At his request it was written for, as he seemed inclined to
spurn the pension and reclaim the discharge." There is a touching
anecdote related of Baron Stenben on the occasion of the disbandment of
the American army. A black soldier, with his wounds unhealed, utterly
destitute, stood on the wharf just as a vessel bound for his distant home
was getting under way. The poor fellow gazed at the vessel with tears in
his eyes, and gave himself up to despair. The warm-hearted foreigner
witnessed his emotion, and, inquiring into the cause of it, took his last
dollar from his purse and gave it to him, with tears of sympathy
trickling down his cheeks. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the poor wounded
soldier hailed the sloop and was received on board. As it moved out from
the wharf, he cried back to his noble friend on shore, "God Almighty
bless you, Master Baron!"
"In Rhode Island," says Governor Eustis in his able speech against
slavery in Missouri, 12th of twelfth month, 1820, "the blacks formed an
entire regiment, and they discharged their duty with zeal and fidelity.
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