CHAPTER XIII.
“Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break,
Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake?
That dawn never beam’d on your forefathers’ eye,
But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die.”
AMERICA—FRENCH REVOLUTION—WEST INDIES—NEW ORLEANS—CRIMEA—1748–1862.
Restless like the ocean, anew the spirit of ambition, the thirst for conquest, awakened the flames of war between these ancient rivals—France and Britain. In those days, when standing armies were dreaded by a people ever jealous of the prerogative of the Crown, with whom, moreover, there still lingered the bitter experience of the past, or the lively, yet painful, recollection of the tyranny of the Stuarts—in those days our army was limited. Hence, when war broke out, we find the whole force of the kingdom called into action, or embarked on foreign service, leaving to militia and volunteers the defence of “our hearths and homes”—just as it should ever be. In such circumstances, in 1761 our Fusiliers were engaged in a desperate descent upon the French island of Belleisle, situated in the Bay of Biscay. The natural and artificial defences of the island had almost defeated the object of the expedition; and when, after much searching and toil, a landing had been effected, the dangers to be encountered required the utmost steadiness and perseverance to be overcome. The French made a resolute defence, and only surrendered when their position had become no longer tenable, and no promise of relief seemed at hand. Afterwards stationed in England, the regiment in 1765 was sent out for the occupation of West Florida in America, whence, in 1770, it was removed to Quebec. It had been commanded by the Earl of Panmure, who, in 1738 succeeded the Duke of Argyle in the colonelcy, and in 1770 he was in turn succeeded by Major-General the Hon. Alexander Mackay. In 1772 our Fusiliers returned to England; soon, however, to be recalled to the American States, to take an active part in the unnatural war which had arisen out of vexing disputes on the all-important question of taxation between the Home and Colonial Governments. Accordingly, in 1776 the regiment was sent out for the relief of Quebec, then besieged by the Americans. The timely arrival of such welcome reinforcements, strengthening and encouraging the garrison, produced an opposite feeling of weakness and dejection in the ranks of the besiegers, so as to induce the American General to raise the siege and retire. In his retreat he was pursued and harassed by the British troops. In the following year, the Twenty-first, as we shall henceforth call them, was employed reducing the American forts, especially Ticonderago, which studded the shores of Lake Champlain. Ultimately the regiment formed part of an unfortunate expedition under Lieut.-General Burgoyne, who, encouraged by previous successes, was tempted to advance into the enemy’s territory, away from his own resources, where—notwithstanding the repeated defeats, especially at Stillwater, with which our troops visited the temerity of the foe, and the heroism with which they conquered all obstacles and endured many sufferings from the pinchings of want, reduced to about 3500 fighting men, and surrounded by an American army of fully 16,000—the Twenty-first, with the relics of the other regiments included in the expedition, were under the painful necessity of laying down their arms, and surrendering themselves prisoners of war. This untoward event terminated for the present the active service of the Twenty-first. The battalion, on being released, returned to Britain, where it remained on home duty until 1789, when, embarking for America, it was employed for nearly four years in that country.
The French Revolution having, by a flood of evil influences, submerged well nigh every vestige of living righteousness, war, with all its horrors, had been accepted as the dire alternative which, with its fiery deluge, should purge the political world of the cankering iniquities which hitherto fattened upon the miseries a tyrant democracy had inflicted upon civilisation. Unable to cope with the vast armaments which the revolutionary energy of France had brought into being and sent forth to convert Christendom to its own dogmas of “Equality, Fraternity, and Liberty,” and whilst these overran the Netherlands and other adjacent countries, our Government directed the efforts of its arms against the French West Indian Islands, the natives and lower classes of which, becoming infected by the republican fever, had assumed to be free, and in token thereof adopted the tri-colour cockade, whilst the Royalists, who, as proprietors and capitalists, had everything to lose, invoked the friendly aid of Britain. Accordingly, the Twenty-first, proceeding from Canada to the West Indies with the army under Major-General Bruce, took part in the first attempt upon the island of Martinique in 1793, which failed. A second attempt in 1794, under General Sir Charles Grey, was more successful, the Republicans being overthrown. This desirable result was speedily followed by the reduction of the islands of St Lucia and Guadaloupe, in the capture of both of which the Twenty-first was honourably distinguished. Our possession of Guadaloupe was not long to be enjoyed. A powerful French fleet from Europe, with a considerable body of troops on board, arrived and succeeded but too well in resuscitating the republican interests, and at length prevailing, the few British defenders, numbering only 125, were forced to surrender to overwhelming odds. In the fall of Fort Matilda, which terminated our dominion in the island, the Twenty-first met with another heavy disaster, which, with the ravages of the yellow fever, had so reduced the effective strength of the regiment, that in 1796 it was sent home to recruit, where it soon attained a strength of 800 men, by volunteers from the Scots Fencible Regiments.
