Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-04-13
NO. 81

| vents ID the garrison sent up the river
nv Sir Henry Clinton. In winning
this militant victory Wayne lost fifteen
hliled and eighty three wounded. The
British hsd sixty slain and Lieutenant
Colonel J0snston and five hundred and
fortv-three oScers and men were made
prisoners of wa.
washington phcelved the danger of
an attempt to hold the fort at Stony
Point with SO few mea as could then
be spared from the army and he order
ed tho ordinance and storesto be remov-
ed to West Point, the mililsry works
10 be destroyed and the place EVACUATED
by the Americans THIS was aeeom-
pished on the nights of the 18th Md
18th, or twenty-tour hours after TIE
capture. A large portion of the ordi'
nance was placed upon gallery to be
conveyed to West Point. While off
the eastern side of the Donderberg
shot from the British sloop of war
Vulture which had ventured near Yer
planck's poin, struck the gallery between
wind and water, opened sluiceway,
and she went 10 the bottom of the
Hudson with her freight ofheavy guns.
rhe property captured by the Ameri-
cans at Stony Point was valued at
more than SlS0,000. On the Goth the
British repossessed themselves of
Stony Point, but there was little of
value left, except the eligible site for
| fortification.
HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED.
The news of this exploit thrilled
every nerve of the Union with delight,
and unstin5ed praises of Wayne and
his troops were uponevery lip. On the
receipt on the Generals dispatches, the
same day Washington issued from New
Windsor a general order, in which he
congratulated the army on the success
Of the gallant moves at Stony Point, and
requests the victorious commander aud
his whole corps t. accept his warmest
thanks Four days afterward the
President of Penn'a Coucil awarded
similar tokens ofapprobatiou to Wayne
and bis men. You have played their
.ne British own gaDic," he wrote,
and have eciipscd the glory of the
British bayonet Of which we have
heard SO much" Ten days after the
victory the Continentei Congress voted
thanks to the brave actors, and ordered
medals to be struck in commemoration
of the evcnt-one Of gold to be present
cd to General Wavne and silver one
each to be given to Lieutenant Colonel
De Fleury and Major Stewart. At the
same TING promotions by brevet were
ordered for some subalterns, and a vote
approving General Wayne's offer of re-
wards was passed.
De Fleury, defendant of noble
man, who was at one lime Cardinal
and Prime Minister of France, returned
to his native country before the medal
designed for him was struck. 1t was
made, however, but all record of it was
lost Late in April, 1850, a boy, while
digging in garden at Princeton n. j.,
found the medal. Congress sat at
Princeton in the summer of 1888. The
medal was probably lost there by the
Secretary OF Congress, Charles Thomp-
son. in whose custody it properly be-
longed.
y.
BRITISH VIEw.-THE CoUP-DE-MAIN
AT STONY POINT AS IT APPEARED
TO THE ENEMY IN NEW YORK.
How the capture of Stony Point was
regarded by the enemy may be learned
from the following letter from Major
General James Patterson, of the Brit
ish army, to Viscount Townsend:
New YORK, July 26, 1879.
My LORD: y I am ex-
ceedingly sorry to inform your Lord
ship OF the very extraordinary and sud-
den Revolution which has since hap
pened at Stony Point-a post consider
ed to be safe against any coup-demain.
and capable of resisting almost any
open attack that could be made against
it, but the enemy Notwithstanding
made very bold and daring attempt
on the 18th inst, about II O'Clock at
night, and carried it by storm in less
than twenty minutes TIE particulars
of this singular and unfortunate event.
which has filled every mouth with as
tonishment, are very little known. The
wounded officers who are bro ught down
to New York differ in their relation of
hat nights transactions that 1t is diff |
fculty to form a real judgment of
them
The military character of Lieut.. Col. |
Johnston, of the 18th Regt, who CON-
manded there, has been so well estab- |
lished as not to admit easily of belief |
that he suffered his garrison to be sur
prised, vet it is too certain that two if
not three columns of the enemy penetrat-
ted different abattis at the same time, |
were almost instantly in possession OF
the advanced Works, and in a very few |
minutes masters of the body of the |
place What the number of the assail |
ants were is not positively known |
They gave out themselves that it did |
not exceed six hundred If that be |
true. their enterprise must have been q |
very rash one, as the defendants were |
nearly as many.
The attack was commanded by q |
Brig Gen'l., WAYNE, and it must in |
Justice be allowed to his credit, as well
as all acting under his orders, that no
instance of inhumanity was shown to
any of the unhappy captives. No one
was unnecessarily put to the sword or
wantonly wounded. Our 'ss ia killed
is not yet ascertained, but it is thought |
to be trihing, and the number of wound
ed amounts to one captain, four subal- |
terms and about eight-and-thirty men,
of whom is one Corporal of the
Artillery.
The rebels assert that they bad
ONLY four men killed Our loss in pris-
oners is very serious one, almost the J
whole of the 18th Regt., two companies
Of the list (Grenadiers), about sixty of
the Loyal American Corps, and | am
narticnlarlY prieved To say one cantain |