Samuel Hodge, VC ( 1840 – 14 January 1868) was a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

soldier in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and a recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

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soldiers. From the island of

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

in the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

, he was the second black man to be awarded the Victoria Cross after William Hall.The Soldier's Burden – Gambia 1866
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Details

Samuel Hodge was one of the West Indian soldiers who garrisoned British positions on the West coast of Africa during the 19th century. White troops suffered terribly from

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, blackwater fever and

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

, and the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

addressed the problem by using troops of the

West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

s. In 1866, Lieutenant Colonel George Abbas Kooli D'Arcy, commanding officer of the 3rd West India Regiment and Governor of

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, marched to confront a rebellious

Marabout In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a Sayyid, descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, Romanization of Arabic, romanized: ''sayyid'' and ''sidi'' in the Maghreb) and a Islam, Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the f ...

leader named Amar Faal at (also known as Tubab Kolon), a stockaded town on the northern bank of the River Gambia; taking with him 270 officers and men of the 4th West India Regiment from the Bathurst garrison, Hodge being one; around 500 warriors from the

Soninke people The Soninke (Sarakolleh) people are a West African Mande languages, Mande-speaking ethnic group found in Mali, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea (especially Fouta Djallon). They speak the Soninke language, also called ...

later joined his force. He attacked the town on 30 June.

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Hodge was about 26 years old (his precise date of birth is not known). The British force had light armaments and rockets, but failed to break through the wooden stockade by bombardment. D'Arcy called for volunteers to assist him in trying to cut a breach by hand. Two officers and fifteen men (including Hodge) seized axes and followed him. However, the fire of the defenders was intense; those officers were killed almost immediately, and most of the remaining men were wounded. D'Arcy and the two uninjured men, Hodge and another soldier (Private Boswell), reached the stockade, and hacked a gap in it large enough for a man. Boswell was killed, leaving only D'Arcy and Hodge of the original assault party of eighteen. D'Arcy went through the gapfollowed closely by Hodge, who used his axe to hack open the inside fastenings on two more gates before being shot down. Hodge sustained serious gunshot wounds, but survived. British troops poured in through the now open gates; and in the fierce fighting that followed, several hundred of the Marabouts were killed, and the village and stockade burned down. Once the day had been won, D'Arcy presented Hodge to his regiment as the bravest man among them, to universal acclamation. Hodge was promoted to the rank of

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

, and was presented with the Victoria Cross on 24 June 1867. However, he never fully recovered from the terrible injuries he had sustained during the attack, and died of fever less than a year later during service in

British Honduras British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973

(now

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

), and was buried at the military cemetery there.

Victoria Cross citation

The citation reads:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodge, Samuel 1840s births 1868 deaths British West Indies recipients of the Victoria Cross West India Regiment soldiers People from Tortola British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Military history of the Gambia