Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1847-08-04
From the Mobile Herald, Of tie l7th utt.
us. STEAMER SPlrFIRE,
Before the town of Tabasco,
july lst, 1917.

the pricipal portion oil MS force on Tue %'1u
leaving only The steamers Spit6re aud
Scourse, together with the brmb brig
Etna, and seventy marines, with three
1 field pieces on shore as a garrison, we
have been subject 10 continual fharrass,
mems from the enemy, and TO occasional
skirmishes with them, By lan'lns tue,
crews from the vessels. and joining tneh
with he marines, we could muster torce
of us mon, and with these we were TO
hold town Of 10000 inhabitants threat
eneJ from without by some 7OO or SOO
Z repulars. The marines and field pieces
: were posted in the plaza; ths field pieces
being manned by sailors from the vessels;
and arrangements being made To land the
entire crew at moments's warning.
In the meantime the enemy, by means
of,hreats had induced the inhabitants who
had partly returned, To entirely desert the
city there remaining only The foreign re-
siden,s; aud taking advantage Of the cover
/ afforded by the abandoned touses would
steal up during the night and fire upon
our seu,iuels, Immediately flying alter
discharging their arms.-On tho night OF
The 25h, 200 Mexicans stole up TO some
deserted houses on one side of the Plaza,
and fred a yolley acruss the square at the
cbn,s crew, commanded by MIR. Glbbon,
Of the Spitfire-lortunately none OF the
HALLS look affect, and coupe of discharges
of grape soon sent them flying. On the
e7,h The enemy were little bolder, aud
WE, had our first sbirmish with them. 1t
occurred thus: We had been accustomed
each evening before sundown, TO land the
: crews of the vessels and march up to The
plaza for parade and drill; after the usual
exercises, tue crew Of the Spi,fire numbe-
ring 40 men, undo: Lieu Com'ds ID
Porter, aud all their officers except the
one left on board, marched towards the
suburbs, having previously divided into
two parties. taking routes ou' OF each
Others sight. The party under Lieut..
Porter consisting of 20 men, had reached
the extreme boundary of the city, and
were about returning, whom so of the
enemy as we afterwards learned opened a
rapid fire from their ambuscade i'll dense
chaparral on one side of the road. We
:mm mediately formed and returned fire,
aiming at The smoke in the bushes; Tor
the enemy with occasional exceptions, as
they lodged from bush 10 bush, were
invisible. The fire was rapid and well
sustained for fifteen minutes, when our
cartridges were all expended. Aswe had
come out without the least idea offiShtIng
our cartridge boxes had been filled with
blank cartridges for exercise only. AT
this moment our remaining men came up
and renewed The fire. In about len min
utes the enemy were sileuced, and having
now expended all our ammunition, we
returned slowly to the town. In This
skirmish we had two men wounded. The
!. enemy lost one man killed aud sixwound-
ed. The nextday the Scorpion arrived
with reimbursement Of 80 men, and
Lieut.. Porter, with 100 Sailors field
spiece and 90 marines marched Quito burn
those fauses In. he remaia suburbs. .yyhich
-unuTueuS 4cnyer 10 the enem ABOUT
200 shoiisesS were destroyed,i the. foe not
making his appearance ~
On The 29lh, the Vixen arrived with an
additional reinforcement OF 81 sailors
Our whole land force now amounted 10
$50 sailors, 3 field pieces, 100 mariners,
exclusive Of what was necessary to guard
the Plaza and vessels; aud with these
Capt. Bigelow determined 10 march into
the village of Tamoulla, where we under
stood four or FIVE hundred Of the enemy's
regulars were collected. Accordingly, on
The morning of the 50Ih the expedition set
out. consisting of our force as above stated
excepting that we took with us only two
field pieces. The sailors consisted Of de-
tachmenls from tho Scorpion, SpIfire
and E,ua; the steamers Vixen aud Scourse
proceeding simultaneously with US up the
river. After marching Two miles we
reached village with au unpronounceable
name; il was wholly deserted, not even>a
dog nor any kind Of beast could be seen.
aud amid this oninous silence we pushed
on towards Tamoui,a, situated some two
miles further on. AS we assembled he hill
on the other side OF which Tamouta is
built, we discovered The enemy, consisting
Of 400 infantry and 100 cavalry, securely
posted in ambuscade among the thick
chaparrals, They Instantly opened a
rapid and well sustained FIRE upon The
mdrlucS CuHjPOoiuS VIC ee'ouSoo 6uu'N'
Capt Bigelow, who was at their head on
horseback, Immediately formed Them
across the road. and returned the fire with
great effect. The field piece dragged by
the Spiire's crew soon came up and
opened with canister, and Immediately
after the remaining field piece was brought
upon The brow Of The hill and the firing
became general.
The enemy had now stood his ground
for some twenty minutes, and our line
being formed, with The exception Of the
reserve Of 80 men from the Etna. who
could not get up in time TO take part in
the 6ght,) we advanced upon the enemy
and the wretches fled precipitately before
us. When they reached the church. a
large stone building, they seemed to rally
for moment, but as we came into full
sight descending The hill, they broke and
fled in all directions, some into the woods
and somo across the river, our artillery
playing upon their retrcalins masses when