The Corps of Colonial Marines were two different Royal Marine units raised from former black slaves for service in the Americas at the behest of Alexander Cochrane. The units were created at two separate periods: 1808-1810 during the Napoleonic Wars; and then again during the War of 1812; both units being disbanded once the military threat had passed. Apart from being created in each case by Cochrane, they had no connection with each other.
The first Corps was a small unit that served in the Caribbean from 1808 to 12 October 1810, recruited from former slaves to address the shortage of military manpower in the Caribbean. The locally recruited men were less susceptible to tropical illnesses than were troops sent from Britain. The Corps followed the practice of the British Army's West India Regiments in recruiting former slaves as soldiers. In the previous year, the Mutiny Act 1807 emancipated all slaves in the British Army and, as a result, subsequently enlisted slaves were considered free on enlistment.
The second, more substantial, Corps served from 18 May 1814 until 20 August 1816. The greater part of the Corps was stationed at St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast, with a smaller body occupying the future Negro Fort, on the Apalachicola River in remote northwest Florida. Recruits were accepted from among escaped slaves who had already gained their freedom on coming into British hands and who were unwilling to join West India Regiments. The establishment of the force sparked controversy at the time, as the arming of former slaves was a psychological as well as military threat to the slave-owning society of the United States. As a consequence, the two senior officers of the Corps in Florida, George Woodbine and Edward Nicolls, were demonised by Americans such as Hezekiah Niles in his Baltimore publication, the Weekly Register for their association with the Corps and inducing slave revolt.
At the end of the War of 1812, as the British post in Florida was evacuated, the Corps' Florida detachment was paid off and disbanded. Although several men accompanied the British to Bermuda, which United States independence had elevated to an Imperial fortress colony, the majority continued to live in settlements around the fort the Corps had garrisoned. This legacy of a community of armed fugitive slaves with a substantial arsenal was unacceptable to the United States of America. After the Fort was destroyed in the Battle of Negro Fort of 1816, the former Marines joined the southward migration of Seminoles and African Americans escaping the American advance. Members of the Colonial Marine battalion who were deployed on the Atlantic coast withdrew from American territory. They continued in British service as garrison-in-residence at Bermuda until 1816, when the unit was disbanded and the ex-Marines resettled on Trinidad.
First Corps
In 1808, British forces captured the French-held island of Marie-Galante as part of the Caribbean campaign of 1803–1810. However, the governor of Guadeloupe, Jean Augustin Ernouf, ordered an attack against the island after hearing that disease had weakened the British garrison there. Black slaves in Marie-Galante agreed to assist the British in exchange for their freedom, and the French attack was repulsed. Shortly afterwards, three companies of the 1st West India Regiment arrived at Marie-Galante to reinforce the British garrison. Upon hearing of the former slaves' service, Rear-admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy's Leeward Islands Station, organised them into the first Corps of Colonial Marines in the same year.
The unit, which was personally named by Cochrane, was paid using revenues generated from Marie-Galante, clothed from Royal Navy stores and commanded by Royal Marine officers. Its ranks were soon was enlarged with fugitive slaves from Guadeloupe. Following the British capture of Guadeloupe in 1810, Cochrane maintained the Corps, and on 12 October 1810 redistributed its men: 70 were distributed among the ships of his squadron, 20 to 30 were sent to the British battery at the Îles des Saintes and 50 were ordered to remain in the Marie-Galante garrison. The unit saw no further action as a distinct body, but were listed in ships' musters among supernumeraries for wages and victuals under the description "Colonial Marine" until mid-1815.
Second Corps Cochrane, by now a vice admiral, assumed his position as commander-in-chief of British forces on the North Atlantic station in April 1814 and ordered the recruitment of a body of Colonial Marines as he had done six years earlier on Marie Galante.Letter from Cochrane to Lord Melville, 23 December 1813, National Library of Scotland, MS 2576, 122V–119 Rear Admiral George Cockburn, Cochrane's second-in-command on the Atlantic coast, implemented Cochrane's order recruiting the second Corps of Colonial Marines.Letter from Cochrane to William Matthews dated 9 May 1814 "to endeavor to raise a Corps of Colonial Marines, from the People of Color who escaped to us from the Enemy's shore in this neighbourhood and to cause such as ... may enlist for the purpose to be immediately formed, drilled and brought forward for service." Letters from Commander-in-Chief, North America: 1814, nos. 269–348 (ADM 1/507) It served as part of the British forces on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States during the War of 1812.
On 2 April 1814, Cochrane issued a proclamation to all persons wishing to emigrate. Any persons would be received by the British, either at a military outpost or aboard British ships; those seeking sanctuary could enter His Majesty's forces, or go "as free settlers to the British possessions in North America or the West Indies". An historical precedent was Dunmore's Proclamation of 7 November 1775, although this offered freedom only to those who bore arms with British forces.
