X — Reminiscences
Mad Anthony Wayne and Jemmy the Rover
In the year 1776 authority was given to employ extra post-riders between the armies from the head-quarters to Philadelphia. These post-riders ran many risks, as refugees were not rare at that day: hence the danger was materially increased in consequence. The letters of General Wayne were interrupted, as were those of others, and the utmost caution was necessary for the purpose of securing a safe conveyance. Various plans were adopted, and the postmaster was active in establishing a postal communication with the armies. There was another mode, however, which was even more successful, but equally dangerous to the parties engaged: this was the spy system. Much valuable information was conveyed to the commanders of the armies by it, which could not have reached them through the regular post. In one of General Wayne’s letters, addressed to his family in 1781, he makes allusion to one “Jemmy the Rover,” whom he had employed as a spy. While our army was encamped at Valley Forge, Jemmy was repeatedly sent within the British lines, and always returned with correct and important information. With him originated the appellation of “Mad Anthony” as applied to the general. “Jemmy the Rover” was an Irishman by birth, and was a regularly-enlisted soldier in the Pennsylvania line. The real name of Jemmy is not known. He was subject to, or at least feigned, occasional fits of craziness, in which state he often proved very noisy and troublesome, and in one instance was ordered to the guard-house. Whilst the sergeant with a file of men was conducting him thither, Jemmy suddenly halted, and asked the sergeant by whose orders he was arrested. “By those of the general,” was the reply. “Then forward!” said the Rover. In the course of a few hours he was released. In the act of taking his departure, he asked the sergeant whether Anthony (this being the only name he gave General Wayne) was mad or in fun when he placed him under arrest. The answer was, “The general has been much displeased with your disorderly conduct, and a repetition of it will be followed not only by confinement, but by twenty-nine well laid on.” “Then,” exclaimed Jemmy, “Anthony is mad: farewell to you; clear the coast for the commodore, Mad Anthony’s friend!” He suddenly disappeared from the camp. In a postscript to a letter General Wayne wrote to his family, he says, “Jemmy the Rover, alias the commodore, has absented himself from this detachment of the army. Should he in his rambles pass your way, I hope that you will extend towards him every hospitality which may be most likely to minister to his comfort. I am convinced that, whether in his hours of sanity or insanity, he would cheerfully lay down his life for either me or any of my family.”
It is said by some who knew Jemmy that he was a man of good education and extraordinary shrewdness: in fact, it was much doubted whether or not Jemmy feigned derangement.
As every thing having any connection with the events of 1776, which led to our independence, must be of interest, it may not be out of place here to introduce the following remarkable prophecy, made in the eighth century by Merlin, the celebrated Welsh astrologer. Its fulfilment in almost every particular renders it the more interesting, as evidenced in the American Revolution, to which reference seems to have been made. Had this prophecy been published subsequent to the Revolution, its authenticity might have been doubted, or at least questioned. But it is copied from Hawkins’s work, published in the year 1530.
In connection with the prophecy, we also give the key, furnished by an old citizen of Philadelphia to the editors of the “Columbian Magazine,” published in this city, in the March number, 1787:—
“SIBYLLINE ORACLE.
“Uttered by Merlin, some time during the eighth century, in Wales, of which he was a native.
I.
“When the savage is meek and mild,
The frantic mother shall stab her child.
II.
“When the Cock shall woo the Dove,
The mother the child shall cease to love.
III.
“When men, like moles, work under ground,
The Lion a Virgin true shall wound.
IV.
“When the Dove and Cock the Lion shall fight,
The Lion shall crouch beneath their might.
V.
“When the Cock shall guard the Eagle’s nest,
The Stars shall rise all in the west.
VI.
“When ships above the clouds shall sail,
The Lion’s strength shall surely fail.
VII.
“When Neptune’s back with stripes is red,
The sickly Lion shall hide his head.
VIII.
“When seven and six shall make but one,
The Lion’s might shall be undone.”
Verse 1.—The settlement of America by a civilized nation is very clearly alluded to in the first line. The frantic mother is Britain. America still feels the wounds she has received from her.
Verse 2.—The Cock is France, the Dove is America, Columbia; their union is the epocha when America shall cease to love Britain.
Verse 3.—In many parts of Europe there are subterranean works carried on by persons who never see the light of day. But perhaps the solution may more particularly be referred to the siege of York, in Virginia, where the approaches were carried on by working in the earth. In the second line there is another equivoque. We are told by Mr. Addison, in his “Spectator,” that a lion will not hurt a true maid. This, at first view, seems to be contradicted by the prophecy; but, on examination, the epocha referred to, the virgin, Columbia (or, perhaps, Virginia, by which name all North America was called in the days of Queen Elizabeth), shall wound the lion,—that is, Britain,—which shows the precise time when the oracle should be accomplished.
Verse 4 clearly alludes to the successes of the united forces of America and France against those of Britain.
Verse 5.—For the solution of this oracle, as well as all the rest, we are indebted to the engraving of the arms of the United States in the “Columbian Magazine” for September, 1786. America is clearly designated by the eagle’s nest, as it is the only part of the globe where the bald eagle (the arms of the United States) is to be found. Thus, this hitherto inexplicable prophecy may now be easily understood as meaning that when the cock—that is, France—shall protect America (as she did during the late war), the stars—that is, the standard of the American empire—shall rise in this western hemisphere.
Verse 6.—It is very remarkable that the first discovery of the amazing properties of inflammable air, by means of which men have been able to explore a region till then impervious to them, happened in the same year when Britain’s strength was so reduced as to oblige her to acknowledge the independence of America. The boats in which the adventurous aeronauts traversed the upper regions are the ships here referred to.
Thus far the prophecy seems to have been already fully and literally accomplished: it is to be hoped that the accomplishment of those which remain is not far remote.
Verse 7 I understand to mean that when the sea (Neptune’s back) is red with the American stripes, the naval power of Britain shall decline. A proper exertion in the art of ship-building would soon produce this effect; and whenever Congress is vested with the power of regulating the commerce of America, we may hope to see the full accomplishment of this prediction.
Verse 8.—This oracle clearly alludes to an epocha not far removed, as we may hope; for when the thirteen United States shall, under the auspices of the present federal convention, have strengthened and cemented their union by a proper revisal of the articles of confederation, so as to be really but ONE NATION, Britain will no longer be able to maintain that rank and consequence among the nations of the earth which she had hitherto done.
Since the publication of this explanation, the fulfilment of the two last has become a part and portion of our history. That Neptune’s back is red with the stripes and, we may add, stars, every child knows; and the sickly lion already hides his head, not only beneath the folds of our flag, but plays second fiddle to the cock of France.
The eighth is fully accomplished, and ’76, as well as seven and six, form a pleasing illustration of the prophecy, as they do one of the most interesting incidents in our history. The thirteen States (seven and six) have multiplied nearly thrice since the Declaration of Independence, and are now, as then, but one, and that one a nation.
Walter Scott, speaking of Merlin, or the Savage, as he was called, says, “The particular spot in which he is buried is still shown, and appears, from the following quotation, taken from a description of Tweeddale, 1715,to have partaken of his prophetic qualities:—
‘When Tweed and Pausayl meet
At Merlin’s grave,
Scotland and England shall one
Monarch have.’
For the same day that our King James the Sixth was crowned king of England, the river Tweed, by an extraordinary flood, so far overflowed its banks that it met and joined with the Pausayl at the said grave, which was never before observed to fall out.”
The precise spot pointed out to travellers is situated near Drumelzier, a village upon the Tweed.