"The troops having landed to the right of the town, I formed the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, under Major Murray, into four divisions; and the marines formed, under the command of Captain Hill, 2nd West India Regiment, A.D.C., another division. A party of the former corps, acting as gunners, accompanied the Marine Artillery, who took charge of two mountain howitzers.

"Having extended one division in skirmishing order, I advanced; and, finding the first stockade deserted I passed on to the furthest one, which was then occupied by the sailors of the second division of boats under Commander Close. I then proceeded to the extreme left of all the defences, and halted in clear ground to await the arrival of our native allies. Shortly afterwards Commodore Wise sent to inform me that the enemy, who had retired before us with some loss, were in the jungle to our left at the head of some rocks, on which they could cross the river at low water. I immediately extended two divisions of the 1st West India Regiment as skirmishers, with the marines supporting one, and a division of the 1st West India the other, leaving one division in reserve in charge of the howitzers, after having first fired some rounds of shell into the jungle.

"Our advance was most difficult, the bush being almost impenetrable. However, we persevered, and, having reached a high point overlooking the country around, and not seeing any enemy, I ordered a halt, and, after some time, we retired unmolested, the Soosoos never having allowed us to close with them. The Commodore then sent me a second message to the effect that he had seen about 500 men, who had, on our advance, retired across the river, over the rocks, and disappeared in the bush on the opposite side.

"The detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, under Brevet-Major Pratt, kept the ground during the night; and our allies having arrived, and been placed in possession of the stockades, the troops were re-embarked on the 24th, and we proceeded on our return to Sierra Leone, where we arrived on the 26th.

"I have much pleasure in stating that all the officers and men under my orders performed their duties in an exceedingly zealous and satisfactory manner, exhibiting a cheerful obedience, and only anxious to close with the enemy. None but those present could form a just estimate of the difficulty attending our advance, and the consequent physical exhaustion. The heat was intense; a great part of the jungle had been fired, and the bushes and the high grass formed a network through which we were obliged to cut our way."

On January 8th, 1860, the men of the companies of the 1st West India Regiment stationed at Nassau specially distinguished themselves at an alarming fire that there broke out at Fort Charlotte, and the following Garrison Order was published on the subject:

"Lieutenant-Colonel Bourchier takes the earliest opportunity in his power of expressing his thanks to Major R. D'O. Fletcher, the officers, the non-commissioned officers, and the men of the 1st West India Regiment, for the prompt manner in which they turned out and lent their efforts to avert the extension of the late fire at Fort Charlotte.

"Such occasions as this test the discipline of a corps in a high degree, the more so when, as in the present instance, the danger of an explosion from the proximity of the flames to the magazine was imminent.

"Where all were zealous, the conduct of Ensign Bourke, 1st West India Regiment, was most conspicuous, who, assisted by Company Sergeant-Major Mason and a party of four men of the regiment, placed wet blankets on the most exposed portion of the roof of the magazine, which was then actually ignited; and it will be most gratifying to Lieutenant-Colonel Bourchier to bring the circumstance under the notice of H.R.H. the General Commanding-in-Chief."

At the Gambia nothing of moment had occurred since 1807, with the exception that a violent epidemic of fever broke out at Bathurst in September, 1859, to which one officer and several men of the regiment succumbed.



CHAPTER XXIV.

THE BADDIBOO WAR, 1860-61.

The next active operations in which the 1st West India Regiment was engaged, took place at the Gambia, where the King of Baddiboo, an important Mohammedan state up the river, had in August and September, 1860, plundered the factories of several British traders, and afterwards refused to pay compensation. The Governor of the Gambia, Colonel D'Arcy, resolved to blockade the kingdom of Baddiboo, in the hope that the enforced suspension of trade would compel the king to come to terms, and, on October 10th, 1860, the gunners of the companies of the 1st West India Regiment stationed at Bathurst embarked in the barque Elm and the schooner Shamrock, to close all the Baddiboo river ports. On November 3rd additional gunners were sent in the schooner Hope, and the blockade was strictly enforced, the natives not being allowed to export any articles of produce or import anything.

While the blockade was still in force, the wing of the 2nd West India Regiment, which had been wrecked in the troopship Perseverance at Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands, while on its way to relieve the wing of the 1st West India Regiment, arrived in West Africa in various vessels, three companies at the Gambia and three at Sierra Leone; and as in January, 1861, the blockade had manifestly failed in its object of inducing the King of Baddiboo to indemnify the plundered merchants, Governor D'Arcy determined to take advantage of the presence of an unusual number of regular troops to organise a formidable expedition; which step was rendered necessary from the fact that the numerous Mohammedan tribes around the settlement and on the banks of the river were narrowly watching events, and had, owing to the long delay in punishing the King of Baddiboo, already commenced to show signs of lawlessness.

On January 12th, 1861, the hired transport Avon arrived at the Gambia to convey the wing of the 1st West India Regiment to the West Indies, and Colonel D'Arcy proceeded in her to Sierra Leone to make arrangements for the services of a portion of the garrison of that settlement. On February 2nd, he returned to the Gambia in the Avon with three companies of the 1st West India Regiment and one of the 2nd West India Regiment.

The expeditionary force now consisted of six companies of the 1st West India Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Murray, and four of the 2nd West India Regiment, under Major W. Hill; the Gambia Militia were called out, and the West India detachments at McCarthy's Island, Cape St. Mary's, and Fort Bullen replaced by pensioners.

Everything being in readiness, the Governor decided to make one last endeavour to arrive at a peaceful solution of the difficulty (although the king's people had recently, on several occasions, fired on the schooners blockading the river), and despatched H.M.S. Torch with a flag of truce to Swarra Cunda Creek. Commander Smith returned with the intelligence that the natives had prepared stockaded earthworks, were assembled in large numbers, and had refused to hold any communication with the ship.

On February 15th, the expedition left Bathurst, and steaming up to Swarra Cunda Creek, some forty miles up the river, anchored there for the night. The troops were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, 1st West India Regiment, and were thus distributed:

The gunners of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiment on board H.M.S. Torch.

Nos. 1 and 7 Companies, 1st West India Regiment, on board the Colonial steamer Dover.

Nos. 2 and 3 Companies, 1st West India Regiment, on the schooner Elizabeth.

Nos. 4 and 7 Companies, 2nd West India Regiment, on the schooner Margaret.

The Dover, after distributing her contingent amongst the other three vessels lying in the creek, returned to Bathurst the same night to bring up Nos. 4 and 6 Companies of the 1st West India Regiment and two companies of the 2nd West India Regiment.

On February 16th, the whole force being collected, the Torch and the Dover steamed up the creek to the trading landing-place of Swarra Cunda, towing the schooners. The earthworks were observed to be full of armed men, who shouted and brandished their weapons, amid a tremendous beating of war-drums. The Torch anchored about 180 yards from the earthworks, the two schooners lying above her and the Dover below, in such positions as to be able to bring a cross-fire to bear. The Governor, being still anxious to avoid bloodshed, hailed the enemy through his interpreter, calling upon them to surrender. They replied with yells of defiance, and were then informed that if they did not abandon their works the ships would open fire in half-an-hour.

The half-hour having elapsed without any result, except a considerable accession to the enemy's strength, fire was opened from the guns of the Torch and Dover, while the troops poured in a destructive storm of musketry. The enemy replied with great spirit; and, although the sixty-eight-pounder shell were crushing through the earthworks and carrying away large portions of the parapets, some of the warriors continued calmly up and down in full view on the most exposed portions of the works, to encourage the others; and it was not until this terrible fire of shell and musketry had lasted for three hours, that the natives began to abandon their works, retiring even then very gradually. This movement being observed, a landing was at once ordered; and the boats, which had been collected together under cover of the Torch, pulled in rapidly for the landing-place. Before, however, they reached the shore, some 800 natives, who had occupied the extreme right of the earthworks, which had not suffered from our fire as much as the other portions, rushed down to oppose them.

The landing was effected in the teeth of all opposition, the troops wading ashore and attacking the enemy with the bayonet. Colonel D'Arcy in his despatch says:—"Nothing could exceed the gallantry of the landing on the part of the officers and men of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments; and now commenced a smart skirmish with a numerous enemy, in which our black soldiers evinced a gallantry and a determination to close which I felt proud to witness."

While this stubborn and hand-to-hand conflict was at its height, a shrill cry was suddenly heard in rear of the enemy, and at once, as if by a preconcerted plan, those natives who were disputing the landing broke and fled, while, at the same moment, a body of some 300 cavalry debouched from the shelter of a clump of dwarf palms, and came down at full gallop on the troops, who were already somewhat scattered in pursuit of the retreating enemy. The men at once formed rallying squares, and in a moment the Mandingo horsemen were amongst them, brandishing their scimetars and discharging matchlocks and pistols. The fire from the squares was so steady and well sustained, that, with one exception, the enemy could effect nothing. They rode round and round the squares for a few minutes, uttering shouts of defiance and endeavouring to reach the men with their spears; and finally, a good many saddles having been emptied, galloped off as rapidly as they had come, their long robes streaming out behind in the wind. The one exception referred to was that of a group of three men of the 1st West India Regiment and two of the 2nd, who, having advanced too far in pursuit, had become separated from their comrades, and, on the sudden appearance of the cavalry, had not time to reach any of the squares. They stood back to back, surrounded by the enemy, until overwhelmed by force of numbers and ridden down, being afterwards found lying where they had stood, surrounded by eleven dead Mandingoes whom they had shot or bayoneted.

