Some of their vessels anchored opposite a wood, at one end of the peninsula, and kept ' up a constant fire upon the British posted there, to oppose their landing. They con'tinued this kind of play for several days, ' endeavouring at different times to land; but were constantly beaten back, till upon the

28th, when after a very sharp cannonade from the shipping upon the wood, to the great surprise of General M'Lean, and the 'garrison, they effected a landing. I hap

pened to be upon picket that morning, ' under the command of a Captain of the 74th regiment, who, after giving them one fire, instead of encouraging his men (who natu'rally had been a little startled by the can'nonade) to do their duty, ordered them to retreat, leaving me and about twenty men to shift for ourselves. After standing for 'some time, I was obliged to retreat to the

fort, having five or six of my own men killed, and several wounded; I was lucky 'to escape untouched. This affair of the Captain is only whispered; so you need not

' mention it. Having got possession of the 'wood, they made roads from the shore, to 'the opposite edge, by which they dragged cannon, and erected two batteries,

" up their cannon,

'within about seven or eight hundred yards Before their arrival, the four cur

.6

of us.

tains, and two of the bastions of the fort had

been raised about eight feet; the other two 'bastions were open, but afterwards a fascine 'work was thrown round the well which was ' in one of them; the interval of the other was 'filled up with logs, the storming which, at 'first, would not have been difficult. By the addition of cheveaux-de-frise, abatis, &c., this became a serious undertaking; and as they had been falsely informed that we were 'short of provisions, they soon expected hun'ger would oblige us to lay down our arms. But on the 13th inst., Sir George Collier,

with a 64, two frigates, and three 20 gun'ships, was seen sailing up the bay; the ' rebel fleet never attempted to make a stand, but ran up the river in the utmost confusion; two of their vessels only were taken;

the rest the rascals ran ashore, and burned, 'before our shipping could get up with them. Unluckily they had intelligence of our fleet

'the day before; and in the night time their army got on board their shipping, and took ' along with them most of their cannon and ' stores, unknown to us. This is undoubtedly 'the greatest coup for us, that has been done 'this year; it will make up for the defeat at

Stoney Point. Upon the whole we have lost 'but few men, in the small skirmishes we had 'with them; the only officers wounded are 'Graham Douglestone's son, and one M'Neil,

but they are getting very well. Our regi'ment is to return to Halifax in about four or five weeks, with General M'Lean; Co'lonel Campbell and his regiment are to be 'left here. I had a letter from Mrs. Macin'tosh the other day; she says you are all

well; I am very anxious to hear from your

self, I do not know how long it is since I ' had that pleasure; I hope to find letters at 'Halifax upon my return. What is become ' of poor Graham? I hear from Captain Dun

lop, that Frank has gone to France with

Basil Browne; I am glad to hear this.

Farewell, love to my Mother, and to them 'all, and to the Duke.

'Believe me, dear Father,

'Your most affectionate Son,

'JOHN MOORE.'

Captain-Lieutenant Moore to Dr. Moore :

6

'Camp, near Halifax, Nova Scotia,

June 19th, 1780.

Dear Father,-Yesterday evening two frigates came express from New York, with despatches for the General, they return

again to-morrow; we have so seldom opportunities from this place, that I could not 'think of allowing this one to escape me. I

have been sitting upon a general court'martial this week past, but luckily we were adjourned early this forenoon, otherwise I might not have had time. This is a duty 'we are troubled with very often, as the 'officers of the Provincial corps are continu

ally quarrelling among one another, and ' misbehaving.

The last opportunity I had of writing to you ' was by Lieutenant M'Quarie of the 74th. 'Since that we have encamped, and are pre

paring to receive the French, who are

expected soon. I suppose this express has 'been sent to put us on our guard; if that 'was the case, they might have saved them'selves the trouble, as General M'Lean has 'been doing everything in his power, to for

tify the Citadel Hill, which is our stronghold, when we are beaten from our encamp'ments and outposts: and I am in great hopes, though our garrison is but small, only ' about one thousand five hundred men, 'militia, &c., included, that we shall be able 'to make a very good defence; I will answer for it General M'Lean will not give up ' easily.

'

The hopes of being attacked is the only thing that renders this garrison supportable, we are all heartily tired of it, and would give the world to be sent to New York; if I had had time to have settled my affairs

before this frigate sailed, I would have