Extract of a Letter from General Taylor to Admiral Warren, dated Head-Quarters, Norfolk, 29th June, 1813.

I have heard with grief and astonishment of the excesses both to property and persons committed by the land troops who took possession of Hampton. The respect I entertain for your personal character leads me to make known these excesses. It would not become me to suggest what course of inquiry and punishment is due to the honour of your arms. But the world will suppose those acts to have been approved, if not excited, which are passed over with impunity. I do not, however, deprecate any measures you may think necessary or proper, but am prepared for any species of warfare, which you may be dis posed to prosecute. It is for the sake of humanity I enter this protest.

We are in this part of the country merely in the noviciate of our warfare. The character it will hereafter assume, whether of mildness or ferocity, will materially depend on the first operations of our arms, and on the personal character and dispositions of the respective commanders.

For myself, I assure you most solemnly, that I neither have authorised, nor will sanction any outrage on humanity or the laws of civilized warfare. On the contrary, I think it due no less to my personal honour than to that of our country, to repress and punish every excess. I hope that these sentiments will be reciprocated. It will depend on you whether the evils inseparable from a state of war, shall, in our operations, be tempered by the mildness of civilized life, or, under your authority, be aggravated by all the fiend-like passions which can be instilled into them.

Sir,

His Britannic Majesty's Ship San Domingo,

Hampton Roads, Chesapeake, June 29th, 1813. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day, stating that you had communicated to your government the proposal of an exchange of prisoners, and also, that some excesses had been committed by the troops in the late affair at Hampton. I have communicated to my friend, sir Sidney Beckwith, the commander of his majesty's forces on shore, this part of your letter, and he will have the honour of writing to you upon the points to which it alludes.

I beg leave to assure you that it is my wish to alleviate the misfortunes of the war commenced against my country, by every means in my power; at the same time I am prepared to meet any result that may ensue between the two nations.

I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient, faithful humble servant, (Signed)

JOHN BORLASE WARREN,
Admiral of the Blue, and Commander in Chief.

Brigadier-General Taylor, commanding the
United States' Forces at Hampton.

Sir, His Majesty's Ship San Domingo, June 29th, 1813. Admiral sir John Warren having communicated to me the contents of your letter, I lose no time in assuring you that your wish cannot exceed mine to carry on war with every attention to the unfortunate individuals in whose immediate vicinity military operations may take place. In this spirit I shall vie with you to the utmost. At the same time I ought to state to you, that the excesses of which you complain at Hampton, were occasioned by a proceeding of so extraordinary a nature, that if I had not been an eye-witness, I could not have credited it. At the recent attempt on Craney Island, the troops in a barge sunk by the fire of your guns, clung to the wreck of the boat. Several Americans, I assure you most solemnly, waded off from the island, and in presence of all engaged, fired upon, and shot these poor fellows. With a feeling natural to such a proceeding, the men of that corps landed at Hampton.

That occurrences of that kind may never occur again, and that the troops of each nation may be guided by sentiments of honour and humanity, is the earnest wish of, sir, your very obedient servant, (Signed)

SIDNEY BECKWITH, Q.-M. Gen. To Brig.-Gen Taylor, commanding the U. S. Troops, Norfolk.

Sir,

Head-Quarters, Norfolk, July 1, 1813. It affords me the highest satisfaction to receive your assurance that you wish" to carry on war with every attention to the unfortunate individuals in whose immediate vicinity military operations may take place." Such sentiments can alone give splendour to courage and confer honour on military skill. Worthless is the laurel steeped in female tears, and joyless the conquests which have inflicted needless woe on the peaceful and unresisting. The frankness with which you admit the excesses at Hampton is a guarantee against the repetition.

I cannot doubt, sir, your conviction that the scene described by you at Craney Island was really acted. But the very reason it appeared to you incredible and inhuman, it should have

1

been unauthorised. Your own perception of propriety shall
decide, if facts should not have been ascertained and redress
demanded, before retaliation was resorted to, a retaliation too,
extravagant in its measures, applying not to the perpetrator
of the alleged offence, or their comrades, but to the inno-
cent and helpless. I have reason to think that you are mis-
taken in your impressions of the conduct of our troops at
Craney Island. That they waded into the water on the sink-
ing of
your boat is true; but I learn that it was for the pur-
pose of securing their conquest and assisting the perishing.
One person, perhaps more, was shot, but it was only for a
continued effort to escape, after repeated offers of safety on
surrender (such at least is the representation made to me).
If, however, your yielding troops have been butchered, it is
due to the honour of our arms to disclaim and punish the
enormity. The fame of my country shall never be tarnished
by such conduct in the troops under my command. I have
to day ordered an inquiry into the facts, by a board of field
officers. Proper measures shall be taken to punish whatso-
ever of impropriety may have been committed. I flatter my-
self you will perceive in these measures a disposition to af-
ford no cause of reproach in any future conflict. When we
meet let us combat as soldiers, jealous of the honour of our
respective countries, anxious to surpass each other as well in
magnanimity as in courage.