This cavalry charge was the last hope of the enemy; and no sooner was it repulsed than they withdrew in great disorder. The troops pursued for a short distance, but as it was not deemed advisable to scatter the small force, especially as the day was beginning to close, they were soon recalled, and the men bivouacked on the ground they had so ably won, the bivouac being so arranged that the guns of the Torch could sweep the front and one flank. Wells were dug, the dead buried, and the night passed without further disturbance.

Next morning, the 17th, the Gambia Militia Artillery, with 400 native allies, arrived and landed, and in the afternoon the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments, under Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, after a short resistance, took and destroyed the stockaded town of Carawan, situated to the right of the position. Encouraged by this success, the native allies and the Gambia Militia Artillery advanced to the town of Swarra Cunda, to the left of the position, and finding it abandoned, destroyed it also.

During the ensuing night, H.M.S. Arrogant, Commodore Edmonstone, arrived in the Gambia River, and early next morning the Dover brought the Commodore, with a naval brigade of seamen and marines, up to Swarra Cunda Creek. This unlooked-for accession of strength determined Lieutenant-Colonel Murray to advance into the interior, and strike a blow that would bring the war to a conclusion. Cattle were obtained for the field-guns, which were then landed, and about noon on the 18th, the force marched inland, four companies of the 1st West India Regiment forming the right division, four of the 2nd West India Regiment the left division, and two of the 1st the reserve, with the guns on the flanks.

The country through which the advance was made was a level sandy plain, covered with tall grass, and dotted here and there with clumps of baobab and dwarf palm. Occasionally a few clearings for the cultivation of the ground nut were met, but as a rule the march was made through grass more than waist high. The enemy showed in force, but made no serious opposition to the advance; and, though large bodies of cavalry were observed hanging about the flanks and rear, they showed no disposition to close, and the towns of Kinty-Cunda and Sabba were destroyed without loss on our side, and very small loss, if any, on the part of the enemy.

The 19th and 20th were devoted to changing the camping ground, and arranging a plan of campaign against Indear, the king's town, in which the shipping might be used as a base; but, on the afternoon of the latter day, a slave-girl, who came into the camp to claim British protection, reported that the king's warriors, having been largely reinforced, had come down from Indear, and had erected a stockade on the ruins of Sabba. Although it did not suit Lieut.-Colonel Murray's plans to return to Sabba, he did not consider it advisable to leave this unexpected challenge unanswered; and, on the morning of February 21st, the force again marched for Sabba.

On approaching that town it was ascertained that a double stockade had been built, which appeared to be full of armed men, while detached parties were observed partially concealed in the long grass to the left of the stockade, and facing our right. The troops were halted and formed for attack, the Naval Brigade, consisting of seamen and marines from H.M.S. Arrogant, Falcon, and Torch, being in the centre, four companies of the 1st West India Regiment on the right, four of the 2nd on the left, and two of the 1st in reserve. The howitzer battery at once opened on the stockade, and, after a few rounds, the centre advanced to within effective rifle range and commenced firing. Directly this movement took place, the detached parties of Mandingoes on our right approached skirmishing through the tall grass, and attacked the four companies of the 1st West India Regiment, while large bodies of cavalry simultaneously appeared on the left, threatening the flank of the 2nd West India Regiment. While the 1st West India Regiment was hotly engaged on the right, the field-guns of the Gambia Militia Artillery, under Colonel D'Arcy, who was present as a volunteer and honorary colonel of that corps, were hastily brought up, and opened fire on the stockade, to breach it. As it was apparent that this would be a work of some time, the timber of which the stockade was built being quite stout enough to withstand for some time the fire of light guns, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray directed the Commodore to storm. In an instant the seamen extended, and, advancing at a sharp run, clambered over the stockades, and, attacking the enemy with the bayonet, soon carried the place. Acting in concert with this forward movement of the centre, the right (1st West India Regiment) closed on the natives with whom they had been engaged, and, cutting them off from the stockade, killed or wounded the entire force on this side, with a loss to themselves of one officer (Lieutenant Bourke) and twenty-two men severely wounded, besides slight casualties. The cavalry on the left, seeing the turn affairs had taken, withdrew without making any attack. The Naval Brigade lost Lieutenant Hamilton, of the Arrogant, and three men killed, and twenty-two wounded.

Ensign Garsia, of the 1st West India Regiment, had a narrow escape. Shortly before the Naval Brigade had advanced to storm, he had been despatched by Lieutenant-Colonel Murray with an order to Major Hill, commanding on the left, and, in crossing the front of the stockade under a heavy fire, both he and his horse were shot and rolled over together, Ensign Garsia being very severely wounded. While thus lying at a distance of some seventy yards from the stockade, a Mohammedan, dressed in yellow—a colour only assumed in this part of the world when the wearer is engaged in some desperate enterprise—climbed over the stockade and ran towards the wounded man with a drawn scimetar in his hand. He escaped numerous shots that were fired at him, reached Ensign Garsia, and had actually raised his scimetar to strike off his head, when a wounded sailor, who was lying on the ground, shot him dead, with his cry of exultation on his lips.

No sooner was the enemy dispersed and in full retreat, than messengers arrived from the King of Jocardo, whose territory is separated from Baddiboo by the Swarra Cunda Creek, begging an interview with the Governor, and promising that, if he would grant a three days' armistice, he would bring together all the chiefs of the Baddiboo towns, who were now anxious for peace, but afraid to come in. The Governor acceded to these terms, but, in case of negotiations failing, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray proceeded with his preparations for an advance on Indear on the morning of the 25th. On the 24th, the Governor received another message from the King of Jocardo, begging him to extend the armistice for another day, the distance to the different towns being so great. This was granted, and at 6 a.m. on the 26th, the King of Baddiboo came to terms, promising to pay a considerable sum to the Government as a fine for his past misdemeanours, and leaving hostages in the Governor's hands.

The officers of the 1st West India Regiment who took part in this expedition were Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Murray, Captains H. Anton, J.A. Fraser, J. Fanning, and G.H. Duyer, Lieutenants A. Temple, J. Moffitt, R. Brew, T. Edmunds, J. Bourke, and Ensigns M.C. Garsia and T. Nicholson. Lieutenant-Colonel Murray was awarded the C.B. for his services.



CHAPTER XXV.

THE ASHANTI EXPEDITION, 1864.

The head-quarters and four companies of the 1st West India Regiment had been removed from Nassau to Barbados in the hired transport Avon, before that vessel sailed for West Africa, and on the 3rd of March, 1861, the six companies of the regiment embarked in her at the Gambia for the West Indies. During the four years' tour of service which they had just completed, five officers had fallen victims to the fatal West African climate, Lieutenant Kenrick having died at Sierra Leone, in August, 1857; Lieutenant Leggatt, in February, 1859; Brevet-Major Pratt, in July, 1859; and Captain Owens, in July, 1860; while Lieutenant E. Smith had died at the Gambia, in September, 1859.

On the arrival of the wing from West Africa, the regiment was distributed in the West Indies as follows: The head-quarters, with Nos. 5, 7, and 8, the Grenadier and Light Companies at Barbados; Nos. 1 and 2 at St. Lucia; No. 3 at Trinidad; and Nos. 4 and 6 at Demerara. Towards the close of the year the practice of selecting men for flank companies was forbidden by Horse Guards General Order, and the grenadier and light companies became Nos. 9 and 10.

The regiment remained thus stationed until December, 1862, when the three existing West India Regiments were called upon to furnish two companies each for the formation of a new 4th West India Regiment, and Nos. 9 and 10 Companies of the 1st West India Regiment were transferred. In the same month, No. 1 Company rejoined head-quarters from St. Lucia. The establishment of the regiment was now eight instead of ten companies as formerly.

On the 23rd of December, 1862, a detachment of three companies (Nos. 5, 7, and 8) embarked in the troopship Adventure, under Lieutenant-Colonel Macauley, and proceeded to Honduras, arriving there on January 3rd, 1863. A war of reprisals between the Santa Cruz and Ycaiche Indians was then raging on the frontier, and the greatest vigilance was necessary to prevent violation of British territory, the detachments of the regiment at the outposts of Orange Walk and Corosal being continually employed.

In March, 1863, the whole of the southern side of Belize was destroyed by fire, and the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment there stationed received the thanks of the Legislative Assembly for the assistance it had rendered in preventing the conflagration spreading, a sum of $200 being voted for the men, "as an acknowledgment of the valuable services rendered by them." In this, or the preceding year, companies were designated alphabetically instead of numerically; No. 1 becoming "A," No. 2, "B," and so on.

