The Journals of General Sir F. P. Robinson, G.C.B.

THE JOURNALSOF GENERAL SIR F. P. ROBINSON,G.C.B. R•cH•ra) A. PRESTON T•. Libraryof theRoyalMilitaryCollege hasrecently acquired twobound volumes, the"Journals of General Sir F. P. Robinson, G.C.B.,1777-1814." SirFrederick Philipsc Robinson (1765-1852)wasthefourthsonof Colonel Beverley Robinson of NewYork.His grandfather, John Robinson, hadbeen President of the .Council of Virginiaand his great-grandfather, Christopher Robinson, hademigrated to Virginiaabout1666.SirFrederick wasdistantly related to SirJohnBeverley Robinson Bart. (1791-1865),ChiefJustice of UpperCanada. x Thesevolumes contain holograph letters,journals, and sketches connected with various periods in General Robinson's longmilitarycareer.Theywere givenby himto hisdaughter Mrs.MariaHamilton, whopassed themonin 1880 to Colonel(later Major-General)CharlesW. Robinson, a memberof another branch of thefamilywhowasalsodescended fromthefirstRobinson to emigrate to Virginia.Colonel Charles Robinson inserted some additional manuscript materialand annotations. The volumes havenow cometo the Royal MilitaryCollege fromtheestate ofMiss J.C. B.Robinson, a descendant of Colonel Charles, by purchase through Francis Edwards, Ltd.,of London. The bulkof thematerialin themcovers GeneralRobinson's experiences in the West Indies, 1795-4, and in the Peninsula,1812-14, and throwsmuch lightuponthose campaigns, especially uponthelatter.SirFrederick wentto Wellington's armyin Spain in September, 1812,andasa major-general commanded firsta brigade andlatera division. He wasengaged in action atOsma, Vittoria,St. Sebastian, the Nive,andBayonne; andaccording to Napierhe gained thereputation of beinga "manof daringspirit."His account of his servicein the PeninsularWar runs to 156 pagesand includesa detailed description of the capture of St. Sebastian. He alsogivesmuchinformation aboutthe relations of the troopswith the Portuguese and Spaniards. The Generalillustrated hiswritings with several delightfulsketches of the people hesawandtheplaces hevisited inthePeninsula collected fromvarious sources. Some ofthese areinitialled "A.R.,"probably theworkofhisdaughter, Annie. Robinson's holograph "Journal ofthePeninsular War"wasapparently written outby himsome timeaftertheevents described. In thesecond volumeof the papersthereis anotherdraft of thissameJournal,two hundredpageslong, whichisin a different hand.A pencilnotesays thatthiscopywasmadebyhis daughter, Maria,in 1814.Presumably bothcopies camefromanoriginal journal not now extant.The two versions are substantially the samebut individual sentences have been redrafted and each contains some details omitted from theother. The"Journal oftheCampaign intheWestIndies," ontheotherhand, consists of notes madeat thetimeon96 pages of a smallnotebook andseems to be theoriginal version setdownfromdayto day.In it Robinson describes the reduction of Martinique, St. Lucia,and Guadeloupe. The volumes also XSee uliaJarvis, Three Centuries oftheRobinsons: TheStory oIaFamily (Toronto, I privately printed, 1955). 352 Vol. XXXVII, no. 4, Dec., 1956 JOURNALS OF GENERAL SIRF. P. ROBINSON $53 contain an account of Robinson's campaigns in theAmerican Revolutionary War whichis muchbrieferandlessimportant because he wasthena very iunior officer. This account was also written inlater life. Documents whichareof moreespecial interest to students of Canadian history area Journal of Robinson's service in Canada during andafterthe Warof 1812anda number of original letters andreports. Robinson wassent toNorth America inJune, 1814, incommand ofabrigade, andtook par inthe attack onPlattsburg in September of thatyear,onwhichoccasion heforced thepassage oftheSaranac butwas ordered toretire when theBritish fleet met disaster onLakeChamplain. Theoriginal oftheletterwhichAdiutant-General E. Baynes sent toGeneral Robinson to order himtoretireisincluded among theletters following theJournal. This45-page account of hismilitary career in Canada wasapparently writtenin 1815,by whichtimeRobinson had succeeded to the officeof provisional commander-in-chief and LieutenantGovernor of theupperprovince, a postwhichhe helduntilthe returnof Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Gorein September, 1815. The supporting reports, letters, andorders include originals written during thecampaign itself. General Robinson's Journal wasusedasthebasis of an articlewrittenby Major-General C. W. Robinson, "The Expedition to Plattsburg uponLake Champlain, Canada, 1814"(Journal of the RoyalUnitedService Institution, August, 1916).Portions ofSirFrederick's Journal wereincluded in thearticle, butpassages wereleftoutwithout anyindication thateditorial omission had beenmadeby the author.Sir Frederick had beenexceedingly criticalof General SirGeorge Prevost's handling ofthecampaign andforecast that,if the army heldanenquiry, thedecision would goagainst Prevost. Theauthor ofthe article intheR.U.S.I. Journal carefully omitted these criticisms inthepublished version. Hisowncopyofthearticle, bound withthemanuscripts, isendorsed, "In thisI haveembodied all I thought rightor desirable to publish fromSir F. R'sJournal contained ih thisbookandespecially for a short paperof this kind. C. M. R. "•' SirFrederick hadwritten,"It appears to methatthe Armymoved against Platsburg withoutanyregularly digested planby Sir George Prevost. There wereneitherGuides, Spies or Plans--aco-operation with the Navy couldnot havebeenoriginally intended, ortheGeneral wouldnothaveproposed attackingtheworks immediately onthearrivalof thetroops andonlychanging the timetoanhourbefore daybreak thenextmorning whenourfleetwasoffLittle ChazyFifteenMilesin our Rearand not in a stateof readiness to act . . .";a andtwopages...