Whilst stationed at Enniskillen, the good conduct of the regiment won for our Fusiliers the esteem of the inhabitants, whose good-will could not fail to be appreciated as a record of no small importance, considering the excellent regiments, which, bearing the name of “Inniskilling,” have ever done honour by their gallantry to British valour. These good impressions were deepened, and the deserved esteem of our Fusiliers greatly increased, by the firm attitude maintained by the regiment during the Dublin riots of 23d July, 1803. On this trying occasion, stationed in the Irish metropolis, the determined front of the Twenty-first, under Major Robertson, (Lieut.-Colonel Brown having been murdered by the rioters whilst proceeding to join his regiment,) succeeded in overawing and reducing to obedience the refractory mob whose discontents had assumed the dangerous character of a fierce insurrection, and whose malignity towards Government had avenged itself in the barbarous murder of the Lord Chief Justice, Viscount Kilwarden. The good conduct of the regiment was rewarded with the public thanks, whilst Lieutenant Douglas and the Adjutant (Brady), as specially distinguished for activity and judgment, were each presented with a valuable gift of plate.
The vastly increasing power and menacing attitude assumed by Napoleon had roused the latent energies of the nation, and in the exigencies of the times, induced one of those most splendid efforts of true patriotism of which only a free nation like our own is capable of producing. The people as one man rose to arms, and practically illustrated the fervid eloquence of the immortal Pitt, when, with a soul pregnant with devotion to his country, he exclaimed—“Were an enemy on our shores, I never would lay down my arms. Never! never! never!” whilst the muse of Campbell summoned the charms of language to aid the sacred cause:—
“Rise, fellow-men! Our country yet remains!
By that dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear for her to live, with her to die!”
Amongst the many means adopted to secure an effectual national defence, the increase of our army was deservedly the chief. From the youth of the counties of Renfrew and Ayr a second battalion was raised for our Fusiliers in December 1804; but it was not until 1806 called to an active part in the terrible contest which then shook Europe to its base. The defence of Sicily for the legitimate sovereignty of Naples, to which the Twenty-first was called, although a duty but of minor importance when compared with the mighty events which were being enacted on the vaster theatre of Europe, still the result, redundant with glory, served to give hope to liberty when the threatened night of tyranny had elsewhere descended to cloud the nationalities of Christendom; whilst our British soldiers, if aught dare aspire to the title, proved themselves to be the real “invincibles”—when all else had been borne down by the legions of France, they alone remained unconquered. Under Major-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, the first battalion was engaged in the expedition to Egypt against the Turks; who, in an evil hour, when French power seemed omnipotent, and French influences in consequence triumphed, had been pressed into the service of the Emperor, against their better judgment and truer interests. A single campaign successfully terminated the war, when our first battalion returned to Sicily.
In 1809, with the expedition under Sir John Stuart, the Twenty-first attacked and captured from Murat, vicegerent[*typo for viceregent?] of Napoleon, styled King of Naples, the islands Ischia and Procida, containing immense material of war. An attack upon the castle of Scylla in Calabria failed, and an attempt to defend the town of Valmi resulted in serious loss to our gallant Fusiliers—no fewer than 80 officers and men falling into the hands of the enemy. Imbued, like his great master, with an insatiate appetite for conquest, and a restless ambition, Murat vehemently longed for an opportunity to expel the British from Sicily, and so unite that valuable island to his new kingdom. Having concentrated a powerful army, and prepared an immense flotilla of gunboats and transports on the shores of Calabria, he, on a dark night in September, 1810, attempted a descent. As the morning dawned it revealed the enemy to the British, and so interrupted their further transport and landing. Those who had come over in the night were so fiercely assailed by the Twenty-first and other regiments, that, with the sea behind and a powerful enemy around, without the prospect of relief or any chance of escape, the French surrendered. The ill success of this well-concerted expedition, induced Murat to abandon for the present the idea of extending his territory beyond the mainland. But our troops were not always thus successful. In 1812 the grenadiers of the Twenty-first sustained a severe disaster as part of the British expedition which failed in an attempted descent upon the Spanish coast at Alicante. In the expiring agonies of “the empire of Napoleon,” our Fusiliers, although not seriously exposed to the stern shock of battle, yet helped materially, by their presence in Italy, and their advance from Leghorn to Genoa, to drive out the relics of the French “army of Italy,” and so restore freedom to the oppressed who peopled those lovely plains. At Genoa the regiment encountered the enemy and prevailed.
