PLATES.
| Page. | ||
| Colours of the regiment | to face | [1] |
| The two sons of Tippoo Saib delivered as hostages to General the Earl Cornwallis | [50] | |
| Costume of the regiment | [124] |
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF THE
SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENT,
HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.
During the last century several corps, at successive periods, have been borne on the establishment of the army, and numbered the SEVENTY-FIRST; the following details are therefore prefixed to the historical record of the services of the regiment which now bears that number, in order to prevent its being connected with those corps which have been designated by the same numerical title, but whose services have been totally distinct.
1. In the spring of 1758 the second battalions of fifteen regiments of infantry, from the 3d to the 37th, were directed to be formed into distinct regiments, and to be numbered from the 61st to the 75th successively, as follows:—
Second Battalions.
| 3d | foot | constituted the | 61st | regiment. |
| 4th | ” | ” | 62d | ” |
| 8th | ” | ” | 63d | ” |
| 11th | ” | ” | 64th | ” |
| 12th | ” | ” | 65th | ” |
| 19th | ” | ” | 66th | ” |
| 20th | ” | ” | 67th | ” |
| 23d | ” | ” | 68th | ” |
| 24th | ” | ” | 69th | ” |
| 31st | ” | ” | 70th | ” |
| 32d | ” | ” | 71st | ” |
| 33d | ” | ” | 72d | ” |
| 34th | ” | ” | 73d | ” |
| 36th | ” | ” | 74th | ” |
| 37th | ” | ” | 75th | ” |
The 71st, 72d, 73d, 74th, and 75th regiments, thus formed, were disbanded in 1763, after the peace of Fontainebleau.
2. Several other corps were likewise disbanded in 1763, which occasioned a change in the numerical titles of the following regiments of Invalids, viz.:—
| The 81st regt | (Invalids) | was | numbered the | 71st. |
| 82d | ” | ” | ” | 72d. |
| 116th | ” | ” | ” | 73d. |
| 117th | ” | ” | ” | 74th. |
| 118th | ” | ” | ” | 75th. |
The 71st, 72d, 73d, 74th, and 75th regiments, thus numbered, were formed into independent companies of Invalids in the year 1769, which increased the number of Invalid companies from eight to twenty; they were appropriated to the following Garrisons, namely, four companies at Guernsey, four at Jersey, three at Hull, two at Chester, two at Tilbury Fort, two at Sheerness, one at Landguard Fort, one at Pendennis, and one in the Scilly Islands.
3. These numerical titles became thus extinct until October 1775, when another SEVENTY-FIRST regiment was raised for service in America by Major-General the Honorable Simon Fraser, which consisted of two battalions, and which performed eminent service during the war with the colonists. In December 1777, further augmentations were made to the army, and the regiments, which were directed to be raised, were numbered from the seventy-second to the eighty-third regiment.
The army was subsequently increased to one hundred and five regular regiments of infantry, exclusive of eleven unnumbered regiments, and thirty-six independent companies of Invalids.
The conclusion of the general peace in 1783 occasioned the disbandment of several regiments, commencing with the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment; the second battalion of which was disbanded on the 5th April 1783, and the first battalion on the 4th June 1784.
4. In 1786 the numerical titles of certain regiments, retained on the reduced establishment of the army, were changed, viz.:—
The seventy-third, which had been authorised to be raised by John Lord Macleod in 1777, was directed to be numbered the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment.
The seventy-eighth, which had been authorised to be raised by the Earl of Seaforth in 1777, was directed to be numbered the SEVENTY-SECOND regiment.
The second battalion of the forty-second, which had been authorised to be raised in 1779, was directed to be constituted the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment.
These corps were denominated Highland regiments, and have since continued to form part of the regular army.
The details of the services of the present SEVENTY-FIRST regiment are contained in the following pages; the histories of the seventy-second and seventy-third regiments are given in distinct numbers.
SEVENTY FIRST REGIMENT.
QUEEN’S COLOUR.
REGIMENTAL COLOUR.
FOR CANNON’S MILITARY RECORDS.
Madeley lith. 3 Wellington St. Strand
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF THE
SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENT,
HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY;
ORIGINALLY NUMBERED
THE SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
1777.
The war between Great Britain and her American Colonies had, towards the end of the year 1777, assumed an aspect which was beheld with great interest by the European powers. France, although abstaining at this period from entering into the contest, privately encouraged the colonists, and several French officers proceeded to join the American standard. The influence of the British ministry then became employed in encouraging voluntary efforts for the raising of troops. Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, at their own expense, each raised a regiment of a thousand men, and several independent companies were levied in Wales. The livery of London and corporation of Bristol did not follow this example, but the monied interest in the metropolis showed its attachment to the administration by opening a subscription for procuring soldiers.
Fifteen thousand men were by these patriotic efforts raised and presented to the state; of this number upwards of two thirds were obtained from Scotland, and principally from the Highland clans.[6] The hardy mountaineers of North Britain had been long celebrated for their military prowess, and the annals of warfare of subsequent years have added to their former renown, by affording them opportunities for sustaining their character for intrepidity and valour.
The present Seventy-first, Highland Light Infantry, was one of the regiments which owes its origin to the foregoing circumstances, and was raised under the following royal warrant, dated 19th December 1777, addressed to John Mackenzie, Esquire, commonly called John Lord Macleod, who was appointed its colonel.
“George R.
“Whereas we have thought fit to order a Highland regiment of foot to be forthwith raised under your command, to consist of ten companies, of five serjeants, five corporals, two drummers, and one hundred private men in each, with two pipers to the grenadier company, besides commissioned officers, these are to authorise you, by beat of drum or otherwise, to raise so many men in any county or part of our kingdom of Great Britain as shall be wanting to complete the said regiment to the above-mentioned numbers; and all magistrates, justices of the peace, constables, and other our civil officers, whom it may concern, are hereby required to be assisting unto you, in providing quarters, impressing carriages, and otherwise, as there shall be occasion.
“Given at our Court at St. James’s, this 19th of December 1777, in the eighteenth year of our reign.
“By His Majesty’s command,
“Barrington.”
“To our trusty and well-beloved John Mackenzie, Esq., (commonly called John Lord Macleod), Colonel of a Highland Regiment of Foot to be forthwith raised, or to the Officer appointed by him to raise Men for our said Regiment.”
1778.
In February 1778 the Court of France concluded a treaty of defensive alliance with the American colonies, and Great Britain became involved in a war with France.
Lord Macleod’s efforts in raising the regiment were so successful that in April 1778 it was embodied at Elgin, under the denomination of “Macleod’s Highlanders,” and was numbered the “Seventy-third Regiment.”
In May the regiment, eleven hundred strong, embarked at Fort George, under the command of Colonel Lord Macleod, and proceeded to Guernsey and Jersey, in which islands it was stationed for six months. The regiment was subsequently removed to Portsmouth, and was cantoned during the remainder of the year in the neighbouring villages.
On the 24th of September, 1778, Colonel Lord Macleod received orders to raise a second battalion to the regiment. Each battalion was to consist of fifty serjeants, fifty corporals, twenty drummers and fifers, two pipers, and a thousand privates.
At this period the following officers had been appointed to the Seventy-third Highland Regiment.
First Battalion.
| Colonel, John Lord Macleod. | |
| Lieut.-Colonel, Duncan M‘Pherson. | |
| Majors. | |
| John Elphinston. | James Mackenzie. |
| Captains. | |
| George Mackenzie. | Hugh Lamont. |
| Alexander Gilchrist. | Hon. James Lindsay. |
| John Shaw. | David Baird. |
| Charles Dalrymple. | |
| Captain Lieutenant and Captain, David Campbell. | |
| Lieutenants. | |
| A. Geddes Mackenzie. | Simon Mackenzie. |
| Hon. John Lindsay. | Philip Melvill. |
| Abraham Mackenzie, Adjt. | John Mackenzie. |
| Alexander Mackenzie. | John Borthwick. |
| James Robertson. | William Gunn. |
| John Hamilton. | William Charles Gorrie. |
| John Hamilton. | Hugh Sibbald. |
| Lewis Urquhart. | David Rainnie. |
| George Ogilvie. | Charles Munro. |
| Innes Munro. | |
| Ensigns. | |
| James Duncan. | George Sutherland. |
| Simon Mackenzie. | James Thrail. |
| Alexander Mackenzie. | Hugh Dalrymple. |
| John Sinclair. | |
| Chaplain, Colin Mackenzie. | |
| Adjutant, Abraham Mackenzie. | |
| Quartermaster, John Lytrott. | |
| Surgeon, Alexander MacDougall. | |
Second Battalion.
1779.
1st bat.
In January 1779 the first battalion of the regiment, commanded by Colonel Lord John Macleod, embarked for the East Indies.
2d bat.
The second battalion, one thousand strong, embarked at Fort George in Scotland, in March 1779, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie (brother of Lord Macleod), and proceeded to Portsmouth, from thence it went on in transports to Plymouth, where the battalion landed, and was encamped upon Maker Heights until the 27th of November following.
The Court of Versailles had now engaged that of Madrid to take a part in the contest, and on the 16th of June 1779 the Spanish ambassador had presented a manifesto at St. James’s, equivalent to a declaration of war, and immediately departed from London. During the summer the siege of Gibraltar was commenced by the Spaniards, the reduction of that important fortress being one of the principal objects of Spain in becoming a party to the war.
1st bat.
The vessels conveying the first battalion formed part of a fleet escorted by Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, which on the passage touched at Goree, upon the coast of Africa. Goree being evacuated by the French for the purpose of fortifying Senegal, which had been captured by them early in the year, was occupied by a British force, left for that purpose by Sir Edward Hughes.
After quitting Goree, the fleet proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, at that time in possession of the Dutch, and there landed the sick. The fleet was detained for three months in Table Bay, for the purpose of refreshment and recovery of the sick, after which it sailed for India.
1780.
2d bat.
After the breaking up of the camp on Maker Heights, the second battalion embarked for Gibraltar in transports, under convoy of Admiral Sir George Rodney. When in the Bay of Biscay, the British encountered, on the 8th of January 1780, a valuable Spanish convoy belonging to the Caracca company, consisting of fifteen merchantmen, with a ship of sixty-four guns, and two frigates, the whole of which were captured. Sir George Rodney being compelled to employ many of the crews of the ships of war in manning the prizes, called upon Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie for the services of the second battalion of the regiment as Marines. In a few days after the men were distributed for this purpose, the fleet defeated, on the 16th of January, off Cape St. Vincent, a squadron of eleven sail of the line, commanded by Admiral Don Juan de Langara. One Spanish ship of seventy guns blew up in the beginning of the action. The Spanish admiral’s ship of eighty guns, and three of seventy, were taken; one of seventy guns ran on shore, and another was lost on the breakers.
Nothing further transpired during the remainder of the voyage, and on the 18th of January 1780 the second battalion disembarked at Gibraltar, then closely blockaded by the Spaniards, who had despatched Don Juan de Langara to intercept the British admiral.
1st bat.
The first battalion had, in the meantime, continued on its voyage to India, and on the 20th of January 1780 anchored in Madras Roads, being twelve months from the time of leaving England. The battalion landed immediately at Fort St. George, and after remaining there about a month was removed to Poonamallee.
The intricate politics of India gave rise to a war in that country. Hyder Ali, the son of a petty chief in the Mysore, had risen to the chief command of the army of that state, and when the rajah died, leaving his eldest son a minor, Hyder assumed the guardianship of the youthful prince, whom he placed under restraint, and seized on the reins of government. Having a considerable territory under his control, he maintained a formidable military establishment, which he endeavoured to bring into a high state of discipline and efficiency. Hyder, now Sultan of Mysore, formed a league with the French, and entered into a confederacy with the Nizam of the Deccan, the Mahrattas, and other of the native powers, for the purpose of expelling the British from India.
In July 1780, Hyder Ali, having passed the Ghauts (as the passes in the mountains on both sides of the Indian peninsula are termed), burst like a torrent into the Carnatic, while his son, Tippoo Saib, advanced with a large body of cavalry against the northern Circars, and the villages in the vicinity of Madras were attacked by parties of the enemy’s horse.
These events occasioned the first battalion of the regiment to be ordered to proceed to join the army which was being assembled at St. Thomas’s Mount, under the command of Major-General Sir Hector Munro, K.B., consisting entirely of the troops of the Honorable East India Company, with the exception of the Seventy-third, then about 800 strong.
Sir Hector Munro’s army amounted to upwards of 4,000 men, and was thus composed:—
| { Infantry | 1,000 | |
| European | { Artillery | 300 |
| { Dragoons | 30 | |
| Native | { Infantry | 3,250 |
| { Dragoons | 30 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 4,610 | |
| ===== |
With the army were also thirty field-pieces and howitzers, together with four battering twenty-four pounders.
The Anglo-Indian army marched to Conjeveram, sixty miles westward of Madras, where it was to be joined by a detachment from the northward, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie.
At this period the Sultan of Mysore was engaged in besieging Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, which was invested by the enemy on the 21st of August. The movement of Sir Hector Munro’s force caused Hyder Ali to raise the siege; he then detached his son, Tippoo Saib, with a large body of horse and foot, amounting to 24,000 men and twelve guns, to intercept Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, whose junction with the main army had been ordered.
In this manœuvre Tippoo Saib succeeded, and Major-General Sir Hector Munro was compelled to detach Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher with a thousand men to reinforce Lieut.-Colonel Baillie. The flank companies of the first battalion of the Seventy-third formed part of this detachment; the grenadier company was commanded by Lieutenant the Honorable John Lindsay, and the light company by Captain, afterwards General the Right Hon. Sir David Baird, Bart. and G.C.B.[7]
On the 6th of September, Lieut.-Colonel Baillie was attacked at Perambaukum by the division under Tippoo Saib, and on the 9th of that month was joined by the detachment under Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher. On the following day they were attacked by Hyder’s whole army, and the officers and men of this ill-fated detachment were either killed, taken, or dispersed.
The following graphic description of this unequal contest with Hyder’s whole army, the division under Tippoo Saib acting in concert, is given by Captain Innes Munro, of the Seventy-third, who published a “Narrative of the Military Operations on the Coromandel Coast from 1780 to 1784:”—
“Lieut.-Colonel Baillie could but make a feeble resistance against so superior a force; but his little band yet gallantly supported a very unequal fire, until their whole ammunition had either been blown up or expended, which of course silenced the British artillery. Hyder’s guns upon this drew nearer and nearer at every discharge, while each shot was attended with certain and deadly effect. Lieut.-Colonel Baillie’s detachment, seeing their artillery silenced and remaining inactive while exposed to certain destruction, very naturally became dismayed; which the enemy no sooner perceived than they made a movement for a general charge and advanced on all quarters to a close attack. At this dangerous and trying juncture, sufficient to damp the spirits of the most intrepid, all the camp-followers rushed in confusion through the ranks of every battalion, and in an instant threw the whole into disorder. The black troops, finding themselves in this calamitous situation, relinquished every hope of success; and, notwithstanding the extraordinary exertions of their European officers, were no more to be rallied. But such of the Europeans as had fallen into disorder by this irregularity, quickly united again in compact order, headed by their gallant commander, who was at this time much wounded; and, being joined by all the Sepoy officers, planted themselves upon a rising bank of sand in their vicinity, where they valiantly resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity.
“History cannot produce an instance, for fortitude, cool intrepidity, and desperate resolution, to equal the exploits of this heroic band. In numbers, now reduced to five hundred, they were opposed by no less than one hundred thousand enraged barbarians, who seldom grant quarter. The mind, in the contemplation of such a scene, and such a situation as theirs was, is filled at once with admiration, with astonishment, with horror, and with awe. To behold formidable and impenetrable bodies of horse, of infantry, and of artillery, advancing from all quarters, flashing savage fury, levelling the numberless instruments of slaughter, and darting destruction around, was a scene to appal even something more than the strongest human resolution; but it was beheld by this little band with the most undaunted and immovable firmness. Distinct bodies of horse came on successively to the charge, with strong parties of infantry placed in the intervals, whose fire was discharged in showers; but the deliberate and well-leveled platoons of the British musketry had such a powerful effect as to repulse several different attacks. Like the swelling waves of the ocean, however, when agitated by a storm, fresh columns incessantly poured in upon them with redoubled fury, which at length brought so many to the ground, and weakened their fire so considerably, that they were unable longer to withstand the dreadful and tremendous shock; and the field soon presented a picture of the most inhuman cruelties and unexampled carnage.
“The last and awful struggle was marked by the clashing of arms and shields, the snorting and kicking of horses, the snapping of spears, the glistening of bloody swords, oaths and imprecations; concluding with the groans and cries of bruised and mutilated men, wounded horses tumbling to the ground upon expiring soldiers, and the hideous roaring of elephants, stalking to and fro, and wielding their dreadful chains alike amongst friends and foes.
“Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher and twenty-nine European officers, with one hundred and fifty-five European rank and file, were killed; Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, with thirty-four officers, and almost all the European privates, were miserably wounded; sixteen officers and privates, from a Divine protection, and the generous clemency of the French hussars, remained unhurt, who, with the rest, were all made prisoners. The whole of the sepoys were either killed, taken, or dispersed.”
The flank companies were almost annihilated. Captain Baird received seven wounds, and Lieutenant the Hon. John Lindsay nine; both were made prisoners.
Lieutenant Philip Melvill[8] was totally disabled by his wounds, and was conveyed to Hyder’s camp, where many other wounded prisoners were crowded together in one tent, so as to prevent a moment’s ease or rest. They were afterwards confined at Bangalore, where they endured the greatest suffering for three years and a half, when, peace being concluded, the captives were released.
Lieutenant William Gunn, of the grenadiers, and Lieutenant Geddes Mackenzie, of the light company, were killed.
These were the whole of the officers serving with the two companies. Of the non-commissioned officers and privates only two men joined the battalion, and those were found in the jungle desperately wounded.
The melancholy fate of these companies rendered it necessary for Colonel Lord Macleod to form two new flank companies from the battalion.
After the defeat of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, Major General Sir Hector Munro retired with the army to Chingleput, much pressed on the march by the enemy. The wounded and sick being left at Chingleput, the army went into cantonments on Choultry Plain for the rainy season, which had set in. The troops in the retreat had suffered severely from fatigue and want of provisions.
Captain Alexander Gilchrist, of the grenadiers, whose ill-health prevented him from being with his company when Lieut.-Colonel Baillie was attacked, died at this period[9], and Lieutenant Alexander Mackenzie was wounded, together with several soldiers, in skirmishes with the enemy.
2d bat.
After the British fleet had departed from Gibraltar the Spaniards renewed the blockade by sea, and attempted to destroy the vessels in the harbour by fire-ships, but failed. Towards the close of the year provisions again became short. A limited supply was occasionally obtained from the Moors. The effects of the scurvy were mitigated by cultivating vegetables on the rock; and the brave defenders of the fortress maintained their attitude of defiance to the power of Spain.
Mr. Laurens, late President of the American Congress, having been captured in his passage to Holland by the British, papers were found on him showing that a treaty of alliance was on the point of conclusion between the Americans and the States General. Great Britain in consequence declared war against Holland on the 20th of December, and thus became engaged with a fourth enemy, exclusive of the hostile powers in India.
1781.
1st bat.
Upon the 17th of January 1781, the army being re-assembled, took the field under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B., Commander-in-Chief in India. At this period the strength of the first battalion did not exceed five hundred men. Hyder Ali was then in the Tanjore country, committing every species of outrage and devastation.
On the 1st of June, 1781, Colonel Lord Macleod received the local rank of Major-General in the East Indies. In June Sir Eyre Coote moved the army along the coast southerly, towards Cuddalore, where his out-posts were attacked by Tippoo Saib, who was repulsed. The British commander afterwards marched his whole force to Chillumborem, upon the Coleroon, where the enemy had a large magazine of grain.
The pagoda was attacked by the piquets under the command of Captain John Shaw, of the first battalion, but the detachment was repulsed, and that officer wounded.
Hyder Ali, being apprehensive for the safety of Chillumborem, moved his army in the direction of that place from Tanjore and Trichinopoly, while Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, with the view of obtaining supplies from the shipping, proceeded towards Cuddalore. Hyder, by forced marches and manœuvres, had nearly surrounded the British on the plains of Porto Novo, about two days’ march to the southward of Cuddalore.
At four o’clock in the morning of the 1st of July, Sir Eyre Coote put his army of about 8,000 men in movement, while that of the enemy, computed at 100,000, was observed to range itself in order of battle.
The army of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote formed on the plain in two lines; the first battalion was commanded by Colonel James Craufurd[10] (Lord Macleod having returned to England), and had its station in the first line under the orders of Major General Sir Hector Munro. Major General James Stuart commanded the second line. The action commenced by an advanced movement of the English troops, and the contest was sustained with great spirit by both parties until night, when the firing ceased, and the British remained masters of the field.
The veteran chief, Sir Eyre Coote, was so well pleased with the conduct of the battalion upon this occasion that he was heard to exclaim, addressing himself in the heat of the battle to one of the pipers, “Well done, my brave fellow, you shall have silver pipes when the battle is over!” The general did not forget his promise, and in addition to a general order expressive of his sense of the gallantry and steadiness of the battalion in the battle of Porto Novo, he presented a handsome pair of silver pipes (value one hundred pagodas[11]) to the corps, upon which was engraved a suitable inscription; this he desired might be preserved as a lasting monument of his approbation of its conduct in that battle, the result of which enabled Sir Eyre Coote to reach Cuddalore, the point of destination, on the 4th of July.
