The personal attention of Buonaparte to the operations of the siege was soon after diverted to another object, in repelling the bold attacks of the Samaritan Arabs, whom, by a train of able measures, he beat in every part of an extended line, and drove them across the Jordan.
My bounds will not allow me to detail the many incidents of this brilliant siege, where perseverance was constantly opposed to vigorous effort.
On the 1st of May, the French having cannonaded and made a breach, they a fourth time risqued a storm, but they were repulsed with heavy loss. The flanking fire from two ravelins run out on each side of the enemy's nearest approach, and in which the Marines of the Tigre and Theseus, to the admiration and gratitude of the Turkish garrison, worked and fought, though exposed to an incessant discharge upon them, contributed chiefly to the salvation of the place upon that day. The disposition of those ships, and of the inferior craft, was so judicious, that the republican trenches were unceasingly annoyed. These progressive duties afforded many tests of Naval zeal and courage. The early fall of Captain Wilmot, of that Corps, was felt a heavy loss, as he was an excellent Officer and a worthy man. The unfortunate death of Colonel Philippeaux would have been considered as an irretrievable disaster, if it had not been compensated by the active talents of Sir John Douglas, upon whom devolved the additional cares of an Engineer. These were much lessened by the co-operating abilities of Sir Sidney Smith, whose scientific and comprehensive mind promptly embraces a wide scope of knowledge, and its dictates are ever quickly pushed into action by the energies of a resolute soul.
The ravelins upon which the Marines worked, within ten yards of the enemy's approaches, were in a progress of completion between the 2d and 8th of May, and were each night assailed by the French, who were as often repulsed, in nine different attempts to storm, with immense slaughter. The gallantry of my Corps, in all, exceeds praise. Many sorties were made to incommode their covering works, and most unprecedented were the bodily fatigues and mental anxiety of all.
The republicans had some time past opened with heavy guns, which they had received from Jaffa, and from which a serious impression was made upon the works of the garrison. Resorting to fresh expedients, Buonaparte tried to effect a new breach in the eastern curtain, by a sap and mine; but the unremitting activity of the brave defenders of Acre, by making approaches under ground, destroyed the frame-work and his hopes. Again directing his attacks upon the Tower, an effort to establish a lodgment in the glacis was once more unavailing.
Fifty-one days of vindictive and unceasing contest, save those short intervals necessary to recruit exhausted nature, had elapsed, when the garrison beheld their long-expected reinforcements under Hassan Bey.
Foiled in every essay to carry the place, Buonaparte saw with grief and disappointment this flotilla, which was to blast all his ambitious schemes, and to relieve his now almost worn-out opponents. With a desperate ardour, impelled by wounded pride, he lost not a moment to prepare and advance to the assault, in the sanguine idea that by one bold effort he might consummate his ardent wishes before Hassan's troops could land. At ten, on the night of the 7th of May, the carnage began. Mr. Scroder, Master's Mate of the Theseus, from an 18 pounder in the Light House Castle; a 24, under Mr. Jones, Midshipman of the Theseus, mounted in the north ravelin, and two 68 pound carronades, under the direction of Mr. Bray, carpenter of the latter ship, which threw shells from two germes in the Mole, added to the Turkish musquetry, committed dreadful havoc amongst the French columns in moving on to the attack. Much might be said were I to diverge upon the many chequered events of the night and the following day. The morning's dawn displayed the enemy's standard flying on the outer angle of the Tower, which their intrepidity had carried, having ascended on its ruins. Here they made a lodgment by two traverses across the ditch, constructed and filled with sand bags, and the bodies of their dead.
Feeble is my panegyric of the unsurpassed heroism, the decisive resources, the conciliating address, and bold expedients of Sir Sidney Smith, during 25 hours of almost constant action. They have been but rarely equalled, and will never be outdone. He was well seconded by his able coadjutor Sir John Douglas, who combines a natural perseverance of character with the most manly judgment. Their virtues transcended to every subordinate rank, and animated all.
The British uniform was every where, even in the individual, a rallying point, and my Countrymen and my Corps, through this unrivalled defence, lay claim to the pre-eminent glory of having fixed a barrier to the boundless ambition of Buonaparte, and of republican France. Egypt was conquered at Acre, and India preserved. The Turks, aroused by the daring examples of a few British Seamen and Marines, performed feats of enthusiastic valour, and the French were driven, with immense slaughter, from every hold.
The dispirited and reduced state of the Army before Acre, in consequence of these heavy losses, urged Buonaparte to withdraw the division of Kleber, from the fords of the Jordan. Much was anticipated from this Corps, from its recent good conduct near to Nazareth. It was early destined to ascend that breach, in which so many of their countrymen had fallen victims. But the gallant sortie of a Turkish regiment, anxious to wipe away the stigma of indiscipline, cut out sufficient work for them, and carried the third parallel of the enemy. Their forward zeal exposed them to some loss in pushing on to the second trench; but they found sufficient employ for Kleber, who, instead of proceeding against the breach, was obliged to devote all his efforts to regain his works.