Gen. Reynolds. We hope they will add General McCall and Gen. Meade.

Crosbey & Nichols, Boston, have issued Chaplain Quint's Notes of Campaign in Virginia and Tennessee.

A STATUE OF COLUMBUS.-The government of Spain is about to erect a statue in Madrid to Christopher Columbus. It will be built in "paseo de Recoletas," in front of the Royal Treasury. The statue will be of bronze, from twenty five to thirty feet in height, elevated upon a pedestal sixteen feet high. Three of the sides of the pedestal will be adorned with bas-relievos, representing incidents of the first transatlantic voyage of Columbus, and the fourth side will bear an inscription, to be dictated by the Royal Academy of History. It is understood that the competition for the commission will be open to sculptors of all nations, and it would be singularly appropriate should American genius win the prize, and the name of an American be associated with the statue to be raised in honor of the discoverer of America.

MESSRS. SHELDON & Co., of New York, have in press, it is said, the long mentioned Memoirs of General Scott, a book which will be read with avidity. The long services of the General, a life of military activity from the war of 1812 to the great rebellion, including the triumphs in Mexico, his position before the country as a candidate for its highest honors, all give it more than usual in

terest.

We have had two Lives of the sainted Jackson, as our southern brethren are beginning to call him, but a third is announced from the pen of Rev. R. L. Dabney, of the Theological Seminary at Hampton Sidney College, who writes at the request of Gen Ewell, and Mrs. Jackson.

Among "War Books" appears a little book entitled, Soldiering in North Carolina, by Thomas Kirwan, 7th Mass., which is well spoken of.

THE LIBRARY OF THE LATE W. J. DAVIS, which is well known as one of unusual value in the department of American history, will be offered for sale at auction early in the fall. His friend, Henry B. Dawson, assisted by Messrs. John B. Moreau and John G. Shea, has undertaken to catalogue the property; and it is probable that Mr. Merwin will be invited to act as the salesman. It is hoped, for the sake of the children of our friend, that those who watched the Allan sale so closely will not forget this.

WALKER, WISE & Co., Boston, have in press the Notes of a Corporal in the Nineteenth Army Corps, by James K. Hosmer,

MOORE, WILSTACH & Co., Cincinnati, have in press the papers of Harman Blennerhassett, embracing his Journal and Correspondence, from which much light may reasonably be expected

on one of the most obscure passages of our country's history.

GOULD and LINCOLN, Boston, have in press, an octavo on The Military History of Massachusetts, in the war of the Rebellion, embracing a complete and authentic history of the part which that State has acted in the present war, from the commencement to the present time.

GEORGE W. CHILDS, of Philadelphia, will soon publish a volume entitled "The Union Generals,' embracing the lives and services of the Generals of the Union Army. The biographies and battle sketches in this volume have been prepared by J. S. C. Abbott, B. J. Losing, J. T. Headley, E. A. Duyckinck, Prof. H. Coppee, Dr. Tomes, Richard Grant White, and several military authors of high repute.

A MAPPEMONDE, by Leonardo da Vinci, has recently been discovered among the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, and has been described to the Society of Antiquaries by Mr. R. H. Major. This map contains three claims to priority over all maps previously known-viz., it is the first containing the map of America; the first showing the severance of the New World from Asia, and of Cuba from Japan, in the belief of which Columbus died; and the first representing the ancient idea of a great southern continent. The date due to the map, from the state of discovery which it represents, is 1512. Leonardo's remarkable habit of writing from right to left, which Mr. Major feared might prevent his proving the map (which is written from left to right) to be Leonardo's, was the very means of bringing that proof to demonstration. He was also able to show that the map had a Vespucian origin, from its containing the repetition of a blunder in the use of the word Abatia for Bahia de todos os Santos, that word being a translation of an error in printing the original Italian of Vespucci where the word Bahia was converted into Badia.

Mr. Major further showed, with great ingenuity, a highly probable connection between Leonardo da Vinci and Vespucci, though the medium of the Giacondi family, he having been four years engaged on the famous portrait, of Mona Lisa Giacondi, while at the same time a Giacondi was sent from Lisbon to Seville by the King of Portugal to seduce Vespucci from the service of Spain to that of Portugal; and in the following year the narrative of his third voyage was translated into Latin by another Giacondi, the celebrated architect, who built the bridge of Notre Dame, at Paris. In tracing this connection, Mr. Major was able to illustrate, by a series of curious facts, the process by which the spurious name of America became first suggested and afterwards adopted in print by a small cluster of men at the little town of St. Dié, in Loraine, who acted under the special patronage of Réné, second Duke of Loraine and Titular King of Jerusalem and Sicily.

