279
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
being the bone of contention & an object to us, the result was a gen- eral engagement, both contending for the cow; the action commenced at one o. clock in the evening, the enimy attacked the town on all quarters; Capt. Joseph Taylor commanded the party fighting for the cow on the opposite side of the river the action continued until night though the number of the enimy was five to one we repulsed them with the loss of only one man killed and three wounded, the man killed was a slave belonging to Capt Joseph Taylor and was one of the best sol- diers I ever saw, having been with him in several skirmishes I had an opportuuity of observing his conduct, after receiving a mortal wound he still encouraged us to fight on At this time our effective force did not amount to three hundred including the citizens and all others, man:v being sick - In the meanwhile the enimy received a reinforce- ment of two or three hundred men, our situation now appeared far more desperate than formaly our communication being entirely cut off from the country - The enimy kept a strong patrol during the night in order to prevent our getting supplies, it was consequently with great difficulty we could procure meat ,:ufficient for our subsistence - A plan from necessity was therefore laid to surprise this patrol, it was ascertained that they passed cvry ni.!!ht up the road immediately on the bank of the river below town, the road running between the river and a bru,-h fence - On New Years Eve about one hundred of us repaired to this place hideing behind this fence where we waited the comein,ir of the patrol, at the dawn of day they came one hundred in number, we were ordered when the last man passed the extreme right of our line the man on the right was to fire, which he did and by a well rrgulated and simultanious fire the enimy was cut to pieces with the excrption of one man taken prisoner and three or four escaped; the mau taken was afterwards called new years gift, it being the morn- ing of the finit of January he was taken he took up arms with us and proved a good rrpublican - Col. McGee who had for some time la- bonrrd under a pulmonarv complaint died - When Col. Kemper took command of our army. From the first of January up to the tenth of Fd;ruary ,:kirmishing took place frequently without amounting to any- thiug worth notice, which was the only movements during this by either army. On the evening of the ninth of February a detachment of thirty men uncler command of Capts. Francis & Manehaca wa,; ordered out fo make an examination of the positions of the enimy, this partv alarmed and kept the whole army of the enimy in confusion during that night. about dav Jig-ht on the morning of the tenth our party while moveinl? toward,; the encampment of the main army of the enimy discovered and met about three hundred of them aflvancing- towards the Fort, our men opened a warm fire on them and drove them back to the main army, and fell back to a revene near the town, where they concealed them- selves from the eye of the enimy. The whole army of the cnimy was para<led on the spot and marched to attack the Fort and were fired upon by our party that lay concealed in the ravene, and were repulsed a short distance in confusion. They immediatelv formed on a com- marnlin<: eminence, our men then feli bark to our· picket post no. 3 on the west ba11k of the river where they made a stand and took possession of a log house whif'h stood near the poRt - Capt. Gomlev then took command of this party - The enimy marched in three divisions and
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