PROVIDENCE, R.I., _June 23, 1842_.
Hon. JOHN C. SPENCER,
_Secretary of War_.
SIR: I addressed you yesterday afternoon in great haste, that my letter
might go by the mail (then about being closed), to inform you of the
sudden change in the aspect of affairs in this State, and also to inform
you that I should be this morning at Governors Island, New York.
At the urgent solicitation of Governor King, who crossed over from
Newport to Stonington to intercept me on the route, I returned last
night to this place from Stonington, having proceeded so far on my way
to New York.
In addition to what I stated in my letter yesterday, I learn from
Governor King (who has just called on me) that four citizens of this
city who had gone to Chepachet to ascertain what was going on there were
arrested as spies by the insurgents, bound, and sent last night to
Woonsocket, where they were confined when his informer left there at
8 o'clock this morning; also that martial law had been proclaimed by the
insurgents at Woonsocket and Chepachet, and no one was allowed to enter
or depart from either place without permission.
The citizens of this city are in a state of intense excitement.
I shall return to-morrow to Newport to await any instructions you may be
pleased to favor me with.