American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-09-09
AMERICAN. TELEGRAPH

!AMERICAN m TELEGRAPH
The American Prtsonors NJ Cuba.
The following is an extract from despatch
To- the Navy Department from, Commander rl
CHARLEs LIE. I, PLATr, Commanding United States
ship Albany, dated Havana, September 1st, re-
ceiyed at the Navy Department yesterday: :.
~
The followers of Lopez having been entirely
dispersed, and q number Of prisoners reported
as. brought to this place on the 9th nItimo, I
addressed a letter to thel Captain General re-
questing permission to hold an interview with
any Americans, who might .beamongy them, This
which is enclosed The interview was post
lponed until the morning Of the 3Oth, the pris-
oners having in themean time been transferred
to- the castle of the e Punta, and some acces-
Esions having been made to their number, The
commandant of the castle informed me that the
whole number Of prisoners was fifty-seven, of
whom about thirty or ;thirty-iye were Ameri-
cans, as we learned from themselves. This Of
6cer was present throughout the interview.
Another gentleman, who was introduced as in
spector Of prisons, came in during its continu-
ance, and remained until its close. The prisoners
were heavily ironed, were clad in "a prison uni
form, and had their hair closely cut: They
were confined in an arched gallery, to, which
access was had ee through two grated doors, the
inner one being entirely Of iron. Il, In the anti
room between the two doors lay the garments
worn BY the prisoners at the time Of their con
inement. -. -. -e., .- XIII
II ORour entrance the Americans were ordered
to advance to the front, and all foreigners were
sent to the other end Of the cell Inquiry being
made for the officers, the following presented
themselves, Viz: ad htH II t9nln3f9 lEll i134+t
81 James AaKely, Of New Orleans, formerly Of
Bayou Sara,a who held the rank Of captain III
the expedition 'egp aa 9dj it,ff saa Hi2 ag
4 Robert M. Grider, of New Orleans, native
Of Kentucky, q lieutenant in the same! Agal
TJ.tD. Baker, of L-ll also a lieutenant
No other officer Of the. expedition presented
himself They were Informed that had OBJ
| tained permission to visit them, and that my
object was to obtain from them any informa-
tion they might choose to give, which would be
| forwarded to the Government Of the United
States, and perhaps might be the means Of de-
| terTing others OF our countrymen from placing
themselves in The same deplorable situation.
They were told distinctly that they were in the
power of the Spanish government, and that
nothing could be done for them as Americans,
inasmtoh as the Presidents proclamation had
declared that any persons joining an invading
force weuld thereby forfeit the protection Of
the Government of the United States. This
was said to prevent their forming any false
hopes from my VISIT " 41%i' ~
The information obtained was given in the
presence aof the entire party by the aforesaid
officers, and, being uncontradicted by any. OF
| them, may be regarded as the testimony Of the
whole. y.r .s.1-'..t s.ag tss.fr..t 40
4 They stated that the expedition sailed from
New Orleans in. the steamer 'sPampero." They
were net sure of the exact number composing
it, but thought it was four hundred and eighty,
seven; that it certainly did not amount TO five
hundred. Before landing in Cuba they anchored
near Key West, where they remained several
hours, and were visited by some citizens of that
place. They Landed in Cuba about two o'clock
of the morning of the 18th August Their first
fight took place on the 18th. From that period
they had lost all recollection of dates. They
had five engagements, but could not tell how
many of their number had been killed. They
were armed with condemned mnskets--had no
rifles; but many individuals had revolyers and
knives. They brought with them eighty thou
sand cartridges, and captured many more after
landing. They had no artillery. Soon after
landing they found they had been deceiDed, and be-
came ditious 10 return home They had been
informed, before sailing, that fourteen towns
we're in possession of thef patriots" Ito use
| their own language and that the whole island
| was in a state of revolution, They suppose that
the fifty men captured with Col. Crittenden were
endeayoring to make their escape. They so infer
from the 4 fact that they were an dispirited by
the reception they met with, and disgusted, as
they said, with the " lies and deception" ,prac-
tised towards them. The country people gem
orally fed at their approach, and none Joined
them. Worn out with hunger and fatigue, the
men composing this body threw away their
arms a week or ten days previously ly-they could
not distinctly remember when They had not
at that time heard of the offer Of life to such as
would give themselves up, but their intention
was to throw themselves upon the Spanish
government They did not come in all together,
but in small parties and at different times.
They had subsisted chiefly upon fruit, and the
last meat that some Of them had eaten was a
portion Of their generals horse. There was no
lack of ammunition when they threw away
their arms, though much of what they brought
had been damaged by rain. Lieutenant Grider
stated that he carried musket, though an
officer, and that he had twenty eight rounds of
cartridges in his box when he threw it away.
Captain Kelly stated that the editor Of the
New Orleans Delta, Mr. Sigur, was instrument
tai in persuading him to join the expedition,
having addressed him personally upon the sub
iect, He, has reason to believe that he per-
suaded many others also The whole party
manifested mitch indignation towards General
Lopez and Mr.. Sigur and many of them as
serted ttat it would be worse for the latter if
they should live to return home. On being
told that General Lopez was taken prisoner, o
cry Of joy and exultation ran through the
crowd. ...
They stated that Lopez was chief Of the er-
pedition. ,t
and was killed on the 18th.
y Colonel VIM. Scott Haynes, Of Tennessee, was
another leader. According to their best belief
he was still in the mountains.
+, Colonel Crittenden had been an officer of the
United States army during the war with Mexico.
A Hungarian named Pragay, who acted as
Adjutant General, was mortally wounded on