On the 31st of October, 1863, A Company, with the head-quarters, embarked at Barbados on board the troopship Megaera, which had arrived the day before from Demerara with D and F Companies. The vessel then proceeded to St. Lucia, where B Company was embarked, and all four went to Nassau. The distribution of the regiment was then: 4 companies at Nassau, 3 in Honduras, and 1 in Trinidad.

In 1863 occurred what is usually called the Second Ashanti War. It was caused, as almost every Ashanti war or threat of invasion has been caused, by the refusal of the Governor of the Gold Coast to surrender to the Ashanti King fugitives who had sought British protection. In revenge for this refusal an Ashanti force made a raid into the Protectorate, and reinforcements were at once asked for by the Colonial Government. In December, 1863, B Company, 1st West India Regiment, under Captain Bravo, embarked at Nassau in H.M.S. Barracouta for Jamaica, and proceeded, towards the end of February, 1864, to Honduras, in the troopship Tamar. There E and G Companies embarked, and all three, under the command of Major Anton, sailed for Cape Coast Castle on the 2nd of March, arriving there on the 9th of April. The officers of the regiment serving with these companies were Major Anton, Captains Bravo and Hopewell Smith, Lieutenants J.A. Smith, Gavin, Roberts, Smithwick, Lowry, Barlow, Allinson, and Ensign Alt.

On the arrival of the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment at Cape Coast Castle, the strength of the expeditionary force was as follows:

Officers. Men. 1st West India Regiment 11 300 2nd West India Regiment 6 170 3rd West India Regiment 6 170 4th West India Regiment 30 850 5th West India Regiment 4 10 —- —- 57 1,500

The rainy season—the most unhealthy period of the year on the Gold Coast—was then commencing, and the Government appear to have had some idea of making an advance upon Coomassie at its close—about the month of June or July. In order to have everything in readiness for the forward movement, depots of stores and munitions of war had been established at Mansu and Prahsu, and at Swaidroo in Akim, detachments of troops being stationed at these places for their protection. These detachments the Colonel commanding the troops on the Gold Coast determined to maintain during the rainy season, and it fell to the lot of B and G Companies of the 1st West India Regiment to be detailed for the fatal duty of relieving the detachment then encamped at Prahsu.

Towards the end of the month of April these two companies, under Captains Bravo and Hopewell Smith, started amidst continuous torrents of rain on their march of seventy-four miles to the Prah. They had, since their arrival, been encamped with E Company on the open space to the west of the town known as the parade ground, there being no accommodation for them in the Castle; and owing to the unsanitary condition of the site and the want of proper shelter, had already begun to suffer from the effects of the climate.

On arriving at the Prah they encamped at the ford of Prahsu, at a point where the river, making a sudden bend, enclosed the encampment on three sides. Here in the midst of a primeval forest, on the banks of a pestilential stream, without proper shelter or proper food, they remained for nearly three months. The sickness that ensued was almost unparalleled. Before they had been a month encamped, four officers and 102 men were sick out of seven officers and 214 men who had marched out of Cape Coast; and the hospital accommodation was so bad that the men had to lie on the wet ground with pools of water under them. The rains were unusually severe, the camp speedily became a swamp, the troops had worse food than usual, and, above all, were compelled to remain inactive. The small force had no means of communication with the coast, and no expectation of a reinforcement; and, had the enemy made an appearance, the troops were hardly in a fit state to defend themselves. Day after day torrents of rain fell; it was impossible to light fires for cooking purposes except under flimsy sheds of palm branches; and night after night officers and men turned into their wretched and dripping tents hungry and drenched to the skin. Neither was there any occupation for the mind or body, and universal gloom and despondency set in. It was no unusual thing for two funerals to take place in one day, and the unfortunate soldiers saw their small force diminishing day by day, apparently forgotten and neglected by the rest of the world.

By a general order published at Cape Coast Castle, on the 30th of May, 1864, the garrison at Prahsu was, on account of the sickness there prevailing, reduced to 100 men; and on the 6th of June, G Company, under Captain Hopewell Smith, marched from the Prah and proceeded to Anamaboe, a village on the sea-coast some thirteen miles to the east of Cape Coast Castle. B Company still continued to suffer severely, and on the 18th of June, 57 men were in hospital out of a total strength of 100.

At last the Imperial Government resolved to put a stop to the waste of life that was taking place, and sent out instructions to the Colonial Government that all operations against the Ashantis were to cease, and the troops to be withdrawn. The welcome intelligence reached Prahsu on the 26th of June, but the work of burying the guns and destroying the stores and ammunition, which had been collected there at such great labour and expense that the Government did not care to incur it again in their removal, occupied several days, and it was not until the 12th of July that the detachment marched out of the deadly camp on the Prah.

On the 27th of July, the hired transport Wambojeez arrived at Cape Coast Castle, to remove the detachments of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments to the West Indies, and on the 30th they embarked. The day before their embarkation the following general order was issued:

"(General Order, No. 285.)

"BRIGADE OFFICE, CAPE COAST CASTLE, "28th July, 1864.

"Paragraph 3.—The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding feels great pleasure in publishing, for the information of the officers and soldiers of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments about to embark for the West Indies, the following handsome testimony of their soldierlike conduct while employed on the late expedition, by His Excellency Governor Pine, in which feelings and kind sentiments the Lieutenant-Colonel fully concurs, adding his own thanks to Major Anton and Captain Reece for the ready and cheerful manner in which they co-operated with him in carrying out the duties of the command, and to the officers and men under their respective orders.

"It is a pleasing duty to the Lieutenant-Colonel to have to announce to these corps that, from the day they took the field until this hour, not a complaint has been brought by an inhabitant against any of the men, so excellent has the conduct of all been.

"It is also gratifying to Lieutenant-Colonel Conran to see so few men on the sick list when about to embark, considering the large numbers that were reported sick on their return from the front."

"GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE COAST, "27th July, 1864.

"SIR,

"On the eve of the departure of the detachments of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments, which have been annexed to your command on my requisition since April last, I request that you will be pleased to permit me, through you, to record my thanks as Governor of these settlements for the services they have performed conjointly with yourself and regiment.

"I feel that I have been the means of imposing upon Her Majesty's troops a laborious, ungracious, and apparently thankless duty; but my intentions and motives have been so fully, and I trust, satisfactorily discussed throughout Great Britain, that I dare hope that the officers and men will believe that I invited them to participate in a constitutional measure, which I felt convinced would add to their military reputation and honour.

"To the decision of Her Majesty's Government as to its altered policy we are all compelled to bow, and it only remains for me to express my regret to every officer and man of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments, for the natural and laudable disappointment which they have experienced in not being engaged in more active military operations, and to tender my heartfelt thanks for the prompt and ready obedience with which they responded to my call on behalf of our Royal Mistress, and for their patience and endurance under extraordinary trial.

"Major Anton I have served with, and marked with admiration his display of fortitude, moral courage, and disinterested kindness during the fearful epidemic of 1859 in the Gambia. Captain Bravo, as second in command in the Gambia, was my esteemed friend, and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him.

* * * * *

"This hasty and imperfect notice I trust you will not deem unworthy of being communicated to the highest military authority, and I shall esteem myself fortunate indeed if I shall be instrumental in the remotest degree in their advancement.

"I have, etc., (Signed) "RICHARD PINE, "Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Gold Coast.

"The Hon. Colonel CONRAN, "Commanding the troops on the Gold Coast."

The Wambojeez arrived at Barbados on the 3rd of September; there the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment embarked by companies in H.M.S. Pylades, Greyhound, and Styx, for Jamaica, and disembarked at Port Royal on the 15th of September. H and C Companies rejoining at Jamaica soon after from Honduras and Trinidad, the distribution of the regiment was as follows: head-quarters and three companies at Nassau, five companies in Jamaica.

NOTE.—Out of the 11 officers and 300 non-commissioned officers and men who landed at Cape Coast Castle on the 9th April, only 6 officers and 269 non-commissioned officers and men re-embarked on July 30th, 5 officers having been invalided, and 31 men having died during their short stay of three months and a half.



CHAPTER XXVI.

THE JAMAICA REBELLION, 1865.

In October, 1865, a rebellion broke out amongst the black population of Jamaica. On the 7th of that month, at the Petty Sessions at Morant Bay, a prisoner, who had been convicted of an assault, was rescued from the police, and on the 9th a warrant was issued for the apprehension of two persons named Bogle and several others, who were stated to have taken an active part in the riot of the 7th. Six policemen and two rural constables proceeded, early on the morning of the 10th of October, to execute this warrant at Stony Gut, about five miles from Morant Bay, where Paul Bogle and some other of the alleged rioters lived. They found Bogle in his yard, and told him that they had a warrant for his apprehension. He desired to have the warrant read to him, which was done. He then said that he would not go, and upon one of the policemen proceeding to apprehend him, he cried out: "Help, here!" At the same time, a man named Grant, who was with him, and who was addressed as "Captain," called out, "Turn out, men." Almost immediately a body of men, variously estimated at from 300 to 500, armed with cutlasses, sticks, and pikes, rushed out from a chapel where Bogle was in the habit of preaching, and from an adjoining cane-field, and attacked the policemen.

