- Thomas Mullins (British Army officer)
Thomas Mullins (d. 1823) was a
British Army officer of the44th Regiment of Foot , best known for his misconduct at theBattle of New Orleans during theWar of 1812 . While he performed well during the Chesapeake campaign, his failure to check on the regiment's engineering supplies at New Orleans played a key role in the disorganization and subsequent defeat of the British there.Birth and early career
Mullins was the third son of
Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry and his second wife Christabella.cite book | title=A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire v. 1 | first=John | last=Burke | publisher=H. Colburn and R. Bentley | year=1832 | page=xxxii | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Cq8KAAAAYAAJ | accessdate=2008-02-03]On
22 February 1791 , he exchanged from half-pay in the Independent Companies of the24th Regiment of Foot to become alieutenant in the 45th Regiment of Foot. [LondonGazette | issue=13284 | date=1791-02-09 | startpage=114] He was promoted tocaptain on20 July 1794 . [LondonGazette | issue=13701 | date=1794-09-06 | startpage=904] He joined the 44th when its secondbattalion was raised inDublin in 1803.cite book | title=Historical Record of the Forty-Fourth: Or the East Essex Regiment | first=Thomas | last=Carter | publisher=Gale & Polden | year=1887 | pages=53–54 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_jr02xak1BwC | accessdate=2008-02-03] In 1810, he married Parnell, the widow of Major-General Archer.Chesapeake campaign
When Colonel Arthur Brooke,
lieutenant-colonel of the 44th Regiment of Foot assumed the command of a brigade during the Chesapeake campaign, Mullins wasbrevet ed lieutenant-colonel and assumed command of that regiment. He wasmentioned in despatches by General Ross for his leadership at theBattle of Bladensburg . Mullins was also commended for his conduct during theBattle of North Point by Brooke, who succeeded Ross when the latter fell to a skirmisher's bullet.cite book | title=Historical Record of the Forty-Fourth: Or the East Essex Regiment | first=Thomas | last=Carter | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_jr02xak1BwC]New Orleans campaign
During the New Orleans campaign, Brooke continued to command a brigade including the 44th during the initial landing, and Mullins retained command of that regiment.
The 44th was assigned by General
Edward Pakenham to be the advance guard for the first column of attack on8 January 1815 , and to carry the ladders andfascine s which would enable the British troops to cross the ditch and scale the American ramparts.cite web | title=Jean Lafittle NHP: Historic Resource Study | url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jela/hrs7.htm | accessdate=2008-02-03] Mullins was not pleased, viewing the regiment's role as that of aforlorn hope . Perhaps due to his bad temper, he failed to personally locate the ladders and fascines on the evening of the 7th, as Pakenham had ordered him to do. The officer he assigned to do so inquired their location from an engineer officer, and reported they were in the advancedredoubt .During the night, a battery was set up about convert|500|yd|m forward of the advanced redoubt. Mullins, thinking this to be the location of the
materiel , passed the advanced redoubt and halted the regiment at the battery. Upon discovering his mistake, he sent 300 men back to the redoubt at the double-quick to pick up the fascines and ladders, but it was too late. The other regiments were already advancing behind the 44th, the party of 300 lost formation as they struggled to reach the redoubt, and as day dawned, the attack commenced before the supplies could be brought forward. [cite book | title=The United Service Magazine | first=Arthur William Alsager | last=Pollock | year=1840 | page=339 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_efKZAIUDnMC | accessdate=2008-02-03]The British column had already been disordered by the passage of the 300 returning to the redoubt, and they advanced into a storm of American fire. Without the fascines and ladders, they were unable to scale and storm the American position. Major-General Gibbs encouraged them with cries of "Here come the 44th!", while vowing, in an undertone, to hang Mullins on the highest tree in the swamp if he lived until tomorrow. It was to no avail. The British attacks on the east side of the
Mississippi River failed in bloody confusion, with Pakenham and Gibbs among the casualties.Aftermath
Upon the return of the 44th to
Dublin at the close of the campaign, Mullins was tried by acourt-martial between11 July 1815 and1 August 1815 , on the charges of having neglected orders to collect fascines and ladders, having allowed the regiment to pass the redoubt containing the fascines and ladders, and for having engaged in "scandalous conduct", in remarking to an officer of his regiment that the 44th was a "forlorn hope...and must be sacrificed" after receiving orders that the regiment should carry fascines. While he was acquitted of the latter charge, he was convicted of the first two andcashiered from the Army. He died in 1823, leaving no children.References
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