{"id":926,"date":"2024-10-23T09:33:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T09:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/CC4HH\/?p=926"},"modified":"2024-11-11T14:40:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T14:40:58","slug":"the-28th-regiment-of-foot-the-west-indian-campaign-in-the-seven-years-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/cc4hh\/2024\/10\/23\/the-28th-regiment-of-foot-the-west-indian-campaign-in-the-seven-years-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The 28th Regiment of Foot & The West Indian Campaign in The Seven Years\u2019 War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This collaboration between History students at the University of Gloucestershire and the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum takes a fresh look at the Regiment\u2019s involvement in the Seven Years War (1756-1763), often described as the first \u2018world war.\u2019 It involved an exhibition at the Museum held between November 2023 and March 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Students being shown around the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum by Director, Matthew Holden<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jump to: <\/strong>History of 28th regiment<\/a> | The Seven Years War<\/a> | The War in the West Indies<\/a> | Enslaved Soldiers in the British Army<\/a> | Free Black Soldiers<\/a> | The end of the war<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as considering the regiment\u2019s involvement in the imperial struggle for power and territory between Britain and France, the exhibition also considers lesser-known aspects of the conflict, such as the employment of enslaved and free Black men during and after the conflict. This was inspired by the discovery that formerly enslaved James Albert (Ukawsaw Gronniosaw) served in the Regiment during the War. This exhibition accompanies the digital story on Albert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History of the 28th Regiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The regiment was initially established on 5 March 1694, when a warrant was sent to Colonel John Gibson, Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth. According to David Scott Daniel\u2019s account of the regiment (1975), the warrant ordered Gibson to raise a regiment consisting of \u2018thirteen companys,\u2019 with each company consisting of \u2018sixty private soldiers, three sergeants, three corporals, and two drummers.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured: A grenadier of the 28th Regiment of Foot, 1759. Yellow Lapels, Cuffs and Turnbacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Agrenadier<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The regiment eventually acquired the name \u201828th Regiment of Foot\u2019 in 1742. The regiment was merged with the 61st of foot in 1881 to form the Gloucestershire Regiment. The Gloucestershire Regiment was finally dissolved in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigns in Canada (1757) and the USA (1775)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Following the outbreak of war between France and Austria in late 1756, William Pitt saw an opportunity to weaken the dominance of the French Empire in Canada. The 28th Regiment was recalled from Ireland and set sail for Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, where they were involved in a six week-long siege against French troops. The 28th also played a key role in the battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec on 13 September 1759, during which French troops were forced to retreat into the walls of Quebec. They surrendered five days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, Canada, where the 28th Regiment were involved in their first major campaign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


After its involvement in the Seven Years War and following the outbreak of the American War of Independence, the 28th Regiment sailed to Staten Island, New York. Under the command of General Howe, the 28th engaged in combat against George Washington and his troops in White Plains, 25 miles north of New York. The 28th were also later involved in combat at Brandywine Creek against Washington\u2019s troops. They were garrisoned in Philadelphia until 1778, when they set sail to the West Indies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Seven YearS’ War: The First Global War?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

The Seven Years\u2019 War (1756-1763) was a huge international conflict fought between major European powers including Great Britain, France, Russia and Prussia. It is sometimes regarded as a continuation of the Austrian War of Succession. France had formed an alliance with Russia and Austria against Prussia, whose only ally was Great Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured: The Battle of Prague between the Prussians and Austrians, 1757; National Army Museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With battles fought on three continents, the Seven Years\u2019 War is sometimes described as a world war before such conflicts were quantified as such. In North America, where the war is better known as the French and Indian War, a struggle between Britain and France
began over control of the vast fertile territory along the Ohio River. One of Britain\u2019s aims during the conflict was to use their significant naval power to protect naval transport and trade routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Taking of Quebec 1759 (left) and Major-General Robert Clive (1764); National Army Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The struggle between Britain and France also had outcomes in India, where both nations were seeking to expand their commercial and imperial interests by forming alliances with various parts of the falling Mughal Empire. Robert Clive, representing the East India Company, famously defeated the Nawab of Bengal and his French Allies at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, cementing the company\u2019s grasp of the region and paving the way for colonial control of the subcontinent in decades to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict had a huge impact on the geopolitical landscape. Great Britain seized control of vast territories in North America and India. However, this was not without problems for the expanding British Empire. The huge cost of the conflict for Great Britain ultimately sowed the seeds of the American War of Independence (1775-1783). It also intensified attention on imperial expansion and control in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The War in the West Indies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the early stages of the conflict between Britain and France, the war was not going Britain\u2019s way and it was thought that a victory in the Caribbean could help to shift the balance of power in its favour. The taking of Caribbean territories from the French would deal a significant hit to the French economy, as many of the islands had profitable plantations. According to Burnard and Garrigus\u2019 The Plantation Machine (2016), it was estimated that the conquest of Martinique alone would acquire Britain property and enslaved peoples in excess of \u00a34 million (p. 87). As the islands were so profitable, British control would prove extremely helpful in future peace negotiations. However, battles in the Caribbean proved very costly. Illness was ravaging soldiers in the tropical climate, where the \u2018British lost over 40% of their invading army to yellow fever and other tropical diseases\u2019 (p. 92).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Invasion Of Guadeloupe and
