The Recorder, Or, Lady's And Gentleman's Miscellany

LONDON.
SIERRA LEONE-HOUSE, Feb. 2, 1801.

DISPATCHES have been received from the governor and council of Sierra Leone, dated the 16th December last, which state a sudden and unprovoked attack on the settlement to have been made by some neighbouring natives, on the 18th of November.

The following is the substance of the governor and council's communication:

On the morning of the 18th November, a body of Timmanys (the subjects of king Farma, and king Tom) made a furious and unexpected assault on the fort. A small but select party of them, said to be headed by two rebel settlers, forced their way into the fort, supported by a number of marksmen, who kept up a very destructive fire on those who advanced to repel them.

In about 15 minutes lieutenant Ludlow and sergeant Blackwood, and one of the American corps, Mr. Cox, Mr. Crankapoor, and several others were killed, and governor Dawes, Messrs. Gray, Carr, and some others were wounded. At length a small party of soldiers and settlers collected from different quarters and headed by the governor in person, gallantly pushed forward, and with the bayonet drove the enemy from the fort. The retreat of the assailants soon became general.

Their loss appears to have been considerable, and at least equal to that sustained by the defenders of the fort.

The enemy, though baffled in their enterprize, still maintained a threatening position to the westward of the colony, apparently with the hope of recruiting their numbers; successive expeditions (undertaken with this view) were attended with such success, that by the 4th December, they had been completely driven from the district which lies between the settlement and capital, Sierra Leone, with scarcely any loss on the part of the colony.

This treacherous and unprovoked aggression is exclusively attributed to the Timmanys, and it appears to have strongly excited the indignation of many of the neighbouring African chiefs, several of whom had repaired with a considerable number of men to the assistance of the settlement, and had joined in the excursions which were undertaken against the enemy.

The governor and council say--"We cannot pass unnoticed the exertions of those brave men, both Europeans and settler, who defended the fort on the morning of the attack: some of them are now insensible to human praise, and others lie languishing under the effect of those wounds to which their intrepidity exposed them."

Mr. Cox, the store keeper, was shot dead in attempting to save the magazine from the ravages of the enemy.

Lieutenant Ludlow, at an early part of the action, met with the same fate.

The conduct of Mr. Crankapoor, a Nova Scotia black, who also fell, is noticed in terms of high praise.

Mr. Wilson, it is said, acted with great spirit, and the services of George Clark, and John Gordon, settlers, were found very useful in driving the enemy out of the fort.

The soldiers in general behaved with the steadiness of men, who have seen service, and through the whole action kept up a very galling and effective fire on the enemy.

Captain Bullen, of his majesty's sloop the Wasp, was solicitous from the hour of his arrival a few days after the attack, to meet and prevent the wishes of the colony.

When the dispatches came away, some pacific overtures had been made; the conditions of peace proposed by the company being those of having the rebel settlers delivered up, and the district to the westward of Freetown, which had been possessed by king Tom, the principal in the war, ceded to the company.

The governor and council also acknowledge the services rendered to the colony on this occasion by captain Haile, of the Hope, and captain Scott, of Fraternite, two letters of marque then in the river.

Total-killed or since dead, 18; wounded 38 in whole 56.

Subsequent to the 18th, in an attack on one of the enemy's towns, by the explosion of some powder kegs, Mr. Wilson, and five natives, allies of the colony, were burnt. Mr. Wilson has since recovered, but three of the natives died. In another attack, one seaman of the Wasp was killed and four wounded.