Two letters have been sent in relating to two articles from No.1 Vol.5. and as both have additional data useful to us all I include them, the first is from Mr.R.A.Hamilton:
Saint Domingo Article
I found your article on THE BRITISH IN ST DOMINGO 1793-98 quite fascinating, covering as it does a little-known episode in the history of the British Army. However, I notice your list of sources does not mention "SLAVERY, WAR AND REVOLUTION: THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF SAINT DOMINIGUE 17/9-3-1798, by David Geggus, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1982, ISBN 0-19-822634-9. This book is an absolute must for anyone researching this subject as it covers in depth almost every aspect of military, political and socialogical events of this tragic period. Unfortunately, it is rather expensive and the only copy I have seen is a non-lendable item in the Liverpool City Library.
In the unlikely event of you not having read this excellent book I have taken the liberty of itemising one of its appendices which give details of locally-raised units on the island.
P.178 Table 2, Regional Distribution of Colonial Forces December 1795.
Port-au-Prince
- The Company of the Governor 62 men
Royal Militia 644 men
Marechaussee 179 men
Emigres 156 men
Kina Volunteers 119 men
The Mole
- Royal Militia 113 men
Marechaussee 29 men
Royal English Gendarmerie 225 men
King's Chasseurs 80 men
Grands Bois
-
Militia 91 men
Marechaussee 15 men
Croix des Bouquets
-
British Legion, with Light Horse and Auxiliary Chasseurs 1049 men
Militia 307 men
Marechaussee 64 men
Royal Chasseurs 677 men
Saint Marc
- Militia 1173 men
Marechaussee 42 men
Emigres 114 men
Prince of Wales's Regiment 85 men
Dillon's Regiment 66 men
Dessources' Volunteers 736 men
Artibonite Chasseurs 100 men
Royal Legion 146 men
Mirebalais
-
Militia 960 men
Marechaussee 20 men
Prince of Wales's Chasseurs 415 men
Arcahaye
- Militia 551 men
Emigres 24 men
King's Black Regiment 33 men
Duke of York's Cavalry Regiment 218 men
Queen's Chasseurs 319 men
La Grand 'Anse
Militia 1500 men
Cayemittes Chasseurs 380 men
ircis Chasseurs 540 men
TOTAL 11037 men
The Colonial units were recruited from French Royalists or Emigres, French Republican prisoners-of-war, free coloureds and plantation slaves under white officers [ often their owners ]. The Dillon Regiment should be more correctly identified as "Foreign" being the remnents of a French-Irish unit which iormed part off the colonial garrison prior to the revolution. It should not be confused with the 3rd. [Hon. Henr- Dillon]
Regiment Irish Catholic Brigade in British service which served on the island from 1796-1797. Because of the vast amount of money wasted upon them, the Colonial units were nicknamed "The Royal Gourdons" after the local monetary unit.
List below some of the names of the 40-odd locally raised units gleaned from different sources. It is extremely tentative as it is difficult to check or even find these sources. One is led to suspect that some units may be duplicated. Othe ephemeral units have just vanished Without trace.
The Duke of York's Cavalry Regiment [was this the Colonial Cavalry Regiment?]
The Prince of Wales's Regiment
The Osmund Lancers / Charmily Dragoons / Saint Domingue British Lancers
The Grand 'Anse Legion / Montalembert Legion / Saint Domingue British Legion
The Royal Legion / Saint Marc Legion
The English Gendarmerie
The Emigre Corps at Saint Marc, Arcahaye and Port-au-Prince
The Governor's Company
The Royal Constabulary Guides
The King's Black Regiment
The Bussy Black Corps
The Kina Black Corps / Kina Volunteers / Kina Chasseurs
The Dessource Volunteers / Dessource Chasseurs
The King's Chasseurs [was this the Contades Legion ?]
The Queen's Royal Chasseurs
The Royal Chasseurs
The Prince of Wales's Chasseurs
The Artibonite Chasseurs [was this the Cocherel Chasseurs ?]
The Crown Legion / Southern Legion / Cayemittes Chasseurs
The Irois Chasseurs
The Northern Warriors [was this the Northern Chasseurs?]
The Royal Militia
- Mole Saint Nicholas, Saint Marc, Grand Bois, Arcahaye, Croix-aux-Bouquets
The Dillon Irish Regiment
I hope that the preceeding data is of some interest. I would be most grateful if any member has any comments or thoughts about these units with regards to organization or uniforms, as this information appears to be rather vague, to say the least.
Yours Sincerely Russ Hamilton
Some useful data, here's some from "The Haitian Journal of St. Howard, York Hussars, 1796-1798" edited by R.N. Buckley, University of Tennessee Press, 1985. Dessources' Legion was one of the many royalist provincial corps which were recruited with either slaves or free mulattoes. It was raised in the Saint Marc region by M.Dessources, a white Creole. The unit is properly referred to as a legion because it consisted of infantry and cavalry. Sir Adam Williamson described the corps in january 1795 as being "Another Negroe Corps .... formed under the Command of M.M. Decources who have been of very particular service and lend to the security of the Quarter of Saint Marc. Dessources fled to Jamaica when the British withdrew from the island. The Chasseurs des Irois, a slave recruited provincial corps commanded by Henry Bowyer.
