t last the war was over, and Morgan went back to his farm. He
brought home with him, however, the vices of his wild campaign life.
He used strong drink, and gambled. Far and near, he was noted as a
boxer and a wrestler. Pugilists came from a distance to try their
skill with the noted Indian fighter and athlete, who weighed over two
hundred pounds, and yet had not an extra ounce of flesh.

But these were only passing incidents in the life of the great man.
With a giant's frame, he had a tender heart. His good angel came to
him in the person of a farmer's daughter, Abigail Bailey. She had
great beauty; and she was a loving, Christian woman.

{111} They were soon married, and, as the fairy books say, were happy
ever after. As if by a magic spell, the strong man left his tavern
chums and their rough sports, his boxing, his gambling, and his
strong drink, and to the day of his death lived an upright life.

The young wife taught her husband to believe in God, and to trust in
prayer. In his simple-hearted way, Morgan tells us that, just before
the fierce attack on the fort at Quebec, he knelt in the drifting
snow, and felt that God had nerved him to fight.

In riding over the battlefield after his great victory at Cowpens,
old soldiers saw with wonder the fierce fighter stop his horse and
pray aloud, and, with tears running down his face, thank God for the
victory.

{112} His men never scoffed at their leader's prayers, for it was
noticed that the harder "old Dan Morgan" prayed, the more certain
they were of being soon led into the jaws of death itself.

Meanwhile, he and his young bride were thrifty and prosperous. They
were both ignorant of books, but they studied early and late to make
up for lost time. For the next nine years, Morgan, with his household
treasures,--his good wife, and his two little daughters,--lived in
the pure atmosphere of a Christian home.

[Illustration: Riflemen treating with Indians in the Wilderness of
Virginia]

The storm cloud of the Revolution was now gathering thick and fast.
Events followed each other with startling rapidity. Morgan watched
keenly. He never did anything in a half-hearted way; and we may be
sure that he took up the cause of the Revolution with all the fervor
of his strong nature.

After the bloodshed at Lexington, the Continental Congress called for
ten companies from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Morgan
received his commission as captain, five days after Bunk