Operations in South Carolina--Capture of Cumberland Island and the
Fort of Point-à-Petre--An Affair with the American Riflemen in the
Woods--An Abattis--Anecdotes of the 2nd West India Regiment--A
Rattlesnake--Capture of the Town of St. Mary’s--Destruction of the
Forts and Barracks--Nassau, New Providence--Compliment to the Royal
Marines--Return Home--Concluding Remarks.
On the 11th of January, 1815, we took possession of Cumberland Island
without meeting any resistance. The marine battalions, commanded
by Colonel Richard Williams and Colonel Malcolm, and the two flank
companies of the 2nd West India Regiment, under Major Bradley, were
disembarked, encamped, and works thrown up for protection--rumours
being afloat that the enemy intended to attack us.
Having waited some days for the arrival of the rear-admiral, and the
ships being greatly in want of water, Commodore Barrie determined
on making an attack upon the fort of Point-à-Petre and the town of
St. Mary’s, South Carolina. The boats of the squadron were ordered
to attack the fort by water, under the command of two most excellent
officers--Captain C. B. H. Ross[P] and Captain Samuel Jackson, of the
_Albion_ and _Lacedemonian_--while the Royal Marine battalion, with
the commodore, part of the 2nd West Indian Regiment, and a few seamen,
with myself, landed, to march through the woods and assail it in the
rear. After advancing about a couple of miles we saw a few riflemen,
who immediately retired into the woods. We kept on a kind of footpath
and soon came to an abattis, behind which the enemy was posted, who
immediately opened a brisk fire, but by bugling, cheering, and blazing
away right and left, we drove them out and arrived at the fort which
they had abandoned, just as the boats landed. The battery mounted
six 24-pounders, and two brass 6-pounder field pieces. During this
bush-fight a tragic economical occurrence, worthy of Joey Hume, took
place. While scrambling over the fallen timber of the abattis, after
the American sharpshooters, two blacks of the 2nd West Indian Regiment
stumbled upon one of them; the rifleman fired and missed, one of the
blacks put his musket to his shoulder and was going to shoot him when
the other called out “Ta’am, why for you poil king cartridge? tick him,
Ta’am, tick him!” which between the two was immediately accomplished.
Each party lost some killed and wounded, but the woods being very thick
we made few prisoners.
During the time we were here, and at Cumberland Island, we had some
sharp white frosts and a little ice, two things the West Indian blacks
had never seen; they were puzzled not a little, particularly when they
beheld their own breath. The keen morning air having rendered their
faces of a sickly purple colour, their major enquired what was the
matter; their reply was: “Major, me no know--me no like it at all--me
no see ’um, but he bity me toe a my finger.” When we laughed at their
droll description, they said, breathing hard, “Eh! you no see smoke
come out of my mouth, ah! massa major, he bity me toe a my finger!”
shaking and rubbing their hands, and stamping with their feet, “Bad
country this, no like em at all.” Several of these poor fellows were
frost bitten, and lost their limbs.
After the capture of the fort and barracks we embarked, and proceeded
up the river to the town of St. Mary’s, which surrendered without
further opposition. We made the inhabitants pull down their own fort
and stockade in the town, took possession of the shipping and stores,
and destroyed the public buildings.
A curious thing occurred on board one of the ships: a rattlesnake
_versus_ grog or, finding a Tartar. During the time I was pulling
about, taking possession of some of the vessels, and sending boats
to others, I was startled by a tremendous noise on board one of the
prizes, and saw the men running up the rigging in all directions,
while others took to the boats. I went directly alongside to see what
was the matter, thinking that some torpedo or clock-work, such as had
blown up poor Lieut. Geddes, of the _Ramilies_, off New London, had
been discovered. Upon inquiry I found that a rattlesnake had been the
cause of all the row. Some of the boats’ crews on going on board very
naturally went down below into the cabin, and other parts of the ship
to see what she contained. Jack spied in the master’s cabin a large
case, the wire-work of which was placed against the ship’s side, and
which in their hurry they had not observed. The vessel, I must remark,
was bound to France. Seeing this case the thought instantly struck them
that it must contain wine or spirits; they were determined, after all
their toil, to have a good drink before any of the officers came below;
an iron crowbar and cutlasses soon ripped open the top, when, instead
of rum, wine, or brandy, out jumped a large rattlesnake, at least two
yards’ long--away flew the sailors up the hatchways, some got into the
boats, others in the rigging, the snake made one spring up the ladder,
and was on deck after them in a moment--he soon jumped overboard, and,
the vessel being pretty close to the shore, made his escape into the
rushes and we saw no more of him.