VOL. VIII.]

General Department.

AFFAIRS AT FORT CHARTRES, 17681781.

The kindness of one of our historical students enables us to give our readers the following curious letters, dated chiefly at Fort Chartres, and giving impressions of the western country as an English officer found it after the pacification effected by much toil, at the close of Pontiac's bold endeavor to recover by a combined effort of the aboriginal tribes what all French valor had failed to accomplish.

The period of the letters embraces the time when that great chief of the Ottawas fell at Cahokia, beneath the knife of an assassin, hired by an Englishman, but unfortunately the writer, not knowing how posterity would thank him for details of the event, makes no allusion to it, although he mentions some of its speedy results.

Fort Chartres is now a ruin on the bank of the Mississippi, with part of its walls swept away by the turbid tide, and a dense forest around, towering trees even growing in its very midst, so that a stranger unacquainted with its history might easily attribute it to some early race. It stands near Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, and was built in 1720, at a distance of a mile from the Mississippi, It was repaired in 1750, and at the time of these letters, owing to a new channel formed by the river, was not over eighty yards from the water. It was a well built stone fort, of irregular form, the sides being about 490 feet each.

After the surrender of the country it was left in command of St. Ange de Bellerive, HIST. MAG. VOL. VIII. 33

[No. 8.

an old and experienced officer who held command during the dangerous period of Pontiac's conspiracy, which had made it impossible for the English authorities to replace him. In vain did Major Loftus, with 400 regulars, attempt to reach it by way of New Orleans. Volleys from hidden foes on the shores drove him back with loss and panic to the new Spanish town; in vain Capt. Pitman made a subsequent attempt to penetrate in disguise, he lost heart and retired; in vain did Lt. Fraser seek to reach it overland. Narrowly escaping with life he reached New Orleans also in disguise, to add doubtless to the ill-concealed amusement of the French and Spanish officers, at these ineffectual attempts of the English to get to one of their own Forts.

When Croghan met Pontiac and peace was arranged, then and then only did Thomas Stirling, who died in 1808 a General and Baronet, now only a Captain, who had fought bravely under Abercrombie and Amherst, lead from Fort Pitt one hundred of the 42nd Highlanders, and to him on the 10th of October, 1765, did St. Ange surrender the Fort in a long document which the curious reader will find in the N. Y. Colonial Documents. At last the flag of England floated in Illinois. On the 2d of December Major Robert Farmer, of the 34th Foot, arrived with a strong body of troops and assumed command. It is not unlikely that he died in 1768, as his name then disappears from the army lists. At all events Lt. Col. John Wilkins, an officer of considerable experience, arrived there Sept. 5, 1768, and took command of the fort. The following letters give us a glimpse of his régime. He was probably its last commandant, as Father Mississippi in 1772, carried by storm two bastions and a curtain and the English struck their flag and abandoned Fort Char

tres, soon to yield the whole Illinois country to a new republic.

MESSRS. EDITOR:

The correspondence, of which the following letters form a part, recently came into my temporary keeping, in the course of a genealogical investigation which I was pursuing, and seemed worthy of preservation in your valuable Magazine. It consisted of various letters, bills, etc., addressed to one Capt. Thomas Barnsley of Bensalem, Bucks Co. Penn., by various officers of the British Army, stationed at different posts in this country, and covered a period extending from '764 to '771. Capt. Barnsley became Ensign of the 60th Reg. Dec. 26, 1755, and as Lieut. in the Royal Americans was wounded at Ticonderoga July 8, 1758; became a Captain May 5, 1759, and, as appears from these documents, had been in '763 and '4 Paymaster to the First Battalion of H. M. Royal American Regiment-and this correspondence sufficiently evidences the respect and confidence roposed in his character and judgment, as a man of business as well as a soldier, by all who had any dealings with him. From Colonels to Ensigns-from offlcial dignitaries to humble tailors-whether in America or in England-all seemed to make him their confidant-to seek his judgment-and to be content in his decision and advice. As for Ensign Butricke, the writer of these letters, we know little save what the letters themselves tell us. He seems to have fully shared in the public confidence in Mr. Barnsley; wrote very long, naive and rather interesting letters, and, as far as we can learn, received not a single answer from the Captain, yet without apparently suffering any abatement of his previous respect and affection for that reticent personage.

