STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

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Ezra Lee

" Ezra Lee was born in Connecticut in 1749. He left his plough in the furrow to avenge the wrongs that were heaped upon his country by the hirelings of the crown. With the commission of a Captain he entered the service under General Parsons. He had the marked esteem of General Washington and performed many secret missions for him. He fought with him at Trenton, Monmouth and Brandywine. When the British fleet lay in New York bay he sent every war vessel to Sandy Hook as fast as wind could take them; the men sweeping the bottoms of the ships with chains for fear some live Yankee might still be there. An ingenious apparatus for blowing up ships was invented by David Bushnel of Saybrook, Connecticut Washington employed Capt. Lee to put it in operation. For the want of a resisting power to work the attaching screw he was not able to penetrate the copper on the bottom of the vessel. He finally detached the apparatus containing the magazine of powder and left it under one of the large war ships. In due time it exploded,and put the water in earthquake agitation and shook the very earth. The brave Britons were as badly frightened as when they had the dreadful battle with the kegs on the Delaware opposite Philadelphia. They were missing in a short time. After the Independence of his country was secured Capt. Lee returned to his farm where he lived in the esteem of his fellow citizens and pursued the even tenor of his ways at Lyme Connecticut until the 29th of October 1821 when his noble soul returned to its original happy home."

Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson