1811.
Mortality in the West Indies—Strength and distribution of detachments in the Peninsula—Recapture of Olivenza—Field instruction prior to siege of Badajoz—Conduct of corps at the siege—Conduct of Sergeant Rogers in reconnoitring—Reinforcement to Portugal and duties of the detachment—Its distribution and services—Battle of Barrosa; gallant conduct of Sergeant John Cameron—Tarragona—Defence of Tarifa—Augmentation to corps and reconstruction of companies—Annual expense of corps—Command of the companies—Their stationary character—The wealthy corporal—New distribution of corps—Commissions to Sub-Lieutenants, and ingenious inventions of Lieutenant Munro.
The West India company being gradually reduced to about fifty men, it was strengthened in March to 110, by the arrival at Barbadoes, in the ‘Flora’ transport, of fifty-eight men. During the years 1810 and 1811 the number of deaths in the company from yellow fever was thirty.
The detachment of the corps in Portugal was increased to seventy-eight of all ranks, by the landing at Lisbon of two sergeants and fifty-seven rank and file under Lieutenant P. Wright of the royal engineers. Thirty-four of the reinforcement were forthwith sent to the Lines of Torres Vedras and the Almada position; and the remaining twenty-five joined the head-quarters of the army, under Captain George Ross and Lieutenant Stanway.[[165]]
While these movements were being effected, two artificers of the detachment were present at the recapture of Olivenza in April, under the command of Captain Squire, R.E.[[166]]
Soon after the reduction of Olivenza the siege party was augmented to twenty-seven, by the arrival at Elvas of twenty-five men under Captain George Ross. Of this increase not a man had ever seen the construction of a sap, battery, or trench. The whole were therefore daily drilled in the formation of fieldworks and in making fascines and gabions.[[167]] In these instructional operations they soon acquired sufficient knowledge to render themselves useful to their officers; and, at the same time, showed intelligence and alacrity in aiding in the construction of the flying-bridges across the Guadiana at Juramenha.
These twenty-seven men were employed in the first siege of Badajoz. Reduced by two, they were also present at the second siege[siege] of that fortress. On both occasions the diligence and exertions of the detachment were prominent; and, assisted by the line workmen, they quickly repaired the broken batteries and damaged embrasures. “Many a fine fellow,” says a well-known author, “lost his life in endeavouring to vie with the men of the engineers.”[[168]]
In the second siege, on the night before the storming, sergeant William Rogers, and three intrepid men of the corps, accompanied Captain Patton, R.E., on the dangerous service of reconnoitring the fords of the Rivillas, and the approach to the castle breach beyond the river. They conducted the examination for a time and then returned to the works for a file of men as a guard. With this escort they retraced their steps; but left it behind at a short distance from the breach, when the captain and his “trusty sergeant” went forward alone and completed the reconnaissance. In returning to the guard the captain stumbled, and the clanking of his sword drawing the attention of the French sentinels, they fired, and he fell mortally wounded. Sergeant Rogers protected his captain till he gained the escort, with whose assistance he succeeded in bearing him alive to the trenches. Captain Patton was able to make his report of the practicability of the assault and soon afterwards expired.[[169]] Sergeant Rogers died at Fuente Guinaldo in the following August. Of him Colonel Fletcher wrote: “he was an attentive, good soldier, and in every way a most estimable character.”
In May the detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher received an addition of thirty-nine men; and on the 29th June a further reinforcement of sixty-three non-commissioned officers and men under Lieutenants Melhuish and De Salaberry, royal engineers. In consequence of this augmentation, the men of the infantry acting as overseers and mechanics on the lines, rejoined their respective regiments; and the posts thus vacated were occupied by the newly-arrived detachments of military artificers.[[170]]
The whole force of the corps in Portugal amounted in July to 8 sergeants, 5 corporals, 16 second corporals, 3 drummers, and 145 privates; total, 177. Of this number a comparatively small party only was kept with the army, whilst the remainder were distributed to the lines, Sobral, Oeyras, the Almada position, Peniche, Abrantes, Alhandra, Fort St. Julian, &c. In conducting the works at those places, “the abilities and good conduct of the men were found of the utmost advantage.” At Fort St. Julian particularly, where they were employed in the formation of four extensive jetties for the embarkation of troops in case of necessity, their skill and expertness were found of great importance. Sergeant John M‘Kay had the executive superintendence of the work under the direction of Captain Holloway, R.E.
