THE PIRARA EXPEDITION, 1842 CHANGES IN THE WEST AFRICAN GARRISONS THE APPOLLONIA EXPEDITION, 1848.

On the 7th of December, 1837, the head-quarters of the 1st West India Regiment embarked at Trinidad for St. Lucia, leaving one company at St. James’ in the former island; and, after a detention of ten days in quarantine at Pigeon Island, landed on the 24th of December at Gros Islet, St. Lucia, and occupied Morne Fortune Barracks and Fort. The detachments were stationed in Tobago, Demerara, and St. Vincent.

In the early part of the year 1839, the strength of the regiment being very much above its establishment, owing to the large drafts of recruits from Sierra Leone, Lieutenant-General Sir S.F. Whittingham issued an order, dated February 1st, authorising an augmentation to twelve companies. On the 1st of July of the same year the regiment was further increased to thirteen companies, it being notified at the same time that it was to be considered only a temporary arrangement, as the surplus over 1000 men were eventually to form another corps.

On December 7th, 1839, the head-quarters of the regiment proceeded from St. Lucia to Demerara, to relieve the 76th Regiment, which was suffering heavily from the prevailing epidemic of yellow fever, arriving at the latter colony, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Capadose, on December 13th. The distribution of the regiment was then: Head-quarters and 2 companies at Demerara, 3 companies at Barbados, 1 at Trinidad, 1 at Tobago, 1 at St. Lucia, 1 at St. Vincent, 1 at Grenada, 1 at Dominica, and 1 at Antigua.

By Horse Guards order of the 1st of July, 1840, the Royal African Corps and the three supernumerary companies of the 1st West India Regiment were formed into one corps, and designated the 3rd West India Regiment; the 1st West India Regiment remaining at the ordinary establishment of ten companies.

New colours were presented to the regiment at Demerara on May 24th, 1841.

In September and October of the same year a violent epidemic of yellow fever broke out in Demerara, and the mortality amongst the men of the 52nd Regiment was so alarming that that corps was moved to Berbice, and the entire duties of the garrison fell upon the 1st West India Regiment. The whole of the officers of the 52nd Regiment occupying the west wing of the Georgetown Barracks fell victims to this dreadful scourge, as did Captain French and Lieutenants de Winton and Archdale of the 1st West India Regiment.

On the 11th of January, 1842, a detachment of the regiment, consisting of two lieutenants (Bingham and Wieburg), two sergeants and twenty-seven rank and file, left Georgetown, Demerara, by direction of the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord John Russell), to proceed to Pirara, on the south-western frontier of British Guiana, and expel a party of Brazilians who had for some time encroached on British territory. The country through which the party had to pass was unexplored and almost unknown, and the duties were most arduous. It was intended to reach Pirara by ascending the Essequibo and Rypumani Rivers, and, to effect this, a particular description of boat, locally called corials, had to be built, each capable of holding eight men, including the Indians who paddled. During the journey seventy-three rapids or falls were crossed, in most instances the corials being unladen and the stores carried above the falls; and it was not until February 12th that Lieutenant Bingham’s party reached a point on the Rypumani, eleven miles from Pirara. Next day they took possession of the village of Pirara, which they found occupied by a detachment of Brazilian troops who had been quietly sent over the border. Having selected and fortified a position, and raised temporary shelter for his men, Lieutenant Bingham as the Brazilian commander declined to withdraw despatched Lieutenant Bush, 1st West India Regiment, who had accompanied the party as a volunteer, to Georgetown for further instructions. That officer arrived there on March 11th, and on April 19th he again started with a small reinforcement under Ensign Stewart. This second party reached Pirara on May 21st, and found the detachment all well, but half-starved, as the Brazilians refused to sell them anything, and the stores had been some time exhausted. However, on the arrival of the reinforcement the Brazilian troops considered it advisable to withdraw across the frontier; and, with the exception of a few occasional night forays made by half-breeds and Indians in the pay of the Brazilians, the detachment met with no further opposition.

In 1843 it was decided to make an alteration in the system under which the West Coast of Africa was continuously garrisoned by the 3rd West India Regiment, and to remove that corps to the West Indies. The West African garrisons were to be composed of two companies from each of the three West India regiments; and, in accordance with this scheme, two companies of the 1st West India Regiment, under Captain L.S. O’Connor, embarked at Barbados for Sierra Leone on March 22nd, 1843, arriving at the latter place in the month of May of the same year. Early in 1844 the 3rd West India Regiment left West Africa for the Bahamas, and the two companies of the 1st West India Regiment, with one of the 3rd West India Regiment, composed the garrison of Sierra Leone, while that of the Gambia consisted of two companies of the 2nd West India Regiment and one of the 3rd. This arrangement was almost at once upset by the necessity of furnishing a garrison for the Gold Coast, over which the Crown had, in 1843, resumed jurisdiction, as it was suspected that the Government of the merchants, which had been established at Cape Coast Castle since 1831, connived at the maintenance of the slave trade; and, in January, 1844, one captain, two subalterns, and 100 men of the 1st West India Regiment left Sierra Leone for the Gold Coast.

In the same year, two companies of the regiment, under the command of Captain Robeson, proceeded from Demerara to Jamaica, disembarking there on June 1st. This was the first occasion on which any portion of the corps was stationed in that island.

On the 25th of February, 1845, the head-quarters, with the Grenadier and N Companies, embarked at Demerara in the Princess Royal transport, and sailed for Jamaica, to relieve the head-quarters of the 2nd West India Regiment ordered to Nassau, disembarking at Port Royal on March 6th. The distribution of the regiment was then as follows: The Grenadier, N, N, and the Light Company in Jamaica, N at Demerara, N at Trinidad, N at Dominica, N at Grenada, N at Sierra Leone, and N at Cape Coast Castle. During the last six months of this year (1845) over 300 recruits joined the head-quarters from West Africa.

