CHAPTER XIX.
“Then our sodgers were drest in their kilts and short hose,
Wi’ their bonnets and belts which their dress did compose,
And a bag of oatmeal on their backs to make brose.
O! the kail brose o’ auld Scotland,
And O the Scottish kail brose.”
1780–1862—CAPE OF GOOD HOPE—INDIA—MANGALORE—SERINGAPATAM—NEW SOUTH WALES—GERMANY—WATERLOO—CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
The immense and increasing territory which circumstances had placed under British protection, and in the end consigned to our possession in India, occasioned a considerable increase of our army in order to maintain these new gotten provinces against the incursions of neighbouring and powerful tribes. Thus, in 1780, a second battalion was raised for the Forty-second Royal Highlanders, which was ultimately constituted independently the Seventy-third regiment. The battalion was embodied at Perth, under Lord John Murray as Colonel, and Macleod, of Macleod, as Lieut.-Colonel. Amongst its early officers, Lieutenant Oswald was distinguished as the subject of a strange speculation which at this time so tickled the brilliant imaginings of our “literati,” as to call forth from the pen of a learned doctor an elaborate disquisition, intended to prove that Napoleon the Great was none else than Lieutenant Oswald, who, imbibing republican ideas, had passed over to France, and by a chain of circumstances been elevated from the command of a republican regiment to be the great captain and ruler of France. Such marvellous transformations were by no means uncommon in the then disordered state of French society. Virtue as well as vice was ofttimes the idol for a time, to be exalted and adored. But the life and adventures of Lieutenant Oswald, however notorious, did not attain such a grand ideal. With his two sons, he fell fighting at the head of his regiment in La Vendee in 1793.
Scarce had the battalion been completed ere it was shipped for foreign service. Intended to prosecute an attack upon the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, the aim of the expedition was frustrated by the promptitude of Admiral Sufferin, who commanded the French fleet, and arriving first at the colony, prevented a landing being successfully effected. The expedition thus interrupted sailed for India, in the passage making a valuable capture of richly laden Dutch Indiamen. In the division of the spoil arising, after much disputing, the soldiers shared. One hundred and twenty officers and men of the regiment fell a prey to the scurvy and fever on the voyage, which, from the ignorance and incapacity of the commanders of the transports, was protracted to twelve months. The “Myrtle,” without maps or charts, separated from the fleet in a tempest, was only saved by the cool resolution of Captain Dalyell, who, amid many perils, succeeded in navigating the vessel to St Helena, and so rescuing many valuable lives who otherwise would probably have been lost. Arrived at Madras, the battalion was immediately advanced into the interior, where the critical position of British affairs, assailed by the numerous black legions of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo Saib, aided by a French force under General Lally, rendered the presence of every bayonet of importance. The utmost efforts of Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston could only muster a British force of 2500 men, of whom 2200 were Sepoys. Nevertheless, with these he advanced to check the progress of the enemy, who had an army of 10,000 cavalry and 14,000 infantry. Notwithstanding this immense superiority in numbers on the part of the enemy, nothing could daunt our troops; bravely they held their own, defying the most desperate attempts of the foe to drive them back. The general order thus records the action that ensued: “This little army, attacked on ground not nearly fortified, by very superior numbers, skilfully disposed and regularly led on; they had nothing to depend on but their native valour, their discipline, and the conduct of the officers. These were nobly exerted, and the event has been answerable. The intrepidity with which Major Campbell and the Highlanders repeatedly charged the enemy was most honourable to their character.”
More effectually to strike at the power of the Sultan by cutting him off from the source whence he had hitherto drawn his supplies, a considerable force was ordered to assemble in the Bombay Presidency, and, under Brigadier-General Matthews, assail Beddinore. To join this army the battalion was embarked and sailed for Bombay, whence, advancing into the country, it effected a junction with the army near Cundapore. The Highlanders were particularly distinguished in the attack and capture of a series of forts which impeded the march, and especially so in the taking of a strong fortress which lay in the way, named, because of its strength, Hyder Gurr. The enemy was so impressed by the spirit evinced in these assaults, that, dreading a further attack, they evacuated Beddinore without an attempt to defend it, which was immediately occupied by the British in January, 1783. This battalion was not of the army which soon after was surrendered to the enemy by General Matthews, who foolishly deemed himself too weak to withstand the imposing force which had surrounded him in Beddinore.
