British garrison

“ In fact, the garrison, which comprised only 2,000 British troops, 4,000 Spaniards, 1,500 French royalists, together with some Neapolitans and Piedmontese, was insufficient to defend the many positions around the city on which its safety depended. Indeed, General Grey wrote to Pitt that 50,000 men were needed to garrison the place; but, as that was double the strength of the British regular army then, the English Minister could only hold out hopes of the arrival of an Austrian corps and a few hundred British. ”

“ On receiving this joyful news, the garrison, immediately marched into the enemy's quarters, where they found four pieces of artillery, four mortars and a large quantity of ammunition, which they brought in triumph into the fort. During the time that the garrison were shut up in the fort, 45 Europeans and 30 Sepoys were killed, and a greater number of both wounded, most of whom suffered by the enemy's musketry from the houses. ”

“ Yet, under all these disasters, the garrison evinced that valour, firmness, and constancy, for which the British soldier has been distinguished at periods of extreme danger and privation.
At length the governor and commander of the forces "thought they should be wanting in humanity to the brave soldiers who had behaved so long with such fidelity and courage if they should subject them to all the horrors of an assault, which, from the superior numbers of the enemy, and the ruinous condition of the place, could not fail to succeed. ”

“ Everything was now done by the garrison to strengthen its position. Barricades were erected at all available points, the defences of the Residency were improved, and every building put into a state of defence. One of the greatest dangers the British had to guard against was the enemy’s mines, which threatened the position from every possible quarter. The garrison had always to be on the alert, and were constantly employed in counter-mining. In this they were very successful, and managed to thwart the rebels at almost every point. ”

“ The British general was an able soldier. He at once took energetic steps for the defense of the city. At every available point he built blockhouses, barricades, and palisades; and mounted one hundred and fifty cannon. He took five hundred sailors from the war vessels to help man the guns, and thus increased the garrison to eighteen hundred fighting men.
For two weeks the patriot army fired their little three-pounders, and threw several hundred "fire pills," as the men called them, against the granite ramparts and into the town. ”

“ At 9.30 the barrage lifted and the garrison rushed up from their shelters and manned their posts, but the fog rolled white and thick across their vision. The cloud banked right up to their wire, while from behind it came all the noises of the pit. So nerve-shaking was the effect that some of the outlying men came creeping into the redoubt for human company. At 9.40 the whizzing of bullets all around showed that the infantry was on the move. The garrison fired back into the mist, whence came vague shoutings and tramplings. ”

“ The garrison, as well the citizens who had borne arms as the continental troops, militia, and sailors, were to be prisoners of war. The garrison were to march out of town, and to deposite their arms in front of their works; but their drums were not to beat a British march, nor their colours to be reversed. The militia were to retire to their homes on parole, and their persons and property, as well as the persons and property of the inhabitants of the town, to be secure while they adhered to their paroles. ”

“ Very few cases permit a strong sally from the garrison at the opening of a siege; the present was in some measure justified by the supposition that the enemy's troops were intoxicated and in confusion: but, notwithstanding the ardour of the onset, it left no advantageous impression of the Armness of the garrison with the French officers ”

“ The whole French force now advanced as if to storm the works, and the garrison prepared to receive them. Nothing came of it but a fusillade, to which the British made no reply. At night the French were heard advancing again, and each man nerved himself for the crisis. The real attack, however, was not against the fort, but against the buildings outside, which consisted of several storehouses, a hospital, a saw-mill, and the huts of the rangers, besides a sloop on the stocks and piles of planks and cord-wood. ”

“ Of these, more than 600 were European women and children; nearly 700 were native servants, non-combatants; another 700 were Sepoys, of somewhat dubious loyalty. The real fighting strength of the garrison consisted of 535 men of the 32nd, 50 of the 84th, 89 artillerymen, 100 British officers—mainly escapees from revolted regiments—and 153 civilians, mostly clerks, who now suddenly had to exchange the pen for the musket and bayonet. ”

“ If High Wood had cost and was to cost us dearly to attack, it assuredly was not cheap to defend; and if their artillery had made it too deadly for our occupation our own guns must also have taken high toll of the German garrison. Such broader views are easy for the detached reasoner in dug-out or in study, but to the troops who faced the ill-omened litter of broken tree-trunks and decaying bodies it might well seem disheartening that this sinister grove should still bar the way. ”

“ At the accession of King William the only British garrisons in the colonies were one company at the Leeward Islands and two at New York; by 1692 the West Indies alone had one complete regiment [89] and four independent companies of red-coats. At the accession [42] of Queen Anne the independent companies for a time disappeared from the West Indies, and gave place to regular regiments of the Line, which have furnished the garrison ever since. ”

“ The only other exceptions to the general efficiency were a very few instances of cowardice and many more of slackness. The militia order-books have repeated entries about men who turned up late for even important duties as well as about others whose authorized substitutes were no better than themselves. But it should be remembered that, as a whole, the garrison did exceedingly good service and that all the malingerers and serious delinquents together did not amount to more than a tenth of its total, which is a small proportion for such a mixed body. ”

“ They likewise stationed a stronger guard in the ravelin at the end of the caponiere on the other side of the fort. Besides the immediate superiority of artillery standing on their works, the garrison had others in store, mounted ready to replace what might be rendered useless in the course of service; whereas the English army could only restore the loss of theirs by borrowing the common guns of the Hardwicke, which were nine-pounders, or the Rajah's, which were good for nothing. ”

