be considered in force until other measures are taken. The magistrates are particularly required to give information at head quarters of all violence committed by American troops on citizens, unless they are authorized by a written order. The general enjoins the inhabitants to submit to their magistrates, and those who refuse obedience must be reported to head quarters. The brigadier general invites all the inhabitants who are disposed to be peaceable, orderly, and neutral, to return to their homes and their business. He cannot promise complete security, but he engages, as far as his power extends, to protect the innocent, the unfortunate and the distressed. GEO. M'CLURE, Commanding Niagara Frontier. HEAD QUARTERS, FORT GEORGE, Oct. 16th, 1813. A PROCLAMATION BY GENERAL HARRISON. An armistice having been concluded between the United States and the tribes of Indians called Miamies, Pattawatamies, Eel River, Weas, Ottoways, Chippeways and Wyandots, to continue until the pleasure of the government of the former shall be known—I do hereby make known the same to all whom it may concern. This armistice is preparatory to a general council to be held with these different tribes, and until its termination they have been permitted to retire to their hunting grounds, and there to remain unmolested, if they behave themselves peaceably. They have surrendered into our hands hostages from each tribe, and have agreed immediately to restore all our prisoners in their possession, and to unite with us in the chastisement of any Indians, who may commit any aggression upon our frontiers. Under these circumstances, I exhort all citizens living upon the frontiers to respect the terms of said armistice, and neither to engage in nor countenance any expedition against their persons or property: leaving to the government, with whom the consultation has left it, to pursue such course, with respect to the Indians, as they may think most compatible with sound policy and the best interests o the country. Done at Detroit, this 16th October, 1813. WILLIAM H. HARRISON. October 18th, 1813. SIR, The fortune of war having placed the private property of the officers and several families of the right division of the British army in Upper Canada, in your power; as also letters, papers and vouchers of the greatest consequence to individuals, without being of any to the cause of the captors; I do myself the honour of applying to you in their behalf, hoping that agreeably to the custom of war, you will avail yourself of this favourable opportunity to alleviate private feelings, by causing the said property and documents to be restored. I must also intreat that every consideration in your power be shown for private families, not of the army. I trust that with the same view you will permit the bearer hereof to ascertain the fate of individuals, and that you will facilitate the retreat of any families that may unfortunately have been interrupted in the attempt. Maj. Gen. W. H. Harrison, I have the honour to be, &c. commanding U. S. Army. Extracts of a letter from general Wilkinson to the Secretary of War, dated "GRENADIER ISLAND, October 28th, 1813. "I send you this by an extra aid-de-camp, captain Nourse, to relieve the anxiety to which you must be subject, in the impending eventful moment." "The extent of the injuries to our craft, the clothing and arms of the men, and to our provisions on the passage from Sackett's Harbor to this place, greatly exceeded our apprehensions, and has subjected us to the necessity of furnishing a supply of clothing, and of making repairs and equipments to our flotilla generally. In fact, all our hopes have been very nearly blasted; but thanks to the same Providence which placed us in jeopardy, we are surmounting our difficulties, and, God willing, I shall pass Prescott on the night of the 1st or 2d proximo, if some unforeseen obstacle does not present to forbid me. I shall expect to hear from you at Morrisville, where colonel Swift is to meet me, and to guard against chance shots, I wish wagons would be held in readiness to receive our powder aud field ammunition, at a suitable distance above Prescott." "I keep up the delusion here; and the enemy, about sixteen hundred strong, exclusive of five hundred militia, are in daily expectation of a visit at Kingston, yet they have taken post, I understand, at Cornwall and the Coteau de Lac. No matter: once passed Prescott, and our bayonets and sabres shall remove all impediments." "The inexorable winds and rains continue to oppose and embarrass our movements; but I am seizing on every moment's interval to slip into the St. Lawrence corps and detachments, as they can be got ready. Our rendezvous will be in Bush creek, about twenty miles below, and nearly opposite to Gananoqui, which position menaces a descent on the opposite shore. I shall sail from that position at 4 o'clock of the morning, and will pass Prescott about the same time the ensuing morning." * "We have had such a fluctuation of sick and well, between this place and Sackett's Harbor, that it is impossible to say in what force we shall move; but I calculate on 6000 combatants, exclusive of Scott and Randolph, neither of whom will, I fear, be up in season, notwithstanding all my arrangements and exertions to accelerate their march: they are both under provisional orders from Ogdensburg." DEAR GENERAL, mo. WAR DEPARTMENT, DENMARK, I this moment received your despatch by captain Nourse. I rejoice that your difficulties are so far surmounted, as to enable you to say, with assurance, when you will pass Prescott. I should have met you there; but bad roads, worse weather, and a considerable degree of illness, admonished me against receding further from a point where my engagements call me, about the 1st proxiThe resolution of treading back my steps, was taken at Antwerp, and communicated in a letter from that place, by major Lush. I wrote a single line to you to-day, giving the fortunate issue of Harrison's business, and his arrival at Fort George with McArthur's brigade. If Vincent be within the peninsula, Harrison will root him out. It remains with you to sweep the rest of the line before you. Montreal taken, what are Prescott and Kingston? Give Hampton timely notice of your approach, and of the place and hour of junction. Major General Wilkinson, Yours sincerely, LONG JOHN ARMSTRONG. Extracts of a