The police were, of course, overpowered. Some of them were severely beaten. Three of their number were made prisoners and detained for several hours, being ultimately only released upon their taking an oath that they would "join their colour," and "cleave to the black."

So far, perhaps, the disturbances might have been considered to be nothing more than an ordinary riot; but the proceedings of the rioters on the following day soon put their intentions beyond all reasonable doubt.

On the 11th of October the Vestry, consisting of certain elected members and magistrates, assembled in the court-house at Morant Bay about noon, and proceeded with their ordinary business till between three and four o'clock, when notice was given that a crowd of people was approaching. The volunteers were hastily called together, and almost immediately afterwards a body of men, armed with cutlasses, sticks, bayonets, and muskets, after having attacked the police station and obtained possession of such arms as were there deposited, were seen entering a large open space facing the court-house, in front of which the volunteers had been drawn up. The Custos, Baron Ketelhodt, went out to the steps, and called to the people to know what they wanted. He received no answer, and his cries of "Peace! peace!" were met by cries from the crowd of "War!"

As the advancing mob drew near, the volunteers retired till they reached the steps of the court-house. The Custos then began to read the Riot Act. While he was in the act of reading it stones were thrown at the volunteers, and Captain Hitchins, who commanded them, was struck in the forehead. The captain, having received authority from the Custos, then gave the word to fire. The order was obeyed, and some of the rioters were seen to fall. The volunteers were soon overpowered, and the court-house, in which refuge was sought, was set on fire. Many people were barbarously murdered while trying to escape. Eighteen persons, including the Custos, two sons of the rector, the Island Curate of Bath, the Inspector of Police, the captain, two lieutenants, a sergeant, and three privates of volunteers were killed. Thirty-one persons were wounded.

After this the town remained in possession of the rioters. The gaolers were compelled to throw open the prison doors, and fifty-one prisoners who were there confined were released. Several stores were attacked, and from one of them a considerable quantity of gunpowder was taken. An attempt was made to force the door of the magazine, where about 300 stand of arms were stored. Fortunately the endeavour was not successful.

Major-General L.S. O'Connor, commanding the troops in Jamaica, was inspecting the left wing of the 1st West India Regiment, under Major Anton, at Up Park Camp, on the morning of the 11th of October, when the news of the riot at Stony Gut on the 10th arrived, with a requisition from Governor Eyre for 100 men in aid of the civil power. In less than an hour Captain Ross's company paraded and marched to Kingston, where they embarked in H.M.S. Wolverine. Unfortunately, it not being supposed that there was any necessity for urgency, the Wolverine did not leave Port Royal for Morant Bay until daybreak on the 12th. At about noon on the 12th the news of the massacre of the magistrates reached Port Royal, where Major-General O'Connor was inspecting the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, under Captain Luke. In two hours from the receipt of the intelligence, the company embarked on board H.M.S. Onyx, and landed at Morant Bay on the morning of the 13th.

Captain Ross, on arriving at Morant Bay, had found the town deserted by all the Europeans, except Mr. Georges, who was severely wounded with three musket balls in his leg. The bodies of the unfortunate magistrates, many of which were barbarously mutilated, were buried by this company. This duty performed, the men patrolled the roads in the neighbourhood, and many ladies, whose husbands had been murdered or taken prisoners, and who had fled with their children, on the approach of the rioters, to bamboo thickets or other shelter, hearing the sound of the bugles, came in for protection. Numbers of them had passed the night in copses, from which, trembling with terror, they had seen their houses pillaged.

On the 12th of October, large parties of the rebels, armed with guns and cutlasses, marched in military order through Bath and other contiguous districts. Stores were pillaged, and property taken or destroyed. Blue Mountain Valley Estate, Amity Hall, Monklands, which is sixteen miles from Morant Bay, and Hordley Estate, were all attacked by the insurgents, the occupiers barely escaping with their lives. At Blue Mountain Valley and Amity Hall, barbarous murders were perpetrated.

On the 13th of October, martial law was proclaimed throughout the county of Surrey (except the county and city of Kingston), and Major-General O'Connor immediately took steps to hem in the disturbed districts. On the 15th of October, a detachment of the 1st West India Regiment was sent to Port Antonio; and at mid-day, Captain Hole, of the 6th Regiment, with 40 men of his own corps, and 60 of the 1st West India Regiment, under Ensign Cullen, marched from that place to Manchioneal, twenty miles eastward of Port Antonio. On the same day, 120 men of the 6th Regiment, under Colonel Hobbs, occupied (as head-quarters) Monklands, in the district of the Blue Mountain Valley, about sixteen miles from Morant Bay. Captain Strachan's company of the 1st West India Regiment proceeded to Spanish Town, whence Lieutenant Allinson, with 31 men, was sent on to Linstead, where a repetition of the Morant Bay massacre was apprehended. A detachment of the 6th was sent to Buff Bay to protect some valuable sugar estates.

On the 13th and two succeeding days the insurgents continued their course through Port Morant northward to Manchioneal, and on to Mulatto River and Elmwood; the last of which places is situated in the most northerly part of St. Thomas-in-the-East, where that parish abuts upon Portland. As they advanced with the cry of "colour for colour" they were joined by a considerable number of negroes, who readily assisted in the work of plundering. The houses and stores were sacked. The intention also of taking the lives of the whites was openly avowed, and diligent search was made for particular individuals. But in each case the imperilled person had timely notice, and sought safety in flight.

Elmwood was the point furthest from Morant Bay to which the disturbances extended; the arrival of the troops at Port Antonio, on the 15th, putting a stop to the further progress of the insurgents northwards. Thus in the course of four days the rebels had spread over a tract of country extending from White Horses, a few miles to the west of Morant Bay, to Elmwood, at a distance of upwards of thirty miles to the north-east of that place.

In the meantime, detachments of troops were rapidly converging upon the disturbed districts. As the rebels were reported to be occupying Stony Gut, an almost impregnable ravine three miles in length, a detachment of the 6th Regiment was sent to dislodge them. Captain Luke, 1st West India Regiment, by a rapid and judicious movement of his company towards Cuna Cuna Gap, rescued from the hands of the insurgents upwards of eighty Europeans and influential people of colour, who had, with their wives and children, been in hiding for three or four days in the woods and mountains, and conveyed them to a place of safety. Captain Hole moved towards Bath from Manchioneal, and, in a despatch to Brigadier-General Nelson, he mentions "a meritorious act of three privates of the 1st West India Regiment deserving commendation. The three men got separated from their party, and proceeded as far as the Plantain Garden River, where a great number of rebels are lurking. The soldiers encountering the rebels, shot several—among them three of the murderers of Mr. Hire—and brought back with them two cartloads of plunder, among which was some of Mr. Hire's clothing, and other property."

Kingston, as has been said, was exempted from martial law, and consequently became the refuge of the most disaffected people. Arrests were made hourly, and upwards of two hundred political prisoners were confined in the military custody of the 1st West India Regiment at Up Park Camp, which was under martial law. Threats were daily circulated that the city would be fired in various places, and the streets were patrolled by day and night. Sunday, the 22nd of October, was said to be fixed for a massacre of the loyal inhabitants while at church, and such universal panic prevailed, that every place of worship was on that day empty.

The insurgents gradually dispersed as the troops advanced, numbers being captured. On the 23rd of October, Paul Bogle, the ringleader, was taken; and, on the 24th, was tried and hanged. On the same day, George William Gordon, a coloured member of the House of Assembly, who had been tried by a court-martial on the 21st, and found guilty of complicity in the rebellion, was hanged at Morant Bay. All the insurgents taken in arms were put to death, and the houses of those who were known to have taken part in the insurrection were burned. By these vigorous measures all outward signs of resistance were crushed, and the movement prevented from becoming general; though reports were constantly received from various parts of the island, of disloyalty and seditious intentions.

On the 29th of October, letters D and F Companies of the 1st West India Regiment, with Major McBean, Captains Ormsby and Smithwick, Lieutenants Lowry, Niven, Hill, and Bale, and Ensign Cole, arrived from Nassau. Detachments were at once sent to Port Maria under Captain Ormsby, to Savannah la Mar under Lieutenant Hill, and to Vere under Lieutenant Bale. The 2nd West India Regiment, arriving from Barbados, was stationed along the north-western coast of the island.

From evidence subsequently obtained it was evident that the rising had been long planned, and that the outbreak at Morant Bay was premature. It is clear that meetings took place, where bodies of men were drilled, oaths administered, and the names of persons registered. The insurgents were so confident of ultimate success that the crops were uninjured, and the buildings for the most part preserved; they openly avowing that they intended taking them for themselves, when the whites were expelled. The rebels appear to have expected that the Maroons would join them, but that people remained faithful to their allegiance, and assisted in the suppression of the disturbances.

