from COOKE'S , A Narrative of Events beginning on page 277
CHAPTER XII. - L'Isle Dauphin.
In a few days the fleet weighed anchor, and steered its
course, with gentle breezes, towards Mobile Bay, and
in twenty-four hours dropped anchor opposite I'isle
Dauphin, where the troops disembarked early in Fe-
bruary, and were put under tents. The soldiers no
sooner landed than they dispersed themselves amid the
thickets of pine and cedar trees, and began a hot fusillade at the few cattle and hogs appertaining to a Mr.
Cooney, of Irish extraction, who had been banished to
that island for some misdemeanour committed in the
American navy, in which he informed us he held the
rank of midshipman. Himself and wife were its only
inhabitants, although it was some miles in length, and
from one to three in breadth. Before any order was
issued, the soldiers, who had been for months on salt
provisions, had destroyed every four-footed animal they
could get a shot at ; the consequence was, when all the
mischief was committed, an order was promulgated
that no more were to be destroyed. This meat was so
rank, and tasted to such a degree of rushes, which the
cattle fed on, that it was impossible to stomach the
flesh until well salted down and even this process
278 L'Isle Dauphin.
would not effectually take away the unpleasant flavour
of the rushes. The Americans occupied a small fort
on a sandy promontory, at the mouth of Mobile Bay,
but after two or three days' cannonade it capitulated,
with its small garrison of four hundred men.
The side of the island on which we were stationed
was three hundred yards from the shore, of a dry sandy
soil, but as it abounded with alligators and numerous
other reptiles, great care was taken to clear the ground
of the underwood, and ditches were dug round our
tents to prevent the nocturnal visits of the alligators
which lay dormant at this time of the year, although a
stray one would sometimes protrude its enormous head
and fore-legs out of a stagnant pool, to bask in the rays
of the sun, or would creep, with a rustling noise, through
the underwood ; and at a short distance they resembled
a piece of burnt timber. In a few days almost the
whole of the tents were hidden from view, and the labyrinths
of the camp presented a most picturesque appearance,
as every tent was enclosed by a wicker-work
fence, interwoven with quantities of the richest evergreens,
representing all the intricacies of a handsome
plantation. In this island of natural productions
there are birds of the most beautiful plumage, such as
hummingbirds, parrokeets, eagles, pelicans, and various
other species which fluttered in the trees, forming
a perfect aviary. The shores abounded with delicious
fish and extensive oyster-beds ; the marshes produced
wild fowl and large snipe, and its sands generated
snakes, scorpions, and other reptiles; and, although
L'Isle Dauphin. 279
it was considered by us a pleasant situation, Mr. Cooney
informed us that during the warm weather a European
would be nearly devoured alive, of the authenticity
of which I had certain proof before we left it. Here
we found a spot encircled with pine-trees, round which
seven of us formed a wicker-work fence of great solidity,
and also dug a ditch of considerable width, which
measured ninety-five yards in circumference ; in the interior
huts were constructed of the cedar-tree and other
odoriferous shrubs. It was named Fort Anselmo, and
au centre blazed an enormous fire ; around its bright
blaze we happily caroused.
Amongst other inconveniences attendant on long
voyages, provisions at this period began to fail the
fleet, and for many days scarcely any biscuit was served
out; our breakfast consisted of chocolate without
sugar, fat pork, cut into rations and burnt over the
embers of the fire, to serve as bread to the oysters.
One night, while seated round the crackling wood fire,
a negro slave, who had escaped from his master or
driver, and accompanied us from before New Orleans,
said, " Massa, I see little cow ;" a piece of intelligence
which made us prick up our ears, and each seizing a
musket, we sallied forth, and, when close to General
Keane's oblong wicker-work hut, (he had nearly re-
covered the effects of his wound,) the black pointed
out a calf; a volley was discharged; it fell; but, to
our consternation, it was found to be tied to a stake by
the leg, clearly indicating it to be private property.
To be detected would never do : our cook, there-
280 L'Isle Dauphin.
fore, sprang forward, threw the animal on his back;
and hid it in our fortification of wicker-work. The
whole camp was in alarm at the report of the fire-
arms ; the guards were flying in all directions ; many of
the soldiers turned out and stood to their arms under
the supposition that the enemy had made a descent ;
and, to add to the joke, the general, a day or two
after, invited one of our mess to breakfast with him,
who broke four eggs, out of six, into a tumbler, with
pepper and salt, and swallowed them. " Well,'* said
the General, " if that is not the most un-infantry
way of eating eggs I ever saw : now really I should not
wonder if some of you young gentlemen have not purloined my calf;"
which, by-the-bye, was now cut into
junks and crammed into pork-casks, and this pickled
veal was subsequently distributed to our particular
friends as a rarity. But this was not all, as one depredation
begets another. An officer came back from a
tedious day's sport ; being without small shot, he could
not bag any game, and seeing a cow grazing near the
shore, he shot her through the head with a bullet, and
covered the carcass over with evergreens, and had
scarcely reached home before a great outcry arose
amongst the sailors in search of the Admiral's milch
cow, which, in due time, was brought in, salted down,
and presented to some of the fusileers as rations.
