The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1777-01-10 00:00:00, page 2

must change our scmiments, or one or
boch must fail. And what is a Tory?
Good GoD ! what is he? I should notbe
asmid to go with an' hundred VVhigs
against a thousand Tcncs, were they t_o
attempt to get into arms. [Fivery Tory is
a coward, sora servilc, avxg, scif-inter
died soar, is the soundalion of Toryism,
and a mzzn under such influence, though
he mav be cruel, never can be brave.
[The remainder in our next.]
m
PHlL AD ELPHI A, Dccember 24.
E hear, from ood authority, that
on Sunday la , betwixt Slab town
and the Black florsc,__ in the jerscys, a
any of our army, under the command
of col. Griffin, had a skirmish with the
Hessians, and that the enemy were forced
to retreat with precipitation, having some
killed, and leaving behind them many
knapsacks and other necessaries, amongst
which was a hat shot through the crowsi;
but the next morning, the enemy advanc
ing with a considerable reinfsiorcement,
supposed to be about 2000 men, with seven
or eight field pieces, our little army was
obiiged to retreat (which they performed
with great regularity) to prevent their
being ouiflanked by superiour numbers;
and in the evenin they had another skir
mish at Mdunt Hoiiy, in which the enemy,
as an intelligent person informs, had leve—
ral killed and wounded . in both shirmish
es, our peopic had only two killed, and
seven or eight wounded. Our army is at
dleore's town, and that of the enemy is
at Mount Holly.
Extract of a letter flom an officer on board
the Alsrcd, off the was} a] Cape Breton ,
to a gentleman of di/Zmction in the sfctsict'e
of Rhodc lshmd, dated Nov. 13.
" We have met with contrary winds
and stormy weather for this week past,
evcr since we passed llnlisax. We have,
however. taken the brigamine Activc, srzsi-m
Liverpooi, on a private account, for Haii
sax, & prize worth bocoi. sterling prime
cost; but we have bel'rdes been rsmarkably
successful in taking the ship M'Zlsizch, &
transport from Londonfur Qushctz-ci; ].sijen
entirely wiih ciothinss. the lust to be: sfsint
out this sail; and as a'x'ct that huh form-sisictsi-ly
been sent to Cannda are taken, this. lust
blow si'sisiill make Burgoyne shsisszi'sie a cloth
in the wind, and check his progress on
the ]akes. This trzssmfiss-ort shils very fist;
she was lately the Thundcr bomb, and is
now reffbuilt, maunted with guns, and
made shme little defence. As we think
her of too much importance to be lost
sight of, we proposc to man herwci], and
and keep her with us till our return, which
wc—hopc will be very soon- We willsink
the Millich, rather than suffer her to fall
again into their hands. We have taken
in her betweenGo and 70 prisoners, several
of whom are officers, and -people of con—
dition."
BAL T Il\1() R E, Dcccmb'er gr.
This morning Consigrcsct} received the following
letterfi-om general WASHlNGTON.
Head quarten, Newtown, Dcc. 27, 1776.
S ! 1,
H AV E the pleasure of congratulating
you upon the success oF an enterprise
which ] had formed against a detachment
of the enemy lying in Trenton, and which
waspxecuted yesterday morning.
'I'hecvening of the zylh, I ordered the
troops intended for this service to paradc
back of MsiConkey's ferry, thatthcy might
begin to pass as soon as it grew dark, ima
gining- Wc- should be ah'sic to throw them nil
over, with the necessary aflillery, by 12
ssi'clock, and that we might easily arrive
at Trcntm— by five in the morning, thc_
distance hung about nine miles; but the
q-mntitv os icc made that night impetlcd
the psixssug'e of the beats so much that it
was 3 o'silock bcsorc the ar'silllcx'y could all
be got over, and near 4 belorc the tkooPs
took up their line of march.
