AMERICAN NEWS. (From the Washington Union.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 137, 21 November 1846, Page 4

AMERICAN NEWS. (From the Washington Union.)

This evening's southern mail brings the following letter from a gallant son of Washington to his sister. We are obliged to the family for a copy of it :—: — Point Isabel, Texas, May 13th, 1846. By the time you receive this, you will have heard of the two great battles that have been fought by our army against the Mexican forces. We had but 2100 men, and the Mexicans had 6000. The first day they did nothing but fire artillery at us, which we returned, and killed some hundreds of them. They tried several times to break our lines by charging us, but they were repulsed. This day Major Ringgold, of the artillery, was killed by a cannon ball, which took off both his legs, and some sixty of our men were killed and wounded. Our squadron of dragoons (Captain May's, of Washington) was under fire the whole time, and we lost ten or fifteen horses killed, and the same number of men wounded. Several shot passed near me, and over my head, and one went between my horses's legs, but did riot hit him. That night the Mexican force fell back and took up a position in a dense chapparal, or thicket, that borders the Rio Grande, and is seven or eight miles through. I was one of the advanced guard, and was within sixty yards of the enemy, when they fired grape shot upon us, and, singular us it may . appear, .not' one of my men was struck.

The general then ordered us to allow the infantry to pass up and engage them : they did so, and also our light artillery. They had been engaged about an hour and a half, when our squadron was then ordered to charge the enemy's batteries. We did so, took one of their batteries, and General la Vega prisoner, while in the act of pointing a gun. Lieutenant Inge, of the dragoons, was killed in the charge; Lieutenant Lucket had his horse shot under him, and many of the men and horses were killed and wounded. General la Vega surrendered his sword to Captain May. It was a desperate affair, and as gallantly performed as any action of our revolution. I had four men killed at my side. I cut one Mexican down, and then rallied the men that were left, when the enemy broke and run, and left everything in our possession. The plunder was great—6oo mules, nine pieces of cannon, some 20 standards, and a large amount of money in gold, besides all their equipage. Seventeen officers were taken prisoners, and hundreds of men. An exchange of prisoners had been made, and our officers and men whom they took in a previous affair are now restored to us. Henry, Cro2et, and your friends, were in the action and behaved like men. Piper was not in the action, and is almost crazy about it. lam safe and sound, although, when I think over what I have gone through, I involuntary'shudder at my escape. General Taylor has gone up to the army today, and we start to-morrow. We brought the wounded down here. Several of our officers were killed, and a large number wounded, but nothing in comparison to the enemy. The Galveston Civilian, speaking of General Arista's correspondence, which fell into the hands of General Taylor, says :—: — The plan of the campaign, and the instructions from General Arista's government, ordered him to take possession of Point Isabel; this was to be the brief act of hostility; he | was to fortify it as strongly as possible. He was likewise ordered to take possession of the mouth of the river and fortify it at once. After the rout, General Taylor despatched Captain Carr, of the Dragoons, with a guard to convey the intelligence. They bore so many of the enemy's colours with them, that they presumed in the fort that it was the Mexicans coming up to make an assault, it being dark, and the fort fired upon them, but fortunately injured no one. (From the Express.) This was the finest Mexican army that ever went into the field. The troops came from the city of Mexico, and were well equipped, and fougtit well; but not quite so well as ours. In the stcond battle we only had 1700 men engaged, and eight pieces of artillery. Our batteries were 60 yards apart, and were in a complete hail storm of grape and canister shot. The trees were cut and the limbs stripped of their branches and leaves. It literally rained lead and iron until we charged their guns and captured them. We lost a number of officers, and a great many wounded.

Captain May's Charge upon the Mexican Artillery. — A letter from an American officer says — The battle was still uncertain when General Taylor sent for Capt. May, and told him he must take that battery, if he lost every man of his squadron. May said he would take it, and assembling his men, he placed himself at their head, and rushed at full speed upon the enemy's battery. As he approached it, at a distance of some twenty yards, he and his squadron received a furious discharge of grape from the pieces, and a shower of bullets from the infantry on the right and left, mowing down nearly the whole of his first and second platoons, but leaving him unhurt. In a second he and his remaining force passed through the battery, sabreing the artillerists as they passed, and then reining up their horses in the rear of the battery, they charged again through it. As Captain May reached it the second time, he saw a Mexican officer defending himself against some of his men, when, flying to the rescue, he received the sword of General de la Vega, a gallant officer of the Mexican army, who surrendered himself a prisoner at discretion. May received his sword, and putting him under the protection of an officer, rode back to General Taylor, and said, " General, I have taken the enemy's battery, and have the honour to present you the sword of General de la Vega, whom I captured gallantly defending his guns, and who is now your prisoner." Glory enough for one day ! ! ! The account of these battles was received throughout the Union with the greatest enthusiasm. Congress voted thanks to General Taylor (who was promoted from Brigadier to Major General) and the men under his command, and the offer of volunteers became still more abundant. It was expected that General Taylor would reduce the city of Matamoros, and then make an advanc.e towards the city of Mexico. A considetable 1 squadron "was engaged in the blockade of the coast of Mexico, and it was not expected that -the Mexicans' would continue the war many weeks