Meanwhile our Government, concentrating the whole energies of the nation, and labouring to hold together the discordant materials which composed the Grand Alliance, strove, by one gigantic, persevering effort, to crush out the usurped dominion of France—the empire—to dethrone the tyrant, and liberate Europe. Accordingly, a British force had been sent to the Netherlands, including the second battalion of the Twenty-first. It took part in the unfortunate attack upon Bergen-op-Zoom, where, miscalculating the strength and resolution of the enemy, who was strongly posted in a vast citadel of powerful works, the battalion suffered severely; encompassed by a numerous foe, many were taken prisoners. The abdication of Napoleon having conferred peace upon Europe, the second battalion returned with the army to Britain, whilst the first battalion was embarked for service in the West Indies.
The innate pride of the Yankee being hurt by our sovereignty of the seas, determined to dispute our generally acknowledged title thereto. America in consequence became involved in war with us. To chasten them for repeated insults which they sought to heap upon our flag, a British expedition, including the first battalion of the Twenty-first, with the Twenty-ninth and Sixty-second regiments, landed in the Bay of Chesapeake. Advancing up the river Patuxent to Upper Marlborough, our army destroyed a numerous fleet of gunboats which had molested our commercial interests in these waters. Within sixteen miles of Washington, the troops, encouraged by the promise of so rich a prize, ventured still further to advance. Encountering and defeating the American army at Bladensburg, they entered Washington in triumph. The Twenty-first, as the van of the British, was the first to set foot in this haughty metropolis of the New World. By the hard decrees of war, not only the arsenals, but much of that which claimed, as public edifices, etc., to beautify and ornament this splendid city, were given over to destruction; and having thus avenged the indignities of the past, our army retired to the fleet at St Benedict. An expedition was afterwards undertaken against Baltimore; but, although success crowned our arms whenever or wherever the enemy encountered our soldiers on any thing like equal terms, especially in the action which ensued at Godly Wood, still was it impossible for such a handful of brave men, amidst increasing difficulties and numerous enemies, to do more; and hence, when our troops had drawn near to Baltimore, they found that opulent and populous city so strongly defended by an American army of 15,000, and deprived, moreover, by circumstances of the assistance of the fleet, it was considered impossible to prosecute the attack with any prospect of success. Retiring, therefore, our army embarked, well satisfied with the results their valour had already achieved. This battalion of the Fusiliers was stationed at Jamaica for a time, until a new expedition was set on foot. The prize in view was the reduction of the great maritime city of New Orleans, situated below the level of the Mississippi which flows by to the sea. The Americans, learning wisdom from the past, and appreciating the value and importance of this city, had laboured to strengthen its means of defence, by the construction of vast and formidable entrenchments which shielded it effectually from assault on the land side. To make good these defences, a powerful army of 12,000 men was thrown into the city, commanded by an able officer—General Jackson. The Britishers who dared to assail such a powerfully defended city did not exceed 6000 men, comprising the Fourth, the Seventh, the first battalion of the Twenty-first, the Forty-third, the Forty-fourth, the Eighty-fifth, the Ninety-third Highlanders, and the Ninety-fifth or Rifle Brigade, with a body of seamen from the fleet. Notwithstanding the disparity in numbers, all might have gone well in the assault, but for the culpable negligence of those in charge, who had forgotten to bring up the scaling-ladders, and ere they could be brought up, our men, unprotected from the deadly discharge of the enemy’s numerous artillery, helpless to defend themselves, were mowed down like grass; and yet their front, though sadly contracted by the loss of upwards of 2000 men, remained firm as ever. Sir Edward Pakenham, the British commander, and his generals of division, Gibbs and Keane, had fallen. Major-General Gibbs died of his wounds, but Major-General Keane became afterwards Lord Keane. These sore disasters negatived Colonel Thornton’s success against the battery on the right, and rendered retreat an absolute necessity, which was ably conducted by Major-General Sir John Lambert, although in presence of a vastly superior and victorious enemy. The relics of this gallant little army, who had dared to assail such strength and numbers, were embarked in the fleet on the 27th January, 1815. The total loss of the Twenty-first on this occasion was 451 officers and men, which serves to show how dreadful was the carnage throughout, and how desperate the valour that sustained it without once flinching from duty. Ere peace was concluded, which happened shortly thereafter, the expedition succeeded in the capture of Fort Bowyer, near Mobile.
