The American Twins of the Revolution

Though this is a true story of Revolutionary days, it has never before been published. It was told to me by Sally's great-granddaughter, who heard it when she was a little girl from the lips of Sally's own daughter, who got it from Sally herself. The silver that was carried away on that sad and dangerous journey was the only thing saved from the old home of General Priestly, and it is still a treasured heirloom in the family of his descendants. The money to pay the troops was received by Mrs. Priestly, and she did guard it and get it safely to General Washington. She did conceal it in her bed, and she did push over the ladder with the man on it when he tried to enter the house to steal it. She did go in her best gown to meet General Howe and General Knyphausen; she was offered the shameful bribe, and when she scorned to consider it, she was ordered to leave the house, "taking nothing with her," and her house was then burned to the ground, just as the story says. She did escape with her children and join her husband, and General Washington did give them a house of his own on the Rappahannock, where they lived until the war was over and General Priestly was at home again with his family. All these hardships, and many, many more, were endured by our brave forefathers to give us the privileges that we now enjoy. Shall we not remember and be grateful? Lucy Fitch Perkins