Shortly afterwards the army was moved to St. Thomas’s Mount.
On the 3d of August the force from Bengal, under the orders of Colonel Pearse, arrived and formed a junction with Sir Eyre Coote’s army at Pulicat, to which place the army had moved in order to facilitate that important object. The British force now amounted to twelve thousand men.
The first brigade, composed entirely of Europeans, was commanded by Colonel Craufurd, of the present Seventy-first regiment, and had its station generally in the centre of the line. Major General Sir Hector Munro commanded the right wing, and Colonel Pearse the left.
In August, Major James Mackenzie of the battalion died, universally regretted. His exertions in the early part of the campaign had brought on illness, which terminated his career.
On the 16th of August the preparations that had been carried on for the siege of Arcot, which had been taken by Hyder Ali in the previous year, and for the relief of Vellore being completed, the Anglo-Indian army was put in movement. On the 20th of August Tripassoor was retaken, by which capture a very large supply of grain fell into the hands of the British. The camp of Hyder’s main army was at Conjeveram, and every exertion was made by his detachments to interrupt the progress of the British troops.
The British, on the 27th of August, came in sight of the enemy, drawn up in order of battle upon the very ground where Lieut.-Colonel Baillie had met his defeat, a position which the religious notions of Hyder Ali induced him to consider fortunate. Thus encouraged or inspired, he seemed determined to hazard a second general action, and accordingly commenced the attack by a smart cannonade, when an obstinate contest ensued, which lasted the whole day, and which terminated in his defeat, and his being forced to retire from all his positions.
There was a circumstance peculiar to this field of battle which stamped it with aggravated horrors. It is ably and feelingly described by Captain Munro in his Narrative, from which the following is extracted.[12]
“Perhaps there come not within the wide range of human imagination scenes more affecting, or circumstances more touching, than many of our army had that day to witness and to bear. On the very spot where they stood lay strewed amongst their feet the relics of their dearest fellow soldiers and friends, who near twelve months before had been slain by the hands of those very inhuman monsters that now appeared a second time eager to complete the work of blood. One poor soldier, with the tear of affection glistening in his eye, picked up the decaying spatter-dash of his valued brother, with the name yet entire upon it, which the tinge of blood and effects of weather had kindly spared. Another discovered the club or plaited hair of his bosom friend, which he himself had helped to form, and knew by the tie and still remaining colour. A third mournfully recognised the feather which had decorated the cap of his inseparable companion. The scattered clothes and wings of the flank companies of the Seventy-third were everywhere perceptible, as also their helmets and skulls, both of which bore the marks of many furrowed cuts. These horrid spectacles, too melancholy to dwell upon, while they melted the hardest hearts, inflamed our soldiers with an enthusiasm and thirst of revenge such as render men invincible; but their ardour was necessarily checked by the involved situation of the army.”
Upon this horrid spot the army halted two days, and it then retired to Tripassoor, to secure provisions. At this period the health of Major-General Sir Hector Munro compelled him to leave the army.
On the 19th of September, Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote made a movement towards Vellore, the relief of which place Hyder Ali appeared determined to oppose, by occupying in order of battle the Pass of Sholingur, at the same time making very spirited attacks against the fortress of Vellore.
Upon the 27th of September, Colonel Craufurd, now second in command, received the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to move the British army to the front.[13] Hyder, confident of success, made a forward movement to meet his opponents, when a general action commenced. A detachment, commanded by Colonel Edmonstone, (of which the flank companies of the first battalion formed part,) succeeded in turning the left flank of the enemy, and fell upon his camp and rear. The day closed by the total defeat of Hyder’s troops, who were pursued by the cavalry until sunset.
Under circumstances the most distressing and unpromising, but with the hope of obtaining the supplies of provisions of which the army was quite destitute, and for which no previous arrangement had been made by the Government, Lieut. General Sir Eyre Coote, on the 1st of October, boldly pushed through the Sholingur Pass, and after a march of two days encamped at Altamancherry, in the Polygar country. Here, by the friendly aid and kindness of Bum-Raze, one of the Polygar princes, the troops were well supplied with every requisite.
The British camp was moved on the 26th of October to Pollipet, and the sick and wounded were sent to Tripassoor. Vellore was also relieved. This desirable object being effected, and the army reinforced by Colonel Laing with a hundred Europeans from Vellore, it proceeded to the attack of Chittoor, which, after a gallant resistance, capitulated.
With a view to get the British from a country so very inaccessible, Hyder Ali proceeded to the attack of Tripassoor, and on the 20th of November Sir Eyre Coote retired out of the Pollams, through the Naggary Pass, which obliged the enemy to raise the siege of Tripassoor, and to retire to Arcot. The campaign closed by the recapture of Chittoor by the enemy.
On the 2d of December, the monsoon having set in, the army broke up its camp on the Koilatoor Plain, and the different corps marched into cantonments in the neighbourhood of Madras.
During the campaign of 1781, the battalion was commanded by Captain John Shaw.
2d bat.
While the first battalion had been thus actively employed in India, the second battalion was engaged in the gallant defence of Gibraltar, the garrison of which was again relieved, in April 1781, by the arrival of a numerous fleet under Vice-Admiral Darby.
The Spaniards, relinquishing all hope of reducing the fortress by blockade, resolved to try the power of their numerous artillery. Scarcely had the fleet cast anchor, when the enemy’s batteries opened, and the fire of upwards of one hundred guns and mortars enveloped the fortress in a storm of war; a number of gun-boats augmented the iron tempest which beat against the rock, and the houses of the inhabitants were soon in ruins. On the 8th of May, Captain James Foulis, of the second battalion of the regiment, was wounded in the lines.
On the night of the 17th of September the following incident relating to the battalion occurred in an attack of the enemy, the account of which is extracted from the “History of the Siege of Gibraltar,” by Colonel John Drinkwater, of the late Seventy-second Regiment, or Royal Manchester Volunteers:—
“A shell during the above attack fell in an embrasure opposite the King’s lines bomb-proof, killed one of the Seventy-third, and wounded another of the same corps. The case of the latter was singular, and will serve to enforce the maxim, that, even in the most dangerous cases, we should never despair of a recovery whilst life remains. This unfortunate man was knocked down by the wind of the shell, which, instantly bursting, killed his companion, and mangled him in a most dreadful manner. His head was terribly fractured, his left arm broken in two places, one of his legs shattered, the skin and muscles torn off part of his right hand, the middle finger broken to pieces, and his whole body most severely bruised, and marked with gunpowder. He presented so horrid an object to the surgeons, that they had not the smallest hopes of saving his life, and were at a loss what part to attend to first. He was that evening trepanned, a few days afterwards his leg was amputated, and other wounds and fractures dressed. Being possessed of a most excellent constitution, nature performed wonders in his favour, and in eleven weeks the cure was completely effected. His name is Donald Ross, and he long continued to enjoy his sovereign’s bounty in a pension of ninepence a day for life.”
On the 4th of November, Lieutenant John Fraser, of the second battalion, had his leg shot off on Montague’s Bastion, and two of the soldiers of the battalion were likewise wounded by the enemy’s fire.
General Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield, which title was conferred for the services performed by him when Governor of Gibraltar, in order to free himself from the contiguity of the besiegers, resolved to make a sortie. The favourable opportunity presented itself; and, on the evening of the 26th of November, the following garrison order was issued:—
“Countersign, Steady.—All the grenadiers and light infantry in the garrison, and all the men of the Twelfth and Hardenberg’s regiments, with the officers and non-commissioned officers on duty, to be immediately relieved and join their regiments; to form a detachment, consisting of the Twelfth and Hardenberg’s regiments complete; the grenadiers and light infantry of all the other regiments; one captain, three lieutenants, ten non-commissioned officers, and a hundred artillery; three engineers, seven officers, ten non-commissioned officers, overseers, with a hundred and sixty workmen from the line, and forty workmen from the artificer corps; each man to have thirty-six rounds of ammunition, with a good flint in his piece, and another in his pocket; the whole to be commanded by Brigadier-General Ross, and to assemble on the red sands, at twelve o’clock this night, to make a sortie upon the enemy’s batteries. The thirty-ninth and fifty-eighth regiments to parade at the same hour, on the grand parade, under the command of Brigadier-General Picton, to sustain the sortie, if necessary.”
The flank companies of the second battalion, consisting of eight officers, ten serjeants, and 202 rank and file, formed part of the centre column. The moon shone brightly as the soldiers assembled on the sands at midnight. Between two and three o’clock darkness overspread the country, and the troops issued silently from the fortress. They were challenged and fired upon by the enemy’s sentries, but the British soldiers rushed forward with their native ardour, overpowered the Spanish guards, and captured the batteries in gallant style. The enemy’s soldiers, instead of defending the works, fled in dismay, and communicated the panic to the troops in their rear. The wooden batteries were soon prepared for fire; the flames spread with astonishing rapidity, and a column of fire and smoke arose from the works, illuminating the surrounding objects, and shedding a fiery lustre upon this unparalleled scene.
In an hour the object of the sortie was effected; trains were laid to the enemy’s magazines, and the soldiers withdrew. As they entered the fortress, tremendous explosions shook the ground, and rising columns of smoke, flame, and burning timber proclaimed the destruction of the enemy’s immense stores of gunpowder to be completed. General Eliott declared in orders, “The bearing and conduct of the whole detachment, officers, seamen, and soldiers, on this glorious occasion, surpass my utmost acknowledgments.”
For several days the Spaniards appeared confounded at their disgrace. The smoke of the burning batteries continued to rise, and no attempt was made to extinguish the flames; but several executions took place in their camp, probably of persons who fled so precipitately from the batteries. In the beginning of December they began to arouse themselves, and a thousand workmen commenced labouring to restore the batteries, in which they were retarded by the fire of the garrison.
While the besiegers were thus employed, the gallant defenders of the fortress were equally indefatigable; every serjeant, drummer, musician, officer’s servant, and private soldier, used the musket, shovel, and pick-axe, as his services were necessary.
1782.
1st bat.
At the opening of the campaign in India, in the beginning of 1782, the army did not muster a larger force than at the commencement of the former year. The first and most important object in view was the relief of Vellore, kept in strict blockade by the enemy. The safety of this fortress was of paramount consequence, being the only key the British possessed to the Passes of the Ghauts, through which an invasion of the enemy’s country could be accomplished; and the army being put in movement, pushed through the Sholingur Pass, and by the 11th of January the relief of Vellore, with a supply of rice for six months, was fully effected. After the accomplishment of this object the army retired, and on the 20th of January arrived at Poonamallee, having lost upon this expedition six officers and about thirty Europeans, with one hundred sepoys, killed and wounded.
The following anecdote is extracted from the narrative of Captain Munro, relating to the fall of John Mackay, a corporal of the battalion, in one of the skirmishes with the enemy, when the army was on the march to Vellore:—“For the satisfaction of my Highland friends, I take this opportunity of commemorating the fall of John Mackay, alias Donn, a corporal in the Seventy-third (now Seventy-first) regiment, son of Robert Donn, the famous Highland bard, whose singular talent for the beautiful and extemporaneous composition of Gaelic poetry was held in such esteem by the Highland Society. This son of the bard has frequently revived the drooping spirits of his countrymen upon the march, by singing in a pleasant manner the humorous and lively productions of his father. He was killed by a cannon ball on the 13th of January, and on the same evening was interred by his disconsolate comrades with all the honors of war.”
For the first three months of the year 1782, the army of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote was kept in a state of inactivity at St. Thomas’s Mount, where it would appear the Government of the presidency, apprehensive for its own safety, had detained this force, while a judicious movement to Porto Novo might have prevented the junction of the forces under Tippoo Saib with the strong reinforcement of French troops that had arrived from Europe on board the fleet of Admiral Suffrein, or at all events have prevented the loss of Permacoil and Cuddalore.
At length Sir Eyre Coote, having been reinforced by the Seventy-eighth, afterwards the Seventy-second regiment, recently arrived from England, was permitted to put the army in movement. In the beginning of April he marched in a southerly direction by Carangooly and Wandewash towards the enemy, encamped upon the Red Hills of Pondicherry. The object, which the Commander-in-chief appeared to have in view, was to separate the French and Mysorean troops, and he manœuvred accordingly between Chitaput and Arnee, until Hyder Ali, apprehensive for the safety of the latter place, where he had established magazines, made a rapid movement on the 2d of June, so as to overtake and attack the rear-guard of the British, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel John Elphinston[14], of the Seventy-third, who maintained his ground with great spirit and intrepidity until the line had completed its formation. The troops were ordered to advance immediately upon the enemy’s guns, the action became very warm, and the foe was soon forced across the river of Arnee, and in the pursuit several tumbrils were taken by the Honorable Captain James Lindsay, of the battalion. This gallant and intelligent officer, perceiving an enemy’s battalion endeavouring to extricate the tumbrils in the bed of the river, dashed forward at the head of his grenadier company, supported by the remainder of the corps under Major George Mackenzie’s command, and, quickly dispersing all opposed to his progress, took possession of his prize. This movement of the Seventy-third was supported on the left by a battalion of Bengal Sepoys, who had captured one of the enemy’s guns, and both corps, equally animated by success, pushed on, driving the enemy before them as long as pursuit was prudent.
The conduct of Captain the Honorable James Lindsay, although he had acted without orders, received all the praise it merited from the commander-in-chief, Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote. At the battle of Arnee the staff of the regimental colour was shattered by a cannon ball, and the ensign severely wounded.
The army encamped for the night on the field of battle, and on the following morning took up a position before Arnee; but a scarcity of grain compelled the general to retrace his steps towards Madras, and on the 20th of June he arrived at St. Thomas’s Mount.
In the months of July and August the army made two expeditions, one to Wandewash, in which it was foiled by the active and politic Hyder, the other for the relief of Vellore, in which it was more fortunate, having succeeded in throwing a large quantity of grain into that fortress.
The siege of Cuddalore having been determined on, the army moved on the 26th of August in a southerly direction, and on the 4th of September halted on the Red Hills of Pondicherry. Deserters reported the garrison of Cuddalore to consist of 800 Europeans, 300 Africans, and 600 Sepoys, who, having expelled the inhabitants, and covered the walls with cannon, were resolved to defend the place to the last extremity. The failure of the supplies, which Sir Eyre Coote had been led to expect from Madras by the fleet, excited so much anxiety and disappointment in the veteran’s mind, that a severe illness ensued, which obliged him to quit the army, and ultimately to proceed to Bengal for the benefit of his health. The command then devolved upon Major-General James Stuart, who commenced his retreat in the evening of the 10th of October.
On the 15th of October, the monsoon set in with unusual severity, and the army went into cantonments in the vicinity of Madras. Hyder Ali, at the same time, took up his old position near Arcot. Shortly after, Rear Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton, with a large fleet from England, came to anchor in Madras roads, having on board considerable reinforcements for the army, which was joined in the cantonments by the Twenty-third Light Dragoons, the 101st and 102d British regiments, and the Fifteenth regiment of Hanoverian Infantry.
In the month of December occurred the decease of that extraordinary man, Hyder Ali, who was succeeded, without any of the commotions usual in the East on such occasions, by his son, Tippoo Saib, to whom he left a kingdom of his own acquisition, which made him one of the most powerful princes in India.
2d bat.
All ordinary means of attack appearing to be unavailing against the resolute garrison of Gibraltar (of which the second battalion of the regiment formed part), stupendous preparations were made on a new principle, and floating batteries were constructed with great art and labour. These were accounted the most perfect contrivance of the kind ever seen. The combined power of France and Spain was directed against the fortress. The Duke of Crillon assumed the command of the besieging army, and was assisted by a celebrated French engineer, Monsieur d’Arcon, and by Admiral Moreno, and a French army arrived to take part in the siege.
A crisis was evidently approaching, and in the spring and summer of 1782 the garrison of Gibraltar made preparations with cool determination for the hour of trial. The officers and soldiers appeared to be impressed with their peculiar situation; an important fortress was confided to their protection; they had defended it against the efforts of the Spanish army and navy upwards of two years; and the eyes of all Europe were directed towards them. The damaged works were carefully repaired, new ones were constructed, extensive subterraneous works were prepared, and forges for heating red-hot shot were got ready. Every serjeant, drummer, musician, and officer’s servant, as well as the corporals and private soldiers, used a shovel, pickaxe, or musket, according as their services were required. The effect of the red-hot shot was proved on some of the enemy’s wooden batteries on the sands, which were speedily destroyed.
The Duke of Crillon anticipated the most signal success from the extensive preparations he was making. His camp was visited by princes of the royal blood of France, by Spanish nobility, and other dignified characters of Europe, who came to be spectators of the fall of the fortress, under the heavy fire of artillery which was about to be opened upon it. The new batteries on shore were unmasked, and fired a volley of sixty shells, which was followed by the thunder of one hundred and seventy guns of large calibre. Thus was Gibraltar assailed by a storm of iron, which threatened to reduce the fortress to a heap of ruins, and this was only a prelude to the tremendous fire which was afterwards opened upon the garrison. Lieutenant Phipps Wharton, of the second battalion, was dangerously wounded by the enemy’s fire.
On the 13th of September, the ten battering ships took their station before the fortress, in the presence of the combined fleets of France and Spain. The enemy’s camp and neighbouring hills were crowded with spectators from various parts of Europe, to witness the effect of these stupendous vessels, and such a storm of war was opened upon the garrison as was probably never heard before since the invention of cannon. The batteries of the fortress answered this tremendous fire with vigour, and the deafening thunder of four hundred pieces of heavy artillery was heard for many miles. For some hours the attack and defence were so equally well supported as scarcely to admit any appearance of superiority in the cannonade on either side. The wonderful construction of the battering ships seemed to bid defiance to the heaviest ordnance; shells rebounded from their tops, and a thirty-two pound shot scarcely seemed to make any impression on them. The effect of the red-hot shot was doubted; sometimes smoke came from the ships, but the fire-engines within soon occasioned it to cease, and the result was uncertain. The fire was, however, persevered in, and incessant showers of red-hot bullets, shells, and carcases flew through the air. In the afternoon the effects of the red-hot shot became apparent, and volumes of smoke issued from the flag-ship; the Admiral’s second ship was perceived to be in the same condition, and confusion prevailed. The Spaniards expected that the firing of red-hot bullets could not be persevered in beyond a few rounds; but the fire was continued with the same precision and vivacity as cold shot. The effects of the hot balls occasioned the enemy’s cannonade to abate, and about eight o’clock it almost totally ceased. The battering ships made signals to inform the combined fleets of their extreme danger and distress, and several boats were sent to their aid. At this period the fire of the garrison produced great carnage, and the most pitiable cries and groans were heard, as the incessant showers of shot and shells were poured into the floating batteries. Soon after midnight one ship was in flames, and by two o’clock she appeared one sheet of fire from head to stern; a second was soon in the same state; the flames enabled the British artillery to point their guns with precision, and soon after three o’clock six more ships exhibited the effects of the red-hot shot. The burning ships exhibited one of the grandest spectacles of destruction ever beheld; and amidst this dreadful scene of conflagration, the British seamen in boats were seen endeavouring to rescue the Spaniards from the blazing ships. They preserved between three and four hundred; and while they were thus engaged, one of the ships blew up with a dreadful explosion; four others met the same fate before seven o’clock, and another shortly afterwards, and the remainder burnt to the water’s edge, their magazines having been inundated; not one could be preserved as a trophy.
Thus did the mighty efforts of France and Spain end in defeat and destruction, and the gallant efforts of the brave soldiers who defended Gibraltar elicited the admiration of the nations in Europe. In England the most enthusiastic applause was universal; illuminations and other modes of testifying the joy of the people followed the receipt of the news of the destruction of the boasted invincible battering ships, and every family which could claim a defender of Gibraltar belonging to it was proud of the honor. The loss of the garrison, on the 13th and 14th of September, was limited to one officer, two serjeants, and thirteen rank and file killed; five officers and sixty-three rank and file wounded; that of the enemy exceeded two thousand officers and soldiers. Captain Alexander Mackenzie, of the second battalion, was one of the officers wounded.
Although the enemy gave up all hopes of reducing Gibraltar by force of arms, yet some expectation was entertained, that, if the blockade was continued, the garrison might be forced to surrender from the want of provisions; the combined fleet therefore remained in the bay, the besieging army continued in the lines, and about a thousand shots were fired every day from the Spanish batteries. The garrison was encouraged to continue resolute in the defence of the fortress by assurances of their Sovereign’s favour and high approbation. The principal Secretary of State, writing to General Eliott, stated,—“I am honored with His Majesty’s commands to assure you, in the strongest terms, that no encouragement shall be wanting to the brave officers and soldiers under your command. His royal approbation of the past will no doubt be a powerful incentive to future exertions, and I have the King’s authority to assure you, that every distinguished act of emulation and gallantry, which shall be performed in the course of the siege by any, even of the lowest rank, will meet with ample reward from his gracious protection and favour.”
On the 4th of October Lieutenant Kenneth Mackenzie, of the second battalion, was wounded in the communication from the King’s to the Queen’s lines.
In October the combined fleet was much damaged by a storm, and soon afterwards a British naval force arrived, and the garrison was again relieved, when two regiments, the Twenty-fifth and Fifty-ninth, landed to take part in the defence of the fortress.
On the 23d of November Lieutenant John Mackenzie, of the second battalion, was dangerously wounded by the enemy’s cannonade.
1783.
1st bat.
At the opening of the campaign of 1783, Tippoo Saib encamped his army upon the plains of Arnee, where he was joined by a strong detachment of French auxiliaries from Cuddalore.
