CHAPTER XI.
“His signal deeds and prowess high
Demand no pompous eulogy,—
Ye saw his deeds!
Why should their praise in verse be sung?
The name, that dwells on every tongue,
No minstrel needs.”
FRENCH REVOLUTION—CANADA—THE CRIMEA—INDIA—CHINA—1804–1862.
The gigantic proportions which the war in 1804 had assumed, the imminence of the danger which threatened ourselves from the overgrown power of Napoleon, and his still unsatisfied ambition, had thoroughly roused our Government more completely to arm our people, and occasioned the raising of many new corps. Aware of the favour in which our Royal Regiment was held by the people, from the ancient renown it had acquired, the Government, taking advantage of this good name, speedily raised and attached thereto a third and fourth battalion. Returning from the West Indies, where, for a short time, it had been engaged in capturing the French and Dutch possessions, the second battalion embarked for the East Indies, where, for upwards of five-and-twenty years—returning home in 1831—it remained actively on duty. Meanwhile, the third battalion, sharing the glories, was doomed to endure the disasters of the Spanish campaigns of 1808–9, under that gallant leader, Sir John Moore—glories which had their consummation in the victory of Corunna. On this occasion the Royals were brigaded with our countrymen of the Twenty-sixth Cameronians. The army, returning to England, was shortly thereafter employed in a new attempt to expel the French from the Netherlands. In this unfortunate effort, known as the Walcheren Expedition, our third battalion had a part. But the day of better things was now about to dawn, when these repeated disasters should be redeemed, and the eclipse of the world’s liberty be dissipated, through the triumphs which, rewarding the heroic endurance and persevering valour of our soldiers, should crown our arms. Trained by adversity, our troops had learned how to conquer. Under Sir Arthur Wellesley, the third battalion was, with the British army, which, from “Busaco” to the “Nive,” trod the path of uninterrupted victory, baffling successively the splendid efforts with which the genius of Massena, Marmont, Jourdan, and Soult, strove to preserve for their master the provinces of the Peninsula. Every attempt to arrest the onward march of British valour signally failed, entailing upon the foe a series of fatal defeats, until at length the Peninsula, delivered from the yoke of the tyrant, our army, in triumph, entered the French territory. At the siege of St Sebastian our Royals very specially distinguished themselves, and although suffering a loss of more than 500 men in the several assaults, nothing could quench the dauntless spirit which twice stirred them to enter the deadly breach; but the second time with most splendid success, when, overcoming every obstacle, this famous and gallantly defended fortress was captured.
ASSAULT
of
ST. SEBASTIAN
31st. August 1813.
“At a Scots corporation dinner, held in London on the 4th of May, 1811, on the health of the Duke of Kent, the father of our beloved Queen, then Colonel of the Royal Regiment, being drunk, his Royal Highness rose to return thanks, and, in the course of his speech, said:—‘My royal brother has been pleased to praise the regiment in which I have been employed, and have had the honour to command, and I too can bear testimony to the spirit and gallantry of the Scottish soldiers. From the earliest days, when I commenced my military life, it was always my utmost aim to arrive at the command of a Scots regiment, and to bring that regiment into action would have been the greatest glory I could have attained, as I am well convinced the officers and men would have justified my most sanguine expectations; their courage, perseverance, and activity, being undoubtedly such as may always be relied on; and they are always able and willing to do their duty, if not more than their duty.’ His Royal Highness took great interest in the welfare of the regiment; and he this year presented, by the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel MʻLeod, a gold medal to Serjeant Manns of the regiment for the very meritorious manner in which he had educated upwards of 800 soldiers and soldiers’ children.” His Royal Highness was the first to establish regimental schools,—a rich blessing, which will be ever associated with his memory, conferring as they have done such priceless benefits upon the army.
