As it was not the intention of the British government to attempt permanent conquests in this part of America, and as it was impossible for this small body of troops to establish themselves in the enemy's capital, the destruction of the public property, which by the customs of war is the just spoil of the conqueror, was completed; and the army marched back to St. Benedict, where it re-embarked without molestation. The conduct of the King's Own was commended by Major-General Ross in his public despatches, and they were rewarded with the honour of displaying the word Bladensburg on their colours.
After remaining a few days in the Patuxent river, the fleet weighed anchor; the coast was menaced at several points, and the shipping approached so near the shore at Annapolis, that the inhabitants were discovered flying from their houses, waggons loaded with furniture were seen hurrying along the roads, alarm guns were fired, beacons were blazing, and the people were apparently oppressed with all the horrors of doubt and apprehension. Baltimore was, however, selected as the point of attack, and towards the river upon which that town is built the fleet hastened under a heavy press of sail. During the night of the 11th of September the troops cooked three days' provision, and each man received eighty rounds of ammunition; at three o'clock on the following morning the boats were lowered; a landing was effected at North Point, thirteen miles from Baltimore, and the army moving forward, a division of Americans fled from an entrenched position they were preparing across a neck of land towards which the troops were advancing. About two miles beyond this post the country was closely wooded, and the enemy's riflemen opening a sharp fire from behind the trees, Major-General Ross rode forward to ascertain the disposition and numbers of the opposing force, and mingling with the skirmishers, he was mortally wounded. "Thus fell at an early age one of the brightest ornaments of his profession; one who, whether at the head of a regiment, a brigade, or a corps, had alike displayed the talents of command; who was not less beloved in his private, than enthusiastically admired in his public character; and whose only fault, if it may be so deemed, was an excess of gallantry, enterprise, and devotion to the service."
The command devolved on Colonel Brooke; and the army moving forward, found itself in a few moments in front of a strong position, near Nip Church in Godly wood, occupied by six thousand adversaries, with six pieces of artillery and a corps of cavalry. The light brigade immediately extended, and driving in the American skirmishers, menaced the whole front of their army; the forty-fourth, a party of seamen, and the marines of the fleet formed line behind the light infantry; the twenty-first, and the second battalion of marines formed column in reserve; and the soldiers rested themselves on the ground, while the King's Own, led by Major Faunce, moved to the right along some hollow ways and woodlands, and gained, unperceived, a thicket on the enemy's left flank. Meanwhile the deep tones of the artillery echoed in the woods; and the instant the Fourth gained the thicket, the charge was sounded and repeated by every bugle in the army; the soldiers started from the ground, and moving forward with a firm and resolute tread, in the face of a shower of grape and canister shot, approached their adversaries, who raised a loud shout, and afterwards opened a heavy fire of musketry. This was answered with a British huzza,—a volley of small arms, and a rush forward at double-quick time with the bayonet; and when the Americans saw the ranks of gleaming steel draw near, they faced about and fled in dismay into the thick woods, leaving two pieces of cannon behind them. Fifteen minutes had sufficed to decide the fortune of the day; several hundreds of killed and wounded adversaries lay scattered over the field, a number of fugitives was intercepted and made prisoners, and many of the American riflemen being discovered in the trees, which they had climbed, to be enabled to take sure aim and escape danger, the British soldiers called this unfair, and shot them on their perches. The King's Own had twenty-one men killed and wounded in this action.
Halting on the field of battle, the bivouac fires were lighted, and the victorious army reposed a short time under the canopy of heaven. Two hours after midnight the soldiers were again under arms; as the first glimmering of dawn appeared, they resumed their march, and arrived in the evening at the foot of the range of hills in front of Baltimore, where the grand American army of upwards of fifteen thousand men appeared occupying a chain of pallisaded redoubts connected by a breast-work, and defended by a numerous train of artillery. Trusting to the innate valour and excellent discipline of his little army, which did not amount to one-third of the number of the opposing host, Colonel Brooke made arrangements for storming the hills after dark; but having received intimation from the commander of the naval forces that the entrance of the harbour was closed up by vessels sunk for that purpose, and that a naval co-operation against the town and camp was impracticable, the enterprise was abandoned. The troops retreated three miles on the 14th of September, and then halted to see if the Americans would venture to descend from the hills; but though so superior in numbers, they had no disposition to quit their entrenchments, and the British forces retired leisurely to their shipping and re-embarked.