Major-General Stuart put the British army in movement, having first in view the demolition of the useless fortresses of Wandewash and Carangooly. He arrived at the latter place on the 6th of February, and, leaving there all heavy baggage and encumbrances, proceeded lightly equipped towards Wandewash, the works of which were accordingly destroyed. The army then returned to Carangooly, which experienced the same fate as Wandewash, and on the 23d of February arrived at Poonamallee.
2d bat.
Meanwhile, the siege of Gibraltar had terminated, hostilities having ceased in February 1783, in consequence of the preliminaries of the treaties between Great Britain, France, and Spain having been signed at Versailles on the 20th of the preceding month. The second battalion during the siege was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George Mackenzie.
1st bat.
Notwithstanding private information having been received from respectable sources, overland, of a peace having been concluded between Great Britain and the other belligerent powers in Europe, still the Madras Government was determined to persevere in its original plans for the attack of Cuddalore. With this view, Major-General Stuart put the army in movement on the 21st of April, marching by brigades in a southerly direction. Major-General Stuart’s army consisted of the present Seventy-first and Seventy-second regiments, the 101st regiment, a considerable body of native troops, and a detachment of Hanoverians under Colonel Wangenheim. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, of the first battalion of the regiment, took the lead, with the fifth brigade, to the command of which he had been appointed, in consideration of his distinguished conduct and important services in the field.
Lieut.-Colonel James Stuart, of the Seventy-eighth Highlanders (the present Seventy-second regiment), commanded the first or European brigade, of which the first battalion of the Seventy-third (now the Seventy-first) regiment formed part, and which amounted to sixteen hundred men.
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, in his advance, possessed himself of Permacoil ruins, from whence could be plainly distinguished the enemy’s advanced parties upon the Red Hills of Pondicherry. The remainder of the army joined at Permacoil on the 2d of May.
About this period accounts were received of the decease of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, which intelligence threw a peculiar gloom over those officers and men who had had the honor to serve under his command in India. Major-General Stuart succeeded to the command of the forces in India for the time being.
After leaving Permacoil, the army advanced to Killinoor, and from thence directed its course towards the Red Hills of Pondicherry.
2d bat.
In May 1783, the second battalion embarked in transports, and sailed from Gibraltar for Portsmouth, where it landed in July following.
1st bat.
On the 4th of June, Major-General Stuart placed the British camp close to the Pannar River, about five miles west of Cuddalore, behind which the French army was descried in an entrenched camp.
The British crossed the Pannar River on the 6th of June, without being molested, passed the Bandipollam Hills, and took up a strong position not more than two miles from the south face of the fortress of Cuddalore, having their right flank covered by the sea, and the left by the Bandipollam Hills. The enemy, commanded by General de Bussy, had in the meantime been occupied in throwing up works along his front.
On the 12th of June, Major-General Stuart had determined upon attacking Monsieur de Bussy in his present position, and issued preparatory orders accordingly. At four o’clock in the morning of the 13th of June, the action commenced by a movement from the British left upon the right flank of the enemy. A very obstinate and sanguinary contest ensued, and continued without intermission until the evening, when both armies remained upon the field of battle, and consequently each claimed the victory.
In this action the first battalion of the regiment highly distinguished itself, having wrested from the enemy, in the course of the conflict, seven different redoubts. The loss sustained by the battalion was very severe, amounting in killed and wounded to 13 officers and 272 men, being one half of the gross number in the field. The battalion in this action was commanded by Captain Hugh Lamont. The battalion had to regret the loss of Captains the Honorable James Lindsay and Alexander Mackenzie, who were killed. The former officer commanded the Grenadier company.
The following flattering compliment formed part of the general orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief at the conclusion of the battle:—“I am also grateful to Captain Lamont and the officers under his command, who gallantly led the precious remains of the Seventy-third Regiment through the most perilous road to glory, until exactly one half of the officers and men of the battalion were either killed or wounded.”
On the 17th of June the English and French fleets fought their last battle during this war. The former commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and the latter by Monsieur Suffrein. The contest was perfectly in view of both armies. The result obliged the British admiral to proceed to Madras, while, to the great embarrassment of the army under Major-General Stuart, the French fleet was enabled to anchor in Cuddalore Roads, and to afford supplies and reinforcements to their troops.
The British prosecuted the siege of Cuddalore with vigour, and on the 25th of June the first parallel was completed. On that day the enemy made a sortie but was repulsed, after a severe contest, with considerable loss. The commander of the party, Colonel the Chevalier de Damas, was among the prisoners taken on this occasion.
On the 1st of July a frigate arrived in Cuddalore Roads, confirming the former intelligence, and bringing the official accounts from England of a general peace having been concluded. Hostilities in consequence ceased. The English and French interchanged visits, congratulations, and compliments, and became apparently as cordial friends as they had before been determined enemies.
By the 2d of August the British army had received the supplies of which it stood greatly in want, and the camp was immediately broken up, the troops proceeding towards Madras, where they arrived on the 16th of that month, at St. Thomas’s Mount.
The army shortly afterwards went into winter quarters, the Seventy-third occupying the fort and cantonment of Arcot.
2d bat.
In August the second battalion marched from Hilsea barracks to Stirling, where it was disbanded on the 3d of October; and the officers belonging to the second battalion, who were regimentally senior to those serving with the first, had the option afforded them of joining that battalion in the East Indies, at their own expense, of which some availed themselves.
1784.
On the 11th of March 1784, a general peace was ratified between the Honorable East India Company and Tippoo Saib, and, shortly afterwards, the officers and men, who had been made prisoners in the action fought by Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, on the 10th of September 1780, were restored to their friends, after having endured captivity in irons in an ungenial climate, and most of them suffering from severe wounds.
The regiment had the gratification to receive Captains David Baird and the Honorable John Lindsay. The commission of the latter, as captain, had been antedated to the 12th of September 1780. Both of these officers had recovered from their wounds.
During the remainder of the year the regiment continued at Arcot, and was only employed, beyond the usual routine of duty in quarters, for a short time in quelling a mutiny which broke out in the native cavalry at Arnee. The regiment at this period was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel William Dalrymple.
1785.
In the course of the month of June the regiment was removed from Arcot to Fort St. George at Madras, where it was joined by certain officers of the late second battalion. Lieut.-Colonel Dalrymple having returned to Great Britain, the regiment was commanded by Brevet Colonel the Honorable George Mackenzie.
The regiment continued in quarters during the remainder of the year at Fort St. George, and in the town at Madras.
1786.
In the year 1786 the numerical title of the regiment was changed from Seventy-third to Seventy-first; and new colours were received from England, bearing the number Seventy-first, which designation it has since retained.
The regiment changed its quarters, in March, to Wallajohabad and Chingleput, having nine companies cantoned at the former station, and one at the latter under Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton Maxwell.
1787.
On the 4th of June 1787, the commanding officer, Colonel the Honorable George Mackenzie, died, after a short illness. His body was sent to Madras, and there interred with the military honors due to his rank. The senior major, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John Elphinston, succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy and to the command of the regiment. Captain David Baird was at the same time promoted to the rank of major. The commissions of these officers were dated 5th of June 1787.
During the year 1787 no change of quarters took place, and the regiment remained in cantonments at Wallajohabad and Chingleput.
1788.
In February 1788, in consequence of some disturbance or alarm at the Bombay Presidency, the Seventy-first marched to Madras, and immediately embarked on board the Company’s ships for Bombay. The regiment was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, and was about eight hundred strong.
After a favorable passage, the ships arrived at Bombay in April, when the regiment immediately disembarked and went into barracks, where it remained for six months. The Seventy-fifth and Seventy-seventh regiments having, in this interval, arrived at Bombay from England, the services of the Seventy-first became no longer necessary at that Presidency, and the regiment proceeded in October to Madras, where it arrived in December.
Five companies, under Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, occupied the barracks in Fort St. George, and the other five companies proceeded to Poonamallee.
1789.
Major-General the Honorable William Gordon was appointed colonel of the Seventy-first regiment on the 9th of April 1789, in succession to Major-General John Lord Macleod, deceased.
In the course of the year 1789, the five companies at Poonamallee were removed to Tripassoor.
1790.
On the 16th of March 1790, the companies at Madras and Tripassoor received orders to join a force which was assembling at Wallajohabad, under the orders of Colonel Thomas Musgrave, of the Seventy-sixth, in consequence of the hostilities which Tippoo Saib had commenced against the Rajah of Travancore, a faithful British ally. The Seventy-first arrived at Wallajohabad on the 18th of March, and joined the other troops, consisting of the nineteenth light dragoons, fifty-second, and Seventy-first regiments, the third and fourth native cavalry, the first battalion of coast artillery, and the second, fourth, ninth, fourteenth, and twenty-fifth coast sepoys.
This force was put in movement on the 29th of March, and proceeded towards Trichinopoly, which it did not reach until the 29th of April, and found there the following corps, under the command of Colonel Brydges:—two King’s regiments, the thirty-sixth and seventy-second; the second and fifth native cavalry; the first, fifth, sixth, seventh, sixteenth, twentieth, and twenty-third coast sepoys. At the same time Colonel Deare, with three companies of Bengal artillery, joined, the whole being under the orders of Major-General Musgrave, to which rank he had been promoted on the 28th of April 1790.
The army was immediately divided into brigades and wings; Lieut.-Colonel James Stuart, of the Seventy-second Highlanders, was appointed to command the left wing, and Colonel Brydges, of the East India Company’s service, the right; the Seventy-first and seventy-second regiments, and first East India Company’s European battalion, formed the second European brigade, under Lieut.-Colonel Clarke, of the Company’s service.
The whole of the cavalry and the advance were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel, afterwards General Sir John Floyd, of the nineteenth light dragoons, since disbanded.
On the 24th of May, Major-General (afterwards Sir William) Medows assumed the command, and reviewed the army, which on the 26th of that month was put in movement towards the Coimbatore country.
The army reached Caroor, a fortified place, on the 15th of June, which the enemy abandoned on the approach of the British, who remained in this position, strengthening Caroor, and collecting grain, until the 2d of July, when they moved for Arrivacourchy, arriving there on the 5th, and continuing their route by Tooramboddy, arrived on the 10th of July at Daraporam. At this latter place was found a large supply of grain and other necessaries, which had been left by the enemy.
During the march to Coimbatore, where the British arrived on the 22d of July, Tippoo’s irregular horse were very active in hovering around, for the purpose of picking up stragglers and baggage.
The army halted at Coimbatore, and detachments were sent off to reduce Dindigul, Errode, and Palghautcherry. The flank companies of the Seventy-first regiment, commanded by Captains Phineas McIntosh and James Robertson, were employed upon the latter service. In August the whole of the cavalry and the advance had been pushed forward to the Boovany, near to the Gudzelhetty Pass. Tippoo Saib, profiting by the divided state of the British force, descended with his whole army, and after a very severe conflict obliged Lieut.-Colonel Floyd to fall back. The troops from Coimbatore had marched to his support, and on the junction being effected, Tippoo retired. The British returned to Coimbatore on the 23d of September.
Upon the march of the main body, the flank companies of the Seventy-first and Seventy-second were withdrawn from the siege of Palghautcherry, and ordered to take post in the fort of Coimbatore; and on the return of the army they rejoined the regiment.
The army was again put in motion on the 29th of September, proceeding towards the Boovany by Shawoor and Coopachitty-pollum, where the troops arrived a few hours after Tippoo had left it. Some elephants, bullocks, and camels loaded with rockets, fell into the hands of the British.
On the 4th of October the army arrived at Errode, the enemy keeping a respectful distance during the march; and on the 6th of that month it was ascertained that he had arrived with his whole force at Darraporam, against which he opened his batteries on the 8th. The fort had no cannon mounted, and the garrison, consisting of a hundred Europeans and two hundred sepoys, capitulated on honorable terms, to which the enemy strictly adhered.
The British army moved on the 5th of October, and on the 15th encamped in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore, where Lieut.-Colonel Stuart joined from Palghautcherry, after having taken the place, and left it in a tolerable state of defence. On the 20th of October, all the heavy baggage having been deposited in the fort of Coimbatore, the army recommenced moving, directing its march towards Errode, by Avinochy and Perentore, where it arrived on the 2d of November. On the 8th the army proceeded in the direction of Bovaneore, and thence to a ford about three miles below Errode, the whole crossing the Cavery on the 9th and 10th, while Tippoo marched with his entire force to attack a division under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton Maxwell, of the Seventy-fourth Regiment, then in the Bharamahl country. On the 11th of November the army moved by Sankerrydroog for the Tappoor Pass, and ascended on the 14th, encamping at Adamancottah, in the Bharamahl country; marched again on the 15th, and on the 17th effected a junction with Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell at Darrampoury. This officer had under his orders the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-sixth King’s regiments, the fourth battalion of Madras Europeans, the third, seventh, thirteenth, fourteenth, twenty-first, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh Bengal sepoys.
The Seventy-fourth joined the Seventy-first and Seventy-second Regiments in the second brigade; and Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell assumed the command of the left wing in the place of Colonel Brydges, who was appointed to command at Trichinopoly.
On the 18th of November the army moved by Coveriporum to the Tappoor Pass, when the advance fell in with the rear of Tippoo’s force, but could make no impression.
It was now ascertained that the enemy, whose movements were always sudden, varied, and perplexing, was directing his course to the Carnatic by Namacul and Trichinopoly. The British in consequence pursued by Malusundrum, arriving on the 23d at Vavoor; the 27th at Jaloor; on the 6th of December at Munsarapett; and at Terany on the 31st of December.
1791.
On the 1st of January 1791 the army arrived at Terrimungulum, and on the 12th at Arnee.
During this long and fatiguing march, the Anglo-Indian troops frequently encamped upon the ground from which the enemy had removed in the morning, but the efforts made to overtake him were not successful. The sick and heavy guns having been placed in the fort of Arnee, on the 14th of January the advance and right wing marched for Velhout, where they arrived on the 27th, followed by the left wing.
On the 29th of January the army was reviewed by General Charles the Earl Cornwallis, K.G., who had arrived from Bengal to assume the command, and who expressed great satisfaction at the appearance of the troops. His lordship was at this period Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, and had quitted Bengal on the 6th of December of the previous year, and landed at Fort St. George, Madras, on the 30th of the same month.
In the course of the foregoing campaign the Seventy-first Regiment lost few men in action, but many fell victims to climate and fatigue.
The army, being refreshed and equipped, commenced moving in a westerly direction on the 5th of February, by Perambaukum and Sholingur, arriving on the 11th in the vicinity of Vellore. The troops were ordered into the fort, and on the 14th they marched to Chittipet, turning suddenly to the right by Chittoor towards the Muglee Pass, where they arrived on the 17th of February. On the 18th the advance, followed by the park and stores, ascended the ghauts, the whole army encamping on the day following at Palamnaire, in the Mysore country, without having seen anything of the enemy.
During the time the British army remained at Velhout, Tippoo pushed to the southward, and summoned Cuddalore, but upon learning in what direction Earl Cornwallis had moved, the Sultan hastened to the Shangana Pass, where he arrived too late to oppose the troops at the Muglee Pass. On the 24th, the British marched for Colar, which was abandoned on their approach; from thence the army moved to Ouscotta, which place was immediately carried by a battalion of sepoys.
The enemy displayed a part of his force on the 4th of March, and on the following day opened a cannonade upon the troops moving towards Bangalore, whilst his horse attempted to attack the stores and baggage, but without success. About sunset on the 5th of March, the army encamped within shot of the fort of Bangalore, and shifted its ground on the day following. The pettah (the suburbs of the town) was then attacked by the thirty-sixth and seventy-sixth regiments, with some battalions of sepoys, and carried, after a very resolute resistance on the part of the defenders.
From this period to the 14th of March, nothing material occurred, but every preparation for the approaching siege was carried on with diligence and activity. On the 15th, the batteries being completed, opened a fire upon Bangalore; and on the 17th the lines were cannonaded by the enemy, while at night the camp was much disturbed by his rockets.
Forage became very scarce, and none could be procured beyond the advanced piquets. The siege, however, proceeded, and the enemy continued to harass the British until the 21st March, when the breach being considered practicable, an attack was ordered.
The storming party consisted of the grenadiers of the thirty-sixth, fifty-second, Seventy-first, seventy-second, seventy-fourth, and seventy-sixth regiments, followed by their respective light companies, and led by Lieutenant James Duncan of the Seventy-first, and Lieutenant John Evans of the fifty-second, with a forlorn hope of thirty chosen men; the whole supported by the battalion companies of the thirty-sixth, seventy-second, and seventy-sixth, with some battalions of Bengal sepoys. The corps of attack were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell of the seventy-fourth; the flankers immediately by Major Skelly; Major-General Medows was present on the occasion.
The grenadier company of the Seventy-first was commanded by Captain the Honorable John Lindsay, who, upon entering the breach, directed his men to throw away their priming, and trust entirely to their bayonets. The light company was commanded by Captain James Robertson, son of the celebrated historian.
With the aid of scaling ladders, and after encountering very formidable obstacles, Bangalore was carried. From the 6th of March to the conquest of Bangalore, the Seventy-first had six privates killed, and fourteen wounded.
On the 28th of March, a strong garrison being left in Bangalore, the army moved to Deonhully, the birthplace of Hyder Ali, where it arrived on the 30th, and on the 1st of April at Chinnaballaporam, both of which places were abandoned by the enemy. The army reached Connapelly on the 12th of April, and on the following day effected a junction with the Nizam’s force, which had been sent to co-operate with the British, and which amounted to about fifteen thousand cavalry.
The army arrived at Venkatagherry, on the 18th of April, where a large detachment of Europeans, under Colonel Oldham, joined from the Carnatic, and on the 22d of April again encamped near Bangalore. During this march, the object of which was chiefly to procure supplies, the enemy’s irregular horse were now and then seen in small detached bodies.
The British commenced their march on the 4th of May towards Seringapatam, the capital of Tippoo Saib’s territory, and on the 13th of that month arrived at Arakerry, on the Cavery, about eight miles below Seringapatam, which derived its name from the god Serung, to whom one of the pagodas was dedicated. The enemy was discernible in front, with his right resting on the river, and his left on a high hill named the Carighaut.
During the night of the 14th of May the troops marched with a view to surprise the enemy, but owing to the badness of the weather and roads, together with the jaded state of the gun-bullocks, little or no progress was made during the night; but on the following day, after having undergone great fatigue, they were brought into action, when the enemy was driven from his strong position, and forced across the river into the island upon which the capital, Seringapatam, is situated, where he was protected by his batteries.
In this affair four guns and several standards were taken. The Seventy-first had Lieutenant and Adjutant Roderick Mackenzie and seven rank and file killed; Ensign John Stuart and seventy-four rank and file were wounded.
The army rested upon the field of battle, and was again in movement on the 18th of May, and arrived on the 20th at Canambaddy, situated on the Cavery, some miles above Seringapatam. It was now ascertained that the season was too far advanced for undertaking immediately the siege of Tippoo’s capital, and it was determined accordingly to withdraw. The battering train was destroyed; all the ammunition and stores were buried, which could not be removed, and on the 26th of May the army marched in the direction of Bangalore.
Before commencing their retreat, the soldiers were thanked in orders for their conduct throughout these services; and it was added:—“So long as there were any hopes of reducing Seringapatam before the commencement of the heavy rains, the Commander-in-chief thought himself happy in availing himself of their willing services; but the unexpected bad weather, for some time experienced, having rendered the attack of the enemy’s capital impracticable, until the conclusion of the ensuing monsoons, Lord Cornwallis thought he should make an ill return for the zeal and alacrity exhibited by the soldiers, if he desired them to draw the guns and stores back to a magazine, where there remains an ample supply of both, which was captured by their valour; he did not, therefore, hesitate to order the guns and stores which were not wanted for field service to be destroyed.”
In the course of this retreat the British were joined by the Mahratta army, under Hurry Punt and Purseram Bhow, consisting of about thirty-two thousand men, chiefly cavalry, and thirty pieces of cannon. Of the approach of this large force, the British had been kept in total ignorance, by the active manner in which the communications were interrupted by Tippoo’s irregular troops. Captain Little, having under his orders two battalions of Bombay sepoys, joined with the Mahratta army, and the supplies were now abundant.
On the 11th of July, after marching by Alcotta, Goodyanelly, Outredroog, and Sankerrydroog, the army arrived at Bangalore.
The enemy made no attempt whatever to interrupt the march. By this time the Nizam’s cavalry had become unfit to keep the field, and were allowed to return to their own country. Purseram Bhow also, with a large detachment of the Mahrattas, proceeded into the Sera country; but Hurry Punt, with the remainder, continued attached to the British army. On the 15th of July the whole of the sick, and one half of the tumbrils belonging to the field-pieces, were sent into the fort of Bangalore, and the army moved towards Oussoor, where it arrived on the 11th of the following month.
The fort of Oussoor was abandoned by the enemy, after he had blown up the angles. In this place were found the bodies of three Europeans who had been put to death by Tippoo’s orders. One of these unfortunate persons, named Hamilton, had been an officer in the British navy.
On the 12th of August the army moved from Oussoor, and on the 23d arrived at Bayeur. About this period Major Gowdie, of the Honorable East India Company’s Service, was detached with some troops for the reduction of the strong hill fort of Nundydroog, which it was found required regular approaches.
The flank companies of the thirty-sixth and Seventy-first regiments, under the command of Captain Robertson, of the latter corps, marched on the 17th of October to join the detachment under Major Gowdie, and, upon their arrival, were immediately placed in the last parallel.
