Conquest of America: A Romance of Disaster and Victory, U.S.A., 1921 A.D.

by Cleveland Moffett

  CHAPTER XI

  HEROIC ACT OF BARBARA WEBB SAVES AMERICAN ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF TRENTON

  Coming now to the campaign in New Jersey, let me recall that on theevening of June 18, American scouting aeroplanes, under SquadronCommander Harry Payne Whitney, reported that a strong force of Germans,cavalry, infantry, and artillery, had occupied the heights aboveBordentown, New Jersey, and were actively proceeding to build pontoonsacross the Delaware. It seemed clear that von Hindenburg was preparing tocross the river at the very point where Washington made his historiccrossing in 1776; and General Wood proceeded to attack the enemy'sposition with his artillery, being assisted by four light-draughtgunboats from the Philadelphia navy-yard, which lay in the deepenedchannel at the head of tide-water and dropped shells inside the enemy'slines. The Germans replied vigorously, and a smart engagement at longrange ensued, lasting until darkness fell. We fully expected that thenext day would see a fierce battle fought here for the command of theriver. No one dreamed that this was a trap set by von Hindenburg.

  As a matter of fact, the crossing movement from above Bordentown was afeint in which not more than 8,000 Germans were engaged, their main armybeing gathered twenty miles to the north, near Lambertville, for the realcrossing. And only the prompt heroic action of three young Americans, twoboys and a girl, saved our forces from immediate disaster.

  The heroine of this adventure was Barbara Webb, a beautiful girl ofsixteen, who, with her brother Dominick and their widowed mother, livedin a lonely farm-house on Goat Hill, back of Lambertville. They had a boyfriend, Marshall Frissell, in Brownsburg, Pennsylvania, on the other sideof the river, and Marshall and Dominick had learned to wigwag signals, inboy-scout fashion, back and forth across the Delaware.

  It seems that, on this memorable night, the brother and sister discovereda great force of Germans building pontoons about a mile below the wreckedLambertville bridge. Whereupon Dominick Webb, knowing that all telegraphand telephone wires were cut, leaped upon a horse and set out to carrythe news to General Wood. But he was shot through the thigh by a Prussiansentry, and, hours later, fainting from loss of blood, he returned to thefarm-house and told his sister that he had failed in his effort.

  Then Barbara, as day was breaking, climbed to the crest of Goat Hill, andbegan to signal desperately toward Brownsburg, in the hope that MarshallFrissell might see and understand. For an hour she waved, but all invain. Marshall was asleep. Still she waved; and finally, by a miracle offaith, the boy was roused from his slumbers, drawn to his window as thesun arose, and, looking out, saw Barbara's familiar flag wigwaggingfrantically on the heights of Lambertville three miles away. Then heanswered, and Barbara cried out in her joy.

  Just then a German rifle spoke from the riverbank below, a thousand yardsaway, where the enemy were watching, and a bullet pierced the Stars andStripes as the flag fluttered over that slim girlish figure silhouettedagainst the glory of the eastern sky. Then another bullet came, andanother. The enemy had seen Barbara's manoeuvre. She was betraying animportant military secret, and she must die.

  Wait! With a hostile army below her, not a mile distant, this fearlessAmerican girl went on wigwagging her message--letter by letter, slowly,painstakingly, for she was imperfect in the code. As she swept the flagfrom side to side, signalling, a rain of bullets sang past her. Some cuther dress and some snipped her flowing hair; and finally one shatteredthe flag-staff in her hands. Whereupon, like Barbara Frietchie of old,this fine young Barbara caught up the banner she loved, and went onwaving the news that might save her country, while a hundred Germansoldiers fired at her.

  And presently a wonderful thing happened. The power of her devotiontouched the hearts of these rough men,--for they were bravethemselves,--and, lowering their guns, with one accord, they cheered thislittle grey-eyed, dimpled farmer's girl with her hair blowing in thebreeze, until the Jersey hills rang.

  And now the lad in Brownsburg rose to the situation. There were Germanson the opposite bank, a great host of them, making ready to cross theDelaware. General Wood must know this at once--he must come at once. Theysay that freckle-faced Marshall Frissell, fifteen years old, on a madmotorcycle, covered the twenty miles to Ft. Hill, Pa., where General Woodhad his headquarters, in fifteen minutes, and that by seven o'clock trooptrains and artillery trains were moving toward the north, winding alongthe Delaware like enormous snakes, as Leonard Wood, answering thechildren's call, hastened to the rescue.

  I dwell upon these minor happenings because they came to my knowledge,and because the main events of the four days' battle of Trenton arefamiliar to all. In spite of the overwhelming superiority of the Germansin men and artillery, the American army, spread along a twelve-mile fronton the hills opposite Lambertville, made good use of their defensiveposition, and for three days held back the enemy from crossing the river.In fact, it was only on the evening of the third day, June 21, that vonHindenburg's engineers succeeded in completing their pontoon line to thePennsylvania shore. Again and again the floating bridge was destroyed bya concentrated shell fire from American batteries on the ridge a mile anda half back from the river.

  American aeroplanes contributed effectively to this work of resistance bydropping explosive bombs upon the pontoons; but, unfortunately, Germanaeroplanes outnumbered the defenders at least four to one, and soonachieved a mastery of the sky.

