Family tradition uniformly connects this branch of the Miller family with Obadiah and Thomas Miller, of a previous generation; undoubtedly the persons of these names who are mentioned in the history of Springfield and Westfield, two hundred years since.MWM 2.1

The surrounding country, as seen from the Miller farm, furnishes one of the most interesting prospects afforded by the natural scenery of New England. On the north, Saddle Mountain, the highest elevation of land in the state, towers far above all the other barriers of the valley; and while its “Gray Lock” will ever cause it to be regarded as the venerable and natural guardian of the adjacent portion of the world, it is pointed out as the site of Fort Massachusetts, so memorable for the scenes connected with its history during the French and Indian wars. The Washington Mountains form the strong background of the view on the east; the Hancock Mountains, a section of the Green Mountain range, of which Saddle Mountain is the climax, bound the view on the west; and some isolated mountainous elevations, through which the branches of the Housatonic river and railroad pass, are the prominent items in the prospect to the south.MWM 2.2

On this commanding spot, the family of early adventurers erected their primitive dwelling; and, although their history is unknown to the world, the strong features of their character, as preserved in the memory of their descendants, were, the most daring contempt of danger, great love of independence, great capability of endurance, and whole-souled patriotism. The head of this family was the grandfather of William Miller, whose life these pages record. The name of the grandfather was William; his son, who was born and resided here, was named William; and here also was born the one who has just passed away, and whose world-wide fame demands that his history should now be written. This William Miller was born February 15th, A. D. 1782. He was the eldest of sixteen children, five of whom were sons and eleven were daughters.MWM 2.3

The lot of ground on which the ancient dwelling stood is designated, on the new map of Pittsfield, by the name of “Dr. J. Leland Miller.” The building itself is no more. The remains of the cellar are still visible; and the ruins are marked by an ancient gooseberry bush, a hardy specimen of the wild thorn, and an elm of the age, perhaps, of twenty years.MWM 2.4

The period immediately preceding his birth was the most critical of any period in the history of our country; and was, probably, the most distinguished by its perils, the sublimity of its events, the noble development of character it furnished, and its commanding interpositions of Providence, of any period since the departure of Israel from the land of Egypt. If the English colonies were the only ones that were capable of bettering their condition, and that of the world, by asserting and obtaining their liberty, the colonies of our country, now the United States, furnish the only instance of successful rebellion against the power of the English throne.MWM 3.1

What effect the events of this period had on the fortune, the character, and the history of the subject of this memoir, we may be unable fully to determine; but it will be readily seen, that the most fondly cherished memorials of his family, as of his country, could not fail of making a deep impression on his mind, at an early age. That the embarrassed condition of his early life was the direct result of the great sacrifices made by his progenitors, in the struggles and sufferings which they nobly shared with their contemporaries, is equally evident.MWM 3.2

William’s father, Captain William Miller, was in the army of the Revolution. At the time of the evacuation of New York by order of Washington, on the invasion of that city by Lord Howe, in August, 1776, he was confined, sick with fever, in the hospital. By rallying all his strength, and the assistance he obtained from his fellow-soldiers, he succeeded in leaving the city with the continental troops. The effort, however, proved almost fatal. When his companions, in the retiring movement, sought shelter in a barn, during a storm, he was left helpless under the drippings from its roof, until his sad condition moved the compassion of a fellow-soldier, in better health than himself, to come to his relief. This true soldier entered the barn; he crowded together those who filled the already crowded floor, and thus made room for his almost dying comrade, Miller; and then he bore him gently to the rude place of repose he had prepared for him. Under such circumstances, the poorest accommodations are enjoyed with a soul-inspiring sense of comfort, of which those who are in health, among friends, secure from danger, and surrounded with the luxuries of life, can form no conception.MWM 3.3

With our suffering soldier the point of danger appears to have been passed, by this timely assistance of his friend. How much he was afterwards indebted to the same, or some other generous heart, we have no recorded or traditionary testimony to inform us. He returned to Pittsfield, and was married to Miss Paulina Phelps, on the 22nd day of March, 1781. The family records inform us that he was born December 15th, 1757; and that Miss Phelps was born May 1st, 1764.MWM 4.1

