Battle of Briceport
| Battle of Briceport | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Vionnan Civil War | |||||||
 Lord Brice consulting with his officers in Fort William | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 County of Briceport |
 Empire of Vionna | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Count William IV |
Sir Barnaby Hilton (WIA) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
6,500 Men 102 Guns |
18 Ships of the Line, 14 Other Vessels | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Heavy, multiple ships lost | ||||||
The Battle of Briceport was an early battle of the Vionnan Civil War fought between the garrison of Briceport, under the command of Count William IV of Briceport, and the Imperial Fleet of the Vionnan Empire under the command of Admiral Sir Barnaby Hilton. The Battle ended in a victory for Briceport following a heavy artillery battle between the forts defending Briceport and the ships of the Imperial Fleet along with multiple landings to take the forts by land.
Background
In January 1806, Empress Cerly of Vionna indicted her eldest son Prince Harold for treason and conspiracy and in a swift trial had him sentenced to death. This, combined with many years of hard rulership, caused the southern Vionnan lords under the Duke of Grythshead and the Duchess of Teutonberg. At the same time, the Frankenlischian nobility, angered by the imprisonment and execution of their King and much of the aristocracy, rose in rebellion and the two rebel armies planned to join at Briceport. Unaware of the rebellions, Lord Brice was surprised to see a fleet just off the coast, planning to land at Briceport, he didn't recognise the Imperial Standard and believed it to be a foreign invasion.
Battle
Not recognising the Imperial Standard that the Imperial Fleet flew rather than the National Standard, Count Brice sent word to the two forts that defended the port, Fort William and Fort Walter (named after previous Counts of Brice) that they should fire on the approaching ships. 102 guns were housed collectively in the two forts and ranged from 12 pounders to 28 pounders of which there were eight in swivel carriages. Admiral Sir Barnaby Hilton, the commander of the Imperial Fleet, noted in his personal diary that his ships were "Lit up like matchwood" and that "Instantly, the fleet was engulphed in a chaotic mist of shrapnel and splinter." He immediately gave the order to return fire and land men to take the Briceport batteries. The 38-gun frigate VIS Federburg was hit by the third shot from one of Fort Walter's 28pdr swivels which punched a hole amidships, killing two officers, seven men and taking down her mainmast quickly.
In moments, the Imperial Fleet was in peril as they were not cleared for action and the smaller vessels had their decks swamped with additional boats and marines. Luckily, due to the swift orders of Admiral Hilton, the fleet was ready to return fire and make battle relatively quickly and by noon had boats in the water to take the batteries. Led by Colonel Ellis d'Gorne, the 1st Imperial Marine Regiment landed to the south of Briceport itself and with a thousand men in total moved quickly against the outer batteries near Fort Walter. At just past one o'clock the marines had carried three shore emplacements and spiked their guns before marching against Fort Walter itself.
The Imperial Fleet had stabilised itself by this point but was still in tatters from the pummeling fire with Admiral Hilton's flagship the VIS King Lawrence close to dismasted and at a loss of many men and guns, the rest of the fleet's ships of the line being in a similar state. They had, however, formed a workable line of battle and were quickly working on suppressing the Briceport defences, emplacement by emplacement. Lord Brice, who by now was watching the engagement from the battlements of Fort William, supposedly mentioned to his officers in wonder that the Imperial Fleet was able to coordinate their guns so effectively to destroy and suppress the outer emplacements despite their condition.
With the situation dire yet stable, Hilton ordered more men to be landed to threaten Briceport itself, this included the remaining marines along with naval crews, mainly sailors that had been made useless by the loss of guns or masts. Despite the pleading of his subordinates, Hilton insisted on leading the attack himself and went ashore in the King Lawrence's cutter. By around 2:30 there was another 1,500 men ashore both marines and sailors and under Admiral Hilton's direction moved against Briceport itself to capture the town. Colonel d'Gorne's unit also made their attack against Fort Walter. Lord Brice signalled with flags for Sir Hendrik Gosport, the commander of Fort Walter, to sally out with his men and throw back d'Gorne's attack. Brice himself rode out with the Briceport Light Dragoons (which had been garrisoned in Fort William) and hastily assembled his retainers and called for volunteers in Briceport town square where he made his 'our fathers' speech that was made famous in Halie Muncton's play How the War Begun. With a thousand foot and 400 horse, Lord Brice moved quickly to the outskirts of Briceport to make a stand against Admiral Hilton's attack.