The detachment with the moving army was broken up into sections of five or six men to each division or corps, and one or other of them was at the blockade of Almeida, Fuentes d’Onoro, Albuera, Campo Maior, and the several other actions which occurred in the Peninsula during the campaign of 1811.
From Cadiz Sub-Lieutenant Davie and fifty men under Captain J. F. Birch of the royal engineers, were detached with Sir Thomas Graham’s force, and landed at Algeciras 22nd February. Being armed with short swords only, Sir Thomas caused them to be furnished with such spare muskets, accoutrements, and ammunition as could be collected, to defend themselves if necessary on the march. They were then placed at the head of the column to remove obstructions and facilitate the advance of the army. On the 5th March, Barrosa was fought, and the detachment of artificers was present in the battle. Here sergeant John Cameron gave a manifestation of his zeal by leading to the charge a section of seven men. They pressed where the fight was warmest; and in a few moments lost one private—John Storie—killed and two wounded. The blue uniform of the artificers was distinctly seen among the red coats of the line, and Sir Thomas Graham ordered the instant withdrawal of the party to the rear, observing that he might want it for other work. The sergeant was to have been tried by a court-martial for taking the men into action without orders; but his bravery saved him.
In June a second-corporal and four military artificers of the Cadiz company under Lieutenant Harry D. Jones, were attached to Colonel Skerrett’s expedition to assist the Spaniards in sustaining the siege of Tarragona; but the fortress fell while the British troops were in the roadstead. The party of artificers landed and occupied quarters in St. George’s Barracks, near Mahon, in the island of Minorca, and returned to La Isla in July.
In the following October, two artificers were sent from Cadiz for the defence of Tarifa under Captain C. F. Smith, R.E. Two also were sent there from Gibraltar by Colonel Sir Charles Holloway, the chief engineer at the fortress. Ultimately the engineers' means were increased to seventeen men of all ranks, who were employed as overseers in strengthening the defences of the place, and they carried on their duty with energy and credit. One private was wounded on the 29th December. A detachment of variable strength continued at Tarifa until April, 1813, when it returned to Cadiz.
A reinforcement of twenty men under Sub-Lieutenant Stewart Calder, sailed in November on board the ‘Tartar’ transport for Cadiz, and landed before the end of the year. The artificer force there now counted 101 of all ranks.
Anholt, an island of Denmark in possession of the British, had been attacked by the Danes in March, and the fortifications consequently were much damaged. No officer of the royal engineers being available for the duty of restoring the defences, corporal Alexander Borthwick of the royal military artificers, an experienced mechanic, was sent there in His Majesty’s ship ‘Helder,’ with two privates as overseers. They landed in September and were quartered in Fort Yorke under Lieutenant John Bezant, the ordnance storekeeper. The marines on the island were employed on the works, and each received for his labour 2s. 4d. a-day. They worked with attention and spirit. In six months all the authorized renewals and improvements were executed; and in May, a further sum of 3,700l. having been voted for completing the defences of the island, additional works were commenced to place the fortifications in a state to sustain a regular siege. In preparing to meet an apprehended attack on the island by the Danes, corporal Borthwick made various effective arrangements for the disposition and employment of the working parties, and gained the thanks of the Military Commandant, Major Torrens, royal marines. Shortly after, Admiral Martin being of opinion that the fortifications were sufficiently tenable to stand an attack, the works were suspended; and in August, 1812, Borthwick and his overseers returned to England. For his conduct and services at Anholt he was promoted to be sergeant; and a commission to a sub-lieutenancy was to have been conferred on him, but in the interim he became involved in some serious irregularities, which prevented the reward and ultimately ruined him.
So many detachments had been provided for the colonies and the war, that appeals for reinforcements or more extended aid could only occasionally be attended to. From the Peninsula and elsewhere, therefore, representations had been made of the necessity for increasing the corps, and augmenting the engineers' means for carrying on with efficiency the duties of the department. The proposals at length met with due consideration; and on the 28th May a warrant was issued for an improved organization of the corps, enlarging its establishment to an extent commensurate with the precautions which the disturbed state of Europe rendered advisable.
