LIFE IN JAMAICA
Appointed deputy judge-advocate—Sir John Keane—An interesting
court-martial—Sent with a small detachment to Port Maria—Awful
outbreak of yellow fever
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY CONRAN commanded in Jamaica at this time, and the
billet of deputy judge-advocate being vacant by the death of Captain
Tonge, the general, knowing that I had formerly held this position, at
once appointed me to the office. This gave me additional work, and
considerable increase of pay. About a year afterwards Major-General Sir
John Keane succeeded General Conran, and he retained me still in the
appointment. As he was a most uncertain man, my work was trebled, for he
never hesitated to bring officers and men to court-martial, even for the
most trifling offences. Here, in justice to myself, I must notice that I
often told him so, but all to no purpose, for he was always obstinate,
and would have his own way. I may give one instance. Some officers of
the 90th had met together one evening in one of the rooms, and two of
them got into an altercation, followed by strong and improper language,
which induced the senior officers present to place them both under
arrest and to report them next morning to their commanding officer,
Major Charlton. He ordered a court of inquiry at once before himself in
the messroom. Among the witnesses then examined was the paymaster,
Captain Micklejohn, a truly noble fellow, who stated all he could
remember of what took place on the previous night between the offending
officers. He then left the room, but on getting outside and talking to
some other officers (who were waiting to be examined) and stating the
substance of his evidence to Major Charlton, one of them remarked, “But
did you say so-and-so?” “Oh no, I entirely forgot that, but I shall
instantly go back and state it.” Micklejohn then begged to be allowed to
add to his former evidence, but his commanding officer would not hear
him, and desired him to retire. The offending officers, Major W—— and
Ensign P——, were brought to general court-martial, and both were found
guilty and sentenced to be cashiered. The sentences were approved by his
Majesty, but in consideration of former services and the recommendation
of the court they were ordered to be severely reprimanded and to return
to their duty.
My reason for writing all this is that before the same general
court-martial Paymaster Micklejohn was arraigned for conduct unbecoming
an officer and a gentleman, in withholding, at a court of inquiry by his
commanding officer, evidence which he afterwards gave on oath before a
general court-martial. I was the judge-advocate on these trials, and I
used every endeavour and argument to convince Sir John Keane and Major
Charlton of the injustice and cruelty of bringing an officer, and one of
known character, to public trial on such charges, especially as he had
returned voluntarily to his commanding officer at once, to offer the
evidence which he had forgotten at the moment, thus proving that he did
not willingly nor with any intention of screening the offenders withhold
his evidence in the first instance. I also pressed upon them the
difficulty, nay, the impossibility, for them to repeat word for word the
conversation during our own interview; but all was to no purpose: they
would not listen to reason, and so they determined he must be tried, and
exposed to all the disgrace and annoyances of a general court-martial.
He was tried, and the inquiry clearly showed that he did give evidence
on oath before a general court-martial which he did not give at the
court of inquiry. But it was distinctly proved that he did willingly,
and at once, return with a free offer of that evidence, which was
declined by his commanding officer. The court therefore found him guilty
of not giving the full evidence before the court of inquiry which he
gave before the general court-martial, but, under the circumstances
which were so clearly shown as to the cause of the omission, the court
acquitted the prisoner of all blame, though he was to be slightly
reprimanded. This was no more than we all expected, and I told Sir John
Keane before the trial that this and this only could be the end of it. I
could name other instances equally frivolous and provoking; it is
sufficient to say that very many others suffered through him in much the
same way.
For the first two years of this my second visit to Jamaica I enjoyed
very good health, and yet we had a considerable amount of sickness
amongst the troops generally, and several of my friends of the good ship
_Echo_ died. As far as keeping away from the influence of the sun and
living very temperately, of course I took every care of myself. Towards
the close of the second year the negroes got very troublesome and
insolent to their masters on the north side of the island, and on one or
two occasions attempted to commit murder at a station called Port Maria.