After such severe service, having returned home and been somewhat recruited by drafts from the second battalion, although too late to share the glories of the Waterloo campaign, the battalion was sent to the Netherlands, and thence, advancing into France, formed part of the “army of occupation” which remained in that kingdom until peace had not merely been restored but secured. In 1816 the second battalion was disbanded at Stirling; and a year later, the first battalion, returning home, was variously stationed in England. In 1819 the regiment was sent on foreign service to the West Indies, where it was successively stationed in Barbadoes, Tobago, Demerara, St Vincent, and Grenada. Whilst in Demerara a rebellion of the negroes occurred. The good conduct of the regiment in suppressing the revolt elicited the commendation of the King; the Duke of York, commander-in-chief; Sir Henry Ward, K.C.B., commanding in these islands; and the Court of Policy of the colony. These were accompanied by more substantial rewards. “The Court of Policy voted, as a special and permanent mark of the high estimation in which the inhabitants of the colony held the services of Lieut.-Colonel Leahy, the officers, and soldiers, ‘Five Hundred Guineas to be laid out in the purchase of Plate for the regimental mess,’ and Two Hundred Guineas for the purchase of a sword for Lieut.-Colonel Leahy; also Fifty Guineas for the purchase of a sword for Lieutenant Brady, who commanded a detachment at Mahaica, and whose cool, steady, and intrepid conduct, aided by the courage and discipline of his men, gave an early and effectual check to the progress of revolt in that quarter.” Returning home in 1828, the regiment was honoured in doing duty at Windsor Castle, the residence of royalty. In these times of comparative peace little of interest falls to be narrated. We find the regiment employed in various garrisons throughout the kingdom, until, in 1832 and 1833, it was sent out in charge of convicts to New South Wales, and stationed in the colonies of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. In 1839 it was removed to the East Indies, and was stationed successively at Chuiswiah, Calcutta, Dinapore, Kamptee, Agra, Cawnpore, and Calcutta, returning to England in 1848.
In 1854 Russian aggressions had so stirred the nations in defence of the right, that Turkey in her weakness found ready sympathisers. Foremost of these, France and England, side by side, had sent forth powerful armaments, which, landing upon the Crimean peninsula, created a helpful, and, as the long-expected result proved, a successful diversion in favour of the oppressed empire of the Sultan. Amongst the brave, composing the 26,800 British, that landed at Old Fort, were our gallant Fusiliers, the Twenty-first. In the Fourth Division, brigaded with the Twentieth, Fifty-seventh, and Sixty-eighth, they were present in reserve at the Alma, and in action at Inkermann. It is needless to repeat the details of the war, seeing especially we must take occasion so frequently to recur to incidents connected with it; besides, the general events must be still so fresh in the memories of most of our readers as to need no repetition here. Enough be it to say of the conduct of the Twenty-first Royal North British Fusiliers, that it displayed the same excellence as of old. Since the return of the regiment to the beloved shores of Old England, it has enjoyed the peace which its own gallantry had well contributed to achieve.
As the glory of the sun shining through a humid atmosphere is even more resplendent and more to be admired in the heaven-bespangled, many-coloured robe of the rainbow than when he appears in the full strength of noon-day, so valour—true, genuine valour, the valour of our gallant Twenty-first—is the more illustrious and meritorious that it is to be found emerging from amid many vicissitudes and adversities. It is usually the bravest of the brave that fall. Alas! that so many who gave fair promise to ornament and illustrate the British soldier as the hero, should have fallen—buds nipped by the frost of death. Let it be borne very encouragingly in mind, that adversity is the furnace wherein the gold of true valour is purified—is the schoolmaster which teaches how to win prosperity. The greatest glory which rests upon the departed genius of Sir John Moore, is that which pictures him in adversity in retreat—his lion spirit unsubdued, his towering abilities shining forth. And so, in closing our record, we would do justice, not merely to valour gilded by brilliant victories, but especially testify to true valour incarnated in the man—the hero ever struggling, not always winning, yet always worthy, the reward.