The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-03-12

| reauy TO DflnS matters more decidedly
to a personal struggle. The Ameri
cans were the first to use their small
arms. Having rent the air with g
shout, they fired a volley, begun upon
the right, and carried away regularly
to the extreme left; kept up an unin
terrupted discharge, which soon in q
great degree concealed them from our
observation. Nor were we backward
in returning the salute. a hearty
British cheer gave notice of our will.
ingness to meet them: and firing and
running, we gradually closed upon
them, with the design of bringing the
bayonet into play.
hardly know what language to EN-,
| ploy for the purpose of conveying to
the mind Of a reader, who possesses nc
practical acquaintance with the sub
ject, something like clear idea of a
battle, at that period in its progress at
! which we have now arrived. Volley
upon volley having been given, we were
now advanced within less than twenty
yards of the American line; yet such
was the denseness of the smoke, that
it was only when a passing breeze
swept away the cloud for moment,
that either force became visible to the
other. 1t was not therefore. at mems
persons that the fire of our soldiers was
directed. The flashes of the enemy's
muskets alone served us as an object
to aim at, as, without doubt, the flashes
of our muskets alone guided the enemy.
At last, however, the wind suddenly
sprung up. The obscurity in which
both parties had been enveloped was
cleared away; and there, sure enough,
stood our opponents, not, as they had
stood an hour ago, in close and COM
pact array, but confused by the MUIR
derous fire to which they had been ex-
posed. Napoleon Bonaparte has af.
tirmed, that he never witnessed any
thing more terrific than the fire of a
British line of infantry. The eA-em-
peror was perfectly correct. In the
armies of other nations, particularly in
those of America, many marksmen,
more expert as individuals, may be
found; but we may search the world
over before we shall discover troops,
who, as body, take aim with the same
GOODNESS, reserve their fire so well, or,
as necessary consequence, pour it In
with such tremendous effect as our own
soldiers. OF this the Americans had
to-day received the most appalling
proofs; numbers lay dead among the
feet of their comrades; numbers more
had retired MANNED or wounded; and
those who still kept the field, were
broken and confused. One thing alone
was required to complete the route
Our gallant fellows, uttering a hearty
cheer, threw in their last volley, and
then rushed forward with the bayonet;
but shock, which the flower Cf Euro
pean armies had never been able to
withstand, the Americans ventured not
to receive. They lost in moment all
order, and fed, as every man best
could, from the field.
There was but one road along which
horses or carriages could move, and it
became crowded to excess in moment
Whilst the infantry, dashing into the
forest, thought to conceal themselves
among it's mazes, the cavalry, of which
few squadrons had been drawn up
upon their right, scampered off by the
main road; and was Immediately fol-
lowed by guns, tumbrils, ammunition
wagons, and the whole nanteriel of the
army. To arrest the progress of all,
or some part of that force, became now
our great object. ''Hurrah for the
guns!' was word of command first
uttered by Col. Brooke; it was repeat
ed, with loud laughter and tumultuous
outcries, from one rank to another; and
desperate and unremitting were the eff
forts which we made to overtake and
cut off such as were hindmost. But
unhappily the absence of even the
mounted troopers told severely against
us to-day. The truth Of it is, the
American ordinance, drawn by fleet
horses, readily escaped. And out of
the whole party, only two guns, and
one tumbril alone, fell into our hands.
OF prisoners, however, we were fortu-
nate enough to secure Il few. The
fourth regiment, which had made de-
tour for the purpose of turning the
cnemy's left, though it arrived not in
time to take much share in the action,
succeeded in cutting off about half of
a battalion from the high road; and
this body, briven back upon its pur-
suers, saved itself from annihilation by
laying down its arms.
Thus ended the affair of the 18th of
September, after about an hour and a
half of pretty severe fighting. On our
part, the loss sustained could not eX-
ceed two hundred men in all: on the
part af the Americans, at least double
that number had fallen The dead, in
deed, lay in clusters far more frequent,
and far more numerous, than anywhere
| at least discovered on the field at
Bladensburg; and as the proportion