Although all the rebels in the field were taken or dispersed before the end of October, the island was not entirely quiet for some time after; and as late as the 14th of December, a detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, under Captain Ross, was sent from Black River to Oxford Estate, thirty miles distant, that place being reported to be disaffected.

Major-General O'Connor, in his despatch reporting the restoration of order, says: "The men employed in the field, exposed to the tropical sun, heavy rains, constant and long marches by day and night, have all (the 2nd 6th Regiment, and the 1st West India Regiment) highly distinguished themselves by their patience, perseverance, and general good conduct." He might have added that the fidelity of the black soldiers of the 1st West India Regiment could hardly have been put to a more crucial test. Nine-tenths of those men were Jamaicans, born and bred, and in the work of suppressing the rebellion they were required to hang, capture, and destroy the habitations of not only their countrymen and friends, but, in many instances, of their near relatives. Yet in no single case did any man hesitate to obey orders, nor was the loyalty of any one soldier ever a matter for doubt.

Governor Eyre having, by his prompt and vigorous measures, saved the colony of Jamaica from a repetition of those horrors which devastated the French West India Islands in the early part of the century, was subjected to a most vindictive and ungenerous attack on the part of the Exeter Hall party in England. By that party the judicial executions of the rebels were stigmatised as "atrocities," while the massacre at Morant Bay and the murders of the planters were only spoken of as "unfortunate occurrences." Owing to their clamour, a commission was sent out from England to inquire into the state of affairs in the colony. The commission arrived at the following conclusion: "That though the original design for the overthrow of constituted authority was confined to a small portion of the parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East, yet that the disorder, in fact, spread with singular rapidity over an extensive tract of country, and that such was the state of excitement prevailing in other parts of the island, that had more than a momentary success been obtained by the insurgents, their ultimate overthrow would have been attended with a still more fearful loss of life and property."

Many of the disaffected negroes, finding that they were being backed up by an influential party in England, preferred the most unfounded charges against several of the officers who had been most active in the suppression of the rebellion. Amongst others, Ensign Cullen, of the 1st West India Regiment, was charged with having had three men wantonly shot at Duckinfield Suspension Bridge, on the 21st of October, while on the march from Manchioneal to Golden Grove; and Staff-Assistant-Surgeon Morris, who had been in medical charge of Ensign Cullen's detachment, was charged with shooting a fourth man.

After these charges had been allowed to hang over these officers' heads for nearly a year, they were given an opportunity of clearing themselves before a general court martial, which assembled at Up Park Camp on the 2nd of October, 1866, and terminated its proceedings on the 4th of December. It is needless to say that both were acquitted.[59]

For the valuable and efficient services rendered by the regiment during this rebellion, the House of Assembly in Jamaica voted the sum of L100 to be expended in plate.

In March, 1866, all being quiet in Jamaica, Captain Smithwick's company returned to Nassau in H.M.S. Sphynx, being followed by Captain Ormsby's company, in August, in H.M.S. Barracouta.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 59: The following was the composition of the court:

Lieutenant-Colonel R.T. Farren, C.B., Depot Battalion—President. Major W.R. Williamson, 48th Regiment } " J.H. Campbell, 71st " } Captain F.D. Walters, 44th " } " J.G. Day, 28th " } " J.A. Barstow, 89th " } Members. " J.L. Seton, 102nd " } " C.V. Oliver, 66th " } " J.T. Ready, 66th " } Captain Maclean, Rifle Brigade—Officiating Judge Advocate. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C.F.J. Daniell, 28th Regiment—Prosecutor.

]



CHAPTER XXVII.

AFRICAN TOUR, 1866-70.

In August, 1866, it again became the turn of the 1st West India Regiment to furnish a portion of the garrisons of the Western Coast of Africa. The system of these garrisons had again been changed, and now consisted of one battalion divided between Sierra Leone and the Gambia, and half a battalion distributed between the Gold Coast and Lagos. At this time the left wing of the 2nd West India Regiment was garrisoning the two latter colonies, and the 1st West India Regiment was to garrison the two former.

On the 29th of August, 1866, four companies under Major Anton embarked at Jamaica in H.M.S. Simoom, and proceeded to Africa; two being landed at the Gambia on the 28th of September, and two at Sierra Leone on the 6th of October. The Simoom, returning to the West Indies, embarked the remaining company at Jamaica in November; and proceeding to Nassau, the head-quarters and three companies there stationed were also embarked, the whole arriving at Sierra Leone, under Captain Bravo, on the 31st of December. The distribution of the regiment now was: Head-quarters, with A, B, D, E, F, and G Companies at Sierra Leone; C and H Companies at the Gambia. Major Anton was in command at the latter station, and on the 25th of May, 1867, Lieutenant-Colonel Yonge arrived at Sierra Leone and assumed command there.

In the beginning of August, 1867, a disturbance of a serious character occurred on the Gold Coast at Mumford, a town situated half-way between Cape Coast Castle and Accra; and Lieutenant H.F.S. Bolton, 1st West India Regiment, who, being temporarily in the employ of the Colonial Government, was Civil Commandant of the latter town, was despatched with a party of the 2nd West India Regiment to establish order. The cause of the disturbance was an old-standing quarrel between two of the native companies at Mumford, and a conflict had taken place, resulting in a large number of killed and wounded. On the arrival of the troops the principal offenders were arrested, and order was restored.

Since the arrival of the regiment in Africa, small detachments had been furnished from Sierra Leone to Sherbro, Songo-town, and the island of Bulama, at the mouth of the Jeba River. In September, 1867, the troops were withdrawn from the latter station.

In October, 1867, Lieutenant Bolton was employed in arresting some recalcitrant chiefs at Pram-Pram, near Accra, Lieutenant Ness, 2nd West India Regiment, with a detachment of that corps, acting under his orders. The service was attended with considerable difficulty and some danger, and the following general order was published on the subject, dated Cape Coast Castle, January 15th, 1868:

"The officer commanding the troops has much gratification in publishing in orders an extract of a letter received from the Horse Guards, expressing the approval of His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, of the manner in which the difficult duties were carried out by the officers and troops employed in the recent expedition to Pram-Pram.

"'The attention of the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief having been drawn to a despatch, received at the Colonial Office, from the Administrator-in-Chief of the West Africa settlements, containing a very favourable account of the conduct of Lieutenant H.F.S. Bolton, of the 1st West India Regiment, and Lieutenant (now Captain) Ness, of the 4th West India Regiment,[60] and of the troops under their command, on a recent expedition to some chiefs at Pram-Pram and Ningo, on the Gold Coast; I am directed to acquaint you that His Royal Highness considers the report to be highly satisfactory, and I have to request that you will express to the officers and troops employed on the service in question, His Royal Highness's approval of the manner in which they carried out the very difficult duties they had to perform.'"

On the 9th of August, 1868, at the request of the Governor-in-chief, the garrison of the 2nd West India Regiment on the Gold Coast being much below its allotted strength, E Company, 1st West India Regiment, 100 strong, proceeded to Cape Coast Castle, under Lieutenant C.J.L. Hill, and, in consequence of this reduction of the Sierra Leone garrison, the Songo-town detachment was withdrawn.

In January, 1869, a company under Captain K.R. Niven, with Ensign W.A. Broome, was despatched to Sherbro Island for the protection of British subjects, an invasion of that island being hourly expected. The presence of the troops soon produced the desired effect, and the detachment returned to Sierra Leone on the 27th of February.

In April, 1869, in consequence of the difficulty experienced by the Colonial Government in arresting certain rebellious chiefs at the Amissah River, about twenty miles to the east of Cape Coast Castle, the police having been attacked and driven off, the Acting Administrator, Mr. W.H. Simpson, applied for a military party to aid in establishing the authority of the Government over the people of that place; and, on the 7th of that month, Lieutenant E.G. Macdonald, 1st West India Regiment, with twenty-five non-commissioned officers and men of letter E Company, marched for Anamaboe, leaving that place next morning for Amissah River. On arriving there the chiefs were captured with some little difficulty, and the party returned to Cape Coast next day.

On the 1st of April, 1869, the 4th West India Regiment was disbanded, and the three remaining West India regiments were each augmented by one company; the detachment of the 4th West India Regiment at Jamaica being formed into the ninth, or letter "I," Company of the 1st West India Regiment. On the 30th of September, 1869, it embarked for Honduras in the brigantine W.N.Z., under Major McAuley, arriving at its destination on the 14th of October.

In May, 1869, the Gambia was visited by a severe epidemic of cholera. Owing to the sanitary measures adopted by Major W.W.W. Johnston, 1st West India Regiment, commanding the troops, the regiment escaped with only eighteen deaths out of the 200 men there stationed between the 5th of May and the 6th of June, the period when the epidemic was at its height; while in the town there were more than 1500 deaths, out of a population of some 5000.

