CHAPTER XLI.
The foe weel kenn’d the tartan front,
Which never shunn’d the battle’s brunt—
The chieftain of our Highland men,
That led them on to vict’ry then,
As aye he cried, “For Scotland.”
THE GORDON—CORSICA—HOLLAND—EGYPT—COPENHAGEN—SWEDEN—CORUNNA—1794–1809.
The Duke of Gordon, rather as the proprietor of a vast domain than the chief of a clan, enjoyed an almost kingly power in the Highlands. Amongst his tenants were the Camerons of Lochiel and the Macphersons of Clunie, whilst his few immediate retainers were chiefly horsemen—almost the only cavalry known in Highland warfare. The Gordons have ever been distinguished for devotion to their king and country. The friends of the Bruce, they were ranged on the side of liberty at Bannockburn. Adherents of the Stuarts, we cannot but regret the mistaken zeal which so nigh involved in a like ruin so estimable a family. Happily, a better knowledge of the failings of the dethroned dynasty showed the worthlessness of the object of their attachment, and so estranged them from their cause, that, in 1745, the representative of the Gordons was found combating on the side of the Government, whilst the clans upon their estates followed Lochiel and other chieftains, and fought on behalf of Prince Charles.
DUKE OF RICHMOND.
THE NINETY-SECOND, OR “GORDON HIGHLANDERS.”
Fortunately, Government succeeded in enlisting the loyal services of this powerful family; and by its influence regiments of Highlanders were successively raised in 1759, 1779, and 1793 (fencible), all of which have long ago been disbanded, or, more properly, are now merged and represented in the subject of our present sketch, the Ninety-second, raised in 1794. The efforts of the Marquis of Huntly, a captain in the Scots Fusilier Guards, helped by the Duchess of Gordon, were most active and successful in the business of recruiting. The Marquis was rewarded with the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the regiment, embodied at Aberdeen in June, 1794, and originally numbered the 100th Regiment, afterwards the Ninety-second.
In September the regiment was embarked for Gibraltar, where it remained in garrison, completing its drill, until the following year, when it was removed to Corsica. With a detachment, in occupation of the island of Elba, it remained in Corsica so long as the natives were content with the British rule. When the rising fame of their great countryman, Napoleon, excited their admiration, and they desired to be merged in the glory of his “empire,” our Government, convinced of the inutility of maintaining an expensive garrison in the island, and ever opposed to repressive measures antagonistic to the feelings of the people, wisely resolved to leave them to experience the bitterness of imperial tyranny. Accordingly, the Ninety-second was withdrawn to Gibraltar in 1796.
In 1798 the regiment returned to England, and thence proceeded to Ireland, where it was employed in suppressing the miserable attempts at rebellion got up by the disaffected, and encouraged by France. Although not actively engaged in the field, its good conduct in garrison was very commendable, occurring at a time when the disorders of the country presented many and powerful temptations. Fortunately, the corps was soon released from the painful duty of appearing in arms against those who should otherwise have been as brothers.
Under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the expedition of 1799 which proceeded against the French in Holland, the Ninety-second was included in the brigade of Major-General (afterwards Sir John) Moore, and associated with the First Royal Scots (second battalion), the Twenty-fifth King’s Own Borderers, the Forty-ninth Foot, and the Seventy-ninth Cameron Highlanders. Landed at Helder, it was engaged in the actions fought around the villages of Crabbendam and Schagen, and commended for its “noble and steady conduct.” At the battle of “Egmont-op-Zee,” whilst escorting twenty pieces of artillery to the front, the Ninety-second was fiercely assailed by a column of 6000 French. Undaunted, the Highlanders stood the dreadful shock, when bayonet met bayonet, and hundreds, locked in the fatal embrace, fell the sacrifice of their own valour. Thus a horrid rampart of dead and dying humanity lay between the combatants. The carnage was terrible. The Ninety-second alone had to lament a loss of nearly 300, and amongst these its brave colonel, the Marquis of Huntly, and Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine, both wounded. It was the charge of the Ninety-second which began the action, their steady, persevering gallantry which sustained it, and their unsurpassed valour which completed the victory. Major-General Moore, wounded in the conflict, was carried off the field by two soldiers of the Ninety-second. “We can do no more than take him to the doctor,” said they; “we must join the lads, for every man is wanted.” Grateful for this service, Major-General Moore offered to reward the soldiers who thus probably saved his life, but no claimant appeared; either the superstition of the Highlander, dreading the curse which the acceptance of such “blood money” was supposed to entail, or his native pride, would not allow the acceptance of the gift, or else, what is more likely, the men, by a glorious death, were now beyond the rewards of this world. Thus disappointed, Major-General Moore found another means of commemorating this act of generous devotion, in selecting a soldier of the Ninety-second as one of the supporters of his armorial bearings. By the convention of Alkmaar, the army abandoned Holland to the French; and therewith the Gordon Highlanders returning to England, were stationed at Chelmsford.
