Where a military corps appears to be universally animated by the same sensibilities, where the only competition is for danger and glory, individual distinctions seem improper, except in extraordinary cases, such as the conduct of the officers who commanded our battery yesterday. Captain McPherson, of the light artillery, (my military secretary, impelled by the noble spirit which marks his whole character,) asked permission to take part in the operations of the day with his proper arm; he was indulged, and being first for command, took charge of the pieces which followed the advance and formed our battery, in which he was seconded by lieutenants Larrabee and Sheldon. On opening his fire he seemed inclined to the opinion he could make an impression on the work, but he soon received a wound under the chin, which he tied up with his handkerchief, and continued at his piece, until a second shot, which broke his thigh, brought him to the earth. Larrabee had kept his station, until shot through the lungs, and Sheldon kept up the fire until ordered to retire. The conduct of these gentlemen has, from the nature of their duties, been so conspicuously gallant, as to attract the admiration of their brethren in arms, and should (I humbly conceive) be distinguished by the executive. I have sent forward my wounded, who can bear the movement to Plattsburg or Burlington, and those who cannot, will be provided for at Champlain. I would hold this position until I received further orders, were it not for the difficulty of transporting our provisions, and the impossibility to cover the troops; but I shall not retire further than Champlain, which will place us twenty-five miles from St. John's, and forty-two from Montreal. I cannot close this letter without confessing my obligations to my general and field officers, and to my general staff of every grade, for the able and prompt support I received from them. So small an affair does not merit so tedious a detail, but it warrants the remark, that it will produce a degree of self confidence, of reciprocal trust, of harmony and friendly attachments in this corps highly beneficial to this service. It is a lesson of command to the officers, and of obedience to the soldiers, worth a whole year's drill of empty parades. The returns of killed and wounded, have not yet been furnished, but they will not exceed 80 or 90, including a captain and four subalterns, and this shall be forwarded to-morrow or next day. For the information of their friends, you have at foot the names of the wounded officers. With great respect, &c. JAMES WILKINSON. Officers wounded: Captain McPherson, lieutenant Larrabee, light artillery; lieutenant Green, 11th infantry; leutenant Parker, 14th infantry; lieutenant Kerr, rifle regiment. SIR, RUTLEDGE, April 6th, 1814. The limited means I set out with to procure provisions for the troops under your command, and the transportation thereof, would in almost every other country have proved ineffectual. The contractors, the quarter master and the citizens concerned with me, have all done their duty, and it is with much pleasure that I now announce to you, that the waters have risen, and the boats are descending the rivers Holstein, Frenchbroad, and Tennessee, so that we shall be able to land from three to five thousand barrels of bread stuff, from thirty to fifty thousand weight of bacon and other necessary supplies at Fort Deposit, within eight or ten days, in addition to what you now have, which will more than realize your best expectations. It is a high gratification for me to assure you that the best exertions to aid me in all things necessary, have been cheerfully afforded by my fellow citizens in all parts of the state, as well as in the county of Madison, in the Mississippi territory. May glory and conquest still attend you. I have the honour to be, &c. Major general Andrew Jackson. WILLIAM COCKE. CAMP, AT THE JUNCTION OF THE COOSEE & TALAPOOSIE, SIR, April 18th, 1814. I am happy to inform you that the campaign is drawing to a prosperous close. We have scoured the Coosee and Talapoosie, and the intervening country. A part of the enemy on the latter river, made their escape across it just before our arrival, and are flying in consternation towards Pensacola. Many of those on the Coosee and the neighbouring country, have come in and surrendered unconditionally; and others are on their way, and hourly arriving, to submit in the same way. We will overtake those who have fled, and make them sensible there is no more safety in flight than in resistance. Many of the negroes who were taken at fort Mimms, have been delivered up, and one white woman (Polly Jones), with her two children. They will be properly taken care of. The Talapoosie king has been arrested, and is here in confinement. The Tostahatchee king of the Hickory ground tribe, has delivered himself up. Weatherford has been with me, and I did not confine him. He will be with me again in a few days. Peter M'Quin has been taken, but escaped; he must be taken again. Hillishagee, their great prophet, has also absconded; but he will be found. They were the instigators of the war, and such is their situation. The advance of the eastern division formed a junction with me at the Hallawellee, on the 15th, and accompanied me to fort Decatur, opposite Tuckabatchee, and the rest will arrive in a few days, except what will be left for the retention of the posts. Major general Pinckney will join the army at this place to-morrow or next day. The business of the campaign will not, I presume, require that I or my troops should remain here much longer. General Pinckney and colonel Hawkins, who is now with me, have been appointed to make the treaty. I am, sir, very respectfully, &c. ANDREW JACKSON, Maj. Gen. His excellency Willie Blount, SIR, UNITED STATES' SHIP GENERAL PIKE, Sackett's Harbour, April 27th, 1814. The night of the 25th instant, two of our guard boats fell in with three of the enemy's boats in this bay. Lieutenant Dudley, (the officer of the guard) hailed and was answered, "guard boats;" this, however, not being satisfactory, he repeated the hail, but was not answered; finding that strange boats were endeavouring to cut him off from the shore, he fired upon them; the enemy, laying upon their oars for a short time, pulled in towards Bull Rock Point, without returning the fire. Lieutenant Dudley returned