An enormous pine-tree, stripped of its bark and
lower branches, to the height of at least sixty yards,
stood a mile from our camp, towering and completely
overtopping all the other trees of the forest.
L'Isle Dauphin. 281
On the top of this, the most stately tree that I
ever beheld, and amidst the branches, which only
tufted round its highest altitude, a silver eagle had
built its nest,which we were determined to possess our-
selves of; and as there were no means of getting at it
without felling the huge tree, with a numerous party,
we repaired to the spot and set to work, and, after
much toil and most exceeding labour, when it was sufficiently
cut with the axe and numerous bill-hooks,
ropes were affixed round the trunk, and, after tottering,
it came down with a tremendous crash, so much so,
that although I was stationed a distance of an hun-
dred yards from its base, firing ever and anon at the
eagle, which hovered in the air at least a quarter of a
mile over the nest that contained her young, — yet, when
the prodigious tree fell towards me, I involuntarily
shrunk and tottered backwards, and at the same time
coming in contact with the root of a shrub, I lost my
equilibrium, and measured my full length at the same
moment with the tree, still frightened, and keeping my
eye fixed on the falling mass, whose broken branches
flew about in every direction with the concussion. One
of the young eaglets had its neck broken, but the other
was uninjured. They were just fledged, and were about
the size of a half-grown goose ; the nest was very large,
about the bulk of a common clothes' basket, and was
composed of branches of trees, most of which were the
circumference of a person's finger, and the whole of
them were very dry and brittle.
The same day an officer shot an alligator in the top
282 L'Isle Dauphin.
of the head with a musket-ball while the monster was
basking in the sun-beams with its head just above the
surface of the water in a stagnant pond within the
limits of our camp ground. It was some hours before
the vital spark was entirely extinct. Two young alligators,
each measuring more than a foot in length, were
kept in a tub of water, and whenever put close together
with a stick, no matter how often during the day, they
would fight in the most vicious manner.
One night a soldier's wife was nursing her child in a
hut by the light of a taper, when a huge alligator
crawled in, looked about, and then slowly backed its
horrible shelled carcass out again, the poor woman all
the time clasping her infant in her arms and transfixed
with horror and consternation, in momentary expectation
that the amphibious monster would devour herself and
child.
As a sort of explanation of a sham partizan warfare that
took place in Dauphin Island, I must state that while
in Spain a troop was formed bearing the title of
" Britannia's Hope," or the " Defenders of Innocence;" and
each knight armed with a lance assumed a name such
as Florian of the Desert, Palmarin of England, Se-
bastian of Spain, Amadis de Gaul, and so on. I also
took the title of Don Anselmo, and probably a more
ludicrous scene than that which occurred on the day of
its formation could not have taken place. The spot selected
for the ceremony was a small amphitheatre enclosed
with trees in full blossom. Each cavalier having
decorated himself and horse with branches of blossom,
L'ISL£ DAUPHIN. 283
dismounted to have his colour presented to him from
my hands, consisting of an old bandanna handkerchief
which was tied to a pole, the whole of the knights
joining in chorus " God Save the King.' We then
mounted our horses and went our way in search of
adventures, myself being dubbed with the honorary
appellation of captain of the troop. But to revert
to our sham warfare in America, where the greater
portion of the officers of six regiments with might
and main were eagerly engaged, and also the officers
of the dismounted squadron of the fourteenth
light dragoons, with as much zeal and anxiety as if the
fete of a capital city was to be decided on the eventful
day of a pitched battle, when two armies were about
to begin the work of death face to face. Orders for
this petty war were issued in writing, despatches were
sent backwards and forwards by night and day: some
of the autograph copies I still hold as specimens sent
to me as the honorary commander-in-chief of one of
the two rival and partizan camps.
To the best of my belief this very amusing and interesting
little guerrilla warfare in truth originated about
the egress to and fro to a broad path or opening which
was overshadowed by trees on each side, and situated
behind the lines of the eighty-fifth light infantry, where
peradventure a pair of bright eyes and a feminine costume,
which had been recently imported from England,
were to be seen. This broad walk was known to a
few as a " by-word" of Pall-Mall, in allusion to
the great lounging street of that name in England's
284 L'Isle Dauphin.
overgrown metropolis. On the ground and under the
pine trees was strewed a very great abundance of cones
or pine-tops of considerable size, many of them being
seven or eight inches in length and as many in circumference,
and when soaked through by the rain or
immersed in water they were of goodly weight, and when
thrown with force and exactitude, gave and left marks
on the physiognomy of an ugly character. Of the
effects of these cones I can speak feelingly, having
received four black eyes at different times during the
various onsets and skirmishes which happened in the
course of the two months that we were in the labyrinth
of trees and the wicker-work encampment, where from
the height of enclosures and fences the red spiral tops
of the white canvass tents were hardly visible in some
places above them.
