1793.
War with France—Artificers demanded for foreign service—Consequent effects—Detachment to West Indies—Fever at Antigua—Detachment to Flanders—Siege of Valenciennes—Waterdown Camp—Reinforcement to Flanders—Siege of Dunkirk—Nieuport—Another reinforcement to Flanders—Toulon—Private Samuel Myers at Fort Mulgrave—Formation of four companies for service abroad—Establishment and strength of corps.
Louis XVI. having been dragged to the scaffold and beheaded, the event became the subject of grave consideration in the British Cabinet, resulting in the dismissal of the French ambassador in London, and in the declaration of war by the Convention against Great Britain. Immediately following this publication of hostilities, British troops were sent to Holland to co-operate with those of the Stadtholder against the common enemy, as well to the West Indies for the reduction of the French settlements there.
The new position into which England was thrown by the declaration of war, gave prominence to a feature in the royal military artificers, which had almost been lost sight of;—that was, the liability of the men to serve in any part of the world wherever their services might be required. Although every care was taken to prevent misconception on this point, by obtaining from every recruit a signed agreement, expressive of his willingness to comply with this condition, still, it was regarded by all, as a mere formal arrangement, never to be acted upon; and in this notion they were afterwards strengthened by the fact, that when candidates were desired for service at Gibraltar, none were sent there unless with their own free consent. Now, however, their forgotten agreements were shown to be binding, and, accordingly, men were demanded from the English companies for active service in Flanders and the West Indies.
As may be supposed, the order occasioned no little surprise and regret, as at this period, the military artificers were living under circumstances of the most favourable character—treated indeed more like citizens than soldiers. Many were married and had families; some few had property in land and houses; and all, or nearly all, had profitable engagements in civil life, which they were permitted by their officers to follow, after the demands of the service had been attended to. To avoid therefore the chance of being separated from such advantages, several obtained their discharges by providing substitutes at considerable cost, whilst a far greater number took the very dishonourable alternative of deserting. During the year 1793, the desertions were, perhaps, more in number than in any other year since the formation of the corps.
The Plymouth company was called upon to furnish one corporal and seventeen private miners for the service of the Engineer department in the West Indies, who, embarking in February, in due time, arrived at Grenada. Divided between that island and Antigua, they had scarcely commenced their duties before the unhealthiness of the climate began to be felt among them. Fever, the prevailing scourge of the islands, seized them, and ere the close of the year, all, except private William Trevethick, had died! He survived his comrades about two and a half years; and with his decease was completed the extermination, by fever, of the first foreign detachment of the corps.
At Antigua, it should be mentioned, that the malady was conveyed on shore through the unconscious imprudence of one of the party. He had gone on board a vessel called the ‘Experiment,’ which had just arrived in English Harbour in great distress, having lost nearly all her hands by fever. Of the existence of the disease in the ship the artificer was not aware, and he slept in a blanket belonging to one of the dead men. Seized with the disorder, he died in a few hours, and his wearing apparel and blanket, being taken to the Ordnance quarters as his property, the infection was thus communicated to the rest of the detachment; next to the artillery, and from them it spread to the 31st regiment, committing fearful ravages in its course.[[88]]
Five non-commissioned officers, 30 artificers, 50 labourers, and 1 drummer; total 86, collected from the different stations and formed into a company at Woolwich, under Captain Gother Mann, R.E., embarked at the royal arsenal on the 16th of March, to join the army in the Low Countries under the Duke of York, taking with them an abundant assortment of intrenching and tradesmen’s tools. Most of the men had been encamped, in 1792, at Bagshot Heath, and were in some measure acquainted with the art of field fortification and military mining. Colonel Moncrief, who had greatly distinguished himself during the American war, was appointed chief engineer to the expedition.
Of the company’s landing, and its early services in Holland, nothing is known, but at the siege of Valenciennes it played an important part. All the non-commissioned officers, and most of the more skilful of the miners, acted as foremen, and from 300 to 400 men were frequently placed under the executive charge of one military artificer. Those of the company not considered fit for overseers, were distributed singly among the working parties to stimulate them by their example to equal zeal and exertion. In the more difficult services of the siege, or when occasion required, the labourers, miners, and artificers, of the company worked in twos or in greater numbers. The working party from the line was seldom less than 14,000 a day.
