Western Sun, Volume 5, Number 27, Vincennes, Knox County, 30 October 1813 — Page 4

From the Sciota Gizcttc, Extra. Lbillicothe, October 15. By the exprefs mail which arrived lafl night, the editor received the following letter from gen. M' Arthur. The ex litlifatiiig news contained therein gave tp every American bread the mod; finccn pleafure. 1 he town was fplctididly illuminated at; J nothing appeared to Weaken our enjoyment of this great vie tory but an awful anxiety for the fate of Chauncey and the Ontario fleet. Detroit October 6, 1S13. dear sir You have no doubt heard

ere th4s that the Br i till forces retreated i

from Maiden and this place before our army arrived, and that they had burned all the public buildings, ike. On the ar rival of the army at Sandwich, my bri gde was ordered acrois the river to difperfe fome Indians w ho were pillaging the town, and to take poiTeiTion. Gen Harrifon with the reft of the army purfued Proctor, whofe force con fitted of between 4 and 500 regulars, and from 8 to 1200 Indians, who had 3 days dart of the army. Cel. Johnfotrs

mounted regt. crofied the river at this j

piace on the ifl mft. and joined genera; l!arrifon. I have t ills moment heard from gen. Harrifon ; he purfued gen. Proeior's armv Pt miles before lie overtook the main body, which was on lafl evening He killed and made prifoners the whole of the CriiiJh force, except Prctlor. and dcllroyed a conliderable number of Indians. Gen. Tecumfeh is faid to be among the dead. The few veflels which the Britifh had left, have fallen into our hands. Thefe veflels were run up in the river Trench and let on fire, but our people at rived before they were bu. nt and faved all but one of them. The Ottoways, Chippawas, Po to -vvatorr.it. , Mi amies and Kickepoos, ha e come in arid fued lr peace, hnce gen. Harrifon left Detroit, and 1 have agreed to fpare them for the prefent, on

condition they take op the torn ha vt k with i

us, and rtrike aii our enemies, whethei Britifh 01 Indians. The war iu this quarter. J prcfume, will foon be at an end Refpcctfully, yours ckc. Duncan MK Arthur

on this occasion. When our troops Ian-

ded on the shore, 600 Indians were en camped at the back of the town, most of whom were employed in cooking victu als and jirking beef, in such quantities as to furnish some days supply to M'Arthurs brigade which first crossed the river. & which in their haste to retreat, they left in their camp. Some time after our troops landed there, we saw a number about the houses on the opposite shore, but a few discharges of cannon from the Scorpion sloop of war dispersed them still they are in the neighborhood of this town & Detroit about the latter place is considerable numbers some have sent in flags of truce --some are said to be disposed to take a neutral position, and most of them are said to be dispersing to the woods. The country on this side the river pretty generally contained its usual inhabitant - but I believe most of the people hid, and yet hide their most valuable effects, tho' the most of them admit we have relieved them from a most intolerable set of oppressors in the Indians --some express their joy at the ex change, whilit others are reserved and say but little- I believe however, that if they were certain that the country would not be given up on a treaty of peace, there would be but very few dissatisfied men. The country is pretty well exhausted of provisions, of all foreign articles there is a great scarcity. Brother Jonathan however, begins to visit us from Cleveland, and we expect more of his assistance in the same way. "Never was there a set of men toge ther, who has more cheerfully done their duty than those under Shelby when ser vice was required of them-- some officers here who have served before, say they have not served with so orderly a militia.'