There was a long open space of three hundred yards
in breadth, (which was called the plain,) separating
the two woods, in one of which the seventh fusileers
and the forty-third were under canvass or hutted. On
the other side of the open space were the eighty-fifth,
ninety-fifth (rifles), the ninety-third highlanders, and
also the fortieth regiment, which had recently arrived
in this island. The already described Pall- Mall was
nearly in rear of these last named regiments, who soon
declared themselves as our opponents, from a recon-
naisance made by some of our light troops for the
ostensible purpose of negotiating an amicable treaty to
admit of a free ingress and egress to their promenade
of Pall-Mail. On one side of the broad path which
L'ISLE DAUPHIN. 285
led from an encampment, the eighty-fifth had a sort of
advanced wicker-work enclosure, which in a manner
flanked the direct way (called the high road) to Pall-
Mall. The consequence was, that after some reconnoitering
and parleying, the van-guards of the eighty-
fifth and the forty-third, the latter being on their way to
Pall-Mall began a rapid encounter with pine-cones,
and seeing from some sand-hills that my vanguard,
although victorious in the plain, were unable to penetrate
into their labyrinths of wicker-work and strong
holds, I marched with a chosen body to their succour,
and without a halt stormed the above fort by a
small breach which was now the bone of contention,
took it, and therein hoisted our colours as soon as it
had surrendered at discretion. Amadis de Gaul, my
second in command, and who had been hotly engaged
from the beginning of the onset, and while the fort was
in his charge, sent me the following despatch, and although
not emanating from official organs, still this
despatch describing the sham fight is penned so like
many real despatches, of course of much greater moment
and importance, that I cannot resist the temptation
of inserting it as a relic the most recherche of our
younger frolics. It will be detected by the nature of
the despatch that brevet ranks were bestowed with
unsparing hand, and that a staff was formed as it were
by sleight of hand, rough and ready, and were as
expert at the pen, plucked from the pinions of the
eagle or the vulture, as though they had been old
286 l'isle dauphin.
stagers and grown grey in the service.
This precious morsel runs verbatim as follows: —
Isle Dauphin J March 3, 1815.
Sir, — I beg leave to report to your Excellency the
particulars of the action with the enemy this morning
before your arrival. Having formed my division, I received
orders from your Excellency to advance and
reconnoitre the enemy's out-post. I did so, and found
them totally unprepared for the attack. I advanced
with caution some distance into their lines; but the
alarm being given by a few skirmishers of the enemy,
they soon collected a force of more than double ours,
which obliged me to fall back and take up a position
within musket-shot of their advanced fort. The enemy,
having from his magazines plentifully supplied himself
with ammunition, advanced to attack us. We allowed
them to come close to us before we opened our fire,
which did great execution in the enemy's ranks.
Colonel Carroll, at the head of his brigade, made a
most gallant charge on a very superior body ; but owing
to the great superiority of the enemy. Colonel Carroll's
brigade were obliged to retire. Seeing this, I ordered
the brigade of McLean's to charge, and led them myself.
While going on I was several times wounded, as were
several of the brave brigade at whose head I was, but
the impetuosity of our charge was not to be withstood,
and the enemy gave way in every direction, leaving two
prisoners and Colonel Carroll, whom they had taken
from us. They then threw a brigade into the fort.
L'Isle Dauphin. 287
while with the remainder of their army they defended
their right flank. I made several attempts to take the
fort with my division, but owing to the great superiority
of the enemy, could not succeed until your Excellency's
arrival with a reinforcement, when our brave army
carried every thing before them.
I feel particularly indebted to Colonels Carroll and
McLean for their assistance, and the very excellent dispositions
they made with the brigades they commanded.
I also beg leave to mention my aid-de-camp Captain
Hill. In fact no encomiums of mine can do justice to
the bravery of the officers and soldiers under my command.
I beg leave to enclose a return of wounded.
I have the honour to be
Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
Amadis de Gaul,
General of division.
To Don Anselmo
Commander-in- Chief, Fort Anselmo.
The captured fort was of no use to us, being at too
great a distance from our encampment to garrison it ;
however it was thought best to retain it for twenty-four
hours as a trophy of our prowess. A treaty was drawn
up between myself and Captain Travers of the rifle-
corps, who commanded the army of our opponents, as
follows : —
Sunday.
The fort to be made in the same state as it was prior
288 L'Isle Dauphin.
to our being attacked, subject to the inspection of both
parties. Thus it will remain in the possession of the
forty-third forces.
The forty-third and seventh who were inside the fort
today, when we retired, to remain there until twelve
o'clock on Monday. An exchange of prisoners as
formerly.
(Signed) Field Marshal Travers,
Commander-in-chief of the allied army.
Camp, Fort Impracticable.
(Granted) Anselmo,
Commander of Forces,
Fort Anselmo.
After this, various encounters and combats took place,
and both parties set to work to strengthen their works
and entrenchments ; but the two formidable citadels
opposed to one another were the Fort Impracticable
and the Fort Anselmo, the former belonging to our
rivals, and the latter being the strong hold or keep on
our side. Being the more conversant with our fort,
it will not be amiss to give a description of it. The
Fort Anselmo was ninety-five yards in circumference at
this sandy spot. A few pine-trees were felled and others
growing in a natural circle ; and between the intervals
of these trees large holes were dug in the sand, into
which the stems of small pine-trees were buried and
the holes filled up. To these props the wicker-work
was interwoven and made fast to the trunks of the trees
which formed the circle. The wicker-work enclosure
L'Isle Dauphin. 289
being finished and of great strength, was interwoven
with evergreens of broad and expansive leaf, a sand-
bank within was raised about three feet, as a sort of
rampart, and to add to the durability of the stakes and
the fence, which was seven feet high, and when standing
on the raised parapet within, it was about breast
high, to enable us to pour down pine-tops on any assailants
who should attempt to take the fort by escalade,
for ladders were actually manufactured during our war-
fare for such purposes, and at every four or five yards
there were piles of pine-tops, after the manner of
cannon-balls on the ramparts of more scientific fortresses.