when it became known, as was generally supposed would be the case, that no European power would interfere.

QUEEN POMARE AND THE FkENCH. " We arrived here (Valparasio) on Mondaymorning, the 29th of December, from Bolabola (one of the Society Islands, lon. 14 4 43 W. lat. 16 18 S.), which we leit on the 25th of November. The Collingwood is, in my opinion, a well-disciplined and comfortable ship, although sailors will, at times, be dissatisfied. Our ship was allowed to be the 'clipper' of the station, having sailed with every vessel of the squadron, but beaten by none. She is a very good sea boat in bad weather. We carried away our mainyard in a squall, but repaired it at Valparaiso in July. At Callao we made every preparation for action, in consequence of the Peruvian president not coming to terms with the admiral with regard to the money due to our government ; but it was settled without a shot, the admiral having given them a longer time to decide. At Owhyee everything is quiet. The admiral visited the Burning Mountains, and returned in three days. We did not, however, anchor at Otaheite, but cruised about for sixteen days, while the admiral went into the harbour in the Modeste, 18, she having accompanied us from Callao, with Mr. Pritchard on board, bound to the Navigator Islands, as consul, I believe. At Oahu everything is quiet, and seems in a thriving condition. King Kamehameha 111. visited our ship, and was highly delighted with her, never having seen so large a vessel before. By the way, this island (Oahu) is under the English protectorate flag. At Catherine Island there are about twenty male and female natives comfortably settled, having left Otaheite in consequence of the disturbances. At Otaheite the natives are encamped inland, and will not come to terms with the French ; in fact, if they happened to catch a Frenchman out of their bounds, they put him immediately to death. Our admiral gave the ship's company leave to go ashore at Otaheite in the day-time, but ordered them on board by sunset. The French are very strict, and are building batteries and storehouses fast. They have given Queen Pomare three months to decide whether she will accept the French protection and return to Otaheite (which she positively refused to do at present), when, if their offer be not in \ the interim complied with, they intend to take her by force ; but that, I conceive, they will find some difficulty in doing. The admiral has condemned the Basilisk ketch, and sold her hull, rigging, &c, keeping the arms and ammunition on board of us. At Huaheine the French planted their protectorate flag, but the natives immediately hauled it down and tore it into ribbons. Queen Pomare and family are at Ulitea, quite well ; but she has recently lost one child, and I am given to understand the Salamander steam sloop will take it to Otaheite to have it interred in the family grave. The French have been persuading and offering presents to the queen, which she refused. At Bolabola the French have blockaded the port and hoisted their protectorate flag, which caused the natives to leave their homes and go inland ; but our admiral persuaded them to return, and left orders that they are not to be molested by the French until he received despatches from England. I think the French are going rather too far. The natives visited our ship, aud were dancing their war dances the whole of the afternoon. They semed quite grateful to the admiral for restoring them to their homes. They detest a Frenchman. Our admiral went to church with Queen Pomare, and distributed presents to her people ; gave her some provisions, and told her to wait calmly until he came again. She puts great dependence on England for protection. While off Otaheite, we found that our mizen-mast was rotten ; we liave got it out, and the carpenters are at work about it (being a 'built' mast it can be repaired), and we are fitting with all possible despatch, and expect to sail in about a month for Callao, to meet the fleet, where I expect he (Admiral Seymour) will come to terms with the President one way or the other. After that I think we shall go to leeward again, to settle about Bolabola and the adjacent island. The Herald and Pandora are gone to leeward, surveying. The Spy is at Valparaiso, but expects to take the station of the Basilisk at Oahu. The Salamander is at Bolabola. The admiral arid family are all well. The Durham store-ship, with supplies for us, has a great deal of her cargo damaged by water, having had a bad passage round Cape Horn."