Jersey Our Island: A Brush with the French – Part 3

Published in 1950, this is an interesting snapshot of the Island and its customs as it was in the immediate post-war period, and not without humour. Most guide books of the time give the tourist information, or give the impressions of an outsider to the Island, but this is in "inside view", which is rarer.

Jersey Our Island: A Brush with the French – Part 3
By Sidney Bisson

To add to Rullecourt's discomfiture, he was now threatened with a direct attack from another quarter. Whilst the negotiations with Elizabeth Castle had been going on, the 78th and 95th Regiments, together with the greater part of the local militia, had assembled on Gallows Hill, now called Westmount, which over- looks the town from the West. Major Peirson, a young officer of the 95th, assumed command. However gallant his conduct in the battle which followed, it is difficult to decide how far Peirson was responsible for the decision to attack. According to one authority he bluntly refused to recognise the capitulation, saying that if he lost his commission for disobeying the Lieutenant-Governor's orders he would soon get another. On the other hand, a Militia officer writing a few days after the battle is emphatic that Peirson and the other English officers were bewildered by the absence of orders from higher authority, and had to be persuaded to attack the enemy.

Whatever the circumstances, Peirson eventually marched his forces down the hill in the direction of the town. Rullecourt had by now seized the guns of the Town Militia, which were stored near the Parish Church, and placed them at the entrances to the Royal Square. Possibly his own guns had been lost in the boat that carried his artillerymen, or the task of landing them on a rocky beach had proved too difficult. Handicapped as he was by their loss, he made a final attempt to bluff his way out. He sent one of his officers to meet Peirson's forces under a flag of truce. Peirson halted his troops and the French officer pointed out that resistance after capitulation was contrary to the rules of war and would lead to unnecessary bloodshed. Moreover if the troops did not immediately lay down their arms Rullecourt would set fire to the town.

Here again, accounts of what happened differ a great deal. According to one writer the French demanded that Peirson's troops should lay down their arms at the Court House, which gives Peirson the opportunity of making his popularly accepted repartee : `Yes, we will bring our arms to the Court House, but with fixed bayonets.' Another account makes Peirson say that he was not bound by the capitulation as .Major Corbet was a prisoner when he signed it. Yet another gives the last word to a Militia officer, who, when Peirson had pointed out that burning the town would be of no advantage to the French, added : `Go and tell your general that the troops you have seen are determined to drive him from his position in less than an hour, were he surrounded by ten thousand men.'

In whatever terms it was couched, the reply was evidently un- favourable, and the French officer asked for an hour's truce to enable him to consult his general. After some objection on the part of the Militia officers, who were in favour of an immediate advance, Peirson gave him thirty minutes, and joined in the game of bluff by sending his own adjutant to Rullecourt to demand the release of Major Corbet, if indeed he was a prisoner. The fact that the adjutant had instructions to inquire about the status of the Lieutenant-Governor favours the suggestion that all this time Peirson had at the back of his mind an idea that the capitulation might have been genuinely signed at Corbet's free will, in which case his proper course would have been to surrender to the French. The Militia officers, untroubled by the niceties of Military Law, showed impatience at the delay, but Peirson insisted on waiting for the adjutant's return.

He may have had other reasons for waiting. Before marching off he had sent a detachment by a roundabout route to occupy a hill on the other side of the town, where Fort Regent now stands. One account suggests that they were not yet in position. He must also have sent scouts to find out whether he could expect help from Captain Campbell at Fort Conway, for Campbell obeyed Corbet's orders to remain in barracks until he heard from Peirson, and his own message that he was attacking the French at La Rocque only reached Peirson when the adjutant had returned.

The adjutant's mission failed to clarify the situation. Both Rullecourt and Corbet assured him that the latter was not a prisoner, but he was not convinced. As soon as he reported back Peirson decided to attack. It was a courageous decision, for the only approaches to the French position in the Royal Square were narrow streets commanded by Rullecourt's cannon. Presumably Peirson did not know that they were manned by makeshift crews. Down one of these streets (now Broad Street) he sent Captain Lumsden at the head of the 78th Regiment, whilst he himself led the 95th and the Militia along King Street. The 78th naturally came in sight of the enemy first and received their first fire at a range of a couple of hundred yards. This was the signal for the detachment which had occupied the hill on the other side of the town to come down and attack the enemy from the East.

Meanwhile Peirson's column had met with little opposition until they reached the narrow street that leads from King Street into the Royal Square. Here they encountered the full force of the enemy's fire. Peirson fell, mortally wounded, in the arms of his grenadiers. The loss of their commander dispirited the British troops, who fell back down King Street until Lieutenant Dumaresq of the Militia, with the help of one of their sergeants, succeeded in rallying them. A few minutes later they re-entered the Square, where Rullecourt, holding Corbet by the arm, was directing operations from the steps of the Royal Court. Seeing these two, the 78th, who had fought their way into the Square from the other side, fired a volley at them. Rullecourt was wounded in the jaw. Corbet escaped with a bullet through his hat. The beaten French troops fled and took refuge un neighbouring houses.

The action had lasted less than half an hour. In view of the nature of the attack, it is not surprising that the British casualties were higher than the French. In addition to Major Peirson, the regular forces lost some forty other ranks killed and about seventy wounded. Eight militiamen were killed, and three officers and seventy-two other ranks wounded. About thirty Frenchmen were killed, eighty wounded, and four hundred taken prisoner.' As soon as the battle was over Major Corbet resumed command of his forces and marched on La Rocque, not knowing that Captain Campbell had already defeated the French forces there. The events at La Rocque read more like a chapter from a historical romance than sober history. Before his capture, it will be remembered, Major Corbet had sent Captain Hemery to warn the troops at Fort Conway. Having delivered his message,

It would be surprising if the various accounts, which differ so much in detail, agreed on the number of killed and wounded. There is, however, rough agreement, except as regards the number of Regulars killed. One writer gives the absurdly low figure of four, but quotes a poem written in commemoration of the event in which it is given as twelve.

P. J. Ouless in The Death of Major Peirson quotes from what purports to be an official return, '75th Regiment - 6; 83rd Regiment 12; 95th Regiment - 4.' According to him, this adds up to forty-two !