The King's Own were commended in the public despatches for their excellent conduct and discipline; and their commanding officer. Major Faunce, was included among the officers who distinguished themselves.
The armament remained a short time on the American coast, and information having been received of the formation of an American camp a few miles from the Potomac river, the King's Own, with the remainder of the second and third brigades, landed on the night of the 4th of October, and pushed forward to attack the enemy, who, however, had notice of the movement and fled. The regiment returned on the 5th, and the season having arrived when active operations could no longer be continued in the Chesapeake, the fleet sailed for the West Indies, and anchored in Port Royal harbour, Jamaica, on the 31st of October, the troops remaining on board, while the vessels took in a supply of provisions, &c.
While in the West Indies, reinforcements arrived; Major-General John Keane joined and took the command of the expedition; and Lieut.-Colonel Brooke of the King's Own arrived from England, where he had been absent on account of ill health.
The next enterprise undertaken was of a most difficult character, namely, an attempt on New Orleans, a town of some note, standing on the eastern bank of the great river Mississippi, one hundred and ten miles from the gulph of Mexico, and so situated that the approach of an hostile force was almost impossible. The fleet having put to sea, anchored on the 10th of December off the coast of Louisiana, opposite the Chandeleur Islands, where the troops were removed into light vessels, and entering Lake Borgne on the 13th, five of the enemy's large cutters, mounting eleven guns each, were captured by a flotilla of launches and ships' barges. Having proceeded a short distance along the lake, all the vessels ran aground; the soldiers were then conveyed twenty miles in open boats, during a heavy rain, to a barren spot called Pine Island, which consisted of a swamp with a piece of firm ground at one end. Here the regiments remained without tents or huts, exposed to heavy rains by day, and to frost by night, until the 22d of December, when the King's Own, eighty-fifth, and five companies of the ninety-fifth, embarked in open boats, and proceeding up the lake a distance of more than fifty miles, were so cramped up in the boats, drenched with a heavy rain during the day, and exposed to a sharp frost in the night, that the men were almost deprived of the use of their limbs. On the following morning they landed, unobserved by the enemy, on a desert spot on the verge of a large morass about eight miles from New Orleans, and when the men had regained the use of their benumbed limbs, they advanced along an indistinct path on the bank of a ditch or canal, their movements being concealed by the tall reeds of the morass. After passing several streams by bridges constructed at the moment, the troops entered a cultivated region where the fields were found covered with the stubble of the sugar-cane, and groves of orange trees were numerous. About noon the regiments entered a green field on the banks of the Mississippi, where they halted to await the arrival of the remainder of the army.
Late in the evening, while many of the men were cooking, and others were asleep, a large vessel was seen stealing quietly up the river until she arrived opposite the bivouac fires, and before it was ascertained whether she was British or American a broadside of grape-shot swept down many soldiers in the camp. Having no means of attacking this formidable adversary, the soldiers took shelter behind a bank: the night was dark, and the only light to be seen was the flashes of the enemy's guns, as he continued to pour showers of shot into the camp. At length a firing was heard from the advance posts, and before the import of this was known a loud shout, followed by a semicircular blaze of musketry, proved that the piquets were surrounded by a very superior enemy. The King's Own were instantly ordered to form in column behind the camp, while the eighty-fifth, and five companies of the ninety-fifth, flew to the support of the piquets. The enemy had brought forward about five thousand men, thinking to overwhelm this solitary brigade in the dark; but the British, regardless of the superior numbers of their antagonists, rushed upon the opposing legions and fought, bayonet to bayonet, and sword to sword, with a degree of energy and resolution impossible to describe. Some of the soldiers having lost their bayonets in the strife, laid about them with the butt-ends of their firelocks; numerous feats of individual gallantry were performed, and the Americans eventually gave way before this furious and desperate charge, and fled with the loss of many men killed, wounded, and prisoners. The King's Own had Captain Francis Johnston and Lieutenant John Sutherland killed; also Lieutenant Thomas Moody severely wounded; and a number of private men killed and wounded.
Notwithstanding this victory, the troops were unable to return to their camp, as it was completely commanded by the fire of the American schooner, and no provision could be procured. Meanwhile the other brigades arrived from Pine Island, and the whole were in position before dark on the 24th of December. Major-General the Hon. Sir Edward Pakenham also joined to take the command, and he was accompanied by Major-General Gibbs.