The board of general officers beg leave to recommend that, in case brevet brigadier general Atkınson should elect to take a regiment of infantry, (say the 6th,) colonel D. L. Clinch be, in that case, arranged to the 4th infantry; colonel R. Butler as lieutenant colonel of the 1st infantry; lieutenant. colonel Taylor as major of the 7th infantry; major Woolley to the 4th artillery, as captain, in the place of captain Sands; the latter transferred to the 1st infantry, in the place of captain Cobbs, to be left JAC. BROWN. out. City of Washington, May 14, 1821. The four regiments of artillery Thirty-six companies, of fifty-five non-commissioned officers, artificers, musicians and SECOND REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY. Colonel Towson, Fort M'Henry. Captain Belton First lieutenant Fitzhugh Fort Mifflin, Penn. privates, Dumest Captain Fanning West Point, N. Y. Making a total of To be distributed as follows: FIRST REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY. Colonel Porter, Boston. Lieutenant colonel Bomford, ordnance. Major Walbach, Portsmouth. Brevet major Dalliba, ordnance. Captain Mason First lieutenant Dana Second lieutenant Strong Captain Zantzinger First lieutenant Thompson 5,642 Captain Gates First heutenant Welsh Arsenal, Watervleit, า Eakin Plattsburg, N. Y." Second lieutenant Walker Captain Heilman Fort Niagara, N. Y. Captain Nourse Pittsburg, Pa. First lieutenant Dix Tompkins Willard Captain Legate First lieutenant Lyon Second lieutenant M'Intire Second lieutenant Chambers J. L. Gardner Evans Second lieutenant Newton Captain Craig L'Engle Edwards Lowndes First lieutenant Philips Webber Second lieut. Rigail & Sudler >Ft. Johnson, Smith- Charleston harbor, Arsenal, Augusta, FOURTH REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY. Colonel Fenwick, Pensacola. Lieutenant colonel Mac Rea, New Orleans. First lieutenant Symington Second lieutenant Thomas Maitland Captain Payne Fort Jackson, Savan. 2d Regiment of Infantry-Sackett's Harbor. 3d Regiment of Infantry-Greenbay and Chicago -at Greenbay 8, and Chicago 2, companies. 4th Regiment of Infantry-Pensacola. 5th Regiment of Infantry-St. Peters, Prairie, du Chien and Fort Armstrong--at St. Peter's 7, at Prairie du Chien 2, and at Fort Armstrong 1 com pany. 6th Regiment of Infantry-Council Bluffs. 7th Regiment of Infantry-Arkansas and Red Rivers-6 companies on Red River, 4 on the Ar kansas. And the president further directs, until otherwise ordered, that the immediate command of all the troops, as above distributed, west of a line drawn from the southernmost point of East Florida to the north west extremity of Lake Superior, be assigned to brevet major general Gaines; and that the command of the troops, east of such line, be assigned to brevet major general Scott. The head quarters of major general Brown will be in the District of Columbia; the head quarters of the western department will be at Louisville, Kentucky; and the head quarters of the eastern department, will be at Governor's Island, New York, when the generals are not on visits of inspection and tours of duty. All officers included in the above list, and not on special duty, will forthwith join their respective regiments and commands. Officers who are designated as assistant quarter masters, and assistant commissaries of subsistence, will forthwith report, by letter, to those departments for specific instructions. Special orders having been given to local comWashington Fernandina, Amelia manders, for consolidating and reducing the troops, preparatory to this arrangement, all supernumera、 ry non-commissioned officers, artificers, musicians, and privates, if any such remain in service, will be discharged at their respective posts, as soon as practicable. All officers whose names are not included in the St. Augustine, East above list, must consider themselves disbanded on Florida. the first of June next, except quarter-masters, comnissaries, and storekeepers charged with the safe keeping of public property, who will remain in service until specially relieved from their accounta bility. It is deemed inexpedient to continue arrests or proceedings of courts martial which may have been instituted on officers not retained in the army. All such officers will be released from arrest and dis St. Marks, Plorida. charged from further duty. Pensacola, Florida. All deserters from the army of the United States, previous to the date of this order, may peaceably and safely return to their homes, without being subject to punishment or trial, on account of such desertion. No rewards or expenses will be allowed for apprehending any soldier who deserted prior to this order. All soldiers in confinement by sentence offcourts martial, will be dismissed the service with disgrace. The regulations relative to transfers is so far suspended, that officers may be taken from one regiment or corps and arranged to another, the more perfectly to complete the organization, without consulting the individuals interested, until the first of January next. D. PARKER, Adj. & Ins. Gen. NOTE. In arranging the lieutenants of artillery to the most convenient stations for immediate duty, attention has not been paid, in all cases, by the board of officers, to equal promotion, which must be a subject of future orders. Geography and soil of Florida. Another variety of soil occurs in Florida, called hammock land. This species form, in most instances, an interval between the pine tracts and the marshes or savannahs, and, indeed, in no respect differs from the latter, except in being covered with wood. The hammock land, not