Hi All,

I was looking through some websites and found this little poem abuot the Rev. James Caldwell. I thought you might find it interesting. I don't know if this has been posted before, but someone may find it very interesting.

Jerry Gagnon

CALDWELLS IN AMERICA

,

NOT CONNECTED WITH THE IPSWICH FAMILY.

William Caldwell and Sarah :Morrison, his wife, came from Dunboe, Ireland, about 1718; settled at Barre, Mass.
They had four sons and two daughters. Of their descendants, William Caldwell, high sheriff,
a resi­dent of Worcester, was well known. Their church certificate is yet preserved:- .•
"The bearer, WIll. Caldwell, his wife Sarah Morrison, with his children being Designd to go to New England
in America these are therefore to testify they leave us without Scandal, lived with us Safely,
and unoffen­sively, and may be admitted to Church privileges. Given at Dunboe

April 9 1718 by J. WOODSIDE minister."
1720. In the account book of Danier Henchman, printer of Boston, now among the Hancock papers
in the Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, will be found :-" April 23, 1720,
John and Charles Caldwell, 16 doz. Verses, 6s."
John Caldwell, of Scotch ancestry, but Irish birth, came from Antrim, Ireland, settled first at Chestnut Level
Lancaster Co., Pa., soon after removed to Virginia, Charlotte Co. The' place was known as the Caldwell settlement.
He had seven children. The youngest of the seven was the Rev. James Caldwell, born 1734, who was so brutally killed,
and his wife also, by the British. A fresh interest has been inspired in his memory by a recent poem of Bret Harte :-

CALDWELL OF SPRINGFIELD.
:New Jersey (1780.)
[From the New York Tribune.]

Here's the spot. Look around you . Above on the hight Lay the Hessians
. By that church on the right Stood the gaunt Jersey farmers . .And here ran a wall.­You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball.
Nothing more. Grasses spring waters run, flowers blow Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago.
Nothing more did I say? Stay one moment; you've heard Of Caldwell, the parson, who once )preached the word
Down at Springfield? What, No? Come that's bad, why he had All the Jerseys aflame! .And they gave him the name
Of the" rebel high priest." He stuck in their gorge,
For he loved the Lord God-and he hated King George!

He had cause you might say, when the Hessians that day marched up with Knyphausen they ' stopped 0n their way
.At the" :Farms," where his wife, with a child in her arms, Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew'
But God-and that One of the hireling crew
Who fired the shot! Enough !-there she lay
And Caldwell the chaplain, her husband, away!
Did he preach-did he pray? Think of him, as you stand By the old church to-day :-think of him and that band
Of militant ploughboys! See the smoke and the heat
Of that reckless advance-of that straggling retreat!
Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in your view-
And what could you-what should you, what would you do ?

Why,just what he did! They were left in the lurch
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church, Broke the door, stripped,the pews, and dashed out in the road
With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw down his load At their feet! Then, above all the shouting and shots,
Rang his voice Put watts into 'em-Boys, give 'em Watts !"

.And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow Pretty much as they did ninetv-three years ago
You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ba11-

But not always a hero like this-and that's alL Bret Harte.