Martinique, 1759<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"British
British Troops at Fort Royal, Guadeloupe, 1759; National
Army Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The British managed to take Martinique and Guadeloupe in 6 months. Burnard and Garrigus state that the \u2018British established a new base at what is today the city of Pointe-\u00e0-Pitre and began to work their way down the south eastern coast, destroying as many as eighty-four sugar estates.\u2019<\/strong> In April 1759, \u2018Guadeloupe\u2019s planters forced Governor Nadau de Treil,\u2026, to sign a capitulation agreement with the British\u2019 <\/strong>(p. 88).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came at a significant cost to the British, with an estimated 800 lives lost to disease in addition to the fighting. However, the deal favoured French planters, who retained their property but now could sell into British markets. The effect was that the slave trade
expanded dramatically. Between 1715 and 1757, 15 slave ships carrying 2998 slaves arrived in Guadaloupe; between 1759 and 1763, this increased to 78 British ships carrying 23,834 Africans. The number of sugar plantations increased from 185 to 447 (p. 89).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The capture of St Lucia, 1762<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Capture of Saint Lucia, 26 February 1762, by Dominic Serres;
National Maritime Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Battles over Caribbean islands continued. The capture of St Lucia was undertaken by Captain the Honourable Augustus
John Hervey. Hervey was ordered by Admiral Rodney to demand the surrender
of St Lucia. Hervey managed to disguise himself as \u2019a midshipman and acting as an interpreter, he went ashore
to ascertain the enemy\u2019s strength.\u2019<\/strong> Initially, the French governor of the island did not want to surrender, but after seeing how much the British had prepared in order to take the island his opinion soon
changed. Saint Lucia initially passed into British possession on 25 February 1762, but on 10 February 1763, the Treaty of Paris handed Saint Lucia back to the French.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Siege of Havana, 1762<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Capture of Havana, 1762, Taking the Town, 14 August,
by Dominic Serres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Britain began the Siege of Havana on 6 June 1762, and captured the city on 12
August. Burnard and Garrigus state that \u2018British colonists thought the conquest of Havana one of the great events of the war, if also one of the mostly costly\u2019<\/strong> (p. 92). This was because of the heavy
casualties caused by disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Benjamin Franklin commented on
the losses caused by illness: \u2018It has been
however the dearest conquest by far that
we have purchas\u2019d this war when we consider the terrible Havock made by the sickness in that brave Army of Veterans, now almost totally ruined\u2019<\/strong> (p. 92). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ability of men to cope with the difficult
environmental conditions was one of the main reasons that military commanders started to rely on enslaved peoples in the
Caribbean.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Enslaved Soldiers in the British Army<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the Seven Years\u2019 War and afterwards, the British Army became increasingly reliant on Black men – both free and enslaved – in military campaigns in the Caribbean and North America. In the Caribbean, plantation owners allowed their enslaved workforce to join the army in return for a fee and the guarantee of financial compensation should they be killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Siege of Havana (1762) hundreds of enslaved men served alongside British regiments against the Spanish, including in the 28th Regiment of Foot. Military commanders found them to be invaluable. As Maria Alessandra Bollettino\u2019s article \u2018\u201cOf Equal or of More Service\u201d: Black Soldiers and the British Empire in Mid-Eighteenth Century Caribbean\u2019 (2017) notes, officers referred to them as \u201cBaggage Negroes\u201d or \u201cPioneers\u201d. Whilst some were armed and fought alongside regular troops, the majority were used for labour: moving artillery, unloading ships, clearing paths over difficult terrain and constructing fortifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u2018A
\u2018A Prospect of Town and Harbour of the Havannah taken by the Earl of Albemarle and Sir George Pocock on 13 August 1762\u2019; National Army Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whereas regular soldiers struggled in the heat and became sick with tropical diseases, men taken from plantations were more accustomed to the climate and conditions, and Army officers believed they would be better equipped to deal with the threat of diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abolition delayed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During the late 18th century, the abolitionist movement grew in Britain and politicians finally agreed to phase out slavery in 1796. It was a gradual process and slavery continued in various forms across the Empire for a further 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having demonstrated their effectiveness to military leaders in the Seven Years\u2019 War, Black men both free and enslaved once again became an essential part of the British Army serving in the Napoleonic Wars and in the American Revolution. Roger N. Buckley (2008) demonstrates that between 1795 and 1808 the British Armed Forces bought approximately 195,000 people at an average price of \u00a370 per person. The Abolition Act of 1808 ended the British Army\u2019s involvement in the trading of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Requirements of the British Army when purchasing enslaved people<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Below is an extract from the Bontein Contract of 1797 in which the British Government sought to purchase 2,500 slaves from James Bontein of Martinique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n