I,

A Letter from George Butricke, dated Philadelphia, 19th Feb. '768, and addressed to Capt. Thos. Barnsley, residing at Bensalem-mostly on private and pecuniary

matters.

"We have no kind of news at present but that of Miss Hannah Boyts' marriage to

To Capt. Thomas Barnsley.

PHILADELPHIA, the 22d May, '768. DEAR SIR:

I have the pleasure to acquaint you that five Companies of our Regiment Reed orders yesterday morning to be ready to march at six hours warning, under the Command of Col. Wilkins* for Fort Pitt, and as I am to proceed with them it prevents me having the pleasure to see you at Present, and to prevent there being any mistake betwixt us I have sent my Servant, with the things I mentioned to you when you was here, Vizt: Seven hatts, 20 yards of furniture Chintz and Lace, Powder, flints, Ball, &c.

I shall leave my Large Chest behind, with every thing in it I Cannot Carry, and as I know no person I can so well depend on as our Butcher Kirker, I propose to Leave it with him, with orders to deliver it to you should any thing happen to me, and before I Leave Town I will send you a list of what it Contains.

III.

A letter from Butricke to the same Capt. Barnsley, dated June 23d, 1768, at Philadelphia, announces his recovery from his "late illness, so as to hope to be able to set off for Fort Pitt to-morrow morning."

* Lt. Col. John Wilkins, Capt. 55th Foot Dec. 30, 1755, was Major in 1762. He commanded at Niagara. In 1763 he marched to relieve Detroit, but was attacked by the Indians, his troops cut to pieces, and he forced back to Fort Schlosser. He attempted next to reach it by water, but in a storm lost seventy men and was again compelled to return. In August, 1764, he was made Major of the 60th, and on the following June, Lt. Col. of the 18th Royal Irish. Compare Dr. O'Calla ghan's note, Col. Doc. viii, 185.

I had the pleasure to write you the 24th June, the day before I left Philadelphia, and the 30th I joined Colonel Wilkins at the Crossings of Juniata, he had been. detained 14 days by Col. Armstrong, for Want of Carriages. But lucky for me he had got them a few days before I joined him. The 14th July we arrived at Fort Pitt, which is now a most shocking place; the Works and Barracks are all gone to Wreck, But the Country about it seems to be in a thriving way, a great number of settlers are already there, and many more Coming to it daily. 20th July we embarked on the Ohio with five companys of the 7 we had Brought up, the other 2 Left there to garrison Fort Pitt. It would be needless for me to give you a detail of our Voyage, as we mett with nothing metairil on it but the Loss of one man Drownded. From Fort Pitt to the Scioto River, which you will see by the List of the distances from Each place I send you inclosed, is 366 miles. We met with Little or no game till we arriv'd there. But from thence to the falls, which is 316 miles more, the River is covered with all kinds of Game. We killed so many Buffalos that We commonly served out one a day to Each Company,& they Commonly Weigh'd from 4 to 600 lbs. W.; they go in Hirds of 20, 30 & some times 50s, some people say in 100 they have seen them. We had such plenty that when a Bull was killed we only took the tongue and left the Rest for the Wolves. Besides this there is the greatest quantities of Turkies, Deer, Geese, Ducks, Bears &c. I Believe the Like is not to be seen in any part of the known World. The River does not abound so much with fish as might be imagin'd, which I Believe is occasioned by there Being such quantities of Cattfish, which are so Large and Numerous that I think they destroy all other But the Turtle. We had such plenty of these two that I think we might have subsisted on them and

