On arriving at Jamaica in January, 1741, the expedition was joined by Vice-Admiral Vernon; but the season of the year for active service in the West Indies was fast passing away, and several circumstances concurred to create further delay. At length an attempt on Carthagena, the capital of an extensive and wealthy province in the country of Terra Firma in South America, was resolved upon; and, although this place was found strongly fortified, and the garrison reinforced by the crews of a squadron of large ships, commanded by Don Blas de Leso; yet, the fleet having silenced several small forts, eight regiments landed on the 10th of March, on the island of Tierra Bomba, near the mouth of the harbour, and commenced the siege of the principal fort, or castle, called Bocca-chica. On the evening of the 25th of March the grenadiers mounted the breach to storm the fortress, when the Spanish garrison fled, and the place was captured without loss.
Two channels having been made through the sunk vessels with which the Spaniards had blocked up the entrance of the harbour, the troops and artillery were re-embarked, and commenced landing, on the 5th of April, near the city. The country round Carthagena was found covered with trees and herbage of the most luxuriant growth, and the interwoven branches formed a shelter impenetrable both to heat and light; as the troops, led by Brigadier-General Blakeney, advanced along a narrow defile, several men were wounded by shots from the tracts and openings into the wood; and, on diverging from the defile, six hundred Spaniards were seen advantageously posted to dispute the passage: but they were speedily driven from their ground, and the British bivouacked within a mile of the castle of St. Lazar, which commanded the town. The men passed three nights in the open air, for want of tents and tools, which could not be landed sooner, and the health of the soldiers was in consequence seriously injured.
As the men were fast diminishing in numbers from hard duty and the effects of climate, Brigadier-General Wentworth resolved to attack St. Lazar by escalade; to which dangerous experiment he was urged by Vice-Admiral Vernon, who accused him of want of resolution. Twelve hundred men, commanded by Brigadier-General Guise, stormed the enemy's intrenchments under the walls of the fort, and though assailed by a heavy fire of musketry, the grenadiers, led by Colonel Grant, rushed forward with astonishing bravery, and leaping into the lines among the thickest of their adversaries, carried the works in gallant style. The Spaniards fled over a drawbridge into the fort; the British pursued under a heavy fire, and called for the ladders to storm the works; but so hot was the fire, that the Americans who carried the ladders threw them down and fled back to the camp. Meanwhile the soldiers were exposed to a most destructive fire, and were unable to cover themselves: at length three ladders were brought forward, and a serjeant and ten grenadiers mounted the walls, but were instantly cut to pieces, excepting the serjeant, who saved himself by leaping down again. Several of the ladders were found too short; it was ascertained that, owing to a guide having been killed, the attack was made on the strongest part of the works; Colonel Grant fell mortally wounded; and after sustaining a most destructive fire for several hours with intrepidity and perseverance, the troops were ordered to retreat, having lost six hundred men in killed and wounded.
This repulse was followed by the violent periodical rains, the country was deluged with water, and the change of atmosphere (which is always attended with epidemical distempers and the climate becomes extremely unhealthy) produced the most fatal effects. The soldiers were so drenched with rain, and their health so seriously impaired, that they re-embarked, and all hope of further success immediately vanished. The admiral was blamed for not stationing four or five of his large ships within pistol-shot of the town, when the troops advanced to attack fort St. Lazar; and if this had been done (Smollett observes), "in all probability the town would have surrendered."
After re-embarking, the distempers peculiar to the climate produced great havoc among the soldiers. Smollett states,—"Nothing was heard but complaints and execrations: the groans of the dying, and the service for the dead: nothing was seen but objects of woe and images of dejection." Such are the sufferings often endured by the British soldier in the various countries to which he is called upon to proceed, and are generally borne with exemplary fortitude.
The forts and castles of the harbour of Carthagena having been demolished, the fleet sailed to Jamaica; and subsequently to the south-east part of the island of Cuba, where the soldiers landed, and a camp was formed twenty miles up one of the large rivers of this island. At this camp the Sixth were stationed some time, and it was in contemplation to form a British settlement on this part of Cuba; the country was reconnoitred, detachments were sent out, and the Spanish villages were found deserted. For a short time a plentiful supply of fresh provisions was procured; but the men were afterwards rationed with salt and damaged meat and biscuit, and their numbers were so reduced by sickness, that in November they were put on board again, and re-conveyed to Jamaica.
1742
1745
The Sixth, having suffered severely from the effects of climate, returned to England in December, 1742, and commenced recruiting their numbers. They subsequently proceeded to Scotland, where they were stationed in the summer of 1745, when Charles-Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, raised his standard in the Highlands, and asserted his father's pretensions to the throne.
The head-quarters of the Sixth were at Aberdeen; two companies were at Inverness, which has been termed the capital of the Highlands, being the only town of importance north of Aberdeen; three companies were at Fort Augustus, situated on a plain at the head of Loch Ness, between the rivers Tarff and Oich, and built at the spot where they discharge themselves into the lake; a strong party, commanded by Captain Millar, occupied Fort William, which was built in the reign of King William III., in a plain on a navigable arm of the sea, called Loch Eil, near the influx of the Lochy and Nevis, in the county of Inverness; a serjeant's party occupied a redoubt at Ruthven; and a working party was employed on the newly-constructed roads in the Highlands. While in these quarters information was received of the arrival of the Pretender's eldest son with a few Scottish and Irish adventurers on the coast of Lochabar, and of their being joined by a number of Highlanders, under their respective chiefs. The news of this bold and hazardous undertaking was at first disbelieved, but Captain Sweetman of the regiment, walking out from Fort Augustus to gain information, entered an inn in the Highlands, where he was surrounded by eight rebels and conveyed a prisoner to the young Pretender's camp. There he was civilly treated, and suffered to go away on his parole; one of the Pretender's manifestos was given him, with a passport directed to all sheriffs, sheriff-deputies, and constables in Scotland, and signed Charles Pr. Custos Reg. After his release Captain Sweetman proceeded by post to London, where he was examined by the Privy Council, and the tidings of the rebellion were no longer doubted. The working parties of the Sixth and other corps were then ordered to rejoin their regiments.
The young adventurer having assembled about fifteen hundred men, encamped in the neighbourhood of Fort William: two newly-raised companies, of the regiments of St. Clair and Murray, proceeding to Fort William, were attacked by a body of mountaineers, and after a resolute resistance, the soldiers, having expended all their ammunition, were forced to surrender. Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope, the commander-in-chief in Scotland, assembled the disposable force under his orders at Stirling, and advanced towards the road leading through the Highlands to Inverlochy, taking with him a thousand arms, in the expectation of being joined at Crieff by a body of well-affected Highlanders. A detachment of the Sixth accompanied Sir John Cope in this advance through a wild country, where the soldiers were obliged to take their provision with them, and being disappointed of the Highlanders, the spare arms were sent back for want of carriage. On arriving at Dalwhinnie,—the place where the Fort Augustus and Inverness roads meet, information was received that the rebels were in force in a position in the winding of the road up the mountain, of such difficult approach and natural strength, that it was thought impossible to force it, and the soldiers, having only two days' provision with them, retired by Ruthven to Inverness.