sixty-either to be destroyed or shipped, with the shot, on board the gunboats, as they may be found of sufficient value to be removed. With great respect, I have the honor to be your most obedient servant, The Hon. JOHN Y. MASON, M. C. PERRY, Commanding Home Squadron. Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C. ACT FOURTH.-SCENE FOURTH. The United States schoooner Taney, lying at the Brooklyn Navy-yard, was placed in commission on Tuesday, Lieut. Alvarado Hunter, commander. She sails in a few days for the Mediterranean.-Alexandria Gazette, Saturday morning, Aug. 28, 1847. CAPTURE OF TUXPAN. The movement of the Squadron under the active and energetic direction of Commodore Perry, continued its operations; and TUXPAN was to be the next point of attack on the Mexican coast. It will be remembered that it was off the bar of Tuxpan that the unfortunate Truxton struck— was wrecked, abandoned, and finally burned by the active officers of the Princeton, whose Commander gave a graphic description of the upsetting of the boats in the surf in their attempts to fire the Truxton, and the successful conflagration which scattered her ashes on the wide billows aroused by the Northers. Her guns had been secured by the Mexicans, and other materiel was saved from the wreck. The Navy envied the town of Tuxpan the possession of these trophies or relics of the gallant brig; and Tuxpan itself was now almost the only port of any consequence on the Mexican coast unoccupied by the Americans, after having surrendered to our naval forces. Commodore Perry's dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, narrates the operation of the forces of the Squadron, at Tuxpan, with sufficient detail of their action and success. UNITED STATES FLAG SHIP At sea, off Vera Cruz, April 24, 1847. SIR: Tuxpan being the only fortified place of importance, situated on the Gulf coast, not in our possession, and conceiving it to be a point of honor as well as duty to reclaim the guns taken by the enemy from the wreck of the Truxton, and mounted with others for the defence of the river and town, I determined on attacking it, and left Sacrificios in this ship for that purpose on the 12th instant, having in tow the steamers Spitfire, Vixen and Scourge, and the gun-boats Bonito, Petrel, and Reefer, with a detachment of three hundred officers, seamen, and marines from the Ohio, distributed in this and the smaller vessels. On the following day we arrived at Lobos, the appointed place of rendezvous. The Raritan, with a detachment of one hundred and eighty officers, seamen and marines, from the Potomac, added to her own complement. The Albany, John Adams, and Germantown, with the bomb-vessels Vesuvius, Ætna, and Hecla, had been previously dispatched for Lobos, where they arrived in good time, and were subsequently joined by the Decatur. On the 15th all the vessels left Lobos for the anchorage, under Tuxpan reef, but were separated by a Norther during the night. Having again concentrated on the morning of the 17th, the whole of that day was employed in lightening the small vessels, in sounding and buoying the channel of the bar, and in other preparations for ascending the river. The following morning (the 18th) the bar was safely crossed by the steamers and gun-boats, with about thirty barges filled with detachments from the different vessels at anchor outside, having with them four pieces of artillery. After crossing the bar I hoisted my flag on board the Spitfire, and immediately led up the river to the attack; the steamers having the gunboats and barges in tow, until we got into the range of the fire of the enemy, when I ordered them to cast off the gun-boats to follow up the river under sail, and the detachments in the barges to land with the artillery and storm the forts and town. These orders were executed with extraordinary rapidity, while the flotilla continued its course up the river, and driving by its well directed fire, the enemy from his defences. The dispositions of the enemy for defence were judicious; they consisted of two forts on the right, and one on the left bank of the river, with positions well selected for commanding the reaches of the stream. They had seven guns mounted, and detachments of infantry firing from the forts and the thick chapparal along the margin of the left bank. General Cos, chief of the windward military division of the Mexiican army, was in command, and had with him, as is believed from the evidence of his order-book, about 650 rank and file. But if the dispositions for defence were judicious, the defence itself was feeble; though, had it been more obstinate, the results would have been the same, for I cannot exaggerate the intrepidity of our officers and men, or say too much of the spirit that animated them. The Truxton's guns were brought off, and the others destroyed; the forts were also destroyed. Our loss in the attack has been small-fourteen killed and wounded. The enclosed papers will furnish all necessary details. The Albany and Reefer have been left to watch Tuxpan; the Hecla is ordered to blockade Soto de la Marina; the Etna to occupy the river Tabasco; and the Vesuvius and Porpoise the port of Laguna, while the Germantown is scouring the coast north