In the final assault of the fortress, on the 25th of July, a portion of the company under Captain Sutherland, R.E., was attached to the left column appointed to attack the salient angle of the ravelin of the hornwork. Three globes of compression which had been pushed under the works to be stormed, were exploded at short intervals, after nine o’clock, with complete success. Breaches being thus formed for the columns to enter the works, they did so with great ardour and forced the enemy to fly into the fortress. While these external operations were in course of accomplishment, the miners bravely rushed from the ditch into the enemy’s subterranean galleries, took the workmen in them, and saved the mine from being sprung. To these underground manœuvres and the promptitude and gallantry of the detachment of artificers and line workmen in preventing the explosion of the enemy’s mines, the fall of Valenciennes was chiefly indebted. It capitulated on the 28th of July. Sir James Murray, in a despatch, dated 26th July, 1793, thus writes—“A detachment of the company of artificers, under Captain Sutherland, accompanied the column to the ravelin of the hornwork, and performed the duty allotted to them with great activity and resolution.” One labourer—private Robert Freeman—was killed.[[89]]
General Dundas, about this period, introduced the system of drill so long distinguished by his name; and to test its efficiency a camp was formed on the 1st of July, at Waterdown, under the Duke of Richmond. The troops, both horse and foot, numbered 7,000. To this camp was attached, by the Duke’s order, four non-commissioned officers, thirty-six privates, and one drummer of the military artificers, under Lieutenant George Bridges, R.E., who took with them a proportion of field implements and artificers' tools. For three weeks, the season being exceedingly fine, the drill was briskly carried on; but was succeeded by an interval of idleness and discomfort occasioned by heavy and continuous rain. On the 4th of August, the troops moved to Ashdown Forest, where they manœuvred for a week and finally marched to Brighton: there they drilled for a fortnight, producing some grand military displays in the presence of the Prince of Wales, and returned to their stations on the 22nd of August. In the purely military evolutions of the camp the artificers took no part; but when the troops were moving they always preceded them to construct temporary bridges over the rivulets and ditches that intercepted the march, and to cut away obstacles to afford an easier road for the passage of the artillery. The materials for the bridges were cut on the spot, formed into faggots, and hastily thrown over the streams in view of the troops. At Brighton, the party was daily occupied in bridge-making, and became very expert in that description of field service.[[90]]
A few days previous to the dispersion of the camp, the Duke of Richmond ordered another selection of four non-commissioned officers and ninety-eight artificers and labourers, to be made from the English companies to reinforce the corps in Flanders; and in order that the party should be formed of the most efficient men, his Grace desired as many as could be spared to be taken for the service from the Brighton detachment. To press as lightly as possible upon individual interests, volunteering was freely allowed, and the remainder were obtained by casting lots. The companies at Woolwich, Portsmouth, and Gosport, were also required to provide their quota; and being collected at head-quarters, they sailed late in August, and in a few days arrived at Ostend. With this reinforcement, the military artificers in the Low Countries amounted to 7 non-commissioned officers, 41 artificers, 104 labourers, and 1 drummer; total 153.
Immediately on landing, they were marched to join the company then before Dunkirk, and were employed in the operations for the reduction of that fortress until the 7th of September, when the Duke of York was compelled to abandon his position. On returning to the Artillery Park, the artificers exerted themselves in spiking all the guns that could not be carried with the army and in disabling their carriages, as well as in throwing about 500 barrels of gunpowder into the river and destroying nearly all the intrenching tools. In this siege, three artificers were killed—privates William Drummond, John Fairbairn, and John Wilson; and one was missing—private Thomas Howell; but of the number wounded, no record can be found. Colonel Moncrief, the chief engineer, was dangerously wounded in repulsing a sortie by the enemy on the 6th of September, and died a few days after at Ostend, where he was interred under the flagstaff by some of his own company.
A portion of the corps was employed in October in the defence of Nieuport, but in what manner cannot now be ascertained. Indeed, from the paucity of information, either verbal or documentary, rendering it impracticable to trace, with anything like distinctness, the services and movements of the military artificers during the remainder of this and the subsequent campaigns in the Low Countries, unsatisfactory gaps will necessarily appear in this narrative at times, when the most interesting details might have been expected.
