CHAPTER VIII.
Heroes, in your ancestral line,
Hallow the shades of “Auld Langsyne;”
Men who in their country’s story
Shine brightly on the page of glory,
Noo sleep in bonnie Scotland.
ANCIENT HISTORY—882–1660.
As we approach the history of this venerable regiment we cannot help feeling all those sentiments of reverence and respect which are the becoming tribute to an honoured old age—a history which well nigh embraces, as it awakens,
“The stirring memories of a thousand years.”
Consistent with the bold and adventurous spirit of the Scotsman, we find him pushing his fortune in almost every land under the sun; with a brave and manly heart going down to the battle of life; blessing, by his industry and enterprise, many a clime wherein he has settled, and so climbing the loftiest pinnacles of greatness; or, by “diligence in business,” earning the kingdom of a merchant prince. Of all the many and varied departments of life in which the Scotsman has been distinguished, he is most pre-eminent in the honourable profession of a soldier. Driven from his beloved country by the cruel tyrannies which from time to time oppressed her, or exiled by the hard necessities of a pinching poverty—wandering in many lands, the Scotsman nevertheless gratefully retains the recollection of his fatherland, and, in spirit, returns with fondness to the endeared associations of home—
“The bonnie blithe blink o’ his ain fireside.”
Such is the ruling passion which lives in his soul. “Home, sweet home,” exerting a hallowed, chastening influence upon his daily life, has nerved the soldier’s arm, and, by its magic charm, awakened the energies of the man. As a “guiding star,” it has pointed out the path of honour—like a “ministering angel,” its soothing influence has at other times calmed the troubled sea of life, and, though it be but for a moment, has given something of peace to the weary, as it is intended to be a foretaste of the blessedness—
“A something here of heaven above.”
Already volumes have been written on the martial achievements of the Scottish nation, and we are fully impressed with the magnitude of our undertaking when, in these brief pages, we propose to illustrate the heroic tale of our ancient glory. Nowhere is there a more perfect representative of our exiles who have been soldiers, amongst “the bravest of the brave,” in many lands, than is afforded us in our present sketch of the First or Royal Scots Regiment of Foot. Many and conflicting have been the accounts given of their early history. Some have imagined the present regiment to be the representative of the Archers of the Scottish Guard, which, in the days of Bruce, had been associated with Royalty and the defence of the Scottish throne; others have given their origin to the Scottish Guard, which had for many years been the Body Guard of the French kings; but the most complete and authentic account, derived from many sources, is that given by Richard Cannon, Esq. of the Adjutant General’s Office, in the admirable Historical Records of the Royals, wherein the origin of the regiment is traced to the ingathering of our exiles, who had hitherto served with great credit as soldiers, nay as Royal Guards, in the armies of France, Denmark, Sweden, and the States of Holland, to be formed into one, the present regiment of First Royal Scots Foot. As early as the year 882 A.D. Charles III., king of France, had selected from among the exiles a body of Scottish gentlemen, conspicuous for their fidelity and valour, who enjoyed his special favour, and were incorporated as a Royal Guard. During the Crusades these followed Louis IX. into Egypt. They were of infinite value to France, at a time when the disastrous battle of Agincourt, fought in 1415, had prostrated her power, and all but reduced her proud and haughty people to be the vassals and subjects of triumphant England. The Scots Guards were retained in the service of Charles VII., and a few years later were joined by a body of 7000 of their countrymen under the Earl of Buchan, whose abilities as an officer and valour as a soldier won for him the thanks of a grateful country, who at the same time conferred the highest compliment and most splendid military distinction it was in their power to award, in creating him Constable of France. The Scottish army in France was subsequently largely increased by farther instalments of adventurous exiles from “the fatherland.” These helped to break the yoke of England upon the Continent, and specially distinguished themselves at the battles of Baugé, 1421, Crevan, 1423, and Verneuille, 1424: so much so, that Charles, appreciating their worth, selected from their ranks, first in 1422, a corps of Scots Gendarmes, and thereafter, in 1440, a corps of Scots Guards. On the fair plains of Italy, so cruelly desolated by the rude hand of war, and so long the favourite battle-field of princes, whom the poet fitly styles
