NASSAU CAPTURED BY AMERIGAN LOYALISTS. 825 
sight to receive them. He had a lighted match in his hand, 
ready to blow up the fortress if the exigencies of the case should 
require it, but the intrepidity of Col. Deveaux who headed the 
assailants, thwarted his design; springing upon the bewildered 
and astonished sentinel, Col. Deveaux made him his prisoner, 
and immediately afterwards, without a struggle or even a parley, 
the fort, with its garrison, armament and military stores was 
surrendered. The Colonel, quickly, and without opposition, 
proceeded with an attacking column to the crest of the hill and 
to the grounds upon which the Governor’s house was situated, 
overlooking the town. McKinnen says: 
<‘ Every artifice was used to deceive the Spaniards, both as to 
the number and description of the enemy they had to contend 
with. A show of boats was made, continually rowing from the 
vessels, filled with men, who apparently landed, but in fact con- 
cealed themselves by lying down as they returned to the vessels, 
and afterwards made their appearance, asa fresh supply of troops 
proceeding to disembark. Men of straw, it is said, were dressed 
out to increase the apparent number on the heights; and some 
of the troops, to intimidate the Spaniards, were painted and dis- 
guised as their inveterate foes, the Indians. One or two galleys 
in the harbor had been captured, and, trusting to the circum- 
stances in his favor, Colonel Deveaux summoned the Governor 
to surrender, with a pompous description of his formidable force. 
Some hesitation being at first discovered, the Colonel seconded 
his overtures with a well-directed shot at the Governor’s house 
from a field-piece, during his deliberation, which produced an 
‘ immediate capitulation. The Spanish troops, in laying down 
their arms, it is said, could not refrain from expressing the ut- 
most mortification and confusion as they surveyed their con- 
querors, not only so inferior in point of numbers, but ludicrous 
in their dress and military appearance.” 
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