On the 18th of October, General the Earl Cornwallis, with the whole army, made a movement towards Nundydroog, and in the evening of that day the troops were told off for an assault upon the two breaches, which had been pronounced practicable. The attacks commenced at eleven o’clock at night, the grenadiers assaulting the right breach, and the light companies the left. The forlorn hope of the right attack consisted of twenty grenadiers, volunteers from the thirty-sixth and Seventy-first, led by Lieutenant Hugh Mackenzie of the Seventy-first, formerly paymaster of the regiment. The same number of light infantry, headed by Lieutenant Lewis Moore, of the Seventy-first, formed the left attack. The grenadier company of the regiment, in support, was commanded by Lieutenant James Duncan; the light company, by Lieutenant Kenneth Mackenzie; the whole under Captain Robertson’s orders, as before stated.
Captain Robert Burne supported, with the thirty-sixth grenadiers, the right attack, and Captain William Hartley, with the light company of that regiment, the left attack; Major-General Medows, as usual, animating the whole with his presence.
Both breaches were carried without much resistance from the enemy, and the gateway of the inner wall being soon secured, the fort fell into the possession of the British. Many of the enemy were killed, and several, in attempting to escape, were dashed to pieces over the precipices. It was an additional source of gratification, that this important service had been achieved without the loss of a British soldier.
In a few days subsequently to the fall of Nundydroog, the army retraced its route to Bangalore.
On the 4th of December the troops were again put in movement, directing their march towards Savendroog, a fortress situated on the side of a mountain, environed by almost inaccessible rocks. The fort being reconnoitred, a detachment under Lieut.-Colonel James Stuart, of the Seventy-second regiment, was selected, and ordered to reduce the place. On the 17th the British were enabled to open upon the fort a battery of six eighteen-pounders and three twelve-pounders, with considerable effect.
The flank companies of the Seventy-first and seventy-sixth regiments joined the detachment under Lieut.-Colonel Stuart on the 20th of December, and on the following day the flank companies of the fifty-second, Seventy-first, seventy-second, and seventy-sixth, were selected for the attack upon Savendroog (in which a practicable breach had been effected), and formed under Lieut.-Colonel Colebrook Nesbitt, of the fifty-second regiment.
The storming party, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Nesbitt, was directed to four different attacks. Captain James Gage, with the grenadiers of the fifty-second and flank companies of the seventy-sixth regiment, to gain the eastern hill to the left; Captain the Honorable William Monson, with the light company of the fifty-second, to scour the works towards the western hill on the right; Captain the Honorable John Lindsay and Captain James Robertson, with the flank companies of the Seventy-first, to separate, and attack the works or parties they might discover in the chasm or hollow between the hills; the fifty-second and seventy-second regiments were to follow the flank companies; parties were detached under Lieut.-Colonel Baird and Major Petrie round the mountain, to draw the attention of the enemy from the main object, and to endeavour to prevent his escape.
At eleven o’clock in the morning of the 21st of December, on a signal of two guns being fired from the batteries, the flank companies, in the order described, followed by the fifty-second and seventy-second regiments, advanced to the assault; the band of the fifty-second playing “Britons, strike home!” while the grenadiers and light infantry mounted the breach.
Immediate success followed the attempt, the fort being carried without the loss of a man. The troops were thanked in general orders for their gallant conduct, in which it was stated,—
“Lord Cornwallis thinks himself fortunate, almost beyond example, in having acquired by assault a fortress of so much strength and reputation, and of such inestimable value to the public interest, as Savendroog,[15] without having to regret the loss of a single soldier.”
In the course of a short time afterwards, the following places surrendered, with trifling loss, to detachments of the British army; namely, Outredroog, Ram Gurry, and Sheria Gurry.
The army subsequently moved towards Outredroog, a hill fort about thirty miles west of Bangalore, where a general hospital was established.
1792.
On the 31st of January 1792 the army under General the Earl Cornwallis was reviewed by the Poonah and Hyderabad chiefs, and on the following day commenced its march towards Seringapatam, passing by Hooleadroog, Tajilly, and Carrycode. The troops came in sight of Tippoo’s capital on the 5th of February, and encamped at the French Rocks. The enemy’s horse showed itself on the 4th and 5th, but attempted nothing hostile.
The entrenched camp of Tippoo was reconnoitred on the 6th of February, and at dark the army was formed in three columns of attack. The right, under Major General Medows, consisting of the thirty-sixth and seventy-sixth King’s regiments. The centre, under the Commander-in-chief, General the Earl Cornwallis, consisting of the fifty-second, Seventy-first, and seventy-fourth King’s regiments. The left, under Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell of the seventy-fourth, was composed of the seventy-second regiment. The native troops were divided among the three columns.
By eight o’clock in the evening of the 6th of February the three columns were in motion. The head of the centre column, led by the flank companies of the respective corps, after twice crossing the Lokany river, which covered the enemy’s right wing and front, came in contact with his first line, and immediately forced through it. The British flankers, mixing with the fugitives, crossed the north branch of the Cavery, at the foot of the glacis of the fort of Seringapatam. Captain the Honorable John Lindsay collected the grenadiers of the Seventy-first upon the glacis, and attempted to push into the body of the place, but was prevented by the bridge being raised a few moments before he reached it. He was soon after joined by some of the light company of the fifty-second and grenadiers of the seventy-sixth, with whom he forced his way down to the famous Llal Baugh, or “Garden of Pearls,” where he was attacked most furiously, but the enemy was repelled in a very spirited style with the bayonet.
Captain Lindsay was afterwards joined by the seventy-fourth grenadiers, and attempted to drive the enemy from the Pettah, but could not succeed, from the numbers which poured on him from all sides. This gallant officer then took post in a redoubt, where he maintained himself until morning, and then moved to the north bank of the river, where the firing appeared very heavy. He was there met by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel the Honorable John Knox, of the thirty-sixth regiment, and by Lieut.-Colonel Baird, with the grenadiers of the fifty-second, and the light company of the Seventy-first, together with some of the troops that composed the left attack.
During these occurrences the battalion companies of the fifty-second, Seventy-first, and seventy-second regiments forced their way across the river to the island, overpowering all that opposed them, when Captain Archdeacon, commanding a battalion of Bengal Sepoys, being killed, that battalion was thrown into confusion, falling back upon the Seventy-first. Major Stair Park Dalrymple, wishing to prevent the Sepoys intermingling with his men, ordered the regiment to oblique to the left, an operation that by chance brought him in contact with the Sultan’s redoubt, which was instantly attacked and carried. The charge of the redoubt was given to Captain Hugh Sibbald, of the Seventy-first, with his company, who on the following morning was killed, nobly defending it against repeated and desperate attacks from the enemy. The commander-in-chief, General the Earl Cornwallis, in compliment to the memory of this officer, had the name of the redoubt changed to “Sibbald.”
In the evening of the 7th of February three thousand of the enemy’s horse attacked the British troops on the island, but were repulsed by the Seventy-first regiment and the first Coast Sepoys. In the course of these operations the regiment had Captain Sibbald and Lieutenant Daniel Bayne killed; Ensign Duncan Mackenzie was wounded; about one hundred rank and file were killed and wounded.
The enemy’s loss was very severe, being estimated at 20,000 hors-de-combat. Eighty pieces of cannon were taken by the British.
On the 9th of February the army took up its final position for the siege of Seringapatam, and on the 15th Major-General Robert Abercromby joined with the Bombay force, consisting of the seventy-third, seventy-fifth, and seventy-seventh regiments, besides native troops, making a total of about 6,000 men.
The Seventy-first regiment, commanded by Major Dalrymple, crossed the south branch of the Cavery at nine o’clock at night on the 18th of February, and in two hours after attacked by surprise a camp of the enemy’s cavalry, of whom great part were slain, and the remainder dispersed in all directions. This movement was designed to cover the operation of opening the trenches, which took place at the same time, within eight hundred yards of the fort.
Until the 24th of February the approaches were carried on with the greatest activity, when the general orders announced that the preliminary articles of peace had been signed, and in consequence all hostile measures immediately ceased.
On the 26th of February the two sons of Tippoo Saib, Abdel Kalek and Mooza-ud-Deen, the former ten years of age, and the latter eight, were brought to the British camp, as hostages for the due performance of the preliminary articles.[16]
In consequence of some obstacles which had been opposed by Tippoo to the arrangement of the definitive treaty, working parties were ordered, and the guns replaced in the batteries on the 10th March. This state of suspicion and preparation lasted until the 15th of March, when it was discontinued, and on the 18th of that month, the definitive treaty being duly executed, and signed, was delivered by the young Abdel Kalek to each of the confederates. On the 20th the counterpart was sent off to Tippoo Saib.
Madeley lith. 3 Wellington St. Strand
Thus terminated a war in which the confederates wrested from the enemy seventy fortresses, eight hundred pieces of cannon, and destroyed or dispersed at least fifty thousand men. By the articles of the treaty, Tippoo was bound to pay a large sum of money, and to cede one half of his dominions.
The Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India granted from this money a sum equal to six months’ batta for all ranks, and the Court of Directors afterwards made a similar grant.
On the 26th of March, the exchange of the definitive treaty being completed, the British commenced moving towards Bangalore, from whence they proceeded to the Pednaigdurgum Pass, where the Bengal troops were ordered to their own presidency.
Early in May the army descended the Ghauts, arriving soon after at Vellore, where the Commander-in-Chief arranged the cantonments of the troops, and proceeded to Madras. The Seventy-first received orders to march to the southward, and in the month of June arrived at Warriore, near Trichinopoly, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Baird, who during the campaign had been absent from the regiment in command of a brigade. Eight companies were stationed at Warriore, and two were detached with Major Dalrymple to Dindigul. In this situation the regiment continued for the remainder of the year.
1793.
In March 1793, the eight companies under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Baird proceeded from Warriore to Secundermally, in the neighbourhood of Madura. Meanwhile the events of the French revolution had involved England in another contest, the National Convention of France having declared war against Great Britain and Holland, in February 1793. The news of this event arrived in India in May following, when the siege of the French settlement of Pondicherry, on the Coromandel coast, was determined upon. Lieut.-Colonel Baird, of the Seventy-first, was appointed to command a brigade on this service.
In July the flank companies of the regiment were ordered to join the force about to besiege Pondicherry, and marched for that purpose, being followed soon afterwards by the battalion companies. The place surrendered on the 22d of August, and the Seventy-first returned to Secundermally and Dindigul, where the regiment continued during the remainder of the year.
1794.
An attack upon the Mauritius was in contemplation at the commencement of the year 1794, and troops for that service were assembled at Wallajohabad. The Seventy-first, having received orders to join this force, marched to Wallajohabad, where the regiment remained only a short time, having been ordered to return to the southward, in consequence of the projected expedition being relinquished.
The regiment marched accordingly, and arrived at Tanjore in June, where it was stationed for the remainder of the year, having two companies detached, under Major Dalrymple, at Vellum.
1795.
Holland became united to France in the early part of 1795, and was styled the Batavian republic. Upon the arrival of this information in India, an expedition was fitted out against the island of Ceylon, where the Dutch had several settlements. Major Dalrymple, with the flank companies, marched to the coast, and embarked at Negapatam, for the purpose of co-operating with the troops destined for Ceylon, under the command of Colonel James Stuart, of the seventy-second, who was promoted to the rank of Major-General at this period. The fleet arrived on the coast of Ceylon on the 1st of August, and two days afterwards the troops landed four miles north of the fort of Trincomalee. The siege of the fort was commenced as soon as the artillery and stores could be landed, and removed sufficiently near to the place. On the 26th of August a practicable breach was effected, and the garrison surrendered. The fort of Batticaloe surrendered on the 18th of September, and the fort and island of Manaar capitulated on the 5th of October. After these services were performed, the flank companies returned to Tanjore in the month of October, having lost eleven men in killed and wounded. Captain William Charles Gorrie, of the grenadier company, was desperately wounded in this expedition.
1796.
In May 1796, the regiment marched to Wallajohabad, where it was stationed during the remainder of the year.
1797.
On the 2d of January 1797, the regiment was inspected by Major-General Clarke, who issued the following general order:—
“Major-General Clarke has experienced infinite satisfaction, this morning, at the review of His Majesty’s Seventy-first regiment.
“He cannot say that on any occasion of field exercise he ever was present at a more perfect performance.
“When a corps is so striking in appearance, and so complete in every branch of its discipline, little can occur to the Commander-in-chief to particularize. He cannot but notice, however, that the Seventy-first regiment has excited his admiration for its expertness in those parts of its exercise which are most essential, and most difficult to execute. He alludes to its order and regularity when moving in line; its extreme accuracy in preserving distances, and the neatness and promptitude that are so evident in all its formations. So much perfection in a corps, whose services in India will long be held in remembrance does the greatest honor to Lieut.-Colonel Baird and all his officers, to whom, and the corps at large, the Commander-in-chief desires to offer his best thanks.”
The regiment remained in the cantonment of Wallajohabad until the month of October, when orders were issued for its return to Europe. It was accordingly drafted, giving five hundred men to the seventy-third and seventy-fourth regiments, and then marched from Wallajohabad, under the command of Colonel Baird, with the non-commissioned officers, drummers, and invalids, to Madras, and immediately embarked on board of Indiamen for Great Britain. The fleet sailed from Madras Roads on the 17th of October, and was at sea during the remainder of the year.[17]
1798.
Early in January 1798, the fleet arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where the commanding officer of the regiment, Colonel Baird, was detained upon the staff, having been appointed brigadier-general. After remaining a few days in Table Bay, the fleet sailed, and reached St. Helena in February, where it was detained three months waiting for a convoy.
The fleet sailed on the 1st of May from St. Helena, without a convoy, and in July, in consequence of contrary winds, was compelled to put into Cork Harbour. It sailed from thence for the Thames, and on the 12th of August the regiment disembarked at Woolwich, where it remained for a few days, and then re-embarked in smacks for Leith. After landing, the regiment proceeded to Stirling. As a mark of indulgence, a general leave for two months was granted to the officers and men of the Seventy-first, to enable them to visit their friends and families, after a long absence from their native country. At the expiration of this period, the whole assembled at Stirling, with the addition of several recruits. Immediately afterwards, the whole of the officers and non-commissioned officers, with the exception of the staff, and a few at head-quarters, were sent out to recruit the regiment.
1799.
During the year 1799, the head-quarters remained at Stirling, and the recruiting went on but slowly.
1800.
In May 1800, the strength of the regiment amounted to about two hundred rank and file, when a route arrived changing the quarters to Paisley, but soon after the march an order arrived for its proceeding to Ireland. In June the regiment reached Portpatrick, and crossed immediately to Donaghadee, from whence it marched, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple, to Newry, and in a few days afterwards was removed to Dundalk.
In July the regiment received six hundred volunteers from the Scotch Fencible corps serving in Ireland, and remained at Dundalk until the close of the year, when a route for Dublin was received. At this period, Colonel Dalrymple was appointed brigadier-general, and the command of the regiment devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel John French.
On the 6th of December Major Denis Pack was promoted from the fourth Royal Irish dragoon guards to be Lieutenant-Colonel in the Seventy-first regiment, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable John Lindsay, who retired from the service.
1801.
The regiment, early in the year 1801, marched from Dundalk to Dublin, and occupied the barracks in the Palatine Square. On the 24th of April, Lieut.-Colonel Pack joined, and assumed the command of the regiment.
1802.
In March 1802, in which month the Peace of Amiens was concluded, the regiment proceeded from Dublin, and was cantoned in the county of Wicklow. The corps was so divided, that at Arklow, the head-quarters, there were only two companies. In this situation it continued for the remainder of the year.
1803.
The regiment proceeded, in March 1803, in three divisions, to Ballinasloe, where it remained for a few days, and afterwards marched to Loughrea.
Major-General Sir John Francis Cradock, K.B., was appointed colonel of the Seventy-first regiment on the 6th of August 1803, in succession to General the Honorable William Gordon, who was removed to the twenty-first Royal North British Fusiliers.
The regiment continued at Loughrea, but the light company was detached to Limerick, to join a light battalion which was being formed at that place.
1804.
In May the regiment proceeded from Loughrea to the county of Limerick, the head-quarters being stationed at Rathkeale; one detachment at Newcastle, another at Tarbert, and a third at Askeaton.
2d bat.
While the regiment was stationed in Ireland, war had recommenced with France, and Bonaparte having made preparations for invading Great Britain, additional measures of defence to those of the former year were adopted by the Government;[18] and under the “Additional Force Act,” passed on the 10th of July 1804, a second battalion was added to the Seventy-first regiment, which was to consist of men to be raised for limited service in certain counties of North Britain. The second battalion was formed at Dumbarton in October, to the command of which Lieut.-Colonel Lord George Beresford was appointed. Its establishment was fixed at 23 serjeants, 22 drummers, 20 corporals, and 380 privates.
1805.
1st bat.
In March 1805 the first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Pack, proceeded to Bandon in the county of Cork, and was stationed at that place until July, when it marched to Cork, and immediately afterwards to Monkstown, where it embarked in transports, having been selected to form part of a secret expedition under its former commander, Major-General Sir David Baird.
In the beginning of August the embarkation was completed, and on the 5th of that month the fleet sailed, convoyed by three 64-gun ships, two frigates and gun-brigs, under the orders of Commodore Sir Home Popham; and on the 28th of September the fleet, after a very boisterous passage, arrived at Madeira.
On the 3d of October the fleet left Madeira, and on the 12th of November arrived at St. Salvador, in the Brazils, where an opportunity was afforded of refreshing the men, landing the sick, and procuring some horses for the cavalry.
The fleet again put to sea on the 28th of November, and directed its course towards the Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope, then in possession of the Batavian Government, which was united with France in hostility to Great Britain.
1806.
The fleet arrived at the high table-land of the Cape of Good Hope on the 4th of January 1806, and shortly afterwards came to anchor. The whole of the following day the surf upon the shore of the bay was too violent to admit of any attempt to land. Brigadier-General William Carr, afterwards General Viscount, Beresford, was detached, with such of the cavalry as had horses, and the thirty-eighth regiment, to Saldanha Bay.[19]
In the morning of the 6th of January a landing was effected by the Highland brigade, under the command of Brigadier-General Ronald Craufurd Ferguson, in the performance of which service Lieut.-Colonel Pack, the commanding officer of the Seventy-first regiment, was wounded. The following day was devoted to landing the supplies and the remainder of the army.
Early in the morning of the 8th of January Major-General Sir David Baird formed his troops in two columns, and moved up to the heights of Bleuberg (Blue Mountain), from whence the enemy was seen, drawn up in order of battle, in two lines, with twenty-three pieces of cannon, his numbers being calculated at 5,000, of which a large proportion was cavalry.
The British lines were formed with promptitude and correctness, and the enemy was attacked with the utmost spirit. He maintained his ground with some firmness, until a charge of the Highland brigade dislodged and completely routed him, with the loss of three guns and 700 men.
In this affair the Seventy-first had Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Robert Campbell wounded. Five men were killed, and two serjeants and sixty-four rank and file were wounded.
The troops halted for the night at the Reit Valley, and on the 9th of January the army moved towards the Salt River, where it was intended to take up a position previously to the attack of Cape Town, when a flag of truce appeared from the town, which produced some negotiations, that terminated in its surrender to His Majesty’s arms. Lieut.-General Janssens, the Governor of the colony, after his defeat at Bleuberg on the 8th, had retired towards the interior of the country by the Hottentot Holland Kloof, or Pass, from whence, on the 19th of January, he signed and ratified the treaty that placed the whole of the Cape of Good Hope and its dependencies in the possession of Great Britain, under whose sway it has since continued.
The Royal authority was subsequently granted for the Seventy-first to bear the words “Cape of Good Hope” on the regimental colour and appointments, to commemorate its distinguished gallantry at the capture of that important colony.[20]
As the following letter from Brigadier General Ferguson to Major-General Sir David Baird is very creditable to the regiment and to its commander, it is here inserted.
“Cape Town, 19th January 1806.
“Sir,
“As in the affair of Bleuberg, on the 8th instant, chance placed two of the enemy’s guns in possession of the Highland brigade, I hope you will be pleased to order the allowance usually granted on such occasions to be issued, and shared amongst the 71st, 72d, and 93d regiments.
“Although the guns fell into our hands in front of the 71st regiment, Lieut.-Colonel Pack (desirous that the three regiments should be considered as one family) has most handsomely withdrawn the prior claim His Majesty’s 71st regiment might have made, and to which the situation of the guns, when taken, would have entitled that most excellent corps.
“I have, &c.
“(Signed) R. C. Ferguson,
“Brigadier General.
“Major-General Sir David Baird.”
The Seventy-first went into quarters at the cantonment of Wynberg, about seven miles from Cape Town, on the road to Simon’s Bay, where the battalion remained until the 12th of April, when, most unexpectedly, an order arrived for its immediate embarkation on an expedition to the Rio de la Plata in South America, which had been planned by the British commanders, naval and military, at the Cape. The Seventy-first was the only corps of the Cape garrison destined for this service, with the addition of a few dragoons and some artillery. At this period the strength of the battalion amounted to eight hundred rank and file, having received some recruits from foreign corps at the Cape. The troops were to be commanded by Brigadier-General William Carr Beresford, afterwards General Viscount Beresford.
