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THE HISTORY

OF THE

FIRST WEST INDIA REGIMENT.


THE HISTORY

OF THE

FIRST WEST INDIA
REGIMENT.


BY

A.B. ELLIS,

_Major, First West India Regiment._

AUTHOR OF "WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS" AND "THE LAND OF FETISH".


London:

CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED,

HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

1885.

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,

CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.




I beg to return my best thanks to A.E. HAVELOCK, Esq., C.M.G.
Administrator-in-Chief of the West African Settlements;
Lieutenant-Colonel F.B.P. WHITE, of the 1st West India Regiment; V.S.
GOULDSBURY, Esq., Administrator of the Gambia Settlements; A. YOUNG,
Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of Demerara; F. EVANS, Esq., C.M.G., Assistant
Colonial Secretary of the Gold Coast Colony; ALFRED KINGSTON, Esq., of
the Record Office; and RICHARD GARNETT, Esq., of the British Museum, for
the very valuable assistance which they have rendered me in the
collection of materials for this Work.




CONTENTS.

                                                                   PAGE
    INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER                                                  1


    CHAPTER I.

    THE ACTION AT BRIAR CREEK, 1779--THE ACTION AT STONO
    FERRY, 1779                                                          26


    CHAPTER II.

    THE SIEGE OF SAVANNAH, 1779--THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTOWN,
    1780--THE BATTLE OF HOBKERK'S HILL, 1781                             33


    CHAPTER III.

    THE RELIEF OF NINETY-SIX, 1781--THE BATTLE OF EUTAW
    SPRINGS, 1781--REMOVAL TO THE WEST INDIES                            43


    CHAPTER IV.

    THE EXPEDITION TO MARTINIQUE, 1793--THE CAPTURE OF
    MARTINIQUE, ST. LUCIA, AND GUADALOUPE, 1794--THE
    DEFENCE OF FORT MATILDA, 1794                                        53


    CHAPTER V.

    MALCOLM'S ROYAL RANGERS--THE EVACUATION OF ST. LUCIA,
    1795                                                                 63


    CHAPTER VI.

    THE CARIB WAR IN ST. VINCENT, 1795                                   69


    CHAPTER VII.

    MAJOR-GENERAL WHYTE'S REGIMENT OF FOOT, 1795                         77


    CHAPTER VIII.

    THE CAPTURE OF ST. LUCIA, 1796                                       85


    CHAPTER IX.

    THE RELIEF OF GRENADA, 1796--THE REPULSE AT PORTO RICO,
    1797                                                                 93


    CHAPTER X.

    THE DEFENCE OF DOMINICA, 1805                                       103


    CHAPTER XI.

    THE HURRICANE AT DOMINICA, 1806--THE REDUCTION OF ST.
    THOMAS AND ST. CROIX, 1807--THE RELIEF OF MARIE-GALANTE,
    1808                                                                117


    CHAPTER XII.

    THE CAPTURE OF MARTINIQUE, 1809--THE CAPTURE OF GUADALOUPE,
    1810                                                                125


    CHAPTER XIII.

    THE EXPEDITION TO NEW ORLEANS, 1814-15                              141


    CHAPTER XIV.

    THE OCCUPATION OF GUADALOUPE, 1815--THE BARBADOS INSURRECTION,
    1816--THE HURRICANE OF 1817                                         160


    CHAPTER XV.

    THE DEMERARA REBELLION, 1823                                        170


    CHAPTER XVI.

    THE BARRA WAR, 1831--THE HURRICANE OF 1831--THE COBOLO
    EXPEDITION, 1832                                                    178


    CHAPTER XVII.

    THE MUTINY OF THE RECRUITS AT TRINIDAD, 1837                        188


    CHAPTER XVIII.

    THE PIRARA EXPEDITION, 1842--CHANGES IN THE WEST AFRICAN
    GARRISONS--THE APPOLLONIA EXPEDITION, 1848                          208


    CHAPTER XIX.

    INDIAN DISTURBANCES IN HONDURAS, 1848-49--THE ESCORT TO
    COOMASSIE, 1848--THE SHERBRO EXPEDITION, 1849--THE
    ESCORT TO RIO NUNEZ, 1850                                           218


    CHAPTER XX.

    THE STORMING OF SABBAJEE, 1853--THE RELIEF OF CHRISTIANSBORG,
    1854                                                                228


    CHAPTER XXI.

    THE TWO EXPEDITIONS TO MALAGEAH, 1854-55                            236


    CHAPTER XXII.

    THE BATTLE OF BAKKOW, AND STORMING OF SABBAJEE, 1855                248


    CHAPTER XXIII.

    CHANGES IN THE WEST AFRICAN GARRISONS, 1856-57--THE
    GREAT SCARCIES RIVER EXPEDITION, 1859--FIRE AT NASSAU,
    1859                                                                257


    CHAPTER XXIV.

    THE BADDIBOO WAR, 1860-61                                           265


    CHAPTER XXV.

    THE ASHANTI EXPEDITION, 1863-64                                     276


    CHAPTER XXVI.

    THE JAMAICA REBELLION, 1865                                         286


    CHAPTER XXVII.

    AFRICAN TOUR, 1866-70                                               298


    CHAPTER XXVIII.

