wounded. Jones immediately took their command on himself. The two guns next the enemy were well served. The seamen succeeded in removing another from the opposite side. Hence only three guns were used towards the close of the action on board of Jones' ship. The musketry and swivels, however, did great execution, as did also the incessant fire from the round tops, in consequence of which the enemy were several times driven from their quarters. About ten o'clock, a report was in circulation between decks, that Jones and the chief officers were killed; that the ship had four or five feet water in her hold, and was sinking. The crew became alarmed, and the gunner, the carpenter, and the master at arms, were deputed to go on deck, and beg quarters of the enemy. They ascended the quarter deck, and whilst in the act of fulfilling their mission, were discovered by the commodore, crying for quarters. Hearing the voice of Jones, calling, "what rascals are these; shoot them; kill them," the carpenter and master at arms succeeded in getting below. The commodore threw both his pistols at the gunner, who had descended to the foot of the gang-way ladder, and his skull was thereby fractured. The man lay there until the action was over, after which his skull was trepanned, and he recovered. While the action continued to rage with relentless fury, both ships took fire, in consequence of which the crews were obliged to cease from firing, and exert themselves in extinguishing the flames, in which their respective vessels were enveloped, and thus prevent the certain destruction of the combatants. The fire being extinguished, the captain of the hostile ships asked, if Jones had struck, as he had heard a cry for quarters. Jones replied, that his colours would never descend, till he was fairly beaten. The action re-commenced with renewed vigor. Shortly after, the Alliance, captain Landais, came up within pistol shot, and began a heavy firing, injuring both friend and foe; nor did the firing cease from her, notwithstanding repeated hailing, until the signal of recognition was fully displayed on board the Bonne Homme Richard. Nearly one hundred of the prisoners, previously captured, had been suffered to ascend the deck by Jones' master at arms, during the confusion occasioned by the cry for quarters, owing to a belief that the vessel was sinking. To prevent danger from this circumstance, they were stationed at the pumps, where they remained in active employ during the remainder of the battle. The sides of the Bonne Homme Richard were nearly stove in, her helm had become unmanageable: a splintered piece of timber alone supported the poop. A brisk firing, however, was kept up from her three guns on the quarter deck. Their shot raked the enemy fore and aft, cutting up his rigging and At this juncture, his mainmast went by the board. Lieu- Shortly after this contest had terminated, captain Cotinean in the Pallas, engaged the enemy's lesser ship, which struck after a severe engagement of two hours and a half. She proved to be the Countess of Scarborough. Her braces were all cut away, as well as her running rigging and top-sail sheets. Seven of her guns were dismounted; four men killed, and twenty wounded. More than fifteen hundred persons witnessed the sanguinary conflict from Flamborough head. On his arrival in America, Congress passed an act, dated April 14, 1781, in which he was thanked, in the most flattering manner, "for the zeal, the prudence and the intrepidity, with which he sustained the honour of the American flag for his bold and successful enterprise, with a view to redeem from captivity the citizens of America, who had fallen into the hands of the English; and for the eminent services by which he had added lustre to his own character and the arms of Amer * Afleswards Sir Richard Pearson, Jom of Greenwich hospital. He was oficer of great distinction; born at Lonton Nall, in 1731. Made intley Lord. Auson. At the reduction of Manilla, &c. See Naval nikla for 1880. -He died in fear 1806 A committee of Congress was also of opinion, "that he deserved a gold medal in remembrance of his services." Jones seems to have been a man capable of the most daring deeds, both from his bravery and his arts of deception. An instance of the latter occurs in a case of attack upon an English frigate, superior to him in force, off the Island of Bermuda. Happening to fall in with this frigate, he was immediately hailed, when he returned the name of a ship of the British navy. This satisfied the English captain, who, as the sea was rough and as it was near night, ordered him to keep company till the morrow, when he would send his boat aboard. But to-morrow never dawned on the hapless Englishman, for Jones, getting up within pistol shot distance, discharged a broadside into him, and immediately discharged the other, when the English vessel sunk with every soul on board her. Jones was then in the United States' frigate Ariel. On peace taking place, he returned to Europe, and going to St. Petersburgh, was honoured with a commission in the Empress Catharine's fleet, when the English under him refusing to serve, he was transferred to a command under the Prince of Nassau, then acting against the Turkish fleet. Here by a successful stratagem, he put the Turkish fleet into the power of the Prince, who wantonly set it on fire, and thus barbarously involved the crews in one general destruction. On Jones' retirement from the service, he went to