FOOTNOTES:

[6] "Our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to have snap-hance musquets, strapt, with bright barrels of three feet eight inches long, with good swords, cartouch-boxes, and bionetts."—King James IInd's orders for arming the Royal Fusiliers.

[7] "JAMES R.

"These are to authorise you, by beat of drum or otherwise, to raise volunteers to serve for soldiers in your own company in Our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which we have appointed to be raised, and whereof you are colonel; which company is to consist of one hundred private soldiers, three serjeants, three corporals, and two drummers. And as the said soldiers shall be respectively raised in the said company, they are to be produced to muster, to the intent that they may be received into our pay and entertainment; and when that number shall be fully or nearly completed, they are to march to the general rendezvous of their regiment, where they are also to be mustered. And you are to appoint such person or persons as you shall think fit to receive arms for the said soldiers, and halberts for the said serjeants, out of the stores of Our Ordnance. And we do hereby require all magistrates, justices of the peace, constables and others, Our officers, whom it may concern, at the places where you shall raise, march, or rendezvous our said company, to be assisting therein as there shall be occasion.

"Given at our Court at Whitehall the 20th day of June, 1685.

"By His Majesty's Command."

"William Blathwayte.

"To our trusty and well-beloved Councillor, George Lord Dartmouth, Colonel of our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and Captain of a Company in the said Regiment."

[8] "Windsor, 7th September, 1685.

"Sir,

"The King having ordered three companies of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to remain in garrison at Sheerness, instead of the three companies that were usually there, and the quarters being too strait, unless some of the officers be lodged in the Navy Dock, His Majesty thinks fit that you signify his pleasure to the officers of the dock that they afford quarters to such of the officers of those companies as need them. Being all I have in command.

"I remain, &c.

"William Blathwayte.

"To Mr. Pepys."

[9] Coxe's Life of Marlborough.

[10] Story's History of the Wars in Ireland.

[11] 12th September. "This day the ordinary detachments of the Earl of Bath's regiment and of the Fusiliers being at work at the bastion, part, in enlarging the ditch, found an old hidden treasure, which quickly stopped the soldiers' working, who fell all a scrambling in a heap, one upon another, some bringing off a very good booty, some gold, and some silver, several Jacobuses and Sovereigns being found by the soldiers, and a great many old pieces of silver of Henry II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IVth's coin, which are now hardly to be found in France. The people of the town supposed this money belonged to one Elfort, a gentleman who died many years ago, and who buried his treasure (when the Mareschal de Rantzau took the town) in the Bernardine Nuns' garden (the ground where the money was found having formerly been part of the garden), which Count de Monteroy caused to be demolished, and they think there might have been about 900 pound groat, which makes the value of 450 guineas English. This Elfort left it by will to his children with the marks where to find it; but his children could never discover it."—D'Auvergne.

[12] Major-General Tyron's despatch.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Earl Cornwallis's despatch.

[15] The following non-commissioned officers were rewarded with commissions at the recommendation of Prince Edward during the period His Royal Highness commanded the regiment in North America:—

1795 Serjeant Walter Beavan, Ensign in the Nova Scotia Fencibles.
1796 Serjeant-Major Joseph Parkes, Quarter-Master in the Royal Fusiliers.
—— Serjeant Christopher Taylor, Lieutenant in ditto.
—— Quarter-Master Serjeant John Opinslaw, Ensign in the Invalids.
—— Serjeant James Colledge, Ensign in St. John's Island Provincials.
1797 Serjeant James Turner, Ensign 31st Regiment.
—— Serjeant-Major Frederick Plansker, Ensign in the Fencibles.
1802 Serjeant-Major John Robertson, Ensign in the first, or the royal regiment.

[16] The following non-commissioned officers were rewarded with commissions:—

1804 Serjeant Francis Gilliman, Quarter-Master, Nova Scotia Fencibles.
1805 Serjeant-Major George Galbraith, Ensign and Adjutant, First Royal Foot.
—— Quarter-Master-Serjeant John Hogan, Quarter-Master, Seventh Royal Fusiliers.

