The doctrines of equality were taught in the French West India Islands; their mischievous tendency was soon experienced among the black population, and the British Government deeming it necessary to augment its military power in that part of the world, the Thirteenth regiment was sent as a reinforcement to the island of Jamaica.
1791
1793
In 1791, the negroes of the French settlements in St. Domingo, (now the black republic of Hayti,) one of the largest and most fertile of the West India Islands, revolted; the island became a scene of massacre and devastation, and the French planters solicited the aid of the British, in 1793; when troops were sent to enable them to recover their estates from their former slaves. The revolted blacks and mulattoes took possession of part of the island, and declared themselves a free and independent people: the British gained several important posts; many of the planters transferred their allegiance to the British crown, and strenuous efforts were made to deliver the island from the domination of the slaves. Towards the end of 1793, the Thirteenth regiment embarked from Jamaica, and proceeded to the island of St. Domingo, where it was engaged in many difficult and arduous services, in which the officers and soldiers evinced valour, constancy, and patient endurance of the most distressing sufferings, in a manner which reflected great credit on the corps.
1794
In January, 1794, the regiment was stationed at Jeremie, of which town its commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel John Whitelocke, was commandant. On the 31st of January, the regiment embarked, with the expedition commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke, for the attach of the important post of Cape Tiburon, which commanded Cape Nichola mole, and an extensive bay. On the evening of the 2nd of February, the squadron approached the shore, where about six hundred and fifty blacks, and two hundred mulattoes and whites were formed to oppose the landing. A few broadsides from the frigates soon cleared the beach, and as the sun was declining beneath the horizon, Major Brent Spencer, of the Thirteenth, quitted the ships with the flank companies of the expedition. As the boats approached the shore, a line of opponents commenced a sharp fire of musketry; but the soldiers leaped upon the beach, charged with bayonets, routed their opponents in an instant, killed and wounded a number of blacks and mulattoes, and took possession of a house which was well situated for protecting the landing of the whole of the detachment. At daylight on the following morning, the Thirteenth and twentieth regiments landed, with a party of marines and of the British Legion; and as the troops prepared to attack the post, the enemy fled, leaving twenty-two pieces of heavy ordnance, three field-pieces, and a magazine full of every description of ammunition, behind them: about fifty of the enemy were killed and wounded, and a hundred and fifty taken prisoners.
The loss of the regiment, on this occasion, was limited to two private soldiers killed; Captain the Honorable Charles Colville, Lieutenant George Kinnaird Dana, Volunteer Dolphina, and two private soldiers, wounded. The conduct of Major Spencer of the Thirteenth, and of the officers and soldiers of the flank companies, was commended in Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke’s despatch.
This important post was placed under the charge of Lieutenant Robert Baskerville, of the Thirteenth, who had fifty men of his own regiment, the colonial corps, and Jean Kino’s corps from Irois, under his orders for the defence of the post.
On the 20th of February, the flank companies of the Thirteenth were engaged in the storming of the post of L’Acal, situate six miles from Leogane. Part of the force designed for this service proceeded by water, and the remainder by land: the whole under Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke. Contrary winds prevented the troops in transports taking part in the attack, but the other division captured the fort in gallant style; the soldiers climbing the hill, exposed to a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and their progress impeded by felled trees placed in all directions, and capturing the works with fixed bayonets. After obtaining possession of the fort, two officers and thirteen soldiers were killed by the explosion of a magazine. The only loss sustained by the Thirteenth foot was one private soldier killed; one serjeant, and one private soldier wounded. Major Spencer again distinguished himself.
The flank companies of the regiment were employed, under Brigadier-General Whyte, in the expedition against Port-au-Prince, the capital of the island: the troops employed in this service arrived in the bay on the 31st of May, and the capture of this place was accomplished in four days, with little loss. A malignant fever broke out in the town soon afterwards, and the British lost forty officers and six hundred soldiers by disease, within two months after the surrender of the place. Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke had the rank of colonel in the expedition, and Major Spencer that of lieut.-colonel; they both distinguished themselves, and their conduct was commended in the strongest terms in Brigadier-General Whyte’s despatch.