Five years after their marriage, they removed to Hampton, in the State of New York, where the survivor of the dangers and hardships of the revolutionary struggle was promoted to the office of captain in the militia of that state. In the last war with England, he was a member of the company called the Silver Grays, a volunteer body, to whose protection the public stores and other property at Whitehall were intrusted, on the approach of the British army along the shores, and of the British fleet on the waters of Lake Champlain. As a citizen, the character of Captain Miller was irreproachable. He never made a public profession of religion; but his house was often the place to which the neighbors gathered to hear the preaching of the gospel. He was taken away suddenly, with one of his daughters, by the pestilence which broke out in the army at Burlington, Vermont, and swept over a considerable portion of the country, with the most terrible fatality. He died December 30th, 1812, three days after his daughter.MWM 4.2

Captain Miller’s wife was the daughter of Elder Elnathan Phelps, a minister of the Baptist church, and well known, in his day, for the plain, scriptural character of his preaching, through the whole section of country extending from western Massachusetts, along the line of Vermont and New York, to Lake Champlain. She was one of the earliest members of the Baptist church formed at Low Hampton, then a branch of the church at Orwell,MWM 4.3

Vermont, where Elder Phelps resided. We have the most convincing evidence of the sterling character of her piety; and shall find, as we progress, another instance to add to the long list, which the church of God keeps among her choicest memorials, to illustrate the power of a Christian mother’s deportment and prayers, in recovering a gifted son from a dangerous position, and bringing him where his powerful natural energies, after being renewed by the spirit of God, would be devoted to the defence of the faith, and the edification of the church. Her death will be noticed in another place.MWM 5.1

Thus were blended in the parents of William, as their strongest traits of character, the highest virtues which heaven and earth can confer on man - piety and patriotism. If patriotism became most conspicuous to the public eye, by its exhibition on the field of danger and suffering, where the husband moved, its claims on the comfort of the wife, in her retirement, were felt to be sufficiently heavy. And if the mother, by her public but appropriate profession of faith, made her piety the most noticeable, the father yielded, at least, his assent and respect to that name and service which had won the heart and added to the graces of William’s mother. The soldier of the Revolution was to lead his son into scenes, and bring him under a worldly discipline, which would add to his efficiency; and the camp, for a time, would feel as sure of his permanent attachment as it was to be proud of his soldierly honor; but the disciple of the cross would, at last, see that son enlisted under a different banner, to become a leader of other ranks to a different warfare, and a different kind of glory!MWM 5.2

The calling of William’s grandfathers was entirely different; but there was a remarkable similarity in their end. Elder Phelps was suddenly attacked, while on a journey from Orwell to Pittsfield, by the army epidemic; he was found in a dying state by the wayside, in Pownal, Vermont, where he soon after died, and was buried by the side of their pastor’s grave, all unknown to his friends at home, till these last acts of respect and affection had been completed. He is mentioned in “Benedict’s History of the Baptists,” (p. 485,) among “the first Baptist ministers who settled in Vermont.” This took place “about the year 1780.” He died in peace January 2nd, 1813. Of his grandfather Miller, but little more is recollected than his escape from death at the hands of the Indians, almost by miracle, to find a grave among strangers, on his return from the wars of our colonial history; probably from some one of the ill-advised and unsuccessful attempts on Canada, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War.MWM 5.3

The traditionary form of his Indian adventures is to this effect:- Somewhere in the western part of Massachusetts, when every exposed white settlement was protected by a rude fort, the grandfather and several companions were going to one of them, probably to strengthen the garrison, and must travel several miles by the road, or take a nearer route through the wilderness. Mr. Miller chose to take the shorter route, alone. He had come within hearing of the fort without harm, when a sudden stirring of the bushes awakened his fears, and he started to run. At the same instant the Indians fired their muskets, and several balls passed through the skirts of his heavy coat. He had proceeded but a few steps before he stumbled and fell to the ground; but his fall saved his life, for the hatchets of the Indians passed at the instant directly over his head. His self-command now returned; he arose to his feet, took aim at the spot where the savages were concealed, fired, turned and fled. The report brought some of the garrison, including several friendly Indians, to the spot. These Indians had already decided that the last gun heard was that of a white man, and that he had killed an Indian, for they heard his death-yell. On repairing to the spot, marks of blood were seen; and these were traced to a pond near by, into which it was supposed the dead Indian was thrown by his brethren.MWM 6.1

