th to drag them off.

The brig now continued deliberately to pour her 32 pound shot and grape
into the Village, without our having the power of returning a shot, for
an hour, and the bomb ketch occasionally threw in shells. A fresh supply
of ammunition being obtained, the 18 pounder was withdrawn from the
breastwork, the vent drilled, and the piece taken back again, when such
an animated and well directed fire was kept up, that at 3 o'clock the
brig slipped her cable and hauled off, with her pumps going, having
received several shots below her water line, and considerable damage in
her spars, &c. During this action between the eighteen pounder and the
brig, Mr. Frederick Denison was slightly wounded in the knee,[6] by a
fragment of a rock, and Mr. John Miner, badly burnt in his face by the
premature discharge of the gun. The flag, which was nailed to the mast,
was pierced with seven shot holes,[7] the breast-work somewhat injured,
and 6 or 8 of the dwelling-houses in the vicinity essentially injured.
At this time a considerable body of militia had arrived, and
Brigadier-General Isham[8] had taken the command; the inhabitants had
recovered from the consternation of the first moments; and were
deliberately moving off their furniture and goods. At 1 o'clock the
Ramilies and Pactolus had taken stations about two and a half miles from
the town, when resistance appearing hopeless, the Magistrates as a last
resort applied to the General for permission to send a flag off, being
impressed with the opinion that there must exist some latent cause of a
peculiar nature to induce a commander who had heretofore distinguished
himself for a scrupulous regard to the claims of honorable warfare,--to
induce him to commit an act so repugnant to sound policy, so abhorrent
to his nature, so flagrant an outrage on humanity. The General, we
understand, would not sanction, nor did he absolutely prohibit, a flag
being sent. They, therefore, on their own responsibility, sent on board
the Ramilies, Isaac Williams and Wm. Lord, Esquires, with the following
letter.

Copy.) _Stonington August 10, 1814._
TO SIR THOMAS M. HARDY,

SIR--Agreeable to notice received from you yesterday, this town is now
cleared of "unoffending inhabitants," and they feeling anxious about the
fate of their village, are desirous to know from you, your determination
respecting it. Yours, &c.

_