In 1870 the three years' tour of service of the regiment on the West Coast of Africa expired. The 3rd West India Regiment having been disbanded, a considerable reduction in the West African garrisons became necessary, and it was intended that the relief for the eight companies of the 1st West India Regiment should consist of four companies of the 2nd. On the 24th of May, the head-quarters, with A, B, and F Companies, under Captain Samson, embarked at Sierra Leone in H.M.S. Orontes, which, proceeding to the Gambia, took on board the two companies there on the 29th. The head-quarters, with the three companies from Sierra Leone, landed at Jamaica on the 27th of June, and the Orontes then sailed for Nassau, where the two companies from the Gambia were disembarked. On the return of the troopship to the West Coast of Africa with the four companies of the 2nd West India Regiment, the company of the 1st West India Regiment at Cape Coast Castle was embarked on the 24th of August, and the remaining two at Sierra Leone on the 27th. All three proceeded to Jamaica, under the command of Captain J.A. Smith, and landed at Kingston on the 3rd of October. The distribution of the regiment was now as follows: head-quarters and six companies at Jamaica, two at Nassau, and one at Honduras. On the 15th of November, F Company, under Captain Butler, embarked at Jamaica for Honduras; thus making up the detachment at that station to two companies.

During the West African tour of 1866-70, two officers succumbed to the influence of the climate, Lieutenant Gavin having died at Sierra Leone on the 22nd of February, 1869, and Lieutenant Maturin on the 7th of December of the same year.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 60: By the Gazette of September 25th, 1867, Lieutenant R.E.D. Ness, 2nd West India Regiment, was promoted Captain, by purchase, in the 4th West India Regiment.]



CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE DEFENCE OF ORANGE WALK, 1872.

On the 1st of September, 1872, a most determined attack was made by the Ycaiche Indians on the outpost of Orange Walk, British Honduras, which was garrisoned by thirty-eight men of the 1st West India Regiment, under Lieutenant Joseph Graham Smith.

Orange Walk is situated on a deep and sluggish stream in the northern district, named the New River,[61] at a distance of some thirty-three miles from its mouth, and, in 1872, contained a population of about 1200 souls, the majority of whom were either Indians or Hispano-Indians, and indifferent to British rule. The business portion of the town, and most of the shops or stores, were on hilly ground, considerably above the river-bed, and built here and there, without an attempt at order or regularity. About midway between the river and this upper portion of the town was the barrack, consisting of one large room, sixty feet by thirty feet, the two ends of which were partitioned off, leaving the central part for the men's quarters. The partitioned portion at the south end was used as a guard-room. The walls of the building were constructed of pimentos, or round straight sticks, varying from half-an-inch to three inches in diameter, driven firmly into the ground, in an upright position, as close together as possible, and held in their places by pine-wood battens. The roof was composed of palm-leaves, or "fan-thatch." The floor was boarded.

On the south-eastern side of the barrack, the ground fell towards the river, which was about fifty yards distant. About ten yards from the water's edge was a large quantity of logwood, packed in piles four feet high, and some little distance from each other. Across the road, on the southern side, were several native houses; to the east, and about forty yards distant, was a group of four small buildings consisting of commissariat stores and the officers' quarters; while the nearest building on the north was the Roman Catholic Church, about eighty yards off.

How or when the invaders crossed the Rio Hondo, the northern boundary of the colony, has not been ascertained; but it is a significant fact, suggestive of strong suspicions against the loyalty of the Indian and mixed Spanish-Indian population, whose small settlements were dotted here and there on the line of march of the invaders, that no information was conveyed, either to the district magistrate at Orange Walk, or to the officer commanding the small detachment, that an enemy was at hand, prepared, as the settlers must have known, to attack and plunder the town.

The Indians, consisting of about 180 braves, or fighting men, and 100 camp followers, led by Marcus Canul, chief of the Ycaiche, approached the town about 8 a.m. on Sunday, the 1st of September. They were divided into three sections, each of 60 men, and they entered the town at three different points; one attacking the upper portion, and pillaging and setting fire to the houses and stores, the other two marching directly upon the barracks, but from opposite sides. Of these latter two, one took up a position behind the stacks of logwood, thus commanding one side and one end of the barrack; and the other established itself close to the officers' quarters, under cover of a stone building, which commanded the other side of the barrack and the end already commanded from the stacks of logwood.

So sudden and unexpected was the attack, that Lieutenant Graham Smith and Staff-Assistant-Surgeon Edge, who were both at the time having their morning baths, barely had time to escape to the barracks; Lieutenant Smith, with nothing on but his trousers, and Dr. Edge in a state of nudity; while the first notice the men in the barrack had of the approach of the enemy, was the shower of lead which rattled on the building.

Lieutenant Graham Smith says: "At about 8 a.m. on September 1st, I was bathing, when I heard the report of a gun and the whizz of a bullet along the road running past the south end of the barrack-room. I looked out of the door of my house facing the barracks, and saw the corporal of the old guard, which had just been relieved, running towards me. He said, 'The Indians have come.' I repeated this to Dr. Edge, who was living in the same quarters with me, then put on my trousers, ran across to the barrack-room, and got the men under arms as quickly as possible."

Before Lieutenant Graham Smith had reached the barracks, the two divisions of the enemy had taken up their respective positions, and were pouring in unceasing discharges of ball, which penetrated the pimento sticks and raked the building from end to end. The guard, the only men who had ammunition in their possession, returned the fire, and at this moment Lieutenant Smith arrived with Dr. Edge.

Sergeant Belizario, coming forward and asking for ammunition to serve out, reminded Lieutenant Smith that he had left the key of the portable magazine, in which the ammunition was kept, in his quarters. The open space between his quarters and the barrack-room was swept with an unceasing shower of lead; but there was no help for it, and the key had to be fetched. Accompanied by Sergeant Belizario, Lieutenant Smith ran over to his house, seized the key, and ran back. Most marvellously both escaped injury, though the ground all around them was cut up by bullets. The portable magazine was kept in the partitioned end that served as a guard-room, and there was no door of communication between the central portion, where the men lived, and this room. Sergeant Belizario therefore ran out of the barrack-room, along the side of the building, into the guard-room, and endeavoured to drag the portable magazine back with him. He succeeded in moving it outside the guard-room and a little way along the wall, but further he could not drag it. All this time he was exposed to a heavy fire, and every musket-barrel from the stone building on the eastern side of the barrack was pointed at his body. Finding that all his efforts to move the magazine were fruitless, Sergeant Belizario unlocked it, and, taking out the ammunition, passed packet after packet to the men inside, through the opening under the eaves left for ventilation, between the thatched roof and the top of the pimento wall, till the magazine was emptied. This done, he returned to the barrack-room. He seemed to have borne a charmed life, for he was untouched, while the portable magazine was starred with the white splashes of leaden bullets.

A hot fire was now opened by the soldiers, and Lieutenant Graham Smith, taking a rifle, placed himself at the west door of the barracks to try and pick off some of the most daring of the Indians. Whilst there he was struck in the left side, and, at the same instant, Private Robert Lynch, who was standing next him, fell dead, pierced by two shots.

Notwithstanding his wound, which was very severe, the ball penetrating the left breast a little above the heart, and passing nearly through him, finally lodging under the left shoulder-blade, Lieutenant Smith continued directing and encouraging his men; and finding that the whole interior was swept by the missiles of the enemy, against which the frail pimento-sticks were no protection, he ordered the men to turn down their cots, and, lying on their beds, to fire over the iron heads of the cots. In this position they were tolerably well sheltered, though the Indians were so close that several of the iron heads were shot through.

In this place it will be proper to refer to a soldier who, all this time, was outside the barrack. This was Private Bidwell, who, when the Indians arrived, had just been posted sentry on a commissariat store close to the officers' quarters. The occupation of one of this group of buildings cut him off from the barrack-room; so, after bayoneting one Indian, he ran over to an enclosure belonging to Don Escalente, situated to the north of the store. From the shelter of the fence of this enclosure he fired into the Indians in the stone building till his ten rounds of ammunition were exhausted. He then said to Don Escalente, "I am going over to the barracks for more cartridges," and, before he could be dissuaded, ran out from the shelter and endeavoured to cross the open space to the barrack. On the way he received a mortal wound, but succeeded in joining his comrades.

The Indians, impatient at the delay caused by the obstinate resistance of the soldiers, now vacated the houses on the further side of the road, opposite the southern end of the barracks, and set fire to the thatched roofs, hoping to involve the barracks in a general conflagration. The houses burned fiercely, and the flames spreading across the road, caught a small kitchen situated not ten yards from the barracks. The Indians raised yells of triumph, for they considered it certain that their foes would now be driven from their shelter and then easily overpowered by force of numbers. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how the dry palm-thatch of the barracks did fail to ignite, but it did so fail, and the kitchen, after blazing up violently for a few minutes, fell in and burned itself out harmlessly.

By the destruction of these buildings the position of the soldiers was improved, the Indians now having no cover immediately opposite the south end of the barrack, and being compelled consequently to concentrate behind the stacks of logwood. A party, however, of them made a circuit and appeared on the north-west corner of the barrack, from whence they commanded the road bounding the north side of the building.

