The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1776-01-26 00:00:00, page 1

]ANUARY 25, 1776. Numctsisizn sisiss
V 1 R G I N 1 A sssisss GA ZE T T E.
.Asiwsis Pox L I B E R T Y.
ALEXANDER PURDIE, PRINFLR.
Extract: of letter: fi-om lord DUNMORE.
' TO admiral (} R A V E S.
NOVEMBER 24, 1775.
UR little squadx'ou here goes on as
Well as you can expect; but as cap! .
Squire writes to you by this opportunity,
! [hall not trouble you any further than
returning you thanks for the kind reccp
Iion you was so good as to give msiajor
Connolly, and to assure you lhsint ] um,
&c.—--— P. S. I have now only to request
gon, isposiiblc, to let one of'thc line of
:Lttie ships winter here, and to despatch
the floop Betsey as soon as possible.
Toss general H O w E.
Novnmszn go, 1775.
t UST inform you., that with our little
.c'orps I think we have done wonders.
We have taken an'! destroyed above four
scorcyieces ofordnanCC, and, by landing
in different parts of the country, wc keep
them in continual hot water; but as capt.
Lesslc tells me he means to write to _\nu
on the subject, ] have no doubt he will
give you particulars enough, so shall say
no more on that subject. Among the pri
sonctjs we have take" one Olivfr, Porter
and Dcane, two natives of Boston, bring
ingin gunpowder to North Carolina. The
latter was sent from Boston to influence
the minds of the people, in which he has
been but totj successful. He was taken
from on board & schb'oner going from this
place to the _ si stern Iflrmds,ss to bring
owdcr to t _ct.'-o]ony; and the others
gave c'ar'ried arms against his majesty in
this province. I have sent them _morc
with a view OF intimidating othcrs than
to punish them, as they expect here that
so sure as they are sent to Boston they
are to be hanged. Rohinson is a (lclegatc
of our Convcntion, Matthews was a
captain of their minutesimpn. 'Psrhnps
they may be of'use to you, in exchanging
them smi good men.--Tho floop not sail
ing so soon as I expected, Ihavelto inform
you, that on the 14th instantl had in-_
formation that a party of about [00 of
the North Carnlina rehels had nnrchedsito
the affistance of those in this colony, and
Were posted at a place called the Great
Bridge, a very essesimial pass in this part
of the country. I accordinglsiv e'm'barkcd
our little corps OF the lqth in beats, in the
night, with between 20 and go volunteers
from Norsolk. WV'e landed, within four
miles of the briflqe, am] arrives] there a
little sister dny-hght ; sibut.'to our great
mortification, found the birds had down
the evening- bcsmfe. Blsilt heating 'that a
body of between 2 :md 300 of our rebds
Were within about ten miles osus, WC de
termined to bent it:) thrsi-ir quarters, and.
accordingly proceeded about eight miles,
when they sired on our advanced guard
from the wood; on which I immediately
ordered our people to rush in upon them,
and at the Fame time sent :: party osthe regu
lars, with the volunteers . to out—ilank them ;
The enemy immediately fled on all quar
frs, and our peossphsi: pursued them for a
,:ilc or more, killed & sew, drove others
to ;: creck, where they were drowned,
took nine prisoners, mnong which is one
ostheil' colonels. We had only one mzm
wounded, who is recovcring. ! immedi—
ately, upon this, issuc'd the enclosul pro—
clznnukion; which has had ;: usi-ondwj/ul
cssect, as there are not less. than :,ooo llmt
have already taken and sighed the enclosed
untlssi. The ncgraw are :zlsu floclsiing in
from all quarters, which I hope will
oblige the rcbels t!) dispcrsc, to take care
oslhe'n' (Zuuihcs and property ; um]; had
] but a few more men hue, ] 'si'wsi'zlzl im—
mediately march te") slsisissi/liumcts/uss'rg, 1751' jbr
mur ])!zlcc vsrqszsidcnce, by which ! ]}.rould
soon cumpcl !.sze l-Vlls) L 5 (10 L O NI" to
fix!sir/;i!.—--\\<'e are in great want of small—
arms; :simd ifsitwo or three light sicld—psiu-ces
;md iheir czu'riages could he spzzrul, they
wuzsh'l be of great service to us; also
some (:;sirxrixlge paper, of which not a
sheetis to he got in this colony, and all
our cartridges arc expcmkd.——si-—Since the
lgth of May last I have not fetched a
single line from any one in adruinilh'siuiun,
though I have wrote volumes to them,
To each ofwssh'ich ] have prayed to be in
sh'ucted, but to no purpose. 1 am there
so're determined to go on doing" the best
in n1y power for his nmjesty's service. I
ha_\_/e_ accordingly ordered & regimcnt,
tal. go the {(see-n': au 71 loyal resstmwzt of 500
men, to bemsitled Ztmnulixxel) , cunsistiutr
of !! ]icutcnmt cuhme] command: n.t, &
mgjor, and ten companies, cachuf which
is to cuntilt osonccuptain, twolicutmmts,
one cnsizm, (mal 50 pxiszues, with nun
co: nmillionccl office] 5 "41 pr opoz tion. You
mav observe, by my W'odmnzuion, that
I offer lh'edam tr) tlss'c/[az'cs us all rebel:
thssst jnin me, in ccusi-queuce of which
there 11er hctween 2' and 300 already come
in; and those ! form into a corps as fsilst
.a-ss they copm in, giving them w: me of}!
