marksmen to fire at such of the enemy as were employed loading their great guns; but unfortunately the three most expert were successively killed, one of whom, the coxswain of Lieutenant Ussher’s boat, was aiming at the matchman of a long 18-pounder when it went off, sending a shot against his chest, which mangled him most dreadfully. Thinking it probable that the Pelican, on hearing the report of the schooner’s guns, would either run into the river or send him a reinforcement, Lieutenant Ussher still continued the unequal contest; the eagerness of the enemy to keep people aloft, from whence they could look over the land and watch her motions, confirmed him in that opinion, and kept alive his hopes of final success. No assistance, however, arrived: the enemy fired with greater confidence after the fall of the coxswain, &c., by whom their look-out men had been picked off, one after the other, as fast as they ascended the rigging. At length. Lieutenant Ussher received a dangerous wound, when in the act of taking a pricker from the serjeant of marines, his own musket having just before missed fire. Both fell together – himself shot in the right thigh, and the Serjeant with the loss of his left leg. Supposing that his own wound was mortal, as a great quantity of blood flowed from it, our gallant officer then directed the master of the Pelican, Mr. Henry M‘Cleverty, to retire with the rest of the party, and to leave him there, as he would not retard their retreat by allowing them to carry him off. He shortly afterwards fainted from loss of blood, and did not recover his senses until the French surgeon began to probe the wound. By that individual, himself and his wounded companions were treated with the utmost tenderness; and it is but justice to the captain of the privateer to say, that he likewise did every thing in his power to alleviate their sufferings. To Lieutenant Ussher he gave up the whole of his cabin, allowing no one but the surgeon to enter it: to the men that survived he shewed the most delicate attention; and to the slain he paid every mark of respect that could possibly have been expected from a brave and generous enemy. We very much regret that it is not in our power to place upon record the name of so magnanimous a fellow;
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