DBD SLIT TLL TITLES LTT PPP EPSP PLES P IPSS ESI I EOGTLEEE w A LISTS EDIT ILI TSS DLS S IS ILS ISIS SLATES GBD DH PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY ALEXANDER HAMILTOX, BELLEFONTE, Pa) NEXT DOOR, SOUTH OF THE BANE. a PD: BILE Tr ELISE TS SITLL AEST L LLL TEL SIS II PT TLS IS srrrrrnnnt CIOL IS A NT ARH TTT SITIES SIS TILL NLS RCD SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1814: Vor. 1.] : 6 hc ¥ a CONDITIONS. The American Patriot shall be published every. Saturday, and forwarded to bubsoori- bers by the earliest opportunities. The price is two dollars per anni, exclusive of postage ; one half to be paid at the time of sulgeribing, and the residue at the ex- piration of six months. No subscription shall be taken for less than a half year ; 'norshall any subscriber be at liberty to discontinue his paper until all arvearages are paid off. The failure of any subscriber to notify a discontinuance of his paper; will be considered as a new engagement. Those who subscribe but for six ons, must pay the whole in advance ; otherwise they will be continued for the year. Advertisements, not exceeding a square shall be inserted three times for one dol- lar, and for every s twenty five cents ; those of greater length in proportion Arn — 1 W—-— onm—— Tr ——— The official letter of Captain Porter | * (coNCLUDED.) “I cannot speak in sufficiently nigh tony of the conduct of those engaged for such an unparaileled length of time (under such circumstances) with me in the arduous and uneaqual contest. ‘Let it suffice to say that more bravery, skiil, patriotism and zeal were never displayed on any occa- sion. «Every one ‘seemed determined to die in defence of their much loved country’s cause, and nothing but views to humans ity could have ever reconciled them to the surrender of the _ship—they remembered their wounded and helpless shipmates be- low. Two acting lieutenants M:Knight and Odenheimer, 1 feel much indebted for their great exertions. ahd bravery through- “out the action in fighting and encouraging the men at their divisions, for the dextrous management. of the long guns, and for their promptness in re-manning their guns as their crews were slaughtered. The con- duct of that brave and heroic officer, acting licut. John G. Cowell, who lost his leg in’ the latter part of the action, excited the ad- miration of every man in the ship, and after being wounded would vot consent to be ta- ken below until loss of blood rendered him insensible. Mr. Edward Barnewall, acting sailing master, whose activity and courage was equally conspicuous, returned on deck after his first wound, and remained after re- ceiving his second until fainting. with losg of blood. Mu. Samuel B. Johnson who had Joined me the day before, and acted as ma- vine officer, conducted himself with great valour, and exerted himself in assisting at the long guns ; the musketry after the first half hour being useless, (fromour Jong dis- tance.) 2 Mr. M. W. Bostwick, whom I tad’ ap- pointed acting purser of the Essex Junior and who was on board my ship, did the du~ ties of aid in a manner which reflects the highest honor on him, and Midshipmen I- saacs, Farragut and Ogden, as well as act- ing midshipmen James Terry, James R. Lyman and Samuel Duzenbury, and mas- ter’s mate William Pierce exerted them- selves in the performance of their several duties, and gave an earnest of their value to the service ; the three first are too young to recommend for promotion, the latter I beg leave to recommend for confirmation, as well as the acting licuts. and Messrs. Barnewall, Johnston and Bostwick. subsequent insertion, No. XXV © We have been enlirtanite, but not dis apivards of sovehty five by ours; except the the ‘Betion which govern oni | in favor of been less honorable £0. her officers. and c: crew than the capture of an equal force, and now I consider my situation less unpleasant, than that of commodore Hillyar, who in’ viola- tion of every principle of honor and geoer- osity, and regardless of the fights of nations, attacked the Essex in her crippled state within pistol shot of a neutral shore; when for six weeks I had offered him fair and ho- norable combat, on terms greatly to his ad_ vantage ; the blood of the slain must. be on his head, and he has yet to reconcile his ‘conduct to Heaven, to his conscience and to the world. The annexed extract. of a let- ter from Commodore Hillyar, which was written previous ‘to his returning me my sword, will show bis opinion of our con- duct. © My loss has ry dreadfully severe, oa 8 ‘killed or have since died of their wounds, and a among them lieut. Cowell ; twenty nine severely wounded, xu slightly, and 31 are missing ; making in ail 154, killed wounded and missing; a list of whose nameg is annexed. The professional knowledge of Doctor Richard Hoffman, acting surgeon, and Dr Alexander Montgomery, acting surgeon’s mate, added to their assiduity and the be- nevolent attentions and assistance of Mr. D. P. Adams; the Chapidii, saved the lives of many oi'the wounded ; those genticmen . have been indefatigable in their attentions to them ; the two first { beg leave to recom- mend for confirmation, and the latter to the notice of the department. I must in justification ‘of myself observe, that with our six twelve pounders only we fought this action, our carronades Deas al- most useless. ¥ The loss in killed and oud hy been great with the enemy ; among the formeris the lieut. of the Phoebe, aud of /the latter capt. Tucker of the Cherib, whose wou..ds are scvere. Both the Essex and the Pacebe were in a sinking state, and it was with dif- ficulty they could be kept afloat unl the anchored in Valparaiso next morning, The battered state of the Essex will, 1. believe, prevent her ever reaching England, and I also think it will be out of their power e- ver to repair the damages of the Phoebe, so as to enablc her to double Cape Horn Ail the masts and yards of the Phicebe and Che- rib are badiy crippled, and their Hulls much cut up ; the former had 18 twelve pound shot through her below her water line, some three feet under water. the smoothness of the water saved both the Phebe and the Essex. I hope sir, our conduct may prove satis- factory to our couniry, and that it will . testi- fy it by obtaining our speedy exchange, tha; we may again have 1t in our power to ) proye our zeal Commodore