Whilst the siege of Nieuport was progressing, Sir Charles Grey with his expedition arrived at Ostend, and learning the critical situation of the garrison determined to relieve it; but no sooner had he made arrangements for doing so, than the enemy retired and left the fortress and the field in quiet possession of the allies. To Sir Charles Grey’s force was attached 2 non-commissioned officers and 28 artificers, under Colonel Elias Durnford, royal engineers, drafted from England, with which number the corps in Flanders was augmented to 182 of all ranks. Winter setting in soon after, and the strife in the Low Countries being suspended for the season, a company was recalled from thence, and, on arrival at Spithead, sailed with the fleet for active service in the West Indies.
In September, a detachment of 1 sergeant—Edward Smith—2 corporals, and about 20 privates, were selected from Captain Nepean’s company at Gibraltar, and sailed with the armament under General O’Hara for Toulon on board H.M. ships ‘Egmont’ and ‘Terrible.’[[91]] The officers of engineers with the party were Captain Nepean and Lieutenant De Butts. On landing, the men were detached in twos and threes to the different points of defence around Toulon; and their duties consisted in directing, under the general superintendence of their officers, the several working parties employed in constructing the batteries, &c. In the various actions and operations at this place, the detachment was more or less engaged, and “all were most zealous, active, and distinguished in their several capacities.” Some were wounded; and in the desperate defence of Fort Mulgrave, three were killed.
At this fort, private Samuel Myers, who had previously served at the siege of Gibraltar, was conspicuous in his exertions under Lieutenant John Duncan, royal artillery, assistant engineer. At one of the guns all the artillerymen were either killed or disabled, for the post was a dangerous one; and the gun was consequently silent, though in a position to do much service. Observing this, Myers, having given general instructions to those who were under him as to the manner in which they were to perform their work, repaired with some volunteers to the battery and manned the gun. For a considerable time he laid and fired it himself with a precision and effect that checked the fierceness of the enemy’s cannonade, and attracted the notice of General Dundas. Highly approving of the zeal and gallantry of the self-constituted gunner, the General made him a corporal on the spot, and would have honoured him with a higher rank, only it was found that the custom of the corps did not admit of this distinction being conferred. Throughout the remaining period of the defence, Myers divided his attention between this gun and the works, attending to both with an ardour and fearlessness that gained him much praise. Early in the next year he was killed in Corsica.
Two of the English companies out of six having already been sent abroad, and the nature of our relations with France rendering it highly probable that more would be demanded, the Duke of Richmond represented to his Majesty the benefit that would result to the service, if a corps of artificers and labourers were formed expressly for employment abroad. His Grace the more readily recommended this measure, as the various stations from which detachments were sent were compelled to hire civil tradesmen to supply their places, at wages considerably higher than the estimates warranted; and whilst it checked improvement in the labourers, which his Grace was anxious to see developed, it also crippled, in some degree, the general efficiency of the companies. Concurring, therefore, in his Grace’s proposition, His Majesty granted a warrant under date the 11th September, 1793, for raising a corps of royal military artificers and labourers, to consist of four companies and to be distributed as follows:—
| Flanders | 2 | companies |
| West Indies | 1 | ” |
| Upper Canada | 1 | ” |
The command and composition of the companies were to be similar in every respect to the English companies; they were to be stationary in the countries where they were appointed to serve; and the men were to receive the like advantages in pay, allowances, and clothing. A distinct position would seem to have been given to these foreign companies by the warrant, but they nevertheless, though designated a corps, were comprehended with the English companies in one united body, and depended upon the latter companies for the maintenance of their strength and efficiency. Such, however, it may be observed, was not the case with the companies at Gibraltar, which yet remained a separate and independent body, though differing from the home and foreign companies only in non-essentials of a local character.
The warrant just alluded to does not appear to have been carried out in the manner intended. Instead of sending a reinforcement to Flanders to complete the companies there to the authorized establishment, one company was withdrawn from thence and sent to the West Indies; while as regarded the latter station, in addition to the company ordered, a party also embarked with it, forming, with the detachment already in those islands, the nucleus of a second company. The total number of artificers and labourers in Flanders, after this change, was 82 of all ranks, and in the West Indies 126. On what ground this reversionary alteration was adopted is not precisely known; but it may reasonably be assigned to the pressing appeals from the West Indies for more men, and the inactive position of affairs in the Low Countries permitting it to be effected without detriment to the service. The company for Canada was never embodied, though the idea of forming it was cherished until December 1798, when it was abandoned.
At the end of the year the establishment and strength of the corps were as under:—
| Home companies | 600 | |
| Foreign companies | 400 | |
| Total | 1000 | establishment |
| Strength | 588 | |
| Wanting to complete | 412 |