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 British loss in this action was over 1000 killed; while the
Americans stated their total loss to be 8 killed and 14 wounded. The 1st
West India Regiment had 5 rank and file killed, 2 sergeants and 16 rank
and file wounded. The following officers were wounded: Captain Isles,
Lieutenants McDonald and Morgan, Ensigns Miller and Pilkington; and all,
with the exception of Ensign Miller, severely so. Lieutenants McKenzie
and Dalomel, the only remaining officers of the regiment with the
expedition, were publicly thanked by Major-General Lambert for the
courage which they had displayed, and the able manner in which they had
withdrawn the remnant of their corps from the enemy's palisades.
The capture of New Orleans being now despaired of in the shattered
condition of the force, a retreat was determined upon. As it was
impossible, without great risk, to return to the fleet by the route by
which the army had come--there not being sufficient boats to embark more
than a third of the force at a time--it was decided to make a road from
the firm ground to the water's edge, a distance of many miles, through
the very centre of a morass, where human foot had never before trodden.
The difficulties experienced in making this road were immense. Sometimes
for miles together no firm soil could be found, nor trees to furnish
brushwood, and all that could be done was to lay down bundles of reeds
on the morass. Nor were the enemy idle; there was constant skirmishing
at the outposts, and a continual fire was kept up on the camp from a
six-gun battery mounted on the bank of the river.
After nine days' incessant toil the road was completed; the sick and
wounded were first removed, then the baggage and stores, and on January
17th, the infantry alone remained in the camp. On the evening of the
18th it also began its retreat. Leaving the camp-fires burning as if no
movement were taking place, battalion after battalion stole away in the
darkness in the most profound silence. Marching all night over the
fragile road of reeds, through which the men sank knee-deep into the
mud, the army reached the borders of the lake at dawn. Boats were in
readiness, and regiment after regiment embarked and set sail for the
fleet, the only loss being the capture of a boat containing two officers
and forty men of the 14th Light Dragoons.
After remaining a few days at the Chandeleur Islands, the naval
commander decided, in concert with Major-General Lambert, to make an
attack on Mobile, and the fleet accordingly proceeded to that place. On
February 12th, Fort Bowyer, which commanded the entrance to the harbour,
surrendered, and a British garrison being left in the citadel, the fleet
retired to Isle Dauphin, West Florida. Hostilities were then terminated
by a treaty of peace, and the 1st West India Regiment returned to
Barbados, where early in March, Brigade-Majors Cassidy and Winkler
rejoined from the West India staff. The former succeeded to the
majority, vice Weston, deceased.[40]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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