to

flour, without the assistance of any other food. We Caught some Catfish of 100 lb. W: But their Common size is from 30 to 70 lb. W: The Turtle is commonly of 30 lb. W: But seldom above that. They are Reckoned to be near as good as those taken at sea for soop. The 8th Aug. We arrived at the Falls, which you'l see is 682 miles from Fort Pitt, in 20 days. We Reckoned this good going, But I think with two or three Boats it might be done in half the time. The Falls appear verry tremendous at first sight, and startled our people much, as thay had not been used things of this kind before. I made Light of it, and after I had survey'd them well, offered to go down them immediately in my Boat, which made many of them swear that none but a mad man would attempt a thing of the kind. However, this pleased the Colonel so much that he swore there was nothing I ever see that I would not attempt; however, he would not suffer me to go down that night. Next morning sent the Engineer Hutchins to see if a passage could be found in the South shore, who return'd at 11 o'clock with the report that it could not be effected. Col. Wilkins Came to me again, tould me to be cautious of what I did, that he did not, by any means, desire me to hazard my Life in such a manner But if I really thought it could be done he would give me Leave. I jumpt at the opportunity, threw some Baggage out of the Boat to make her Light in the head, and went off instantly. I Reconitred the head of the fall well before I made the attempt, and when I had found the passage went off, and in 2 minutes and 5 seconds pass'd the falls, that are near a Mile in Length, without the Least difficulty. all the peaple was looking out to see what would be our fate and when the Colonel see I had gott safe down he Come to meet me on my Return to the Camp by Land & gave me his hearty thanks. He then ordered the whole to prepare to pass them, and that night we gott of 8 more, & next day completed the passage. These falls are near a mile in Length, and they appear much Like those you have seen on Hudson's River at Fort Miller. Having halted here a day or two

to put every thing in proper order, on the 13th we embarked again, and the 23d arrived at the Mississipy River where the Ohio has its confluence 482 miles from the falls the Whole Length of the Ohio River makes 1164 english miles. We was very much surprised to see the difference of the two Rivers at First sight the Ohio Being a fine Clear Jentle Current and the Mississipy a great Rapid full of sand Barrs, and so muddy that its impossible to drink it. Having made our desposition to assend the Mississipi, we embarked Early next morning But mett with so many difficualties that we only got four miles that night. We continued in the same manner for three days more, and did not gain above 6 or 7 miles a day, the current in many places is so very Rapid and the Navigation so much interrupted by great quantities of trees that falls with the Banks of the River and drives with the fluds in the springs, that we many times Rowd for 3 and four hours and did not gain one mile these difficulties with the inexperience of our men and officers made the Colonel almost mad at last he came to a determination to send off some person to Ft: Chartres to send down some empty battoes to Lighten some of ours that was so heavy loaded that they was not able to proceed. he again came to me to know if it would be agreeable to me to go on, I immediately embraced his offer and in half an hour Left the Detachment with four men and two Indians in a very small Boat, we Rowd night and day for three days and the 31st Augt arrived at Keskiskee* a Town & River on the English shore about 18 miles below Ft: Chartres; this I think was the most dangerous and fatiguing journey I ever made, I was inform'd when I arrived at Keskeskee that I had, had the greatest Luck in the world that I had escapt the enemy Indians that several parties was then out and had Cutt off a boat of the Companies, with 8 men, one of which got in, and a Connoe with 3 men, I sent of some boats that night to meet the Colonel and next morning set off in a Callash For Fort Chartres, as I said before is 18

* Kaskaskia.

miles from Keskeskee and we pass thro' the finest Country in the known world not

tree to be seen for several miles and the finest Land my Eyes ever beheld, Here they plant Indian Corn in the Spring and never touches it 'til fall when they go to fitch it home, and most of what I see is 10 & 12 foot high, they raze Tobacco as fine as in Virginia, they have the greatest quantity of black cattle-the plains for miles are Covered with them-indeed most of the french peoples Riches Lies in Stock of that kind for there is no kind of money Current there Butt what they make themselves, which is Little notes of so many Livers each, the horses are pritty good for Saddles, and might be made a great deal Better, But they are so careless of them that there is not one gelding in all the Colonie of the Illinois, all plowing & Hauling is done by Bullocks. The Country abutt F: Chatres is free for many miles Round it and the finest meddow ever was seen, grass grows here within a mile of the Fort to a great highht, and such quantities of it that there might be hay made for 100000 head of Cattle every summer, Fort Chartres is a midling sized Fort built of stone the walls about 2 foot thick and 20 foot high, its Built in a Regular Square with a Bastion at each angle with Loop holes to fire small arms thro', there are some port holes for great Guns, But they seldom use them for they shock the works too much, the barracks are very good built of stone, But they will not contain more than 200 men exclusive of offi

cers.

We have been very Lucky both with men and officers in Respect to health, when we took possission of the Fort.

[The remainder of this letter is lost.]

V.

(ILLINOIS,) FORT CHARTRES, 30th October, 1768. DEAR SIR

I had the pleasure to write you by Captain Forbes the 15th September when the 34th Regiment embarked from hence for Fort Pitt, I had the pleasure to acquaint you then we were all arrived here in good health, and as the season was so far advanced we were in