The Vigie was now the only post occupied by the enemy in the vicinity of Morne Fortune, and this was attacked by the 31st Regiment on the night of May 7th; the assault, however, being repulsed with a loss of 200 men. The main position was now invested by regular siege works, and the task which the British had to perform was attended with no small difficulty. "The country itself was of the most inaccessible kind, the chain of investment was ten miles in extent, all the roads that were necessary were to be made, of carriages there were none, horses were scarce, and the Republicans had been industrious in availing themselves of all the natural obstacles to our progress, and in creating as many others as their ingenuity could contrive." Malcolm's Corps rendered good service on these works, and the men being better able to stand the fatigue and exposure than Europeans, were constantly employed.
By May 16th, the first parallel was completed, and on the morning of the 24th, the 27th Regiment, supported by the 53rd and 57th, succeeded in effecting a lodgment within 500 yards of the fort. The Governor, acknowledging that further resistance was futile, demanded a suspension of hostilities; terms of surrender were agreed upon, and on May 26th, 2000 men marched out as prisoners of war. One hundred pieces of ordnance, ten vessels, and large stores of ammunition fell into the hands of the British.
Sir Ralph Abercromby sailed from St. Lucia on the 4th of June to the relief of Grenada and St. Vincent, leaving Brigadier-General Moore for the pacification of the first island with the 31st, 44th, 38th, and 55th Regiments, O'Meara's corps of Rangers,[25] and the German Yagers.
[Footnote 23: Lowenstein's Rangers were Europeans. They were afterwards drafted into the 60th.]
[Footnote 24: Return of killed, wounded, and missing, in the attack made on the enemy's batteries, May 3rd, 1796. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm's Rangers: 3 rank and file, killed; 2 rank and file, wounded; 2 captains, 1 lieutenant, 7 rank and file, missing. Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm dead of his wounds. The names of the officers of Malcolm's returned missing, not known.]
[Footnote 25: Raised in 1796. This corps became the 12th West India Regiment in 1799.]