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6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. NO. 1. SERGEANT JASPER. BOST of our little readers who have been in Savan nah have heard of and many have visited Jas per Spring, which is situ, ut two iniles from that what is known as the 3 road. It is a charming 11 worth a visit from all who go to Savannah. This beautiful spring takes its name from the brave Sergeant Jasper, who, during our first rev »ir; i is performed there, one of the most '- is on record. We pro pose to ted ftm something about this gallant man, h nr-,, >f which we shall giv* \ u f :• :t fver ture at the Jto 0., - Sergeant Wills am \ h;. .- .. of Irish parents, ami ;tj ;| „ - but few advantages in b - L . he was quite ignorant a< i . he was a brave young m among the earliest to > -i gallant Marion. His first a-o attracted special notice was at s: of Fort Moultrie, near Charleston, on *1 28th of June, 1776. The American troops numbering 435 men, rank and file, com manded by Colonel (afterwards General ) Moultrie, maintained a spirited fight with the British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker, tor eleven hours, and finally drove them off considerably disabled and terrible suf fer rs in killed and wounded. iit tu * hottest part of the fight, the flag .4 the garrison was shot away and fell ovs- fv t r orr-. The gallant Jasper he ramparts, HMRtf Saps;Kg thn nag succeeded in restoring BURKE’S WEEKLY. he came to the colors on the extremity of the left, when he cut off the same from the mast, and called to me for a sponge staff, and with a thick cord tied on the colors and stuck the staff on the ramparts in the sand. The Sergeant for tunately received no hurt, though ex posed, for a considerable time, to the ene my’s fire.” After the battle, Governor Rutledge took the small sword which he wore at his side and presented it to Jasper, telling him to “wear it in remembrance of tbo 28th of June.” He also offered him a Lieutenant’s commission, but it was de clined. Jasper was one of the most daring, in dustrious and useful scouts of Marion’s little army. He had a wonderful faculty of disguising himself- —“ perpetually en- V ; mr the camp of the enemy without 1 ; and invariably returning to his -V c soldiers he had seduced, or -he had captured.” “He often - General Moultrie, “and ' ifh prisoners, before I knew a ' a- re. I have known of his : that .va* looking for ■ • : ..• that he could have . • y . n . ?. ■ Gmti. but he e .re ? ; r • ' raW.-l.’ Uvm get sc 1 fa id after gettmg ah u»e inf >rma tier* bo coaid. returned to t !;■. . n ; o«a u a . i, Jasper had. a brother wic.» v- n.s a to r geant in the British army, ami'was sta tioned at Ebenezer, a German settlement in Effingham county. While Marion’s army was at Purvsburg, he concluded one day that he would visit his brother at Ebenezer. i lie tory brother was a good deal alarmed at tV illiam’s appearance in it to its place. Gen. Peter Horry, (then a Captain,) gives the following account of this gallant act : “I commanded an eigh teen pounder in the left wing of the fort. Above my gun, on the rampart, was a large American flag hung on a very high mast, formerly of a ship ; the men of war directing their fire thereat, it was, from their shot, so wounded as to fall with the colors over the Fort Sergeant Jasper, of the Grenad • -■#. leapt over the ramparts, and delib erately walked the whole length of the Fort, until the British camp, but the latter quieted him by assuring him that he had left the American ranks. Horry says that a com mission was immediately offered to him by his brother, if he would enter the British army, but Jasper declined, alleg ing that “ although there was but little encouragement to fight for his country, he could not find it in his heart to fight against her.” Jasper lingered for two or three days in the British camp, and then returned to his command at Purysburg, reporting what he had seen. A few weeks afterwards he repeated his visit to Ebenezer, taking with him Sergeant Newton, a young man “quite as brave in spirit and strong in body as himself.” He was again well received by his brother, and he and his companion were duly cared for. While they word at Ebenezer, a small party of American prisoners was brought in on their way to Savannah for trial. They had taken arms with the British when the country was in their hands and the American cause seemed hopeless, but on the re-appearance of the patriot army had rejoined their countrymen. They were now in the power of their enemies, with whom they had broken faith, and it was likely to go hard with them. Jasper determined that they should not reach Savannah without a strong effort being made to rescue them, and he and his companion having perfected their plans, left the British camp a few minutes after the departure of the guard with the prisoners, though, to avert suspicion, they left in a different direction. As soon as they were out of sight of the camp they changed their course, and followed, at a safe distance, the British guard and their unhappy prisoners. The case seemed to be, and to most men would have been, hopeless. The guard, ten in number —a sergeant, a cor poral, and eight men—were fully armed, '■'■'bill* our two a*!venturers were weapon less But these gallant fellows were u ifcher hopeless nor desponding, for Jas per felt sure that an opportunity would ; presented before it was too late. He v that the guard would be likely to • w at the spring, two miles from Savan nah as the day was warm, and they v r, I all cod rest and refreshment ; so, «k s y vh( > -,< u e path, with which ho v a Oi ’ nr they soon reached the sps ! •.' . .ame of the British sergeant and pn-iMicr.s, and hid themselves in the the k growth which surrounded it. They had not long to w r ait before the ex pected party arrived. The guard w r as halted in the road opposite the spring