] formed my detachment into two divi—
sions, one to march up the lower or river
sond, the other by the upper or Penning—
tou road. As the divisiozzs had nearly the
same distance to march, I ordered each of
them, immediately upon sorcing the cut
guards, to pushdircctly into the town, that.
they might charge the enemy before they
had time to foun. 'The upper dixiiinu
arrived at the cnemy's advanced post ex—
actly at 8 o'clock, and in three minutes
after, I found, from the [ire on the lower
mad, that that division had also got up.
The out guards made but a small opposi
tion, though, for their numbers, they
behavcd very well, keeping up a constant
retreatiug fire from behind houses.
We prescutly saw their nuin body form
ed, but from their motions they seemed
undetermined how to act. chg hard
pressed by our troops, who had already
got posi'clsion of part of'their artiilery , they
attempted to sile off by a rout]. on their
right. leading to Princeton ; but perceiv
in;; their intessmtion, ] threw a body of
troops in their way, which immediately
checked them. Finding, from our dispo
sition, that they were surroundcd, and
they must inevitably be cut to pieces, if
they made any farther reiistance, they
agreed to lay down their arms. 'l'he num—
ber that submitted in this manner was 23
oflicerssi and 896 men. Col. hohi, the
comn: sizidizlg osh'cer, and seven others,
were -:si-ct;,1ndw0unded in the town. ] do
not exsisiccttly know how many they had kil
led . Luxss ] fancy not above zosior 30, as they
newer made any regular stand. Cur hsiss
is very trifling indeed, only two officers
and one or two privatcs wounded.
l find that the detachmcnt of the enemy
conlilicd of the thrc Hzsisiian rcgimems
of Lanusisipach, Kniphan fen, and Rohl,
'amounting to about 1500 men, and & troop
ot' British light horse; but imn'.ea_'.iutciy,
upon the beginning of the attack . all those
who were not kiisicd or taken puihed di
rectly down the road towards Bordentown.
le se would likewise have Fallcn into our
hands, could my plan have been complete
ly carried into execution. General Ewing
was to have crossed bescrc day at 'sisienton
serry, and taken posi'esiion of the brisiisige
leading out of town; but the quantity of
ice w.-.> so great, that, though he did every
thing in hiz power to cffiu it, he could
not get over. This difficult.)- uisr hinder
ed general Cadwailshier from crufiiug with
the Pennsylvsisiziumisttizx, linzrf- .}.Piiiul; he
go;; part of l-iss stot mer, Izsiu; having it.
impznliblc to embctrk hid urisflcry, he w. as
obliged to cictiit. I um suiiy ccsinfidt-ut,
that could the troops under grsiuu'ald Lwing
and Cudwa]'.sidcr have 5;'ziI<ss-;i th- river, l
lhuuld havcheeu abie, mit i; th'. i- ,..fiizi-mce,
to have driven thc enemy from all their
pusts be'tow 'l'renton; but the numbers I
had with me being inferiour to theirs below
me , and a strong- oztttsssttun ot'ttght insantry
being at PrinCcton, above me, ! thought
it must prudent to return the same evening
with the prishucrs, and the artillcry we
had taken. Wc found no (torcs of any
consequence in the town.
ln justice to the officers and men, I must
add , that their behaviour upon this occasi
On TCHECLp the highest homct-ur upon them.
The diflicnlty of passing the river, in a
\ :t'ysevere night, and their march through
a violent storm os snow and hail. did not
in the less}; abate thcsitt' ardmtr, but when
they came to the charge each seemed to
vic with t tc other in prcsstng forward;
and were I to give presercncc to ut'y pur—
ticuhr corps, [should do gret.: izzittffice
to the others.
Colonc] thylmsi, my slss'st aid-de-camp,
will have the ho-zmtr as dchvering this to
you, and stout him you may be made ac—
quaintcd with many u'sibcr )).zz ;}siu'ssg—ct; isssi
S-siririted bchaxiuur, upon si \ ct-n sizc c. :-._si_
requires me to rcccssmmcm'si iizu LU um"
paxlicular nolicc. ;ss u
l have the honour to be.
with great ral'sicct, sir, ssk'
your molt humble; servant.
