PART I.—1755–1824.
I.
1755–1763.—Origin of the Regiment and its Services in North America.
ORIGIN.
The Regiment was raised during 1755–56 in North America under special conditions, for the express purpose of assisting our Army to retrieve the terrible disaster which had befallen the British troops under General Braddock at the hands of a smaller force of French and Red Indians in the forest fastnesses upon the banks of the Ohio River. It had been found that the slow and ponderous movements of troops trained upon the European model, with their heavy accoutrements, tight uniforms, and unsuitable tactics, were helpless against savages, and almost equally helpless against soldiers habituated to wars in the dense forests and trackless wastes of America. It was therefore decided by the British Government to raise in America, from amongst the Colonists themselves, a force which should be able to meet these conditions.
60th ROYAL AMERICANS.
Designated as the 62nd, and the following year as the 60th Royal Americans, the Regiment was accordingly formed of 4,000 men in four battalions, and General the Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief. It was recruited from settlers, mainly of German and Swiss origin, in the States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, to which were added volunteers from British regiments and others. Many of the senior officers and a considerable number of the Company officers were drawn from the armies of Europe, some of them being highly trained and experienced soldiers.
Through the bold initiative of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Bouquet,[[1]] a Swiss officer of distinction, commanding the 1st Battalion, the 60th Royal Americans adopted Colonial methods of equipment, simpler drill, open formations, and the Indian system of forest warfare, thus early acquiring those attributes of individual action, swift initiative, and of elastic though firm discipline, which have been the conspicuous characteristics of the Regiment throughout its long and brilliant career, characteristics which have made its reputation. Thus equipped, The Royal American Regiment from its very beginning played a distinguished and memorable part in establishing British power in North America.
The great struggle between France and England for supremacy in America was at its height, when early in 1758, Abercromby,[[2]] who had succeeded Loudoun as Commander-in-Chief, decided upon a general advance.
July 8th, 1758, TICONDEROGA.
The 1st and 4th Battalions, under Bouquet and Haldimand,[[3]] formed part of the main Army in the Western Field of operations, and on the banks of Lake Champlain, at the memorable defeat of Ticonderoga, “at once a glory and a shame,” the 4th Battalion and a portion of the 1st showed a stubborn courage worthy of the highest praise, and lost very heavily in killed and wounded. On July the 27th, three weeks later, regardless of their losses, the Regiment furnished a part of the column under Bradstreet,[[4]] of the 60th, which, after a forced march, captured by a coup de main Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario.
Nov. 25th, 1758, Capture of FORT DUQUESNE.
The 1st Battalion, employed on the Western frontiers under General Forbes, played the leading part in the advance against Fort Duquesne on the Ohio, in November, 1758, and led by the gallant Bouquet effected its capture from the French and Red Indians. This brilliant triumph over great physical difficulties was achieved by sheer determination, endurance, and pluck; and the solid value of the victory is thus summed up by the American historian, Parkman:—“It opened the great West to English enterprise, took from France half her savage allies, and relieved her Western borders from the scourge of Indian Wars.” Fort Duquesne, re-christened Fort Pitt, was thereupon garrisoned by a detachment of the 60th, and was destined later to play a prominent part in the subsequent operations.
July 26th, 1758, LOUISBURG.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions, under Lieut.-Colonel Young and Major Augustine Prevost[[5]] respectively, early in 1758 were ordered to join Generals Amherst[[6]] and Wolfe in the Eastern Field of operations, and they took a prominent part in the capture of Louisburg.
Sept. 13th, 1759, QUEBEC.