of Lobos. I am, sir, with great respect, your most obedient servant, M. C. PERRY, Commanding Home Sqadron. The Hon. JOHN Y. MASON, Secretary of the Navy, Washington. TUXPAN, April 19, 1847. SIR: I have the honor to report that, on the 18th inst., the forces under my command were landed from the steamers and gun-boats under the fire of the enemy's forts, for the purpose of executing your orders, to take them by assault. The men, headed by their several officers, proceeded with ardor and zeal to the accomplishment of the duty. The works, however, before the seamen could reach them, were successively abandoned; the defenders offering no very serious resistance. The guns on the fort of the right bank were immediately spiked or disabled, and the ammunition destroyed. The boats then crossed to the left bank, and drove the enemy from the fort "Hospital," pursuing them through the town to the chapparal, in which they dispersed. Where, notwithstanding the strength of position, resistance was so feeble, and of so desultory a character, little opportunity was presented for the exhibition of individual gallantry; and where all did so well their duty, it would be difficult and invidious to particularize. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Commodore M. C. PERRY, SAMUEL L. BREESE, Captain. Commanding Home Squadron, Gulf of Mexico. The expedition against Tuxpan consisted of the following force-all under the command of Commodore M. C. Perry : The steamer Spitfire, Commander J. Tatnall. The schooner Reefer, Lieut Com. Thos. Turner. Detachments of officers and men from the different vessels of the squadron, composing the landing party, under the command of Captain Samuel L. Breese. Sea. & Mar. Total. 20 7 16 7 7 Four pieces of artillery, respectively commanded by Commander Magruder, Lieuts. Fairfax and Blunt, and Acting Sailing-Master Rodgers, all under the command of Commander McKenzie. Among the wounded in this expedition were commander Tatnall of the Spitfire, Flag Lieutenant James L. Parker, aid to the Commodore; Lieutenant Whittle, of the ship Ohio, and Lieut. Hartstene, of the brig Hecla. After the capture of Tuxpan, and the return of the forces to their usual anchorage, the Saint Mary's prepared to leave the squadron for HOME, bearing some of the trophies of the war. The Saint Mary's had long been in the Gulf, and had done much service. Originally intended for the cruise of the Mediterranean, like the Cumberland, her destination was changed to the Gulf, to meet the exigencies which the critical affairs between the Republic of Mexico and the United States created. To this ship the lamented Morris was originally attached. Right glad, I doubt not, was this ship's fine company of officers, to be relieved from a station, on which they had been so long and constantly employed. Commander Sands, late of the steamer Vixen, also returned in the Saint Mary's, having in charge the trophies of the war, forwarded by this ship to the United States. SECOND ATTACK ON TABASCO, AND CAPTURE OF THE CITY. When Commodore Perry, at an earlier date of the operation of the fleet, visited TABASCo, capturing their small vessels and steamers and bombarding the town, he retired from before the city, after the representations of the foreign consuls were made to him, and partly, at least, from considerations of humanity. The town certainly was at his mercy, lying within musket-shot range of his large guns, and might have been demolished. And yet, it is no more than justice to the leader of the Mexican forces, then at Tabasco, to state that he obstinately refused to surrender the town in obedience to the demand made upon him by a deputation from the Commander of the forces then lying before the town; and that the party of sailors and marines which were landed at the moment of the vessels reaching the place, were recalled, without an engagement with the enemy. And the American forces retiring from before Tabasco, as they did, though they had secured the vessels then lying in the river, which was the principal object of the expedition, gave rise to a boastful reference always on the part of the Mexicans, to the first affair at Tabasco. They said that the American forces had been necessitated to retire before the superior courage and prowess of the Mexican arms, which opposed them at this point. It is believed, therefore, that there was a little professional sensitiveness felt on the part of the American Commodore, in view of the bravado of the Tabascanos. They declared that they were ready again to receive the Americans, and would be glad once more to measure their long guns and their short guns with them. All other ports along the coast being now in possession of the fleet, and held by detachments from the squadron or army, Commodore Perry directed his attention to this town, some sixty miles up the Tabasco river, though Frontera, at the mouth of the river, had been held by a blockading force since the first attack on Tabasco. The force detailed for the different ships was a large one, and the smaller vessels of the squadron were used for the expedition-as the Scorpion, Stromboli, Vesuvius, Etna, Spitfire, Scourge, Vixen-names of themselves sufficiently terrific, one would think, to fright |