From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol II. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
September 4.—Yesterday, at his seat, near Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, died, General William Thompson. Those who knew his virtues, will remember and mention his character with esteem. At the commencement of the present war, he took an active and distinguished part in the cause of liberty. Recommended to Congress by his spirit and military knowledge, by his great popularity, and by his zeal for the interest of freedom, he was appointed by that honorable body to the command of the first regiment raised in Pennsylvania. When he joined the army before Boston, the rank of first colonel in the service was assigned to Mm. At the siege of that place, intrepidity, generosity, hospitality, and manly candor, rendered his character the object of uniform admiration and esteem.
Fortune, which had hitherto smiled upon him, forsook him at a moment when she promised to lift him to the pinnacle of fame. In a gallant attack upon the British at Three Rivers,1 he was made a prisoner. His captivity was long and imbittered; his sensibility, generous and keen, was chiefly wounded by the reflection that he was precluded from signalizing himself in the defence of his country.
His death is considered as an event of universal concern and lamentation. His funeral was the most respectable that has ever been known at Carlisle. In the great number that assembled on the melancholy occasion, scarcely was there one person to be found who did not drop a tear to the memory of the soldier, the patriot, and the friend.2
1 In Canada, in 1776.
2 Pennsylvania Packet, September 15.