These two Battalions were subsequently in 1759 moved up the St. Lawrence to Quebec, where they still further distinguished themselves at Montmorency Falls, below Quebec, on July the 31st, and by their rapid movements and their intrepid courage won from General Wolfe the motto of “Celer et Audax” (Swift and Bold). A still greater opportunity occurred on the 13th of September at the decisive battle of Quebec, where upon the Plains of Abraham the 2nd Battalion, whose Grenadier Company had been the first to scale the heights, covered the left during the battle against a very superior force of Red Indians and French, who made the most determined efforts to assail the flank and rear of Wolfe’s army under cover of the dense bush and rocky ground.[[7]] The 60th thus lost heavily in killed and wounded. The 3rd Battalion played a no less important part by holding in check the enemy, who threatened the rear through the thick woods on the river banks.
1760, MONTREAL.
Amherst, who in 1759 had succeeded Abercromby in chief command of the Army, led the main force in its advance to Montreal, where, on the 8th of September, 1760, the 4th Battalion, a portion of the 1st, and the Grenadiers of the 2nd and 3rd, shared in the glories of the surrender of the French Army under the Marquis de Vaudreuil—a surrender through which the supremacy in America finally passed to the British Crown.
Following up their successes in 1758, under Forbes, Bouquet and the 1st Battalion had by degrees captured or occupied the whole of the French posts west of the Alleghany Mountains, and they were accordingly chosen for the arduous task of defending the various forts established in the unexplored country south of the great lakes. A region embracing thousands of miles of surface was thus consigned to the keeping of five or six hundred men—a vast responsibility for a single weak Battalion garrisoning a few insignificant forts.
In 1763 took place the general and sudden rising of the Indians under Pontiac—a formidable conspiracy, bringing ruin and desolation to the settlers in those wild regions, and even threatening the safety of the Colonies. By surprise or stratagem the Indians, in overwhelming numbers, secured many of the widely scattered posts held by the 60th, murdering some of the slender garrisons and beleaguering others. But the important posts of Fort Detroit upon the Straits joining Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and of Fort Pitt commanding the Ohio River valley, both garrisoned by the 60th under Gladwyn and Ecuyer respectively, were gallantly and successfully held against tremendous odds. The relief of these two important posts were operations of the greatest urgency, and every effort was made to get sufficient troops for this purpose.
Aug. 5th and 6th, 1763. BUSHEY RUN.
Nov. 15th, 1764, RED INDIAN CAMPAIGN.
It was at once decided that Fort Pitt on the Ohio, guarding as it did the Western frontier of the Colonies, must be saved at any cost, but owing to the reduction of the Army in America after the great war, it was with the utmost difficulty that, at Carlisle, 150 miles west of Philadelphia, a small column was formed under Bouquet, consisting of barely 500 men of the 1st Battalion 60th Royal Americans and the 42nd Highlanders. This courageous band, led by the stout-hearted and experienced Henry Bouquet, marched almost as a forlorn hope to the relief of the garrison. Reaching, after a long and weary march, the dangerous defiles of Bushey Run, ten miles only from their objective and within view of the scene of Braddock’s crushing defeat, a site of battle deliberately chosen by their cunning foe, the little force was suddenly attacked by a vastly superior number of Indian braves. During two long trying days the combatants fought a desperate battle, until at last Bouquet’s genius as a leader achieved a brilliant victory. This victory, pronounced by an American historian “the best contested action ever fought between white men and Indians,” was followed up in the coming year by a vigorous advance by Bradstreet upon Detroit by way of Lake Erie; and by Bouquet marching from Fort Pitt with a column consisting of his own Battalion of the 60th, the 42nd, and Provincial troops, which he led into the very heart of the enemy’s country. Bouquet’s column was triumphant, and upon reaching the Indian settlements on the River Muskingum, deep in the wild fastnesses of the primeval forest, their leader’s diplomatic skill and defiant attitude completed the successful issue of the campaign. Bouquet thus rightly earned for himself and his men the credit of having finally broken the French influence and Red Indian power in the West, giving to the British Crown all the vast territories west of the Alleghany Mountains and south of the Great Lakes, comprising now the States of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Western Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.
