Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1848-06-16

Gen. Buffers character were still more stri-
kIngly illustrated The Indians, driven from
the defences around the town on the river Raj
SIN, retired fighting into the thick woods be-
You'd it. The contest of sharp shooting from
tree to tree was here continued-the Kentuck-
lans pressing forward, and the Indians retreat
lng-until night closed in, when the Kentuck-
lans were recalled to the encampment in the
village. The Indians advanced as their oppo-
sers withdrew, and kept up the fire until the
Kentuckians emerged from the woods into the
open ground. Just as the column TO which
Ensign Butler belonged reached the verge of
the dark forest, the voice of wounded man,
who had been left some distance behind, was
heard calling out most piteously for help
Butler induced three of his company to 60 back
in the woods with him, TO bring him off He
was found, and they fought their way back
one of the men, jeremiah Walker, receiving a
shot, OF which he subsequently died.
In the second sangunary battle of the river
Raisin, on the 22d of January, with the Brit
ish and Indians, another act of self. devotion
was performed by Butler. After the rout and
massacre of the right wing, belonging to
Wells's command, the whole force of the Brit.
Ish and Indians was concentrated against the
small body of troops under Major Madison,
that maintained their ground within the pick
eted gardens. A double barn, commanding
the plat of ground on which the Kentuckians
stood, was approached on one side by the H.
dians, under the cover of an orchard and fence !;
the British, on the other side, being so posted
as to command the space between it and the
pickets A party in the rear of the barn were
discovered advancing to take possession of it..
All saw the fatal consequences of the secure
Judgment Of the enemy at d place which would
present every man within the pickets at close
rlfle-shot to the aim of their marksmen. Ma
ior Madison inquired if there was no one who
would volunteer TO run the gauntlet of the fire
of the British and Indian lines, and put torch
to the combustibles within the barn, to save
the remnant of the little army from sacrifice
Butler, without moments delay, took some
blazing sticks from a fire at hand, leaped the
pickets, and, running at his utmost speed,
thrust the fire into the straw within the barn.
One who was an anxious spectator of the E.
vent we narrate, says, that although volley
upon voIley was fired at him, Butler, after
making some steps on his way back, turned
to see if the fire had taken, and, not being sat-
isfed, returned to the barn, and set in blaze.
AS the confagraion grew, the enemy was
seen retreating from the rear of the building,
which they had entered at one end as the flame
assembled in the other. Soon after reaching
the pickets in safety, amid the shouts of his
friends, he was struck by ball in his breast
Believing, from the pain he felt that it had
penetrated his chest, turning to Adjutant (now
GeneraD McCalla, one of his Lexington com
rades, and pressing his hand to the spot, he
said, g fear this shot is mortal but while
am able to move, will do my duty" To the
anxious inquiries of this friend, who met him
soon afterward again, he opened his vest, with
a smile, and showed him that the ball had
spent itself on the thick wadding of his coa
and on his breastbone He suffered, however
for many weeks.
The little band within The pickets, which
Winchester had surrendered, after being car.
ried himself prisoner to Proctor's camp, de-
MED his powers. They continued to hold the
enemy at bay until they were enabled to Ca
pitulate on honorable terms, which, neverthe-
less, Proctor shamefully violated, by leaving
the sick and wounded, who were unable to
walk, to the tomahawk of his allies. Butler
who was among the few of the wounded who
escaped the massacre, was marched through
Canada to Fort Niagara suffering under his
wound, and every prvation-oppressed with
grief, hunger, fatigue, and the Indictment cold
of that desolate region. Even here he forgot
himself, and his mind wandered back TO the
last night scene which he surveyed on the
bloody shores of the river Raisin He gave
up the heroic part, and became the school-hoy
again, and commemorated his sorrows for his
lost friends in verse, like some passionate
heart.broken lover, These elegiac strains
were never intended for any but the eye Of
mutual friends, whose sympathies, like his
own. poured out tears with their plants over
the dead. We give some Of these lines OF his
boyhood, to show that the heroic youth had q
bosom not less kind than brave.