Without this wicker-work fence was a dry ditch
three feet deep and four in breadth, and all this labour
was resorted to for amusement, as well as to keep out
the alligators or other noxious animals and reptiles
from paying us nocturnal visits. Within this strong
enclosure were two tents and two huts, the latter constructed
with such care as to rival the most fanciful
grottos, formed at great cost and time; and near the
middle of the sandy space which was carefully swept
with brooms made from the smaller shrubs, was a large
rude table chiseled with rough-edged tools ; the stools
or seats were of the same rough workmanship and un-carpenter-like
finish. This rough and ready table, and
the seats enclosing it, were not moveable or fixed upon fashionable
castors; quite the contrary, they were nailed to
the stumps and stems of decapitated trees, and in truth
, might be called the fixtures of the tempest, for there they
290 L'Isle Dauphin.
stood in rough outlines defying the pattering of the
rain or the unceremonious tempest strong, stiff, and
sturdy, and even capable of bearing a heavier weight of
viands than these times of scarcity afforded. This broad
and coarse fixture deigned not to groan or to grow
rickety under the weight of intemperance, and around
this board sat seven voyagers, moustached, and clothed
in tarnished scarlet uniforms. One wore an hussar
pelisse; another was adorned with a satin waistcoat,
richly embroidered, and studded with glass to represent
precious stones, brought from Rodrigo in Spain ; another
flourished a silver fork wanting one prong, which he
brought from Badajoz, and which had dived into
many a garlic dish, or been stuck into the mutton of
Spanish Estremadura, or had played its part in the
capital of Old Spain, and now flourished in the New
World, employed in carrying helpless oysters to the
same mouth and lips which bargained for it at one
half of its intrinsic value ; and Benjamin Smith, a
worthy soldier, might be seen caressing a pretty little
paraquet, which had just recovered from a slight wound
in the wing that had brought it from the bough of an
adjacent tree. A few days after this interesting little
bird of green plumage was made captive, it would run
of a morning to visit the different mattresses which lay
on the ground, and would nestle under the clothes
apparently with the greatest transports of delight.
In this inclosure, so famed for oyster feasts, pickled
veal, and rushy-flavoured beef, which was all carefully
stowed away in smuggled casks, containing salt brine
L'Isle Dauphin. 291
which formerly held lumps of junk, we made merry
over our cups, the great fire blazing brightly, and
the rosin flaring in gas-like flames from the logs of
the pine. This place, of a night, more resembled
the resort of banditti than the abode of officers once
so starched, stiff, and erect on England's parade-
ground. Shooting was the order of the day; few went
abroad without a firelock or fowling-piece both for
sport and self-protection s^inst the prolific produce of
this, I may say, living soil, infested with creeping and
strange animals, buzzing flies, and searching musquitoes ;
the trees were alive with birds; many of their
screaming notes were shrill and piercing. Every few
yards some bird flew past, or perched on a distant
bough, all presenting tempting objects for the marks-
man. But unluckily we lacked of small shot ; some
spent whole days in cutting leaden bullets into small
lumps or particles, and others, more scientifically inclined,
endeavoured to turn manufacturers of shot.
One invention totally failed, and the inventor, while
boring holes in the bottom of an old tin kettle with
laudable and philosophical patience, flattered himself
that all his hopes would be crowned with complete
success. The supposed necessary number of punctures
being finished, a quantity of leaden bullets were melted
down, the holy tin cover was held over a cask of water,
and the important experiment began ; the molten lead
was poured on the tin cover ; certainly a few drops of
lead fell through the holes into the water, but they only
presented a few mis-shapen lumps. But here the
292 L'Isle Dauphin.
mishap and failure did not end, for, ere the operator and
the inventor could get breath, all the holes in the tin
kettle were plugged up with lead, and his whole day's
labour was soldered up as it were in half a minute.
After this I saw no more attempts at the manufacturing of small shot.
In the middle of the arena of Fort Anselmo was a
slender pine-tree, lopped of its branches, from the top
of which waved a flag of "two colours" composed of
white and blue silk, emblematical of the facings of the
royal fuzileers and the forty-third light infantry.
Our soldiers (servants) were hutted in an outwork,
without their principal gate of the fort ; under the arch-
way was a square hole of considerable depth, over
which beams were laid as a sort of drawbridge, which
could be displaced at pleasure, so that the alligators
might here be foiled in their attempts at crawling into
the fort. Round the servants' huts was another dry
sandy ditch with an embankment or parapet; this place
was called the parade-ground ; at the corner of it we
had sunk a well, the water of which, like the rest in
this island, was of brackish taste, like the water drunk
at many of the spas by English invalids, as a cleanser
after the joys of the table ; however, as this was the
best water to be got, we were obliged to put up with its
spa-like taste morning, noon, and night, yet I cannot
say that all of us did not enjoy the most robust and
vigorous health, eating and drinking our coarse fare
under the concave of etherial blue, heedless which way
the wind blew.