After remaining here a few days, I accompanied Captain Ross and Captain
Jackson forty miles up the river, to bring down the _Countess of
Harcourt_ Indiaman, that had been captured by a privateer some months
before. In going up and down the river St. Mary’s we saw several large
alligators sleeping on the banks, which at a little distance were taken
for logs of timber, until they began to plunge into the water; we
fired at several, and observed the balls strike the scales, but they
bounded off, apparently without doing them any injury. I saw some of
the Americans with the upper part of their shoes made of the skin, it
had been tanned, and wore well, the knobs looked curious. I regretted
afterwards I did not procure some of the shoes and tanned skins, and
bring them home with me to England.
After returning with the Indiaman, which we loaded with cotton, etc., I
was ordered to proceed to Nassau, New Providence, to bring 300 more of
the 2nd West India Regiment, it being the intention of the rear-admiral
to make some attack further to the northward.
We reached the Bahamas in ten days, first making the hole in the rock
at the island of Abacco, which is a most excellent land-mark: it lies
in lat. 25°, 56 N., long. 77°, 20 W. from London. Then, steering S. by
E., 18 leagues, we arrived off the bar of New Providence, where we took
a pilot to conduct us to the anchorage. An immense shark followed us
over the bar, and remained by the ship during our stay, and proceeded
with us again when we sailed. The water was so very clear that we saw
him daily at the bottom. He was too cunning to take bait, though now
and then he would come up to the top, eat the bones and bits of biscuit
thrown overboard, and try and get the piece of beef off the hook, but
never would swallow it.
On my return from New Providence with troops, we again took on
board part of the marine battalion from the fort and barracks of
Fort Washington at Point-à-Petre, the guns of which we embarked;
then, blowing up the works and burning the barracks, we returned to
Cumberland Island to plan further annoyances to the enemy.
While we were absent at the Bahamas, Captain Phillot, of the
_Primrose_, brig, had been sent ninety miles up the river to attack
some troops and destroy their stores of provisions, but the river
becoming narrow, and the Americans lining the banks with sharpshooters,
besides felling trees to stop the boats, he failed in the object,
having lost several men killed and wounded, amongst the latter Captain
Phillot himself severely. Had the enemy not prematurely shown their
intention, they would have blocked up the boats, and probably captured
them all. As it was, nothing but the coolness and bravery of the
commander, and officers and men under his orders, prevented it.
Just at this period we received the news of the total failure of
our southern expedition to New Orleans, which event gave us deep
and sincere regret, but we hoped by a gallant dash to wipe out our
distressing feelings at such an unfortunate event; but while in the
midst of preparations we received intelligence that the olive branch
of peace was received, and the demon of war between parent and child
had ceased. Had it arrived immediately after the taking of Washington,
how great would have been our delight! As it was, although we could not
help feeling a secret pleasure at the prospect of returning home to our
families and friends, yet the throwing away so many valuable lives in
the swamps of New Orleans cast a damp on our spirits, and a secret wish
to try and blot it from our memories by some gallant achievement.
Previous to returning to Nassau, I had the honour to receive a public
letter of thanks from my brave and worthy commodore, Barrie. To have
his approbation was, indeed, a flattering testimonial, and I look back
at this hour with pleasure when we served together on the other side of
the Atlantic, and I hope, if ever England should be again plunged in
war, that fortune may place me under his command.
On the 6th of March the ship I commanded was ordered to proceed to
Nassau with the 2nd West India Regiment, and from thence to Bermuda,
where we arrived the beginning of April with a re-captured English
brig. After remaining there a fortnight, and receiving letters of
thanks from Sir Alexander Cochrane and Rear-Admiral Cockburn, addressed
to my officers and ship’s company, as well as two others to myself,
we proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia, at which place we embarked the
98th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglass, and sailed, in a heavy
snow-storm, on the 20th of May with a convoy of transports for England,
and arrived at Spithead in June, after a passage of twenty-two days.
From the period of our sailing from Britain (April, 1814) until the
same month, 1815, we had been constantly employed upon a variety of
harassing services and desultory warfare, with the gallant Royal Marine
battalions, under the present colonels, Sir R. Williams[Q] and Sir John
Malcolm, and it would be the height of injustice not to bear witness
to their most brave, able, and steady conduct on every occasion. But
where did they ever do otherwise? From the sun’s rising in the east
to its setting in the west, in both hemispheres, it has witnessed the
devoted bravery and loyalty of the whole corps of Royal Marines.
After remaining sometime at Spithead, orders came for us to embark part
of the suite of the Duchess D’Angoulême. After making the necessary
preparations, and expending some of my own money in the outfit, we
received counter orders.
In August the ship was ordered to Sheerness to be paid off; on the 23rd
I was promoted to the rank of captain, and on the 9th September the
pennant was hauled down, and I parted from my old officers and ship’s
company with very great regret. Thus ended my naval services for the
present, after nearly seventeen of the best years of my life in active
warfare; and I have now to thank God for His protection and providence
on many trying occasions.
