FORT LOUIS AND SENEGAL TAKEN.
They had made no further progress in their operations, when two French deputies arrived at the intrench-ment, with proposals for a capitulation from the governor of Fort Louis. After some hesitation, captain Marsh and major Mason agreed, that all the white people belonging to the French company at Senegal should be safely conducted to France in an English vessel, without being deprived of their private effects, provided all the merchandise and uncoined treasure should be delivered up to the victors; and that all the forts, store-houses, vessels, arms, provisions, and every article belonging to the company in that river, should be put into the hands of the English immediately after the capitulation could be signed. They promised that the free natives living at Fort Louis should remain in quiet possession of their effects, and in the free exercise of their religion; and that all negroes, mulattoes, and others, who could prove themselves free, should have it in their option either to remain in the place, or remove to any other part of the country.*
* The victors, however, committed a very great mistake in allowing them to carry off their books and accounts, the perusal of which would have been of infinite service to the English merchants, by informing them of the commodities, their value, the proper seasons, and methods of prosecuting the trade.
The captains Campbell and Walker were immediately sent up the river with a flag of truce, to see the articles signed and executed; but they were so retarded by the rapidity of the stream, that they did not approach the fort till three in the morning. As soon as the day broke they hoisted their flag, and rowed up towards a battery on a point of the island, where they lay upon their oars very near a full hour, beating the chamade; but no notice was taken of their approach. This reserve appearing mysterious, they retired down the river to their in-trenchment, where they understood that the negroes on the island were in arms, and had blocked up the French in Fort Louis, resolving to defend the place to the last extremity, unless they should be included in the capitulation. This intelligence was communicated in a second letter from the governor, who likewise informed the English commander, that unless the French director-general should be permitted to remain with the natives, as a surety for that article of the capitulation in which they were concerned, they would allow themselves to be cut in pieces rather than submit. This request being granted, the English forces began their march to Fort Louis, accompanied by a number of long boats, in which the artillery and stores had been embarked. The French seeing them advance, immediately struck their flag; and major Mason took possession of the castle, where he found ninety-two pieces of cannon, with treasure and merchandise to a considerable value. The corporation and burghers of the town of Senegal submitted, and swore allegiance to his Britannic majesty: the neighbouring princes, attended by numerous retinues, visited the commander, and concluded treaties with the English nation; and the king of Portenderrick, or Legibelli, sent an ambassador from his camp to major Mason, with presents, compliments of congratulation, and assurances of friendship. The number of free independent negroes and mulattoes, settled at Senegal, amounted to three thousand; and many of these enjoyed slaves and possessions of their own. The two French factories of Podore and Galam, the latter situated nine hundred miles farther up the river, were included in the capitulation; so that Great Britain, almost without striking a blow, found herself possessed of a conquest, from which, with proper management, she may derive inconceivable riches. This important acquisition was in a great measure, if not entirely, owing to the sagacity, zeal, and indefatigable efforts of Mr. Cumming, who not only formed the plan, and solicited the armament, but also attended the execution of it in person, at the hazard of his life, and to the interruption of his private concerns.
Fort Louis being secured with an English garrison, and some armed vessels left to guard the passage of the bar, at the mouth of the river, the great ships proceeded to make an attempt upon the island of Goree, which lies at the distance of thirty leagues from Senegal. There the French company had considerable magazines and warehouses, and lodged the negro slaves until they could be shipped for the West Indies. If the additional force which Mr. Cumming proposed for the conquest of this island had been added to the armament, in all probability the island would have been reduced, and in that case the nation would have saved the considerable expense of a subsequent expedition against it, under the conduct of commodore Keppel. At present, the ships by which Goree was attacked were found unequal to the attempt, and the expedition miscarried accordingly, though the miscarriage was attended with little or no damage to the assailants.
EXPEDITION TO CAPE-BRETON.
Scenes of still greater importance were acted in North America, where, exclusive of the fleet and marines, the government had assembled about fifty thousand men, including two-and-twenty thousand regular troops. The earl of Loudoun having returned to England, the chief command in America devolved on major-general Abercrombie; but as the objects of operation were various, the forces were divided into three detached bodies, under as many different commanders. About twelve thousand were destined to undertake the siege of Louisbourg, on the island of Cape-Breton. The general himself reserved near sixteen thousand for the reduction of Crown-Point, a fort situated on lake Champlain; eight thousand under the conduct of brigadier-general Forbes, were allotted for the conquest of Fort du Quesne, which stood a great way to the southward, near the river Ohio; and a considerable garrison was left at Annapolis, in Nova-Scotia. The reduction of Louisbourg and the island of Cape-Breton being an object of immediate consideration, was undertaken with all possible despatch. Major-general Amherst being joined by admiral Boscawen with the fleet and forces from England, the whole armament, consisting of one hundred and fifty-seven sail, took their departure from the harbour of Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, on the twenty-eighth of May; and on the second of June part of the transports anchored in the bay of Gabarus, about seven miles to the westward of Louisbourg. The garrison of this place, commanded by the chevalier Dru-cour, consisted of two thousand five hundred regular troops, three hundred militia, formed of the burghers, and towards the end of the siege they were reinforced by three hundred and fifty Canadians, including threescore Indians. The harbour was secured by six ships of the line, and five frigates,* three of which the enemy sunk across the harbour’s mouth, in order to render it inaccessible to the English shipping.