When all Europe had combined in a sacred crusade against the despotic rule of Napoleon, the fourth battalion of the Royals was selected to form part of a British force which should act with the Swedo-German army advancing from Pomerania, under Bernadotte, upon France. Thus, at the interval of nearly 300 years, did our Royal Scots revisit the scenes of their early glory; and, under the same Swedish banner, led on by the successor of Gustavus Adolphus, once more do battle for the cause of truth. No doubt, their souls roused within them, their arms must have been nerved, by the “stirring memories” of “auld langsyne.” The march of this battalion through Germany, when called to join the army of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, in the Netherlands, about to attempt the reduction of the strong fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom, is marked by the extreme severity of the weather, which entailed sufferings of the most fatal kind upon our brave soldiers—upwards of 120 men being lost in the snow. To the survivors a darker and a sadder fate was near, whilst these trials served to school them to meet it with the heroic fortitude of the soldier. In the subsequent attack upon Bergen-op-Zoom the several companies of the battalion had struggled with determined yet unavailing valour to dislodge the French. Our troops could not prevail, as they could not destroy the strong natural defences of the place. They suffered a most serious loss from an unseen foe, who visited their temerity with a fatal fire from their powerful and numerous batteries. At length, overwhelmed and encompassed by foemen, and entangled amongst destructive batteries which vomited forth death upon our devoted Royals, they were compelled to surrender, having previously sunk the colours of the regiment in the river Zoom. Peace being accomplished by the abdication of Napoleon, the sword of war was for a moment sheathed. Alas! that it should have been but for a moment. Soon the dream of a fancied security was disturbed, as the captive of Elba once more appearing, the Emperor, idolised by the great army, forged thunderbolts of vengeance with which he threatened to annihilate his many foes. Happily, his ambitious career was speedily terminated, and Europe thereby saved the repetition of the bloody tragedy of protracted war, so lately and so fondly believed to be closed. The sudden irruption of the French army into the Netherlands was met by the bravery of the British and Prussians, and its progress for ever arrested by the total defeat of Waterloo. In this campaign the third battalion of the Royals was honoured to hold a conspicuous part; especially at Quatre Bras, where it was the first to check the advance of Marshal Ney, and sustain with great credit the brunt of his impetuous and repeated attacks. The following splendid testimony has been recorded to its valour:—“The third battalion of the Royal Scots distinguished itself in a particular manner. Being removed from the centre of the Fifth Division, it charged and routed a column of the enemy. It was then formed in a square to receive the cavalry, and though repeated attacks were made, not the slightest impression was produced. Wherever the lancers and cuirassiers presented themselves, they found a stern and undismayed front, which they vainly endeavoured to penetrate.”
It was not alone upon the continent of Europe that the dire effects of Napoleon’s sway were felt and regretted, but wherever the foot of civilisation had left its impress. Nor was it only the pulse of true liberty that beat quickly and faintly beneath the evil rule of his tyrant spirit, but commerce, by iniquitous decrees, lay groaning in chains, or eked out but a sorry existence. The intention of these ill-advised decrees was the destruction of the maritime and commercial might of Britain. Our Government sought to retaliate upon France the evils their imperial monarch had striven to inflict upon us, by barbarous enactments of a kindred character. Thus, between the two, the avenues of trade were all but hedged up—the channels of commercial intercourse dried up. America had hitherto grown rich upon the poverties which war had entailed upon the continental nations; and hence, when her merchants found their trade at an end, or, at all events, amounting to a thing of peril, her Government resented such decrees as a personal attack. Retaining an old grudge arising out of the nature of recent events, and, moreover, regarding Britain as the chief offender, having within herself alone the power to set at defiance the attempts of Napoleon, without adding a new evil to cure the old iniquity, America declared war against us, and her armies forthwith proceeded to take possession of Canada. To arrest the progress of the enemy in this quarter, the first battalion of the Royals was ordered from the West Indies to Canada. Although the forces engaged on either side were trifling in numbers when compared with the vast armaments which were then contending in Europe, still the contest was no less sanguinary and bitter, and equally developed the sterling qualities of our Royal Scots. Arrived in Canada in 1813, the battalion was present with