L'Isle Dauphin 293
At the back of this fort there was a small wicker-
work door wove with curious ingenuity, and just large
enough for admitting one person at a time, by climbing
out of the ditch ; and the branched exterior of this
small outlet so exactly corresponded with the exterior
wicker-work fence, that it was totally impossible to detect
that such an outlet existed : and this secret aperture
was unknown to any of us, save one who was the planner
of it, and this ingenious handicraftsman had laboured at
its construction behind his own hut, and for more than
a month he went and came by it; we often wondered how he
disappeared from the fort when he was
often seen only to enter his own hut, and frequently
voices called him from the ill-shapen and unpolished
board of hilarity, and even some went in search of him,
as there was no answer returned, but he was no where
to be found. In the end his small doorway saved Fort
Anselmo from capture in the day of strife, — nay, another
half-minute's delay would have deprived its possessors of
it, and the silken colours of blue and white would have
been torn down, and have formed a trophy and been
most likely suspended beneath the flag of yellow and
green of our opponents, the champions of the Fort
Impracticable.
Before the fuzileers had joined us, I assembled the
officers of our own corps only, and moved into the open
space for the purpose of bringing the eight-fifth and
the rifle-corps to action in the open plain, muster-
ing about equal numbers with our opponents* But
they would not come forth from the cover of their
294 L'Isle Dauphin.
entrenchments, and amused my advanced guard by giving
them some stray shots, and a good deal of desultory
skirmishing took place. As commander, I was stationary
with my main body two hundred yards behind
all, out of reach of the enemy's projectiles, and surrounded
by my main body, ready to succour at those
points where the hottest of the action raged.
While looking eagerly towards the flanks, I all at
once caught a glimpse of the Scotch caps of the ninety-
third Highlanders gliding through the woods, and who
were absolutely marching in such a direction as would
force me to show two faces, or rather to throw my adherents
on two sides of a square. Although the ninety-
third had not declared against us, still I thought precautionary
measures necessary, and I ordered my vanguard to retire slowly ;
if followed, to continue to fight in
retreat, but, if possible, to conceal from their opponents
that a retrograde movement was decided upon across a
plain and in front of three regiments against us. This
retrograde movement being adopted with all the regularity
and good conduct desired by my most sanguine wishes, I
immediately, unknown to any except my second in command,
quited the field, leaving him to continue the action
until my return ; at full stretch of legs I ran to the
portals of the Fort Anselmo, ordered the bridge to be
taken up, leaving only one person as sentinel at its
gate, and then caused great heaps of pine-tops to be
conveyed to a position at the edge of the wood, where
I resolved to fight at all hazards, although against
such odds.
L'Isle Dauphin. 296
After a brave struggle my army was completely
routed, and the greater part prostrate and taken prisoners.
The enemy were two to one in the encounter, and as all
small bodies, when once broken, are
generally annihilated, this was the case with us after
one hour's fighting ; a few of the right wing only
saved themselves by diving through the thicket, to endeavour
to regain Fort Anselmo by the secret entrance,
and there enter, if possible, to man the ramparts and
to save the fort.
Only one individual from my centre and left, during
the hot pursuit, contrived to reach the outworks in front
of the principal entrance of Fort Anselmo and that
was Don Sebastion of dark visage, made still darker
by the contusions he had received in the fray; thus
breathless and alone, without his cap, he stood, the
picture of every thing that was delightful — the sole
champion to repel a host, who then jumped into the ditch
to climb the banks of the outwork, and to grapple with
the only defender, who was of strong arm, redoubtable,
and of a chivalric spirit, and withal of deep romance.
Whether he was inspired at the legendary tales of the
old women and nurses of the Highlands, or whether the
deeds of the most redoubtable chieftains of his ancestors
had fired his brain, I know not. But he was a host,
and well-nigh beggared and set at nought the mighty
and tough legends of old, when knights with battle-axe
or ponderous sword, uplifted with both hands, clove
in twain the skulls of all comers ; for as the climbers
mounted to the assault, he tumbled them into the little
296 L'Isle Dauphin.
fosse one after the other; but at length waxing feeble
with long turmoil, he was overpowered, and thrown
headlong by many hands into the ditch.
Lieutenant Gleig, of the eighty-fifth, headed this
party most valiantly, and I must say he spared no endeavours
to take the fort. With his own hands he
tore down the colours of Fort Anselmo, and under
a shower of pine-tops boldly sprung towards the entrance,
and finding the bridge gone, unhesitatingly
jumped into the hole under the gateway; but here he
was entrapped and met his fate. Lieutenant Steele,
a Yorkshireman, seized hold of him and obliged him
to surrender himself a prisoner in the very place which
he had intended to leave with trophies and as a conqueror.