* The Prudent, of seventy-four guns; the Entreprenant, of seventy-four guns; the Capricieux, Célèbre, and Bienfaisant, of sixty-four guns each; the Apollo, of fifty guns; the Cheyre, Riche, Fidelle, Diana, and Echo, frigates.
The fortifications were in bad repair, many parts of them crumbling down the covered way, and several bastions exposed in such a manner as to be enfiladed by the besiegers, and no part of the town secure from the effects of cannonading and bombardment. The governor had taken all the precautions in his power to prevent a landing, by establishing a chain of posts, that extended two leagues and a half along the most inaccessible part of the beach; intrench-ments were thrown up, and batteries erected; but there were some intermediate places, which could not be properly secured, and in one of these the English troops were disembarked. The disposition being made for landing, a detachment, in several sloops under convoy, passed by the mouth of the harbour towards Lorembec, in order to draw the enemy’s attention that way, while the landing should really be effected on the other side of the town. On the eighth day of June, the troops being assembled in the boats before day-break, in three divisions, several sloops and frigates, that were stationed along shore in the bay of Gabarus, began to scour the beach with their shot; and after the fire had continued about a quarter of an hour, the boats, containing the division on the left, were rowed toward the shore, under the command of brigadier-general Wolfe, an accomplished officer, who, in the sequel, displayed very extraordinary proofs of military genius. At the same time the two other divisions, on the right and in the centre, commanded by the brigadiers Whitmore and Laurence, made a show of landing, in order to divide and distract the enemy. Notwithstanding an impetuous surf, by which many boats were overset, and a very severe fire of cannon and musketry from the enemy’s batteries, which did considerable execution, brigadier Wolfe pursued his point with admirable courage and deliberation. The soldiers leaped into the water with the most eager alacrity, and, gaining the shore, attacked the enemy in such a manner, that in a few minutes they abandoned their works and artillery, and fled in the utmost confusion. The other divisions landed also, but not without an obstinate opposition; and the stores, with the artillery, being brought on shore, the town of Louisbourg was formally invested. The difficulty of landing stores and implements in boisterous weather, and the nature of the ground, which being marshy, was unfit for the conveyance of heavy cannon, retarded the operations of the siege. Mr. Amherst made his approaches with great circumspection, securing his camp with redoubts and epaulements from any attacks of Canadians, of which he imagined there was a considerable body behind him on the island, as well as from the fire of the French shipping in the harbour which would otherwise have annoyed him extremely in his advances.
LOUISBOURG TAKEN.
The governor of Louisbourg having destroyed the grand battery, which was detached from the body of the place, and recalled his out-posts, prepared for making a vigorous defence. A very severe fire, well directed, was maintained against the besiegers and their works, from the town, the island battery, and the ships in the harbour; and divers sallies were made, though without much effect. In the meantime brigadier Wolfe, with a strong detachment, had marched round the north-east part of the harbour, and taken possession of the Lighthouse-point, where he erected several batteries against the ships and the island fortification, which last was soon silenced. On the nineteenth day of June, the Echo, a French frigate, was taken by the English cruisers, after having escaped from the harbour. From the officers on board of this ship the admiral learned that the Bizarre, another frigate, had sailed from thence on the day of the disembarkation, and the Comète had successfully followed her example. Besides the regular approaches to the town, conducted by the engineers under the immediate command and inspection of general Amherst, divers batteries were raised by the detached corps under brigadier Wolfe, who exerted himself with amazing activity, and grievously incommoded the enemy, both of the town and shipping. On the twenty-first day of July the three great ships, the Entreprenant, Capricieux, and Célèbre, were set on fire by a bomb-shell, and burned to ashes, so that none remained but the Prudent and Bienfaisant, which the admiral undertook to destroy. For this purpose, in the night between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth days of the month, the boats of the squadron were in two divisions detached into the harbour, under the command of two young captains, Laforey and Balfour. They accordingly penetrated in the dark through a terrible fire of cannon and musketry, and boarded the enemy sword in hand. The Prudent, being aground, was set on fire and destroyed, but the Bienfaisant was towed out of the harbour in triumph. In the prosecution of the siege, the admiral and general co-operated with remarkable harmony; the former cheerfully assisting the latter with cannon and other implements; with detachments of marines to maintain posts on shore, with parties of seamen to act as pioneers, and concur in working the guns and mortars. The fire of the town was managed with equal skill and activity, and kept up with great perseverance; until, at length, their shipping being all taken and destroyed, the caserns ruined in two principal bastions,* forty out of fifty-two pieces of cannon dismounted, broke, or rendered unserviceable, and divers practicable breaches effected, the governor, in a letter to Mr. Amherst, proposed a capitulation on the same articles that were granted to the English at Port-Mahon.