In 1846, N Company was removed from Demerara to Tobago, and the detachments at Dominica and Grenada rejoined head-quarters in Jamaica, where N and N Companies also rejoined on the 16th of December, 1847.

In the beginning of the year 1848, the King of Appollonia, a state on the western frontier of the Gold Coast Colony, closed the roads leading to Cape Coast Castle, stopped all trade, and maltreated several British subjects. Messengers were sent to him by the Lieutenant-Governor demanding explanation and redress, with no other result than the detention and imprisonment of the messengers; and matters were at last brought to a crisis by the murder of the French Commandant of Assinee and his boat’s crew, the pillaging of Dutch canoes at Axim, and the capture of some Dutch subjects.

The only force Mr. Winniett, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Gold Coast, had at his disposal was N Company of the 1st West India Regiment, then commanded by Lieutenant E.H. Bingham; but, with the assistance of some influential merchants, he succeeded in raising an expeditionary force of from 4000 to 5000 natives. On the 24th of March, 1848, the Lieutenant-Governor marched, with half the native levies and the company of the 1st West India Regiment, from Cape Coast Castle to the then Dutch settlement of Axim, 120 miles distant from Cape Coast and about twenty miles from Atemboo, or Attaambu, the King of Appollonia’s chief town and residence. By the 3rd of April the whole force was concentrated at Axim, and on the 6th, at 5 a.m., it moved onwards towards Appollonia.

The country consisting of impenetrable forest, the force had to march from Axim to Appollonia along the sandy beach; and there were the mouths of two considerable rivers to be crossed. The first river, the Ancobra, was reached at 6 a.m.; and, although a very heavy sea was breaking on the bar, the passage of the stream was commenced in canoes, which had been brought from Axim for that purpose. The first detachment consisted of the native allies, and, as soon as the canoes gained mid-stream, several hundred armed Appollonians appeared on the further bank, and opened fire on them as they came within range. Several natives were struck, and three of the canoes being upset the remainder returned to the bank they had just left.

It being found impracticable to induce the native auxiliaries to make a further attempt to force the passage, this duty devolved upon the company of the 1st West India Regiment, which the Lieutenant-Governor had originally intended holding in reserve; and, under cover of a fire from two rocket-troughs, it crossed the river in the canoes, driving the Appollonians, in spite of a smart resistance, into the bush. The remainder of the force then passed over, several natives being drowned in the surf during the passage; and at 10 a.m. they pushed on, reaching the Appollonian village of Asantah about 1 p.m. This place was found to be deserted, and here the force encamped for the night.

Next morning at daybreak a further advance was made, and about 6 a.m. the Abmoussa River or, rather, Lagoon was reached. A very heavy and dangerous surf was breaking on the bar, and the dense bush on the further bank, which grew close down to the water’s edge, was observed to be full of armed men.

The company of the 1st West India Regiment was again called upon to lead the way, and the men, embarking in the canoes, paddled out into the breakers. A continued and furious fusillade was at once opened by the concealed enemy upon the men, who were unable to reply, as their attention was entirely occupied in keeping the canoes from capsizing. Fortunately, the Appollonians fired wildly, and their powder was of bad quality; for, although almost every man of the detachment was struck by slugs or fragments of iron, only eleven were wounded, and those slightly. A canoe was, however, unhappily upset, and two men beaten against the rocks and drowned. The company formed up on landing, and advanced steadily through the bush against the enemy, who offered but a feeble resistance and soon retired altogether. One man was shot dead while stepping ashore, an ambushed native firing at him at the distance of a few feet only. The native allies now passed over, and the march was continued. Parties of the enemy were observed hovering round the flanks, but no attack was made, and at 3 p.m. a halt was ordered at the village of Barcoo.

The force was here divided into two parts, of which one, consisting entirely of natives, was to move through the bush and prevent the king escaping inland; while the other, consisting of the company of the 1st West India Regiment with the remainder of the native allies, was to march along the beach and attack the town in front. This movement would probably have been successful, had the division of natives performed the duty allotted to them; but, being fired upon by some ambushed Appollonians, they refused to proceed further, and when the company of the 1st West India Regiment reached Atemboo, they found it entirely deserted.

The success which had so far attended the expedition, however, produced such an effect upon the native mind that, on March 9th, the principal chiefs of Appollonia came in to Atemboo to make submission; and, as it was reported that the king was in hiding in the immediate neighbourhood, parties were sent out in search of him. On the 18th his wives and family were captured to the westward, near the old fort, and the day following, a party of the 1st West India Regiment brought in a body of 121 men, all heavily manacled with irons weighing from fifty to ninety pounds, and who had been intended to be sacrificed at an approaching “custom.” Two of these men thus unexpectedly saved from a horrible death volunteered to point out where the king was concealed, and some men of the regiment being sent out under their guidance, succeeded in capturing him in his hiding-place, in the midst of a mangrove swamp.

The object of the expedition being accomplished by the capture of the king, the force moved back to Axim, on the 21st of March, and, on the evening of the same day, the Lieutenant-Governor, with the captive king and the company of the 1st West India Regiment, embarked on board the merchant brig Governor, arriving at Cape Coast Castle on the 24th.

Lieutenant-Governor Winniett in his despatch says: “I cannot speak too highly of the detachment of the 1st West India Regiment. During its march of more than 120 miles, sometimes through very bad roads, and under the powerful rays of the sun, the crossing of five rivers, and other circumstances of disadvantage, no complaints were heard, neither was a man seen in a state of intoxication during the campaign. Mr. Bingham, the officer commanding the detachment, was most active in executing all orders entrusted to his care, and I have great pleasure in bringing him under your Lordship’s notice.”