CHAPTER VI.
THE ENEMY RETIRE INTO FORT BOURBON AND FORT LOUIS ... THE ADMIRAL ATTACKS FORT LOUIS WITH THE BOMB-KETCH AND GUN-BOATS ... CAMP OF SEAMEN FORMED AT POINT NEGRO ... A WHARF BUILT IN THE CUL DE SAC DE COHEE, STORES AND AMMUNITION LANDED THERE ... GENERAL BELLGARDE ATTEMPTS TO CUT OFF THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE ARMY AND NAVY, BUT IS BEATEN, AND HIS CAMP ON SOURIER TAKEN ... HEAD-QUARTERS ESTABLISHED ON SOURIER ... GENERAL ROCHAMBEAU SENDS AN AID DE CAMP TO THE COMMANDERS IN CHIEF ... THE NAVY MAKE A ROAD, AND DRAG THE GUNS TO THE HEIGHTS OF SOURIER.
St. Pierre being now captured[15], the enemy's strength was concentrated in one point at Forts Louis and Bourbon: the latter is a work of late date, being built under the directions of the present Marquis de Bouillé, and is a well planned as well as strongly situated fortification; but in this mountainous country it is hardly possible to find any spot that may not be commanded by some neighbouring height, unless on the tops of the mountains, where it would be difficult to procure water and provisions sufficient for the subsistence of an army during a siege of any length. The town of Fort Royal is situated on a flat and swampy ground, at the foot of the hill on which is Fort Bourbon; and Fort Louis, the ancient strong-hold of this island, is on a neck of land running into the sea, and forms one side of the Carénage, an excellent harbour for shipping of all kinds.--The Admiral, from the day he anchored in Fort Royal Bay, began a heavy cannonade on Fort Louis. The Vesuvius bomb, commanded by Captain Sawyer, and under the direction of Captain Suckling of the artillery, threw shells into the fort from an eighteen-inch and twelve-inch mortar with great effect; and as soon as the evening shut in, the gun-boats, attended by several row-boats from the ships in the fleet (to assist in case of their being sunk by the enemy's shot) moved towards the mouth of the Carénage, and commenced a brisk fire on the fort, which was generally returned with equal spirit; but, from the smallness of the object, and frequently shifting their situation, they were less often hit than could have been expected, considering that they constantly were within the range of grape-shot, which fell in showers round them. Towards day-break they returned to their respective ships.--In the night of February 15th, the second and third companies of seamen, under the command of Lieutenants Miln and Ogle, left the Boyne; and, with other seamen from the fleet, the whole under command of Captain Rogers of the Quebec, landed at Cas Navire, and (occupying the posts that the troops under Colonel Myers had that day quitted, to assist in the attack on St. Pierre) formed a camp near Point Negro.--Our shipping having now, by the capture of Pigeon Island, free ingress to Fort Royal bay, most of the transports and store-ships, under convoy of his majesty's ships Santa Margarita, Solebay, Nautilus, &c. got up into the Cul de sac de Cohée, an harbour at the north-east end of the bay, from whence they had a communication with the army under Sir Charles Grey, and where they built a wharf to land provisions and stores; and a chain of posts was established from thence to the heights of Bruno, on which duty the fifteenth and twentieth regiments were employed.--On February 18th in the morning, General Bellgarde moved with nearly his whole force from his camp on the heights of Sourier, to attack the landing-place in the Cul de sac de Cohée, and by that means to cut off the communication between the army and the fleet. Sir Charles Grey, with that quickness of perception that has rendered him so often useful to his country, instantly perceived his design, and without loss of time ordered the grenadiers, under the command of Colonel Buckridge, and the light infantry, under that of Colonel Coote, to advance with the utmost expedition, and attack Mons. Bellgarde's camp at Sourier; and detached a strong corps from the heights of Bruno to support them. They began their attack on the enemy in the wood; and having driven them from thence, began to mount the rugged and almost inaccessible sides of the hill on which Sourier was situated. The troops gallantly forced their way through every obstruction, and mounted the heights under a heavy fire from the retreating enemy, whom they fairly drove up the precipice, and gained the heights, where they found an excellent dinner (provided for Bellgarde and his people) to refresh them after their fatigue. Our loss in this affair[16] was by no means so great as might have been expected, considering the length of ground, and the many disadvantages under which our troops engaged. While this was doing, General Sir Charles Grey cannonaded Bellgarde from the camp at Bruno, whose troops soon retired in confusion to their late camp at Sourier, which they found occupied by the British grenadiers, who turned their own guns on them (consisting of three brass field pieces), and drove them in confusion under the walls of Fort Bourbon. Our soldiers could not now be restrained, but with an impetuosity that General Prescott could not for the moment prevent, advanced so near the fort, that the enemy opening a heavy fire of grape shot on them, obliged them at length to retire with some loss to their new acquisition on Sourier, a post which Sir Charles Grey had intended to have attacked the following day, as being absolutely necessary to enable him to carry on his plan of attack against Fort Bourbon, and which the temerity of Bellgarde had thus put into his hands a day sooner.--The whole business of this action was conducted in such a manner, that each individual concerned partook of the glory of it; and when considered as to its utility, it was perhaps one of the most fortunate, as well as the best conducted, enterprises that happened throughout the campaign. The day after this event General Rochambeau, who commanded in Fort Bourbon, sent an aid de camp on board the Boyne, who went thence with Captain Grey to the Commander in Chief at head quarters. The terms of capitulation that he brought were, that the whole island should be delivered to the English on condition that, in case Louis the Seventeenth should ever come to the throne, it should be restored to him; if not, and the republic should be established, it should be given up to that government. The Commander in Chief returned for answer, 'that he came expressly to take this island for his Britannic Majesty; and that he hoped to take all the French islands in this quarter on the same account.'--The troops now pitched their tents, and formed their camp on Sourier. General Prescott's quarters were in this camp, where he commanded; and Sir Charles Grey established his head quarters at a small distance in the rear.