It is thought by Deacon Samuel D. Colt, an aged, highly intelligent, and respected gentleman of Pittsfield, where he has resided since he was a child, that this incident is connected with the history of “Hutchinson’s Fort,” so called from the man who built it, during “the second French war.” It was located about two miles west of the village. Its site is now covered by a brick dwelling-house. None of the other forts were then occupied.MWM 6.2

The few inhabitants of Pittsfield nearly all left the place at the time, on which account there is an omission in the town records for several years. Deacon Colt remarked, on referring to the adventure, that “this Miller was a courageous fellow.” Mr. Miller afterwards fell a victim to the small-pox, as before stated.MWM 7.1

Such, then, were the family recollections and public events which were to make the first and deepest impression on the strong intellect and generous heart of the subject of this memoir.MWM 7.2

When William’s parents removed from Pittsfield, in 1786, the section which embraced what is now known as Low Hampton was an almost uninhabited wilderness. ^{1The name then applied to this section was “Skeenesborough;” though its extent or boundaries do not appear to have been very definite.} The village of Fairhaven did not then exist. And the town of Whitehall, now one of the familiar and important centres of trade and travel, was marked only by a few rude dwellings, the inhabitants of which were in danger of being crushed by the trees impending from the mountain sides over their heads. Half a dozen, or possibly half a score, of farm-houses were scattered over the country, between the southern extremity of Lake Champlain and Poultney, Vermont. But it was naturally a much more fertile and inviting country than the western part of Massachusetts. William was then about four years of age.MWM 7.3

The farm selected by Mr. Miller consisted of about a hundred acres. It was taken on a lease, for which twenty bushels of wheat were to be paid annually. The farm was located near the bank of Poultney river, about six miles from the lake. After a suitable clearing had been effected, the logs of the felled trees were converted into a dwelling, and farming life in the wilderness, with its toils, privations, and hardships, was fairly begun. This was the condition of things to which young William’s lot consigned him. The difficulties with which he had to contend need not all be enumerated.MWM 7.4

In his early childhood, marks of more than ordinary intellectual strength and activity were manifested. A few years made these marks more and more noticeable to all who fell into his society. But where were the powers of the inner man to find the nutriment to satisfy their cravings, and the field for their exercise?MWM 7.5

Besides the natural elements of education, the objects, the scenes, and the changes of the natural world, which have ever furnished to all truly great minds their noblest aliment, the inspiring historical recollections associated with well-known localities of the neighboring country, and the society of domestic life, there was nothing within William’s reach but the Bible, the psalter, and prayer-book, till he had resided at Low Hampton several years. But were ever such natural scenery and such historical associations before blended together in so confined a circle?MWM 8.1

A few rods behind and west of the log house, the level which began at the bank of the river was broken by one of those natural terraces which mark so often the long slopes of the outspread valleys of our country. From this beautiful elevation, a forest scene might be witnessed, at the return of every autumn, that was so rich in its variegated beauties, and covered so extended a field, that it could not fail to entrance the soul of even an ordinary lover of nature, on beholding it.MWM 8.2

From the summit of the sharp mountainous ridge, half a mile further west, there was spread out before the eye a view as captivating by its grandeur as that from the lowlier position was by its beauty. The extent of country seen from this higher point was not less than fifty miles from north to south, while it stretched away easterly to the Green Mountains, the distant outline of which, including some of the higher peaks, seemed to rest against the sky.MWM 8.3

Sometimes a dense, motionless sea of vapor spread over the low plain, through which the hill-tops rose up like islands, and to which the neighboring mountain sides seemed to form the coast. From the wide-spread surface of this mimic sea, the smoke of the scattered farm-houses arose, and, as it became chilled in the air above, turned and sunk into the vapory bed, very much in the form, but not with the force, of the water spouted by a whale in the ocean. Again, the rising smoke from the farm-house, the coal-pit, and from masses of burning wood, when it reached an atmospheric line the temperature or density of which refused it an upward passage, slowly formed itself into an upper cloudy stratum, which connected the higher hill-tops as by an extended magic bridge. And sometimes the storm clouds swept along these mountain sides in their wildest and most imposing grandeur, the sure precursors of a sudden squall or tempest; and perhaps the spell-bound observer would not have time to reach the warm but rude cabin-door before the descending rain or snow would shut out every object but the ground beneath his feet.MWM 8.4

