The History of the First West India RegimentEllis, A. B. (Alfred Burdon)
History
The History of the First West India Regiment
Ellis, A. B. (Alfred Burdon)
Great Britain. Army. West India regiment, 1st
"The quantity of ammunition expended by the mutineers, and the
comparatively little mischief done by them, was truly astonishing. It
shows how little they understood the use of fire-arms. Dixon was killed,
and several of the old African soldiers were wounded, but not one of the
officers was in the slightest degree hurt.
"I have never been able to get a correct account of the number of lives
this wild mutiny cost, but believe it was not less than forty, including
those slain by the militia at Arima, those shot at San Josef, those who
died of their wounds (and most of the wounded men died), the six who
committed suicide, the three who were shot by sentence of the
court-martial, and one who was shot while endeavouring to escape
(Satchell).
"A good-looking young man, named Torrens, was brought as prisoner to the
presence of Colonel Bush. The colonel wished to speak to him, and
desired his guards to liberate him; on which the young savage shook his
sleeve, in which was a concealed razor, made a rush at the colonel, and
nearly succeeded in cutting his throat. He slashed the razor in all
directions until he made an opening; he rushed through this: and
notwithstanding that he was fired at, and, I believe, wounded, he
effected his escape, was subsequently retaken, and again made his escape
with Satchell, who after this was shot by a policeman.
"Torrens was retaken, tried, and recommended to mercy. Of this man's
fate I am unable to speak, not knowing how far the recommendation to
mercy was attended to.[52] In appearance he seemed the mildest and
best-looking of the mutineers, but his conduct was the most ferocious of
any. The whole of the mutineers were captured within one week of the
mutiny, save this man, who was taken a month after.
"On the 19th of July, Donald Stewart, otherwise Daaga, was brought to a
court-martial. On the 21st, William Satchell was tried. On the 22nd, a
court-martial was held on Edward Coffin; and on the 24th one was held on
the Yarraba chief, Maurice Ogston, whose country name was, I believe,
Mawee. Torrens was tried on the 29th.
"The sentences of these courts-martial were unknown until the 14th of
August, having been sent to Barbados in order to be submitted to the
Commander-in-Chief. Lieutenant-General Whittingham, who approved of the
decision of the courts, which was that Donald Stewart (Daaga), Maurice
Ogston, and Edward Coffin, should suffer death by being shot; and that
William Satchell should be transported beyond seas during the term of
his natural life. I am unacquainted with the sentence of Torrens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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