The National Register. — London, England, 1814-10-02 00:00:00

:tots placed under my order., most justly entitle them to my vrarn , est aeknow;edgments and my earnest recommendation to your favourable notice. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) G. COCKBURN, Rear-Admiral. Vies-, dmiral the Hon. Sir Alexander Cochrane, K.B. &c. &c. &c. H. Majesty's sloop ITotlly, off Nottingham, Patuxent, 27th Ang.lBl4. have the honour to inform yon, that, agreeahly to the in. tentions I notified to von in my letter of the Vol instant, I proceed. ed by land on the' morning' of the -2n.1 to Uoper Marlborough, to meet and confer Major-Gencral Ross as to our further opera tionb against the enemy ; and we were not lent; in agreeing on the propriety of making an immediate attempt ou the city of Wash ington. hi conformity, therefore, with the wishes of the General, I in xtaotly sent orders for our marine and naval forces at Pig Point, to be forthwith sieved over to Mount Calvert, and for the marines, iwitine artillery, and a proportion of the seamen to be there landed, and %%MI the utmost possible expedition to join the army, which I also most readily agreed to accompany. The Major• General then made his dispositions, and arranged that Captain Robyns, with the marines of the ships, should retain pos session of Upper Marlborough, and that the marine artillery and seamen should follow the army to the ground it was to occupy for the nizht. The army then moved on, and bivouaked before dark, about five miles neater Washington. In the night Captain Paltrier of the Hehrita, and Captain Money of the 'f rave, joined us with the seamen and with the ma rine nrtiikmy, under Captain Harrison. Captain IVainwright, of the Tonnant, had accompanied roe the day before, as had also Lieut. James Scott,. (Acting lit Lieutenant) °Effie Albion. At t 1.13 light the morning of the 24th, the Major-General again put the army in motion, directing his march upon Bladensburg; on reaching - which place, with the advanced brigade, the enemy was discovered drawn up in force on a rising ,round beyond the town; and by the tire he soon opened on us as we entered the place. gave tis to meterstaed he we, well protected with artillery. General Ross, however, did not hesitate in immediately advancing to attack him, although our troops %vela• ahnost exhausted with the fatigue of the march they had just niade, and bat a small proportion of our little army had yet got tqb: Ca, dashing measure was, however, I am happy- to add crowned with the success it merited ; for, in spite of the galliag file of the enemy, our troops advanced steadily on both his flasks and in his trnat; and as soon as he arrived on even ground 'aid, him, he fkA in every direction, leaving behind him ten pieces of cannon, and a considerable number of killed and wounded : amongst the latter Commodore Barney, and several other officers ; sonic other prisnuers wet e also taken, though not many, owing to the swiftness with which the enemy went oli, and the fatigues our :only had previmuly undergone. It would, Sir, be deemed presumption in inc to attempt to give you particular details respectieg the natore of this bettle; i shall theretore only remark general:y, that ;Ile tnemy, eight thousand strong, on eround he had chosen as best adapted for him to defend, adhere iie had had time to erect his batteries, and concert all hip measures. was dislodged as soon as reached, and a victory gained over hira by a di% i.oi of .he British army, not amounthig to more than 15 hundred men : head( d by our Geiterai, whose. brilliant achievement of this day it is beyond my power to dojw , tice to ) and inzieed no possible romaient could enhance. r ri:v ocamen, with the guns, were, to their great mortification. with the rear-division during this short but decisive action ; those, however, attached to the rocket brigade were in the battle, and I remarked with mord' pleasure the precision with which the rockets vere thrown by than, under the direction of Fit st Lieutenant Lewrence of the marne artillery ; Mr. Jeremiah 11I'Danirl, master's mate of die Toomel, a very fine young_man, who mo a% attached tot this party , l eingsev. rely ,rotinded, I lieg permissiou to iecotismrnd him to your 4 'l%oi:table conAderation. e"nipany of matioes I have on so ot•easiiies had can e to niciit;on to yoe, commanded by rirst Lieutenant Stephens, «nom also in tire action, as were the colonial marines, the temporery command of Capt Reed, of the Oh West India regiment (these companies being .tJ,lciteti to the 11 , i4ade) amid Ciey resio etively behaved with their accus tomed zusl and bravery. None other of the nasal departaimuts OCT. Q. were fortunate enough to arrive up in time to take their she - re in this battle, excepting Capt. Palmer, of the Hebrus, with