excellency to form a tolerably correct judgment of the cause of the failure of that attack; had the head of the column, which had entered the place without difficulty or opposition, been supported, the enemy must have fled from his works, (which were all taken, as was contemplated in the instructions, in reverse,) or have surrendered.
“The attack on the fort and entrenchments leading from it to the lake, was made at the same moment by two columns, one under Lieutenant-colonel Drummond, 104th regiment, consisting of the flank companies 41st and 104th regiments, and a body of seamen and marines, under Captain Dobbs, of the royal navy, on the fort: the other, under Colonel Scott, 103d, consisting of the 103d regiment, supported by two companies of the royals, was destined to attack the entrenchments. These columns advanced to the attack as soon as the firing upon Colonel Fischer’s column was heard, and succeeded after a desperate resistance, in making a lodgment in the fort through the embrazures of the demi-bastion, the guns of which they had actually turned against the enemy, who still maintained the stone building, when, most unfortunately, some ammunition, which had been placed under the platform, caught fire from the firing of the guns in the rear, and a most tremendous explosion followed, by which almost all the troops which had entered the place where dreadfully mangled. Panic was instantly communicated to the troops, who could not be persuaded that the explosion was accidental, and the enemy, at the same time, pressing forward, and commencing a heavy fire of musketry, the fort was abandoned, and our troops retreated towards the battery. Our loss has been severe in killed and wounded: and I am sorry to add, that almost all those returned ‘missing’ may be considered as wounded or killed by the explosion, and left in the hands of the enemy. * * * * * * The exertions of Captain Dobbs, R.N. commanding a party of volunteer seamen and marines, are entitled to my acknowledgments.
“To H.E. Sir George Prevost, Bart. &c. &c. &c.”
Tie loss sustained by the naval detachment, on this disastrous occasion, consisted of 28 missing and 25 wounded; among the former was Mr. Hyde; and in the latter list we find the names of Captain Dobbs, Lieutenant Stevenson, Mr. Harris (master), Mr. Grindred (mate), and Mr. Arthur (midshipman): the latter, although only fifteen years old, was one of the first that entered the fort.
Captain Dobbs obtained post rank Aug. 12, 1819; and died at Milan, in the year 1827. One of his brothers. Captain Joseph Dobbs, of the 52d foot, was killed at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo; another, Captain John Dobbs, of the same corps, was wounded before Bayonne.
