Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-10-23
WASHINGTON CRY, Oct 81.
HARaIsJNs VICTORY.

HAR0ISJN'S VICTORY.
G,opu ofa letter from Major General
Harrison to the Secretary Of Var
Head.Q quarters, Detroit,
9th October, 1873.
sTH--In nay letter from Sandwich
OF tie s3.h ultino. I did myself the
honor to inform YOU, that | was pre-
p4ring to parsae the enemy the fol-
lowing day. From various causes.
however, I was unable to put the
troops in motion until the morning
Of the ed inst. and thea to take with
me only aboat one hundred and for.
" Of the Regular troops, Johnson's
Mounted Regiment and such OF Go
vernon SheIby's Voiunte rs as were
,iit Iar rapid march, the whole a.
mounting to about hree thousand ave
hua,lred men. To Sen. Macarthur
with about seven hundred eifectives)
the protecting OF this place and the
sick was eemmitted Gen. Cass's
Brigade and the corps Of Lieut.. Col.
Bali were left al Saadwieh, with or.
d,rs 10 follow me as soon as the men
received their ,llnapsacks and blan-
keis. which had been left on an island
In Lake Erie.
The unavoidable delay at Sand
wich was attended with no diad,an-
taec to us. General Proctor had
rostcd himself at Daison's On the
right hank ofthe Thames (or'FrenrsD
fifty six miles frem this place. where
/ was iniamed he intended 10 forti-
r; and wait 10 receive me. He must
have believed, hewcyer, that l had
no disposition to follow him. or that
he had secured my continuance here,
by the reports that were circulated
that the Indians would attack and
dcStroy this place upon the advance
of the army :. as he neglected to con.
mencc the breaking up the bridges
uatit the night OF the second instant.
On that night our army reached the
river. which is % miles from Sand
wieh and is one of four streams eros
sing our route. over all ofwhich are
bridges. and being deep and aaddy.
are anfordab'e for y considerable
distance into the cOuntry-the briage
here was found entire. and in the
morning proceeded with Johnson's
Regiment to save if possible the o.
theirs. Attic second bridge over a
branch Of the river Thames, we werr
fortunate enough to capture Lieut.,
Of Dragons and eleven privafes,
who had been sent by Gen. Proctor
20 DESTROY them. From the prison
ers I learned that the third bridge
was broken up and that the enemy
had no certain information OF our nd
vance. The bridge having been ial-
perfectly destroyed. was snnn repair
cd and the army encampea at brakes
farm. fonr miles below Oalson's.
The river Thamrs. along the hanks
of which our raute lay. is lioe deep
stream. uavisable for vessels of con
siderable barthea. alter Oh" passage
-Ofthe bar mt its moat', over Which,
there is six anu half Feet water.
The baggage of thcarDiy was hro't
frOm Detroit iD boats protected hy
three Gun-hoats. which CommeJore
Perry had furnished for the purpose,
as we'll ms to cover the passage OF the
nrmy over the Thames itself. or the
mouths of its tributary streams the
banks heing low and the country &C.
Morally open Prairies) as high as
Dalson's, these vessels were we'll cal-
culated for that purpose. Above Dali
sons, however. the character OF the
river and adjacent country is COAST
.derably changed. The former tho
still deep. is very narrow and its
banks high ard woody. The Com
modorc aud myself therefore agreed
upon the propriety Of leasiss the
boats under guard OF one hundred
and fifty infantry. and I determined
to trust 20 fortune ami the bravery
ormy troops to effect the passage Of
The river. Below a place called
Chatham and four miles above DIAL
sons is the Third unfortlabie branch
ofthe Thames; The bridge ever ITS
mouth had been taken up by the In
dians, as we'll as that at Metiregors
Mills, one mile above-several hnn-
dred Of the Indians remained TO dis-
pute our passage and. upon the arr'-