There stood the festooned wicker-work portals invitingly open
; but others of his partizan allies, running
the gauntlet, and eager for the capture of this fort,
sprung into the ditch, and peeping into the wide-gaping
sand-pit, they unhesitatingly flew from its tottering
brink, and carrying with them the ocular tidings of its
great depth to their main body, they all hesitated, and
came to a stand-still, and by way of gaining time and
recovering from their sudden panic they sent forward to
demand the surrender of the fortress ; but the only
signal they obtained from the skeleton remains of its
defenders, was a bold front from their lofty breast-
works, pointing in derision to the open portals and
the sand-pit under its archway.
The partizan allies tenaciously clung to the parade-
L'Isle Dauphin. 297
ground or outworks of the fort ; but finding as they
cooled, after the fray, that their contusions began to
be painful, they were glad to enter into a treaty, wherein
the garrison demanded my release, and that I should
negotiate the following protocol : —
Fort Anselmo.
The inner part belongs to the forces of Anselmo, the
outworks to the enemy, who are to immediately occupy
them. It is agreed that in three parts of an hour the
enemy's forces are to be in the works taken. But if not
occupied by them in the stated time. General Anselmo's
forces are to take possession of them.
(Signed) Anselmo,
Commander-in-chief.
N. C. Travers,
Com,
And here follows the exact copy, word for word, which
I wrote at the time in my defense of the late battle,
to show that our rivals brought into the field
(against all the rules of war ancient or modem,) other
partizan allies, who had not previously taken either
directly or indirectly any share in the petty warfare,
but by stealth had crept through a wood, and come
over its borders, had attacked the left and threatened
the rear of my adherents, without even sending a
herald to announce to which side they were about to
proffer their assistance ; however, I thought it more
glorious to fight with fourteen men against twenty-eight
298 L'Isle Dauphin.
than to retire, there being some honour in winning the
day, and utter discredit in losing it. Hutchinson and
Lorentz, of the royal fuzileers, seeing the disparity of
numbers, joined us, and we were more than once
within an ace of winning the day.
Anselmo Castle,
Dauphin Island,
In the morning I perceived the enemy drawn up in
heavy columns on the high road leading to their entrenchments
in order of battle. I immediately ordered
General Considine to move on with the first brigade of
his division to reconnoitre them, which he did to my
satisfaction after some slight skirmishing, and drove
the enemy's pickets close in to their main body. Seeing
this, I determined to move on with my whole army, and
defeat them before any reinforcements could arrive. The
first brigade of the light division was at this time hotly
engaged, and gained some partial advantages, though
against a superior body. At this time I perceived the
ninety-third army moving through the wood with an
evident intention to turn my left, (though war had not
been declared against that nation,) This movement
determined me to fall back and take up a position in a
wood in front of Anselmo Castle, which I did with some
loss, as the enemy continued pushing on in a deter-
mined manner, intending if possible to bring me to
action in the plain, which I was determined to avoid if
possible, as the army was double mine in numbers. I
had just got my troops into position, when the enemy
L'Isle Dauphin. 299
made a most determined charge on my centre, resting
on the high road to Ansehno. At the same time they
attempted to turn my right. In both these attacks they
were repulsed by the gallantry of my troops.
My right was severely engaged under General Steele ;
several attacks were renewed on my left and centre, but
failed where I commanded in person. The enemy then
made a flank movement towards my left, where I immediately
went, leaving Generals Considine and MacLean,
senior, who were bravely repelling the enemy in
the centre. At this time, by the superior force of the
enemy, notwithstanding all my efforts, he succeeded in
turning my left, under Field-Marshal Travers in person,
whom, as well as a colonel of the ninety-third, I made
prisoners, when their reserve came up, dispersed and
routed the third division, released the prisoners I had
made, and took me while I was endeavouring to get
Marshal Travers away.
General Considine, finding his rear threatened, commenced
his retreat, disputing every inch of ground.
Unfortunately he exposed himself too much and was
made prisoner, when the army, seeing this, was in much
confusion. General MacLean continued the action, and
rallied the army at the outworks of Anselmo, where,
after a most desperate effort to restore the fortune of
the day, this general was also taken prisoner.
The enemy then assaulted the castle, commanded by
Deputy Governors Steele and Madden, and were re-
pulsed with the loss of some prisoners.
300 L'Isle Dauphin.
Other skirmishes and affairs took place, and I after-
wards made an attempt to take Fort Impracticable with
the united forces of the royal fusileers and the officers of
the dismounted squadron of the fourteenth light dragoons,
but failed, owing to the fortieth regiment attacking
us before a declaration of war, as the ninety-third had
done. Our rivals had dug a deep pit within the open
door-way of their fort, similar to the sand-pit beneath
the portals of our fort. Penrice, of the fusileers, was
entrapped in the hole of their sand-pit. Herewith
follow extracts of more despatches which fell into my
hands.
Head-quarters of the Eighty-fifth Forces,
Sir, — In answer to your despatch, which I have received
by your aid-de-camp, I beg leave to inform you
that what you have mentioned with respect to the
seventh regiment is on our part agreed to; but as you
state yourselves and the seventh to be independent
nations, we consider ourselves, the fortieth and ninety-
third, in the same light : we have therefore made the
same proposals to them which you have to the seventh.
