Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/242

216 one of the most remarkable naval battles on record at Payal, in the Azores islands, 26 and 27 Sept., 1814. While at anchor in a neutral port his ship was attacked by a British squadron, consisting of the flag-ship " Plantagenet," of 74 guns, the frigate " Rota," of 44 guns, and the brig " Carnation," of 18 guns, and bearing more than 2.000 men. The "General Armstrong" carried 7 guns and 90 men. In a series of en- counters Reid de- feated the enemy, and in his account of the engage- ment he wrote: " About 3 A. M. I received a mes- sage fn>m the American consul requesting to see me on shore, whei-c he informed me the governor had sent a note to Capt. Lloyd, beg- ging him to desist from further hos- tilities. To which Capt. Lloyd sent for answer that he was now deter- mined to have the privateer at the risk of knocking down the whole town ; and that, if the governor suffered the Americans to injure the privateer in any manner, he should consider the place an enemy's port, and treat it accordingly. Finding this to be the case, I considered all hope of saving our vessel to be at an end. I therefore went on board and ordered all our wounded and dead to be taken on shore and the crew to save their effects as fast as pos- sible. Soon after this it became daylight, when the enemy's brig stood close in and commenced a heavy fire on us with all her force. After several broadsides she hauled off, having received a shot in her hull, her rigging much cut, and her fore- top-mast wounded. She soon after came in again and anchored close to the privateer. I tin dered the ' General Armstrong ' to be scuttled to prevent the enemy from getting her off. She was soon afterward boarded by the enemy's boats and set on fire, which soon completed her destruction. They also destroyed a number of houses in the town and wounded some of the inhabitants." The British lost 120 men killed and 180 wounded, while the Americans lost but two killed and seven wounded. A letter written from Payal, by an Eng- lishman who witnessed the scene, describes the sec- ond attack : " At midnight, it being about full moon, fourteen large launches, containing about forty men each, were discovered to be coming in rotation for a second attack. When they got with- in gun-shot a tremendous and effectual discharge was made from the privateer, which threw the boats into confusion. They now returned a spirited fire, but the privateer kept up so continual a dis- charge it was almost impossible for the boats to make any progress. They finally succeeded, after immense loss, to get alo'ngside of her, and at- tempted to board at every quarter, cheered by the officers with a shout of ' No quarter ! ' which we could distinctly hear, as well as their shrieks and cries. The termination was near about a total mas- sacre. Three of the boats were sunk, and but one poor solitary officer escaped death in a boat that contained fifty souls ; he was wounded. Tin- Amer- icans fought with great firmness. Some of the boats were left without a single man to row them : others with three and four. The most that any one returned with was about ten. Several boats floated on shore full of dead bodies. . . . This bloody and unfortunate contest lasted about forty minutes. At daylight next morning the 'Carna- tion ' hauled in alongside and engaged her, when the ' Armstrong ' continued to make a most gallant defence, causing the Carnation ' to cease firing and to haul off to repair. . . . We may well say ' God deliver us from our enemies ' if this is the way the Americans fight." The defeated vessels were part of an expedition concentrating at Ja- maica for a descent upon New Orleans, and their crippled condition prevented their immediate union with Admiral Sir Alex. F. J. Cochrane, Earl of Dun- donald, and consequently the expedition did not reach New Orleans until four days after Gen. An- drew Jackson's arrival, which saved Louisiana from British conquest. After burning the abandoned wreck, Capt. van Lloyd informed the governor that, iiiile^ the gallant little crew he had failed to cap- ture should be given to him as prisoners, he would send a force of 500 men to capture them. This was refused, and Reid and his men then took pos- session of and fortified an old convent, declaring that they would defend themselves to the last : but they were not molested. The attack upon the "General Armstrong" led to a protracted diplo- matic correspondence, from 1815 to the adminis- tration of President Zachary Taylor, who took measures to compel Portugal to assert the inviola- bility of its neutral port, and indemnify the claim- ants for the loss of the vessel; but after his death the case was submitted to the arbitration of Louis Napoleon, who decided against the Americans. The British government afterward apologized for the violation of the neutrality. Congress finally paid the claim in 1882. On his return to the United States Capt. Reid landed at Savannah, and in travelling to the north received many honors. The legislature of New York gave him their thanks and a sword on 7 April, 1815. He was appointed a sailing-master in the navy, and held this post until his death, serving, meanwhile, as harbor-nu-i'T and warden of the port of New York. He invented and erected the signal telegraph at the Battery and the Narrows, and regulated and numbered the pilot-boats of New York, and established the lightship off Sandy Hook. IK- wa* also the designer of the present form of the United States flag, proposing to retain the original thirteen stripe- ami to add a new star whenever a new state should be admitted to the Union. This suggestion was adopted, and a flag conforming to his design was first raised over the hall of representatives in Wellington on 13 April, 1818. See "The Origin and Progress of the U. S. Flag in the United States of America." by George H. Preble. I". S. X. (Albany, 1872). His son, Sam Chester, lawyer, b. in New York city, 21 Oct., 1818 ; d. in Washington, 13 Aug., 1897. I'le shipped before the maM . a 3 attached to the U. S. survey of Ohio river, and in 1839 settled in Natchez, Miss., where he studied law under Gen. John A. (Juitman, and was appointed U. S. deputy marshal. He was admitted to the bar of Mississippi in 1841, to that of Louisiana in 1S44. to the U. S. supreme court in 1846, and served in the Mexican war in Capt. Ben McCulloch's company of Texas rangers, being mentioned for " meritorious services and distinguished gallantry," at Monterey. In 1849 he was attached to the " New Orleans Picayune," and in 1851 lie was a delegate to the National railroad convention in Memphis, Tenn., to