* It may not be amiss to observe, that a cavalier, which admiral Knowles had built at an enormous expense to the nation, while Louisbourg remained in the hands of the English in the last war, was, in the course of this siege, entirely demolished by two or three shots from one of the British batteries; so admirably had this piece of fortification been contrived and executed, under the eye of that profound engineer.
In answer to this proposal he was given to understand, that he and his garrison must surrender themselves prisoners of war, otherwise he might next morning expect a general assault by the shipping under admiral Boscawen. The chevalier Dru-cour, piqued at the severity of these terms, replied, that he would, rather than comply with them, stand an assault; but the commissary-general, and intendant of the colony, presented a petition from the traders and inhabitants of the place, in consequence of which he submitted. On the twenty-seventh day of July, three companies of grenadiers, commanded by major Farquhar, took possession of the western gate; and brigadier Whitmore was detached into the town, to see the garrison lay down their arms, and deliver up their colours on the esplanade, and to post the necessary guards on the stores, magazines, and ramparts. Thus, at the expense of about four hundred men killed and wounded, the English obtained possession of the important island of Cape-Breton, and the strong town of Louisbourg, in which the victors found two hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon, with eighteen mortars, and a considerable quantity of stores and ammunition. The merchants and inhabitants were sent to France in English bottoms; but the garrison, together with the sea-officers, marines, and mariners, amounting in all to five thousand six hundred and thirty-seven prisoners, were transported to England. The loss of Louisbourg was the more severely felt by the French king, as it had been attended by the destruction of so many considerable ships and frigates. The particulars of this transaction were immediately brought to England in a vessel despatched for that purpose, with captain Amherst, brother to the commander, who was also intrusted with eleven pair of colours taken at Louisbourg; these were, by his majesty’s order, carried in pompous parade, escorted by detachments of horse and foot-guards, with kettle-drums and trumpets, from the palace of Kensington to St. Paul’s cathedral, where they were deposited as trophies, under a discharge of cannon, and other noisy expressions of triumph and exultation. Indeed, the public rejoicings for the conquest of Louisbourg were diffused through every part of the British dominions, and addresses of congratulation were presented to the king, by a great number of flourishing towns and corporations.
After the reduction of Cape-Breton, some ships were detached, with a body of troops under the command of lieutenant-colonel lord Rollo, to take possession of the island of St. John, which also lies in the gulf of St. Laurence, and by its fertility in corn and cattle, had, since the beginning of the war, supplied Quebec with considerable quantities of provisions. It was likewise the asylum to which the French neutrals of Annapolis fled for shelter from the English government; and the retreat from whence they and the Indians used to make their sudden irruptions into Nova-Scotia, where they perpetrated the most inhuman barbarities on the defenceless subjects of Great Britain. The number of inhabitants amounted to four thousand one hundred, who submitted and brought in their arms; then lord Rollo took possession of the governor’s quarters, where he found several scalps of Englishmen, whom the savages had assassinated, in consequence of the encouragement they received from their French patrons and allies, who gratified them with a certain premium for every scalp they produced. The island was stocked with above ten thousand head of black cattle, and some of the farmers raised each twelve hundred bushels of corn annually for the market of Quebec.
ATTEMPT UPON TICONDEROGA.
The joy and satisfaction arising from the conquest of Louisbourg and St. John, was not a little checked by the disaster which befel the main body of the British forces in America, under the immediate conduct of general Abercrombie, who, as we have already observed, had proposed the reduction of the French forts on the lakes George and Champlain, as the chief objects of his enterprise, with a view to secure the frontier of the British colonies, and open a passage for the future conquest of Canada. In the beginning of July his forces, amounting to near seven thousand regular troops, and ten thousand provincials, embarked on the lake George, in the neighbourhood of lake Champlain, on board of nine hundred batteaux, and one hundred and thirty-five whale-boats, with provisions, artillery, and ammunition; several pieces of cannon being mounted on rafts to cover the purposed landing, which was next day effected without opposition. The general’s design was to invest: Ticonderoga, a fort situated on a tongue of land, extending between lake George and a narrow gut that communicates with lake Champlain. This fortification was on three sides surrounded with water, and in front nature had secured it with a morass. The English troops being disembarked, were immediately formed into three columns, and began their march to the enemy’s advanced post, consisting of one battalion, encamped behind a breast-work of logs, which they now abandoned with precipitation, after having set them on fire, and burned their tents and implements. The British forces continued their march in the same order; but the route lying through a thick wood that did not admit of any regular progression or passage, and the guides proving extremely ignorant, the troops were bewildered, and the columns broken by falling in one upon another. Lord Howe being advanced at the head of the right centre column, encountered a French detachment who had likewise lost their way in the retreat from the advanced post, and a warm skirmish ensuing, the enemy were routed with considerable loss, a good number were killed, and one hundred and forty-eight were taken prisoners, including five officers. This petty advantage was dearly bought with the loss of lord Howe, who fell in the beginning of the action, unspeakably regretted as a young nobleman of the most promising talents, who had distinguished himself in a peculiar manner by his courage, activity, and rigid observation of military discipline, and had acquired the esteem and affection of the soldiery by his generosity, sweetness of manners, and engaging address. The general perceiving the troops were greatly fatigued and disordered, from want of rest and refreshment, thought it advisable to march back to the landing-place, which they reached about eight in the morning. Then he detached lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet, with one regular regiment, six companies of the Royal Americans, with the batteaux-men, and a body of rangers, to take possession of a saw-mill in the neighbourhood of Ticonderoga, which the enemy had abandoned. This post being secured, the general advanced again towards Ticonderoga, where, he understood from the prisoners, the enemy had assembled eight battalions, with a body of Canadians and Indians, amounting in all to six thousand. These, they said, being encamped before the fort, were employed in making a formidable intrenchment, where they intended to wait for a reinforcement of three thousand men, who had been detached under the command of M. de Levi, to make a diversion on the side of the Mohawk river;* but, upon intelligence of Mr. Abercrombie’s approach, were now recalled for the defence of Ticonderoga.