Accept, sir, the assurance of my consideration and respect.
(Signed)
ROBERT B. TAYLOR,
Brigadier-General, commanding.

To Sir Sidney Beckwith, Q.-M. Gen. commanding the
Land Forces of his B. M. Hampton Roads.

Extract of a Letter from Brigadier-General Taylor to the Secretary of War, dated Norfolk, 2d July, 1813.

I enclose, as was promised yesterday, copies of the letters written to admiral Warren and general Beckwith. My aid, who carried them down yesterday, brought back a letter from admiral Warren, of which a copy is enclosed, and has made a statement of what occurred in his conference with the general.

The letter of the admiral, though polite, is certainly not responsive to any thing which has occurred, and the conversation with the general, though equally civil, is obviously designed to prevent any further discussion on the subject. From the report of prisoners and deserters, there is too much reason to believe that before the attack on Craney Island, the

cupidity of the troops had been excited by a promise of the pillage of Norfolk. To inflame their resentment after their failure, and to keep alive the hope of plunder at Norfolk, there is much reason to fear that our troops have unmeritedly been charged with misconduct at Craney Island, and that made a pretext for their excesses and their conduct at Hampton. I entertain no doubt of the justification of the honour and magnanimity of our men, by the reports of the board of officers. I do not mean that the subject shall drop, but when I communicate the report, I shall leave the British commander the alternative, either of adopting similar measures in his own army, or remaining under the imputation of having excited their troops to commit these excesses. troops are highly inflamed.

(Copy.)

Our

Notes for Captain Myers in his interview with Admiral

Warren.

A defenceless and unresisting town has been given up to indiscriminate pillage, though civilized war tolerates this only as to fortified places carried by assault, and after summons..

Individuals have been stripped naked; a sick man stabbed twice in the hospital; a sick man shot at Pembroke in his bed, and in the arms of his wife, long after the defeat of the troops; his wife also shot at and wounded-a Mr. and Mrs. Kirby.

Females have been not only assaulted and personally abused and struck, but even violated.

If occasion offers, notice may be immédiately made of the information given by prisoners and deserters, of the promise to plunder Norfolk.

As to the imputation on our troops at Craney Island, if admiral Warren should mention it, deny the fact, and state the actual conduct of our troops, in going into the water to assist their men, and then giving them refreshments as soon as they entered the fort. Refer to the conduct of all our prisoners, particularly those taken from the boats of the Victorious.

Sir,

JOHN MYERS, Capt. and Aid-de-camp.

(Copy.)

Head-Quarters, Norfolk, July 2d, 1813. In obedience to your orders, I proceeded yesterday with a flag of truce to admiral Warren in Hampton Roads, to whom I handed both the dispatch for himself and that for sir Sidney

Sir

Beckwith. The admiral received me with civility, and with many acknowledgments for the terms of your letter. Sidney was on shore at Old Point Comfort. Feeling some difficulty about the propriety of delaying on board for his arrival, I was about to depart, but admiral Warren expressed a wish that I would remain, saying that he would desire no doubt to give a reply.

Sir Sidney did not arrive till 8 o'clock. He expressed great respect for the motives that had actuated you, sir, in the measures which you were pursuing. They were more than he desired. It was sufficient, he said, if your own mind was satis fied. He expressed regret at the trouble that you had taken, and much deference for your character, with a resolution to vie with you in efforts to confine future operations within the bounds of humanity, and the usages of war. He said, in allusion to the pretended conduct of our men at Craney Island, that it proceeded no doubt from a few of the more disorderly. I denied the charge altogether, as I had done in my previous interview, when it was made the justification of their outrages at Hampton, on the ground of retaliation.

I found that it was not his intention to give to your despatch a written reply. By the light manner in which he glanced at the the subject of your investigation, I could perceive that it was pressed further than was desirable to him. It was my wish, however, to be able to report to you the probability of a like course of inquiry on his part, and I enumerated the catalogue of abuses and violence at Hampton. I mentioned the pillage of the town and the wanton destruction of medicine; that individuals had been stripped naked, a sick man stabbed twice, who was in the hospital; a sick man shot in his bed at Pembroke, and in the arms of his wife, who was also shot at and wounded, long after the defeat of the troops, a Mr. and Mrs. Kirby; and finally the assault on females, their being struck and personally abused, and even violated.

At the mention of the murder of Kirby and the wound given to his wife, sir Sidney distinctly admitted it; the others he appeared not to be acquainted with the particulars of, and expressed some concern at it. He said that he had, however, on coming to a knowledge of their conduct, immediately ordered the embarkation of the troops that were concerned, with a determination that they should not again land; and that while he was unable to controul a past event, the responsibility of a recurrence should rest on himself; that the troops under his command were strangers to him on his arrival here, and appealing to my knowledge of the nature of the war in