Bears, wolves, and other dangerous wild animals, which had formerly abounded through the whole region, at this time usually kept among the unfrequented recesses of the mountains. But occasionally, during the severity of winter, when the wolves were pressed by hunger, their howlings disturbed the repose of the settler, if they did not inflict a more serious injury, by the destruction of his flock. And, one night, William’s mother was out near their residence, and seeing what she supposed was one of their domestic animals, she approached it, and, as she was about extending her hand towards it, was very soon informed of her mistake, by the frightful growl of a bear.MWM 9.1

From the earliest times reached by history or tradition, Lake Champlain, and the natural landing-places which open into the country on its southern extremity, seem to have been the chosen thoroughfare for the native savages in their migrations, for the savages and the French in their warlike expeditions against the English colonists on the Atlantic, and afterwards for the British in their wars with the revolutionary colonies and the United States. The scenes of savage cruelty, of patriotic daring and ordinary war, which have marked the face of the earth along that chosen highway, had well-nigh ended when William was born. But nearly every mile between Quebec and Albany had been a battle-ground; and many a spot, from Canada along the mountain passes of northern New York, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, was known as the scene of some terrible Indian tragedy.MWM 9.2

Only about two miles below his father’s residence, on the river near the banks of which it stood, are “Carver’s Falls,” one of the most romantic localities in our country. Directly below the falls is a broad, oblong basin, which connects with the lake, the precipitous sides of which were formerly hung with a thick growth of hemlocks. Some of the most fatal expeditions of the savages, against the frontier settlements of New England, were carried on by parties who ascended the river from the lake to this basin, there secreting their canoes under the dark evergreen branches of the hemlock trees; and then, threading their way secretly to the dwellings of the English, would seize their captives, or take the scalps of the murdered inhabitants, and return to their canoes. Here, in this secluded hiding-place, the danger was all over.MWM 10.1

Just across the lake were Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Lake George. Within the limits of the view before mentioned, to the south, were Fort Edward and Fort William Henry; and, a little further distant, were Saratoga and Bennington. Of these names we need not speak.MWM 10.2

This is the scenery, and these are the recollections, which entered largely into William’s early education. He was not, however, entirely destitute of other resources.MWM 10.3

In a newly settled country, the public means of education must necessarily be very limited. This was the case, at the time here referred to, in a much greater degree than it usually is with the new settlements of the present day. The schoolhouse was not erected in season to afford the children of Low Hampton but three months’ schooling in winter, during William’s schoolboy days. His mother had taught him to read, so that he soon mastered the few books belonging to the family; and this prepared him to enter the “senior class” when the district school opened. But if the terms were short, the winter nights were long. Pine knots could be made to supply the want of candles, lamps, or gas. And the spacious fireplace in the log house was ample enough as a substitute for the schoolhouse and lecture-room. But even the enjoyment of these literary advantages subjected the zealous student to a somewhat severe discipline.MWM 10.4

The settlers generally on our frontiers are under the necessity of exercising the most stringent economy in the use of everything which takes money out, or brings money in. The most moderate liberality in the scale of living is often as ruinous to their prospects as indolence, intemperance, disease or death, could be. Many a hardy farmer, or his widow and children, have been compelled to give up their claim to the spot on which they had settled, just as it began to afford a comfortable subsistence, simply because they had not the means at command to lift the mortgage. There are always human sharks enough to devour all they can. And woe be to those who are at the mercy of the common mortgage-holder! Such were the circumstances of William’s parents that they had a plain question to settle: with health, hard labor, sobriety and economy, the farm they had cleared might become their own, to leave to their children; the absence of any one of these items in the condition of success, was sure to make it otherwise. It was on this view of the case that William’s parents declined to provide him with candles to read by; and this led to the expedient of the pine knots.MWM 11.1

There is an amusing and truly affecting incident connected with his application of this means for getting light, which shows how deeply his soul was bound up in his books, since an offence on that interest only could arouse his combativeness to commit an overt act. He was accustomed to select pine stumps of the proper quality for his candle-wood, chop them into a size and shape convenient for use, and then put these pieces into a place he had appropriated for that purpose, so that, when his hours for reading came, he would have nothing to do but light up. One day, when a sister of his, who is now living, had some of her little friends to visit her, she had some difficulty in kindling the fire, and, as William’s pitch-wood was handy, she made use of that. The trespass was soon discovered by him; and so great was the provocation, he lost all self-command, and gave her a smart blow. It was the only one that sister ever received from him.MWM 11.2

