The patriot is
devoted and self-sacrificing.
Such were Davis, Hayward and Hosmer. Their names were comparatively
humble, yet they were men of duty, men of religion, men of a liberal
patriotism. Davis was about thirty years of age. He was both a
husband and a father. He left his family that morning with a firm
conviction that he should see them no more. If his lip quivered and
his eye moistened as he trod his own freehold for the last time, fear
had no part in those emotions. He had not accepted a command and
trained his men for months without having anticipated the actual
condition of war which was then immediately before him.
Hayward and Hosmer were both sons of deacons in the church and were
sent forth that morning upon an errand of death with the paternal
blessing. Neither churches nor clergy were indifferent to the result.
The clergy had counseled resistance. The people had imbibed with their
religious opinions and sentiments a deep hatred of oppression. The
three who fell were young men and well educated for the age in which
they lived. They were of the yeomanry. They did not serve on that
day upon compulsion nor for mercenary motives. They were the servants
of the province; they were martyrs in the cause of freedom.
"Their names mankind shall hold
In deep remembrance, and their memory shall be
A lasting monument, a sacred shrine
Of those who died for righteousness and truth.
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