* This officer intended to have made an irruption through the pass of Oneida on the Mohawk river, but was recalled before he could execute his design. General Abercrombie afterwards sent thither brigadier Stanwix, with a considerable body of provincials, and this important pass was secured by a fort built at that juncture.
This information determined the English general to strike, if possible, some decisive stroke before the junction could be effected. He therefore, early next morning, sent his engineer across the river on the opposite side of the fort, to reconnoitre the enemy’s intrenchments; and he reported that the works being still unfinished, might be attempted with a good prospect of success. A disposition was made accordingly for the attack, and, after proper guards had been left at the saw-mill and the landing-place, the whole army was put in motion. They advanced with great alacrity towards the intrenchment, which, however, they found altogether impracticable. The breastwork was raised eight feet high, and the ground before it covered with an abbatis, of felled trees, with their boughs pointing outwards, and projecting in such a manner as to render the intrenchment almost inaccessible. Notwithstanding these discouraging difficulties, the British troops marched up to the assault with an undaunted resolution, and sustained a terrible fire without flinching. They endeavoured to cut their way through these embarrassments with their swords, and some of them even mounted the parapet; but the enemy were so well covered, that they could deliberately direct their fire without the least danger to themselves: the carnage was therefore considerable, and the troops began to fall into confusion, after several repeated attacks, which lasted above four hours, under the most disadvantageous circumstances. The general, by this time, saw plainly that no hope of success remained; and, in order to prevent a total defeat, took measures for the retreat of the army, which retired unmolested to their former camp, with the loss of about eighteen hundred men killed or wounded, including a great number of officers. Every corps of regular troops behaved, on this unfortunate occasion, with remarkable intrepidity; but the greatest loss was sustained by lord John Murray’s Highland regiment, of which above one half of the private men, and twenty-five officers, were either slain upon the spot, or desperately wounded. Mr. Abercrombie, unwilling to stay in the neighbourhood of the enemy with forces which had received such a dispiriting check, retired to his batteaux, and re-embarking the troops, returned to the camp at lake George, from whence he had taken his departure. Censure, which always attends miscarriage, did not spare the character of this commander; his attack was condemned as rash, and his retreat as pusillanimous. In such a case allowances must be made for the peevishness of disappointment, and the clamour of connexion. How far Mr. Abercrombie acquitted himself in the duty of a general we shall not pretend to determine; but if he could depend upon the courage and discipline of his forces, he surely had nothing to fear, after the action, from the attempts of the enemy, to whom he would have been superior in number, even though they had been joined by the expected reinforcement; he might therefore have remained on the spot, in order to execute some other enterprise when he should be reinforced in his turn; for general Amherst no sooner heard of his disaster, than he returned with the troops from Cape-Breton to New England, after having left a strong garrison in Louis-bourg. At the head of six regiments he began his march to Albany about the middle of September, in order to join the forces on the lake, that they might undertake some other service before the season should be exhausted.
FORT FRONTENAC TAKEN AND DESTROYED BY THE ENGLISH.
