APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



233 



From the London Gazette, Tuesday, 

 Jan. 4. 



COLONIAL DEPARTMENT. 



A dispatch of which the follow- 

 ing is a copy, has been this morn- 

 ing received by earl Bathurst, his 

 Majesty's principal secretary of 

 state for the colonies, from lieu- 

 tenant-general sir George Prevost, 

 bart. 



. Head-Quarters, La Chine, Nov. 

 15, 1813. 



My Lord ; — Major-general Wil- 

 kinson left Greiiadier's Island, on 

 Lake Ontario, on the 30th ultimo, 

 with ten thousand men in small 

 craft' and batteaux, and proceeded 

 down the St. Lawrence, in order 

 to co-operate with major-general 

 JIampton in the invasion of Lower 

 Canada, and for the avowed pur- 

 pose of taking up his vvinter-quar- 

 •ters at Montreal : having on the 

 31st halted a few miles below 

 Gravelly Point, on the south side 

 of the river his position was on 

 the following day reconnoitred, 

 and afterwards cannonaded by a di- 

 vision of gun-boats, under the com- 

 mand of captain Mulcaster, of the 

 xoyal navy. By keeping close to 

 his own shore, the enemy arrived, 

 on the 6th instant, within six miles 

 of the port of Prescot,. which he 

 endeavoured to pass unobserved 

 during the night of the 7th ; but 

 the vigilance of lieutenant-colo- 

 nel Pearson, who commands there, 

 frustrated his attempt, and the 

 American armada was obliged to 

 sustain a heavy and destructive 

 cannonade during the whole of 

 that operation. 



Having anticipated the possibility 

 of the American government send- 

 ing its whole concentrated force 

 from Lake Ontario towards this 

 part of his Majesty's territory, I 



had ordered a corps of observation, 

 consisting of the remains of the 

 -iOth regiment, 2nd battalion of the 

 89th regiment, and three companies 

 of voltigeurs.wilh a division of gun- 

 boats, the whole to be placed un- 

 der the command of lieutenant- 

 colonel Morrison, of the 89th re- 

 giment, to follow the movements of 

 major-general Wilkinson's army, 

 as soon as they should be ascer- 

 tained to point towards this quar- 

 ter. I have now the satisfaction of 

 transmitting to your lordship, a 

 coi^y of a report made by lieute- 

 nant-colonel Morrison, to major- 

 general de Rottenburgh, contain- 

 ing the details of an attack upon the 

 corps of observation placed under 

 his command, by a part of the 

 American force under brigadier- 

 general Boyd, amounting to near 

 4,000 men, which terminated in 

 the complete repulse and defeat of 

 the eneniy, with very considerable 

 loss; upwards of 100 prisoners, to- 

 gether with a field-piece, remained 

 in our possession ; and, as I under- 

 stand that more than 100 were 

 found dead on the field, their total 

 loss in killed, wounded, and pri- 

 soners, could not be less than 

 800 men. The consequence of this 

 gallant afiair, which reflects such 

 high credit on all the officers and 

 men engaged in it, and particularly 

 on lieutenant-colonel Morrison, 

 for the skill and judgment mani- 

 fested by him in his choice of po- 

 sition, and for the coolness and 

 intrepidity with which he main- 

 tained it, has been, that the 

 enemy, disheartened by their 

 losses and ill success, re-embark- 

 ed the whole of their forces 

 on the' 13th, and crossed to St. 

 Regis and Salmon River on their 

 own shore; not leaving a mania 