The articles which you propose in your despatches we
fully agree to, except that part which alludes to the
half-hour's notice previous to any attack being made.
It is our fixed determination to attack at any moment
after the stipulated hour which may suit our convenience;
and the only weapon with which we shall
expect to meet is the pine-apple.
No fences shall on any account be broken down or
L'Isle Dauphin. 301
entered except where a breach or gate-way is apparent,
or by scaling.
By order of the Commander of the Forces,
G. I. Watts,
Military Secretary.
To Gen, Considine,
Commanding advance of the forty-third.
Sir, — I have just received this note, and send it for
your perusal. You will perceive they will not agree to
give notice of an attack. I think they mean to endeavour
to surprise us. If you have any orders send to me,
and I will make arrangements, and give out general
orders about the divisions providing themselves with
ammunition, haversacks, etc.
Will you appoint my division, or shall I do it ? — what
strength must it be ?
James Considine,
Gen. Advance.
To His Excellency f Don Anselmo
Commander-in- Chief.
The suspicion conveyed in the last document, that
a surprise was in contemplation by our opponents, was
not given at random, for a few nights after the receipt
of it, the writer of the first of these documents was
detected in the uniform of a private soldier, and made
captive in the very act of taking the depth of the
dry ditch of our out-works, which had been recently
strengthened. A naval aid-de-camp, one day, somehow
302 L'Isle Dauphin.
contrived to get hold of an animal carrying the framework
of a horse, and, with lance in hand, this nautical
personage came in front of our fort as a herald of defiance.
Having examined from with inside the outlines
of himself and steed, and seeing as we did that his seat
was what may be termed only a loose hold of the
saddle, it was agreed amongst us as we parleyed with
him, that the most fleet of foot, with pine-top in hand,
should go forth and make a prize of this horse and its
rider. But not to do an injustice to this maritime
officer on horseback, away from his own element, and
the land of lubbers, I must state that, like a good
vidette, as soon as he saw himself likely to be beset
on such an unwieldy beast of bad provender, he made
a most desperate effort to slue round, pulling and see-sawing
away at the bridle, with hands wide asunder,
and at the same time most unmercifully pounding the
animal's ribs and belly which sounded like an old
drum. But in truth the animal had no go in it, and
the tack was only half completed when he missed stays;
the pedestrian came up, and laying hold of one of
the rider's nautical feet, lifted him from the centre of
gravity, and gave him of the blue jacket a most complete
capsize; and so straightened were we for the
fresh solids, that it was rather dubious whether the old
horse (had it not been too tough a morsel) would not
have been cut into junks, clapped into the pickling-tub,
and thus shared a like fate to the admiral's milch cow.
The captive horse-sailor, in perfect good humour,
and his steed, were conveyed into our little fort, and
L'Isle Dauphin. 303
the unresisting horse was tied to a tree. Its rider,
after brushing the dust off, and being seated at our
rough board, was reminded by his land-captor that
some few years before, when he of the red cloth first
went on board of a man-of-war, like a maritime soldier,
being ill at ease from the tossing and bounding
motion of the sea rocking-horse, which put his stomach
in bad order, and while heaving up its contents,
the middies dangled before his eyes fat pork, and
threatened to swab him by day, while at the midnight
hour they opened the middle seams of his close-fitting
hammock, out of which he fell on the deck in his
blanket, whence, extricating himself from its folds, he
crawled he knew not whither, his only covering consisting
of his short linen garment, and in this way
scrambling about, he at last cast anchor on the damp
cable-tier, until relieved by an old quarter-master with
a lantern and candle.
But our petty warfare was now about to finish, to
give place to the comic muse ; and before I close this
subject, I can only say that I did not know a single
instance of any angry feeling or an ill word having
passed between the champions of either side, although
some sorely battered heads were the result of these
vigorous encounters, out of which sprung the foregoing
despatches, the spontaneous effusions of unsophisticated
subalterns.
304 L'Isle Dauphin.
Lieutenant Wyms, of the royal navy, and an officer
of our corps, planned and marked out a piece of ground
for the intended erection of a pastoral theatre, at the
back of our encampment, where four erect pine-trees
grew, which were by nature placed in such a convenient
manner, that by the decapitation of other trees of
irregular growth, and clearing away the underwood, the
above four trees were so exactly opposite one another at
a given distance (both as to the wished-for breadth and
length of the intended erection), that they formed the
angles and the four corners of the gable ends of the
contemplated transatlantic place of amusement. Holes
were then dug a few feet apart, between the open spaces
of these four trees, into which the stems of other pine-
trees, lopped of their tufted branches, were deeply
sunken, and made to stand erect without support by
refilling the holes, and then with hand-piles pounding
down the earth into a hard substance.
The main frame-work being thus established upon a sufficient
and solid basis for the purpose for which it was intended,
the entanglement of the wicker-work was begun.
L'Isle Dauphin. 305
and the boughs and branches of trees were interwoven
and twisted together with indefatigable labour and exactitude,
well worthy of the old trade of basket-making.
