As the actual battle drew closer we split into units but they weren’t really all that good planed ones. I’m no military thinker but I know that when the troops don’t like their officers, and everyone is just thrown together then things aren’t going to go too well. We were even thrown together with other soldiers from the colonies; we weren’t all from the same island anymore. All I could say is that at least we all spoke French. D’Estaing was our leader but there were a lot of men between me and him in this army, he was a great commander and I was a drummer.
We were supposed to attack the British fort before dawn, but nothing seemed to go right. We marched out alright but we almost instantly ran into problems. Our guide knew nothing about our route and our officer got really angry with him. That’s how I know; our officer swore something horrible, and loud enough that we could all hear him. We did finally get where we were supposed to but it was already dawn and we had lost any idea of surprise we could have had. The officer finally ordered me to drum us into battle around five thirty in the morning.
At the sounds of drums of course the British started to fire on us. At the first gun shot our guide, for all the use he was, fled. We had already heard some gun firing from somewhere, so I guess we weren’t the only one attacking. The officers led us in a battle cry to the King and then we were running, even me alongside the men. The British opened true fire then, with cannons and muskets and all. For a moment I wished that I had a gun like the men did so I could fight back. All I had was my drum so I drummed for all I was worth while the men around me started to fall.
I doubt I could start to describe the chaos that rained down among us. We were repelled once and D’Estaing got hurt in that first charge I heard later though I didn’t know it then. I didn’t know much at all, except the smell of blood and guns and the sounds of shouting. My drum was shot through, but I wasn’t hurt, it made the drum useless but I kept beating on it. I believe that drum getting in the way of the bullet was the only thing that saved me though I didn’t think on it then. We kept formation that first repulse from the fort but the second time we scattered.
I was pushed back with the rest of the men though I can say proudly that I never ran from the fight. I found myself in the marshes that were on the side of where the forts stood. I wasn’t the only one who found himself in that position. My shoes were stuck fast in the mud and it was only with great effort did I manage to pull myself up on the remains of my drum. Though I lost my shoes while doing it I got out of the mud. Many men remained stuck in the mud, some of them shot there where they couldn’t escape from the musket fire.
Without a gun and with no drum I could no longer be of any use to the battle and so I stood and watched the fighting as it went back and forth. For a moment I thought that we had won the battle, our flag was even raised on the parapet only then to fall again. That was a bitter disappointment, as the cup was dashed from our lips, it seemed as if everything was in vain after all.
The American reinforcements arrived, the ragged and undisciplined band that they were. Still they arrival was welcome until I realized that they too could not make it past the wall of the fort. The colors of one of their regiments was raised but like the French flag it was lowered just as quickly it seemed. I could see men in every uniform falling under the hail of bullets.
To be continued...
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