Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1812-10-02
WASHINGTON CITY, Sept. %.
HURRICANE.

neHt IS SO subject. II supplement to an Or
leans newspaper presents q particular de-
count Of damage done in the torn but ws
,0ait nth painful anriety for a more de
failed statement thea any zoe hare seem
1he letter Of the 2lth ait. Is the latest aa-
tseatic account anich has reached this city
and that as urritten IN great haste, and
0p~Darentkg scithout precise information as
ia some Of tae circums stances. No informa-
tion has been received from New- Orleans at
the Navy Department since the 18th, and
of course no official information has reach
ed this city as to the injury said to haUs
been doRe to the pubaic CesSels.
Extract of a letter fran Gen. williamson,
dated Ae10 Orleans, august %.
goa the 19th and Goth inst. we were vi
sited at this place by a hurricane, which has
left behind it a scene oil desolation, compre-
hending trees, fences, crops, houses, ship
ping and water craft of every species mil
lions will not repair the damages; our bar
racks, hospital, store houses and maya
zines, have been unroofed, the wall OF our
barrack.yaid Frustrated, and our boats all
destroyed. But the loss to our navy is more
considerable; indeed, fear, under exist
ing circumstances, it cannot be seasonably
repaired The Entelprize is On shore, be.
ing driven from one side of the river to the
other 10 spite of all her anchors. The VII
per has lost her main mast, and is other
vice greatly damaged. The sheer hulk
with the Viper's guns and Ammunition, and
ether property, has gone down and the
only gun-boat we have heard Of is on shore
10 Lake Pon,chairtrain. We have no hews
Of the Syren or the gdn-boats to the east.
ward, or those in the river; nor have | a
word from FortS ST. Philip (Plaequenines) /;
but | tremble for the Consequences"
Extract fran a young gentleman in New.
LffeanS 20 AS 6~yoiaer, aaied august 23a.
"We have had a gale OF wind here which
has blown all the shipping out of the water.
The u. S brig Enterprise is high and dry
on shore, and the Viper is almost to pieces.
The market house has blown down, also the
barracks for the soldiers. Fort St. Philip
was entirely swampt, and almost all the
men drowned In this condition, the Bril-
fish frigate S. Hampton arrived off the bar
and hearing Of the destruction OF the Fort,
dispatched her boats up, and took posses.
sion, and now there are $40 men well arm.
ed in the Fort. We are raising volunteers
TO so and dispossess them. l am one of
them. We have had an instruction OF
the Negroes but all the heads are taken"
Ertract Of a letter from a gentleman at NetD
Orleans, to his friend in this city, dated
august q.
All is hustle here 10 the military way |:
since the morning, a report has reached
own that the British have taken possession
OF our block house and fort St. Philip, near
the mouth ofthis river. The Southampton
ship OF war Tor frigate) was cast away at
the Balize, and the Brazen sloop Of war
weathered the storm on the 18th inst. and it
Is believed with their BEATS they have taken
the above mentioned positions which were
rendered entirely defenceless by the hurri.
cane. II would be impossible to give you
a Just description of the dreadful havoc and
melancholy aspect of this ll.fated city,
The hurricane far surpassed any thing of
the kind ever witnessed here before, for
violence and consequent destruction of pro-
perty. Every house in the city is more
or less iuiured-many were dashed to a.
Constituencies of lives were lost on the
ftver, and out of so vessels scarcely six
are worth repairing. You can form no idea
OF the dreadful havoc and of the horror that
pervaded the city on that melancholy night.
40 add 70 tina dIstresses OF the inhabitants,
. report was put in circulation that the ne.
groes were to fire the city and murder its
white inhabitants. This report seems not
10 have been without some foundation
lMauy persons-some whites as well as
lhiacks-are IN conSnement upon suspicion,
land their dia5olical designs have for the
lpresent. at least, been frustrated but God
loniy knows where the misfortunes of this
Seemingly devoted cily viii end.
"Our old military chief, Gen. W.