In the meantime, general Abercrombie had detached lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet, with a body of three thousand men, chiefly provincials, to execute a plan which this officer had formed against Cadaraqui, or fort Frontenac, situated on the north side of the river St. Laurence, just where it takes its origin from the lake Ontario. To the side of this lake he penetrated with his detachment, and embarking in some sloops and batteaux, provided for the purpose, landed within a mile of fort Frontenac, the garrison of which, consisting of one hun dred and ten men, with a few Indians, immediately surrendered at discretion. Considering the importance of this post, which in a great measure commanded the mouth of the river St. Laurence, and served as a magazine to the more southern castles, the French general was inexcusable for leaving it in such a defenceless condition. The fortification itself was inconsiderable and ill-contrived; nevertheless, it contained sixty pieces of cannon, sixteen small mortars, with an immense quantity of merchandise and provisions, deposited for the use of the French forces detached against brigadier Forbes, their western garrisons, and Indian allies, as well as for the subsistence of the corps commanded by M. de Levi, on his enterprise against the Mohawk river. Mr. Bradstreet not only reduced the fort without bloodshed, but also made himself master of all the enemy’s shipping on the lake, amounting to nine armed vessels, some of which carried eighteen guns. Two of these Mr. Bradstreet conveyed to Oswego, whither he returned with his troops, after he had destroyed fort Frontenac, with all the artillery, stores, provisions, and merchandise, which it contained. In consequence of this exploit, the French troops to the southward were exposed to the hazard of starving; but it is not easy to conceive the general’s reason for giving orders to abandon and destroy a fort, which, if properly strengthened and sustained, might have rendered the English masters of the lake Ontario, and grievously harassed the enemy both in their commerce and expeditions to the westward. Indeed, great part of the Indian trade centered at Frontenac, to which place the Indians annually repaired from all parts of America, some of them at the distance of a thousand miles, and here exchanged their furs for European commodities. So much did the French traders excel the English in the art of conciliating the affection of those savage tribes, that great part of them, in their yearly progress to this remote market, actually passed by the British settlement of Albany, in New York, where they might have been supplied with what articles they wanted, much cheaper than they could purchase them at Frontenac or Montreal; nay, the French traders used to furnish themselves with those very commodities from the merchants of New York, and found this traffic much more profitable than that of procuring the same articles from France, loaded with the expense of a tedious and dangerous navigation, from the sea to the source of the river St. Laurence.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
BRIGADIER FORBES TAKES FORT DU QUESNE.
In all probability, the destruction of Frontenac facilitated the expedition against Fort du Quesne, intrusted to the conduct of brigadier Forbes, who, with his little army, began his march in the beginning of July from Philadelphia for the river Ohio, a prodigious tract of country very little known, destitute of military roads, incumbered with mountains, morasses, and woods, that were almost impenetrable. It was not without incredible exertion of industry, that he procured provisions and carriages for this expedition, formed new roads, extended scouting parties, secured camps, and surmounted many other difficulties in the course of his tedious march, during which he was also harassed by small detachments of the enemy’s Indians. Having penetrated with the main body as far as Ray’s-Town, at the distance of ninety miles from Fort du Quesne, and advanced colonel Bouquet with two thousand men, about fifty miles farther, to a place called Lyal-Henning, this officer detached major Grant at the head of eight hundred men, to reconnoitre the fort and its out-works. The enemy perceiving him approach, sent a body of troops against him, sufficient to surround his whole detachment; a very severe action began, which the English maintained with their usual courage for three hours, against cruel odds; but at length, being overpowered by numbers, they were obliged to give way, and retired in disorder to Lyal-Henning, with the loss of about three hundred men killed or taken, including major Grant, who was carried prisoner to Fort du Quesne, and nineteen officers. Notwithstanding this mortifying check, brigadier Forbes advanced with the army, resolved to prosecute his operations with vigour; but the enemy, dreading the prospect of a siege, dismantled and abandoned the fort, and retired down the river Ohio, to their settlements on the Mississippi. They quitted the fort on the twenty-fourth day of November, and next clay it was possessed by the British forces. As for the Indians of this country, they seemed heartily to renounce their connexions with France, and be perfectly reconciled to the government of his Britannic majesty. Brigadier Forbes having repaired the fort, changed its name from du Quesne to Pittsburgh, secured it with a garrison of provincials, and concluded treaties of friendship and alliance with the Indian tribes. Then he marched back to Philadelphia, and in his retreat built a block-house, near Lyal-Henning, for the defence of Pennsylvania; but he himself did not long survive these transactions, his Constitution having been exhausted by the incredible fatigues of the service.—Thus have we given a particular detail of all the remarkable operations by which this campaign was distinguished on the continent of America; the reader will be convinced, that, notwithstanding the defeat of Ticonderoga, and the disaster of the advanced party in the neighbourhood of Fort du Quesne, the arms of Great Britain acquired many important advantages; and indeed paved the way for the reduction of Quebec, and the conquest of all Canada. In the meantime, the admirals Boscawen and Hardy, having left a considerable squadron at Halifax in Nova-Scotia, returned with four ships of the line to England, where they arrived in the beginning of November, after having given chase to six large French ships, which they descried to the westward of Scilly, but could not overtake or bring to an engagement.
