ous yell of an Indian warwhoop
--it is that the gray hairs of our fathers may not become the bloody
trophies of a cruel and insidious foe. Cruelty and a thirst for
blood are the inmates of an Indian's bosom, and in the neighborhood
of two contending powers they are never peaceful. If the strong
hand of power does not bend them down they will raise the tomahawk
and bare the scalping knife for deeds of blood and horror: The
purity of female innocence, the decrepitude of age, the tenderness
of infancy afford no security against the murderous steel of a
hostile Indian: to guard against the probable incursions of bands
of these murderers, I will not call them by the dignified name of
warriors, are you called upon to arm: and who in such a cause would
refuse to march or to bleed? And who would refuse to protect the
scattered settlements on our frontiers--the humble cottage and its
peaceful inhabitants?--Who would refuse to guard our fields from
desolation, our villages from destruction, or our towns from ruin?
--None, in whom there is a spark of patriot valor.

"But, fellow soldiers, you may be called upon the meet the legions
of Great Britain; every appearance indicates a state of approaching
hostilities--year after year has insult been added to insult--injury
has followed injury with rapid strides, and every breeze comes
laden with its tale of wrongs, and while we have borne their injuries
and their insults our government has endeavored, but in vain, to
reconcile our differences by amicable negotiation.

"The cup of our wrongs is full, and the voice of an indignant people
demands redress and revenge by every means in our power; 'tis that
voice that calls upon you to arm and meet the hosts of England.

"Do you fear the event of the contest? Call but to mind the period
of '76, without a government, without friends, without armies,
without men, without money, our fathers dared to resist her
aggressions upon our liberties; she determined to enslave us, and
a hardy band of freemen resolved on death rather than slavery,
encountered and conquered her boasted legions, established our
independence and left it as their richest legacy for us to maintain:
and do we, their sons, possessing all the advantages that we could
wish, all that they were deprived of, do we fear the contest when
half the world is confederate against her? Where is the spirit of
our fathers that urged them to battle and to victory? Is there no
latent sp