A company was generally, and for years, stationed at this place, but in
consequence of the unusual mortality amongst the troops they were for
some months withdrawn, and the barracks were deserted and allowed to
fall into decay. During the above troubles the proprietors and
inhabitants of Port Maria made repeated applications to the governor,
the Duke of Manchester, for a detachment, and his Grace referred their
application to Sir John Keane; but the latter resisted on the plea that
the station was considered by the chief medical officers so unhealthy as
to be totally unfit for European soldiers, and, in proof of this,
repeated how constant and great was the mortality on every former
occasion when troops were stationed there. The inhabitants then said
that the sickness and deaths which had taken place were all owing to the
men being allowed to wander about the country and to get drunk at all
hours. These statements and appeals were at last listened to by Sir John
Keane, and he ordered a captain, two subalterns, and fifty picked, sober
men from my regiment to be at once embarked for Port Maria, with a
medical officer. This order was instantly carried out, and I was the
unfortunate captain named for this duty. The morning for our embarkation
I was sent for by Sir John Keane, who gave me the most strict orders
about keeping my men constantly employed by drills and marching out in
the mornings, and in the barracks during the days as much as possible,
and above all I was to keep them away from all chances and temptations
of drinking. He impressed upon me that I could have no excuse for
intemperance or irregularities, as all my men were picked and sober
soldiers from the different companies of the regiment. He desired me
further to report to him by every day’s post the state and health of my
detachment.
All the previous reports we heard of this place damped our courage from
the first, and both officers and men considered our present duties and
chances very much like those of a forlorn hope; but on finding our
barracks newly done up and painted, and in every way most comfortable,
our fears almost vanished, and every succeeding day for a fortnight
found us all more and more contented, so much so that we began to wish
we might be allowed to remain there as long as we were to serve in
Jamaica. In this mind and spirit I continued my daily reports to Sir
John Keane, showing that we had not a man in hospital, and the men and
officers were most happy and contented. We really were so, though our
only society was the Rev. Mr. M—— and his family. With him I spent many
happy hours, for I soon discovered that during the Peninsular War he was
one of the Duke of Wellington’s principal spies, with the rank of
captain in the army, although he never joined a regiment in his life. He
was by birth a German, spoke many languages, and was a most intelligent
man and a good and sincere Christian. It was very difficult to make him
speak of his former exploits, but when he did he told us wonderful tales
of several marvellous hairbreadth escapes in all kinds of characters and
disguises, and I know from all reports that he was one of the most
efficient and successful spies. After the Peace of 1815 many half-pay
officers studied for the Church and took holy orders, and this reverend
gentleman was amongst the number.
Up to this time the weather was dry and beautiful, but heavy rains then
followed, and continued for a week or more. Our barracks were situated
on a high neck of land projecting some distance into the sea, and on our
right there was a large mangrove swamp, almost dry until the rains
commenced. Then, filling from the hills and valleys to overflowing, it
suddenly burst towards the sea, carrying all before it, and from that
hour the stench became so powerful that we were all obliged to keep our
handkerchiefs to our noses, and so save ourselves as much as possible
from its fearful and disgusting effects. From the very first hour of
this escape of water, mud, and decayed vegetable matter the whole air
became actually poisonous, and our poor men fell sick daily, and in most
cases they died before the following day. Some were carried off a few
hours after they were attacked, amongst these my own servant, who
attended us in good health at breakfast and was dead and buried at
night.
I continued well and able to attend to my duties, and by each post
reported our sufferings and losses to the Commander-in-Chief. Then,
after losing nearly half of my detachment, I received an order to hold
all in readiness to embark on the shortest notice to return to
headquarters at Kingston, leaving such sick men as could not be removed
in charge of our medical officer. This good news I made known at once,
and it was received with three cheers. Next morning a smart clipper was
seen standing in for our anchorage, and I instantly sent one of my
officers down to the landing-place with instructions to wave his hat as
soon as a boat came on shore, if he heard the vessel was for us. We
watched him with all eyes and the deepest anxiety, and as the boat
landed up went his hat; three loud cheers followed from us, and I at
once gave orders for immediate parade and embarkation. In half an hour
all who could move were on parade and with our baggage packed ready to
move off. On wheeling the detachment back into sections and giving the
words “Quick march!” agonizing cries and screams (which I can never
forget) were faintly heard from the few poor sick men who were left
behind in hospital. There were seven of these unfortunates, and all
urged the doctor to allow them to go with the others, saying they would
run all risks and would prefer death before reaching the beach, rather
than be deserted and left to die there; but the medical officer saw they
were too weak to be removed, and tried to comfort them by saying that he
himself ran the same risk by remaining with them. We left them, indeed,
with great sorrow, and in less than an hour we were safely embarked on
board the _Mandeville_ and off for Port Royal. Our happy escape from
Port Maria, the change of scene and air, soon restored our men to their
usual health; but it was very different with the poor fellows left
behind, for we heard that three of the number soon died; the remaining
four joined us later. I afterwards heard that the barracks at Port Maria
were burnt and levelled to the ground by the Government.
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