This wicker-work was raised to the height of thirty
feet, and formed the sides, the back, and the front of
this construction, which was about sixty feet in length,
and thirty in breadth ; the top being covered over with
the canvass or the main-sails from the men-of-war, which
also supplied ship-carpenters and sawyers for the purpose
of cutting planks for the stage, to form the
orchestra and the seats for the accommodation of the
audience.
The canvass for the scenery and the oil-colours were
also supplied from the fleet, and several officers assisted
in throwing in the lights and shades of the scenery for
stage-effect.
At this moment, when in want of spangled finery,
a cargo of trans-Atlantic comedinas(ed.note:theater company)
were made captives by an English cruiser, while on their passage from some
islands to the main. Of these harmless people we saw
nothing, and indeed heard they were set at liberty;
but their garments were withheld, and these flimsy
green-room dresses of transparent texture of male and
female attire were deposited in bundles in the Isle Dauphin,
as a most seasonable supply for the amateurs,
who were in exstacies at such an unlooked-for selection
of gaudy stuffs, being, as it were, cast on the island,
and all ready made for both sexes, or, more properly
speaking, for the transmogrifying of males into the
flounces and other female trappings, — our camp, as it
306 L'Isle Dauphin.
may be supposed, being ill supplied with characters for
the feminine parts.
These dresses being spread out to dry, were like so
many bunting signal-flags, and as occasion required they
were served out to the expectant amateurs, who were
about to figure away in the comedy of the " Honey-moon,"
and the after-piece of the " Mayor of Garret."
In the comedy Captain West, of the royal engineers,
was most excellent ; and when ordered to swallow all
his own pills, he said, "Oh, one's a dose."
Both pieces went off with most exceedingly great
eclat, in the presence of a numerous audience of united
naval and military spectators.
An officer of our regiment was detached to an adjacent island,
and as the weather was exceedingly fine in
March, two of us set sail in a small boat without a
compass, but more by good fortune than management.
The weather remained clear, and when half way across
we observed two or three sandy-islands nearly covered
with hundreds of white pelicans, which sailed off in
three distinct bodies, sending out flankers on every
side. Although we fired several bullets, we did not
succeed in killing one of them. These birds are exceedingly
wild, and very hard to be approached. The fol-lowing evening
we saw a boat decorated with flags, and
the music playing the American national air, and on
our return we heard that peace was proclaimed, or in
course of adjustment. From this time provisions and
wines of all kinds poured in from all quarters ; from the
most frugal and parsimonious meals, and the utmost
L'Isle Dauphin. 307
scarcity, every luxury was had that could be pro-
cured ; fish were caught by hundreds, and there was a
good supply of bread, (the oysters made excellent
sauce,) for without this staff of life the choicest viands
cannot be enjoyed. A ship brought a cargo of the best
ale I ever remember drinking ; but as if some torment
was always forthcoming in these hemispheres, the musquitos
began to bite most terrifically, and while shooting
in the marshes and swamps they would pierce through
the trousers, and by the time we got on board ship to
return to England my eyes were nearly closed, and my
skin in a perfect state of inflammation. How it was I
know not, but these tormenting flies seemed particularly
fond of probing my veins, and I did not see any one so
plagued with them as myself; they were of a very large
species, — indeed every thing in this part of the world
seemed to flourish and grow to a great size — the centipedes
are as large as my little finger.
Mobile Bay was a good deal intersected with sand-
banks, and that part of the wooded island of L'Isle
Dauphin, opposite Mobile Bay, was also fringed with
sand-banks, which gave it a lively appearance in comparison
with the wretched flat coasts along which we had
sailed. The oysters which we obtained in such abundance
were gathered on the opposite side of this flat
island, and were usually brought for our consumption
by fatigue parties in sacks ; there was also a sort of
small tree that grew on the island, the leaves of which,
when boiled, made a drink possessing a very agreeable
flavour, and while we were in want of tea made an
308 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND.
excellent substitute. During the latter part of our two
months' stay at this place a supply of flour reached us
and ovens were erected for baking bread. The first
loaf made was sent as a present to our mess, weighing
eight pounds, the top of it being stamped with the
words " To the Bang-up Mess," including Madden,
Steele, Houlton, Considine, Mac Lean, sen. and myself,
and counting a certain number of battles that each of
us had been engaged in, amounting in the gross, or
clubbed together, to forty-three pitched battles, besides
skirmishes and other affairs, with a share of nine wounds
or "hits," as they were technically called. Our united
ages (all being very young men) amounted to a hundred
and thirty-three years, and we measured, taking one
with the other, thirty-five feet ten inches.
VOYAGE TO ENGLAND.*
On the 8th of April our regiment, with the seventh
fusileers, set sail for England, but experiencing calms
VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 309
and baffling winds in the Gulf of Mexico, we did not
reach the mouth of the harbour of the Havannah, the
capital of the island of Cuba, for a fortnight ; and as
six months had passed without our seeing a town or a
village, it was with considerable pleasure we heard that
we were about to enter the harbour...
Calvert negotiating with the Indians
detail of Calvert's boat
detail of Calvert and the Indians
detail of Calvert's boat
inside the Art Building at St. Mary's
Dedication Plaque