The conspicuous part played at this period by the 60th Royal Americans, and the exceptional merit of many of its officers have hitherto been better understood in the United States and in Canada than by our own countrymen. But it is now at last acknowledged that the Regiment, owing to its especial attributes, was in the forefront of all those operations which (more than any others) added a peculiar lustre to the British Crown at this early stage of the evolution of the British Empire in North America. There is no period in the Regimental history of which The King’s Royal Rifle Corps may more justly be proud than the epoch from its birth in 1755 to the final overthrow of the French and Red-Indian power in 1764.
1762, MARTINIQUE.
Aug. 13th, 1762, HAVANNAH.
Meanwhile, in February, 1762, the 3rd Battalion, moving to the West Indies, had taken part in the capture of Martinique. It subsequently joined the expedition to Cuba under the Earl of Albemarle, where, led by Brigadier-General Haviland,[[8]] it played a leading part in the capture of Havannah from the Spaniards on the 13th of August.
II.
1764–1807.—West Indies and the American War.
WEST INDIES.
On the termination of the French War in America the British Army was reduced, and in 1764 and 1763 respectively the 3rd and 4th Battalions were disbanded.
The discontented and hostile feeling of the American Colonies at this period rendered it advisable to transfer The Royal Americans to the West Indies, recruited as they were from the Colonists themselves. Thus it fell to the lot of the Regiment to take a prominent share in the conquest and annexation of the West Indian Islands and the adjacent coast, which took place at this period. The officers in many instances filled important posts as Governors and Administrators of the various islands.
On the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775 the 3rd and 4th Battalions were again raised in England and despatched to the West Indies, and thence to Florida, where they figured prominently in the operations in that region.
1779, SAVANNAH.
AMERICAN WAR.
In 1779 the 3rd and some companies of the 4th Battalion formed portion of an army under General Augustine Prevost in Georgia and South Carolina. The Regiment played a leading part at the brilliant action of Briars Creek (March 3rd, 1779), and also in the subsequent siege of Savannah, where a superior force of French and Americans under Comte d’Estaigne and General Lincoln was successfully held at bay by a very much smaller army under Prevost, and at the final assault was signally defeated with great loss (October the 9th, 1779). An improvised body of Light Dragoons (or Mounted Infantry), organised by Lieut.-Colonel Marc Prevost,[[9]] of the 60th, did remarkable service during these operations, and at the victory on the 9th of October lost heavily, but greatly distinguished itself by repulsing the main column of the enemy and capturing the colour of the Carolina Regiment, now in the possession of the Prevost family.
Upon the termination of the American War of Independence in 1783 the 3rd and 4th Battalions were disbanded for the second time, but were again raised in 1788 and despatched to the West Indies.
WEST INDIES.
The Regiment, for the most part quartered in the West Indies, took part in the following military operations:—
| Capture of the Island of Tobago, a brilliant feat of arms | April 17th, | 1783 |
| Capture (2nd) of Martinique | March | 1794 |
| Capture Saint Lucia | 1794 | |
| Capture Grande Terre Guadaloupe | 1794 | |
| Capture Saint Vincent | 1796 | |
| Capture Trinidad | Feb. | 1797 |
| Capture Porto Rico | April | 1797 |
On the 23rd of August, 1797, Field-Marshal H.R.H. Frederick Duke of York[[10]] was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, vice Lord Amherst deceased.
1797, 5th BATTALION (RIFLES) RAISED.
In December of the same year the famous 5th Battalion was raised at Cowes, Isle of Wight, under Lieutenant-Colonel Baron de Rottenburg,[[11]] upon the German model as a Special Corps of Riflemen. Four hundred of Hompesch’s Mounted Riflemen—a German Corps raised for service under the British Crown—were drafted into the Battalion, which was armed with rifles and dressed in green with red facings. The second Lieutenant-Colonel was that celebrated Robert Crauford, who afterwards made his name so famous in the Peninsular War as the honoured leader of the Light Division. Thus, by the addition of the 5th Battalion to the Regiment as Riflemen in 1797, the gradual evolution of the 60th Royal Americans into The King’s Royal Rifle Corps was auspiciously begun.
