Historical Record of the Forty-sixth or South Devonshire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1741 and of Its Subsequent Services to 1851Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Forty-sixth or South Devonshire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1741 and of Its Subsequent Services to 1851
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 46th (South Devonshire)
The Caribs, with great dexterity, found means to clear the
field-piece of the spike during the short time they had it in
their possession, and had been joined by upwards of a hundred
French and others of their party immediately after the retreat of
Captain Hall's party. The British, however, attacked them with
great spirit, and, in less than half an hour, they retook the
field-piece, and obtained possession of the hill, the enemy flying
on all sides.
The FORTY-SIXTH regiment had three rank and file killed, and nine
wounded. Captain William Cooper Forster and Ensign Michael Lee,
were also wounded.
On the 12th of June the troops under Lieut.-Colonel Baldwin
Leighton, of the FORTY-SIXTH regiment, carried by assault, the
enemy's post on the Vigie, on which occasion Captains John Law and
William Cooper Forster, of that regiment, were wounded:--after this
success the Lieut.-Colonel advanced into the Carib country, and
took up a position on Mount Young.
On the 1st of August, 1795, Major-General James Henry Craig was
appointed Colonel of the FORTY-SIXTH regiment, in succession to
Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir John Vaughan, K.B., deceased.
In September, 1795, reinforcements arrived from England, consisting
of the fortieth, fifty-fourth, and fifty-ninth regiments, and
Major-General Paulus Æmilius Irving assumed the command. The enemy,
apprised of the arrival of fresh troops, retired from his position
on Fairbane's Ridge, during the night of the 30th of September.
At three o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of October, the troops
advanced against the _Vigie_, and after a severe action, the Caribs
abandoned that post, of which possession was taken by the British.
[Sidenote: 1796]
After this action the British remained on the defensive, but
several attacks were made by the enemy. Major-General Peter Hunter,
after an action fought on the 8th of January, 1796, evacuated the
New Vigie, in order to provide for the safety of Fort Charlotte and
Kingston. The party from Morne Ronde was also withdrawn.
On the 8th of June further reinforcements arrived under
Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K.B., and on the following
day the troops marched in one column, by the right, as far as
Stubbs, about eight miles from Kingston; each division halted that
evening opposite to their respective points of attack. The post of
_New Vigie_, an eminence on which the enemy had constructed four
redoubts, stronger by the natural difficulties of the approach,
than by the art displayed in their formation, was attacked on the
10th of June, and after a conflict of seven hours' duration, the
Caribs surrendered prisoners of war; but about six hundred broke
the capitulation, and escaped to the woods, where they joined their
friends at the farther end of the island.
In this attack the FORTY-SIXTH had two rank and file killed, and
one wounded.
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