France, and after living through the first stages of the revolution, died in the city of Paris in the year 1792. KALB, BARON DE, was major general in the American army during the revolutionary war. He was a German by birth, a brave and meritorious officer. He had attained a high reputation in military service, and was a knight of the order of military merit, and a brigadier general in the armies of France. He accompanied the marquis de la Fayette to this country, and having proffered his services to Congress, he was appointed to the office of major general. He repaired to the main army, in which he served at the head of the Maryland division, very much respected. Possessing a stout frame, with excellent health, no officer was more able to encounter the toils of war. Moderate in mental powers, as in literary acquirements, he excelled chiefly in practical knowledge of men and things, gained during a life by close and accurate investigation of the cause and effect of passing events. No man was better qualified for the undertaking. He was sober, drinking water only abstemious to excess; living on bread, sometimes with beef soup, at other times with cold beef; industrious, it being his constant habit to rise at five in the morning, light his candle, devote himself to writing, which was never intermitted during the day but when interrupted by his short meals, or by attention to his official duty; and profoundly secret. No man surpassed this gentleman in simplicity and condescension; which gave to his deportment a cast of amiability extremely ingratiating, exciting confidence and esteem. At the battle of Camden, in South Carolina, the baron de Kalb commanded the right wing of the American army.At the commencement of the action, the great body of the militia, who formed the left wing of the army, on being charg ed with fixed bayonets by the British infantry, threw down their arms, and with the utmost precipitation fled from the field. In this battle the Americans suffered a severe defeat and loss. The continental troops, who formed the right wing of the army, inferior as they were in numbers to the British, stood their ground, and maintained the conflict with great resolution. Never did men acquit themselves better. The Americans lost the whole of their artillery, eight field pieces, upwards of two hundred wagons, and the greatest part of their baggage. The royal army fought with great bravery, but their victory was in a great measure owing to their superiority in cavalry, and the precipitate retreat of the American militia. De Kalb, sustaining by his splendid example the courageous efforts of our inferior force, in his last resolute attempt to seize victory, received eleven wounds, and was made prisoner. His lingering life was rescued from immediate death by the brave interposition of lieutenant-colonel du Buysson, one of his aid-de-camps; who, embracing the prostrate general, received into his own body the bayonets pointed at his friend. Chevalier de Buysson rushed through the clashing bayonets, and stretching his arms over the body of the fallen hero, exclaimed, "save the Baron de Kalb! save the Baron de Kalb" The British officers interposed and prevented his immediate destruction; but he survived the action but a few hours. To a British officer, who kindly condoled with him in his misfortune, he replied, "I thank you for your generous sympathy, but I die the death I always prayed for; the death of soldier fighting for the rights of man." The heroic veteran, though treated with every attention, survived but a few days. Never were the last moments of a soldier better employed. He dictated a letter to general Smallwood, who succeeded to the command of his division, breathing in every word his sincere and ardent affection for his officers and soldiers; expressing his admiration of their late noble, though unsuccessful, stand; reciting the eulogy which their bravery had extorted from the enemy; together with the lively delight such testimony of their valour had excited in his own mind, then hovering on the shadowy confines of life. Feeling the pressure of death, he stretched out his quivering hand to his friend and aid-de-camp, Chevalier de Buysson, proud of his generous wounds, he breathed his last in benedictions on his faithful, brave division. We lost, besides major general baron de Kalb, many excellent officers, and among them lieutenant colonel Potterfield, whose promise of future greatness had endeared him to the whole army. General Washington, many years after, on a visit to Camden inquired for the grave of De Kalb. After looking on it awhile, with a countenance marked with thought, he breathed a deep sigh, and exclaimed, "so there lies the brave De Kalb; the generous stranger, who came from a distant land to fight our battles, and to water with his blood the tree of our liberty. Would to God he had lived to share its fruits!" On the 14th of October, 1780, congress resolved, that a monument should be erected to his memory, in the town of Annapolis, in the state of Maryland, with the following inscription: Sacred to the memory of the Knight of the royal order of Military Merit, MAJOR GENERAL In the service of the United States of America. He gave a last and glorious proof of his at- In the action near Camden, in the state of South Carolina, And animating them by his example, He was pierced with many wounds, THE CONGRESS Of the United States of America, In gratitude to his zeal, services and merit, |