Hillyar, (Tam informed) has thought proper to state to his government, that the action only lasted 45 minntes; should he have done so the motive may be easily discovered—but the thousmds of disinterested Withesses, who covered the surrounding hills can testify that we fought his ships near two hours and an half; up- wards of 50 broadsides were fired by the en=’ emy agreeable to their own accounts, and Nothing but the firing | vas incessant." ? © Soon alermy capture, I entered into an arrangement with com. Hillyar to disarm my prize the Essex Junior, and- proceed with thé survivors of my officers and crew in her to he United States, taking with me all heroficers and crew. He consented to grant her a passport to secure her from re- capture. The ship was small and we knew we had nuch to suffer, yet we hoped soon to reach our country in safety, that we might again have it in our power to ser ve it. This artangement was attended withno ad- ditional expense, as she was abundantly supplicdwith provisions and stores for the EE a ut In justice to commodore Hillyar, I must observe, that, (although I never can be re- conciled to the manner of his attack on the Essex. or to his conduct previous to the ac- tion) he has since our capture, shewn the greatest humanity to my wounded {whom he permitted me to land on condition that ¢ thie United States should bear their expen- ses,) and has endeavored as much as lay graced—the defence of the Essex has not few miavtes they were Sopsiting damages, “the English, as well as s their hostility to the Americans, induced Mr! ‘Pointsett to Jeave the country. Under such circumstaiices, I did hot conceive if would be proper f for me to claim the restoration of my ship, confis dent that the claim would be made by the Government to better effect. Finding some difficulty i in the sale of my prizes, I had ta- ken the Hector and Catharine to sea and burnt them with their cargoes. I exchanged Lieut. M:«Knight, Mr. A- dams, and Mr. Ly man and eleven seamen for part of the crew of the Andrew Hat mond, and sailed from Valparaiso on the 27th April where the enemy were stillpatchs ing up their ships to put them in a state for proceeding to Rio de Janeiro previous to going to England. ~ Annexed is a list of the remains of my crew to be exehanged, as also a copy of the correspondence between com. Hillyar and myself on that subject. I also send you'a ist of the prisoners I have taken during my cruise, amounting to 340. I have the honor to be, 3c. D. PORTER. in his power to alleviate the distresses of The Hon. Secretary of the Navy “the war by the most generous and delicate deportment tawards myself, my officers and crew ; he gave orders that the property of every person should be respected—-his or, ders liowever were not so strictly attended to as might have been expected ; besides being deprived of books, charts, &c. &c. both myself and officers lost many articles of clothing, some to a considerable amount. I should not have considered this last cir- cumstance of sufficient importance to no- tice, did it not mark a striking difference betweer the Navy of Great Britain and that of the United States, highly creditable to the latter. By the arrival of the Tagus, a few days ater my capture, I was informed that be- sides the ships which had arrived in the Pacific in pursuit of me, and those still ex- pected, others were sent to cruize for me in the China seas, off New Zealand, Timor, and New Holland, and that another frigate was sent to the river la Plate. To possess the Esscx it has now cost the British Government near six millions of dol- Jars, and yet, sir, her capture was owing entirely to accident; and if we consider the expedition with which naval contests are the action is a dishonor to | Had they brought their ships bold- ly into the action with a force so very supe now decided, them. rior, and having the choice of position, they should €ither have captured or destroyed us in one fourth the time they were aboug it” ; During the action, our consul Mr. Poin- sctt called on the Governor of Valparaiso, and request d that the batteries might pro- tect the This request refused, but. he promised that if she should succeed in fighting her way to ‘the common ai'c .orage, he would send an offi- cer to'the British commander and ‘request him t6 cease firing, but declined using force under any circumstances, and there is no doubt of a. perfect understanding existing between them ; this congflce” added to the assistance given, & their friendly recep- ion after the action, and the strong bias of Essex. was of the o. 3. Washington. Extract of a letter from com. Hilly: ar to Captain Porter. Puorse, April 4, 1814. « My Dear Sir-~Neither in our conver- sations nor in the accompanying letter, have I menticned your sword. Ascribe my remissness in the first instance to fore getiuiness. 1 consider it only in my ser- vant’s possession with my own, until the master may please to call for it ; and altho” I omitted at the moment of presentation, from my mind being much engrossed in at- tending to professional duties, to offer its restoration, the band that received, will be most gladiy extended, to put it In possess- ion of him who wore it so honorably in de- fending his country’y cause. : « Believe me my dear sir, very faithfilly yours. " (Signed) JAMES ELLY AR: Capain PorTER. — BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA. yo. ‘Copy of a letter from Major General Biown to tie Secretary of War, dated Head-Quarters, (Chippewa, Plains) July 7th, 1814. JH Dear Sir---On the second inet. Tosod my orders for crossing the Niagara rivers: and made the arangements deemed necess sary for securing the garrison of Fort Eric. On the 3d that post surrendered at 5 iP: M. Our joss in this affair was 4 of the 25th regiment, under major Jessup, of brigadier geieral Scott’ s brigade, wounded.----I have enclosed a return of the. piisoners, of the ordnance and ordnance stores captured. » To secure my rear, I have, placed a gars rison in this fort, and requested captain Kenedy to station his, exis near the post. On the ‘morning of the 4th, brigadier general Scott, with his brigade and a corps of artillery, was ordered to adyance towards. Chippewa, and be governed by ciscumstan- ces; taking care to secure a good military position for the night. After some skirs
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