1804 Winter:
War with France
In the West, as General Greene’s Army approaches the Arkansas River and the bridge at the French settlement of "La Petite Roche", a final demand is made to French. ‘Either sell us Lower Louisiana for 18,000 gold, or we shall march in and take it.’ The French remained stubbornly unwilling to part with the territory and so America is now at war with France.
Greene’s army immediately crosses the Arkansas River and marches into "La Petite Roche" Little Rock closely followed by Townshends militia. The main force then marches on capturing the tobacco plantations at Pine Bluff, whilst detachments are left to hold the Little Rock and secure the Meremec farmlands to the west.
At sea, the USS Ranger (32 guns) receives reports that a French ship is seizing American merchant men off the Ivory Coast. Captain Montgomery immediately sails to investigate discovering that the French vessel is actually a French Privateer called ‘Actif’ commanded by Bastien Colville. As the 'Ranger' approaches the 'Actif' makes no attempt to escape.
[USS 'Ranger'(32 guns) bears down on the French Privateer and commerce raider 'Actif' off the Ivory Coast]
The ‘Ranger’ began the fight to windward of the ‘Actif’ and so had the initiative, and closed the range rapidly running down on the French ship until their bowspits were almost crossing before swinging his ship to port and firing a full broadside into her at close range. The ‘Actif’ replied and turned to starboard attempting to cross the Rangers stern, but Montgomery kept the ‘Ranger’ turning to port and fired his port broadside into her as she passed.
[The opening shots of the war with France. 'Ranger' fires her first broadside into the 'Actif' at close range.]
The two ships then began to manouvre around each other, the Frenchman constantly attempting the fire into the Rangers stern, whilst Montgomery carefully timed his turns so that his stern was never exposed when the French privateer had its guns loaded. He surrendered the weather guage to the French effectively preventing them from breaking off the action and escaping downwind without sailing directly past him. Every attempt by Colville to increase the distance between the ‘Actif’ and the ‘Ranger’ merely resulted in the French ship receiving a broadside in its stern.
Nevertheless, the French fought desperately and their ship was an indiaman, strong if not very well armed. It was some time before their hull eventually became so damaged that they could not continue the fight and were forced to strike. Unfortunately, the 'Actif' was so badly damaged that it could not be saved and eventually sank.
The Ranger lost 2 guns and 3 men during the fight.
Barbados seized.
Admiral Pitt’s main battle fleet arrived at Barbados and finding the port unguarded quickly landed seamen and marines to seize the port and destroy its facilities. Pitt also reports that as far as he can tell the Windward Islands are completely undefended and he calls for the dispatch of troops to take permanent possession of them for the Unites States.
First US Marine Corps formed.
Two battalions of infantry and a battery of howitzers were immediately designated for service as marines and these troops under their newly appointed leader General Marcus Carteret marched from Philadelphia to New York where they boarded a hastily commission fleet of six East Indiamen contracted to carry them to Barbados.
The fleet sailed as soon as they were aboard and rendezvousing with the frigates ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Maryland’ they then sailed to join Pitt’s fleet in Barbados.
The Cherokee Indian War.
Meanwhile in the east, last minute demands that the Cherokee nation must sell the United States their territory in Florida for 16,000 gold were treated with scorn by the Indians and so war was declared. Gilpin’s army supported by Sulivan’s Georgia State Militia crossed the St. Mary’s River into Cherokee territory and marched on the main Indian settlement at St. Augustine.
The two armies marched south intending to cross the St. Johns River at Cowford but found their path blocked by a massive Cherokee Warband of 11,760 braves under Chief Kanuksusy. Gilpin only had 6,870 men but Sulivan’s militia were marching to his aid with a further 8,595.
Gilpin immediately, drew his army up on the high ground to the west of the settlement of Cowford (probably around the farmstead at Herlong). The top of the hill was intersected by walled enclosures and Gilpin hoped that these would disrupt the movement of the Cherokee lancers. The army’s 20 howitzers formed the centre of the position ranged in a chevron formation to facilitate all round fire support whilst minimising the need to redeploy.
The infantry were then deployed in a two deep arc to protect the guns from attack and the flanks were protected by a screen of wooden stakes and traps laid by the army’s scouts and back-up up by the armies dragoon regiments. The 6 horse artillery guns were placed at the centre of the infantry position where they could fire canister into any Indians attempting a direct assault on the line.
[Gilpins Army deployed and awaiting the Cherokee's attack.]
With everything ready Gilpin sat back and waiting for the Indians to attack.
It was a long wait, the Cherokee drawn up amongst the trees and creeks close to the St Johns River had no intention of leaving their hidden positions to attack the American’s. Kanuksusy knew that the American’s needed to cross the river and they could not do so with his warriors breathing down their necks therefore he was content to let them come and try to drive him off. He even had 6 cannon heavily protected by earthen banks ready to hurl death at the American’s as soon as they came close.
And so a long battle of wills commenced with both commanders determined that the other would come to him and neither willing to abandon the advantages of position they felt they had.