to the fleet, and got a reinforcement of boats; but nothing more was seen of the enemy that night. Yesterday morning, I directed both shores of Shermont Bay to be examined, to see whether the enemy had not secreted himself in some of the small Creeks. Nothing, however, was discovered, but six barrels of powder, found in the water near the shore, where our guard boats fired on the enemy; these barrels were all slung in such a manner, that one man could take two across his shoulders and carry them; each barrel had a hole bored in the head of about an inch diameter, with a wooden plug in it; these barrels of powder were evidently fitted for the purpose of blowing our large ship up, if the enemy could have got in undiscovered, by placing them under the ship's bottom, and putting a piece of slow match or port-fire in the hole in the head, which would burn a sufficient time to allow the parties to escape before the fire would communicate to the powder; this also accounts for the enemy not returning the fire of our boats, for, having so much powder in, he was apprehensive of accidents, which no doubt induced him to heave it overboard, to be prepared to return the fire if he was pursued. It would have been impossible for the enemy to have succeeded, even if he had eluded our guard boats (which there are two lines of;) for, independent of all the approaches by water being secured by booms, the Madison is moored across the large ship's stern within twenty yards, and her guns loaded with canister and bags of musket balls, to rake under the bottom if necessary. A lieute nant, two midshipmen and ten men, are on watch under the ship's bottom every night, besides a marine guard outside of her. With all these precautions, I think that it would be impossible for an enemy to land near the ship yard unobserved. However, after this discovery of the enemy's intentions, we shall redouble our vigilance and exertions to preserve our fleet to meet the enemy, fairly upon the Lake. Honourable W. Jones. I have the honour to be, &c. ISAAC CHAUNCEY. SIR, UNITED STATES' SHIP ADAMS, April 29th, 1814. Having passed the enemy in Lynhaven, on the night of the 18th of January last, I steered to the southward of Bermuda, and crossed the Atlantic, between 28 and 32 degrees, north latitude. On the 29th January, captured an English schooner from Malaga to Halifax, with a cargo of wine, oil and fruit, which we burnt, as we likewise did another schooner from Newfoundland to Grenada, with a cargo of fish and oil, captured on the 9th February. On the 4th March, captured a small sloop boat under Cape Mount, on the coast of Africa, with a little rice and Camwood on board; twenty leagues east of Cape Palmas, we captured on the 11th March, the brig Roebuck, of London, with a small quantity of ivory, a quantity of palm oil, and various other articles. After destroying her armament and cargo, we paroled our prisoners, and gave them the brig as a cartel to Sierra Leone. After a long chase on the 25th March, the last four hours of which was in thick weather, we captured the English India ship Woodbridge, with a cargo of rice and dye-woods, but had scarcely taken possession of her, when the weather cleared up, and we discovered a fleet of 25 sail immediately to windward of us, and two ships of war standing for us; we were compelled to abandon the prize with precipita tion, and attend to our own safety, till 11 A. M. the next day, when they gave over the chase and returned to the fleet. I inclose the paroles signed by the prisoners. Honourable William Jones, I have the honour to be, &c. C. MORRIS. SIR, UNITED STATES' SLOOP PEACOCK, AT SEA, I have the honour to inform you, that we have this morning captured, after an action of 42 minutes, his majesty's brig Eper ,vier, captain Wales, rating and mounting 18 thirty-two pound carronades, with 128 men, of whom 8 were killed and 15 wounded, according to the best information we could obtain. Among the latter is her first lieutenant, who has lost an arm, and received a severe splinter wound on the hip. Not a man in the Peacock was killed, and only two wounded, neither dangerously so. The fate of the Epervier would have been determined in much less time, but for the circumstance of our fore yard being totally disabled by two round shot in the starboard quarter from her first broadside, which entirely deprived us of the use of our fore and fore-top sails and compelled us to keep the ship large throughout the remainder of the action. This, with a few top-mast and top-gallant back stays cut away, a few shot through our sails, is the only injury the Peacock has sustained. Not a round shot touched our hull ; our masts and spars are as sound as ever. When the enemy struck he had five feet water in his hold, his main top-mast was over the side, his main boom shot away, his fore-mast cut nearly in two and tottering, his fore rigging and stays shot away, his bowsprit badly wounded, and forty-five shot holes in his hull, twenty of which were within a foot of his water line. By great exertion we got her in sailing order just as dark came on. In fifteen minutes after the enemy struck, the Peacock was ready for another action, in every respect but her fore yard, which was sent down, finished and had the foresail set again in forty five minutes such was the spirit and activity of our gallant crew. The Epervier had under her convoy an English hermaphrodite brig, a Russian and a Spanish ship, which all hauled their wind and stood to the east north-east. I had determined upon pursuing the former, but found that it would not answer to leave our prize in her then crippled state, and the more particularly so, as we found she had in 120,000 dollars in specie, which we soon transferred to this sloop. Every officer, seaman and marine did his duty, which is the highest compliment I can pay them. I am, respectfully, L. WARRINGTON. Honourable William Jones. SAVANNAH, May 1st, 1814. SIR, I have the honour of informing you of my arrival here in late his Britannic majesty's brig Epervier, of eighteen 52 pound carronades, captain Wales, captured by the sloop Peacock, captain Warrington, on Friday morning, the 29th ultimo, off cape Carnaveral, after an action of forty-two minutes, in which time she was much cut up in hull, spars, rigging and sails, with upwards of five feet water in her hold, having the advantage of the weather gage |