I shall conclude by making a few remarks before closing this narrative
upon the unfortunate mistake this country committed with regard to
our quarrel with the United States, and also upon the actions which
took place between our frigates and theirs, and upon the subject of
searching for English sailors on board their vessels.
The great error that England committed was her not having declared war
against America two or three years earlier than she did. She ought to
have done it on account of their having aided and assisted our mortal
enemy, by carrying on the trade for France in vessels belonging to the
United States, and not have allowed them to become the aggressors,
to choose their own time, and make the first attack. Had she done so
in 1808-1809, or even in 1810, America would have been completely in
our power, for the whole of her merchant vessels covered the seas,
and her few men-of-war were not particularly well manned. The embargo
had been on two years, by which time most of her trading vessels were
safely returned from every part of the world; and her seamen being
thrown out of employ, were glad to enter on board their men-of-war and
privateers for the chance of prize money. But she being now ready,
and having secured nearly all her merchant vessels safe in their own
ports, first insulted the British flag by sending a 58-gun frigate,
the _Constitution_, to attack the _Little Belt_ corvette of 18 guns
then cruizing on the American coast to intercept French vessels. This
large frigate of 58 guns, and 487 men, _very gallantly_ fired into the
little sloop of war of 18 guns and 120 men, killed and wounded several
of them; but she in a very spirited manner returned the fire of this
greatly superior force, and killed some of her men. Commodore Rogers,
of the American 58-gun ship, pretended to make an apology to Captain
Bingham, of His Majesty’s ship _Little Belt_, by saying he took her for
a frigate, or he should not have fired into her.
This was done with the hope of making England declare war, and thereby
putting the onus upon her, and making the war in America more popular;
but that failing, and they having an army ready to invade Canada,
urged on by Bonaparte in 1812, threw down the gauntlet, and commenced
hostilities, uniting with France against the liberties of Europe.
Their few frigates being beautifully manned, and immensely superior
to ours in size, guns, and number of men, took three of our 48-gun
frigates after a severe action. But I do maintain the British navy
lost no honour. The enemy’s ships mounted 58 guns, 24 and 42-pounders,
with a complement of 487 picked seamen and marines; whereas our ships
carried only 48 guns, 18 and 32-pounders, all badly manned, and one,
the _Guerrière_, with only 187 men at quarters, the other two, the
_Java_ and _Macedonian_, had nearly their complement of 300 men such as
they were. The strength, size, and number of guns of the American ships
were too great for ours.
Persons not conversant with nautical affairs, imagine that one frigate
is as good as another; but that is not the case, for it is very clear
that a man of five feet four inches, weak in proportion, cannot stand
against a man of six feet, with nearly double his strength, although
both are called men.
Another circumstance must be mentioned, which is this. A ship capable
of carrying 58 or 60 heavy guns, 30 of which are long 24-pounders on
her main deck, must be a much stronger and larger ship, both in hull,
masts, and yards, and her masts several inches in diameter bigger
than the smaller ship, carrying only 28 18-pounders on the main deck;
therefore three, indeed two, if in a fresh breeze of wind, 24-lb. shot
striking the main-mast in the same place or nearly so, of the smaller
vessel, would knock it away, whereas it would require double the
number of the 18-pound shot to cut away that of the larger ship, giving
so many more advantages to the bigger ship against the smaller, by the
latter being so much sooner crippled.
The ridiculous, silly, and mischievous hue and cry that was raised
in this country, in consequence of the above action, by a malicious,
envious party, to pluck from the navy some of her laurels, needs no
comment. It gave a lustre to the above frigate actions of our enemy
all over the world which they did not deserve, and made them think
themselves much more superior than they were, until the fight between
the English frigate, _Shannon_ (48), Captain Philip Broke, and the
_Chesapeake_ (49), Captain Laurence, off Boston. The latter had fifty
more men than the former, but was taken in fifteen minutes by the
gallant Captain Broke, and the ship’s company of the _Shannon_. This
brilliant affair, followed a short time afterwards by the action of the
_Endymion_ (50), Captain Henry Hope, that mounted 24-pounders on her
main deck, and 32-pounders on the quarter-deck, against the _President_
(60), 24-pounders and 42-pounders, which she also captured, proved to
them that, when we were more evenly matched, the navy of England was
still mistress of the seas.
It was long seen by those who chose to make use of their senses that
the disputes between the two countries must end in a rupture; and that
the American Government were determined to side with France, and pick
a quarrel with us, and that a war was inevitable. They knew that the
whole attention of the British Government was taken up by the great
struggle in Europe, and therefore few, if any, troops could be spared
from the great theatre of war on the Peninsula; they considered this
the time therefore to demand new maritime law.
