]
* * * * *
=_116._= THE CAREER OF CAPTAIN KIRKWOOD.
The State of Delaware furnished one regiment only; and certainly no
regiment in the army surpassed it in soldiership. The remnant of that
corps, less thaw two companies, from the battle of Camden, was commanded
by Captain Kirkwood, who passed through the war with high reputation;
and yet, as the line of Delaware consisted of but one regiment, and
that regiment was reduced to a captain's command. Kirkwood never
could be promoted in regular routine--a very glaring defect in the
organization of the army, as it gave advantages to parts of the same
army denied to other portions of it. The sequel is singularly hard.
Kirkwood retired, upon peace, as a captain; and when the army under St.
Clair was raised to defend the west from the Indian enemy, this veteran
resumed his sword as the eldest captain in the oldest regiment.
In the decisive defeat of the 4th of November,[35] the gallant
Kirkwood fell, bravely sustaining his point of the action. It was the
thirty-third time he had risked his life for his country; and he died as
he had lived, the brave, meritorious, unrewarded Kirkwood.
[Footnote 35: St. Clair's defeat.]
* * * * *
=_Peter S.
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