The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1776-09-06 00:00:00, page 1

siEPTEMBER 6, :77'5.
NUMBER 84.
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PVIRGINIA
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hsiwus .FOR .LIBERTY ]
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' :osi-ss'ffljMz-fflss 25,- .-\ND THE PUBLICK GOOD.
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High HEAVEN to GKACKOUS ENDS'derctJ the SsORM!
si, ct-si .______ss
.To Mr. PURDlE.
ALEXANDRXA, Augufl 10, 1776.
() other motive than justice to my
own character, as well as that of my
si officers, could ever induce me to request
. sigs yet; to publish the following- narrative
and depositions, more especially at this
hnportmtjuncture, when it is the duty of
every individual to propagate the general
harmony, and to discuunteuance every
do neffick contention that would seemin any
. wise tem i xg to frush'ate the general good.
About five weeks ago (since ] had the
'- honour to be appointed to the command
of the Pro'tector row-galley, belonging to
this cnmxnonwealth) I went down to
Yeoco an—ir't) recruit men, and enlisted six
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siss hmctS- From the capacity and good be
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' haviuur, a; well as;- fmjn the character that.
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Was given me of three of them, ] appoint
>
t
ss ed-ofte my second lieutcnant, and the othc :
(
p
' t'wn mfdshipmcn. We knew that part of
)
_ e cncmy's fleet had gone up the river
tyumwm'tck before us; therefore, instead
, dscomisilg up in a pilot boat, as was first
' tended, we came up with two row beats,
-Riuking b thafmeans to pass the fleet with
greater sa ety.ct What happened after we
r
't
came in sight of the fleet will appear by
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the following depofitions, viz.
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;si.
ss' she depqfitionvaf JOHN l'HoMAs, sZ-cond
! , (zrleutemmt to capt. Robert Conway oft/ze
'- Proc'cctor row—galley, beloizging to the
=' r' cmmwealthctqumomu. __
ctLLEXANDRlA, Fuunx COUNTY,
ssss Augu/i 10, 1776.
HlS day Fame before me the subscri
-., ber, one of the magistrates for the
,. County aforesaid, johnssl'homas, sccond
'eutenane to capcflflobcrc Conway us the
si otector row—gdlley, and made oath,
( thk ou Tuesday the zgss-sil ofjuly last, about
! or 10 o'clock in the forenoon, near
Sandy Point, sum} of us, with two boats
pnsided on the Maryland shore, , within
{bout half a mile of the enemy's fleet,
Which consisted offour ships, two renders,
'ind one rovisir-galley, expecting as soon as
in landed to hssn e been guarded by a party
_ {if the Maryiand militia, having no fire
arms ourselves, thinking to pass the fleet
the Following night. As soon as we land
',—$d, We conveyed our baggage to an ad—
Jctaccnt house, "when, after inquiry, we
Were informed the troops were opposite
lo the Roebuck, to whom four of" us im
inediately went, from whence we observed
the fleet manning their boats, with intent,
as we' thought, to land on the Mctryhml
shorc, from which the Roebuck man of
war seemed to be 2 Or 300 yards, when a
gentleman they called co]. Hurrison said,
Come, let us march down, to which lTss-verul
replies! , Ican'tbear toshaot a man,- others,
th 1! t/zeirgum were out of order, wizh sim
dry other cxcuses; to whom coi. Harrisun
said, Tuu that have not a mind to go. give
your gum- to tho/Z' men that came with capt.
Cmm---1y. ] then said. Give me actqmz am!
ammmzitionflf, and ] will go, 1.}which one of
the mZiiLi-J rendily did. So doer me
marched, under the commune] of col
Harrison. Soon after we came down to
the shorc the enemy gavssethrecloud huzzas,
and rowcd over to the Virginia si_dc, wuh
two renders, one gondola, and ten row
boats, from which they landed and burnt
mr. Brent's house, and returned in
about an hour to their respective veflkls.
In the mean time we thought ourseivel
v. r safe under the protection of the
mihtia, who by this time, as we were in
formed, hadincrcased srombetween go and
40 men to between 3 and 400. Injullice
to eol. Harrison, I must not omit inform
ing, that he seemed very active and reso
lute, encouraginghis men, and telling them
that nature could not form a more conve
nient place than where he proposed tth
should be statioued. About 3 or 4 o'cioc
in the aftemoon the enem 'a gondola and
a schooner tender put oft; and made for
our boats. Seeing that, lsaid, Gentlemen,
] hope, as we came to offP-ryou ourservice:
you will be kind enough to affi/Z us in taking
care ofour boats, having na drm: ourselves ,
upon which they said, one com any
should go with us. Then we ran town
ourselves, and hauled the smalctlest boat
about 33 or 40 ards into a marsh; the
other, which h ballastin, we haule'd on
the bench, and staved. By this time the
company of militia came down, but the
enemy being close ashore where our'boat
was, they stopped in a valley, at about
50 or 60 yards distance from the boat on
the bench. The cnemy's row-galley
rowed several times towards the boat on
the beach, and back again. At l_ast the
roW-gztlley and tender tired. on which the
Jentinels the colonel placed ran across a
'COi-n field and made for the woods;l to
whom the coionel calle , Come back!