The battalion was embarked in line-of-battle ships and in transports, and on the 14th of April the fleet sailed from Table Bay, directing its course to the westward until the 20th, when, in consequence of unfavourable weather, and having parted company with one of the transports, in which were three companies of the Seventy-first, the signal was made to rendezvous at St. Helena, at which island the fleet arrived on the 30th of April, with the exception of the missing transport. Here the force under Brigadier-General Beresford received an augmentation of two hundred men from the St. Helena regiment, making a total of a thousand and eighty-seven rank and file.
On the 2d of May the fleet sailed from St. Helena, and after a tedious voyage arrived at Cape St. Mary’s, at the entrance of the Rio de la Plata, on the 8th of June, where it met with the missing transport.
The troops that had sailed in the line-of-battle ships were transferred on the 16th of June to the transports, which proceeded up the river, and on the 24th of that month came to anchor opposite the city of Buenos Ayres. On the 25th, at night, the Seventy-first, with the other troops, effected a landing without any opposition. The following morning they pushed forward, and met the enemy at the village of Reduction, who made a trifling stand, and then retired towards the city. On this occasion Captain Henry Le Blanc of the Seventy-first lost his leg, and a serjeant and five rank and file were wounded.
The British troops continued to advance in pursuit of the enemy, and on the morning of the 27th of June forced their passage across the Chualo. Some skirmishing followed this movement, but the city of Buenos Ayres almost immediately surrendered. In the evening the town and fort were taken possession of by the first battalion of the Seventy-first and detachments of Marines and St. Helena Regiment.
The Seventy-first occupied barracks in Buenos Ayres, and remained undisturbed until the beginning of August, by which time the enemy had collected a force of about 1,500 men, under a leader named Pueridon, at five leagues from the city. Brigadier-General Beresford, in consequence, moved out with three hundred of the Seventy-first, fifty from the St. Helena Regiment, and six field pieces; attacked and dispersed the enemy, taking all his artillery, namely, ten pieces of various calibre. The battalion had only five men wounded in this operation.
About this period, a body of the enemy, headed by Colonel Liniers, a French officer in the service of Spain, crossed from Colonna to Concher, evidently with hostile intentions. Forming a junction with the force under Pueridon, the whole marched upon Buenos Ayres.
On the 10th of August the enemy commenced operations, by the massacre of a serjeant and his guard of the Seventy-first Regiment, who were posted at a place in the suburbs where the bull-fights were usually exhibited. On the following day much skirmishing ensued in the outskirts of the city, the enemy taking possession of the tops of houses, from which he kept up a galling and destructive fire.
During this time the main body of the British force took up a position in the Grand Square, but afterwards retired into the fort of Buenos Ayres. Being now bereft of all resources, and without hopes of reinforcement, there appeared no alternative but to capitulate, and about one o’clock on the 12th of August hostilities ceased, and the fort was surrendered. The troops marched out with the honors of war, and laid down their arms in the Square.
The Seventy-first were now prisoners; the officers were allowed their parole, and quartered upon the inhabitants; the men were confined in the prisons of the city.
In these melancholy proceedings fell Lieutenant William Mitchell and Ensign Thomas Lucas. Both had much distinguished themselves. The battalion lost in killed and wounded ninety-one men.
2d bat.
In August 1806 the second battalion embarked at Glasgow for Ireland, and arrived at Belfast on the 1st of September.
1st bat.
About the middle of September, the Seventy-first were removed from Buenos Ayres into the interior. Brigadier-General Beresford, with his staff, and Lieut.-Colonel Pack, were placed at Luxon, from whence they subsequently effected their escape, upon learning that the removal of the prisoners still further up the country had been ordered.
1807.
Lieut.-Colonel Pack was thus enabled to join the troops which had landed near Monte Video in January 1807, under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and to afford assistance in the important operations then being carried on. Sir Samuel Auchmuty, at Lieut.-Colonel Pack’s request, directed a board of naval and military officers to inquire into the particulars of his escape, by whom it was unanimously approved, and he was declared free to serve.[21]
2d bat.
The second battalion was removed from Ireland to Scotland in January 1807, but returned to Ireland in June following.
1st bat.
In May 1807, a further removal to the interior of the prisoners took place. The officers were collected at a college belonging to the Jesuits, about forty leagues to the northward of Cordova, and entirely separated from their men. In this situation they remained until August following, when, just as they were ordered to prepare for a transfer to a station still more remote, the accounts of the convention entered into by Lieut.-General John Whitelocke were received, by which it was stipulated that the prisoners should be restored to liberty, on condition that all the British forces should be withdrawn. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the prospect of being restored to liberty and friends was greatly damped by the military events which produced it, and which completely extinguished the ardent hopes of success that had been entertained from the arrival of the last British force in South America.
In September the whole of the officers and men were re-conducted to Buenos Ayres, from whence they were conveyed in boats to Monte Video, and there embarked in transports, with a view of returning to Europe.
It is a circumstance highly creditable to the character of the soldiers of the Seventy-first, that although so many and powerful allurements were held out to induce them to remain in South America, still not more than thirty-six individuals were found to swerve from their duty and allegiance to their king and country.
The fleet sailed immediately, and after a tedious and rough voyage of three months the transports having the Seventy-first on board put into Cork Harbour in December, and on the 27th of that month the whole were landed, without uniform, clothing, arms, or accoutrements, and marched to Middleton, under the command of Major Henry Tolley, Lieut.-Colonel Pack having previously returned to England from South America.
1808.
In March 1808, the regiment proceeded from Middleton to Cork, where its equipment in every respect was completed.
2d bat.
The second battalion embarked at Londonderry for Scotland on the 9th of April 1808, after transferring 200 men to the first battalion, which raised the strength of the latter to nearly 900 rank and file.
1st bat.
On the 26th of April, whilst in garrison at Cork, new colours, to replace those left in South America, were presented to the Seventy-first by Lieut.-General John Floyd, who had commanded the cavalry and advance in the campaign of 1790 in the East Indies.
The following animating and soldierlike address was made by the gallant general on the occasion:
“Seventy-first!!
“I am directed to perform the honorable duty of presenting your colours.
“Brave Seventy-first, the world is well acquainted with your gallant conduct at the capture of Buenos Ayres, in South America, under one of His Majesty’s bravest generals.
“It is well known that you defended your conquest with the utmost courage, good conduct, and discipline to the last extremity. When diminished to a handful, hopeless of succour, and destitute of provisions, you were overwhelmed by multitudes, and reduced by the fortune of war to lose your liberty, and your well-defended colours, but not your honor. Your honor, Seventy-first regiment, remains unsullied. Your last act in the field covered you with glory. Your generous despair, calling upon your general to suffer you to die with arms in your hands, proceeded from the genuine spirit of British soldiers. Your behavior in prosperity,—your sufferings in captivity,—and your faithful discharge of your duty to your King and country, are appreciated by all.
“You who now stand on this parade, in defiance of the allurements held out to base desertion, are endeared to the army and to the country, and your conduct will ensure you the esteem of all true soldiers,—of all worthy men,—and fill every one of you with honest martial pride.
“It has been my good fortune to have witnessed, in a remote part of the world, the early glories and gallant conduct of the Seventy-first regiment in the field; and it is with great satisfaction I meet you again, with replenished ranks, with good arms in your hands, and with stout hearts in your bosoms.
“Look forward, officers and soldiers, to the achievement of new honors and the acquirement of fresh fame!!
“Officers! be the friends and guardians of these brave fellows committed to your charge!!
“Soldiers! give your confidence to your officers. They have shared with you the chances of war; they have bravely bled along with you;—they will always do honor to themselves and you. Preserve your regiment’s reputation for valour in the field and regularity in quarters.
“I have now the honor to present the
“Royal colour.
“This is the King’s colour!!
“I have now the honor to present your Regimental colour.
“This is the colour of the Seventy-first regiment.
“May victory for ever crown these colours!!!”
The Peninsula was at this period the centre of political interest. Portugal, deserted by her government, and Spain betrayed, the people of each rose in arms to recover the national independence. Dissensions had arisen in the royal family of Spain, occasioned by the sway of Emanuel Godoy, who bore the title of Prince of Peace. This minister was dismissed, but the court was unable to restore tranquillity. In this emergency, the French emperor was solicited to be umpire, and Napoleon ultimately placed the crown of Spain on his brother Joseph, who was transferred from the throne of Naples. The Spaniards flew to arms in consequence. The British government resolved to aid the Spanish and Portuguese patriots, and a British army was ordered to proceed to the Peninsula, under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. The first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment formed part of the force selected on this occasion.
The first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment embarked at the Cove of Cork on the 17th of June 1808. Its strength consisted of fifty-two serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and eight hundred and seventy-four rank and file.
In June 1808 His Majesty King George III. was pleased to approve of the Seventy-first bearing the title of Glasgow regiment, in addition to the appellation of Highland regiment.
In the first instance, the Seventy-first were brigaded with the fifth, thirty-eighth, and fifth battalion of the sixtieth regiment, under Brigadier-General Henry Fane, and sailed for Portugal, in conjunction with the forces destined to aid the Spaniards and Portuguese, on the 12th of July. After a favourable passage, the troops anchored in Mondego Bay in the beginning of August, and a landing was effected in the vicinity of the village of Frejus.
Early in the morning of the 4th of August a small piquet of the enemy stationed in the neighbourhood fell back, and the operation of disembarking the troops was carried into effect without opposition. The army then moved on to a position across a deep sandy country, where it halted, and encamped for the night.
At this period a change took place in the arrangement of the brigades, and the first battalion of the Seventy-first was placed, with the thirty-sixth and fortieth regiments, in that commanded by Major-General Ronald Craufurd Ferguson.
The division under Major-General Sir Brent Spencer, K.B., from Cadiz, consisting of about four thousand men, joined on the 8th of August; and, after a short halt, the army was again put in motion to occupy a more forward position, where it remained for some days. On the 17th of August the enemy, commanded by General Laborde, was encountered near Roleia. The position was attacked, and carried with great loss to the French, who retreated on Torres Vedras.
The light company of the Seventy-first was the only part of the regiment engaged, the remainder being employed in manœuvring on the right flank of the French. The light company suffered a trifling loss, having but one man killed and a few wounded.
The Seventy-first subsequently received the royal authority to bear the word “Roleia” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of this victory.
Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, after the battle of Roleia, did not pursue the enemy by the high roads, but keeping to the right near the sea, marched to Vimiera, to cover the landing of a brigade commanded by Major-General Anstruther, which was effected on the 20th of August.
The morning of the 21st of August was given up to the troops, in order to prepare and repose themselves. The men were engaged in washing and cleaning their equipments, when the approach of the enemy, moving to the left, was discovered at eight o’clock in the morning, and the brigades commanded by Major-General Ferguson, Brigadier-Generals Nightingall, Acland, and Bowes, were consequently moved across a valley from the heights on the west to those on the east of Vimiera.
Marshal Junot, Duke of Abrantes, moved on his army to the attack of the position, and commenced it on the British centre, where the fiftieth regiment was posted, moving along the front gradually to the left, until the whole line became engaged.
A short time previously to this, the soldiers of the brigade were ordered to sit down, with their arms in their hands, keeping their formation. The enemy in the meantime cannonaded the whole line, and pushed on his sharpshooters and infantry. To oppose the former, Major-General Ferguson ordered the left sections of companies to move forward and skirmish. Upon the retreat of the enemy’s sharpshooters, the action became general along the front of this brigade, and the whole moved forward to the attack. Nothing could surpass the steadiness of the troops on this occasion, and the general and commanding officer set a noble example, which was followed by all.
The grenadier company of the Seventy-first greatly distinguished itself, in conjunction with a subdivision of the light company of the thirty-sixth regiment. Captain Alexander Forbes, who commanded the grenadier company, was ordered to the support of some British artillery, and, seizing a favorable opportunity, made a dash at a battery of the enemy’s artillery immediately in his front. He succeeded in capturing five guns and a howitzer, with horses, caissons, and equipment complete. In this affair alone the grenadier company had Lieutenants John Pratt and Ralph Dudgeon and thirteen rank and file wounded, together with two men killed.[22]
The French made a daring effort to retake their artillery, both with cavalry and infantry; but the gallant conduct of the grenadier company, and the advance of Major-General Ferguson’s brigade, finally left the guns in the possession of those who had so gallantly captured them.
George Clark, one of the pipers of the regiment, and afterwards piper to the Highland Society of London, was wounded in this action, and being unable to accompany his corps in the advance against the enemy, put his pipes in order, and struck up a favourite regimental air, to the great delight of his comrades. This is the second instance in which the pipers of the Seventy-first have behaved with particular gallantry, and evinced high feeling for the credit and honor of the corps.[23]
During the advance of the battalion, several prisoners were taken, among whom was the French general, Brennier. Corporal John McKay, of the Seventy-first, who took him, was afterwards promoted to an ensigncy in the Fourth West India Regiment.
The result of this battle was the total defeat of the enemy, who subsequently retreated on Lisbon, with the loss of twenty-one pieces of cannon, twenty-three ammunition waggons, with powder, shells, stores of all descriptions, and 20,000 rounds of musket ammunition, together with a great many officers and soldiers killed, wounded, and taken prisoners.
The conduct of the battalion, and of its commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Pack, was noticed in the public despatches, and the thanks of both Houses of Parliament were conferred on the troops.
The following officers of the Seventy-first were wounded in the battle of Vimiera: Captains Arthur Jones and Maxwell Mackenzie; Lieutenants John Pratt, William Hartley, Augustus McIntyre, and Ralph Dudgeon; Ensign James Campbell, and Acting Adjutant R. McAlpin.
The Seventy-first subsequently received the royal authority to bear the word “Vimiera” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of this battle.
The “Convention of Cintra” was the result of this victory, and it was signed on the 30th of August. By its provisions the French army evacuated Portugal, which country became freed from its oppressors.
The British army was ordered to move forward to Lisbon, some of the reinforcements for it having preceded it by water, and occupied the forts at the mouth of the Tagus. The French army having by this convention fallen back on Lisbon, the British proceeded to the vicinity of Fort St. Julien, and encamped.
All the objects of the expedition being carried into effect, and the French troops embarked for France, the British army remained for some time at Lisbon and its vicinity. At this period (September) Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, having assumed the command, made dispositions for entering Spain.
The first battalion of the Seventy-first was now brigaded with the thirty-sixth and ninety-second regiments under Brigadier-General Catlin Craufurd, and placed in the division under the command of Lieut.-General the Honorable John Hope, afterwards the Earl of Hopetoun. On the 27th of October the division was put in motion, and after a short stay at Badajoz resumed the march, proceeding by Merida, Truxillo, Jaraicejo, Puerto-de-Merivette, and crossing the Tagus at the bridge of Almaraz, directed its route upon Talavera-de-la-Reyna. From this town the column proceeded to the Escurial, seven leagues to the north-west of Madrid.
Intelligence was here received of the enemy’s approach towards Madrid, and two companies of the Seventy-first, under Major Archibald Campbell, were pushed forward to occupy the important pass in the Guadarama Mountains, which separate Old from New Castile. After a halt of a few days, the division was put in motion over the Guadarama Pass to Villa Castin, at which place Lieut.-General the Honorable John Hope, in consequence of the intelligence which he received of the enemy’s movements, made a night march to the left, by Avila and Peneranda, and finally proceeded to Alba-de-Tormes. At the latter place a junction was formed with a detachment from the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, then at Salamanca. The army under Sir John Moore was shortly afterwards put in motion towards Valladolid, and subsequently to the left, to form a junction with Lieut.-General Sir David Baird’s division, which had landed at Corunna.
Previously to this period, the Spanish armies under General Blake, near Bilboa on the left, General Castanos in the centre, and General Palafox lower down the Ebro on the right, had been completely defeated; and Lieut.-General Sir John Moore consequently made arrangements for a retreat on Portugal by Ciudad Rodrigo; but it having been represented to him that Madrid held out against the French, he was induced to effect a junction with Lieut.-General Sir David Baird, in order to make a diversion in favour of Madrid, by attacking Marshal Soult on the river Carion.
The British force, twenty-nine thousand strong, joined at Toro on the 21st of December, and on the 23d of that month Sir John Moore advanced with the whole army. The cavalry had already met with that of the enemy, and the infantry were within two hours’ march of him, when an intercepted letter informed the British commander that Napoleon, who had entered Madrid on the 4th of December, was then in full march for Salamanca and Benevente. A retreat on Corunna, through Gallicia, was immediately decided on, that through Portugal being then impracticable.
Accordingly the several divisions marched towards the Esla, the greater part crossing by the bridge of Benevente on the 26th of December, when, after a day’s halt, the cavalry under Lieut.-General Lord Paget and Brigadier-General the Honorable Charles Stewart had an engagement with some of the Imperial Guards that had forded the river Esla under General Le Fevre, who was made prisoner, with several of his men.
At this period the situation of the British army was dispiriting in the extreme. In the midst of winter, in a dreary and desolate country, the soldiers, chilled and drenched with the heavy rains, and wearied by long and rapid marches, were almost destitute of fuel to cook their victuals, and it was with extreme difficulty that they could procure shelter. Provisions were scarce, irregularly issued, and difficult of attainment. The waggons, in which were their magazines, baggage, and stores, were often deserted in the night by the Spanish drivers, who were terrified by the approach of the French. Thus baggage, ammunition, stores, and even money were destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy; and the weak, the sick, and the wounded were necessarily left behind. The Seventy-first suffered in proportion with the rest, and by weakness, sickness, and fatigue lost about ninety-three men.
1809.
On the 5th of January 1809, a position was taken up at Lugo, where some skirmishing occurred, in which three companies of the Seventy-first were engaged, and repulsed the enemy.
Lieut.-General Francis Dundas was appointed from the ninety-fourth regiment to be Colonel of the Seventy-first on the 7th of January 1809, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir John Francis Cradock, K.B., removed to the forty-third regiment.
The retreat was again commenced on the 9th of January; and on the 11th the army, still nearly fifteen thousand strong, reached Corunna. The British army, having accomplished one of the most celebrated retreats recorded in modern history, repulsing the pursuing enemy in all his attacks, and having traversed two hundred and fifty miles of mountainous country under very disheartening circumstances, accompanied by severe privation, was not destined to embark for England without a battle.
The transports not having arrived, a position was occupied in advance of Corunna, and some sharp skirmishing ensued, in which four companies of the Seventy-first were warmly engaged, and lost several men in killed and wounded. Lieutenant William Lockwood was severely wounded. On this ground the battle of Corunna was fought, on the 16th of January; but the Seventy-first, being placed on the extreme left of the British line, had little to do therein. The result of the action was glorious to the British army, but was darkened by the loss of Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, who received a severe wound during the battle, and died at ten o’clock on the same night. His remains were wrapped in a military cloak, and interred in the Citadel of Corunna, over which Marshal Soult, with the true feeling of a soldier, erected a monument.
Lieut.-General Sir David Baird, who succeeded to the command upon Sir John Moore being wounded, was also wounded, and the command devolved upon Lieut.-General the Honorable John Hope.
At eight o’clock on the night of the 16th of January the troops quitted their position, leaving the piquets posted, and a few men to keep up the fires, and then marched into Corunna, where they embarked for England on the following day.
In commemoration of this battle, and of the conduct of the battalion during the expedition, the Seventy-first, in common with the army employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, received the royal authority to bear the word “Corunna” on the regimental colour and appointments.[24]
The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were conferred on the troops, and were communicated to Lieut.-Colonel Pack by Lieut.-General Sir David Baird in the following letter:—
“Portsmouth, 30th January 1809.
“Sir,
“I have great pleasure in transmitting to you copies of letters from the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons, enclosing the Resolutions of both Houses of Parliament, dated 25th of January 1809, which contain the thanks of those Houses to the army lately engaged before Corunna.
“In communicating to you, Sir, this most signal mark of the approbation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, allow me to add my warmest congratulations upon a distinction which you, and the corps under your command on that day, had a share in obtaining for His Majesty’s service.
“I have, &c.
“(Signed) David Baird,
“Lieut.-General.
“Officer commanding First Battalion
“Seventy-first regiment.”
After the battalion had landed at Ramsgate, it was marched to Ashford in Kent, where it continued for some time, collecting the men, who from contrary winds were driven into different ports.
While at Ashford the battalion was brigaded with the Warwick militia and the ninety-first regiment, under Brigadier-General the Baron de Rottenburg. Great sickness prevailed at this station, and Surgeon James Evans and several of the soldiers died of typhus fever.
On the 20th of March 1809 the Royal authority was granted for the Seventy-first to be formed into a light infantry regiment, when it was directed that the clothing, arming, and discipline should be the same in all respects as the forty-third, fifty-second, sixty-eighth, and eighty-fifth regiments.
The first battalion marched, on the 27th of April 1809, for Brabourne-Lees barracks, and was brigaded with the sixty-eighth and eighty-fifth light infantry regiments. Every exertion was here made to increase the strength and improve the discipline of the corps. In June the first battalion was increased by a large reinforcement, consisting of several officers and 311 non-commissioned officers and privates from the second battalion, which continued to be stationed in North Britain. Several volunteers from the militia were also received at this period.
Immense preparations had been made by the British Government to fit out the most formidable armament that had for a long time proceeded from England. The troops amounted to 40,000 men, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham; the naval portion consisted of thirty-nine ships of the line, thirty-six frigates, and numerous gun-boats and bomb-vessels, and other small craft, under Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. The object of the expedition was to obtain possession of the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt, and to destroy the French ships in that river, with the docks and arsenals at Antwerp. The first battalion of the Seventy-first, towards the end of June, received orders to prepare for the above service, and marched, on the 28th and 29th of that month, in two divisions, encamping near Gosport.
