ise
ten feet. Some of the rockets were sharp pointed, others not, made of
sheet iron very thick, containing at the lower end some of them a fusee
of grenade, calculated to burst, and if they were taken hold of before
the explosion, might prove dangerous; one or two persons received injury
in this way. They appear to contain a greater variety of combustibles
than the fire carcasses.]

LETTER FROM CAPT. AMOS PALMER, TO THE SECRETARY
OF WAR.

[From Niles's Weekly Register, Oct. 21, 1815.]

DEFENCE OF STONINGTON.

The defence of Stonington by a handful of brave citizens was more like
an effusion of feeling, warm from the heart, than a concerted military
movement. The result of it, we all know, and it afforded sincere delight
to every patriot. But the particulars we have never seen so accurately
described as in the following concise narrative from the chairman of the
committee of defence, to the Secretary of War, of which we have been
provided with a copy for publication.--_Nat. Intelligencer._

"Stonington Borough, Aug. 21, 1815.
To the Hon. Wm. H. Crawford,
Secretary of War.

SIR:

The former Secretary of War put into my hands, as chairman of the
committee of defence, the two 18-pounders and all the munitions of war
that were here, belonging to the general government, to be used for the
defence of the town,--and I gave my receipt for the same.

As there is no military officer here, it becomes my duty to inform you
[of] the use we have made of it. That on the 9th of August last [year],
the _Ramilies_ 74, the _Pactolus_ 44, the _Terror_ bomb-ship, and the
_Despatch_ gun brig, anchored off the harbor. Commodore Hardy sent off a
boat, with a flag; we met him with another from the shore, when the
officer of the flag handed me a note from Commodore Hardy, informing
that one hour was given the unoffending inhabitants, before the town
would be destroyed.

We returned to the shore, where all the male inhabitants were collected,
when I read the note aloud; they all exclaimed, they would defend the
place to the last extremity, and if it was destroyed, they would be
buried in the ruins.

We repaired to a small battery that we had hove up--nailed our colors to
the flag staff--others lined the shore with their muskets.

At about seven in the evening, they put off five barges and a large
launch, carrying from 32 to 9 lb. carronades in their bows, and opened
their fire from their shi