No, says I, they will ot come back
till they get to Port Tobacco; at which
he laughed. They would keep at the
enemy when they rowed close to our
boat, but never offered to fire, excepting
it was the colonel, who presented once,
butrecovered withoutssfiring. Someofthem
(hid, ]sthe row-galley lundcd she would rake
them up the vullccty (which indeed _W8.l im
possible) at which they ran, the men first,
after whom the csioionel rdfeated, not
withstandin . ] am pretty well assured the
coionel wou (] have stood had he been sup
ported by his men. When the enemy
saw them (from the Roebnck's mast
head) running off, they hollowed at them,
and called them sundry names, then made
signs for the row-gailey to pull ashore,
which they did, and launched our boat of;
then gave three ]mzzas, and sired several
shot, both small and great, at the house
where our baggage had been taken to;
then returned to their ships with their
boocy, without having one gnn' sired at
them. Col. Harrison seemed to have that
good opinim os capt. Conviiny as to say,
he was a m-ed that Conwa} would not be
backward in taking :: firelock. And thr
ther this depo'nent saith not.
, lOHN THOMAH
A
ALEXANDMA, Aumg/I 12, 1776.
The above dep-ct/itian s worn lo before -
. _ jOHN CARLYLE.
4" 'Thg gan that war given by one ssosthosi
militia was returned when the enemy wd:
observed g ting over to the Virginiafidc.
flzc depq/z'tiom of town:: Cor." an]
Curusu'r ELLtsToN, midshipmm 01: ,
board the Prntec'tor row guilty, crim
manded by capt. Robert Conway. _
ALEXANDRIA, Fuusiu co'onm'k, '
AugzZ/i to, '1776. ' ,
lKEWlSE EdwardColel and Cithberl
- Elhston, t'wo midshipmen belongin
to the Protector row-galley, came the
day before me the subscriber, one of the?
magistrateo for the county aforesaid, in
the commonwealth of Virginia, and took
the accustom'ar'y oaths; by virtue ofwhich
the depose 'and say, that on 'l'uesday tbe- ss
23 day osjuly last, comingsiup thpflVCssx
Putowmack with capt. Gonway," we passing ,
in sight of the enemy's fleet, consisiifig dfct
four ships, two tenders, am! one row-gai—
ley , when we made f'dr the Maryland short}
and landed about half a mile below them, -
expecting to have been protected by the ,
militia on shore, the number of whom (ab
we were informed soon after our ]anding)
was between 3 and 400. We were seven *
in number. with two hoats. Soon aftesst'si
we landed sour of'us wentup to the troops, _
and after being about an hour and a' half
with them some of the then offered ttss givct "
up their sirelocks to us. One in particular.
[gave his gan to mr. Thomas,- our second ct
iemenantsi. We saw 'the en'emy's tw'osi'
tenders, one row-galley, - and some stith
beats, filled with men, waking for th!
ssVirginia share (instead of coming to the .
Maryland shore, as we eXpected) where
they burnt mr. Brent's houses, a'sind from
thence returned to their ships. BetWeen
3 and 4 o'elockin the afternoon we o'bserv-l
ed their row-gallcy, and a schooner tender,
making down for the place w here om' boat:
lay. 'l'he little boat We pulled n' :
marsh out of their way,- and haulcd ihe_
big boat on the beaeh, whieh james Sorrell
ltaved, hy c pt. Cunway's order, bc scctn'e
the enemy could get nigh enohgh to "fire
at us with any certainty. As soon as the
enemy's row-galle began to fire, the .
militia' rsinade a pfccq'nitateretreat, and rasin
up to the woods,_ after whom co]. Ham
son went up. (Then the enemy came and
took the boat from off the beach, without
having one gun sired at them, although
sizme of the militia were within less than
too yards of the poat w hen they took hit,
off, and gave three huzzcts. And farther
these deponents say not
EDWARD corcttzs.
CUTuBEttTsi- ELLlSTONsi.
FAIRFA: county, se. ,
The above deposttianfiunm to befbre
jmm C six RLYLE.
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SOON after] arrived at .-\1< szdr'm iny .
row-gzdlcy sswas ordered down to wake]!
the motionos the cncmy'sis flifet, but in my
return, tcss) my great surprise, ] sound the
following adx ertisement had been stuck up
at several public]; places in thin town :
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