After the firing had continued for an hour and a half, Mr. Price, and another American gentleman from Tower Hill Rancho, about four miles from the barracks, having heard what was taking place, mounted and rode towards the scene of the conflict. Creeping up the river bank unperceived through the thick woods, they suddenly rode into and fired upon the Indians who were in rear of the stacks of logwood. The latter, taken by surprise, and not knowing by what unexpected force they were attacked, left their cover for a moment and appeared on the side nearest to the barracks. The soldiers perceiving this movement, and thinking that the Indians were going to attempt to rush the building, fixed bayonets, and some ran to the doors to defend the entrances. Mr. Price and his companion, taking advantage of this and the momentary surprise of the Indians, rushed forward and threw themselves into the barracks.

The enemy's fire redoubled after this, and it was hotly kept up until about half-past 1 o'clock; it then began to slacken, and by 2 o'clock had ceased altogether. For some time no one stirred, it being suspected that the cessation of the attack was only an Indian ruse; but after a quarter of an hour had elapsed, Sergeant Belizario was sent out with a party to reconnoitre. He reported that the enemy was in full retreat, and was sent to follow them up and watch their movements. No pursuit could be attempted. Lieutenant Graham Smith was, by this time, incapable of further action, and out of the detachment of thirty-eight men, two had been killed and fourteen severely wounded.

The attack lasted altogether six hours. The Indian loss was about fifty killed; the number of their wounded could not, of course, be ascertained, but amongst them was Marcus Canul himself, who was mortally wounded, and died before recrossing the Hondo. Of the civilians, the son of Don Escalente, a boy fourteen years of age, was killed, and seventeen were wounded. While the Indians had been occupied in their attack on the barracks, the European women and children had escaped from the scene of the outrage and crossed the river in boats. Thence they had made their way through the dense forest to the village of San Estevan, about seven miles below Orange Walk. Over 300 bullet-holes were counted in the walls of the barrack-room, and in many places the palmettos were shot away in patches.

On the morning following the attack, a rumour reached the barracks that the Indians were again in force near the town, and preparing to renew the attack. Every preparation for giving them a warm reception was made; but Sergeant Belizario and a small party, who went out to reconnoitre, found that the rumour was false, although several Indians were seen in the bush and fired upon.

In the meantime the news of the invasion had reached Corosal and Belize, and Captain F.B.P. White, with Lieutenant Bulger and twenty men, arrived at Orange Walk at midnight on the 4th, being followed next day by a further reinforcement of fifty-three officers and men, under Major W.W.W. Johnston, but the Indians had already retired beyond the frontier.

A colonist, in a letter to The Times on this affair, says:

"Concerning the conduct and proceedings of the military during and subsequent to the late invasion and attack, I have nothing to say but what redounds to their credit and high character as British soldiers; and if medals and crosses were distributed among the dusky warriors of Her Majesty's land forces in this part of her dominions as freely as among other branches of the service, all I can say is that every one of the brave fellows, who held with such determined valour and tenacity the barracks at Orange Walk on that memorable Sunday morning against such fearful odds, would be entitled to a medal at least."

The following general order was issued: "The Colonel commanding the forces in the West Indies has received with much satisfaction an account of the successful defence of the post of Orange Walk, British Honduras, by a detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant J. Graham Smith, against an assault of a large force of Indians.

"He has much pleasure in recording his high approbation of the gallant conduct of Lieutenant Smith, who, severely wounded at the outset of the attack, maintained the defence of his post, and retained command as long as his strength enabled him to do so; it was then successfully maintained under the direction of Staff-Assistant-Surgeon Edge, and Sergeant Belizario, 1st West India Regiment, to whom also great praise is due for their conduct and exertions; the gallant conduct of Lance-Corporals Spencer and Stirling, Privates Hoffer, Maxwell, Osborne, Murray, and W. Morris, has also been favourably mentioned.

"The Colonel commanding will have great pleasure in bringing the conduct of these officers and soldiers to the favourable notice of His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, and also the judicious and energetic measures taken by Major W.W.W. Johnston, 1st West India Regiment, commanding the troops in British Honduras, who proceeded in person to the post which had been assailed, and followed up the retreating enemy."

In reply to the report made by Colonel Cox, C.B., commanding the troops, the following letter was received, and ordered to be embodied in the records of the regiment:

"HORSE GUARDS, WAR OFFICE, S.W., "15th November, 1872.

"SIR,

"Having had the honour to receive and submit to the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, your letter of the 23rd September last, with its several enclosures, containing a detailed account of the exemplary and gallant conduct of a detachment of the 1st West India Regiment, in repelling an attack of Indians on the Orange Walk outpost of the Colony of British Honduras, together with a letter on the same subject addressed to this department by the officer commanding the 1st West India Regiment:

"I have it in command to acquaint you that His Royal Highness, after consultation with the Secretary of State for War on the subject, has decided that the following recognition shall be at once made of the services of the officers and men employed on that occasion, viz.:

"That Lieutenant Smith, late 1st West India Regiment, who was gazetted to the 57th Regiment in August last, shall be immediately promoted to a Company in the 97th Foot.

"That Staff-Assistant-Surgeon Edge shall be promoted to the rank of Surgeon, as soon as he has qualified for the higher position, and a notification to this effect will be published in the London Gazette, hereafter.

"That Sergeant Edward Belizario shall receive the distinguished conduct medal, with an annuity of L10, to be given at once, in excess of the vote, until absorbed on the occurrence of a vacancy.

"That Lance-Corporals Spencer and Stirling shall be granted the distinguished conduct medal without annuity, and promoted to the rank of Corporal, to be borne supernumerary till absorbed.

"I am also to request that the men of the detachment specially named in the margin[62] may be commended for their good conduct, and the commanding officer of the regiment requested to record their claims, and give such recognition of them regimentally as may be possible from time to time.

"That you will publish these, His Royal Highness's decisions, in your general orders.

"And that a copy of this letter may be furnished to the officer commanding the 1st West India Regiment, for the purpose of being entered in the Regimental Records.

"I have, etc., (Signed) J.W. ARMSTRONG, D.A.G."

In consequence of the attack on Orange Walk, and on the application of the Governor of Honduras, Captain Gardner, Lieutenant Bale, and fifty men of the regiment, embarked at Jamaica, on the 25th of September, in H.M.S. Fly, as a reinforcement for Honduras.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 61: See Map.]

[Footnote 62: Privates Hoffer, Maxwell, S. Osborne, Murray, R.A. Morris, and W. Tell.]



CHAPTER XXIX.

THE ASHANTI WAR, 1873-4.

On the 9th of December, 1872, the King of Ashanti despatched from Coomassie an army of 40,000 men to invade the British Protectorate on the Gold Coast. This army crossed the Prah in three divisions on January 29th, 1873, and spread itself slowly over the country, ravaging as it advanced. In August, 1870, the garrisons on the West Coast of Africa had been reduced to four companies, two at Sierra Leone, and two at Cape Coast. This reduction, no doubt, was one of the principal causes which led to the invasion, for at that time there were only 160 soldiers of the 2nd West India Regiment to defend 160 miles of territory.

In June, 1873, the head-quarters of the 2nd West India Regiment being ordered from Demerara to Cape Coast Castle, A Company of the 1st West India Regiment embarked at Kingston, Jamaica, on the 10th of that month, and proceeded to Demerara to garrison that place. In September, the native levies that had been raised on the Gold Coast to resist the Ashantis being found utterly worthless, it was decided to send three battalions from England and the 1st West India Regiment from Jamaica, to invade in turn the Ashanti territory and dictate terms of peace at Coomassie.

On the 15th of November, the two companies (C and H) from Nassau, under the command of Major Strachan, arrived at Jamaica, and, on the 3rd of December, the head-quarters and five companies (B, C, E, G and H), under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, embarked at Kingston on board the hired transport Manitoban. Proceeding to Barbados, A Company, which had been moved from Demerara, was embarked on the 9th of December, and the same evening the regiment sailed for the Gold Coast, arriving at Cape Coast Castle on the 27th, and disembarking on the 29th, 575 strong. The officers serving with the expeditionary force were Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, Major W.W.W. Johnston, Captains Sampson, Butler, Niven, J.A. Smith, Steward, and Shearman, Lieutenants Allinson, C.J.L. Hill, Bale, Molony, Cole, Bell, Clough, Elderton, Beale-Browne, and Barne, and Sub-Lieutenants Harward, Spitta, Hughes, Burke, Edwardes, Tinkler, and Ellis.

The regiment on landing was encamped on Prospect and Connor's Hills, two heights overlooking the town of Cape Coast, and Colonel Maxwell assumed command of the garrison in the Castle.