In the end it was Gilpin who decided to act first. He had heard how Greene had used his scouts to bait the Iroquois warriors into rash attacks on his defensive square, and so now he ordered Bart Tevithick's scouts to proceed with stealth across the open ground between the two armies and harass the Indians into attacking.
Trevithick was less than enthusiastic about this idea as the Indians had a large number of mounted warriors who could easily cut his men down if they spotted and caught in the open. Nevertheless, his 300 scouts crept forward into the shallow valley between the two armies trying to keep an obstacle between themselves and the nearest Cherokee lancers in the hope of getting close enough to use their long rifles.
However, it was not to be. A sharp eyed Indian scout spotted the Trevithick’s men creeping along the valley and raised the alarm. The scouts immediately abandoned all pretence of stealth, turned tail ran as fast as their legs could carry them back towards the safety of the American positions. Four hundred and fifty Cherokee lancers were close on their heels and were it not for the small creek and wall between them which delayed the warriors they would have been overrun.
As it happens the scheme actually worked better than Gilpin could have hoped and as the Cherokee lancers eventually managed to negotiate the creek and wall they were meet by a hail of shells from his howitzers which inflicted eighty casualties amongst them and they immediately gave up their pursuit of the scouts and turned instead to head off across the front of the American positions towards the American right flank.
The Battle of Cowford had begun
The Battle of Cowford 1804
The opening assault of the battle seemed to be a spontaneous decision by Chief Kanuksusy to escalate the pursuit of Trevithick's scouts into a full scale attack on the America position by his mounted warriors. Whether he believed that the rapid retreat of the scouts signified a lack of determination amongst the white men on the ridge, or whether he was merely angered at the losses his pursuit party had sufferred from the American artillery will remain a mystery.
The surviving tribal horsemen of the pursuit disentangled themselves from the walls and undergrowth and galloped off to the left, still under shell fire from the American howitzers on the ridge, but with much less effect now they were moving. Behind them a further 675 Cherokee horsemen now descended from the high ground around Cowford and crossing the low wall at the end of the long pasture headed deliberately for the American left flank and the positions held by the 13th and 8th Continental Infantry. At the same time Chief Kanuksusy and a further 675 horsemen made a wide sweep to the left and moved to join the surviving horsemen of the pursuit party opposite the American right.
At first Gilpin assumed that the indians were planning to try circle around his flanks and get in amongst his howitzers on the hilltop and he hoped his dragoons would be strong enough to fend off the attacks. He only had two dragoon regiments (600 Cavalry) guarding each flank and so it would be a reasonably even fight in terms of numbers. However, as the Cherokee attack developed it was clear that they had no intention of trying to outflank the American positions. Instead they were heading deliberately and directly for the infantry units holding the left and right of the American lines.
As the Cherokee came within range they were greeted with volley fire from the regiments on each flank of the American line, and by cannister from the horse artillery holding the centre. The Cherokee warriors on the American left whooped their battle cries and surged forward across the long pasture towards the wall protecting the positions of the 13th Continental Infantry. What they didn't notice was that the approach to this wall was also protected by a line of cavalry traps laid earlier by Trevithicks scouts. These traps had been laid as a safety feature to fend off pursuing horsemen during the scouts earlier probing of the Cherokee positions. Now by pure chance they happened to be directly in the path of the Cherokee attack against the left of the American line.
The first wave of Cherokee lancers plunged into the line of traps, which tripped and killed their horses throwing them onto the ground to be trampled or killed by the stakes hidden amongst the undergrowth. Over 150 warriors were killed in a few seconds and as the second wave passed through the struggling survivors and tried to leap the wall at the end of the pasture they were met by volley's of musketry from both the 13th and 8th Regiment and a blast of cannister fire from the American horse artillery that literally swept away the warriors on their left.
Faced with such carnage and confusion the Cherokee horsemen faltered and the American infantry hastily reloaded intent of giving them a final volley before they escaped.
Seeing that his attack was failing and his warriors on the left of the American line were about to break, Kanuksusy who was directing the attack on the American right made a mad dash right across the front of the American line to rally his men on the left. Many of his warriors were shot as they galloped along the face of the American line but the majority including Kanuksusy made it to the long pasture and leaping the wall, he exhorted his warriors to attack and kill the white men.
The braves around him began whooping their war cries again and Kanuksusy swung his horse in the direction of the 13th Regiment and led his braces in a desperate charge at the regiments battle line. Fortunately, for the 13th the section of their line the indians charged was deployed in a small copse at the corner of the field and as the indians charged into it their horses instinctively slowed taking much of the impetus out of the attack.
As Kanuksusy and his warriors pushed their horses forward into the tree's and undergrowth to get at the American infantry, a private of the 13th who had been hiding in a bush suddenly rose up out of his hiding place and struck, sticking his bayonet in Chief Kanuksusy side and physically dragging him off his horse before bayonetting him repeatedly until he stopped moving.
With the death of their Chief the attack by the indian horsemen collapsed and most scattered seeking safety out of reach of the American guns.
Re: Didz's American game blog.
Originally Posted by Rufus
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