Extraft of a letter to the secretary of the navy dated, Head-Quarters, fort George, be tember 29, j 81 o. ' i enclofe you a letter from com Chauncey, v. hUh he put in my hands

oefore yeiteraay, anu oeg leave ie following brief but iniei filing

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W i

Extract cf a letter to the editors of the K ntucky Gazette, Sa$khvicb Upper Canada Sept 50. n I vifited Detroit to day, and f iere faw the pleafure which a::::r.a:c.! every tcountenance'on the occauon. 0 ir troops were faluted at their landing with bortts of tcclamal n. i he inhabitants had been fubje&ed to the caprice oi tyrants of the word kind their property at the dHpofal of Britilh and fava&es a look, the bare mention ot a rumor unfavorable

to the power thai exifled, or the lighten itfii 1 fet ence in favor of their unfortunate country men in captivity either of thefe circura fiances fubje&ed them to imprisonment in the guard houlc or the dun geon, or toihe level hies of a worfe or like nature. Living as they had before opn&i under a ovei rtment v hie h pi otec ted them from evei kind of op pre (lion, they cui.l iiviiu.t to have been joyfu

3 p. m. The issue must therefore have been decisive because the breeze freshened, without any change in its direction and the narrowness of the lake made it impossible for the vanquished party to escape by any manoeuvre. " I have no doubt the victory is ours, but am apprehensive it has cost us dear, since the batteries of the enemy were superior to those of our Squadron, and the British commander is an officer not only of desperate resolution, but of great naval skiill. "If commodore Chauncey has survived, which I implore Heaven may be the safe, we shall beheld him mantled with glory, as his ship was yesterday beheld wrapt in the flame and smoke of her batteries."

A postscript to the above letter dated late in the evening, says 'a flag was sent to the British camp on the lake last evening; the receiving officer acknowledged we had the wind, and observed that a vessel had been dismasted; this was observed from the heights of Lewistown also, and it is believed it was the Royal George by the Pike. A vessel supposed to be the Wolf, bore up to the relief ol the crippled ship, and engaged the Pike, and they went out of fight, covered with smoke, and apparently about to board." 14 Sept. 29, 8 o'clock, p. m.We have not as yet heard from Chauncey ; the utmost does not exceed 50 miles to the end of the bay; but the wind is still adverse. I begin to fear his victory may cost too much ; I have sent out several small craft to look for him; but the sea which is running has forced them back. It was visible the Pike bore the brunt of

the engagement.

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"The commodore entered this port on the 24th inft. with His squadron On the 26th we received satifactory in formation direct from York, that on the day of the commodore's arrival here (Friday the 24th the British squadron was on the opposite coast. This com -munication being made to the commodore he promptly ascertained the fact to

his1 satisfaction, and on the 27th in the evening left port in quest of his antago mist . Yesterday morning his squadron was defcried near mid channel, between

ilns p ace and York, (landing tor the

latter place, and about noon we dilcov-j

ered by the ftnoke in which his teflels were occaiioaally enveloped, that he was clolely engaged and had th.e w ind of the enemy, w ;io were fcarcely difceruable.

W'c could, however, with the. aid ot our j

glafles, diilinclly perceive that the liritifii j

Iquadron was forced to leeward tow ards t lie head of the lake, ami the action con tinned without i n term i Don untii we loft

nght of the (ternmoft of our vcffcls about j

Chillicothe, October 20. During the past week authentic information has been received of the complete capture of the British and Indian forces under gen. Proctor. We are informed that gen. Harrison, with his army pursu ed them by forced marches, for several days, and on the 4th inft. rhe advance of our army, consisting of col. Johnson's mounted regt. rnaj. Ball's squadron and the friendly Indians, overtook the rear guard of the enemy while in the act of destroying a bridge, and made them prisoners. The advance tkertfrrme-e then rapidly continued the pursuit and overtook the main body at noon the next day about 85 miles up the river de Trench, when an engagement took place. The British are said to have fired only a fewrounds before they surrendered, but the Indians obstinately continued the contest about rwo hours. The number of prisoners taken is not correctly ascertained, but besides the British regulars it is said there are several hundred Indians. Proctor and Elliott, with about 60 dragoons made their escape were closely pursued, and it was expected would be overtaken. Tecumseh, is said to have received seven wounds, the last of which proved mortal. Col. Johnson is also said to be mortally wounded. All the artillery of the enemy, together with upwards of one hundred baggae waggons have been the fruits of this victory.