On the 16th of July the battalion, consisting of three field officers, six captains, twenty-seven subalterns, five staff, forty-eight serjeants, and 974 drummers and rank and file, embarked at Portsmouth on board His Majesty’s ships Belleisle and Impérieuse, and towards the end of the month sailed for the Downs.
The battalion was brigaded, under Brigadier-General the Baron de Rottenburg, with the sixty-eighth and eighty-fifth light infantry, in the division commanded by Lieut.-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, and in the corps of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B.
The expedition sailed from the Downs on the 28th of July, and having arrived off the Roompet Channel, preparations were made for landing; small craft to cover the landing were also sent in shore, and the light brigade, composed of the sixty-eighth, Seventy-first, and eighty-fifth light infantry, were landed under their fire. In an instant they were in contact with the enemy’s sharpshooters, who fell back, skirmishing. Being pushed hard, four guns, with their equipment, and several prisoners were taken by two companies of the Seventy-first, under Captains George Sutherland and Henry Hall, and one company of the eighty-fifth regiment.
A battery and flagstaff on the coast were taken possession of by the tenth company of the Seventy-first, and in lieu of a flag a soldier’s red jacket was hoisted on it.
This advance having succeeded at all points, and the enemy having fallen back on Flushing and Middleburg, the army was disembarked. The advance then dividing, proceeded by different routes. The Seventy-first moved by the sea dyke on a fort called Ter Veer, the situation and strength of which was not sufficiently known, an enemy’s deserter having given but imperfect intelligence respecting it.
After nightfall the column continued to advance in perfect silence, with orders to attack the post with the bayonet, when, on a sudden, the advance-guard fell in with an enemy’s party, who came out for the purpose of firing some houses which overlooked the works. The column following the advance-guard had entered an avenue or road leading to the fort, when the advance commenced the action with the enemy, who, retiring within the place, opened a tremendous fire from his works with artillery and musketry. Some guns pointing down the road by which the battalion advanced did great execution, and the Seventy-first had Surgeon Charles Henry Quin killed, and about eighteen men killed and wounded. The column, after some firing, retired, and the place was the next day regularly invested by sea and land. It took three days to reduce it, when it capitulated, with its stores, and a garrison of 800 men.
Flushing having been invested on the 1st of August, the Seventy-first, after the surrender of Ter Veer, were ordered into the line of circumvallation, and placed on the extreme left, resting on the Scheldt. The preparations for the attack on the town having been completed, on the 13th a dreadful fire was opened from the batteries and bomb-vessels, and congreve rockets having been thrown into the town, it was on fire in many places. The ships having joined in the attack, the enemy’s fire gradually slackened, and at length ceased. A summons being sent in, a delay was demanded, but being rejected, the firing recommenced.
On the 14th of August one of the outworks was carried at the point of the bayonet by a party of detachments and two companies of the Seventy-first under Lieut.-Colonel Pack.
In this affair, Ensign Donald Sinclair, of the Seventy-first, was killed; Captain George Spottiswoode and a few men were wounded.
Flushing, with its garrison of 6,000 men, capitulated on the 15th of August, and the right gate was occupied by a detachment of 300 men of the first or Royal Scots, and the left gate by a detachment of similar strength of the Seventy-first under Major Arthur Jones. The naval arsenal, and some vessels of war which were on the stocks, fell into the hands of the British.
The Seventy-first shortly after proceeded to Middleburg, where the battalion remained for a few days, when it was ordered to occupy Ter Veer, of which place Lieut.-Colonel Pack was appointed commandant, and Lieutenant Henry Clements, of the Seventy-first, town major. The battalion remained doing duty in the garrison until this island, after destroying the works, &c., was finally evacuated on the 22d of December.
On the 23d of December the battalion embarked in transports, and sailed for England, after a service of five months in a very unhealthy climate, which cost the battalion the loss of the following officers and men.
| Officers. | Serjeants, Drummers, and Rank and File. | |
| Died on service | 1 | 57 |
| Killed | 2 | 19 |
| Died after return home | 2 | 9 |
| — | — | |
| Total | 5 | 85 |
In passing Cadsand, that fort opened a fire on the transports, one of which, having part of the Seventy-first on board, was struck by a round shot, which carried off Serjeant Steel’s legs above the knees.
On the 25th of December the first battalion of the Seventy-first disembarked at Deal, and marched to Brabourne-Lees barracks, in Kent, where it was again brigaded with the sixty-eighth and eighty-fifth light infantry, and was occupied in putting itself in an efficient state for active service.
1810.
Upon the Seventy-first being made light infantry, they were permitted to retain such parts of the national dress as might not be inconsistent with their duties as a light corps. A correspondence on the subject took place between Lieut.-Colonel Pack and the Adjutant-General in April 1810, and the following reply was received from head-quarters.
“Horse Guards, 12th April 1810.
“Sir,
“Having submitted to the Commander-in-Chief your letter of the 4th instant, I am directed to state, that there is no objection to the Seventy-first being denominated Highland Light Infantry Regiment, or to their retaining their pipes, and the Highland garb for the pipers; and that they will, of course, be permitted to wear caps according to the pattern which was lately approved and sealed by authority.[25]
“I have, &c.
“(Signed) William Wynyard,
“Deputy Adjutant-General.
“Lieut.-Colonel Pack,
“71st Regiment.”
On the 8th of May 1810 the first battalion marched to Deal barracks, where every exertion was continued to render it fit for active service. Here the battalion was deprived of the services of Lieut.-Colonel Pack, who was appointed a brigadier in the Portuguese army under Marshal William Carr Beresford, afterwards General the Viscount Beresford.
Nothing of moment occurred until the early part of September, when the battalion received orders to hold six companies in readiness for foreign service. They were prepared accordingly by drafting into them, from the companies which were to remain at home, the most effective officers and men, several not having recovered from the Walcheren fever.
The following were the companies selected and completed for foreign service, namely:—
| 1st, or Capt. McIntyre’s, | 4th, or Capt. Walker’s, |
| 2d, or “ Hall’s, | 6th, or “ Spottiswoode’s, |
| 3d, or “ Adamson’s, | 10th, or “ Lewis Grant’s. |
They consisted of two field officers, six captains, fifteen lieutenants, seven ensigns, four staff, thirty-eight serjeants, twelve drummers, and six hundred and three rank and file.
On the 14th of September the above companies embarked in the Downs on board the Melpomene and St. Fiorenzo frigates; three companies, with the staff, and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Nathaniel Levett Peacocke, on board the former; the remaining three companies, under Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Reynell, afterwards colonel of the regiment, on board the latter. They sailed on the following day for Lisbon, and entered the Tagus on the 25th of September, after a short and pleasant passage. The companies were disembarked on the following day, and quartered in the San Benito and Espirito Santo convents.
The greatest exertions were made to complete the companies in field equipment, bât-mules, &c., which being effected, the detachment marched from Lisbon on the 2d of October to Mafra, where it was shortly afterwards joined by Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, who assumed the command, and Lieut.-Colonel Peacocke returned to the second battalion in North Britain.
The detachment being ordered to join the army under Lieut.-General Viscount Wellington, then retreating before Marshal Massena, Prince of Essling, marched from Mafra on the 8th of October, and on the 10th of that month effected the junction at Sobral, where it was brigaded with the fiftieth and ninety-second regiments under Major-General Sir William Erskine, in the first division under Lieut.-General Sir Brent Spencer, K.B.
The army having retired into a position in the rear of Sobral, that place was occupied by the Seventy-first, having for its support the fiftieth and ninety-second regiments and Major-General Alan Cameron’s brigade. On the 12th of October the piquets were violently attacked by the enemy’s advance, and retired skirmishing. In the meantime the place was ordered to be evacuated, and the piquets having joined, the Seventy-first took up a position on the outside, within musket-shot of the town. In this affair the detachment had eight men killed, and thirty-four wounded.
In this position the Seventy-first continued, when on the 14th of October they were again attacked with the greatest impetuosity, and charged with the bayonet. The enemy was completely repulsed, with very considerable loss in killed and wounded, being chased to the spot from which he made the attack. Both parties resumed their original position.
In Viscount Wellington’s despatch reporting this affair, the names of Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, commanding the Seventy-first, and that of Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Reynell, were particularly mentioned.
A soldier of the sixth company, named John Rea, behaved on this occasion in the most gallant manner, and particularly distinguished himself, for which he received a silver medal, with the following inscription: “To John Rea, for his exemplary courage and good conduct as a soldier at Sobral, 14th October 1810.”
On the 15th of October the Seventy-first were ordered to withdraw into the position at Zibriera, which was a continuation of the lines of Torres Vedras. In this celebrated position, which bid defiance to the French army, the troops were constantly on the alert, and occupied in rendering it as strong as circumstances would admit, and in observing the motions of the enemy.
Marshal Massena did not think proper to attack the British army in this stronghold, and occupied his time in reconnoissances and demonstrations, until compelled, through want of provisions, and consequent sickness of his troops, to abandon his designs, and retire to a position in his rear. This object he finally effected in a masterly manner in the night between the 14th and 15th of November, followed by the allied forces. Both armies thus evacuated positions on which the attention of Europe had been fixed, and which they had occupied for a month in the presence of each other.
The division in which the six companies of the Seventy-first were placed advanced by the route of Alemquer, Cartaxo, Atelaya, and Almoster, and halted in and about the latter place from the 20th to the 26th of November inclusive. The enemy in the meantime retired to an extremely strong position at and in the vicinity of Santarem, where Marshal Massena halted, although threatened by Viscount Wellington, who, after some manœuvring, took up a position immediately in the enemy’s front, having his head-quarters at Cartaxo, and the different corps of the army cantoned in the villages. The brigade to which the Seventy-first belonged occupied Alquintrinha.
1811.
At this place the Seventy-first remained in quarters until March 1811, at which period the army, having been reinforced[26], was about to resume the offensive, when the enemy retired during the night of the 5th of March, taking the same road, through Estremadura, by which he entered Portugal.
The British army accordingly advanced in pursuit of Marshal Massena, and the brigade in which was the Seventy-first accompanied it, moving by Redinha, Miranda de Corvo, and Saryedes, passing the Coa, a little above Sabugal, upon the 5th of April, and on the 9th arrived at Albergaria, a small town on the frontiers of Spain. The Seventy-first remained in Albergaria until the 2d of May, when the enemy, having been strongly reinforced, moved from Salamanca, and on that day crossed the frontier with a large convoy of provisions for Almeida, then closely invested by the Portuguese forces under Brigadier-General Pack.
In consequence of this movement, the allied army broke up its cantonments on the Azava, and formed in order of battle upon the high ground behind the Duas Casas, the left extending to the high road to Almeida which crossed the river by a ford near Fort Conception, and the right keeping up a communication with the bridge at Sabugal; opposite the centre, the village of Fuentes d’Onor was strongly occupied by light infantry.
Upon the 3d of May the French took post on the opposite side of the valley of the Duas Casas, their left fronting Fuentes d’Onor, and their right extending about two miles and a half to Alameda. In the afternoon of the 3d of May they attacked Fuentes d’Onor with much vigour. That post was defended with the greatest bravery until the light companies, being worn out and harassed by repeated attacks, were obliged to retire, and the enemy possessed himself of the lower part of the village.
The Seventy-first were now ordered up to support, and, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, charged the enemy through the village and across the Duas Casas, taking ten officers and about a hundred men prisoners. The corps retained its conquest that night and the whole of the next day, but upon Sunday the 5th of May, the French having succeeded in turning some troops to the immediate right, were obliged to give way; having been immediately supported by the seventy-fourth and eighty-eighth regiments, they again advanced, took possession of and retained the village until the conclusion of the action.
A struggle of such duration could not be carried on without great loss, and the Seventy-first suffered severely. They went into action about 320 strong, and lost nearly one half of their number in killed and wounded.
The Seventy-first had Lieutenants John Consell, William Houston, and John Graham, and Ensign Donald John Kearns, together with four serjeants and twenty-two rank and file, killed.
Captains Peter Adamson and James McIntyre, Lieutenants William McCraw, Humphrey Fox, and Robert Law (Adjutant), Ensigns Charles Cox, John Vandeleur, and Carique Lewin, six serjeants, three buglers, and one hundred rank and file, were wounded. Two officers, with several men, were taken prisoners.
In commemoration of the gallantry displayed in this prolonged action, the Seventy-first subsequently received the Royal authority to bear the words “Fuentes d’Onor” on the regimental colour and appointments.
Viscount Wellington particularly mentioned the name of Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan in his despatch, and being highly gratified with the conduct of the Seventy-first on this occasion, directed that a non-commissioned officer should be selected for a commission. According to his Lordship’s recommendation, Quartermaster-Serjeant William Gavin was shortly afterwards promoted to an ensigncy in the regiment.
The Seventy-first, upon the 14th, returned to their old quarters at Albergaria, and remained there until the 26th of May, when the brigade was ordered to the Alemtejo frontier, as a reinforcement to Marshal Sir William Beresford’s[27] army, at this time besieging Badajoz, and threatened by the advance of Marshal Soult from the south of Spain.
2d bat.
On the 15th of May 1811, the second battalion embarked at Leith for South Britain, arrived at Ramsgate on the 23d of that month, and remained stationed in England for nearly two years.
1st bat.
The first battalion, upon its route southward, crossed the Tagus on the 31st of May, and arrived near Albuhera on the 14th of June, having passed through Portalegre, Aronches, Campo Mayor, and Talavera Real.
The sanguinary battle of Albuhera, fought on the 16th of May, had obliged Marshal Soult to retire previously to the arrival of the reinforcement, which being considered no longer necessary, the battalion retired to Elvas, where it remained two days; the battalion again moved to Toro de Moro on the 19th of June, where it remained for a month. At this encampment a detachment of 350 men, with a proportion of officers, joined from the second battalion then stationed at Deal.
About this period the first battalion became a part of the army under Lieut.-General Rowland (afterwards Viscount) Hill. The junction of the armies of Marshals Marmont and Soult having obliged Viscount Wellington to raise the siege of Badajoz, which had been resumed after the battle of Albuhera, the battalion, in co-operation with his Lordship’s retrograde movement, retired to Borba on the 20th of July. Here it remained until the 1st of September, when it moved to Portalegre, and thence marched to Castello de Vido on the 4th of October.
A detachment from Marshal Soult’s army under General Girard having been collecting contributions in Spanish Estremadura, Lieut.-General Rowland Hill, with a view of putting a stop to his movements, broke up his cantonments at Portalegre upon the 22d of October, proceeding by Albuquerque and Malpartida. On the 27th, when within a moderate march of the enemy at Arroyo-del-Molinos, Lieut.-General Hill halted his troops, and, at night, breaking up his bivouac, made a flank movement close to the road by which the French intended to march on the following morning. In that position he awaited the approach of day, when, on the 28th of October, the British marched directly on the rear of the town with such celerity that the cavalry piquets were rushed upon before they had time to mount. The French main body, though in the act of filing out, had so little intimation of danger that the officers and men were surrounded before their formation was effected, and to seek safety they individually dispersed. Many of them were killed, and about 1,400 were taken prisoners. All the enemy’s artillery and baggage were captured. General Brun and Colonel the Prince of Aremberg, together with several other officers, were among the prisoners.
In this brilliant affair the Seventy-first was one of the three corps that advanced through the centre of the town, and were, therefore, principally engaged; but the enemy, from his complete surprise, being unable to make a combined resistance, the British sustained but trifling loss.
The battalion subsequently returned to Portalegre, where it arrived early in November.
Lieut.-General Hill, on the 7th of November, issued the following General Order:—
“Portalegre, 7th November 1811.
“Lieut.-General Hill has great satisfaction in congratulating the troops on the success which has attended their recent operations in Estremadura, and in so doing he cannot but endeavour to do justice to the merits of those through whose exertions it has been obtained. A patient willing endurance of forced and night marches, during the worst of weather and over bad roads, of bivouacs in wet weather, oftentimes without cover and without fire, and a strict observance of discipline, are qualities, however common in British soldiers, which the Lieut.-General cannot pass unnoticed. Having on this occasion witnessed the exertion of them in no ordinary degree, he feels that nothing but the most zealous attention of commanding officers, the goodwill and zealous spirit of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, could produce such an effect, and he requests they will, generally and individually, accept his warmest thanks, particularly those corps which were engaged in the action of Arroyo-del-Molinos, whose silent attention to orders, when preparing to attack, and when manœuvring before the enemy, could not but excite his notice, and give them an additional claim on him.”
Letters from the Secretary of State, dated the 2d, and from His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, dated the 6th December, were promulgated, expressive of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent’s approbation and thanks to Lieut.-General Hill, and the troops under his command, for their brilliant operations on the recent expedition in Spanish Estremadura, in having totally surprised and defeated the enemy under General Girard.
Viscount Wellington having made preparations for the recapture of Ciudad Rodrigo, concentrated the main body of the army in that neighbourhood, and the troops under Lieut.-General Hill were therefore ordered to divert the enemy’s attention in the south.
The first battalion of the Seventy-first remained at Portalegre until the 25th of December, when the brigade moved into Estremadura for the purpose of expelling the French, who were ravaging the country. After the performance of this duty, the battalion returned to its former quarters at Portalegre in February 1812.
1812.
Upon the 19th of March 1812, the battalion moved northward to Castello Branco, where it remained for about a week, and afterwards returned for the last time to Portalegre.
The Earl of Wellington having made arrangements for the third siege of Badajoz, Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill’s[28] corps was destined to cover his movements, and with that view proceeded on the 21st of March towards Merida, and afterwards to Don Benito, where the troops remained for a few days; but upon the approach of Marshal Soult with a large army, with the intention of raising the siege, Lieut.-General Hill retired upon Albuhera, through Arroyo de San Servan and Talavera Real.
Badajoz having been assaulted and carried by the troops under the Earl of Wellington on the night of the 6th of April, after a sanguinary conflict, the movement of Marshal Soult was rendered nugatory, and the troops under his orders retired into Andalusia.
Marshal Marmont having, during the progress of the siege, penetrated into the province of Beira, and threatened Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, the Earl of Wellington, after the fall of Badajoz, crossed the Tagus, leaving Sir Rowland Hill’s force to watch Marshal Soult, which took post at Almendralejos for that purpose.
The battalion was stationed at this town from the 13th of April until the 11th of May. It having then become expedient to render the communications between the French armies on the north and south of the Tagus as precarious as possible, by the destruction of the bridge of boats at Almaraz, the corps under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, being the most disposable and convenient force, was accordingly ordered on this important service.
The French, feeling the importance of this bridge to their mutual strength and security, had surrounded it on both sides of the river with formidable enclosed works, having in the interior of them casemated and loop-holed towers. The troops appointed for these strong works, consequently, anticipated an arduous struggle.
Upon the 12th of May the corps broke up from Almendralejos, and marching by Truxillo and Jaraicejo, reached on the 18th of that month the sierra, five miles from Almaraz, on which stands the Castle of Mirabete. This post was so strongly fortified that it blocked up the only road to Almaraz for the passage of artillery, which was considered by the enemy absolutely necessary for the destruction of the works. Sir Rowland Hill thought otherwise; and ascertaining that infantry could cross the sierra by a track through Roman Gordo, he left his artillery, and descended at night with a column of 2,000 men. The leading company arrived at dawn of day close to the principal fort, built on a height a few hundred yards in front of the tête-de-pont; but such were the difficulties of the road that a considerable time elapsed before the rear closed, during which the troops were fortunately sheltered by a ravine, unseen by the enemy.
On the 19th of May the fiftieth regiment and the left wing of the Seventy-first, having been provided with ladders, were appointed to escalade the works of Fort Napoleon, supported by the right wing of the Seventy-first, and the ninety-second regiment.
From a feint made upon Mirabete, the French were aware that an enemy was in the neighbourhood. The garrison was on the alert; immediately opened a heavy fire, and vigorously resisted the efforts made to push up the scarp; but the moment the first men gained a footing on the parapet the enemy took to flight. The whole of this brilliant affair was completed in the short space of fifteen minutes, and with little loss.
The Seventy-first had Captain Lewis Grant, with one serjeant and seven rank and file, killed; Lieutenants William Lockwood and Donald Ross, three serjeants, and twenty-nine rank and file were wounded.
The names of thirty-six non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Seventy-first were inserted in regimental orders for conspicuous bravery upon this occasion, and the Royal authority was subsequently granted for the word “Almaraz” to be borne on the regimental colour and appointments.[29]
The following orders were issued upon this occasion:—
“Bivouac, near Fort Napoleon,
“19th May 1812.
“Brigade Order.
“Major-General Howard cannot delay expressing his warmest acknowledgments to Lieut.-Colonel Stewart and Major Harrison, of the fiftieth regiment, and Major Cother of the Seventy-first regiment, who commanded the three columns of attack this morning on Fort Napoleon and the works on the Tagus, for the gallant and distinguished manner in which they led the columns intrusted to them, as well as to all the other officers, non-commissioned officers and privates, for their bravery and good conduct, which produced the brilliant result of the capture of the works in question.”
“Truxillo, May 22nd, 1812.
“General Order.
“Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill congratulates the troops on the success which has attended their exertions in the present expedition. Every object for which it was undertaken has been attained, and in the manner most desirable and effectual. It is highly gratifying to the Lieut.-General to report on this occasion his admiration of the discipline and the valour of the troops under his command. The chance of war gave to the fiftieth and Seventy-first regiments the most conspicuous share in these events, who nobly profited by the opportunity; but the Lieut.-General is satisfied that the same zeal and the same spirit would have been found in every corps if there had been occasion for bringing them into play.
