We will therefore give
the words of an eyewitness of their performances. This account is
taken from the _Pennsylvania Journal_ of August 23rd, 1775.
"On Friday evening last arrived at Lancaster, Pa., on their way to the
American camp, Captain Cresap's Company of Riflemen, consisting of one
hundred and thirty active, brave young fellows, many of whom have been
in the late expedition under Lord Dunmore against the Indians. They
bear in their bodies visible marks of their prowess, and show scars
and wounds which would do honour to Homer's Iliad. They show you, to
use the poet's words:
"'Where the gor'd battle bled at ev'ry vein!'
"One of these warriors in particular shows the cicatrices of four
bullet holes through his body.
"These men have been bred in the woods to hardships and dangers since
their infancy. They appear as if they were entirely unacquainted with,
and had never felt the passion of fear. With their rifles in their
hands, they assume a kind of omnipotence over their enemies. One
cannot much wonder at this when we mention a fact which can be fully
attested by several of the reputable persons who were eye-witnesses of
it. Two brothers in the company took a piece of board five inches
broad, and seven inches long, with a bit of white paper, the size of a
dollar, nailed in the centre, and while one of them supported this
board perpendicularly between his knees, the other at the distance of
upwards of sixty yards, and without any kind of rest, shot eight
bullets through it successively, and spared a brother's thigh!
"Another of the company held a barrel stave perpendicularly in his
hands, with one edge close to his side, while one of his comrades, at
the same distance, and in the manner before mentioned, shot several
bullets through it, without any apprehension of danger on either side.
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