  A brilliant air victory was gained by Jess Willard, volunteer pilot of aswift and powerful Burgess machine, over three Taubes, the latterattacking fiercely while the champion prize-fighter circled higher andhigher, manoeuvring for a position of advantage. I shall never forget thethrill I felt when Willard swooped down suddenly from a height of eightthousand feet, and, by a dangerous turn, brought his machine directlyover the nearest German flier, at the same time dropping a fire bomb thatdestroyed this aeroplane and hurled the wreck of it straight down uponthe two Taubes underneath, striking one and capsizing the other with therush of air. So the great Jess, by his daring strategy, hurled three ofthe enemy down to destruction, and escaped safely from the swarm ofpursuers.

  On the fourth day, the Germans--thanks to an advantage of three to one inartillery pieces--succeeded in crossing the Delaware; and after that theissue of the battle was never in doubt, the American forces beingoutnumbered and outclassed. Two-thirds of General Wood's army were eithermilitia, insufficiently equipped and half trained, or raw recruits. Therewere fifteen thousand of the latter who had volunteered within afortnight, loyal patriots ready to die for their country, but without theslightest ability to render efficient military service. These volunteersincluded clerks, business men, professional men from the cities of NewJersey and Pennsylvania, thousands of workmen from great factories likethe Roebling wire works, thousands of villagers and farmers, all blazingwith zeal, but none of them able to handle a high-power Springfield rifleor operate a range-finder or make the adjustments for the time-fuse of ashell.

  THE PEOPLE KNEW THE ANSWER OF VON HINDENBURG. THEY HADREAD IT, AS HAD ALL THE WORLD FOR MILES AROUND, IN THE CATACLYSM OF THEPLUNGING TOWERS. NEW YORK MUST SURRENDER OR PERISH!]

  "They shot away tons of ammunition without hitting anything," said one ofthe American officers to me. "They didn't know how to use wind-gauges orelevation-sights. They couldn't even pull a trigger properly."

  And yet, the Germans suffered heavily in that desperate battle of thefourth day--partly because they attacked again and again in closeformation and were mowed down by American machine-guns; partly becauseGeneral Wood had fortified his position with miles of wire entanglementsthrough which high-voltage electric currents were sent from thepower-house of the Newtown and Trenton trolley systems in Newtown,Pennsylvania; and, finally, because the American commander, in an addressto his troops, read at sunset on the eve of battle, had called upon themin inspiring words to fight for their wives and children, for theintegrity of the nation, for the glory of the old flag.

  And they fought until they died. When the battle was over, the Americanshad lost 15,000 out of 70,000, whi
le the Germans lost 12,000 out of125,000. Von Hindenburg himself admitted that he had never seen such mad,hopeless, magnificent courage.

  Again General Wood faced defeat and the necessity of falling back to astronger position. For weeks thousands of labourers had been diggingtrenches north of Philadelphia; and now the American army, beaten butdefiant, retreated rapidly and in some disorder through Jenkintown andBristol to this new line of intrenchments that spread in fan shape fromthe Schuylkill to the Delaware.

  It was of the most desperate importance now that word be sent toHarrisburg and to the mobilisation camp at Gettysburg and to otherrecruiting points in the West and South, demanding that all possiblereinforcements be rushed to Philadelphia. As communication by telegraphand telephone was cut off, General Wood despatched Colonel Horace M.Reading and Captain William E. Pedrick, officers of the National Guard,in a swift automobile, with instructions that these calls for help beflashed _without fail_ from the wireless station in the lofty graniteshaft of the Trenton monument that commemorates Washington's victory overthe Hessians.

  Unfortunately, owing to bad roads and wrecked bridges, these officerssuffered great delay, and only reached the Trenton monument as the Germanhost, with rolling drums, was marching into the New Jersey capital alongPennington Avenue, the triumphant way that Washington had followed afterhis great victory.

  As the invaders reached the little park where the monument stands, theysaw that a wireless station was in operation there, and demanded itssurrender.

  Colonel Reading, wishing to gain time (for every minute counted), openeda glass door and stepped out on the little balcony at the top of themonument one hundred and fifty feet above the ground. He tried to speak,but a German officer cut him short. He must surrender instantly or theywould fire.

  "Fire and be damned!" shouted the Colonel, and turned to the white-facedwireless operator inside. "Have you got Harrisburg yet?" he asked. "ForGod's sake, hustle!"

  "Just got 'em," answered the operator. "I need five minutes to get thismessage through."

  Five minutes! The German officer below, red with anger, was calling outsharp orders. A six-inch gun was set up under the Carolina poplars not ahundred yards from the monument.

  "We'll show them!" roared the Prussian, as the gun crew drove home ahundred-pound shell. "Ready!"

  "Is that message gone?" gasped Reading.

  "Half of it. I need two minutes."

  Two minutes! The officer was aiming the big gun at the base of themonument, and was just giving the word to fire when the heavy bronze doorswung open, and between the two bronze soldiers appeared Elias A. Smith,a white-haired veteran, over ninety years old, with a bronze medal on hisbreast and the Stars and Stripes wound around his waist.

  "I fought in the Civil War!" he cried, in a shrill voice. "Here's mymedal. Here's my flag. I've been the guardian of the monument for sixteenyears. George Washington's up there on top, and if you're going to shoothim, you can shoot me, too."

  The Germans were so surprised by this venerable apparition that theystood like stones.

  "Hi! Yi!" shouted Colonel Reading. "It's gone!"

  "Hurrah!" echoed the old man. "I was with Grant at Appomattox when Leesurrendered. Why don't you fire?"

  Then they did fire, and the proud shaft bearing the statue of GeorgeWashington crumbled to earth; and in the ruin of it four brave Americansperished.