The warrant sanctioned an increase of 1,347 men, abolished the rank of company-sergeant-major, added to the number of the sub-lieutenants, and divided the corps into four battalions of eight companies, each company being constituted as follows:—
| Sub-Lieutenant | 1 |
| Sergeants | 5 |
| Corporals | 5 |
| Second-Corporals | 5 |
| Drummers | 3 |
| Carpenters | 15 |
| Masons | 10 |
| Bricklayers | 6 |
| Smiths | 4 |
| Wheelers | 2 |
| Collar-makers | 2 |
| Cooper | 1 |
| Miners[[171]] | 30 |
| Total | 89 |
The establishment of the corps was fixed as under:—
| Staff |  | Adjutants[[172]] Sergeant-majors Quartermaster-Sergeants Drum-major | 4 4 4 1 |
| Sub-Lieutenants | 32 | ||
| Sergeants | 160 | ||
| Corporals | 160 | ||
| Second-Corporals | 160 | ||
| Drummers | 96 | ||
| Privates | 2,240 | ||
| Total | 2,861 | ||
exclusive of the three companies of Maltese military artificers.
The annual expense of the corps, not including working pay and other fluctuating contingencies, amounted to 87,736l. 14s. 3¼d. At this period 5 sub-lieutenants, 1 sergeant-major, and 130 men were employed on the recruiting service.
In all practicable cases, general and field-officers were deprived of the command of companies, which now ceased to be stationary, but were removed by rotation of relief from one station to another, the same as the companies of the royal artillery. The employment of men on detached duties was also discouraged, and companies were composed of a convenient strength to enable them to move in bodies.
Upon the stationary condition of the corps a celebrated officer of the royal engineers has made the subjoined correct remarks:—[[173]] “From the close of the American war till the year 1811, all the companies of royal military artificers were kept permanently fixed at their respective stations, both at home and abroad, where they remained for life, in what may, for military men, be styled a state of vegetation; so that they were, at that period, a vast number of men who had actually grown grey in the corps, who had never entered a transport, nor made a single day’s march from the head-quarters of their company. To the men at Gibraltar and other foreign stations the service of the corps was thus rendered almost equivalent to transportation for life. Everywhere they intermixed with civilians; they married in a proportion unknown in any other corps; so much so, that the number of women and children belonging to one company was often equal to that of a battalion of the line.”[[174]]
Under the new arrangement the companies were distributed as follows:—
| Companies. | |
| Woolwich | 6 |
| Chatham | 2 |
| Portsmouth and Gosport | 3 |
| Plymouth | 2 |
| Dover | 2 |
| Guernsey | 1 |
| Jersey | 1 |
| Cork | 2 |
| Gibraltar | 3 |
| Newfoundland | 1 |
| Halifax | 1 |
| West Indies | 2 |
| Cadiz | 2 |
| Portugal | 4 |
with detachments from the above to Eastbourne and the Sussex coast, Hythe, Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Ceylon, Cape of Good Hope, Sicily, the Ionian Islands, and Madeira.
The companies at Cadiz were the sixth and seventh of the first battalion; and those in Portugal were the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth of the second battalion. At this time the corps counted a force of nearly 1,500 men. More than half were employed in foreign possessions and colonial defence. The remainder, distributed in home garrisons and the Channel Islands, included a large proportion of aged men, invalids, and recruits. By the end of the year the reconstruction of the companies was completed; and from continual accessions of squads of recruits, rapidly equipped and disciplined, the corps was soon in a condition, to a greater extent than heretofore, to meet such incidental necessities as might arise.
Eleven sergeants were commissioned to be sub-lieutenants during the year. Some joined from the royal artillery. All were distinguished either as soldiers or artificers, particularly Sub-Lieutenant Munro, who was an “ingenious and skilful mechanic,” and his inventions, which met with general approbation, were attended with considerable saving to the Government. The captain of his company, in making a record of his acquirements, wrote that Lieutenant Munro “was the most zealous and intelligent non-commissioned officer whom he had met in the course of his services.”[[175]]