It opened with terrible effect on the morning of the 14th, yet that little garrison of only three hundred men managed to silence it before noon. Hitherto the enemy did not know the real weakness of the garrison; on that day a deserter, in a boat, carried information of the fact to the British, who were seriously thinking of abandoning the siege, for they had suffered much. Hope was revived, and preparations were made for a general and more vigorous assault. At daylight, on the 15th, the Iris and Somerset, men-of-war, passed up the east channel to attack the fort on Mud Island in front. Several frigates were brought to bear on Fort Mercer; and the Vigilant, an East Indiaman of twenty twenty-four pounders, and a hulk with three twenty-four pounders, made their way through a narrow channel on the western side, and gained a position to act in concert with the batteries on Province Island, in enfilading the American works. At ten o'clock, while all was silent, a signal-bugle sent forth its summons to action, and instantly the land batteries and the shipping poured a terrible storm of missiles upon Fort Mifflin. The little garrison sustained the shock with astonishing intrepidity, and far into the gloom of evening an incessant cannonade was kept up. Within an hour, the only two cannons in the fort which had not been dismounted shared the fate of the others. Every man who appeared upon the platform was killed by the musketeers in the tops of the ships, whose yards almost hung over the American battery. Long before night not a palisade was left; the embrasures were ruined; the whole parapet leveled; the block-houses were already destroyed. Early in the evening Major Thayer sent all the remnant of the garrison to Red Bank, excepting forty men, with whom he remained. Among those sent was the brave Captain
* Note. Explanation of the Map.--This shows the main operations upon the Delaware between the middle of October and the close of November, 1777. Fort Mifflin is seen on the lower end of Mud Island. A, B, two British transports; C, the Experiment; D, the Vigilant frigate; E, the Fury sloop; F, a passage opened through the stockadoes; G, American fleet burned at Gloucester; H. the village of Woodbury and Cornwallis's encampment on the 21st of November, 1777; I, camp on the 24th, between the branches of Timber Creek; J, a battery of two eighteen pounders and two nine pounders; K, fort at Billingsport, Colonel Stirling's corps, and Cornwallis's camp on the 18th of November; L, redoubt on Carpenter's Island; M, on Province Island, to cover the bridge in the direction of Philadelphia; N, a battery of six twenty-four pounders, one eight-inch howitzer, and one eight-inch mortar; 0, a battery with one eight-inch howitzer and one eight-inch mortar; P, a battery with one thirteen-inch mortar; n, two twelve pounders; o, one eighteen pounder; S, stockadoes in the channel in front of Fort Mifllin; a, a small vessel; b. wreck of the Merlin; c, the Liverpool: d. Cornwallis galley; e, the Pearl; f the Somerset; g, the Roebuck; h, wreck of the Augusta; i, the Iris; j. ship sunk; k, the Vigilant; l, the Fury; W, the Whitall house, just below Fort Mercer. The parallelograms around Fort Mercer denote the attack bv Donop, on the 22d of October. The small island between Red Bank Island and the Jersey shore is Woodbury Island, on which the Americans erected a small battery. The creek, just below Fort Mercer, is Woodbury Creek, a deep and sluggish stream, near the Delaware.