The right of search (which for ages had been the acknowledged or
assumed law of all European belligerent nations), for enemies’
merchandize carried in neutral vessels, America was determined to
oppose. Instigated by intrigues, and offers of all kinds, made by
French emissaries sent for that purpose, Bonaparte found his Milan
decrees, declaring the whole coasts of Great Britain and her extensive
colonies in the four quarters of the world in a state of blockade, to
be of no use without a navy to support it, and not having one that
dared show its face upon the ocean, had no means to carry his decrees
into execution. His eagle eye at once saw that by making a tool of
the United States, and embroiling them with England, he might make a
great diversion in his favour. He, therefore, induced their cabinets to
enter into his plans, backed, it was said, “_by good, weighty, golden
reasons_, and insisted upon a new maritime law,” which would strike a
death blow at our dominion of the sea, and at once evade all blockade.
The law I allude to was, that the neutral flag or vessel should permit
the ship wearing it to carry the cargo of an enemy free of capture from
the other belligerent, who met it on the sea or elsewhere.
It was very extraordinary that America found little fault with France,
who first commenced the general blockade by the issue of her Milan
decrees, and who confiscated all the United States’ vessels that were
captured by her men-of-war or privateers with British colonial or
other produce on board, coming directly or indirectly from any port of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and her colonies. Had they merely
touched or been driven by stress of weather into an English port, or
even boarded by a British cruiser, it was sufficient to condemn them
as lawful prizes in a French Court of Admiralty, when met at sea by
French armed vessels, and detained. England waited with great patience,
thinking that all the neutral powers, but above all America, would
protest against the measure, and join her who was fighting for the
liberties of all the world against the iron grasp of Bonaparte, and his
intended universal dominion. The United States, on the contrary, put up
with the seizure of their vessels by France, and when Great Britain was
obliged, after the greatest forbearance, to declare the whole coast of
France and her allies in a state of blockade--which she had the means
of doing, having more than one thousand men-of-war of different sizes
at sea or in commission, ready effectually to carry this measure into
operation--they grew outrageous because she would not permit them to be
our secret enemy, and carry the trade of France in their ships, under
the new maritime law they proposed, viz., that a neutral ship and flag
were to make an enemy’s cargo neutral also. The above was one of the
causes that led to the war.
Impressment of seamen or sailors out of their vessels is another source
of complaint against this country. To this latter act England was
driven by the conduct of citizens of the United States, decoying men
to desert whenever any of our ships, whether men-of-war or merchant
vessels, put into their harbours. The enticing our seamen away to man
their vessels naturally made us search for British subjects whenever
British men-of-war boarded any of our ships, whether at sea or in
foreign parts, particularly when we knew the easy method by which
English subjects were naturalised and gained American protections.
I recollect a very fine young seaman whom we took out of an American
ship at Messina in Sicily, when I was a lieutenant of the _Melpomene_
frigate. On being brought on board he produced his United States’
protection, and requested to be sent back to his ship. He wrote to the
American consul to claim him, and the master of his ship came on board
to demand him as an American citizen. Having strong suspicion that he
was an English subject,--notwithstanding the clamour raised by the
Yankee master and consul, and the production of his protection; yet,
from his not having any nasal twang when he spoke, and not using the
general slang words of that country, such as “I guess,” “I calculate,”
etc.,--we kept him on board that night. The next morning he came on the
quarter-deck of the frigate, and gave up his American protection and
said, “I will not deny my country--I am a native of Swansea, in Wales,
and I got that protection when I sailed last voyage in a merchant ship
from Liverpool to New York, in the following manner. On my arrival at
New York I was told that by paying two dollars I could get a protection
of citizenship, which would prevent my being pressed on board an
English man-of-war. The way it was managed was this:--I was put into
a large cradle made on purpose to hold men; I was then rocked by them
for a minute or two, and afterwards taken before the proper authorities
by the old couple, who made oath they had known me ever since I was
in my cradle--no further questions were asked, the matter being quite
understood between the parties,--I paid the fees, the protection was
granted, and, having given the old folks two dollars for their trouble,
I became a ‘registered American citizen,’ and that, sir,” he said, “is
the way British seamen are kidnapped in the States--in short, it is a
regular trade, and hundreds of seamen that have protections got them in
the same manner.”
A knowledge of the various tricks played on the other side of the
Atlantic to entice away our seamen, made the officers of the British
navy more anxious to recover their sailors, which of course at times
caused some irritating disputes with the masters and skippers of the
American vessels. These magnified every trifle, and reported all the
circumstances to people who were paid by that part of the press in the
French interest to make the worst of everything, in order to inflame
the public mind against this country, particularly after the affair of
the _Leopard_ (50), taking our deserters out of the American frigate
_Chesapeake_ (48), and the unfortunate event of H.M.S. _Leander_, when
a man was killed by accident by her firing to bring-to a vessel under
the United States’ flag off New York for the purpose of examining her.