(}. w A si " ] IN (; TO N'.
Enclo/Z-d ] lm'uc jmtyau (! particular is,?
of th rctt)r:_si/si0m-r.s, arlil'luty, mld ut/zu' flow},
lili'l l'HN of'prisonusisi tukr-n ut 'l'rcmon
the 261110!si])::cembcr 1776, by the army
under the command us his cxcellcwy
general W AsulN G'l'o N .
Iicgiment of lsiAb. DSP AC [l.
] licutcnantct-coluuc], ! mujor. : cap.
tain. glieu'sienams, 4 cnsigns, 38 serjsi ama,ss
6 drummers, 5 musicians, 9 officers scr—'
vants, 206 rank and she.
Regimen: os KNlPl-IAUSEN.
!
!
1 major, 2 captains, 2 ]icutcnams, gen—
v
\
signs, 25 serjeants, () drummers, 6 officers
servants, 258 rank and lilc.
Rrgimept of ROH L.
1 coloncl, 1 licutcnam-coloncl, 1 mz-jrar,
1 captain, zlicutcnnms, 5 cnsigna, 2 sur—
geons mates, 25 scrjeanxs, 8 drummcrs,
4 musicsiims, 9 officers servants, 244 rank
and silc.
. n-_.__-—__.—__
ueglment or A it 11 L ], r, li ! .
] licuxenant, 4 serjeants, 1 oflicer's ser
vant, 32 rank and tile. ct
Total. : coloncl, 2 licutennnt-colomls,
3 mnjors, 4 captainsss 8 lieutenants, 12
eusigns, 2 surgeons, 92 serjean'ts, 20
drummcrs, 9' musicians, 25 officers scr- _
vants. 740 mnk and file. 918 prisoners. \
6 double sortilied brass lhree-pounders,
with carriages complete
3 amm'sitzuuon waggons. ss
As many mnikets, bsilyonets, cartouch :
boxcs, :zrnd swords, as there are prisoners.
12 drums. 4 colours.
Publistzsd by order of Congrqsx. ss
CHARLES THOMSON, secrctary.
On Saturday last arrived in town fromss
Philadelphia the Hon. Horatio Gates, esq;
msijor-general in the continental arm ,
accompanied by col. Donald Campbesi,
and ]ieutenam-colonel Stuart.
To the melancholy picture already ex
hibitcd of the brutal behaviour of the Bri
tons (who vainly boast of being " ever
pre-eminent in mercy") aided by Hesiian
and Waldec]; mercenaries, in New York
and New jerley, it gives us pain to add,
that they have not only outraged the feel
ings of humanity to many people who
were so unhappy as to fall into their hands,
particularly the fair sex, but have degrad
ed themselves beyond the power of lan
guage to express, by wantonly destroying
the curious water works at New York, an
elegant publick iibrary at Trenton, and
the grand orrcry made by the celebratss d
Rincnhousc, which was placed in the
ccsi-llegc at Princcton, a piece ofmcchanism
which the most unmwrcd savuge, staying
the hand of violence, would have beheld
with wonder, reverence, and delight !
Thus arc our cruc] enemies warring against
liberty, virtue, and the arts and sciences.
----- " How are the mighty fizllenf"
Amonglt the zuorthic: who havejoined,
or put themselves under the protection of,
Howc and company, at 'l'semon, we find
the names of the following noted perfo
nzges, viz.
joscph Gsisidloway, esh; late a member
of the Congrcss, and ipcakcr us the Pam
sylvan'ia Senule.
john Alle: , csq; late 3. member of the
Phlladclphia committce of observaii-sizn,
inspcd'tion, &c.
Amlrcw Allcn, csq; Into & member OF
Congrcss.
Vk'illium Allcn esq; htc a hmltcnsmt
coluntl in the ccttincnzal i'crvicc, which
{imixss-n he rcsigned.
Lzzst right two nnmrinm tvct'snors. of
the numc us Goodrfch, mssuic sihc-r u'sisi'apc