Footnote 22: Bryan Edwards.]

[Footnote 23: Lowenstein's Rangers were Europeans. They were afterwards
drafted into the 60th.]

[Footnote 24: Return of killed, wounded, and missing, in the attack made
on the enemy's batteries, May 3rd, 1796. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm's
Rangers: 3 rank and file, killed; 2 rank and file, wounded; 2 captains,
1 lieutenant, 7 rank and file, missing. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm dead
of his wounds. The names of the officers of Malcolm's returned missing,
not known.]

[Footnote 25: Raised in 1796. This corps became the 12th West India
Regiment in 1799.]

CHAPTER IX.

THE RELIEF OF GRENADA, 1796--THE REPULSE AT PORTO RICO, 1797.

Grenada, like St. Vincent, had been ravaged by the French and insurgent
slaves since March, 1795, and the relief of that island was one of the
first cares of Sir R. Abercromby. On leaving St. Lucia, the division of
the troops intended for Grenada was ordered to rendezvous at Cariacou,
one of the Grenadines; there Sir Ralph Abercromby met Major-General
Nicolls, then commanding in Grenada, and arranged with him the general
plan of operations. Before, however, those operations are described, it
will be necessary to go back to the month of March, 1796, when a company
of the Carolina Corps arrived in Grenada from Martinique, with
detachments from the 8th, 63rd, and 3rd Regiments, under Major-General
Nicolls.

Shortly before the arrival of this reinforcement, the French and
insurgents had compelled the British to evacuate Pilot Hill, in the
neighbourhood of Grenville, and had taken up a strong position at Port
Royal. On the 23rd of March, Major-General Nicolls landed to the south
of Port Royal; during the night the guns were got in position, and at
daybreak opened on the enemy's works. The post occupied by the enemy was
a hill of very steep ascent, particularly towards the summit, upon which
a fort was constructed, and furnished with four six-pounders and some
swivels. The first object of the British commander was to gain a
position between the enemy and the open country, and thus leave them no
alternative but to surrender at discretion, or precipitate themselves
over a high cliff; but they had established themselves so strongly to
protect their right that this failed. In the meantime two large vessels
full of troops to reinforce the enemy arrived in the bay under Port
Royal, from Guadaloupe; and Brigadier-General Nicolls found it necessary
to storm the enemy