The story of a button and how it lead to a new understanding of the 43rd's involvement in the attack on Charleston 1780
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Here we share how the find of a button on a beach during a search by an amateur metal detector led us to find out why a button belonging to the 43rd regiment came to be there.
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Our initial interest had been sparked by the posting on facebook of a later 43rd button (right)
'Uniform button from the 43rd (Monmouthshire) (Light Infantry)- 1st Battalion on the American coast from January to April 1815. Main engagement: New Orleans' and was posted by Paul Edward Lafett.
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Curiosity made us ask the question at what point the additional decoration (the laurel wreath) came into use. Don Troiani commented that the wreath came sometime after 1781.
For comparison, we posted this
example of an extant 43rd button of the AWI period.
Imagine our excitement when Spencer L. Harrison posted the button below, with the comment “Found on Tybee Island beach, Near Savannah, Ga.”
Front and back and the button measured with callipers
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Tybee beach is due east of Savannah - this was a bit of a red herring for us as the 43rd weren’t involved in the siege of Savannah (capital of Georgia and captured by the British in October 1779). The 43rd was a very active unit so it is very unlikely for an individual soldier to have been drafted in to another regiment taking part in this siege.
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Thus began the quest to see if there was a reasonable explanation for this button to be on Tybee beach. A very plausible one comes from the diary of John Peebles (pg331)
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"Tuesday Febry 1 [1780] ... men from the ships [Charleston Expedition] that were arrived go on shore on Tybee Island & wash & take exercise, a Sandy island with Pine wood & some Cabbage Trees some wild deer & Hogs on the island... Saturday 5th...went ashore on Tybee & took a walk a good many men ashore taking exercise & all the women washing... Sunday 6th...a talk of sailing tomorrow..."
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So what was this Charleston Expedition mentioned by Peebles?
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The 43rd lights were in Clinton's army sailing south from New York. They sailed through a devastating storm, which lengthened the normal journey time from 10 days to 5 weeks.
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Borick (pg25) writes
‘Captain Johann Heinrichs of the jaegers chronicled that of thirty-six days that his transport, the Apollo, was at sea, on fifteen of them they experienced stormy conditions. He noted sourly that the men could not enjoy “a moment of sleep because of the fearful rolling and noise” in the cabins of the ships.
Besides unsettling soldiers, the storms were terribly destructive to the ships and their cargo. Powerful winds scattered the fleet, causing ships to lose contact with one another and blowing many vessels off course. The frightful weather conditions pushed one transport carrying a detachment of Hessians so far of course that they sailed to England…..’
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Ships, horses, heavy artillery and provisions (including two ships’ supply of rum!) were lost as well as provisions running low due to the extended voyage time.
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Borick (pg26)
‘In spite of the weather difficulties, most British ships safely reached the rendezvous point at Tybee Island off the mouth of the Savannah River by the beginning of February.’ (1780).
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It is easy to imagine the relief of the soldiers to be on dry land and how easy it would have been to lose a button!
It was only a brief respite, as the men and women had to get back to sea on the transport ships to go along the coast to then land and proceed with the campaign to take Charleston March 29 to May 12, 1780
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In the order of battle for the Charleston campaign, the ‘2nd Light Battalion’ (the 43rd’s light company under Captain Charles McClean) and ‘1st Grenadier Battalion’ (the 43rd’s Grenadier company under Captain John (Jack) Hatfield) can be found. Don Hagist has generously shown us the muster rolls and these confirm that the Grenadier and Light Company are both shows to be at Charleston at that time while the other companies are in New York. The 43rd’s flank companies would have been amongst the first to land for the attack on Charleston!
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References
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Borick, Carl P. 2012. A Gallant Defence. University of South Carolina Press.
Gruber, Ira D. 2021. John Peebles' American War 1776-1782. Army Records Society.
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