Sir Garnet Wolseley having already driven the Ashantis out of the Protectorate after the actions at Dunquah and Abracampa in November, and having garrisoned the various stations between Cape Coast and the Prah, had, a few days before the regiment landed, gone on to Prahsu with his head-quarter staff. The Himalaya and Tamar, with the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, which had been cruising about outside for sanitary reasons, now came into the roadstead, where the Sarmatian, with the 42nd Highlanders, was already lying, and everything was ready for the advance on Coomassie.

Accordingly, before daybreak on the 1st of January, the right half-battalion of the Rifle Brigade landed and commenced its march to the front, followed the next morning by the other half-battalion. On the mornings of the 3rd and 4th the two half-battalions of the 42nd landed, and passed to the front in a similar manner.

The Fantis had shown so much disinclination to act as carriers, and so few had been obtained, that the advance of these two battalions had exhausted all the available carriers, and there were none for the 23rd Fusiliers. It was necessary to adopt stronger measures, unless the expedition was to fall through, and on the 4th of January the 1st West India Regiment was posted in a cordon of sentries around the town of Cape Coast, while the armed police seized all the able-bodied men in the town, except those employed as canoe-men. This step was entirely successful, and on the morning of the 5th the right half-battalion of the 23rd landed and marched to the front, being followed next morning by C Company of the 1st West India Regiment.

The difficulty with the carriers had in the meantime increased instead of diminishing. Numbers had deserted, abandoning their loads, and the transport was almost in a moribund condition, the 23rd Regiment being even re-embarked for want of carriers. Sir Garnet Wolseley in this emergency called upon the West India regiments for assistance, saying that the fate of the expedition was hanging in the balance; and in response to his appeal, they both volunteered to carry supplies, in addition to their arms, accoutrements, and ammunition.

Accordingly, on the 7th of January, the head-quarters of the regiment, under Colonel Maxwell, with A and E Companies, marched to Inquabim, the first stage; being followed the next morning by G and H Companies, under Captain Butler; while B Company remained at Prospect Hill to furnish the necessary garrison guards at Cape Coast Castle.

The head-quarters arrived at Dunquah on the 8th, where C Company had been halted by Colonel Colley, who was in charge of the transport and communications, and had already been actively engaged driving in carriers and furnishing escorts for the convoys of provisions.

On the 9th, at 1.30 a.m., A Company, under Captain Shearman, paraded and marched into the Ecumfie district for the purpose of driving in carriers from that neighbourhood, and, at the same hour, the head-quarters and E Company continued their march to Mansu, where they arrived the same evening.

Provisions being now urgently required at the stations immediately in front of Mansu, 78 men of E Company, being all that were available, and 140 of the 42nd Highlanders, started at three o'clock in the morning of the 12th, as carriers, each man with a load of 50 lb. weight, besides his arms and accoutrements. On the evening of the same day Captain Butler, with H Company, arrived at Mansu.

The carriers continued deserting by whole tribes, and the need of them had become so urgent, that orders were issued to shoot any attempting to desert, while parties of the regiment were continually passing backwards and forwards between Dunquah and Mansu as guards over the convoys. To relieve the pressure, 94 men of G and C Companies left Dunquah on the 13th with ninety-four 50-lb. loads, and, reaching Mansu the same day, started next morning at daybreak for the Prah.

On the 17th, Captain Butler marched with H Company to Essecooma, a place about twenty miles due east from Mansu, to drive in carriers, and a similar party was sent out next day from Dunquah, under Lieutenant Roper, to Adjumaco and Essiaman.

During all these arduous duties, and since the 8th of January, so great was the scarcity of provisions at the front, that the non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment were placed upon half rations of salt meat and biscuit, without the grocery ration.

On Sunday, the 18th of January, the transport being now in sufficient order, owing to the number of carriers driven in from the surrounding districts by the regiment, the advance of the army commenced, and the head-quarters of the 42nd Regiment marched from Mansu; their left wing, and 100 men of the 23rd Fusiliers, moving up from Yancoomassie Fanti, and occupying their lines for the night. The Rifle Brigade moved simultaneously to the front from the stations ahead.

Next morning, E Company, under Captain J.A. Smith, marched with the left wing of the 42nd for the Prah, and G Company, under Captain Steward, came up to Mansu from Dunquah, leaving A and C Companies, under Captains Niven and Shearman, at Dunquah and the Adjumaco district.

On the 23rd, orders were received from the front by telegram, that the head-quarters and 200 men were to march for the Prah at once, there to receive further orders. Captain Butler, who had been ordered in with H Company from Essecooma, two days before, arrived at Mansu the same evening, and the next morning, the head-quarters and G Company marched for the Prah, H Company following on the 25th. Halting at Sutah and Yancoomassie Assin, the head-quarters arrived at Prahsu on the 27th, and on the morning of the 28th, the 200 men required crossed the Prah and marched to Essiaman. During this march the men had been obliged to carry their tentes d'abri, blankets and waterproof sheets, and seventy rounds of ball ammunition, in addition to their field kits and arms and accoutrements. On arriving at Essiaman, E Company, which, under Captain J.A. Smith, had crossed the Prah a day or two before, was found occupying an important post at the cross roads.

A few minutes after reaching this village, urgent orders were received to push on as quickly as possible to the summit of the Adansi Hills, and again proceed to the front with all speed, leaving fifty men at Fommanah, the capital of Adansi. On the 29th, the head-quarters were at Accrofumu; on the 30th, they crossed the Adansi Hills, and halted at Fommanah for the night, leaving E Company, under Captain Smith, at the cross-roads at the foot of the hills, in accordance with later orders that had been received, and Lieutenant Spitta with twenty-five men at the summit. The men were now becoming much exhausted from their long marches, marching, as they did, double stages every day. Their burdens were unusually heavy for troops, and they were still kept on half rations.

At Fommanah a very pressing letter was received from the chief of the staff, asking at what hour next day the regiment might be expected to join the head-quarters of the army at Insarfu, what numbers it could put into the field, and whether the boxes of small-arm ammunition ordered up from Prahsu had arrived with it. A considerable action was considered imminent on the morrow.

At daylight on the morning of the 31st, the head-quarters marched to Ahkankuassie, leaving Captain Steward and Lieutenant Hughes with fifty men at Fommanah. At about eight o'clock the sound of heavy and sustained musketry was heard, and the men, eager to join in the first battle fought on Ashanti soil, pushed on. At Adadwasi a large number of carriers, with reserve ammunition, who had halted there, frightened at the sound of the firing, were found, and were at once taken on, arriving at Insarfu about 1.30 p.m.

The firing, which had ceased for a short time, now recommenced, the Ashantis making one of their favourite flank attacks on Quarman, the next village in front. The situation appeared grave, the town being crowded with terrified carriers and wounded men, and Lieutenant Hill with a half-company was sent out to act with the 2nd West India Regiment and skirmish.

After a time, however, the musketry ceased, and the carriers, with the reserve ammunition, were pushed on hurriedly under the escort of a company of the Rifle Brigade, the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments being directed to hold Insarfu. Scarcely had the carriers started than the firing again commenced, the ambushed Ashantis having attacked the convoy, which fell back upon Insarfu. After a short delay, a second attempt was made to get the ammunition through to the front, and this time it proved successful. It was now dark, and Captain Buckle, R.E., who had been killed that morning, was buried outside the town, the firing party of the 1st West India Regiment being employed as skirmishers to protect the funeral party, instead of in the usual manner.

The next morning, orders were received for the 2nd West India Regiment to proceed to Amoaful, and hold it until the return of the army from Coomassie; while the 1st West India Regiment was directed to hold Insarfu, in which was the 2nd field hospital with 120 wounded officers and men. The work was arduous in the extreme, the men, when not on sentry or patrol, being employed in clearing the thick bush round the town, and endeavouring to strengthen the post. While the engagement at Amoaful, Quarman, and Insarfu was going on, a party of the 1st West India Regiment, which was escorting treasure from Fommanah to Dompoassi, was fired upon by some ambushed Ashantis about one hundred yards from the latter village. The escort promptly returned the fire, but the carriers all dropped their loads and ran away. After firing a few desultory shots the Ashantis retired, and the escort remained with the scattered boxes of specie, which were too numerous for them to carry on themselves. Fortunately the fugitive carriers, running headlong into Fommanah, spread the alarm, and Captain North, of the 47th Regiment, immediately marched with a party of the 1st West India Regiment, under Lieutenant E. Hughes, and a few men of Russell's Regiment, to Dompoassi, near which he found the treasure quite safe, it having, with the exception of one box, which had been dropped by its bearer some three hundred yards down the road, away from the rest, and where a turn in the path hid it from sight, been collected together by the escort. No trace was found of the enemy, and the party of the 1st West India Regiment returned to Fommanah.

On the morning of the 2nd of February, the head-quarters of the army advanced from Amoaful to march on Coomassie. There were, notwithstanding the defeat on January 31st, still large numbers of Ashantis on the flanks of the road, in the neighbourhood of Quarman and Insarfu. During the day succeeding the battle, they concentrated lower down the road, and, on the morning of the 2nd of February, made a desperate attempt to sever our line of communications by attacking the post of Fommanah.