his Aisle-de Camp; Mr. Ai thur Wakefield, Midshipmen of that ship, and Dent, James Scott, first of the Albion, who acted as my Aide-de-Camp, and remained with me during the whole time. The contest being completely ended, and the enemy having retired from the field, the General gave the army about two hour's rest, when he again moved forward on Washiigtou : it was, however, dark before we reached the city, and on the General, myself, and some officers ldvancing a short way past the first houses of the town, without being accompanied by the troops, the enemy opened upon us a very heavy tire of mnsketry, from die capitol and two other houses : these were therefore almost immediately stormed by eur people, taken posse4ion of, and set on fire, after which the town submitted without further resistance. The enemy himself, on our entering the town, set fire to the navy yard tfille l with naval stores), a frigate of the largest class, almost ready for launching, and a sloop of war laying off it, as he a l so did to the tort which protected the sea approach to Washington. On taking possession of the city, we also set fire.to the Presi dent's palae-", the treasury, and the war office; anti in the morning Captain Wainwright went with a party to see that the destruCtion in the navy-yard was complete, when he destroyed whatever stores and buildings had escaped the flames of the preceding night ; a large quantity of ammunition and ordnance stores were likewise destroyed by us in the arsenal, as were about 200 pieces of artillery of dif ferent calibres, as well as a vast quantity of small arms. Two rope walks of a very extensive nature, full of tar rope, acc. sitmAte at a considerable distance from the yard, were likewise set fire to and consumed : in short, Sir, I do not believe a vestige of punfie pro perty, or a store of any kind, which could be converted to the use •f the Government, escaped destruction ; the bridges across the eastern branch and the Potowmack were likewise destroyed. This general devastation being completed during the day of the 25th, we marched again at nine that night on our return, by Madens burr to Upper Mailborough. We arrived yesterday evening at the latter without molestation of any sort, indeed without a single musket having been fired ; and this morning we moved on to this place, where I have found his Majesty's sloop Mardy, the tenders, and the boats, and I have hoisted my flag s pro tempere, in the former. The troops will probably march to mor row, or the nest day at farthest, to Benedict for re-embarkation, and this flotilla will of course join you at the same time. In closing, Sir, my statement to you of the arduous and highly important operations of this last week, I have been particularly in debted, whilst on this service, to Capt. Wainwright, of the Tonnant, for the assistance he has invariably afforded me ; and to Capts Pal mer and Money, tOr their exertions during the march to and from Washington. To Capt. Nourse, who has commanded the flotilla during my absence, my acknowledgments are also most justly due, as well as to Capts. Sullivan, Badcoek, Somerville, Ramsay, anti Bruce, who have acted in it under him, Lieut. J. Scott, now first Lieutenant of the Albion, has on this oc casion rendered me essential services ; and I have had reason so often of late to mention to you the eallant and mei itorions conduct of this wilco., I trust you dill permit me to seize opportunity of recommending him particularly to your favourable notice and con sideration. _ _ Captain Robyns (the senior officer of the marines with the fleet) • who has had, during these operations, the marines of the ships united tinder his orders has executed ably and zealously the several services with which he has been entrusted, and is entitled to my best acknowledgments accordingly; as is also Capt. Harrison. of the marine artillery, will, with the officers andoien attached to him, awes comp :tried the army to and from ‘Vashington. Mr. Dobie, Surgeon of the Melpomene, volunteered his proles siouxl !ler vices on this occasion, aid rendered much assistance to the wounde.l on the field of battle, as well as to many of the men taken • ill on the !iue of march. One colonial marine killed, en• master's mate, two serjeants, and three colonial marines wounded, are the ra••nalties sustained by the. naval department; a general-list of the b• ' led and wounded of• the la hole army n id, of course, accompany tne report of the Major-Ge. neral. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) G. COCKBURN, Re2r-Admiral. Vice Admiral the Hon. Sir A. Cochrane, K. B. &c. &c. &c. P. S. Two long mix-panty:lcr guns, fo.r,n.hattcry at Not tingham, were taken off' niid put on hoard the Brune, and one taken at Upp°r Marlborough was destroyed. • THE N XTIONAL REGfISTER._