The conquest of the French settlement in the river Senegal being deemed imperfect and incomplete, whilst France still kept possession of the island of Goree, the ministry of Great Britain resolved to crown the campaign in Africa with the reduction of that fortress. For this purpose commodore Keppel, brother to the earl of Albemarle, was vested with the command of a squadron, consisting of four ships of the line, several frigates, two bomb-ketches, and some transports, having on board seven hundred men of the regular troops, commanded by colonel Worge, and embarked in the harbour of Cork in Ireland, from whence this whole armament took its departure on the eleventh day of November. After a tempestuous passage, in which they touched at the isle of Teneriffe, they arrived at Goree in the latter end of December, and the commodore made a disposition for attacking this island, which was remarkably strong by nature, but very indifferently fortified. Goree is a small barren island, extending about three quarters of a mile in length, of a triangular form; and on the south-west side rising into a rocky hill, on which the paltry fort of St. Michael is situated. There is another still more inconsiderable, called St. Francis, towards the other extremity of the island; and several batteries were raised around its sweep, mounted with about one hundred pieces of cannon, and four mortars. The French governor, M. de St. Jean, had great plenty of ammunition, and his garrison amounted to about three hundred men, exclusive of as many negro inhabitants. The flat-bottomed boats, for disembarking the troops, being hoisted out, and disposed alongside of the different transports, the commodore stationed his ships on the west side of the island, and the engagement began with a shell from one of the ketches. This was a signal for the great ships, which poured in their broadsides without intermission, and the fire was returned with equal vivacity from all the batteries of the island. In the course of the action the cannonading from the ships became so severe and terrible, that the French garrison deserted their quarters, in spite of all the efforts of the governor, who acquitted himself like a man of honour; but he was obliged to strike his colours, and surrender at discretion, after a short but warm dispute, in which the loss of the British commodore did not exceed one hundred men killed and wounded. The success of the day was the more extraordinary, as the French garrison had not lost a man, except one negro killed by the bursting of a bomb-shell, and the number of their wounded was very inconsiderable. While the attack lasted, the opposite shore of the continent was lined with a concourse of negroes, assembled to view the combat, who expressed their sentiments and surprise in loud clamour and tin-couth gesticulations, and seemed to be impressed with awe and astonishment at the power and execution of the British squadron. The French colours being struck, as a signal of submission, the commodore sent a detachment of marines on shore, who disarmed the garrison, and hoisted the British flag upon the castle of St. Michael. In the meantime, the governor and the rest of the prisoners were secured among the shipping. Thus the important island of Goree fell into the hands of the English, together with two trading vessels that chanced to be at anchor in the road; and stores, money, and merchandise, to the value of twenty thousand pounds. Part of the troops being left in garrison at Goree, under the command of major Newton, together with three sloops for his service, the squadron, being watered and refreshed from the continent, that part of which is governed by one of the Jalof kings, and the prisoners, with their baggage, being dismissed in three cartel ships to France, the commodore set sail for Senegal, and reinforced fort Louis with the rest of the troops, under colonel Worge, who was at this juncture favoured with a visit by the king of Legibelli; but very little pains were taken to dismiss this potentate in good humour, or maintain the disposition he professed to favour the commerce of Great Britain. True it is, he was desirous of engaging the English in his quarrels with some neighbouring nations; and such engagements were cautiously and politically avoided, because it was the interest of Great Britain to be upon good terms with every African prince who could promote and extend the commerce of her subjects.
SHIPWRECK OF CAPTAIN BARTON.
Commodore Keppel having reduced Goree, and reinforced the garrison of Senegal, returned to England, where all his ships arrived, after a very tempestuous voyage, in which the squadron had been dispersed. This expedition, however successful in the main, was attended with one misfortune, the loss of the Lichfield ship of war, commanded by captain Barton, which, together with one transport and a bomb-tender, was wrecked on the coast of Barbary, about nine leagues to the northward of Saffy, in the dominions of Morocco. One hundred and thirty men, including several officers, perished on this occasion; but the captain and the rest of the company, to the number of two hundred and twenty, made shift to reach the shore, where they ran the risk of starving, and were cruelly used by the natives, although a treaty of peace at that time subsisted between Great Britain and Morocco; nay, they were even enslaved by the emperor, who detained them in captivity until they were ransomed by the British government: so little dependence can be placed on the faith of such barbarian princes, with whom it is even a disgrace for any civilized nation to be in alliance, whatever commercial advantages may arise from the connexion.
GALLANT EXPLOIT OF CAPTAIN TYRREL.