“The Lieut.-General has not failed to report to his Excellency the Commander of the Forces the particulars of this brilliant service, and the good conduct of all those concerned in it. He will therefore not say more at present than to express his warmest thanks for the assistance which he has received from all ranks; and he is confident, when it shall again be his good fortune to lead them against the enemy, he shall have to report conduct equally honorable to them, and equally advantageous to their country.”
The bridge and works in the neighbourhood of Almaraz having been completely destroyed, the Seventy-first returned to Truxillo, where they remained a few days, then moved to Merida, and afterwards to Almendralejos. Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill’s force having received orders to make a diversion in the south, while the main army was moving northward on Salamanca, the battalion again moved from Almendralejos to the borders of Andalusia, through Llerena. On this march the advanced parties of cavalry were constantly skirmishing with the enemy, but the Seventy-first were not engaged.
From Llerena the battalion returned to Zafra, where, after a short halt, it proceeded to Villa Franca, and finally to Don Benito. In these marches through Estremadura the weather was oppressively hot, and, joined to the clouds of dust raised by the troops, was so fatiguing that it was considered expedient at one time to move by night, and thus these inconveniences were alleviated.
While the force under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill had been thus employed, the allied army under the Earl of Wellington had gained a victory on the 22d of July over the French at Salamanca, for which he was advanced to the dignity of marquis.
From Don Benito the battalion moved upon the 13th of September, and passing through Truxillo, Talavera, and Toledo, arrived at Aranjuez upon the 1st of October, from which place, after a halt of three weeks, it moved to Ponte Duenna, further up the Tagus.
The sudden approach of the united armies of Marshals Soult and Suchet rendered a speedy retreat necessary, and the division accordingly retired from Ponte Duenna in the night of the 28th of October, moving to form a junction with the army of the Marquis of Wellington, who had now relinquished the siege of Burgos. Near Madrid the division halted for a short period, when, being joined by the garrison of that city, the troops retired leisurely by the Guadarama Pass on Alba de Tormes. This town the Seventy-first occupied from the 7th to the 13th of November, and during that period sustained a loss in action with the enemy of one serjeant and six rank and file killed; one bugler and five rank and file wounded.
The army having received orders to retire on Portugal, the battalion abandoned this post, arriving at Coria upon the 1st of December, where the retreat terminated. In this quarter the Seventy-first continued until the 13th of December, at which time they were pushed forward to Puerto de Bannos, where they were joined by a draft of 150 men from the second battalion.
1813.
While stationed at this post, an attempt was made, in February 1813, by the French, to surprise Bejar, then occupied by the fiftieth regiment. The Seventy-first were ordered forward to support, but previously to their arrival that brave regiment had driven back the enemy, and completely foiled his efforts.
2d bat.
On the 18th of March 1813, the second battalion of the Seventy-first embarked at Gravesend for North Britain, and arrived at Leith on the 23d of that month.
1st bat.
Upon the 5th of April the Seventy-first changed quarters with the fiftieth regiment, and continued to occupy Bejar until the 21st of May, at which period the army broke up from its winter cantonments for active operations. The battalion on its advance moved by Salamanca and Toro, and encamped at La Puebla on the 20th of June, the evening before the memorable battle of Vittoria.
Upon the morning of the 21st of June, the two armies being in position, the Seventy-first were ordered to ascend the heights of La Puebla, to support the Spanish forces under General Morillo. They accordingly advanced in open column, and having formed line, were immediately hotly engaged with the enemy, and upon this occasion suffered an irreparable loss in the fall of their Commanding Officer the Honorable Colonel Henry Cadogan, who fell mortally wounded while leading his men to the charge, and being unable to accompany the battalion, requested to be carried to a neighbouring eminence, from which he might take a last farewell of them and the field. In his dying moments he earnestly inquired if the French were beaten; and on being told by an officer of the regiment, who stood by supporting him, that they had given way at all points, he ejaculated, “God bless my brave countrymen” and immediately expired.[30]
While recording the deep sense of sorrow which the Seventy-first experienced in the demise of a commanding officer who had so often fought at their head, and whose devoted gallantry had so frequently called forth their admiration, it is but a meet tribute to the memory of that brave spirit to extract from the despatch of the Marquis of Wellington the following expressions of his lordship’s regret at his loss:
“And I am concerned to report that the Honorable Lieut.-Colonel Cadogan has died of a wound which he received. In him His Majesty has lost an officer of great zeal and tried gallantry, who had already acquired the respect and regard of the whole profession, and of whom it might be expected, that if he had lived he would have rendered the most important services to his country.”
After the fall of the Lieut.-Colonel, the Seventy-first continued advancing, and driving the enemy from the heights, until the force which was opposed to them became so unequal, and the loss of the battalion so severe, that it was obliged to retire upon the remainder of the brigade. In the performance of this arduous duty the battalion suffered very severely, having had one field officer, one captain, two lieutenants, six serjeants, one bugler, and seventy-eight rank and file killed; one field officer, three captains, seven lieutenants, thirteen serjeants, two buglers, and two hundred and fifty-five rank and file were wounded.
The officers killed were Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, Captain Henry Hall, Lieutenants Humphrey Fox and Colin Mackenzie. Those wounded were Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Charles Cother, Captains Samuel Reed, Joseph Thomas Pidgeon, William Alexander Grant, Lieutenants Alexander Duff, Loftus Richards, John McIntyre, Charles Cox, William Torriano, Norman Campbell, and Thomas Commeline.
On this occasion the French suffered a great loss of men, together with all their artillery, baggage, and stores. King Joseph, whose carriage and court equipage was seized, had barely time to escape on horseback. The defeat was the most complete that the French had sustained in the Peninsula. It was this victory which gained a bâton for the Marquis of Wellington, who was appointed a Field Marshal. In a most flattering letter, the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, thus conferred the honor: “You have sent me among the trophies of your unrivalled fame the staff of a French Marshal, and I send you in return that of England.” This was in allusion to the bâton of Marshal Jourdan, which was taken by the eighty-seventh regiment at Vittoria.
The Seventy-first subsequently received the Royal authority to bear the word “Vittoria” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of this signal victory.
When the Seventy-first paraded on the morning of the 22d of June, the dreadful havoc made by the action of the preceding day became painfully manifest, and an universal gloom was thrown over all, at missing from their ranks nearly four hundred brave comrades who had been either killed or wounded on the heights of La Puebla.
The enemy, having been completely beaten at all points, was forced to retreat in confusion on Pampeluna, and the British army immediately followed in pursuit. The battalion in this advance arrived at Pampeluna on the 29th of June, and shortly afterwards followed, as part of Sir Rowland Hill’s army, a large force of the enemy, who were retreating into France by the valley of Bastan. During this forward movement the Seventy-first had some skirmishing in the valley of Elizondo, but without loss. Upon the 8th of July the Seventy-first arrived at the heights of Maya, from whence, for the first time, they had the cheering prospect of beholding the empire of France extended before them in all its fertile beauty. Joy was diffused through every heart; every trial and danger were forgotten while viewing this splendid and gratifying sight. Upon these heights the battalion was encamped until the 25th of July.
Marshal Soult having been selected by Napoleon for the command of the French army in Spain, with the rank of “Lieutenant of the Emperor,” that officer used the most active exertions for its re-organization, and made immediate arrangements for forcing the British position in the Pyrenees. With this view he advanced in person with a large force against the right, stationed at Roncesvalles, and detached Count D’Erlon with about thirteen thousand men to attack the position of Maya.
The Count D’Erlon, upon the 25th of July, advanced against the right of the Maya heights, where the ridges of the mountains branched off towards his camp. The force at this point was not sufficient to resist such formidable numbers, and the reserve being posted at some distance to watch passes of importance, which could not be left wholly unguarded, was brought up by battalions as the pressure increased.
The intrepidity with which these attacks were met, and the obstinate bravery with which every inch of ground was disputed, were obliged at last to yield to overwhelming numbers; but although the troops were forced to retrograde, yet in their retreat they took advantage of every rising ground, and disputed it with the utmost tenacity. At the commencement of this attack a part of the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment was detached to a neighbouring high peak, under the command of Major William Fitzgerald of the eighty-second regiment, and was strengthened by a company of that gallant corps. Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir William Stewart, in his report to Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, thus expressed himself respecting these men:—“I cannot too warmly praise the conduct of that field officer (Major Fitzgerald) and that of his brave detachment. They maintained the position to the last; and were compelled, from the want of ammunition, to impede the enemy’s occupation of the rock by hurling stones at them.”
In another part of this communication, the Lieut.-General thus alluded to the eighty-second regiment and to the first brigade, which was composed of the fiftieth, Seventy-first, and ninety-second regiments:
“I feel it my duty to recommend to your attention, and favourable report to the Commander of the Forces, the conduct and spirit of Colonel Grant, and of his brave corps, the eighty-second regiment; also the whole of the first brigade, than which His Majesty’s army possesses not men of more proved discipline and courage. The wounds of him, and every commanding officer in that brigade, were attended with circumstances of peculiar honor to each of them, and to those under their orders.”
The following is a list of the killed and wounded in the action of the 25th of July, as nearly as could be ascertained:—Three serjeants and fifty-four rank and file killed; six serjeants, one bugler, and seventy-six rank and file wounded.
The Seventy-first continued retiring until the 30th, when Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill took up a strong position beyond Lizasso. In this post they were attacked with much spirit by the enemy, who, at the same time, by manœuvring on the left flank, rendered necessary a change of position to a range of heights near Eguaros, which all the efforts of the French failed to carry. Upon this occasion the Seventy-first were seriously engaged, and had one serjeant and twenty-three rank and file killed; two serjeants, one bugler, and thirty-three rank and file were wounded.
The enemy having been foiled in all the objects of his attacks, found it necessary, in his turn, to retreat, moving on the 31st of July by the pass of Doña Maria, where he left a strong corps in an excellent position. This force was immediately attacked by the columns of Lieut.-Generals Sir Rowland Hill and the Earl of Dalhousie, and dislodged, after a gallant resistance. In the action of this day the first brigade, consisting of the fiftieth, Seventy-first, and ninety-second regiments, had the honor of bearing its share, and of distinguishing itself. The Seventy-first had one serjeant and twenty-nine rank and file killed; two serjeants and forty-five rank and file were wounded.
The battalion now returned to the heights of Maya, from whence, after a halt of a few days, it moved to Roncesvalles.
Previously to this change of quarters, an order was issued by Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, relative to the conduct of the troops in the actions of the Pyrenees, of which the following is a copy:—
“Arrizi, August 3rd, 1813.
“General Order.
“Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill requests that the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the corps of the army under his command will accept his best thanks for the gallant conduct they have displayed during the late active and interesting operations.
“The chance of service has placed the troops under his command in situations where they were exposed to an immense superiority of forces, a circumstance unavoidable in operations so extensive as those in which this army has been engaged; and it has at all times been necessary to cede ground to the enemy. The Lieut.-General, however, has the satisfaction of knowing that the troops have on every occasion maintained their high character; that they have only withdrawn from their positions by superior orders, and then it has been invariably attended with circumstances highly creditable to them. The Lieut.-General has not failed to report to the Commander of the Forces the details of the several affairs in which the corps have been engaged, and he knows that their services are duly appreciated by his Excellency.”
The royal authority was subsequently granted to the Seventy-first to bear the word “Pyrenees” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the services of the first battalion in the actions of the 25th, 30th, and 31st of July, which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees.”
In these actions the Seventy-first had Lieutenant Alexander Duff killed; Major Maxwell Mackenzie, Captains Leslie Walker and Alexander Grant, Lieutenants Thomas Park, John Roberts, William Woolcombe, William Peacocke, and Anthony Pack wounded.
The following “Morning Reports” of the 14th of June and 7th of August, the former being prior to the battle of Vittoria, and the latter a few days subsequent to the actions in the Pyrenees, will show how the ranks of the Seventy-first were thinned within a period of less than two months.
| Sergts. | Buglers. | Rank and File. | |
| 14th June 1813, present and } | |||
| fit for duty} | 54 | 21 | 909 |
| 7th August 1813 Ditto | 21 | 15 | 356 |
| ——————————— | |||
| Decrease | 33 | 6 | 553 |
| ==================== | |||
For nearly three months the battalion was encamped on the heights of Roncesvalles, during which period St. Sebastian and Pampeluna were captured. The men were principally employed during this interval in the construction of block-houses and batteries, and the formation of roads for the artillery.
In the early part of the season the neighbouring heights of Altobispo were occupied weekly by the brigades of the division; but as the cold increased with the high winds, the piquets alone were appointed for this duty. Such was the inclemency of the weather, and natural advantages of this position, that it was scarcely thought that the enemy would attempt an attack. This opinion, however, was ill founded, as upon the night of the 11th of October an attempt was made by a strong party upon the advance, composed of fifteen men of the Seventy-first, under Serjeant James Ross. Instead of flinching from an unequal contest, this small band, relying upon the strength of the position, and being, moreover, favored by the darkness, which concealed its strength, maintained its ground, and forced the enemy to retire. The bravery of this party called forth high encomiums from Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir William Stewart, commanding the division, and at his request the soldiers composing it were all presented with medals.
On the 8th of November the division was again in motion, for the purpose of entering the French territory; and on the 9th of that month it bivouacked near the heights of Maya, where orders were received to march as light as possible. The heights were passed that night by moonlight, for the purpose of joining the grand army; but the march over bad roads was so fatiguing that when the brigade arrived in position on the Nivelle it was not called upon to take an active part in the glorious proceedings of the rest of the army on the 10th of November, in forcing the French from their fortified position on that river.
After the battle of the Nivelle, the battalion marched in the direction of Cambo, on the Nive, where some smart skirmishing occurred, in which two men were killed, and four serjeants, one bugler, and forty-one rank and file wounded. When the French crossed to the right bank, the Seventy-first occupied part of the town of Cambo.
The battalion remained in Cambo for nearly a month, and was here joined by a detachment of four serjeants and eighty-two rank and file, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Henderson, from the second battalion, at this period stationed at Glasgow.
On the 9th of December the first battalion was engaged in the passage of the Nive. The left wing of the Seventy-first entered the river, supported by the fire of the right, and reached the opposite bank without experiencing any loss.
The enemy now retired within Bayonne, and the corps of Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill was established with its right on the Adour, the left above the Nive, and the centre at St. Pierre, across the high road to St. Jean Pied-de-Port.
In this disposition the second division, of which the Seventy-first formed part, was placed at St. Pierre. Marshal Soult having completely failed in an attempt which he made against the left of the army, moved with his whole force against Sir Rowland Hill’s corps, with the expectation of overwhelming him before he could be supported.
The enemy came on with great boldness upon the 13th of December, and made vigorous efforts against the centre, which he repeatedly attacked; but at last, finding his most earnest endeavours fruitless, he drew off. In the action of this day the loss of the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment was very severe, having been placed close to the main road, against which the French made such formidable and repeated attacks.
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Mackenzie, and Lieutenants William Campbell and Charles Henderson, together with two serjeants, one bugler, and twenty-three rank and file were killed. Captains Robert Barclay and William Alexander Grant, and Lieutenants John McIntyre and William Torriano, with thirty-seven rank and file, were wounded.
The following short but highly expressive Division Order was issued by Lieutenant General the Honorable Sir William Stewart, K.B.:
“Head-Quarters, near Petite Moguerre,
“December 14th, 1813.
“The second division has greatly distinguished itself, and its gallantry in yesterday’s action is avowed by the Commander of the Forces and the allied army.”
In commemoration of these services, the Seventy-first subsequently received the Royal authority to bear the word “Nive” on the regimental colour and appointments.
The battalion marched on the 19th of December to Urcuit, and to Urt upon the 28th of that month. A small piquet of the Seventy-first, under the command of Corporal Dogherty, here distinguished itself, by beating off an enemy’s party of nearly treble its strength.
1814.
While stationed in this quarter, the companies were frequently engaged in skirmishes with the enemy, particularly at St. Hellette, heights of Garris, and St. Palais, in the month of January 1814.
In the beginning of February the battalion marched from Urt, and during its advance had frequent skirmishes with the enemy’s rear-guard.
On the 26th of February the battalion was in action at Sauveterre, and upon the 27th had the honor of participating in the battle of Orthes.
In commemoration of this victory the Seventy-first afterwards received the Royal authority to bear the word “Orthes” on the regimental colour and appointments.
Two divisions of the French army having retired to Aire, after the action of the 27th of February, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill moved upon that town to dislodge them. Upon the 2d of March the French were found strongly posted upon a ridge of hills, extending across the great road in front of the town, having their right on the Adour. The second division attacked them along the road, seconded by a Portuguese brigade, and drove them from their position, in gallant style. Lieutenant James Anderson and seventeen rank and file were killed; Lieutenant Henry Frederick Lockyer, one serjeant, and nineteen rank and file, were wounded.
A detachment from the second battalion, consisting of one captain, four subalterns, and a hundred and thirty-four rank and file, under the command of Major Arthur Jones, joined at Aire.
On the 25th of March part of the battalion was engaged in an affair at Tarbes, in which Lieutenant Robert Law was wounded, and upon the 10th of April was in position at Toulouse, where some of the companies were employed skirmishing, and sustained a loss of one serjeant and three rank and file killed; six rank and file were wounded.
During the night of the 11th of April the French troops evacuated Toulouse, and a white flag was hoisted. On the following day the Marquis of Wellington entered the city, amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants. In the course of the afternoon of the 12th of April intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon, and had not the express been delayed on the journey by the French police the sacrifice of many valuable lives would have been prevented.
A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, the garrison of which made a desperate sortie on the 14th of April, and Lieutenant Sir John Hope (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun) was taken prisoner. Major-General Andrew Hay was killed, and Major-General Stopford was wounded.
A treaty of peace was established between Great Britain and France; Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of France; and Napoleon Bonaparte was permitted to reside at Elba, the sovereignty of that island having been conceded to him by the allied powers.
The war being ended, the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment marched from Toulouse to Blanchfort, where it was encamped for sixteen days, and afterwards proceeded to Pouillac, where it embarked on the 15th of July for England, on board of His Majesty’s ship “Sultan,” of seventy-four guns.
Prior to the breaking up of the Peninsular army, the Duke of Wellington issued the following General Order:—
“Bordeaux, 14th June 1814.
“General Order.
“The Commander of the Forces, being upon the point of returning to England, again takes this opportunity of congratulating the army upon the recent events which have restored peace to their country and to the world.
“The share which the British army have had in producing those events, and the high character with which the army will quit this country, must be equally satisfactory to every individual belonging to it, as they are to the Commander of the Forces, and he trusts that the troops will continue the same good conduct to the last.
“The Commander of the Forces once more requests the army to accept his thanks.
“Although circumstances may alter the relations in which he has stood towards them for some years so much to his satisfaction, he assures them he will never cease to feel the warmest interest in their welfare and honor, and that he will be at all times happy to be of any service to those to whose conduct, discipline, and gallantry their country is so much indebted.”
In addition to the other distinctions acquired during the war in Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, the Seventy-first subsequently received the Royal authority to bear the word “Peninsula” on the regimental colour and appointments.
The first battalion arrived at Cork on the 28th of July, and marched to Mallow, where it remained for a few days. On the 4th of August the battalion marched to Limerick, where Colonel Reynell assumed the command of it in December, and in which city it continued to be quartered during the remainder of the year.
2d bat.
The second battalion remained stationed in North Britain.
1815.
1st bat.
In January 1815, the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment marched from Limerick to Cork, and embarked as part of an expedition under orders for North America. Peace having been concluded with the United States, and contrary winds having prevented the sailing of the vessels, the destination of the battalion was changed, and subsequent events occasioned its being employed against its former opponents. The tranquillity which Europe appeared to have gained by the splendid successes over the French in the Peninsula was again to be disturbed. Napoleon, who had been accustomed to imperial sway, was naturally discontented with his small sovereignty of Elba. Besides, the correspondence kept up by him with his adherents in France gave him hopes of regaining his former power, which were, for a short time, fully realized. Napoleon Bonaparte landed at Cannes, in Provence, on the 1st of March 1815, with a small body of men, and on the 20th of that month entered Paris at the head of an army which had joined him on the road. This could not be matter of wonder, for the officers and soldiers had won their fame under his command, and gladly welcomed their former leader, under whom they probably expected to acquire fresh honors, which might cancel the memory of the defeats sustained in the Peninsula.
Louis XVIII., unable to stem the torrent, withdrew from Paris to Ghent, and Napoleon resumed his former dignity of Emperor of the French. This assumption the allied powers determined not to acknowledge, and resolved to deprive him of his sovereignty, and again restore the ancient dynasty.
The first battalion of the Seventy-first, in consequence of these occurrences, proceeded to the Downs, and was there transhipped into small craft, which conveyed it to Ostend, where it disembarked on the 22d of April.
The battalion next proceeded to Ghent, and, after remaining there a week, marched to Leuze, between Ath and Tournay, and was subsequently placed in the light brigade with the first battalion of the fifty-second, six companies of the second and two companies of the third battalion of the ninety-fifth regiment (Rifles), under the command of Major-General Frederick Adam, in the division of Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton.[31]
The strength of the brigade was as follows:—
| Rank and File. | ||
| 52d regt. | 1st bat. | 997 |
| 71st do. | do. | 788 |
| 95th do. | 2d bat. Rifles | 571 |
| 95th do. | 3d do. do. | 185 |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 2,541 | |
| ===== |
Brevet Colonel Reynell, afterwards Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, commanded the battalion at this period.