[17] A General Order was issued to the army on the 18th January, 1810 (No. 182), by direction of the Commander-in-Chief, containing the substance of the following General Order, issued in North America, on this subject:—

"General Order. Quebec, 4th October, 1809.

"The Commander of the Forces has lately had occasion to see in a Halifax newspaper a copy of an address presented by the serjeants of the 1st battalion Royal Fusiliers to Captain Orr, on that officer relinquishing the Adjutancy in consequence of being promoted to a company. So novel a circumstance could not fail to draw the attention of His Excellency, it being the first of the kind that has come to his knowledge during the forty-six years that he has been in the service; and as the first instance has thus (so far as he is aware, at least) occurred on the part of the army with the charge of which the King has been pleased to intrust him, he feels himself called on by every obligation of duty to His Majesty and the service to bear his testimony against it by a public expression of disapprobation.

"His Excellency does not mean in this instance to ascribe any improper motive to the serjeants. He has no doubt that their sole view was to express their regard and gratitude towards an officer who, in the intimate connexion that had officially subsisted between them, had very commendably conducted himself with kindness to them without departing from that strictness of discipline which was indispensable to the discharge of his duty.

"But while His Excellency thus does justice to the intention of the serjeants of the Royal Fusiliers, he desires at the same time very seriously to observe to them, that in presuming to meet, in order to deliberate on the conduct of their superior officer, they have in fact, however unintentionally, been guilty of an act of great insubordination.

"It matters not that the design of the meeting, or in whatever manner the address was unanimously assented to, was solely to express their respect and esteem; the very circumstance implies discussion, and by that discussion they rendered themselves obnoxious to the imputation alluded to.—Who, indeed, shall say where such a practice, if once introduced, shall end? If the non-commissioned officers of a regiment are permitted to express their approbation of the conduct of the Adjutant, why may they not exercise the same right with respect to their commanding officer? Or what reason can be given why they should not be equally entitled to express their disapprobation? Indeed, should the practice become general, the merely withholding the former would imply the latter.

"General Sir James Craig is more desirous that his sentiments on this subject should be distinctly understood in the Fusiliers, because it appears on the face of the address of the serjeants in question that it has been countenanced by the officer who then commanded the regiment. The Commander of the Forces does no more than justice to the character and services of that officer when he admits that, feeling as he does the dangerous tendency of the practice which he is censuring, he also feels himself the more bound to oppose it, in the first instance, from the strength which it might otherwise derive from the sanction which he appears to have given to it.—Lieutenant-Colonel Pakenham will however believe that, though it was impossible the General should avoid this observation upon his error, yet his doing so can by no means detract from the esteem with which he has been taught to view his character as an officer, or the confidence which he should be disposed to place in his service.

(Signed) "EDWARD BAYNES,

"Adjutant-General to the

"British army serving in North America."

[18] British Troops engaged at the Battle of Albuhera on the 16th May, 1811.

Cavalry under Major-General the Honourable Sir William Lumley; 3rd Dragoon Guards, 4th Dragoons, and 13th Light Dragoons.

{{3rd Foot, 1st Battalion,
{Lieut.-Col.{31st ditto, 2nd ditto,
{Colborne,{48th ditto, 2nd ditto,
{{66th ditto, 2nd ditto,
Second{{60th, one Company 5th ditto.
Division.{
{{29th Foot,
Hon.{Major-Gen.{48th ditto, 1st Battalion,
Major-Gen.{Hoghton.{57th ditto, 1st ditto,
W. Stewart.{{60th, one Company 5th ditto.
{
{{28th Foot, 2nd Battalion,
{Hon. Lt.-Col.{34th ditto, 2nd ditto,
{Abercromby.{39th ditto, 2nd ditto,
{{60th, one Company 5th ditto.
{Brigadier{27th Foot, 3rd Battalion,
{General{40th ditto, 1st ditto,
Fourth{Kemmis.[19]{97th ditto, (or Queen's Own.)
Division.{{60th, one Company 5th ditto.
{
Hon. M.-Gen.{{7th Foot, 1st Battalion,
L. Cole.{Fusilier{7th ditto, 2nd Battalion,
{Brigade.{23rd ditto, 1st ditto,
{{Brunswick Oels, 1 Company.
Major-Gen. Baron Chas.{1st Light Battalion German Legion,
Alten.{2nd ditto, ditto.