“ The British and Austrian troops took possession the same day; 120 pieces of cannon were mounted on the works of the town and Fort Lorenzo, 21 in Fort Imperial, and 11 in the island of Croma, with a garrison of 500 men, and nearly six weeks’ provisions. The garrison are prisoners of war, not to serve against England or her allies till regularly exchanged. I am happy to say the best understanding has prevailed between the allied troops ”

“ The French garrison consisted of 2,600 men, 922 of whom were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, during the siege. The loss sustained by the British in ejecting this conquest, amounted to 313 killed, and 494 wounded. ”

“ On taking stock of their resources the garrison found that, everyone being on half rations, there was supply until about the middle of June, by which time, if they could hold out, they might expect relief; while there was a supply of about 300 rounds of ammunition per man. Of water there was no lack, as fortunately when first the fort was occupied a covered way had been made down to the river, and this covered way was all through the siege one of the principal objects of the enemy’s attacks, and had to be held day and night by a strong guard. ”

“ The safety from shells is dearly paid for when a squad of furious stormers with Mills bombs in their hands and death in their faces glare in from the door. Their minds were kept easy, however, by the knowledge that broad fields of barbed wire, so rusty and so thick that they resembled ploughland from a distance, lay between them and the British. A very large garrison drawn from seven divisions, one of them being the 2nd Guards Reserve, held this dangerous salient in the German line. ”

“ In the annals of modern warfare, perhaps there is no conflict recorded which was so sanguinary and so desperate as the storming of that well-defended breach. During the blockade, every resource of military ingenuity was tried by the French governor, and the failure of the first assault, with the subsequent raising of the siege, emboldened the garrison, and rendered them the more confident of holding out until Soult could advance and succour them. ”

“ His garrison consisted of under 2,000 men, of whom 100 were civilians and 765 loyal natives—men of the mutinied regiments who had determined to throw in their lot with the Sirkar. With [320] them were nearly 200 pensioners—men mostly past work.
It is not within the scope of this work to deal with the details of that heroic defence, where civilian vied with soldier, native with Englishman, to uphold the honour of our name; where delicately-nurtured women and the no less devoted wives of the privates shared all the dangers, all the privations, of the humblest sepoy. ”

“ The inevitable result was that the garrison was composed mainly of discontented men, ready to desert at the first opportunity, with an infusion of lazy, cunning old soldiers, who had contracted an attachment to the wine or the women of the country, and were content to pass the rest of their lives in chronic insobriety. ”

“ Major Lawrence receiving intelligence of this design, ordered the garrison to march and the cannon to be removed to Fort St. David, intending by this operation to make the French believe that he did not think the place tenable. As soon as night came on, the garrison, augmented to the number of 400 Europeans, together with the cannon, were sent back to Cuddalore, with the precautions necessary to prevent the enemy from receiving intelligence of their return. ”

“ Many women and children died from want of the bare necessaries of life; more than one babe was shot in its mother's arms, and more than one woman fell a victim to the bullets of our foes. For a long eighty-seven days did the siege last, and then the little band under Havelock forced its way through the many thousands of the besieging force, and brought the welcome reinforcement of British bayonets to the beleaguered garrison. The figures below tell the sad tale of the severe losses which were endured by the heroic garrison of Lucknow:
Casualties in the Defence of Lucknow. ”

“ The Afghans, when a few days afterwards they approached the fortress and saw the wonderful state of repair in which it had been placed, believed that it had escaped through the power of English witchcraft. The difficulties of the garrison, however, increased great anxiety was felt for the subsistence of the cavalry and artillery horses. Foraging parties were sent out daily under an escort, and were constantly attacked by the enemy; and the close investment of the place by Akbar Khan made it impossible for them to get in the needed supplies. ”

“ The Dutch, he said, would probably keep all their men in garrison, and if the Allies were so weak that they could only find garrisons for the fortresses on the frontier, the French would be free to go where they pleased. It would be far better, therefore, to make a great effort, collect a hundred thousand men, take the offensive, and end the war in a single campaign. ”

“ The rebels, desperate to achieve their end, commenced to fire hot shells and red-hot shot, which caused a part of the barracks to ignite. Unfortunately this was the very part where the sick and wounded were lying. Before anything could be done, about forty poor creatures had perished in the flames, while the defenders could not quit their posts in the trenches lest the savage horde would burst in and annihilate the garrison. The barracks soon became so riddled that they afforded but little protection, and the women had to burrow in the earth to find safety for themselves and their children. ”

“ At first the astounding noise distracted the garrison, and enabled the advance of both storming parties to gain the breaches; but the French recovered from their panic, and poured such a fire of grape and musketry on the assailants, that the breach was heaped with dead and dying, and the allies were driven back to the trenches with a loss of above six hundred men. The loss of the British, from the 7th to the 27th of July, amounted to two hundred and four killed, seven hundred and seventy-four wounded, and three hundred missing. ”

“ The Americans occupied it in November 1776, and about two years later erected a blockhouse upon it. The garrison, however, was very small, and on the 31st of May 1779, it was taken by the British, who immediately erected much stronger fortifications. On the night of the 15th/16th of July it was recovered by General Anthony Wayne, in command of about 1350 picked American troops, the garrison (under Lieut.-Colonel Henry Johnson) losing 63 in killed, 70 in wounded, and 543 in captured. ”

“ At the same moment the French effected their entrance, and the garrison was driven back step by step, and hurled pellmell through the embrasures on the opposite side, when a destructive fire was opened on them by Captain Govan’s guns, which strewed the ground outside with dead and wounded. Preparations were then made to attack the lower fort, but the garrison of 2000 men and upwards yielded without firing a gun. Of the British, 17 men were killed, and 22 officers and 161 men wounded. The French had 130 casualties; several of their officers were killed. ”