letter from general Wilkinson to the Secretary of War, dated "GRENADIER ISLAND, November 1st, 1813. "You will perceive from the duplicate under cover (letter of the 28th of October) what were my calculations four days since: but the winds, and waves, and rains, still prevail, and we have made several fruitless attempts to turn Stony Point, one of them at great peril to 5,000 nien, whom I seasonably remanded to the harbor, without the loss of a life. Our sick, one hundred and ninety-six in number, have not fared as well: they were embarked in stout, comfortable vessels, and sailed, the day before * Scott and Randolph both joined. yesterday morning, for Sackett's Harbor, but they were driven on shore by a storm, which continued with unremitting violence all night; and as no exertion could relieve them, I anticipated the loss of the whole; but the tempest having abated, and the wind shifting from south-west to north-east, boats were sent out yesterday morning, and doctor Bull reports the loss of three men only. Other means of transport will be provided to-morrow, and these unfortunate men will be sent to the hospital at Sackett's Harbor." Brigadier Brown, with his brigade, the light artillery, the riflemen, the volunteers, the gunboats, Bissel's regiment, and a part of M'Comb's, are, I expect, safe at French creek, with the artillery and ordnance stores. These corps have made the traverse of the arms of the lake under circumstances of great danger, though fortunately without the loss of a life, but at the expense of some boats." "I shall wait one day longer, and if the passage should still continue impracticable to the troops, I will land them on the opposite shore, march them across the country to the St. Lawrence, and send the empty boats round to a given rendezvous." "As major general Hampton is under your orders, permit me to suggest to you what is worthy of reflection: whether he should take a position, and wait the arrival of my command near the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Grand river, or whether he should move down the St. Lawrence, and menace Chambly? If he is strong enough to meet sir George, the latter will be the preferable plan, because it will have the effect to divide the enemy's force; otherwise he should adopt the first idea, hazard nothing, and strengthen my hands." The enclosed copy of a memorandum from colonel Swift will show you what he is about, I flatter myself, to your satisfaction. The sole unpleasant circumstance before me, is our total ignorance of the preparations of sir George, and what we may expect to meet on the island. I fear no consequences; but it must be painful to lead more than six thousand men to battle hoodwinked; and yet all my efforts to procure intelligence from Montreal have proved fruitless." SIR, H. Q. FOUR CORNERS, November 1st, 1813. On the morning of the 21st ultimo the army commenced its movement down the Chateaugay, for the purpose of placing itself in a situation which would enable it to fulfil its part of the proposed combined operations on the St. Lawrence. An extensive wood of eleven or twelve miles in front, blockaded up with felled timber, and covered by the Indians and light troops of the enemy, was a serious impediment to the arduous task of opening a road for the artillery and stores. Brigadier gen eral Izard, with the light troops and one regiment of the line, was detached early in the morning to turn these impediments in flank, and to seize on the more open country below, while the army, preceded by a strong working party, advanced on a more circuitous but practicable route for a road. The measure, as will be seen by the report of brigadier general Izard, which I have the honour to inclose, completely succeeded, and the main body of the army reached the advanced position on the evening of the 22d. The 23d and 24th were employed in completing the road and getting up the artillery and stores. I had arranged, at my departure, under the direction of major Parker, a line of communication as far up the St. Lawrence as Ogdensburg, for the purpose of hastening to me the earliest notice of the progress of our army down. I had surmounted twenty four miles of the most difficult part of the route, and had in advance of me seven miles of open country, but at the end of that distance commenced a wood of some miles in extent, which had been formed into an entire abatis and filled by a succession of wooden breast works, the rearmost of which were supplied with ordnance. In front of these defences were placed the Indian force and light corps of the enemy, and in the rear all of his disposable force. As the extent of this force depended upon his sense of danger on the St. Lawrence, it was a cause of regret that all communication from yourself or major Parker seemed to be at an end. As it was, however, believed that the enemy was hourly adding to his strength in this position, if free from the apprehension of danger from above, an effort was judged necessary to dislodge him, and if it succeeded, we should be in possession of a position which we could hold as long as any doubts remained of what was passing above, and of the real part to be assigned us. Our guides assured us of a shoal and practicable fording place opposite the lower flank of the enemy's defences, and that the wood on the opposite side of the river, a distance of seven or eight miles, was practicable for the passage of the troops. Colonel Purdy with the light corps, and a strong body of infantry of the line, was detached at an early hour of the night of the 25th to gain this ford by the morning, and to commence his attack in rear, and that was to be the signal for the army to fall on in front, and it was believed the pass might be carried before the enemy's distant troops could be brought forward to its support. I had returned to my quarters from Purdy's column about 9 o'clock at night, where I found a Mr. Baldwin, of the quarter master general's department, who put into my hands an open paper containing instructions to him from the quarter master general, respecting the building of huts for the army in the Chateaugay, below the line. This paper sunk my hopes, and raised serious doubts of receiving that efficacious support which had been anticipated. I would have recalled the column, but it was in motron, and the darkness of the night rendered it impracticable. |