The daily gazette., 1879-05-10
FIRST EDITION.
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TO THE EDYroR OF THE GAzErrE: q.
Respected Sir To-day (this 10th
day Of May,) sixty-six years ago, was
fought one Of the most gallant actions of
the war Of 16l3.a IL was I fight of Della
ware troops on Delaware soil, and as
this battle has heretofore been ,cithOut a
name, will take the liberty of giving It
name myself, and will therefore call
THE BATTLE OF NEwBoLD LAKE.
On the 10th Of May, 1918, the British
squadron, that had entered our Bay in
the month of March, after it had attack
ed and b0mbarded the town of Lewis
town on the 9th of April, previous, Con
account of the inhabitants refusing to
supply them with twenty cattle and a
corresponding supply of vegetables and
water; and had been rcpllsed ny the
Delaware militia under the command Of
gallant Colonel b. Davis,) appeared In
the Atlantic ocean about seven miles be-
low Lewistown, opposite what was then
called Newbold Pond, but what il
known - Newbold Lake. There are
four OF these lakes or ponds on the At
lantic coast Of the State of Delaware.
Two tof them contain fresh water and
two salt water. Two of them are situ-
ated In Lewes and Rehoboth Hundred,
Sussex County, and two of them in Bal
timore Hundred, in the same county.
The two lakes In Lewes and Rehoboth
Hundred are Gourden's Pond, which
Is very salt and where salt works were
once (and probably are now) in opera
ton; and Newbold's Lake, mentioned
above, which joins the new Watering
place Of Rehoboth City, and is pretty
sheet OF fresh water, about mile in
length by probably quarter of mile
wide. 1t Is situated within q few hum
dred feet of the Atlantic ocean. The
two ponds in Baltimore Hundred are
named Salt Pond and Fresh Pond,
each being in accordance with its name
the former filled with salt and theslatter
with ffesh water. At this sNewbold
Lake the British feet expected to sup
ply themselves with water, which had
been refused them by the, inhabitants of
Lewistown. It consisted of the "Poic-
tiers" ship Of the line of IA guns, COM
manded. by the commander of the
squadron Sir John Beresford. The
sloop Of war ."Belvidere," commanded
by Captain Byron. The "Pass," and a
number Of smaller vessels. Col. Davis
at once OWNED their intention, and sent
Major George Hunter with one hundred
and fifty men to keep them from landing.
He arrived before the British and when
the armed launches and boats approach
ed the shore he opened fire on them and
drove them back to their ships. Ac-
cording to the information have in my
notes (Which l cannot lay hands upon
at the present time to verify, )there were
about seven men killed on the side of
taae British. Upon the American side
none. Tho feot upon THO rcpulsc left
the Delaware coast and sailed away for
Bermuda. E..
do not intend to say anything more
in relation to the attack upon Lewes-
town in this letter, as in short time l
think ofwriting a sketch of the life of
Colonel Samuel b. Davis, which shall
publish in some of our papers, and then
shall give more full details of this bat
tie. But shall simply now recount a
few of the skirmishes upon our shores,
and of the effect of the invasion of our
waters by the British fleet, upon the
people OF our State. t.-h
As soon as 1t was known that
THE BRITISH FLEET HAD ENTERED
THE BAY,
the State raised in arms almost to a
man. Wilmington and New Castle es-
pecially were In ferment. Smyrna
was wild with excitement, and Dover
in perfect fury. Such is the descrip-
ton of the feelings of our citizens in the
letters of the time. 1885, iiyE l1p
IN WILMINGTON
a committee of safety was formed, con-
sisting of James A. Bayard, George Mon
roe, Outerbridge Horsey, James Tilton
and Caesar A. Rodney. Several companies
of troops were Immediately raised,
amongst which were an artillery COM
pany commanded by Captain Rodney. A
cavalry company commanded by Captain
Warner, and two infantry companies, one
commanded by Captain Shipley and the
other by Captain Wilson. A strong fort
(named Fort Union) was erected at the
Rocks, the site of the old Fort Christina.
Signals of alarm were agreed upon, which
was to be the ringing of the Town Hall
bell, the beating Of drums, and two dis
charges of cannon, altogether. The specie
in the banks of both Wilmington and New
Castle were conveyed to Philadelphia.
The Wilmington forces were under the
command of the gallant Allen McLane,
distinguished officer of the revolut ion
in the Delaware line. He was then
Collector of the Port of Wilmington.
Y- AT NEW CASTLE
they commenced the erection of power
full batteries. The forces of that neigh
borhood were commanded by the gallant
Captain Bennett, who had fought in the
revolution under Green in the South, and
who was afterwards Governor of the
State. His residence used to be at the
corner of Third and French streets in
this city, now used by Messrs. Bellah and
Quigley as an iron store. II
AT DOVER
the drums were beat on Sunday. The
citizens turned out to man. From four
to five hundred men were soon in arms,
amongst them an old Christian and MEM
Der of church, named Jonathan McNatt,
bent double with age, a celebrated soldier
of the revolution. f Ff
had her citizens under arms, and the
whole State became a camp. We had
~, n yerv strong militia law. The