--General Dundas having arranged every thing relative to the government of St. Pierre, left Colonel Myers of the fifteenth regiment with the battalions of the fifty-eighth and sixty-fifth regiments to garrison that town, and on February 20th embarked with the grenadiers on board the Veteran for Fort Royal Bay. The morning following they disembarked in the Cul de sac de Cohée, and marched directly to head quarters at Sourier, where they pitched their tents, and with regret parted from General Dundas, their commander hitherto, who went to Camp la Coste to take the command of the light infantry.--The artillery, artificers, and engineers, were now busily employed in landing stores and ammunition preparatory to the formation of the batteries necessary for the siege; in which business they received great assistance from a body of seamen landed for that purpose: three hundred of these brave fellows were landed at the wharf in the Cul de sac Cohée from his majesty's ships Santa Margarita, Captain Harvey, with his Lieutenants Woolley and Harrison; the Solebay, Captain Kelly, with Lieutenants Carthew and Schomberg; and Nautilus sloop, Captain Carpenter; with Lieutenant Bennet, Lieutenant Collins, and a party of marines, from the Santa Margarita. They instantly began to proceed with a twenty-four pounder and two six pounders[17] towards Sourier. They halted with the twenty-four pounder that evening on the side of the road between Fort Royal and the town of Lamantin, as they were obliged to cut a road through a thick wood for nearly a mile. The next day they completed the road, and also made a sort of bridge, or rather passage, across a river, which at times was of considerable depth, though fortunately there was now only four feet water in it. This they effected by filling it up with large stones and branches of trees, and then they proceeded with the twenty-four pounder and two eight-inch howitzers, which they left that night in charge of a piquet from the post above mentioned. On the third day they, to the astonishment of the whole army, got a twenty-four pounder to the heights of Sourier before the night shut in, and two howitzers within a mile of it; and to add to the difficulty, a considerable part of that day was employed in levelling the banks of the river that runs by Dillon's plantation, and making it fordable, by removing immense stones and fragments of rock. On the fourth day (notwithstanding they were obliged to employ a considerable party in making the road more complete) they got the two howitzers above mentioned, and two more twenty-four pounders, to the heights of Sourier. The distance from the wharf to those heights is near five miles; and when we consider that the road was to be formed for near four miles of the way, one of which was through a very thick wood, and that, as they approached the heights of Sourier, for near a mile the road was so steep, that a loaded mule could not walk directly up it, it seems scarce credible that so small a number as three hundred men should be able to have undergone such severe fatigue, considering the climate and the nature of the soil, which was a very stiff clay, intermixed with large rock stones.--A few days after, a reinforcement of seamen was landed from the Veteran, Captain Nugent, with Lieutenants Leaf and Whitlock, and the Winchelsea, Lord Viscount Garlies, with his Lieutenants Dixon and Watson; also Lieutenant Treminere of the marines, with a sergeant's party. They took post by the side of the road leading from Lamantin to Fort Royal, where the first twenty-four pounder was halted.--The first party of seamen took post on the banks of the river running past Dillon's plantation, at the foot of the heights of Sourier. But the Veteran being wanted for other service, in the course of the week one hundred and fifty men were reimbarked on board her, and the Winchelsea's crew joined the former party. The compliments paid the seamen in general orders for their spirited conduct, is a convincing proof that they never once relaxed from their first exertions from the beginning of the siege to the surrender of Fort Bourbon, a period of five weeks. Indeed their astonishing exertions were almost beyond probability: after rain (which in this climate is frequent) the steep parts of the road were so slippery, that a man even with the greatest care would frequently slip back ten and sometimes twenty feet at a time: but so determined were the honest tars not to fail in what they undertook, that when once they set out with their gun after a heavy rain, and they found it impossible to keep their feet, they have crawled up as they dragged the twenty-four pounder, and kept themselves from sliding back by sticking their fingers in the ground. But among the many compliments paid the seamen, none pleased them so much as having a battery appointed solely for them[18], where they used to relieve one another by turns, without even an additional allowance of grog as an encouragement. Sir Charles Grey paid the highest compliments to the zeal and ability with which the Admiral seconded all his plans. Indeed there never was an instance in which two commanders carried on a business of such importance so unalloyed by the least difference in opinion, or jealousy of command: each strove to prove his readiness to assist his friend and colleague; of course every thing succeeded, and was carried on with a promptness of execution that seldom has been equalled, never exceeded.
[15] Information having arrived that some of the enemy had retired from St. Pierre to a five-gun battery on that part of the island, Major Manningham was dispatched with a strong detachment in flat-boats, under the protection of the Zebra sloop of war, and was completely successful in driving them from thence.
[16] According to the best account I could collect, ten killed and forty-four wounded.--I must here beg the reader will pardon the inaccuracy of my account of the killed and wounded in this and the other actions that took place. Though I have made every possible inquiry, I have not been able to meet with the regular returns, which must have been given in to the adjutant general's office at Martinique.
[17] The two six-pounders were to strengthen the post that commanded the road to Fort Royal by Dillon's house.
[18] One day, when the Commander in Chief met them on the road, they (being ignorant that a battery was appointed for them to serve in) surrounded the General, and offered him their services, swearing they thought it d----d hard to have all work and no fighting; and hoped his Honour would let them have some share in it. The General, with that kindness which won the hearts of all that had the happiness to serve under him, said, "Well, my lads, you shall have a battery to yourselves." On which, having saluted him with three hearty cheers, the honest fellows went readily to their work again.