“Ambition’s honoured fools”—
was afforded the scene where, during the wars of Francis I., our Scottish Guards, by brilliant exploits, earned a great renown. The story of their fidelity and devotion is written in their blood, and illustrated in the fatal defeat of Pavia, 1524, where, in defence of their master, the chivalric Sovereign of France, whose exclamation of, “We have lost all, save honour,” has become a household word,—they nearly all perished, and honourably rest in “a soldier’s grave.” The relics of this old Scots Guard returning to France, remained the nucleus, the root, upon which was formed and ingrafted a new corps of Scots Guardsmen, whose character and history have been aptly described by Sir Walter Scott in “Quentin Durward;” whilst in his “Legend of Montrose” we trace the yearnings of the mighty soul of the patriot, conjuring into life, by the magic of his pen and his rare gifts, the story of our exiled brave, represented in the gallant veteran of Gustavus Adolphus, “Dugald Dalgetty.” The martial qualities and gallant bearing of our countrymen had attracted the notice of Gustavus Adolphus, the warlike King of Sweden, and induced him to invite to his standard our adventurous soldiers, who, under so renowned a leader, were destined to add new lustre to our military annals. On no occasion did the Scots respond more heartily, or muster so strongly in the foreign service of any country, as in the present instance. The army of this “Lion of the North” at one time comprised eighteen British regiments, of whom thirteen were Scottish; moreover, his principal officers were Scotsmen.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
In the marvellous feats of arms which distinguish the masterly campaigns of Gustavus, our countrymen had ever a prominent place. Having humbled the pride of Poland, and crippled the power of Russia by successive defeats, on the restoration of peace, Gustavus, declaring himself the champion of the Protestants, turned his arms against the formidable coalition of the Roman Catholic princes of Germany, headed by the Emperor. The campaign of 1620 proved unfortunate, by the total defeat of the Protestant army at Prague, their consequent retreat, and ultimate disbandment in Holland—
“O sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased a while,
And Hope, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile.”
Undaunted by these disasters, Gustavus refused to quit the field, although, for the present, he changed the theatre of war into Pomerania. From the wreck of the Protestant army, he carefully selected a chosen body of his favourite Scotsmen, which, in 1625, he constituted a regiment, conferring the command on Sir John Hepburn. In the war with Poland which ensued, the Scots enjoyed, as their gallant demeanour in every instance well merited, the unbounded confidence of the King. Subsequently, the King of Denmark sent two Scots regiments, which had been in his service, to aid the Swedish monarch; and, in 1628, he further received the very welcome reinforcement of 9000 Scots and English. The following incident, occurring about this time, serves to illustrate the cordial relationship subsisting between this renowned prince and our adventurous countrymen:—“In a partial action between the advance-guards, a few miles from Thorn, Gustavus’s hat was knocked off in a personal encounter with one of the enemy’s officers named Sirot, who afterwards wore the hat without knowing to whom it belonged. On the succeeding day, two prisoners (one a Scots officer named Hume) seeing Sirot wearing the King, their master’s, hat, wept exceedingly, and with exclamations of sorrow, desired to be informed if the King was dead. Sirot, being thus made acquainted with the quality of his antagonist in the preceding day’s skirmish, related the manner in which he became possessed of the hat, upon which they recovered a little from their anxiety and surprise.” The success of the Swedish arms at length achieved a favourable peace, which enabled the King, espousing the cause of the persecuted Reformers of Germany, once more to try the issues of war with the Imperialists, and so, if possible, redeem the disasters of a former campaign. At this period no fewer than 10,000 Scots and English exiles were in the Swedish army, and the King had just concluded a treaty with the Marquis of Hamilton, who had undertaken to enlist an additional force of 8000 in these Isles.