The following description of the charge of the Fusilier Brigade at Albuhera is extracted from Colonel Napier's admirable history of the Peninsular War.

"The fourth division was composed of two brigades; the one of Portuguese, under General Harvey; the other, commanded by Sir William Myers, consisted of the seventh and twenty-third regiments, and was called the Fusilier Brigade. Harvey's Portuguese being immediately pushed in between Lumley's dragoons and the hill, were charged by some French cavalry, whom they beat off, and meanwhile General Cole led the Fusiliers up the contested height. At this time six guns were in the enemy's possession, the whole of Werle's reserves were coming forward to reinforce the front column of the French, the remnant of Hoghton's brigade could no longer maintain its ground, and the field was heaped with carcases, the lancers were riding furiously about the captured artillery on the upper parts of the hill, and behind all, Hamilton's Portuguese and Alten's Germans withdrawing from the bridge, seemed to be in full retreat. Cole's Fusiliers, flanked by a battalion of the Lusitanian legion under Colonel Hawkshawe, soon mounted the hill, drove off the lancers, recovered five of the captured guns and one colour, and appeared on the right of Hoghton's brigade exactly as Abercrombie passed it on the left.

"Such a gallant line issuing from the midst of the smoke, and rapidly separating itself from the broken multitude, startled the enemy's heavy masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as to an assured victory: they wavered, hesitated, and then vomiting forth a storm of fire, hastily endeavoured to enlarge their front, while a fearful discharge of grape from all their artillery whistled through the British ranks. Myers was killed; Cole, the three colonels—Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawkshawe—fell wounded; and the Fusilier battalions, struck by the iron tempest, reeled and staggered like sinking ships. But suddenly and sternly recovering, they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what a strength and majesty the British soldier fights! In vain did Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen; in vain did the hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns, sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open out on such a fair field; in vain did the mass itself bear up, and, fiercely striving, fire indiscriminately upon friends and foes, while the horsemen hovering on the flanks threatened to charge the advancing line. Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry! No sudden burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm, weakened the stability of their order; their flashing eyes were bent on the dark columns in their front; their measured tread shook the ground; their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation; their deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant cries that broke from all parts of the tumultuous crowd, as foot by foot, and with a horrid carnage, it was driven by the incessant vigour of the attack to the farthest edge of the hill. There the French reserve, mixing with the struggling multitude, endeavoured to sustain the fight; but the effort only increased the irremediable confusion, the mighty mass gave way, and like a loosened cliff, went headlong down the ascent. The rain flowed after in streams discoloured with blood, and fifteen hundred unwounded men, the remnant of six thousand unconquerable British soldiers, stood triumphant on the fatal hill!"

"The Fusiliers exceeded anything that the usual word 'Gallantry' can convey."—Colonel Sir Henry Hardinge.

"In this attack, and carrying the enemy's position, the Fusilier brigade lost 1000 out of 1500 men and 45 officers; among whom three were commanding officers;—and exhibited an example of steadiness and heroic gallantry which history, I believe, cannot surpass."—Major-General Sir G. Lowry Cole.

[19] Brigadier-General Kemmis's brigade, being on the north side of the Guadiana, was left in that position in order to secure the safe removal of the stores to the town of Elvas on the siege of Badajoz being raised, and was prevented, on that account, from joining the fourth division until the morning of the 17th of May.

[20] During the year 1811 the following non-commissioned officers were rewarded with commissions.

Serjeant-Major Timothy Meagher, Lieutenant Seventh Fusiliers.