    THE DEFENCE OF ORANGE WALK, 1872                                    304


    CHAPTER XXIX.

    THE ASHANTI WAR, 1873-74                                            317


    CHAPTER XXX.

    AFFAIRS IN HONDURAS, 1874--THE SHERBRO EXPEDITION, 1875--THE
    ASHANTI EXPEDITION, 1881                                            333


    APPENDIX                                                            343

    INDEX                                                               361




MAPS.

    1. ST. VINCENT                     _facing page 69_

    2. GRENADA                                 "    93

    3. DOMINICA                                "   103

    4. MARTINIQUE                              "   125

    5. GUADALOUPE                              "   133

    6. THE GAMBIA SETTLEMENTS                  "   178

    7. THE GOLD COAST                          "   215

    8. BRITISH HONDURAS                        "   219

    9. THE MELLICOURIE RIVER                   "   236

    10. SWARRA CUNDA CREEK                     "   265

    11. THE COUNTY OF SURREY, JAMAICA          "   287

    12. ORANGE WALK                            "   305

    13. THE ROUTE TO COOMASSIE                 "   319

    14. BRITISH SHERBRO                        "   337


THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST WEST INDIA REGIMENT.




INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.


At the present day, when our Continental neighbours are outvying each
other in the completeness of their military organisations and the size
of their armies, while in the United Kingdom complaints are daily heard
that the supply of recruits for the British Army is not equal to the
demand, it may not be out of place to draw the attention of the public
to a source from which the army may be most economically reinforced.

The principal difficulty experienced by military reformers in their
endeavours to remodel the British Army on the Continental system, is
that caused by the necessity of providing troops for the defence of our
vast and scattered Colonial Empire. Without taking into consideration
India, our European and North American possessions, a considerable
portion of the army has to be employed in furnishing garrisons for the
Cape Colony, Natal, Mauritius, St. Helena, the Bermudas, the West
Indies, Burmah, the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, etc.; which
garrisons, though creating a constant drain on the Home Establishment,
are notoriously inadequate for the defence of the various colonies in
which they are placed; and the result is that, whenever a colonial war
breaks out, fresh battalions have to be hurriedly sent out from the
United Kingdom at immense expense, and the entire military machine is
temporarily disarranged.

In size, and in diversity of subject races, the British Empire may be
not inaptly compared with that of Rome in its palmiest days; and we
have, in a measure, adopted a Roman scheme for the defence of a portion
of our dominions. The Romans were accustomed, as each new territory was
conquered, to raise levies of troops from the subject race, and then,
most politicly, to send them to serve in distant parts of the Empire,
where they could have no sympathies with the inhabitants. In India we,
like the Romans, raise troops from the conquered peoples, but, unlike
them, we retain those troops for service in their own country. The
result of this attempt to modify the scheme was the Indian mutiny.

The plan of a local colonial army was, however, first tried in the West
Indies. At the close of the last century, when the West India Islands,
or the Plantations, as they were then called, were of as much importance
to, and held the same position in, the British Empire as India does
now, there was in existence a West India Army, consisting of twelve
battalions of <DW64> troops, raised exclusively for service in the West
Indies.

As India was gradually conquered, and the West India trade declined
(from the abolition of the slave trade and other causes), the West India
Colonies, by a regular process, fell from their former pre-eminent
position. Each step in the descent was marked by the disbandment of a
West India regiment, until, at the present day, two only remain in
existence; and it is a matter of common notoriety that those two are
principally preserved to garrison Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast Colony,
British Honduras, and British Guiana--colonies the climates of which,
experience has shown, are fatal to European soldiers, who are
necessarily in time of peace, from the nature of their duties, more
exposed to climatic influence than are officers. Economy was, of course,
the cause of this continued process of reduction, for, until recently,
such gigantic military establishments as those of Germany, Russia, and
France were unheard of; and Great Britain was satisfied, and felt
secure, with a miniature army, a paper militia, and no reserve. All this
is now changed, and the necessity of an increase in our defensive power
is admitted.

These <DW64> West India troops won the highest encomiums from every
British commander under whom they served. Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1796,
Sir John Moore in 1797, Lieutenant-General Trigge in 1801, Sir George
Provost in 1805, Lieutenant-General Beckwith and Major-General Maitland
in 1809 and 1810, all testified to the gallantry, steadiness, and
discipline of the <DW64> soldiers. Sir John Moore, speaking of the new
corps in 1796, said "they are invaluable," and "the very best troops for
the climate." To come to more recent times, in 1873 the 2nd West India
Regiment bore for six months the entire brunt of the Ashanti attack, and
had actually forced the invading army to retire across the Prah before
the men of a single line battalion were landed. In fact, the efficiency
of West India troops was, and is, unquestioned.

This being so, it may be asked, why should not the present number of
regiments composed of <DW64> soldiers be increased for the purpose of
garrisoning the colonies, especially those of which the climate is most
prejudicial to English soldiers? This would not be a return to the
former state of affairs, for when we had twelve <DW64> regiments they
were all stationed in the West Indies, whereas the essence of the
present scheme is to send them on service in other colonies. Such an
augmentation of our West India, or Zouave, regiments certainly appears
politic and easy. I will also endeavour to show that it would be
economical.

Each West India battalion would take the place of a Territor