Another difficulty called for another expedient. As soon as William’s age and strength rendered him able to assist his father about the farm, it was feared that his reading by night might interfere with his efficiency in the work of the day. His father insisted, therefore, that he should retire to bed when he retired himself. But the boy could not be kept in bed. When the other members of the family were all asleep, William would leave his bed, then find his way to the pitch-wood, go to the fireplace, cast himself down flat on the hearth, with his book before him, thrust his pitch-wood into the embers till it blazed well, and there spend the hours of midnight in reading. If the blaze grew dim, he would hold the stick in the embers till the heat fried the pitch out of the wood, which renewed the blaze. And when he had read as long as he dared to, or finished his book, he would find his way back to bed again, with as little noise as possible.MWM 11.3

But he came near losing even this privilege. His father awoke one night, and seeing the light of William’s burning stick, he supposed the house was on fire. He hurried from his bed, and when he saw his son’s position and employment, he seized the whip, and pursuing his flying son, cried out, in a manner which made it effectual for some time, “Bill, if you don’t go to bed, I’ll horsewhip you!”MWM 12.1

The reader may wish to be informed where the books were obtained under such embarrassments. The first addition made to those belonging to the family, already named, was the History of Crusoe! The remains of this volume are still preserved. Its title-page reads as follows:-MWM 12.2

“The Wonderful Life and Surprising Adventures of the Renowned Hero, Robinson Crusoe, who lived twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island, which he afterwards colonized. Albany: Published by C. R. and G. Webster, State Street. MDCCXC.”MWM 12.3

It is evidently an imitation or abridgment of Defoe. But how many longings of soul, how many plans, and entreaties, on the part of the boy, preceded the possession of that book! At length, his father granted him permission to purchase the book, if he would earn the money by chopping wood during his leisure hours. The prize was soon in his hands. The second book he possessed was The Adventures of Robert Boyle. Other books were loaned him by gentlemen in the vicinity, who had become interested in his improvement; among whom were Dr. Witherill ^{1James Witherill. After this time, referred to in the text, he was Judge of Michigan Territory.} and Col. Lyon, ^{2Hon. Matthew Lyon. Member of Congress from Vermont, from 1794 to 1798.} of Fairhaven, and Esquire Cruikshanks, ^{3Alexander Cruikshanks, Esq. He was formerly from Scotland.} of Whitehall.MWM 12.4

All this, however, only afforded a partial gratification to the inward desire for knowledge. But what could he do? His father could render him but little aid if he had been disposed to aid him. And, if he felt that his son must be denied even the trifling accommodations we have noticed, it must be seen that he would not readily favor a more liberal outlay for that son’s benefit. There were then no amply endowed literary institutions, or zealous educational societies, standing with open doors and open arms to receive every promising or unpromising young man who might aspire to the honors, or the substantial benefits, of a liberal education. Was there any source then from which help might come? Some, no doubt, would consider it a cause of grief that more ample means were not within the reach of young William Miller. Viewing the case in some of its bearings, we could sympathize with them. In another view, we might not. Nothing could have been more gratifying to him than the attainment of means for an education; and his gratification, or that of any other, in itself, we should approve. And certain it is, that a more promising or worthy subject of the most generous appropriations could rarely be found.MWM 13.1

He possessed a strong physical constitution, an active and naturally well-developed intellect, and an irreproachable moral character. He had appropriated to his use and amusement the small stock of literature afforded by the family, while a child. He had enjoyed the limited advantages of the district school but a few years, before it was generally admitted that his attainments exceeded those of the teachers usually employed. He had drunk in the inspiration of the natural world around him, and of the most exciting events in his country’s history. His imagination had been quickened, and his heart warmed, by the adventures and gallantries of fiction, and his intellect enriched by history. And some of his earliest efforts with the pen, as well as the testimony of his associates, show that his mind and heart were ennobled by the lessons, if not by the spirit and power, of religion.MWM 13.2

