from COOKE'S , A Narrative of Events beginning on page 277
CHAPTER XII. - L'Isle Dauphin.
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...
posted by robertoreg at 9:21 AM
0 comments