Next in seniority to the old Scots regiment of Hepburn is that of Monro, who has written an interesting account of the achievements of our countrymen in these wars. This last narrowly escaped an untimely end—a watery grave—having been shipwrecked near the enemy’s fortress of Rugenwald, on their passage to Pomerania. Lurking in concealment among the brushwood on the shore during the day, Monro’s soldiers at nightfall boldly assaulted the defences of the enemy, and, by this unexpected attack, succeeded in capturing the fortress, where, by great efforts, they maintained themselves against a vastly superior foe until the arrival of Hepburn’s Scots Regiment relieved them. These two regiments, along with other two Scots regiments—those of Stargate and Lumsdell—were at this time brigaded together, and styled the Green Brigade, so celebrated in the military history of the period. In 1631, at the siege of Frankfort, this bold brigade accomplished one of the most daring feats of arms upon record; where—charged with the assault upon this all but impregnable fortress, defended by the best troops of the empire—they undauntedly entered the breach, and—despite the repeated attacks of the foe, especially of an Irish regiment, who, amongst the bravest defenders of the place, twice repulsed the assailants, and fought with the greatest heroism until nearly all were either killed or wounded—they, by their valour, effected a lodgment within the walls. Furiously charged by the splendid cavalry of the Imperial cuirassiers, our Green Brigade resolutely maintained the ground they had won. The trophies of this conquest were immense. The Green Brigade, after having aided in the reduction of the many strongholds of Germany, had penetrated with the army into the very heart of the empire, where they were destined to play a very conspicuous part in the memorable and momentous battle of Leipsic. On this occasion, kept in reserve, the Green Brigade was only brought into action at the eleventh hour, when the ignoble and cowardly flight of the Saxons, who had been impressed into the Swedish army, rendered the position of the army perilously critical. Then our brave Scots, sustained on either flank by Swedish horse, advanced, speedily checked the progress of the enemy, retrieved what the Saxons had lost, and throwing the enemy into confusion, changed the fortunes of the day. The Imperialists, no longer able to withstand the repeated and impetuous attacks of our Scottish brigade, and charged by the Swedish horse, who completed their ruin, broke and fled. Thus their mighty army, lately so confident of victory, which a momentary success had promised, was utterly cut to pieces or dispersed. A variety of sieges and minor engagements followed this great battle, in nearly all of which the Swedes and Scots proved triumphant. Yet, notwithstanding these series of successes, and the several and sore defeats of the enemy, the position of Gustavus was becoming daily, by every new advance, more critical; away from his arsenals, whilst the enemy, within his own territory, had ample resources at hand with which to repair defeat, and thus was becoming hourly more formidable. At Oxenford, the heroic monarch had only an army of 10,000 men around him, whilst the Duke of Lorraine was at hand with a well-equipped force of full 50,000. Still, such was the terror inspired by the marvellous deeds and the known resolution of this little band of veterans, that, although the enemy was in the midst of many advantages, he durst not venture an attack, and feared to arrest the King in his career of conquest.
Bavaria had now become the scene of the contest. Soon that important kingdom was over-run, and—with Munich, its gorgeous capital—surrendered to the northern army. The death of Gustavus Adolphus, at the fatal battle of Lutzen, ruined the hopes of his gallant little army, now sadly reduced in numbers. The Green Brigade was not present on this disastrous day. By a process of transfer, not at all uncommon in those times, the remnant of Swedes and Scots were taken into the pay of France, and, under the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, laboured to maintain the cause of the Protestant princes, which had, for ends of her own, been adopted as the cause of France. Colonel Hepburn, some time previously, had, by permission of the King of Sweden, returned to Scotland with the Marquis of Hamilton. His parting with his countrymen in his own regiment is thus quaintly described by Monro:—“The separation was like the separation which death makes betwixt friends and the soul of man, being sorry that those who had lived so long together in amity and friendship, also in mutual dangers, in weal and in woe, the splendour of our former mirth was overshadowed with a cloud of grief and sorrows, which dissolved in mutual tears.”