What, now, would have been the effect of what is called a regular course of education? Would it have perverted him, as it has thousands? or would it have made him instrumental of greater good in the cause of God? Would it have performed its appropriate work, that of disciplining, enlarging, and furnishing the mind, leaving unimpaired by the process its natural energies, its sense of self-dependence as to man, and its sense of dependence and accountability as to God? or would it have placed him in the crowded ranks of those who are content to share in the honor of repeating the twaddle, true or false, which passes for truth in the school or sect which has “made them what they are”? We think it would have been difficult to pervert him; but where so many who have been regarded as highly promising have been marred by the operation, he would have been in great danger. He might have become externally a better subject for the artist; but we doubt if he would have been a better subject to be used as an instrument of Providence. There are those who survive the regular course uninjured. There are those who are benefited by it so far as to be raised to a level with people of ordinary capacity, which they never could attain without special aid. And there is a third class, who are a stereotype representation of what the course makes them: if they raise a fellow-man out of the mire, they never get him nearer to heaven than the school where they were educated.MWM 14.1

Whatever might have been the result of any established course of education, in the case of William Miller, such a course was beyond his reach: he was deprived of the benefit, he has escaped the perversion. Let us be satisfied. But still we must record the fact, that it would have been extremely gratifying, if something of the kind could have been placed at his command.MWM 14.2

He desired it. He longed for it with an intensity of feeling that approached to agony. He pondered the question over and over, whether it was possible to accomplish what appeared to him to be not only a desirable gratification and honor, but almost essential to his existence.MWM 15.1

It should be noticed, however, that his circumstances became somewhat relieved as he advanced in years. The log house had given place to a comfortable frame house; and, in this, William had a room he was permitted to call his own. He had means to provide himself with a new book, occasionally, and with candles to read at night, so that he could enjoy his chosen luxury, during his leisure hours, in comparative comfort.MWM 15.2

It was on one of those times of leisure that an incident occurred which marked a new era in his history, though it did not introduce fully such an era as he desired.MWM 15.3

There was a medical gentleman in the vicinity of his residence, by the name of Smith, who possessed an ample fortune, and was known to be very liberal. In the plans which had passed through the mind of William, to secure the means of maturing his education, he had thought of Dr. Smith. At any rate, it could do no harm to apply to him. The plan was carried so far as to write a letter, setting forth to that gentleman his intense desires, his want of means to gratify them, his hopes and his prospects, if successful.MWM 15.4

The letter was nearly ready to be sent to its destination, when William’s father entered the room, which we may properly call his son’s study. Perhaps it had not occurred to the son to consult his father in the matter; and to have it come to his notice in so unexpected a manner somewhat disturbed him for the moment. But there was the letter in his father’s presence. He took it, and read it. It affected him deeply. For the first time, he seemed to feel his worldly condition to be uncomfortable, on his son’s account. He wanted to be rich then, for the gratification of his son, more than for any other human being. There were the irrepressible yearnings of his first-born, which he had treated in their childish development as an annoyance, now spread out in manly but impassioned pleadings to a comparative stranger to afford him help. There were plans and hopes for the future, marked by an exhibition of judgment and honor that could not fail of commanding attention! All that was tender in that father’s heart, all that was generous in the soldier, and all that could make him ambitious of a worthy successor, was moved by that letter. The tears fell, and words of sympathy were spoken; but the plan was impossible.MWM 15.5

The letter of William was never sent. It had the effect, however, of changing his father’s course towards him, so that he was rather encouraged than hindered in his favorite pursuits.MWM 16.1

By this time, the natural genius and attainments of young William Miller had distinguished him among his associates. To the young folks, he became a sort of scribbler-general. If any one wanted “verses made,” a letter to send, some ornamental and symbolic design to be interpreted by “the tender passion,” or anything which required extra taste and fancy in the use of the pen, it was pretty sure to be planned, if not executed by him.MWM 16.2

Some of these first-fruits of his genius are still in existence; and, although it requires no critic to discover that he had never received lessons of any of the “great masters,” still these productions would compare very favorably with similar efforts by those whose advantages have been far superior to his.MWM 16.3

The facts connected with the early life of Mr. William Miller, and the incidents in his personal history, now spread before the readers of this work, will enable them to see, in the boy, a type of the future man. The most embarrassing circumstances of his condition could not master his perseverance. And if he could not accomplish all he desired to, the success which attended his efforts, in spite of great discouragements, was truly surprising. The position he had won opened to him a fairer prospect, though still surrounded with serious dangers. But the features of the next step in his history must be the subject of another chapter.MWM 16.4

PREFACE

CHAPTER 2