1807 John Goulston Price Tucker Battle Report of the Capture of Montevideo

Reporting a British Victory Amidst a Failed Campaign.

This is the 1807 report - anonymous, but attributed to John Goulston Price Tucker - of the 1807 British assault and capture of Montevideo from the Empire of Spain. This British victory was the one successful element of the British invasion of the River Plate, an otherwise disastrous theater of the Napoleonic Wars (Spain was, at that point, allied with Napoleon's France). This book and its attendant map were published a little more than three months after the capture of Montevideo, but four months prior to the September 1807 British withdrawal, following the July 1807 surrender of British forces in Buenos Aires.

A Closer Look

The report - in its original, cardboard binding - is preceded by a plan of Montevideo, its peninsula, and the topography of the surrounding coastline. It marks the position of the British landing on January 16, the paths taken by the army on its approach to the city, and the positions taken by British units in the siege of the city.

The account, given by 'a Field-Officer on the Staff in South America,' is believed to have been penned by John Goulston Price Tucker: he was Assistant Quarter Master General to Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and during the engagement had been the Major commanding the Grenadiers, one of the first of the British units to enter the city. Tucker was wounded in the arm during the battle and, after the action, was sent back to England by Auchmuty to deliver the report of the battle to the British government.

The work chronicles the campaign against Montevideo from the January 16th landing of the first elements of the British force, to the February 3 capture of the city. It is accompanied by the February 4th orders of Brigadier General Auchmuty declaring the victory. The appendix to the volume includes the dispatches initially published in the April 12 London Gazette, constituting Auchmuty's official report of the engagement; it is followed by listings of the British killed and wounded in the siege and the assault, as well as an account of the naval prizes and artillery taken by the British fleet along with the city.

The appendices also include transcribed speeches of the House of Lords and the House of Commons responding to the news. Praise of Auchmuty's success was perhaps inflated in the absence of other good news from that theater: the British had no such victories to boast from Buenos Aires, for example. Nevertheless, the capture of the city itself was notable not only in its cost to the defenders, but also in the sharp loss of life to the British forces; the account ends with a report from Lloyd's Patriotic Fund, recording awards and financial payments to the expedition's officers and wounded, as well as relief and annuities to the families of the officers and enlisted men killed. This is an early record of the Patriotic Fund's activities: it was founded in 1803.

Publication History and Census

This book was printed by McMillan and published by  John Stockdale in 1807, in a single edition. We see twelve examples cataloged by institutional collections. We see no examples of the separate plan either in OCLC, or on the market.

Cartographer

John Goulston Price Tucker (July 27, 1777 - 1841) was a British army officer. He was born in Bermuda, but little is known of his life until his appointment, as an Ensign, to the British 78th foot on April 29, 1795. His military career was active from the start, beginning with his service during the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope in September of that year. He was appointed Lieutenant on May 25, 1796, thereafter serving in India (Birhampore). He served as a ship's marine aboard HMS Centurion in pursuit of the French Frigate, La Forte, which was cruising the Straits of Malacca. He was sent to the Cape of Good Hope as aide to Sir George Young, returning to Britain with despatches from the colony; he would return in 1806, and would take over the 1st battalion of the 72nd when its commander was wounded, leading the force nearly two hundred miles into the South African interior. On completion of this duty, he was given leave to accompany the 47th foot to the Rio de la Plata, where he would be made Assistant Quarter Master General to Sir Samuel Auchmuty. Under this command, he served as Major to the Grenadiers in the 1807 assault of Montevideo, and present during the breach of the city, during which he received a bayonet wound to his arm. He returned with despatches to Britain, and it is presumed that he was the author of the publicized account of the battle. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the aftermath. In 1814, he was made Colonel in the Army; in 1815 he was appointed Major in the West India Regiment. It is not known when or under what circumstances he retired: he had married in 1802, and managed to father three sons and two daughters in County Kent in England. His wife died in 1830; he himself died in 1841.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good overall. Some scuffing to binding. Plan trimmed by binder into left border, good.

References

OCLC 953821239.