The Americans acted with great wisdom and foresight previous to
their declaration of war, by putting on the embargo and passing the
“Non-intercourse Bill” with England two years before. By that wise
act they were enabled to get home their trade from all parts of the
world, and having done this, they insulted our flag by sending a 58-gun
ship, commanded by Commodore Rogers, to fire into the _Little Belt_
corvette of 18-guns, commanded by Captain Bingham, cruising near their
coast, and killing several of her men and wounding others. This affair
had two meanings. First to revenge the death of their citizens slain
in the _Chesapeake_ frigate, and on board the merchant ship off New
York; and secondly to induce us to declare war against them, to make
it more popular with the generality of the people of the States, that
the Government might be able to throw the blame upon England. Britain
having her hands full in other places, fighting for the liberties of
the world, making at the same time a desperate struggle for her own
existence, and most nobly striving to liberate other powers from the
grasp of Bonaparte, was not willing at this most critical period to
have another foe; she therefore tried something in protocol fashion of
the present day, but it failed as all half-measures generally do.
America laughed at it, and commenced biting our heels, while John
Bull was tossing the dogs in front. They had the wisdom to perceive
the great error England had committed in not seeing that war was
inevitable, and that she ought to have declared it two or three years
before, and not have allowed her to get the whole of her vessels safe
into port. Our politeness and good breeding enabled them to secure
all or most of their shipping, in order to enable them to man their
ships of war and privateers with picked sailors. Their seamen being
thrown out of employ, were glad to enter on board their men-of-war
and privateers for the almost certain chance of a rich harvest, by
capturing our East and West Indiamen.
This was the great mistake England committed; for had we gone to war
at an earlier period when the seas were covered with American merchant
ships, they would have been swept into our harbours, and she would have
been completely at our mercy, and twelve months at that time would have
settled our disputes far more amicably than the unsatisfactory method
adopted in the year 1815.
Natural affection, intimate connections with this country, a common
language, and a wish to incline to a reasonable adjustment of claims,
would probably have settled our quarrel, and not have left the boundary
line as a further bone of contention. But we were unfortunately so
delighted with the success of our allies and our own gallant army,
by the capture of Paris, and other deeds in Europe, added to the
abdication of Napoleon, that American matters were left nearly in the
same state as before the war, although we had the means at that period
to have settled everything in a most satisfactory manner. The country
was like,--or might be compared to,--soldiers and sailors who had
received so much pay and prize-money that they got drunk. Great Britain
was intoxicated with the honour and renown which their countrymen in
the army and navy had gained for them, and never thought of the morrow.
Indeed, up to the present time, 1839, they have been living upon the
_principal_ of _credit_, for we have put, I fear, very little by or out
to interest which was _then gained_, and which has been most woefully
frittered away ever since, until the country has at last almost run
bankrupt: for we are spit upon in Spain, treated with contempt in
Portugal, despised in France, laughed at in Russia, kicked in Canada,
and in a fine olla podrida in India and China.
FINIS.
NOTE.--Vice-Admiral William Stanhope Lovell, R.N., K.H., was born
September 15th, 1788. Married, 2nd January, 1822, Selina, youngest
daughter of Sir Henry Crewe, Bart., of Calke Abbey, Derby, and by
her, who died on the 30th March, 1838, had issue one son and three
daughters, who survive him. Vice-Admiral Lovell died in 1859,
“_sans peur et sans reproche_.” Was buried at Bexley, Kent.
_APPENDIX._
Having, in the foregoing narrative, stated, in justification of our
mode of warfare in America, some of the causes which led to our
adoption of the system of retaliation, I beg to subjoin two extracts
from the Annual Register of the year 1814, as well as copies of public
documents, which a friend has most kindly favoured me with, which fully
bear me out in saying that we were in a manner compelled to adopt the
system we pursued, _i.e._, to teach the Americans that we had the power
to return with interest the inhuman mode of warfare with which they
began the campaign.
“From several causes it was not to be expected that the war between
Britain and America would be carried on in the most humane and
honourable mode, especially by the Americans; they had not yet
forgotten the war of the revolution, and by our employment of the
Indians, _though they set us the example_, the consequences were
such as might be dreaded. In their different invasions of Canada,
the greatest inhumanities were exercised; especially at Sandwich,
at the settlements on the Thames, at York, and at Fort George.
Finding that remonstrances against this mode of conducting the war
produced no effect, General Sir George Prevost at length issued
a proclamation announcing a severe retaliation on the Americans,
while at the same time he earnestly deprecated this mode of
warfare.”--_Annual Register_, p. 318, _Principal Occurrences_, 1814.