ccrs, ;md non—comnmss: oned ofl' xccrs in
proportion. And from thsilc mu phus,
[make no doubt of getting men 'cnouo'h
,.
lo rcuucc uus coiony to a proper lcm: or
their duty. My next dishels will be , the
want of arm, accautremcutx, and MU
NEY, all of which you may be able to
relieve me from. 'Ihe latter, I am sme,
you can , as there are msissmy merchants
here who are ready to supply me, on my
gixing them bills on you, which )011 will
have to withdraw, and give umr own in
their room. ! hope this mode will he
assree able to you; it is the [sinne that ge
ner 11 Cure pmpusid. I hz'ne now, in
order to Cslsl y on the recruiting busieiess,
victufliing, clothing, &c. drawn on you
for 5300].stellh1<;; and have appointed a .
fhv'fll .j-sz'jr, who will keep exu't uccmmts.
] wis hss you w ou.(l inform me, by the re- '
tum ()t thc lhmp, what bounty money
may be given to those who cnlistsi—ll I'V
hearsi] that, los o chosi/Ln men hchmnincr
to the rebelx, grsiett part of which w crc
riflemen, were on their niarch to uttzick
us -',ht'lC or to cut of} 0111 prmificms, Ide—
termineil to take posicshon of the pass at
the Great Briclgc, which sncmc-s [lo the
greatest part of two counties to supphss/ us
with ln'uviiious. ] accoldinnl) ordered &
fluckudc sun to be (ctrc-thd [here, which
was done in a few days; and I put an
officer and I;," men to gurrisun it, with
some volunteers and mgrocs, who de
sended itugainst all the effurts-os the l'ebels
for these eight days pafl. We have killed
severnloisitheir men, and I make no doubt
we shall now be able to umintuilLOllr
ground there; but, should we be obliged
to abandon it, \\e have thrown up an insi
trenchment on'the ]sisimd side ofsiNorsolk,
which I hope they never will be able to
force. Here we are contending, with
only & \ery small part of & regimeht,
against the extcct-nsive cnlony os\'irginia.
If you would but lpm'e me, for a few
months, [he 64lh regimeut, now in the
castle, and the remaining part of the 14th,
] renHv believe we should reduce the colo
ny w 21];rssg/vyct-rA/Z-n/Zz q/"tlmsir ('I/dy.
*su general [1 0 \V E.
()CTOIER 78, 17'75'.
RAY spare us some troops, is you um
puffihly do it, consistent wifh ynur'
orders. Even the recruits of the 14th re—
gimcnt Wuuld he of some service to us.
Those ordered from St. Augustine arc nfpt
yet arrived, though hourly expected.
fi'nq the whole regimcnt here, ] think
we shall be able to do some good . l have
sent you & llonp u-iLh some lndian corn,
onts, and a scw ]sish potatoes, all of
which, he told me (] mean mnjc-r Con
nollj) were mach wanted. I would have
sent you any quantity of onts (such as
they arc) if I could have got & larger ves
sel. ] wish tn (}od I had some of your
light-hmsish hcrc. This is 11 fine coimtrv
to cut in, and sood uf'uH kind in grecst
abundance, for both men and horses.
A winter cumpaign would reduce, \\ ictrhout
the shchst doubt, sithe whole of thictsis-Z'u
them continual to a perfect flute of obedi
ence. ()nc clhsintinl service it would ren—
der yon, which is, that I could supply
your army and mwy with every necessary
of life, and thatin lhc grcatcstnbmuhmctsi,
which is more them any other colony on
the (unlim-nc ctuuhl do.
Extract (ctf'a letter from capt. S' QU ] R 5",
to general 0 A G'E , (lated O'r'r ER lloop,
. nffNoRFoLx, Dcc. 2, 1775.
\ E have now :! small sort at the Great
' Bridge, Mvich the rebel: must pass
to come to Noxsilsil ]k. \Ve have destroyed
the bridgc, and saw ten days past have
kept :] body of" goo relic]: fssrom passing.
\\"e have likewise. i'sisitrcnched the town of
Nursulk ; and ] hu (; great reason (o sup—
pose, and hope., {'simm Their beingfilcfi
cn-u-r/rlls, and mld 'zuvutlzer ccming i-n,
(Int they will return to their respective
hornes, aml weflull/ [76 quiet the remainder
q/Y/w winter. ] um sccurinsiz; all the pro—
\ isions ] can sortlze king's ships, and hope
to get a iizffioicnt qnumity, until we can
have & shpply from the nurthw.usid.-——l
am we" cominced, that, had we :! scw
more troops. and one:- or two more ships,
that the rcsisss'c'ls in these} part: would be
Very soon quictul .
[T/w remainder in our ne:.sitss.]_