Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-01-24

THE NEW FLORIDA WAR.
The Florida papers come to us f;lll Of Indian
troubles again-and in the Tampa Peninsular,
of Jan. 9th, we find long account of the late
attack upon Lieut. Hartsuif and party by the
Indians, from which we make the following ex-
tract:
"On Sunday, December 9th, Lieut. HartsuR
and party were halted about ten miles from Fl
Drum. On morning of the Goth were lying in
pine grove, half mile in extent, aud about
A. NJ. were busy getting ready to march, har
Messing, &c, when the war whoOp sounded, and
they received volley. This, of course, was ut
,terly unexpected, and allwas confusion. Some
little firing from the party ensued, but several
were out of reach of their arms Williams was
sixty yards distant from his rifle, saddling his
horse; he made his escape. Those who could
get their pieces fired them, and the rest loaded
for the Lieutenant, who fought braveEy until ne
was wounded, when he exclaimed, Il am done
for" but suddenly pulling out his pistol, cried
out, "No, by heavens this pistol has saved my
life, for the ball has struck it," Hanna and Ba-
ker were wounded at this time. The survivors
then separated, and it is then presumed the
plumber alone prevented the saVagcs from pursU
ing them"
As soon as the news reached Fort Myers, Col
Brown ordered companies F. and X to be in rea-
diness at daybreak, with teams and a six pound
er. They were ready and departed in full
strength for the battle-ground A letter says:
Company and the citizens were left to pro
tect Fort Myers, cannons were planted, defences
erected, houses pierced for muSketry, and every
precSution adopted to prevent surprise. Large
fires were noticed by the Puta RaSSa force along
the coast, and they have been ordered to keep to
the block-hoUSe, IS it is supposed these signals
were to apprise the whole nation of the recent
events, and that other hostile demonstrations
might reasonably be expected.
Onthe arrival of Col Brown
at the scene of conflict, scene met their view,
of description so horrible, that words cannot
describe it, for the corpseS of the four uniortu-
mates were still above the ground, although in a
revolving condition. They were Scalped and in
decentlv mutilated. Their death was, of course,
caused by the large quantity of balls which had
perforated heads chests, &c., but that they were
mutilatcd while still living, is evident from the
signs of warfare seen about them, such as the
tearing up of grass and sod the position the bits
of clothes in their hands GurERn was a romar-
kably athletic man, he held piece of an Indian
shirt still in his grasp. They were all decenty
buried, at least, what was left of them; for the
turkey buz2ards had takeu'toll and left but few
bones for the sections ana worms 1helr mour-
ners fired salyo of artillery into the adjoining
thicket, butno war whoop of the foe was blend-
| ed with the echoes that answered. Their names
were Horth, 'G', American; Foster, e, Gurran
and Murtaugh, * Irish. believe two rifles
haze been recovered, and one mule shot In four
places retaken, 2 horseS de9d and { missing;
wagons, sc. were burnt, and mules shot in the
harness Many q heart rlrned sickas they look
/ ed on thework of demons, and many vow was
registered which VIII bring sorrow aud deSola-
| ton to our foes Nothing was seen of Indians
on the route All the Fort Deynaud command
have returned safe to their post and the same at
this place. HarstufF is heated and tenderly
cared for, in an apartment of Col Browns; ms
wounds arc healthy but tho i,alIstill remains un-
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