“A proclamation issued by General Sir George Prevost, Bart.,
announces, after long forbearance, a severe retaliation on the
Americans for their inhuman mode of warfare in their different
invasions of Canada, especially for their having, in the midst of
a severe Canadian winter, wantonly burnt the beautiful village of
Newark, and turned out _four hundred helpless women and children_
to perish in the snow, and through the severity of the season,
_without shelter, and without a remnant of property_. This case is
made out with the utmost distinctness against the Americans, not
only in this, but in a number of other instances, at Sandwich, at
the settlements on the Thames, at York, and at Fort George. General
Sir George Prevost earnestly deprecates this mode of warfare; but
he justly observes that ‘since it has been so long persevered in by
the enemy, retaliation becomes an imperious duty.’ But he at the
same time says, ‘that he will no longer pursue a system of warfare
so revolting to his own feelings, and so uncongenial to the British
character, unless forced to it by the future measures of the
enemy.’”--_Annual Register_, p. 27; _Principal Occurrences_, 1814.
I trust that I have fully vindicated our mode of warfare in America,
by showing that we were driven to it by the great inhumanities
so frequently committed by the enemy, and when forbearance and
remonstrance failed, nothing was left but to teach them that when
goaded beyond endurance--_four hundred helpless women and children
turned out to perish in the frost and snow of a severe Canadian winter_
from the village of Newark, besides wanton barbarities committed in
various other places--the British lion was at length aroused from
his slumber, and that the fires which the Americans had lit in other
places, reached the public works of their capital--Washington.
Copies of Correspondence.
“Head-quarters, British Troops,
“Bank of the St. Lawrence,
“14th Nov., 1813.
“Sir,--
“The object of the present communication, which is made by
desire of the officers in command of the British forces in this
neighbourhood, is, in the first instance, to claim as prisoners
two American officers who were taken on the morning of the 11th,
previous to the action, and deserted to their own shore while on
the way to Prescott.
“I enclose a copy of their paroles.
“William Gilkinson, Esq., of Prescott, is the bearer of this flag,
and I am instructed to request that you will facilitate his passage
to the Commanding General of the United States’ Army, to whom he is
desirous of making a representation on the subject of the plunder
and destruction of his property by the American troops in this
neighbourhood. And on this subject I am instructed to protest in
the most solemn manner against that system of rapine and plunder
of the property of the peaceful and unoffending inhabitants which
has marked the progress of the American army during its short
continuance in this province; and I am further to entreat that his
Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the United States’ Army will
allow no consideration arising out of the circumstances of the
disparity of rank of the British officer by whom he is so called
upon, to restrain his Excellency from immediately disavowing this
system so disgraceful to a civilized army, and affording every fair
indemnity to the individual sufferers; or that he will, by an open
avowal that the system complained of is an authorized one, leave
it in the option of the general officer (hourly expected to assume
the command of the powerful and rapidly increasing British force in
this neighbourhood), to employ it in such acts of just retaliation
upon the persons and property of the inhabitants of the right bank
of the St. Lawrence as he may think fit, as commensurate with the
treatment of the inhabitants on this side.
“I have the honour to be, Sir, very respectfully,
“Your most obedient humble servant,
“(Signed) T. HARVEY, Lieut.-Col.,
“D.C.G. to the British Forces
“in the Canadas.”
“Head Quarters, Montreal,
“2nd June, 1814.
“Sir,--
“I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a letter which I
have written to Lieut.-General Drummond, in consequence of the
late disgraceful conduct of the American troops in the wanton
destruction of private property on the north shores of Lake Erie,
in order that if the war with the United States continues, you may,
should you judge it advisable, assist in inflicting that measure
of retaliation which shall deter the enemy from a repetition of
similar outrages.
“I have, &c.,
“(Signed) GEORGE PREVOST,
“Commander of the Forces.
“To Vice-Admiral the Honourable
“Sir A. COCHRANE, K.B., &c., &c.”
“Head Quarters, Montreal,
“1st June, 1814.
“Sir,--
“It is with sincere regret and disappointment that I perused the
detail of illiberal and wanton devastation and unjustifiable
outrage reported in your letter of the 27th ult., and Major-General
Riall’s of the 19th, to have been committed in the vicinity of
the village of Dover, and on its unoffending inhabitants, by the
conflagration of their dwelling-houses and their mills.
“I cherished the hope that the severe, although just, retaliation
inflicted for the destruction of the village of Newark would have
deterred the enemy from similar acts of barbarity; under that
impression, I issued a proclamation of the 4th January last, which
has since been most scrupulously adhered to by the troops under
my command, and it is with painful reluctance I now feel myself
compelled to return to a system so abhorrent to those principles of
humanity which have always animated and characterized Britons.
“But such horrors cannot be suffered to remain without notice or
unrevenged; you must, therefore, transmit by a flag of truce to the
officer commanding the American force nearest to you a statement of
those atrocities, with information that you have my instructions
to inflict a severe retribution for them; you may assure him that
the same will be repeated for every act of such outrage committed
on the defenceless and peaceable settlers of our frontier, and that
the British fleet on the coast of America will be called upon to
assist in the measure of just retaliation.