Returning to France in 1633, Hepburn was appointed colonel to a new regiment of Scotsmen. By a combination of events, he at length met with his old regiment in the same army, and the relics of the Old Scots Brigade. These were subsequently merged into one large regiment, whose history is hereafter one with that of France, and whose representative is now the First Royal Scots Regiment of Foot. By this union, which occurred in 1635, the regiment so constituted attained the extraordinary strength of 8316 officers and men. In the following year they had to lament the loss of their gallant Colonel, who was killed at the siege of Saverne; he “died extremely regretted in the army and by the Court of France.” He was succeeded in the command by Lieut.-Colonel Sir James Hepburn, who survived his illustrious relative only one year. Lord James Douglas, son of William, Marquis of Douglas, was promoted to the vacant Colonelcy, and thereafter the regiment is known as “Douglas’s Regiment.” In the service of Louis XIII. of France, the regiment had entered upon a new theatre of action in the Netherlands, destined to combat the Spaniards, who then were esteemed to form as soldiers the finest infantry in the world. Against this redoubtable foe our Scotsmen conducted themselves with credit, being present at the siege of St Omer, the captures of Renty, Catelet, and at Hesden, under the eye of the monarch himself. During the minority and reign of Louis XIV., known as “Louis le Grand,” the regiment was destined to share the glories of a splendid series of triumphs, successively won by the illustrious chiefs that then commanded the armies of France. In 1643, led by Louis le Bourbon, afterwards Prince of Condé, a leader possessed of all the heroic qualities of the good soldier, and at the same time graced by all the rarer virtues of the true man—under him the regiment served with great distinction in the Netherlands and Italy. Nine years later, when the factions of “the Court” and “the Parliament” had stirred up among the people a civil war, we find the Douglas Regiment, with characteristic loyalty, on the side of “the Court,” serving their royal master under that great adept in the art of war, Marshal Turenne, whose abilities sustained the sinking State; and although opposed to that justly celebrated soldier, the Prince of Condé, at length, out-manœuvring the foe, accomplished the salvation of “the Court,” and, by an honourable peace, secured their restoration to power. Meanwhile a somewhat analogous civil strife in England had wholly overturned the old monarchy of the Stuarts, and inaugurated a new order of things in the Commonwealth, under Oliver Cromwell, the Protector. Charles II., and his royal brother, the Duke of York, afterwards James II., as the surviving heads of their ancient, unfortunate, and infatuated house, had sought and found an asylum at the French Court. In those times of war, employment was readily found in the French armies for their many adherents, who had been driven into exile with them. They were formed into several regiments, who bore an honourable part in the contest then raging between France and the allied might of Spain and Austria. In 1656, the fickle Louis, deserting his old friends, the royalists of England, concluded an alliance with the more powerful Cromwell—the exiles, in consequence, changing sides, threw the weight of their arms and influence, or such as they might still be said to retain, into the scale with Spain. Many of the British royalist regiments, hitherto in the service of France, on the command of Charles, exchanged with their prince, into the service of their late foe, now their friend. Louis, who could ill afford such a serious desertion of troops, which had hitherto proved themselves to be the flower of his army, had taken the precaution to remove, into the interior, the older Scots regiments, and amongst others, that of Douglas, which he had justly learned to value very highly, lest they might be induced to follow their royalist brethren.
PRINCE DE CONDÉ.
In 1661, immediately after the Restoration, Charles II., with a view to strengthen his unstable position on the British Throne, strove to establish an army, and Louis being then at peace, and, moreover, on good terms with our King, the regiment of Douglas was called home to these isles, where it has since been generally known as the First or the Royal Regiment of Foot, although for a time it was popularly styled the “Royal Scots.”
MARSHAL TURENNE.