The incidents of the war that happened in the West Indies, during these occurrences, may be reduced to a small compass. Nothing extraordinary was achieved in the neighbourhood of Jamaica, where admiral Coats commanded a small squadron, from which he detached cruisers occasionally for the protection of the British commerce; and at Antigua the trade was effectually secured by the vigilance of captain Tyrrel, whose courage and activity were equal to his conduct and circumspection. In the month of March, this gentleman, with his own ship the Buckingham, and the Cambridge, another of the line, demolished a fort on the island of Martinique, and destroyed four privateers riding under its protection; but his valour appeared much more conspicuous in a subsequent engagement, which happened in the month of November. Being detached on a cruise in his own ship, the Buckingham, by commodore Moore, who commanded at the Leeward Islands, he fell in with the Weazle sloop, commanded by captain Boles, between the islands of Montserrat and Gaudaloupe, and immediately discovered a fleet of nineteen sail, under convoy of a French ship of war carrying seventy-four cannon, and two large frigates. Captain Tyrrel immediately gave chase with all the sail he could carry, and the Weazle running close to the enemy, received a whole broadside from the large ship, which, however, she sustained without much damage; nevertheless, Mr. Tyrrel ordered her commander to keep aloof, as he could not be supposed able to bear the shock of large metal, and he himself prepared for the engagement. The enemy’s large ship, the Florissant, though of much greater force than the Buckingham, instead of lying-to for his coming up, made a running fight with her stern-chase, while the two frigates annoyed him in his course, sometimes raking him fore and aft, and sometimes lying on his quarter. At length he came alongside of the Florissant, within pistol shot, and poured in a whole broadside, which did considerable execution. The salutation was returned with equal vivacity, and a furious engagement ensued. Captain Tyrrel was wounded in the face, and lost three fingers of his right hand; so that, being entirely disabled, he was obliged to delegate the command of the ship to his first lieutenant, Mr. Marshal, who continued the battle with great gallantry until he lost his life; then the charge devolved to the second lieutenant, who acquitted himself with equal honour, and sustained a desperate fight against three ships of the enemy. The officers and crew of the Buckingham exerted themselves with equal vigour and deliberation, and captain Troy, who commanded a detachment of marines on the poop, plied his small arms so effectually, as to drive the French from their quarters. At length, confusion, terror, and uproar, prevailing on board the Florissant, her firing ceased, and her colours were hauled down about twilight; but her commander perceiving that the Buckingham was too much damaged in her rigging to pursue in any hope of success, ordered all his sails to be set, and fled in the dark with his two consorts. Nothing but this circumstance could have prevented a British ship of sixty-five guns, indifferently manned in respect to numbers, from taking a French ship of the line, mounted with seventy-four pieces of cannon, provided with seven hundred men, and assisted by two large frigates, one of thirty-eight guns, and the other wanting two of this number. The loss of the Buckingham, in this action, did not exceed twenty men killed and wounded; whereas the number of the slain on board the Florissant did not fall short of one hundred and eighty, and that of her wounded is said to have exceeded three hundred. She was so disabled in her hull, that she could hardly be kept afloat until she reached Martinique, where she was repaired; and the largest frigate, together with the loss of forty men, received such damage as to be for some time quite unserviceable.
TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.
In the East Indies the transactions of the war were chequered with a variety of success; but, on the whole, the designs of the enemy were entirely defeated. The French commander, M. de Bussy, had, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, quarrelled with Salabatzing, viceroy of Decan, because this last would not put him in possession of the fortress of Golconda. In the course of the next year, while the English forces were employed in Bengal, M. de Bussy made himself master of the British factories of Ingeram, Bandermalanka, and Vizagapatam, and the reduction of this last left the enemy in possession of the whole coast of Coro-mandel, from Ganjam to Massulapatam. While a body of the English company’s forces, under captain Caillaud, endeavoured to reduce the important fortress and town of Madura, the French, under M. d’Anteuil, invested Trichinopoly. Caillaud no sooner received intelligence of the danger to which this place was exposed, than he hastened to its relief, and obliged the enemy to abandon the siege. Then he returned to Madura, and, after an unsuccessful assault, made himself master of it by capitulation. During these transactions, colonel Forde made an attempt upon the fort of Nelloure, a strong place at the distance of twenty-four miles from Madras, but miscarried; and this was also the fate of an expedition against Wandewash, undertaken by colonel Aldercron. The first was repulsed in storming the place, the other was anticipated by the French army, which marched from Pondicherry to the relief of the garrison. The French king had sent a considerable reinforcement to the East Indies, under the command of general Lally, an officer of Irish extraction, together with such a number of ships as rendered the squadron of M. d’Apché superior to that of admiral Pococke, who had succeeded admiral Watson, lately deceased, in the command of the English squadron stationed on the coast of Coromandel, which, in the beginning of this year, was reinforced from England with several ships, under the direction of commodore Stevens. Immediately after this junction, which was effected in the road of Madras on the twenty-fourth day of March, admiral Pococke, who had already signalized himself by his courage, vigilance, and conduct, sailed to windward, with a view to intercept the French squadron, of which he had received intelligence. In two days he descried in the road of fort St. David the enemy’s fleet, consisting of nine ships, which immediately stood out to sea, and formed the line of battle a-head. The admiral took the same precaution, and bearing down upon M. d’Apché, the engagement began about three in the afternoon. The French commodore, having sustained a warm action for about two hours, bore away with his whole fleet, and being joined by two ships, formed a line of battle again to leeward. Admiral Pococke’s own ship, and some others, being greatly damaged in their masts and rigging, two of his captains having misbehaved in the action, and night coming on, he did not think it advisable to pursue them with all the sail he could carry; but, nevertheless, he followed them at a proper distance, standing to the south-west, in order to maintain the weather-gage, in case he should be able to renew the action in the morning. In this expectation, however, he was disappointed; the enemy showed no lights, nor made any signals that could be observed; and in the morning not the least vestige of them appeared. Mr. Pococke, on the supposition that they had weathered him in the night, endeavoured to work up after them to windward; but finding he lost ground considerably, he dropped anchor about three leagues to the northward of Madras, and received intelligence from the chief of that settlement, that one of the largest French ships, having been disabled in the engagement, was run ashore to the southward of Alem-parve, where their whole squadron lay at anchor. Such was the issue of the first action between the English and French squadrons in the East Indies, which, over and above the loss of a capital ship, is said to have cost the enemy about five hundred men, whereas the British admiral did not lose one-fifth part of that number. Being dissatisfied with the behaviour of three captains, he, on his return to Madras, appointed a court-martial to inquire into their conduct; two were dismissed from the service, and the third was sentenced to lose one year’s rank as a post-captain.
