The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1812-12-17


Az Ches.eiEs d,,hty burnt The court -borse,
a range Of barracks, and three bundled bar
rcis Of flour.
At Manchester, they burnt twelve hundred
hogsheads oil tobacco.
Al Warwick, they burnt number Of ware
houses and tan houses a largh range OF rope
walks, and Eve hundred barrels oi flour. ! lie
priyate properly desl,oved in The course OF
three weeks was es,in, = at several hundred
thousand dollars.
inp, an expedition was conducted by British
,,oops. under Arnold, against New-Londoa,
;n Connecticut They landed in Sep,e mber,
and attacked Fort Griswold.-it was carried
bv storm. A bulchery Of the American SOL
diers took place by The British, after they had
entered the lines, aud after all resistaoce had
ceased OH the part OF the Americans.
British officer on coming into the Fort, en-
ouirec who commanded Col. Ledyard, an
.wesed, /. did, but you 90 now" and pre-
sentcd his sword. He was instantly run
through the body. The British pursued their
victory by burning TO ashes, tifly-two dwelling
houses, and eigh,y-four stores.
In August, 1873, tho British Gen. Grey
proceeded, ucdcr the order OF Gen. Clinton,
10 Bedford, Massachusetts, where, in the
nciehbourhood, he destroyed ware houses aud
dwelling. houses, to the amount OF ninety
thousand dollars.
About the same time, Col. Baylor, with a
regiment of American light dragons, was
surprized in barn near Taapan,whilc asleep,
by party of the British, commanded by Gen.
Grey. Of an hundred and four American
priyates, sixty-seve were killed, wounded or
taken prisoners, and several were killed tn
the act Of begging for mercy. In compliance
with request from Congress, dispositions to
establish these facts were taken under the dis
rections Of Governor Livingston, Of New
Jersey, 10y the Rev. DR.. Griffith, of Virginia,
and published TO the world.
These arc few instances in which British
commanders and British troops committed
acts during the revelation, contrary TO the us
ages of civilized warfare, and contrary to all
humanity. For authentic and for more copi-
Gus details respecting the burnings and devas-
tation of private property wantonly commit
ted, as we'll as Unlawful murders, the reader
is referred to the histories Of Ramsey and
Marshall. Ii will also appear from these his
tories tha, the British began the horrid prac-
tice Of employing the savages 10 fight ii. their
ranks against us. That Gen. Washington and
Congress denounced it in the early part Of
the war as an unauthorized and shocking ag-
grayalion of its evils, and gave into il after
wards merely in retaliation, and for defence
and safety. Those thus employed by the A
mericans, moreover, fought only against men
in arms, and chiefly against the Indians.
While those whom the British first ins,igated
and took in alliance to their ranks, were let
IN.
fan,s, uren whose helpless heads their un-
spanning aud Uloody fury continued to fall,
whenever the opportunity could be seized,
thtough hom the whole war. Witness for ex-
ample, The horrors at the Wyoming settle
mcnt in this State, in l773, when the Tories
and Indians in conjunction, acted scene of
carnage and pe'hdity, not exceeded by the
most shocking murders OF revolutionary
France, or by any indeed, which the most
bloody annals of the world can account.
On the Is, Of December, l777, it appear
ed by the report to Congress of MIR. Boudi-
not, Commissary General OF Prisoners, that
the general allowance made to the American
prisoners who fell into the hands of the Brit
ish did not exceed four ounces of meat per
day, and often so damaged as not to be eata-
BILE that il had been common practice with
the British OF one Of our prisoners being first
captured to keep him three, four, or FIVE
days, without a morsel Of meat, and then 10
tempt him to enlist TO save his life that
there were many Instances Of our prisoners
of wa: having herished in the agonies Of hun.
ger" These are the words of his report.
The treatment Of American sailors was alto
gether shocking. They, as well as many
other Americans of all classes, were crowd
ed on board Of prison ships, where the rava-
ges Of filth, and famine, and Of contagious
distcmpers swept them off by hundreds. 1t
last six years Of the war, several thousands OF
our prisoners died on boaad of the Jersey,
British prison-ship, stationed in the East Riv-
cr, near Ncw-York. For some time after
the war ended, heaps Of their bones lay ex.