only of Flo rida, but of all the southern section of the United States, yields, next to river alluvion, the best arable From Darby's Memoir of Florida. soil. In Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, the This country, as ceded to the United States, by hammock lands form much the largest part of the the recent ratified treaty with Spain, has the Atlan-cultivated surface. The quality of the soil altertic ocean and the Bahama channel to the east; Flo-nates from that of savannah and river alluvion, to rida or Cuba channel south; the Gulf of Mexico that of the most unproductive pine barrens. Bay west and south-west; Perdido bay and river west; galls, or wet spongy spots, very frequently dete and Alabama and Georgia to the north. Miles.riorate hammock land. This inconvenience is lessened by a slight, and removed by a considerable inclination of surface. Florida has an exterior limit on the Atlantic Upon the Gulf of Mexico between Cape Sable Along Alabama and N. lat. 31° to the right Having an outline of 450 600 40 140 To those who visit Florida with high-raised opinions in favor of its natural advantages, much disappointment is in store; but those who commence an examination of this country with expectation to meet with nothing but sterility, will not be less, but more agreeably disappointed than the former class. In a space so extensive, and with a climate so mild, many spots have concentrated all the rich 40 features of a tropical physiognomy. When it is 140 considered, that, when compared with the entire area, so small a part of any equal surface in the United States is actually cultivated, it may be con ceived, that if one twentieth part of its superficies can be brought under the dominion of the orchard, the scythe, or the plough, even in an agricul tural point of view, Florida is an invaluable acquisition to the people of the United States. 80 1,490 Area, 54,600 square miles, equal to 34,944,000 Of this superficies, there lies south of N. lat. 30°, 39,900 square miles, 25,536,000 acres; and north of N. lat. 30°, 14,700 square miles, 9,408,000 acres. acres. Extreme south, N. lat. 25° nearly; extreme north, N. lat. 31°; and possessing a range of 6 degrees of latitude. It may be repeated, that the whole peninsula owes its existence to mineral and animal deposition. As far as the earth has been penetrated, this inference is supported by facts. The entire fertility The soil of Florida is devisable into three grand found on detached spots is due to animal matter. varieties; pine barrens, savannahs, and marshes. By means of this class of substances, as the original Other varieties have been given by some authors, sand banks rose above the waves, a scanty vegetabut are mere shades of admixture, or points and tion was formed, which, in the lapse of countless lines of contact between the three foregoing. Pine ages, has clothed this recently-formed expanse with forest land, here, as elsewhere, is remarkable for herbage. We may, from what has been established, its sterility in the production of the domesticated safely form the induction, that the soil of Florida, species of plants, though productive in an indefin- like that of all low barren regions, situated near ite variety of indigenous vegetables. The soil of the tropics, is much more favorable to the producthe pine woods of Florida is, perhaps, as sandy as tion of orchard fruit trees, than to grasses, esculent în any other part of the United States. A ridge of roots, or other animal or short-lived field or garden dry, and in a great part of unwooded hills or hil-vegetables. locks, destitute of water, extends from Eokfanoke Swamp, to an unknown distance southward, west of St. John's and Nassau rivers. This ridge, no doubt, sinks into the common level of the country before reaching the cape; or perhaps even the latitude of 27°. Savannah, or prairie land, in Florida, is, in strictness, mere varieties of swamp. The former is, indeed, part of the latter, with elevation sufficient to admit culture without artificial drainage. The prairie grounds of Florida, being composed of so great a part of animal exuviæ, are generally productive, but are confined in extent. Their nature will appear more clear by reference to our description of St. John's river. Swamps or marshes, next to pine woods, cover the largest portion of Florida. A small share of these flat regions may be reclaimed, but the far greater part being morasses, are beyond the ordinary powers of human melioration. On some points of consideration the Florida swamps may be considered valuable; they are, in many places, covered with excellent timber, and where of proper tenacity would afford good grazing for cattle. French Legislature. To give our readers an idea of the manner of the proceedings in the chamber of deputies, and also to shew the spirit that prevails, we copy the following articles from the "National Gazette," for which paper the translations were made. Those accustomed to the general soberness of the debates in our legislative bodies, though they have sometimes been disgraced by the ebullitions of intemperate zeal, will wonder how any business can be done under such an existing state of things. Chamber of deputies-Feb. 21. The petition of Denbaux, a captain of cavalry, was read. He complained that, by the interpretation which the minister of war had given to the ordinance of the 20th of May, 1818, he had been deprived of the half pay granted at the disbanding of the army. General Lavaux spoke. He began by asking the indulgence of the chamber to his advanced age, which, however, had not weakened his attach |
