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Mount Adams is part
of the Presidential Range in the White Mountains Region of New Hamphire. A story
has been passed down that related to Rogers' Rangers. The Rangers were a
band of soldiers that attacked French positions during the French and Indian
War. The following is a story about a later traveler that had a vision near
Mount Adams:
"There are many
traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out of memory. Old
people remember that in their childhood there was talk of the discovery of a
magic stone; of an Indian's skeleton that appeared in a speaking storm; of a
fortune-teller that set off on a midnight quest, far up among the crags and
[cliffs].
In October, 1765, a
detachment of nine of Rogers' Rangers began the return from a Canadian
foray, bearing with them [a] plate, candlesticks, and a silver statue that
they had rifled from the Church of St. Francis. An Indian who had undertaken
to guide the party through [Crawford] Notch proved faithless, and led them among
labyrinthine gorges to the head of Israel's River, where he disappeared,
after poisoning one of the troopers with a rattlesnake's fang.
Losing all
reckoning, the Rangers tramped hither and thither among the snowy hills and
sank down, one by one, to die in the wilderness, a sole survivor reaching a
settlement after many days, with his knapsack filled with human flesh.
In 1816 the
candlesticks were recovered near Lake Memphremagog, but the statue has never
been laid hold upon. The spirits of the famished men were [prevalent], for many
winters, to cry in the woods, and once a hunter, camped on the side of Mount
Adams, was awakened at midnight by the notes of an organ. The mists were
rolling off, and he found that he had gone to sleep near a mighty church of
stone that shone in soft light. The doors were flung back, showing a tribe
of Indians kneeling within. Candles sparkled on the altar, shooting their
rays through clouds of incense, and the rocks shook with thunder-gusts of
music.
Suddenly church,
lights, worshippers vanished, and from the mists came forth a line of
uncouth forms, marching in silence. As they started to descend the mountain
a silver image, floating in the air, spread a pair of gleaming [wings] and
took flight, disappearing in the chaos of battlemented rocks above."
Related, Spencer
Tracy starred in a 1940 movie about Rogers' Rangers called Northwest
Passage, that was very realistic for its day.
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