Return to Colonia -- General Whitelock assumes the command of the
army in the Plate, and a movement is made on Buenos Ayres --
Studied insolence on the part of certain Indian natives --
Remarkable value attached by them to a British head -- Their
eventual punishment -- The troops effect an easy entrance into
Buenos Ayres, but, for reasons unknown to the narrator, retreat
almost immediately and not very creditably -- Return to Monte
Video and final departure from the Plate -- Terrific storm on the
way home -- Inconvenient mishap to a soldier -- Christmas in
Cork Cove.
As we had effected all that was wanted at San Pedro, which was the
name of the place where we had been carrying on these operations, we
returned to Colonia, dragging back the guns laden with our wounded,
and taking with us the prisoners, who had to walk along barefooted, as
we had availed ourselves of their boots. On our arrival at Colonia our
sailors saluted us when they saw the number of our prisoners and the
three pieces of cannon we had taken, giving "three cheers for the
brave soldiers." The prisoners were then sent on board a ship that was
lying in the river, and an outlying picket having been posted as
usual, the rest of us remained comfortably in the town. Next day the
colonel gave orders for everything belonging to the prisoners, such as
clothes, &c., to be brought out, offering a fair price for them to be
returned to their proper owners, which showed of what a good
disposition he really was: only he had allowed us to take the things
before as an example.
We remained here about a month this time, when General Whitelock came
out with a reinforcement and took the command from Sir Samuel
Auchmuty, and soon afterwards, some troops being left in charge of
Monte Video, the rest proceeded to Buenos Ayres, calling at Colonia on
the way to pick up our little squad. We landed some miles before
coming to Buenos Ayres, intending, if possible, to storm the back of
the town, as it was strongly fortified on the side towards the coast.
We were thus obliged to march inland and form encampments, the first
of which was situated a little way from where we landed.
An incident took place here, which was attended by the death of two
men, a corporal and a private, and likewise the very narrow escape of
a second private. They were engaged in plundering one of the Indian
huts, when the inhabitants fell on them armed, and, catching the
corporal round the neck with a lasso, soon dragged him away, at the
same time knocking the private down and stabbing him; the other
private only escaped back to the regiment after receiving a
sabre-wound which carried the skin and hair off the back of his head.
This was a great glory to the natives; they stuck the corporal's head
on a pole and carried it in front of their little band when on the
march. They also made use of the rifle and ammunition they had taken
from him to fire at times into our camp, but fortunately it was a very
harmless sort of practice.
Next day we again resumed our march, encamping again at night. I
remember that night was very foggy, and an officer and some men having
gone out in search of bullocks for the supply of the army, the officer
was very nearly lassoed by an Indian who came on him suddenly in the
darkness. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to ride after him,
which saved his life, for so the Indian could not pull him over; and
then he managed to cut the lasso with his sword.
As we marched along on our next day's journey, about two hundred
Indians kept following us, the foremost of them wearing our dead
corporal's jacket, and carrying his head--I do not exactly know for
what reason, but perhaps they thought a good deal more of a dead man's
head than we should feel disposed to do. We went on for some distance
through a great many orange-gardens, till we came to a lane thickly
hedged in on both sides, which was entered by a gate, and there, after
the body of our army had passed through, some few men, including
myself, waited in ambush for the Indians, having a reserve placed a
short distance down the lane in case of a combat. The Indians soon
approached, but seemed to have some misgivings, though we could not
exactly understand what they said. There being only a few of us, not
quite twenty in all, I rather shook in my shoes on seeing their
number; but we soon found there was very little occasion for this, for
on our firing directly the front party had passed the gate, killing
two of them and wounding and capturing their chief, who was the one
who was so proud of his head, the rest fled for their lives, not
liking the smell and much less the taste of our gunpowder. We picked
up the wounded man and carried him, and left him, more dead than
alive, in a neighbouring village.
On nearing Buenos Ayres the Light Brigade was ordered on in front,
under the command of Colonel Pack, who soon succeeded in taking the
Bull Ring battery; for Buenos Ayres was much more easy to take than
Monte Video, as it was very slightly fortified towards the country.
There were some cannons placed at the end of each street, but they
proved a very small difficulty to be overcome, as there seemed nobody
efficient to work them, and after passing these, our soldiers were soon
in possession of the city. Then they hoisted the King's flag on a
convent and waited, expecting every minute that the body of our army
would come up; but instead of this, General Whitelock encamped about a
mile out of the town and remained there. If he had attended properly
to his business he would have followed up and relieved the brigade;
but as it was, the Spaniards rallied and overpowered it. I was with
the main body, and so was not able to enter the city to see what was
going on. We all fell under arms when we heard the muskets at work,
waiting for the general's orders to advance: but there we lay the
whole night, not doing a stroke, and next day we re-embarked for Monte
Video, having come to some terms, though we were ignorant of that at
the time.
We remained at Monte Video some two months longer, during which
interval the ships taken in the harbour were offered for sale, but the
inhabitants refusing to buy them, we loaded some ourselves with hides,
tallow, and cocoa, and the rest, which were not worth bringing home,
were towed out to the mouth of the harbour and set on fire. The
Spaniards had previously blown up a very fine frigate to prevent it
falling into our hands. Part of our army was then embarked for the
East Indies and the Cape of Good Hope, whilst we others went on an
expedition about a hundred miles up the Rio de la Plata to get fresh
water, and when we returned proceeded on our way homewards from that
part of the world.
The first part of our voyage was very pleasant, the troops in general
keeping very healthy; but when we had sailed some distance, we had a
dead calm for a considerable time, which made us much longer on our
voyage than we had thought for, and consequently our water supply ran
very short, and had to be served out in allowances of half a pint a
day. A small supply, however, fortunately came before long. Our
captain, seeing a cloud in the distance, foretold that we were going
to have a thunderstorm, and ordered the scupper-holes to be stopped,
and all except the watch to remain below. I happened to be one of the
watch at the time, and well I remember how it very shortly after began
to thunder and lighten, the rain falling in torrents for two or three
hours; it was the heaviest thunderstorm I had ever witnessed. We baled
up some twenty or more casks of water, which was none the better,
perhaps, for there being pigs, fowls, geese, and turkeys all over the
deck, but still was very acceptable to us in our parched state, as
till that we had had to cook our food and wash ourselves in salt water
only.
During the storm our mainmast was struck by the lightning, which split
a piece off it from top to bottom, but fortunately did not disable it;
but a sad mishap befell one of our men while sitting at mess at the
time, for he was struck dead, his shirt being burnt in places like
tinder, and his mess-tin being likewise turned black, while the top of
a bayonet that was standing close to the unfortunate man was melted
like lead. The blow had shaken our little bark so terribly that the
captain ordered the pumps to be tried; fortunately there was no
leakage to be found, but the lightning must have got well down below,
for on opening the main hatchway the sulphur came up enough to
suffocate any one.
After the storm, the calm still continued, and we had to amuse
ourselves as best we could with fishing; a few days after a breeze
sprang up, but it was foul for England, and we had to knock about till
a more favourable one blew up, which finally landed us in the Cove of
Cork. We spent the Christmas of 1807 on board, sending on shore for
raisins, flour, fat, and beer, and so being enabled to enjoy ourselves
very comfortably.