Three whites and a black man took post in a large mansion belonging to Major Starr, from which they fired upon the horsemen, but the house was surrounded and set on fire a moment afterward. The inmates were cut down and thrown into the flames as they attempted to escape. A young English officer who accompanied the mounted volunteers, when they were fired upon, related at the time that he sprang from the saddle and ran the black man through with his rapier. He said further that the negro fell, but im- mediately afterward rose from the ground for revenge, and dropped dead the next instant, while attempting to bayonet his antagonist, in which he had nearly succeeded. A man named Starr, who also fired at the troopers, was pursued, overtaken, cut about the head and arms, and left on the ground. He was not however wounded mortally. Having fallen upon his face, he took the precaution to lie still, and his pursuers supposing him dead, retired; upon which he crawled away, recovered, and lived afterwards to a good old age. As an apology for these severities, the British officers alleged that they wished to put a stop to the militia practice of firing from houses. They gave out that therefore, they made it an invariable rule to give no quarter to those who fired from such cover, and that in addition they always burnt the buildings themselves. Mr. Silas Hamilton, an aged farmer residing a short distance north of the town, having heard that the British troops were