Mr. Ormand also informs the author that he frequently heard his
grandmother, who then lived near Steele Creek Church, say that she was
present at the great meeting at Charlotte, on the 20th of May, 1775,
and that she exhibited, on that occasion, _a quilt of her own
manufacture_. She said it was a large turn out of people from all
parts of the county, and was considered a suitable time for the _fair
sex_ to exhibit productions of their own hands.

Having replenished his commissary department as mu