+------------+----------------+-----------+---+---+-------------------+---+ | | | Officers | | | Effective Rank | | | | | Present. | | | and File. | | |Where | +---+---+---+ | +-------------------+ | |Stationed. | Companies. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | +------------+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Grenada | Capt. Mackrill | 1 | - | - | 3| 1 | 25| 7 | 10| 23| 65| 70| |St. Vincent | Capt. Anderson | 1 | - | 1 | 14| 5 | 46| 4 | -|138|188|209| |Grenada | Capt. Millar | 1 | - | - | 3| - | 19| 4 | 4| 19| 46| 50| +------------+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | Total | 3 | - | 1 | 20| 6 | 90| 15| 14|180|299|329| +------------+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ The officers of this corps were, according to Bryan Edwards, vol. i. p. 386, taken from the regular army, and the companies were commanded by lieutenants of regulars, having captains' rank. Artificers, it may be as well to observe, were sappers and miners. The Royal Engineers at about this date consisted of various companies of Artificers; later on they were called Sappers and Miners; and, finally, Royal Engineers. CHAPTER IV. THE EXPEDITION TO MARTINIQUE, 1793--THE CAPTURE OF MARTINIQUE, ST. LUCIA, AND GUADALOUPE, 1794--THE DEFENCE OF FORT MATILDA, 1794. In February, 1789, all three companies of the "Black Corps of Dragoons, Pioneers, and Artificers" were stationed in Grenada, and from that date until June, 1793, they are shown in every monthly return, with a strength varying from 279 to 268, and an increase of four first lieutenants. In February, 1793, the news of the French declaration of war was received in the West Indies, and orders were soon after transmitted from England to the Commander-in-Chief in the Windward and Leeward Islands to attempt the reduction of the French islands. Tobago was taken on the 17th of April without much trouble, the majority of the planters in that island being English; and an attack on Martinique was next meditated. The whole of the British force in the West Indies was known and acknowledged to be inadequate to the reduction of that island; but such representations had been spread throughout the army, concerning the disaffection of the greater part of the inhabitants of all the French islands towards the Republican Government lately established, as to create a very general belief that the appearance of a British armament before the capital of Martinique would alone produce an immediate surrender. Major-General Bruce, on whom the chief command of the troops had devolved, was assured by a deputation from the principal planters of the island that "a body of 800 regular troops would be more than sufficient to overcome all possible resistance."