credit at the successful attacks upon Sackett’s Harbour, Sodius, Niagara, Black Rock, and Buffalo; but it was not until 1814, that the preponderance of numbers on the side of the Americans rendering the contest more unequal, and when victory did not always smile on our arms—it was then we gather more striking evidence of the gallant demeanour of the Royals. At Longwood a superior force of Americans prevailed, and the battalion was reluctantly withdrawn, having suffered severely, principally in officers. At Chippewa 6000 Americans assailed a force of 1500 British, including 500 of the Royals. Although repulsed in the action which ensued, the General Order reports: “It was impossible for men to have done more, or to have sustained with greater courage the heavy and destructive fire with which the enemy, from his great superiority in numbers, was enabled to oppose them.” The Royals only yielded when upwards of 300 of their number had been disabled—sufficient proof of the fierceness of the conflict, and the desperate valour which sustained it. But a more deadly encounter—though happily a more successful one—took place at Lundy’s Lane, where 5000 Americans were opposed to 2800 British, including at first only three, latterly ten, companies of the Royals. We cannot do better than quote the description of the battle from Mr Cannon’s invaluable Records: “About nine in the evening there was an intermission of firing; but the Americans renewed the attack soon afterwards with fresh troops, and a fierce conflict of musketry and artillery followed in the dark. The Americans charged up the hill; the British gunners were bayoneted while in the act of loading, and the guns were in the possession of the enemy for a few moments; but the troops in the centre, where the three companies of the Royal Scots were fighting, soon drove back the Americans, and retook the guns. The storm of battle still raged along the heights; the muzzles of the British and American artillery were within a few yards of each other, and the fight was kept up with a sanguinary obstinacy seldom witnessed. In limbering up the guns, at one period an American six-pounder was put by mistake on a British limber, and a British six-pounder on an American limber. At one moment the Americans had the advantage; at the next the shout of victory rose from the British ranks; and about midnight the enemy retreated.” The troops were thanked for their distinguished bravery in general orders on the following day; and “the admirable steadiness of the Royal Scots, under Lieut.-Colonel Gordon, at several very critical points and movements,” claimed Lieut.-General Drummond’s particular notice. On this occasion the Royal Scots had to mourn the loss of many brave officers and gallant men, nearly 160 being killed, wounded, or prisoners. The siege and capture of Fort Erie is distinguished not merely for the gallantry of our Royals, but possesses, moreover, a melancholy interest, from the lamentable catastrophe—the explosion of a mine—which destroyed many of our brave soldiers, who, struggling on, had effected a footing in the breach.
It is interesting to note, about this period, the several battalions of this ancient regiment, fighting our battles in so many different corners of the world at the same time, and each contributing to the national glory and their own marvellous fame. In 1814 the positions of the battalions were as follows:—
| First Battalion, | Canada. |
| Second Battalion, | India. |
| Third Battalion, | Spain and France. |
| Fourth Battalion, | Germany and Holland. |
The war was brought to a termination in 1815, after the memorable battle of Waterloo, wherein the third battalion of the Royal Scots immortalised itself, when, peace being concluded, the Royals returned home, and the third and fourth battalions were disbanded.
Passing over a long interval of comparative peace which succeeded, like the calm, the storm that but lately raged, we have only time in our present sketch to note that the Royals formed part of the British army in the Crimea. The Crimean campaign gained for them the several distinctions of the “Alma,” “Inkermann,” and “Sevastopol.”
On the alarm occasioned by the recent Indian Mutiny, in 1857, the first battalion of the Royals was sent out to reinforce our army, destined to suppress the Sepoy Revolt. Afterwards the second battalion formed part of the Chinese Expedition, which, chastising the perfidy of the boasted “Celestials,” reduced the “Taku forts,” and occupied Pekin.
We close our narrative of the First Royal Regiment, or Royal Scots, with these lines from an old military ditty, the favourite apostrophe of that distinguished veteran and representative of our old Scots brigade in the Swedish service—Sir Dugald Dalgetty, the illustrious hero represented by Sir Walter Scott in his “Legend of Montrose.” Thus he sang when waiting in the guard-room of Inverary Castle:—
“When the cannons are roaring, lads, and the colours are flying,
The lads that seek honour must never fear dying:
Then stout cavaliers let us toil our brave trade in,
And fight for the Gospel and the bold King of Sweden.”
1862. TWENTY-FIRST, OR ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS. 1678.