“I have, &c.,
“(Signed) GEORGE PREVOST,
“Commander of the Forces.
“To Lieut.-Gen. DRUMMOND, &c., &c.,
“Com. Upper Canada.”
“Tonnant, Halifax,
“5th Oct., 1814.
“Sir,--
“I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s
letter of the 3rd August, acquainting me of the repetition on the
part of the enemy of the disgraceful outrages committed by him on
the north shores of Lake Erie.
“I have therefore reiterated my order of retaliation of the 18th
July, of which a copy was sent to your Excellency, and given
further directions for the distressing him south of the Delaware,
to the utmost of our power; from that river northward I have
restrained the squadron from acting in full execution of its
purport until I see what change the late events may produce in that
quarter.
“I have the honour to be,
“Your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant,
“ALEXANDER COCHRANE,
“Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
“To his Excellency
“Lieut.-General Sir GEO. PREVOST, Bt.,
“Commander of the Forces, &c., &c.”
“Head Quarters, Montreal,
“August 6, 1814.
“My Lord,--
“I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of a
letter I have addressed to Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir A. Cochrane,
respecting the late wanton and disgraceful conduct of the enemy in
the burning of the villages of Queen Town and St. David’s, on the
Erie frontier.
“J. W.
“To EARL BATHURST.”
“Head Quarters, Montreal,
“30th Sept., 1814.
“Sir,--
“I have the honour to acknowledge your three letters of the 19th
inst., which have been laid before the Commander of the Forces,
with regard to the miseries which the enemy have again made on
Port Talbot; his Excellency is of opinion that it is the act of
Westbrook, who is gratifying private animosities with a heartless
band; he scarcely conceives it to have been authorized by the
Government of the U.S., and requests to be informed who commanded
the enemy’s force employed on this occasion. The Commander of
the Forces hopes that precautionary measures have been taken
to frustrate the design of the enemy upon Long Point, should
the execution of it be attempted. If you consider it necessary
to retaliate for the unjustifiable act of carrying off Colonel
Burnell, you have his Excellency’s authority to do so, or else, if
you prefer it, two respectable American citizens may be taken as
hostages for him from Hamilton.
“To Lieut.-General DRUMMOND.”
WITHERBY & CO., Printers, 325a, High Holborn, W.C.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Colonel Thomas Stanhope Badcock, of Little Missenden Abbey,
Bucks, and of Maplethorpe Hall, Lincolnshire, married Anne, daughter
of William Buckle, Esq., of the Mythe House and Chasely, in
Gloucestershire, by Anne, daughter of George Turberville, Esq. The
family is descended from Sir Salathiel Lovell, of Harleston, co.
Northampton, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, whose youngest
daughter _Jane_ married Richard Badcock, Esq. Of the two elder
daughters, _Maria_ married Joseph Townshend, Esq., and died without
issue; _Penelope_ married the Rev. Michael Stanhope, D.D., canon
of Windsor, and died 1738, leaving with other issue Arthur Charles
Stanhope, Esq., father of Philip Stanhope, who, succeeding to the
honours of his family in 1773, became fifth Earl of Chesterfield. Sir
Salathiel Lovell had two sons, _Samuel_, his heir, a Welsh judge, who
married in 1692 Miss Sergeant, and left one son, _Samuel_, and one
daughter, _Rachel Jane_, married in 1732 Richard Edgeworth, Esq., of
Edgeworthstown, co. Longford, who died in 1764, leaving issue.
[B] The eldest, _Anne_ Bethia, married 21st September, 1809,
Lieut.-General Sir Jasper Nicholls, K.C.B. (Commander-in-Chief at
Madras and afterwards Commander-in-Chief in India), and had eight
daughters and one son. Lady Nicholls died at Rome in 1844. _Sophia_
Lovell married 9th June, 1814, the Rev. James Duke Coleridge, D.C.L.,
eldest son of Colonel Coleridge, of Heath’s Court, Ottery St. Mary’s,
Devon, and had two daughters. Mrs. Coleridge died at Torquay in 1874.
[C] _Torpedo vulgaris._
[D] It was near a vintage.
[E] Afterwards Sir John Chambers White.
[F] Taken and destroyed.
[G] The French ship of the line, _L’Achille_, on fire and blowing up.