Recruitment and Atlantic coast service
By 10 May, Tangier Island off the Virginia coast had been occupied by the British and offered an accessible location for those seeking refuge. Male refugees were given the option "to become blue Jackets, take up arms or [to] join the working party" constructing Fort Albion and its infrastructure. The Corps was embodied on 18 May 1814 and made its combat debut in the raid on Pungoteague Creek on 30 May 1814 where, in a skirmish known as the Battle of Rumley's Gut, it helped capture an American artillery battery. James Ross, captain of , later described their involvement as "a most excellent specimen of what they are likely to be. Their conduct was marked by great spirit and vivacity, and perfect obedience". One, a soldier named Michael Harding,HMS Albion Ship Muster 1814 Jan – Aug ADM 37/5005, which has listings for the Corps, and for fugitive slaves; contains John McNish Weiss's essay 'Black Freedom Fighters (War of 1812)' was killed early in the battle but "it did not daunt or check the others, but on the contrary animated them to seek revenge". Cockburn's initial impressions were positive; he observed that the new recruits were "getting on astonishingly" and were "really fine fellows". After this, the Corps participated in the Chesapeake campaign; in subsequent correspondence, Cockburn wrote that the recruits had behaved "unexpectedly well" in several engagements and had not committed any "improper outrages".
Members of the Corps served alongside their shipborne Royal Marine counterparts from the Cockburn Chesapeake squadron (HM Ships Albion, Dragon, Loire, Jasseur and the schooner ), participating in a series of raids. After the British failed to destroy the American Chesapeake Bay Flotilla at the Battle of St. Jerome Creek, they conducted coastal raids on the towns of Calverton, Huntingtown, Prince Frederick, Benedict and Lower Marlborough. On 15 June 1814, a force of 30 Colonial Marines accompanied 180 Royal Marines in 12 boats in a raid on Benedict.Marshall, p729: "Captain Barrie commends, in high terms, the conduct of all the officers, seamen, and marines, under his orders, as well as that of the colonial corps, composed of armed blacks." Nine days later, on 24 June, a force of Colonial and 180 Royal Marines attacked an artillery battery at Chesconessex Creek (although this failed to prevent the escape of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, which left St. Leonard's Creek two days later)., quoting a Letter from Cockburn to Cochrane dated 17 July 1814. 'The Marine Clothing you sent by the Asia for the Colonial Marines has arrived most opportunely, we were in very great want for it; I think we have about 120 Men in the Corps and I have now no doubt of encreasing[sic] it rapidly, they are indeed excellent Men, and make the best skirmishers possible for the thick Woods of this Country', quoting a Letter from Cockburn to Cochrane dated 1 July 1814. 'I have directed the Marine Clothing specified in the margin to be Sent to you in the Asia for the purpose of equipping the Volunteers (500 jackets, 1000 shirts, 1000 pairs of trousers, 500 Hats, 500 Stocks, 1000 Flannel Jackets)'
The arrival on 19 July of a battalion of Royal Marines, which had left Bermuda on 30 June, enabled the squadron to mount further expeditions ashore. After a series of diversionary raids, the Marines were again landed at Benedict on 19 August accompanied by recently arrived Peninsular War army veterans. The battalion was to accompany the Colonial Marines in attacks on Bladensburg and Washington in August 1814. A company fought at the Battle of Bladensburg, refers to a small party of Marines in the 1st Brigade, with the majority forming the 3rd Brigade and the other two companies took part in the burning of Washington. One of the firing parties was led by Second Lieutenant Lewis Agassiz (1793–1866); for his part in the battle, his family was later granted a coat of arms depicting a torch.: "The crest represents a man's forearm, bared, holding in the hand a torch made of rope. in recognition of the services of Captain J. J. C. Agassiz RN on the 21st August 1801 ... and also in recognition of the services of Mr Lewis Agassiz at the capture of the city of Washington .. where the public buildings were destroyed by fire; in which act of devastation he assisted, having been in charge of one of the firing parties." Casualties suffered by the Colonial Marines during this action were one man killed and three wounded.
On 3 September 1814, three companies of the Colonial Marines joined with three remaining companies of Royal Marines to form the 3rd Battalion, Royal and Colonial Marines. Later that month, all three companies fought at the Battle of North Point in Maryland. A fourth company was created in December 1814,ADM 96/341 Marine subsistence and pay sheets 1814 and further recruitment was begun along the Georgia coast during the first quarter of 1815. The number of enlistments allowed two more companies to be raised, with sergeants taken from companies recruited in the Chesapeake.ADM 96/471 Marine subsistence and pay sheets 1815
Although the Corps suffered some combat losses during its Chesapeake campaign actions in 1814, its greatest losses arose from disease due to poor conditions on Tangier Island. An outbreak of dysentery in the winter of 1814 killed the surgeon and 69 men from the battalion.When a dozen British sailors were captured near the island on 20 June 1814, their account of hardships encountered with food and water on the island, and the building of Fort Albion, had reported in a local newspaper.