Serjeant-Major William Johnson, Ensign Fifty-seventh Regiment.

Quarter-Master Serjeant Arthur Byrne, Ensign and Adjutant Twenty-seventh Regiment.

Serjeant William Gough, appointed Ensign, Second West India Regiment, on 14th November, 1811; promoted to a Lieutenantcy on 12th August, 1813; and died in September, 1817.

[21] This officer was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton, and was mortally wounded on the 19th March.

[22] In July, 1812, Serjeant William Harris of the Royal Fusiliers was rewarded with the commission of Ensign and Adjutant in the twenty-seventh regiment.

[23] Serjeant Joseph Wood was this year rewarded with a commission in the thirteenth veteran battalion formed at Lisbon.

[24] The following non-commissioned officers were this year rewarded with commissions:—

Serjeant John Henry, Ensign and Adjutant Ninety-first Regiment.
Quarter-Master Serjeant William Greenwood, Quarter-Master Seventh Regiment.
Serjeant John Day, Ensign Sixtieth Regiment.

[25] Major-General the Honourable Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, G.C.B., brother of the Earl of Longford, was appointed Captain in May, 1794, in the ninety-second regiment, a corps raised on the breaking out of the French Revolutionary War in 1793, and disbanded soon afterwards. In December, 1794, he was appointed major in the thirty-third light dragoons, and when this corps was disbanded, he obtained the majority of the twenty-third light dragoons, from which he was promoted, in 1799, to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the sixty-fourth foot: in May, 1804, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Fusiliers. He assumed the command of the first battalion of the Seventh at Weymouth in 1806, and by his amiable deportment and attention to the welfare of his corps, he soon won the affection and esteem of the officers and soldiers. He commanded the regiment in the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807, and at the capture of Martinique in 1809, when he gave presage of that noble ardour and contempt of danger which were afterwards most signally displayed under the great Duke of Wellington in Portugal and Spain. While in Nova Scotia, he established a book of merit in the Seventh; and when, on leaving the regiment to serve under Lord Wellington, the officers presented him with a valuable sword, he sent the following answer to their address.

"I received your letter, caused by my proposed departure, with warmth equal to its tenor, with satisfaction few men have had a right to experience.

"Friendship formed at ease, confirmed in danger, becomes too sacred to need professions.

"Your cordial zeal, however, anticipated my wishes towards the prosperity of the corps, which your generosity has too much attributed to my exertions. Let my actions speak a continuance of attachment.

"Your gift, and desire of recollection hereafter, to me will serve as professional impellants.

"In leaving the Fusiliers, I separate from the best comrades, from the chief source of my soldier's pride; yet it is for the object of duty:—here draw the line.

"Do you, by usual energy, continue ripe for service; it is for me to improve to become the more honourable to lead you."

From this period (1809) he served at nearly every action fought by the British troops in the Peninsula; and was rewarded with honorary distinctions for the battles of Busaco and Fuentes d'Onor. In October, 1811, he was promoted to the local rank of major-general in Spain and Portugal, and in 1812 to the rank of major-general in the army.

At the battle of Salamanca he commanded the third division, and acquired additional honour by the spirited manner in which he assailed the enemy's left, overthrowing all opposition, and was rewarded with another honorary distinction. In May, 1813, he was appointed colonel of the Sixth West India regiment, and he was employed as Adjutant-General to the army commanded by the Marquis of Wellington until the colossal power of Napoleon was destroyed, and the Bourbon dynasty restored to the throne of France. After the peace of 1814 he was honoured with the dignity of knight grand cross of the order of the bath. He was subsequently appointed to the command of the expedition against New Orleans, where he encountered the most extraordinary difficulties. At the storming of the enemy's works, when he saw the prowess of his troops unable to overcome the obstructions, he rode forward to encourage them by his presence, and fell a victim to his bravery. He lived an ornament to his profession, admired, beloved, and esteemed by all who knew him, and died regretted in the thirty-sixth year of his age.

[26] From 1825 to 1832.