[H] Being a man of plain common-sense, I never could to this day
understand the policy of our training up foreign officers of all
nations in our service to sting ourselves. Surely our rulers forget the
sensible fable of Æsop, “The countryman and the viper.” We took the
Russians from frost and snow, thawed them in our bosoms, and the time
may yet come when they may sting us. “_Tempus omnia monstrat._”
[I] Sir Lovell Benjamin Lovell, K.C.B., K.H., commenced in the Royal
Bucks Militia in 1804, and entered as cornet (by purchase) the 14th
Light Dragoons, November, 1805; served at the taking of Monte Video,
under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, in 1807, and subsequently in the Peninsula,
including the battles of Talavera, the Coa, Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor
(wounded), Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Nive, Ortherg, and
Toulouse; actions or skirmishes near Talavera, Sexmiro, Val de la
Mula, La Meares, Freixeda, Guarda, Coimbra, Valle, Venda de Sierra,
Pombal, Redinha, Miranda de Corvo, Coa, Galligos, Nave d’Aver, Espiga,
near Fuentes d’Onor, Llerena, near Salamanca, St. Christova, Bueda,
Castrillos, Foncastin, Matylla; at Burgos, Osma, Huarte, Pampeluna,
Vale de Bastan, Pass of Maya, Lines of Ainho, Cambo, Hasparren, Helite,
Garris, Sauveterre, St. Gladie, Buelho, Garlier, San Roman--total, 10
general actions, 40 minor actions or skirmishes, besides attending 7
sieges; was at the siege of Oporto, being one of the military reporters
under Lord William Russell. Appointed to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of
the 15th Hussars, March 21st, 1834; appointed Brigadier-General of the
cantonment of Bangalore, 1841, and Major-General in India, September,
1841; gazetted to the command of the Hyderabad subsidiary force,
February 15th, 1847, and took command March 3rd, at Secunderabad;
appointed Major-General in 1854, and Colonel of the 12th Lancers, 29th
November, 1856. Sir Lovell Benjamin Lovell received the war medal,
with eleven clasps, for Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor, Badajoz, Salamanca,
Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. He died at Brighton
in 1861. Sir Lovell and his brother assumed by sign manual the surname
and arms of Lovell in 1840.
[J] Prince Lippe Bückeburg.
[K] During our stay in Altea Bay, in 1812, I was invited by the
Spanish authorities in the town to assist at the proclaiming of the
new constitution, and accordingly landed my officers and marines to
be present at the ceremony of reading them. A few of the Spaniards
cheered, as well as ourselves, and called out, “Viva Fernando Septimo;”
but it appeared to me they were not very enthusiastic about it at that
period; indeed they did not seem to care two straws whether they had
the old or new constitution--to get rid of the French was the first
object.
[L] (!) Peaks.
[M] Amongst so many new black freemen in the West Indies, of course
many cases of delinquency must occur. Why not transport all troublesome
and bad characters to Africa? They originally came from thence, and it
would be only returning them back to their own country. Just land them
on the beach at Bonny, and leave them to find their own way amongst
their countrymen, or send them to Fernando Po to clear the forests and
make roads, which would ventilate the island and make it more healthy.
[N] Medals were given in 1848(?) for the Peninsula wars, and to the
survivors of the Battle of Trafalgar also in 1848. An English merchant,
whose name I cannot remember, gave to some of those who were present at
the Battle of Trafalgar (among the fortunate recipients was my father)
medals, having on one side the profile of Lord Nelson, and on the
reverse side the representation of the ships going into action, with
the date, October 1st, 1804, and round it the memorable words signalled
to the fleet: “England expects every man will do his duty.” This medal
is much prized by the family, as is also the dirk previously mentioned.
(M.S.L.)
[O] The revilers of our American mode of warfare should bear in mind
other circumstances, viz.: that America seized the opportunity of
declaring war against us at a most critical period, when we were not
only making a desperate struggle for our existence as a nation, but
also to liberate other powers from the iron grasp of Bonaparte, and
fighting in the cause of liberty itself. That must not be forgotten on
our side of the question.
[P] The rear-admiral, in the _Albion_, arrived on the previous evening,
when Captain Ross joined with the boats of that ship in the attack on
the fort by water.
[Q] Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, of the Marines, was not at the capture
of Washington. He was then in Canada, and joined us at Cumberland
Island previous to the attack on Fort Washington, at Point-à-Petre.
Transcriber's Note:
The following is a list of changes made to the original. The first
line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
Page 108
We remained at O’Rodonto three days, during
We remained at O’Rodondo three days, during
northward to invest Cuidad Rodrigo.
northward to invest Ciudad Rodrigo.
Operations against Cuidad Rodrigo having been
Operations against Ciudad Rodrigo having been
Page 110
was ordered to cover the siege of Cuidad Rodrigo.
was ordered to cover the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Page 114
nexts attracts attention. This was founded about
next attracts attention. This was founded about
Page 124
4th July, sent me to Palma Bay, Minorca, to collect
4th July, sent me to Palma Bay, Majorca, to collect
Page 138
_Invincible_, thinking it advisable to make a reconnoissance
_Invincible_, thinking it advisable to make a reconnaissance
Page 183
of the _Eudymion_ (50), Captain Henry Hope, that
of the _Endymion_ (50), Captain Henry Hope, that