THE SERVICES OE LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANCIS DOWNMAN, R.A, 9 
us masters of that and the port, and all the cannon round the place. 
We halted here the 14th to get provisions for the troops. 
On the 15th, at daybreak. Brigadier Cramp was detached with 700 
men to the Bay of Mahault, and at the same time Captain Stiel with 
100 to Guoyave, about 7 miles in our front, to destroy a battery there. 
The panic of the enemy was such that they only discharged their 
cannon at him, and abandoned a post that might have been defended 
against an army. He nailed up 7 pieces of cannon and returned the 
same evening to Petit Bourg ; Brigadier Crump returned likewise the 
next day with his detachment from Mahault Bay, where he found the 
town and batteries abandoned. These he burnt with an immense 
quantity of provisions that had been landed there by the Dutch, and 
reduced the whole country as far as Petit Bourg. 
The heavy rains on the succeeding days had so swelled the rivers, 
that it was impossible for the troops to advance; however, this delay 
gave us an opportunity of strengthening the post of Petit Bourg. 
On the 18th, in the evening, the Antigua volunteers took possession 
again of Gouyave. They were supported the next morning by a 
detachment commanded by Colonel Barlow, who had orders to repair 
the roads for the cannon. 
On the 20th, after leaving 250 men to guard Petit Bourg, the 
remaining part of the detachment, with two field-pieces, moved on 
towards Gouyave, in order to proceed afterwards to St. Marie's, where 
we were informed the enemy were collecting their whole force to 
oppose us, and had likewise thrown up entrenchments and made 
barricades on the road to prevent our approach to it. We were not 
long before we perceived them ; but at the same time we found by our 
own observation, as well as by the information of the guides, that it 
was not impossible to get into their rear by roads the enemy thought 
impracticable, and consequently had guarded with little care. 
A detachment was immediately formed under Colonel Barlow for 
this service, and orders were sent to hasten the march of the artillery, 
which from the badness of the roads had not been able to get up. 
The first shot from our cannon, placed very near their entrenchment, 
together with the alarm that was given by our detachment in the rear, 
made the enemy very soon sensible of the dangerous situation they 
were in; and indeed, only their precipitate flight saved them from 
being all taken prisoners. We pursued them as far as the heights of 
St. Marie's, where we again formed our men for a fresh attack on the 
lines and batteries there. 
Whilst the barricades were being levelled for the artillery, we 
attempted a second time to pass tbe woods and precipices that covered 
the flanks of the enemy's lines, but before we could get up our cannon 
they perceived our intention, and began to quit their lines to oppose it, 
which made us resolve, without any further delay, to attack them 
immediately in front, and this movement was accordingly executed 
with the greatest vivacity, notwithstanding the constant firing of both 
their cannon and musketry. They abandoned here all their artillery, 
and went off in so much confusion, that they never afterwards 
2 
