In  Provost  Smith's  oration  on  the  death  of  General  Mont-


26  COL.  WILLIAM  THOMPSON'S

gomery,  and  his  officers,  delivered  February  19,  1776,  before
the  Continental  Congress,  he  thus  alluaes  to  Capt.  Hendricks:

"I  must  not,  however,  omit  the  name  of  the  brave  Captain

Hendricks,  who  com-
y  manded  one  of  the
t  «--  /i^'^/^^y^'-^^^^^^  Pennsylvania  riue  com-
'^  panies,  and  was  known

to  me  from  his  infancy.  He  was,  indeed,  prodigal  of  his  life,
and  courted  danger  out  of  his  tour  of  duty.  The  command  of
the  guard  belonged  lo  him  on  the  morning  of  the  attack,  but  he
solicited,  and  obtained  leave  to  take  a  more  conspicuous  post,
and  having  led  his  men  through  the  barrier;  where  his  com-
manding officer,  General  Arnold,  was  wounded,  he  long  sus-
tained the  fire  of  the  garrison  with  unshaken  firmness,  till,  at
last,  receiving  a  shot  in  his  breast,  he  immediately  expired.
These  particulars  were  certified  by  General  Thompson,  and  Col-
onel Magaw,  his  commanders  in  the  Pennsylvania  rifle  regi-
ment, and  they  gave  me  this  further  character  of  him  in  their
letter:  'No  fatigues  of  duty  ever  discouraged  him;  he  paid  the
strictest  attention  to  his  company,  and  was  ambitious  that
they  should  excel  in  discipline,  so]3riety,  and  order.  His  social
and  domestic  virtues  you  were  well  acquainted  with."

Captain  Hendricks  was  born  in  Cumberland  county,  on  the
place  long  known  as  Tobias  Hendricks',  near  Oyster's  Point,
two  miles  west  of  Harrisburg.  He  was  buried  at  Quebec,  in  the
same  enclosure  with  General  Montgomery,  on  the  south  side.