In 1800 the regiment was engaged in a fruitless enterprise intended to aid the Royalists of France by a descent upon the coast of that country. The remainder of the year was spent unaccountably wandering up and down amongst the garrisons of the Mediterranean—Gibraltar, Minorca, and Malta.
In the spring of 1801 a definite purpose was assigned to the regiment, as part of the expedition assembled in Marmorice Bay, destined, under Sir Ralph Abercromby, to deliver Egypt from the usurped dominion of France. Accomplishing a successful landing despite the assaults of a powerful enemy, whose artillery from the heights above swept the bay of Aboukir, the Ninety-second, placed in brigade with the First Royal Scots and the two battalions of the Fifty-fourth Foot, advanced with the army towards Alexandria. On the 13th of March the French were encountered at Mandora, where, forming the advanced guard of the left column, the Gordon Highlanders shared the glory of the action with the Ninetieth Perthshire Volunteers. “Opposed to a tremendous fire, and suffering severely from the French line, they never receded a foot, but maintained the contest alone, until the marines and the rest of the line came to their support.”
The Gordon Highlanders were honoured in being selected to furnish a guard for the head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief. Sadly reduced by the inroads of sickness and the sword, the regiment had been ordered to Aboukir, but the battle of Alexandria occurring ere it had scarce begun the march, arrested and recalled it to its place in line. The campaign was closed by the surrender of Alexandria and the submission of 24,000 veteran troops, who, under General Menou, yet remained to France of the “Army of Egypt.”
On the 15th of October, the Gordon Highlanders, embarking from Alexandria, returned home, calling on the passage at Malta, and finally arriving at Cork in 1802. The corps remained in the United Kingdom for the five following years, peacefully garrisoning various towns, during which period it was increased by the addition of a second battalion, raised in 1803, but disbanded in 1813.
In 1807 the first battalion was included with the Forty-third, Fifty-second, and Ninety-fifth regiments, in the reserve brigade of the British army of Lord Cathcart, which, invading Denmark a second time, occasioned the capitulation of Copenhagen, and arrested the Danish fleet. Returning from this almost bloodless victory, a body of 600 men of the battalion was shipwrecked in the “Neptunis,” but rescued after enduring many and sore privations.
During the following year the Ninety-second was employed, under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, in a vain expedition to Sweden. Our aid being rejected, the army returned home.
It afterwards proceeded to the Peninsula, where it arrived in time to learn that the Convention of Cintra had delivered Portugal for the present from the thraldom of Marshal Junot, the Emperor’s Lieutenant. Placed in the division of Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, the Gordon Highlanders advanced therewith into Spain, where a junction was formed with the army of Sir John Moore. It endured with firmness all the hardships of a disastrous yet successful retreat, crowning its perseverance by its gallantry at the battle of Corunna, where it was called to regret the loss of a gallant officer, Lieut.-Colonel Napier, and, further, to mourn over the fall of the hero of the campaign, Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, who terminated a life of honour and a career of glory on that memorable battle-field.
This victory secured the unmolested embarkation of the army, which accordingly sailed for England.