In the meantime, Mr. Lally had disembarked his troops at Pondicherry, and, taking the field, immediately invested the fort of St. David, while the squadron blocked it up by sea, Two English ships being at anchor in the road when the enemy arrived, their captains seeing no possibility of escaping, ran them on shore, set them on fire, and retired with their men into the fortress, which, however, was in a few days surrendered. A much more resolute defence was expected from the courage and conduct of major Polier, who commanded the garrison. When he arrived at Madras he was subjected to a court of inquiry, which acquitted him of cowardice, but were of opinion that the place might have held out much longer, and that the terms on which it surrendered were shameful, as the enemy were not even masters of the outward covered way, as they had made no breach, and had a wet ditch to fill up and pass, before the town could have been properly assaulted. Polier, in order to wipe off this disgrace, desired to serve as a volunteer with colonel Draper, and was mortally wounded in a sally at the siege of Madras. Admiral Pococke having, to the best of his power, repaired his shattered ships, set sail again on the tenth of May, in order to attempt the relief of fort St. David’s; but, notwithstanding his utmost endeavours, he could not reach it in time to be of any service. On the thirtieth day of the month, he came in sight of Pondicherry, from whence the French squadron stood away early next morning, nor was it in his power to come up with them, though he made all possible efforts for that purpose. Then receiving intelligence that fort St. David’s was surrendered to the enemy, he returned again to Madras, in order to refresh his squadron. On the twenty-fifth day of July, he sailed a third time in quest of M. d’Apché, and in two days perceived his squadron, consisting of eight ships of the line and a frigate, at anchor in the road of Pondicherry. They no sooner descried him advancing than they stood out to sea as before, and he continued to chase, in hopes of bringing them to an engagement; but all his endeavours proved fruitless till the third day of August, when, having obtained the weather-gage, he bore down upon them in order of battle. The engagement began with great impetuosity on both sides; but in little more than ten minutes, M. d’Apché set his foresail, and bore away, his whole squadron following his example, and maintaining a running fight in a very irregular line. The British admiral then hoisted the signal for a general chase, which the enemy perceiving, thought proper to cut away their boats, and crowd with all the sail they could carry. They escaped, by favour of the night, into the road of Pondicherry, and Mr. Pococke anchored with his squadron off Cari-cal, a French settlement, having thus obtained an undisputed victory, with the loss of thirty men killed, and one hundred and sixteen wounded, including commodore Stevens and captain Martin, though their wounds were not dangerous. The number of killed and wounded on board the French squadron amounted, according to report, to five hundred and forty; and their fleet was so much damaged, that in the beginning of September their commodore sailed for the island of Bourbon, in the same latitude with Madagascar, in order to refit; thus leaving the command and sovereignty of the Indian seas to the English admiral, whose fleet, from the beginning of this campaign, had been much inferior to the French squadron in number of ships and men, as well as in weight of metal.
Mr. Lally having reduced Cuddalore and fort St. David’s,* resolved to extort a sum of money from the king of Tanjour, on pretence that, in the last war, he had granted an obligation to the French governor for a certain sum, which had never been paid.
* Cuddalore was in such a defenceless condition, that it could make no resistance; and there being no place in fort St. David’s bomb-proof, nor any provisions or fresh water, the garrison surrendered in twelve days, on capitulation, after having sustained a severe bombardment.
Lally accordingly marched with a body of three thousand men into the dominions of Tanjour, and demanded seventy-two lacs of rupees. This extravagant demand being rejected, he plundered Negare, a trading town on the sea-coast, and afterwards invested the capital; but after he had prosecuted the siege until a breach was made, his provisions and ammunition beginning to fail, several vigorous sallies being made by the forces of the king of Tanjour, and the place well defended by European gunners, sent from the English garrison at Trichinopoly, he found himself obliged to raise the siege, and retreat with precipitation, leaving his cannon behind. He arrived at Carical about the middle of August, and from thence retired to Pondicherry towards the end of September. He afterwards cantoned his troops in the province of Arcot, entered the city without opposition, and began to make preparations for the siege of Madras, which shall be recorded among the incidents of the succeeding year. In the meantime, the land-forces belonging to the East India company were so much out-numbered by the reinforcements which arrived with Mr. Lally, that they could not pretend to keep the field, out were obliged to remain on the defensive, and provide as well as they could for the security of fort St. George, and the other settlements in that part of India.