Napoleon resolved on attacking the Allies before their forces had been fully collected, and by well-masked and admirably combined movements, a portion of his army was concentrated on the 14th of June between the Sambre and the Meuse.
On the morning of the 16th of June, as the battalion was proceeding to the usual exercising ground of the brigade at Leuze, it received orders for an immediate advance upon Nivelles, where it arrived late that night. On the same day Prince Blucher had been attacked at Ligny, and was forced to retreat to Wavre. The Duke of Wellington and a portion of his army had been also attacked at Quatre Bras by Marshal Ney, who, however, made no impression upon the British position.
In the course of the morning of the 17th of June, the Duke of Wellington made a retrograde movement upon Waterloo, in order to keep up his communication with the Prussians. At day-break on the same morning, the first battalion of the Seventy-first retired, and broke up its position, with the rest of the allied army, on the plains in the neighbourhood of Waterloo, being situated to the left and rear of Hougomont.
The Seventy-first, with the rest of the army, bivouacked in position during the night of the 17th of June, drenched by the rain, which fell heavily. Upon the morning of the memorable 18th of June, the battalion stood in open column, and in this situation was exposed for some time to a heavy fire of artillery, but a judicious movement to a short distance alleviated in a great measure this annoyance. Line was next formed, and about two o’clock the battalion, with the rest of the brigade, advanced, met their opponents in position, charged, and instantly overthrew them.
A heavy fire now commenced upon the retreating enemy, but the alignement having been completely deranged by the impetuosity of the advance, Colonel Reynell, with his usual coolness, proceeded to restore order, and had just completed the dressing of the line when the French cavalry were seen advancing. Square was instantly formed, and the Seventy-first, with the rest of the brigade, sustained a charge from three regiments of French cavalry, namely, one of cuirassiers, one of grenadiers-à-cheval, and one of lancers.
The charge was made with the most obstinate bravery, but nothing could overcome the steadiness of the British infantry, and after a destructive loss, the French were forced to retire.
Previously to this advance, the square of the Seventy-first was struck by a round-shot, which killed or wounded an officer and eighteen men of the eighth company.
About seven o’clock in the evening the left wing of the battalion was formed in rear of the right, and, while thus placed, was, with the rest of the division, attacked by a column of the Imperial Guard. These troops were fresh, having been kept in reserve during the day. They were allowed to approach close without molestation, and the regiments throwing in a close and well-directed fire, they could not deploy, but broke, and retired in confusion.
The enemy having now exhausted all his efforts, the British, in their turn, advanced. The Seventy-first, in the first instance, suffered much from the fire of some guns that raked their front; these were soon silenced, and the battalion was afterwards left unmolested. In this advance the light brigade captured several guns. Night closed in fast, and the corps rested after this lengthened and sanguinary encounter, the pursuit of the discomfited enemy being committed to the Prussians, under Marshal Blucher, who had arrived on the field of battle.
The Seventy-first had Brevet Major Edmund L’Estrange (Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Sir Denis Pack, K.C.B.), and Ensign John Todd, killed. The following officers were wounded: the Lieut.-Colonel commanding the battalion, Colonel Thomas Reynell; Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Arthur Jones; Captains Samuel Reed, Donald Campbell, William Alexander Grant, James Henderson, and Brevet-Major Charles Johnstone; Lieutenants Joseph Barrallier, Robert Lind, John Roberts, James Coates, Robert Law, Carique Lewin, and Lieutenant and Adjutant William Anderson.
The number of serjeants, buglers, and rank and file killed amounted to twenty-nine; one hundred and sixty-six were wounded, and thirty-six died of their wounds.
Both Houses of Parliament, with the greatest enthusiasm, voted their thanks to the army “for its distinguished valour at Waterloo.”
For the share which the battalion had in this glorious victory, the Seventy-first were permitted to bear, in common with the rest of the army engaged upon the 18th of June, the word “Waterloo” on the regimental colour and appointments.
The officers and men engaged were presented with silver medals by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and were allowed to reckon two years additional service.
The battalion, with the rest of the army, afterwards marched towards Paris, and entered that city on the 7th of July. The brigade encamped that day in the Champs Elysées, near the Place Louis Quinze, being the only British troops quartered within the barriers, and continued there until the beginning of November, when it proceeded to Versailles, and to Viarmes in December.
Meanwhile Louis XVIII. had entered Paris, and was again reinstated on the throne of his ancestors. Napoleon Bonaparte had surrendered to Captain Maitland, commanding the “Bellerophon” British ship of war, and the island of St. Helena having been fixed for his residence, he was conveyed thither with a few of his devoted followers.
2d bat.
On the 24th of December 1815, the second battalion of the Seventy-first was disbanded at Glasgow, the effective officers and men being transferred to the first battalion.
1816.
In January 1816, the Seventy-first marched to the Pas-de-Calais, in which part of France the regiment was cantoned in several villages, having its head-quarters at Norrent Fonte, a village on the high road from Calais to Douay.
On the 21st of June 1816, the regiment assembled upon the bruyère of Rombly, between the villages of Lingham and Rombly on the one side, and Viterness and Leitre on the other, for the purpose of receiving the medals which had been granted by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent to the officers, non-commissioned officers, buglers, and privates, for their services at the battle of Waterloo.
A hollow square upon the centre was formed on this occasion; the ranks were opened, and the boxes containing the medals were placed within the square. Colonel Reynell then addressed the regiment in the following manner:
“Seventy-first!!
“The deep interest, which you will all give me credit for feeling, in everything that affects the corps cannot fail to be awakened upon an occasion such as the present, when holding in my hands, to transfer to yours, these honorable rewards bestowed by your Sovereign for your share in the great and glorious exertions of the army of His Grace the Duke of Wellington upon the field of Waterloo, when the utmost efforts of the army of France, directed by Napoleon, reputed to be the first captain of the age, were not only paralyzed at the moment, but blasted beyond the power of even a second struggle.
“To have participated in a contest crowned with victory so decisive, and productive of consequences that have diffused peace, security, and happiness throughout Europe, may be to each of you a source of honorable pride, as well as of gratitude to the Omnipotent Arbiter of all human contests, who preserved you in such peril, and without whose protecting hand the battle belongs not to the strong, nor the race to the swift.
“I acknowledge to feel an honest, and, I trust, an excusable, exultation, in having had the honor to command you on that day; and in dispensing these medals, destined to record in your families the share you had in the ever memorable battle of Waterloo, it is a peculiar satisfaction to me that I can present them to those by whom they have been fairly and honorably earned, and that I can here solemnly declare, that in the course of that eventful day I did not observe a soldier of this good regiment whose conduct was not only creditable to the English nation, but such as his dearest friends could desire.
“Under such agreeable reflections, I request you to accept these medals, and to wear them with becoming pride, as they are incontestable proofs of a faithful discharge of your duty to your King and your Country. I trust that they will act as powerful talismans, to keep you, in your future lives, in the paths of honor, sobriety, and virtue.”
At the conclusion of the above address the arms were presented, “God save the King” was played, and the battalion, by signal, gave three cheers. Colonel Reynell then, from the lists of companies in succession, called over the names of those entitled to receive a medal, and with his own hand placed it in that of the soldier.
1817.
New colours were presented to the regiment on the 13th of January 1817, by Major-General Sir Denis Pack, K.C.B., who made the following address on the occasion:—
“Seventy-first Regiment!
“Officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, it affords me the greatest satisfaction, at the request of your commanding officer, Colonel Reynell, to have the honor of presenting these colours to you.
“There are many who could perform the office with a better grace, but there is no one, believe me, who is more sensible of the merit of the corps, or who is more anxious for its honor and welfare.
“I might justly pay to the valour and good conduct of those present the compliments usual on such occasions, but I had rather offer the expression of my regard and admiration of that excellent esprit-de-corps and real worth which a ten years’ intimate knowledge of the regiment has taught me so highly to appreciate. I shall always look back with pleasure to that long period in which I had the good fortune to be your commanding officer, and during which time I received from the officers the most cordial and zealous assistance in support of discipline; from the non-commissioned officers proofs of the most disinterested regard for His Majesty’s service and the welfare of their regiment, and I witnessed on the part of the privates and the corps at large a fidelity to their colours in South America, as remarkable under such trying circumstances as their valour has at all times been conspicuous in the field. I am most happy to think that there is no drawback to the pleasure all should feel on this occasion. Your former colours were mislaid after a fête given in London, to celebrate the Duke of Wellington’s return after his glorious termination of the peninsular war, and your colonel, General Francis Dundas, has sent you three very handsome ones to replace them.
“On them are emblazoned some of His Grace’s victories, in which the Seventy-first bore a most distinguished part, and more might be enumerated which the corps may well be proud of. There are still in your ranks valuable officers who have witnessed the early glories of the regiment in the East, and its splendid career since is fresh in the memory of all. Never, indeed, did the character of the corps stand higher; never was the fame of the British arms or the glory of the British empire more pre-eminent than at this moment, an enthusiastic recollection of which the sight of these colours must always inspire.
“While you have your present commanding officer to lead you, it is unnecessary for me to add anything to excite such a spirit; but was I called upon to do so, I should have only to hold up the example of those who have fallen in your ranks, and, above all, point to the memory of that hero who so gloriously fell at your head.”[32]
1818.
The regiment formed part of the “Army of Occupation” in France until towards the end of October 1818, when it embarked at Calais for England, and arrived at Dover on the 29th of that month.
After landing, the regiment proceeded immediately to Chelmsford, where it remained for a short time. During its stay at this place the establishment was reduced from 810 to 650 rank and file.
On the 25th of November the regiment marched to Weedon, Derby, and Nottingham, having its head-quarters at the former place.
1819.
The regiment was inspected at Weedon on the 1st of May 1819, by Major-General Sir John Byng, who reported most favourably to His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief upon its appearance and discipline. In consequence of this report His Royal Highness was pleased to dispense with any further inspection of the regiment during the year.
On the 21st of June 1819, the regiment marched to Chester, having detachments at Liverpool and the Isle of Man.
1820.
In June 1820, the regiment marched to Rochdale, Blackburn, and Burnley. In July following it proceeded to Hertford, Ware, Hoddesdon, and Hatfield; and on the 20th of November it was removed to Canterbury.
Previously to the departure of the regiment from Hertford, it was inspected by the Adjutant-General to the Forces, Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K.C.B., who communicated to Colonel Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., commanding the Seventy-first, the expression of the satisfaction experienced by His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief in perusing the report made on that occasion.
1821.
In June 1821, the regiment marched to Chatham, having detachments at Sheerness, Tilbury Fort, and Harwich. Here a further reduction took place of two companies, making the establishment to consist of 576 rank and file.
1822.
From Chatham the regiment marched to London, and proceeded by the canal to Liverpool, there to embark for Dublin, where it arrived on the 3d of May 1822; the regiment remained in that city until the beginning of October, when it marched to the south of Ireland. The head-quarters were stationed at Fermoy, and detachments proceeded to the villages of Ballahooly, Castletown Roche, Kilworth, Kildorrory, Wattstown, Glanworth, and Mitchelstown. A subaltern’s party was also encamped at Glennasheen in the county of Limerick, the disturbed state of that part of Ireland requiring detachments in the above posts, and the utmost exertions of every individual for their protection.
1824.
Lieut.-General Sir Gordon Drummond, G.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the eighty-eighth to that of the Seventy-first regiment on the 16th of January 1824, in succession to General Francis Dundas, deceased.
The regiment remained here for two winters, and in the beginning of May 1824 orders were received to march to the Cove of Cork, to embark for foreign service.
Before the Seventy-first marched to the coast for embarkation, very gratifying addresses were presented to Colonel Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, commanding the regiment, from the magistrates and inhabitants of the district round Fermoy, conveying their approbation of the conduct of the corps, which had won the esteem of all classes.
A very gratifying order was also issued by Major-General Sir John Lambert, K.C.B., commanding the south-western district of Ireland, relative to the conduct of the regiment.
The regiment embarked for North America on the 14th, 16th, 17th, and 18th of May 1824, on board the Indian trader Prince of Orange, Cato and Fanny transports, and anchored at Quebec on the 23d, 24th, and 25th of June.
1825.
In the year 1825, the establishment of the regiment was augmented from eight to ten companies, and formed into six service and four depôt companies, consisting of forty-two sergeants, fourteen buglers, and 740 rank and file.
In consequence of this arrangement, the officers and non-commissioned officers of two companies were sent to England to join the depôt companies at Chichester.
1826.
The detachments stationed during the summer months at the posts of Sorel and Three Rivers rejoined the head-quarters of the regiment at Quebec on the 15th of October.
On the 25th of October and the 4th of November, the service companies were inspected by Lieut.-General the Earl of Dalhousie, the Commander of the Forces in British North America, who expressed his fullest approbation of their discipline and interior economy, as well as of their conduct and appearance.
1827.
The head-quarter division of the Seventy-first embarked at Quebec for Montreal on the 17th of May 1827, after having been stationed in that garrison nearly three years. Preparatory to this change of quarters, the service companies were again inspected by Lieut.-General the Earl of Dalhousie, who, in orders, assured Lieut.-Colonel Jones that he had never seen any regiment in more perfect order.
The service companies arrived at Montreal on the 19th of May, and detachments from them were stationed at Isle-aux-Noix, St. John’s, William Henry, La Chine, Coteau-du-Lac, and Rideau.
1828.
On the 8th of May 1828, the Seventy-first embarked for Kingston in batteaux, and arrived there on the 16th of that month.
The Seventy-first remained stationed here for twelve months. During the summer and part of the autumn they suffered much from fever and ague, having had at one period nearly a third of the men in hospital.
1829.
Upon the 1st of June 1829, the head-quarters embarked in a steam-boat for York, now called Toronto, the capital of the Upper Province, and arrived there on the following morning.[33]
One company was detached to Niagara, another to Amherstburg, and a third to Penetanguishene on Lake Huron. A small number of men occupied the naval post at Grand River on Lake Erie. The Seventy-first occupied these posts for a period of two years.
On the 10th of August 1829, the depôt companies embarked at Gravesend for Berwick-on-Tweed.
Major-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the ninety-fifth to that of the Seventy-first regiment, on the 21st of September 1829, in succession to General Sir Gordon Drummond, G.C.B., who was appointed to the forty-ninth regiment.
1830.
In June, 1830, the depôt companies were removed from Berwick-on-Tweed to Edinburgh Castle.
1831.
In May 1831, the service companies moved down to Quebec, where the whole were assembled on the 16th of June. After a stay of nearly five months in that city, orders arrived for the Seventy-first to proceed to Bermuda. The service companies embarked on the 20th of October 1831 in the transports Layton and Manlius, and arrived off St. George’s, Bermuda, upon the 11th of November, when they immediately disembarked, sending a detachment of one captain, two subalterns, and a hundred and twenty men to Ireland Island.
The head-quarters were subsequently moved to Hamilton, and small parties were detached to the signal posts at Gibbs Hill and Mount Langton.
1833.
During the years 1832 and 1833, the service companies continued at Bermuda, and the depôt remained in North Britain.
On the 30th of August 1833, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Charles Grey exchanged from the half-pay to the Seventy-first Regiment with Lieut.-Colonel Joseph Thomas Pidgeon.
1834.
The tartan plaid scarf was restored to the Seventy-first regiment by an authority (under the King’s Sign Manual) dated 17th of February 1834.
On the 11th of September 1834, the service companies embarked at Bermuda for Great Britain, and arrived at Leith on the 19th of October following. The regiment was afterwards stationed at Edinburgh, where it remained during the year 1835.
1836.
The regiment embarked at Glasgow on the 11th of May 1836 for Ireland, and was stationed at Dublin during the remainder of the year.
1837.
In June 1837, the regiment proceeded from Dublin to Kilkenny.
1838.
Major-General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham, K.C.B., was appointed Colonel of the Seventy-first regiment on the 28th of March 1838, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B., appointed to the thirty-first regiment.
Meanwhile orders had been received for the regiment to proceed on foreign service, and on the 20th of April 1838 the six service companies embarked at Cork for Canada. The four depôt companies remained in Ireland.
1839.
On the 2d of June 1839 the depôt companies embarked at Cork for North Britain, and were afterwards stationed at Stirling.
The establishment of the regiment was augmented on the 12th of August 1839, from seven hundred and forty to eight hundred rank and file.
1840.
During the year 1840 the service companies were stationed at St. John’s, Lower Canada. The depôt companies proceeded from Stirling to Dundee in April.
1841.
Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the eighty-seventh Royal Irish fusiliers to that of the Seventy-first or Highland regiment on the 15th of March 1841, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham, K.C.B. and K.C.H., deceased.
In May 1841 the depôt companies proceeded from Dundee to Aberdeen.
Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Charles Grey exchanged to half-pay with Lieut.-Colonel James England on the 8th of April 1842.
1842.
The service companies proceeded from St. John’s to Montreal, in two divisions, on the 27th and 28th of April 1842.
In consequence of the augmentation which took place in the army at this period, the Seventy-first regiment was ordered to be divided into two battalions, the six service companies being termed the first battalion, and the depôt, augmented by two new companies, being styled the reserve battalion. The depôt was accordingly moved from Stirling to Chichester in 1842, and after receiving one hundred and eighty volunteers from other corps, was there organised into a battalion for foreign service.
The reserve battalion of the Seventy-first, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel James England, embarked at Portsmouth in Her Majesty’s troop-ship “Resistance,” which sailed for Canada on the 13th of August 1842, and the battalion landed at Montreal on the 23d of September, where the first battalion was likewise stationed, under the command of Major William Denny, who, upon the arrival of Lieut.-Colonel England, took charge of the reserve battalion.
1843.
The reserve battalion marched from Montreal to Chambly on the 5th of May 1843, and arrived there on the same day.
The first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel England, embarked at Quebec for the West Indies in the “Java” transport, on the 20th of October 1843. The head-quarters disembarked at Grenada on the 15th of December following.
1844.
The head-quarters of the first battalion embarked on the 25th of December 1844, at Grenada, for Antigua.
1845.
During the year 1845 the head-quarters of the first battalion continued at Antigua.
The head-quarters and three companies of the reserve battalion marched from Chambly on the 11th of May 1845, and arrived at Kingston, in Canada, on the 14th of that month.
1846.
On the 18th of April 1846, the head-quarters and four companies of the first battalion embarked at Antigua on board the transport “Princess Royal,” and landed at Barbadoes on the 24th of the same month.
The first battalion, under the command of Captain Nathaniel Massey Stack, embarked for England at Barbadoes on the 29th and 30th of December, on board of Her Majesty’s ship “Belleisle.”
On the 6th of October 1846, the reserve battalion left Kingston, in Canada West, and the head-quarters arrived at La Prairie on the 8th of that month.
1847.
The ship “Belleisle,” having the first battalion on board, sailed for Portsmouth on the 1st of January 1847, and arrived at Spithead on the 25th of that month. After disembarking at Portsmouth, the battalion proceeded to Winchester, where it was stationed until the 19th of July, when it was conveyed in three divisions by railway to Glasgow, and on the 21st of December it was removed to Edinburgh.
In September 1847, the head-quarters of the reserve battalion were removed from La Prairie to Chambly, and in October proceeded to St. John’s, in Canada East.
1848.
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the ninth foot to that of the Seventy-first regiment on the 18th of February 1848, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart. and K.C.B., deceased.
Three companies of the first battalion proceeded from Edinburgh to Dublin on the 27th of April 1848; and the head-quarters, with the three remaining companies, were removed to Dublin on the 1st of May. In June, the head-quarters were removed to Naas.
During the year 1848, the head-quarters of the reserve battalion remained at St. John’s, in Canada East.
1849.
Lieut.-General Sir James Macdonell, K.C.B. and K.C.H., was appointed from the seventy-ninth to be colonel of the Seventy-first or Highland regiment, on the 8th of February 1849, upon the decease of Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B.
In compliance with instructions received upon the occasion of Her Majesty’s visit to Dublin, the head-quarters of the first battalion, with the effectives of three companies, proceeded from Naas to that garrison on the 28th of July, and were encamped in the Phœnix Park. The three detached companies also joined at the encampment on the same day. On the 13th of August the head-quarters and three companies returned to Naas.
The head-quarters and two companies of the reserve battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., proceeded from St. John’s to Montreal, in aid of the civil power, on the 28th of April 1849. The head-quarters and three companies quitted Montreal and encamped on the Island of St. Helen’s on the 30th of June, but returned to St. John’s on the 16th of July. On the 17th of August 1849, the head-quarters and two companies proceeded from St. John’s to Montreal, in aid of the civil power, and returned to St. John’s on the 6th of September.
1850.
In April 1850, the first battalion proceeded from Naas to Dublin.
The head-quarters and two companies of the reserve battalion quitted St. John’s and Chambly on the 21st of May 1850, and arrived at Toronto on the 23d of that month, where the battalion was joined by the other companies, and it continued there during the remainder of the year.
1851.
In April 1851, the first battalion proceeded from Dublin to Mullingar, and in July following was removed to Newry.
During the year 1851 the reserve battalion continued to be stationed at Toronto.
1852.
In May 1852, the reserve battalion proceeded from Toronto to Kingston. On the 8th of June following, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., retired from the service by the sale of his commission, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Nathaniel Massey Stack.
On the 1st of July 1852, the date to which this Record has been brought, the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment was stationed at Newry, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel William Denny; the reserve battalion continued at Kingston, in Canada.
1852.
Madeley lith. 3 Wellington St. Strand