"Courcherells" was a royalist provincial regiment raised and commanded by Robert marquis de Cocherel, one time commandant of Saint Marc, who escaped to Jamaica when the British evacuated Saint Domingue.
The Queen's Rangers or Chasseurs was established in the Arcahaye area and was recruited with slaves officered by whites.
Montalemberts Regiment & De Sars Regiment; also known as the British Legion of Saint Domingo, this white provincial corns was raised by jean Charles Montalembert, Baron de Sers, a promcnent counter-revolutionary with property in Saint Domingue. The remnents of the "Uhlans Britannique" raised by Francois Claude Amour, Marquis ae Bouille, was drafted into Montalembert's Legion in August 1796. Some other units mentioned in the book; Black Dragoons, De Pester'r Regiment of Foot, Le Point's Legion (consisting of 3,000 men in two infantry and one Cavalry Regiment], Count O'Gormand's Black Infantry, Horse Militia of the Plain,
It would appear that I'm getting quite interested in these units and foreign raised recriments used by the British on this expedition, so if anyone can help with additional data please do, and many thanks Mr. Hamilton for I had not seen this book. T.D.H.
Saint Domingue Article
The other letter: from Mr. Jurg Meister, who adds this information to the "Saint Domingue" article; I am very intrigued by the Hompesch's Hussars. The Hompesch were an Austrian family and one of them was Grand Master of the Order of Malta when Bonaparte seized the island in June 1798, it would be interesting to known whether they were of the same family? The majority of the letter relates to the article on the "Armour in the Gran Chaco War"; "A number of errors were included in the above article and I would 'like to try and clear a few points up that might be considered as true, they are: The fact that Paraguay never paid any war indemnities to Argentina for the Lopez War had nothing to do with the presence of Argentine pastoral and timber-cutting firms in the Paraguayan Chaco. The Bolivians were not weak in artillery, having alltogether almost 200 guns against 60 Paraguayan ones. At Boqueron in September 1932 Paraguay did not capture 2,000 Bolivians, but only 466 men, of which only 240 were not wounded or sick. During the siege 180 men, including 7 officers were killed and 226 wounded. The Paraguayans made also some P.O.W's. among the Bolivians who tried to relieve Boqueron, but my educated guess is, that they were less than 250 men up to the end of September 1932. The total would therefore amount to less than 1,000 P.O.W's. and not 2,000 as stated. Munoz was no town just a Fortin with a few houses. Canada Strongest should actually read Canada Cochalamba. Those Bolivians who were in pursuit were not the ones which were surrounded at El Carmen. The alleged attempt by Bolivian cavalry is inasmuch a misnomer, as all 10 Paraauavan and all 13 Bolivian cavalry regiments were unhorsed since the begining of 1933, as all horses had died from lack of water and food. Description of the taking of the water wells at Irindague and the following disastrous retreat of the so-called Bolivian Reserve Cavalry Corps are confused and far from exact. It seems, that at least one armoured Bolivian vehicle was already used towards the end of 1932, but I was unable to identify it.
Fortins Presidente Avala and Nanawa are the same place and it is not a town, just a fortin with some huts belonging originally to an English Mission Station. There were no exchanges of gunfire until mid-1933, for the Paraguayans had no fuses for the the simple reason, that 500 Krupp-shells with 4 guns then and there available. Therefore the first Bolivian attack on January 20th to 23rd encountered no Paraguayan guns. The Bolivian mine on the 4th of July 1933 was not a failure, because it was dug not far enough but because the Paraguayans had evacuated their first line trenches shortly before the mine exploded. Altogether the Bolivians had 2 tankettes, one 6 ton Vickers tank armed with one 4.7 cm gun and one machine gun and two armed with two machine guns, one of which was destroyed by a direct hit from a 7.5 cm Krupp gun and then blown up by the Paraguayans. The turret is now in the Armv Museum at Asuncion. There were no plentyful Paraguayan Reserves available at Nanawa.
The Bolivians did not "hoard" their armour; they used every tank they had. The surviving Bolivian tanks were later only used in a defensive role, the two tankettes being soon discarded, while the two remaining Vickers 6 ton tanks fell into Paraguayan hands at the battle of Campo Via, 11 December 1933, while the crews were resting and without a fight. The Paraguayans could not use them due to lack of spares, which Vickers refused to provide. The tank No.3 with the 4.11 cm gun was sold in 1937 by the Paraguayans to the Spanish Republicans (with much more captured or old war material) for 21,040, while the other stands as a monument in front of the Presidential Palace at Asuncion.
Most of the officers of the Bolivian Tank Corps were Germans or Austrians, like von Krier [died later from wounds received], Khon and Wim Brandt. There were no radios aboard the Bolivian tanks. The Bolivian Infantry Battalions were in actual fact not 470 men strong.
Hopefully these notes will help to clear some of the fog that surrounds this little known war.
Yours Faithfully Jurg Meister
Many thanks to both Russ and Jurg for their time and research, every bit of information is helpful to obtain a clear picture of things, I never think that I have enough data on any subject. T.D.H.
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