The conduct of Major Campbell, who commanded this battalion in the defence of Mangalore, stands forth in brilliant contrast to the errors which led General Matthews to surrender an equally brave army into the cruel hands of the Mysore tyrant. With 250 Highlanders and 1500 Sepoys, Major Campbell, although assailed by an army of 100,000 men, aided by a powerful artillery, defended Mangalore for nine months. Throughout the siege the defenders behaved with the most heroic constancy and gallantry, although experiencing the pinchings of famine, and exposed to the most cruel disappointments. Even the Sepoys, emulating the Highlanders, so distinguished themselves, that, in compliment to their bravery, our countrymen dubbed one of their regiments their own third battalion. Truly it was a new and strange thing to have within the Royal Highland Regiment a cohort of “brave blacks;” yet it displays a generous sentiment which reflects honour upon the regiment. Three times did a British squadron enter the bay, having on board stores and reinforcements, yet as often did this needed and expected aid retire without helping these perishing, exhausted brave—out of respect to the armistice of a faithless foe, which for a time existed and apparently terminated the siege. Their perfidy in one instance, scorning the sacredness of treaties, exploded a mine, which blew into the air the flag of truce then waving from the British ramparts. Reduced to the last extremities, shut up to a dark despair, indignant for the seeming neglect of friends, and dreading the relentless wrath of the enemy, the brave garrison accepted the only hope of life which yet remained, by surrender; and, be it said to the honour of the Indian character—with the generosity which becomes the conquering soldier in the presence of a brave yet vanquished foe—the terms imposed were such as enabled the exhausted remnant of the garrison to retire with all the honours of war. Scarce 500 effective men could be mustered to march out of the fortress, and these so feeble as to be hardly able to bear the weight of their muskets. Colonel Fullarton, in his interesting volume upon British India, thus writes: “Colonel Campbell has made a defence which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed.” The memorial of this service is still borne alone upon the colours and appointments of the Seventy-third. So redundant with honour had been the services of this second battalion of the Forty-second Royal Highlanders, that when the army, in 1786, was being reduced, by the disbanding of second battalions, the representations of the officers of the regiment were so favourably received by the Government, that this battalion was retained as an independent corps, under the command of Sir George Osborn, Bart., thereafter known as the Seventy-third Regiment. In the division of Major-General Robert Abercromby, the regiment joined the army of Lord Cornwallis, which, in 1792, advanced upon Seringapatam; the attack was only arrested by the proposals of a treaty of peace. In the brigade of Lieutenant-Colonel David Baird, the Seventy-third was engaged in the reduction of the French colony of Pondicherry, and, in 1795, in the army of Major-General James Stuart, assailed and occupied the valuable island of Ceylon. At length the arm of vengeance—vengeance for the murdered brave who had fallen victims to the cruelty of Hyder Ali in the pestilential dungeons of Seringapatam—so often threatened, yet always averted, descended to consume the guilty city and destroy its merciless ruler. Seringapatam fell before the arms of our troops, including the Seventy-third Regiment, in 1799. The history of the regiment at this period is associated with the early achievements of the “Great Duke,” then the Honourable Colonel Arthur Wellesley.
ASSAULT ON THE
ENTRENCHED CAMP
OF
SERINGAPATAM
on the night of the 6th of Febr.
1792
Returning home in 1805, the regiment proceeded to Scotland to recruit, and in 1809, despoiled of its Highland character, laid aside “the garb of old Gaul” and the designation it had hitherto enjoyed. Increased by the addition of a second battalion, the first battalion was sent to New South Wales; whilst the second, remaining at home, was, in 1813, employed as the solitary representative of the British army in the north of Germany.
The Annual Register gives the following account of the battle of Gorde, where it fought with honour:—“After landing at Stralsund, and assisting in completing the works of that town, Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, with the Seventy-third, was detached into the interior of the country, to feel for the enemy, and also to get into communication with Lieutenant-General Count Wallmoden, which dangerous service he successfully effected, though he had with great care and caution to creep with his small force between the large corps d’armée of Davoust and other French Generals at that time stationed in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Hanover. Having joined Count Wallmoden, the Seventy-third contributed greatly to the victory that General gained over the French on the plains of Gorde, in Hanover, where Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, at the head of his battalion, declining any aid, and at the moment when the German hussars had been routed, charged up a steep hill, took a battery of French artillery, and unfurling the British colours, at once spread terror amongst that gallant enemy which feared no others; a panic struck them, and they fled.”
This battalion was also hotly engaged at the desperate conflict of Quatre Bras, and the decisive victory of Waterloo, in 1815. In the Kaffir Wars, which desolated South Africa from 1846–47, and 1850–53, the Seventy-third bore an important part. It was also present in India during the recent Sepoy Mutiny. Having abandoned its national character since 1809, it does not fall within the scope of this work further to follow the narrative of those achievements that have never failed worthily to sustain the excellence which—whilst our own—belonged to it. We are sure that, whoever they be that now represent the Seventy-third, the perusal of this imperfect sketch will not make them ashamed of its Highland origin, but rather incite them to emulate those brave deeds, the glory of which they are privileged to inherit.