MAP I
NORTH AMERICA
Illustrating the area of Operations referred to in Part I, Sections 1 and 2, also Part II, Section 6.
Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt., London.
The system of organisation, drill, and tactics for Light Troops introduced into the Regiment by Baron de Rottenburg, was embodied in a Manual for Riflemen and Light Infantry. This volume[[12]] was published in August, 1798, with a preface signed by the Adjutant General, and especially commended to the Army by the Commander-in-Chief as a text book on the subject.
In 1799 a 6th Battalion was added to the Regiment, so that the close of the eighteenth century saw the Regiment composed of six battalions.
III.
1808–1824.—Peninsular War. 60th The Royal American Regiment becomes 60th The Duke of York’s Own Rifle Corps.
In 1808 Great Britain determined to take the offensive against France, and, by occupying Portugal, endeavour to drive Napoleon and the French from the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal.
Aug. 17th, 1808, ROLEIA
Aug. 21st, 1808, VIMIERA.
Thus began the Peninsular War, so full of glorious memories for the British Army. The 5th Battalion, under the command of Major Davy,[[13]] formed part of the force despatched under Sir Arthur Wellesley to Portugal, and in conjunction with the 2nd Battalion of the 95th[[14]] opened the campaign at Obidos on the 15th of August; and two days later took part in the fight of Roleia. The services of the Battalion as Light Troops or Riflemen were valued so highly by the Commander of the forces, and so important was their example, that in a very complimentary order he directed its distribution by companies among the several brigades of the army. Thus it came to be engaged in nearly all the great battles throughout the war, starting brilliantly with the battle of Vimiera,[[15]] where a signal victory was gained over the French under General Junot.
Wellesley was shortly afterwards superseded by Sir Harry Burrard[[16]] and Sir Hew Dalrymple, who ended the campaign by the Convention of Cintra, under the terms of which the French evacuated Portugal.
Jan. 16th, 1809, CORUNNA.
The three commanders were then ordered home, and Sir John Moore[[17]] assumed charge of the troops. Sir David Baird landed at Corunna with reinforcements, including the 2nd Battalion, and on the 20th of December he joined Moore near Mayorga. By the masterly dispositions of Napoleon himself, an overwhelming force of French was concentrated under Soult, and this forced the British to retire on Corunna. Soult, following in pursuit, attacked them in the act of embarking, but met with a crushing defeat. The British, however, paid a high price for their victory: Baird was severely wounded, and the gallant Sir John Moore was killed—his death being a heavy loss to the British Army. At this juncture General Hope[[18]] took over the command and completed the embarkation of the troops. The Regiment, having been allotted to the defence of the town of Corunna, was not actually engaged in the battle.
July 27th and 28th, 1809, TALAVERA.
In 1809 Wellesley, for the second time, landed in Portugal and assumed command. After some delay, on May the 12th he forced the passage of the Douro in the face of a large army under Soult, a most brilliant feat of arms. On the 27th and 28th of July he attacked the French and Marshals Jourdan and Victor, under King Joseph, and thereupon ensued the great British victory of Talavera. “Upon this occasion,” wrote Sir Arthur Wellesley in his despatch, “the steadiness and discipline of the 5th Battalion, 60th Regiment, were conspicuous.”
Sept. 27th, 1810, BUSACO.
On September the 27th, 1810, the British Commander, Sir Arthur Wellesley, recently created Lord Wellington, signally defeated the French under Massena at the battle of Busaco; the conduct of the 60th (at this time commanded by Colonel Williams[[19]]), being specially noted by General Picton.
Yielding to superior numbers and to stress of circumstances, Wellington retreated, and, falling back upon the famous lines of Torres Vedras, was closely followed by the French, who, on being stopped by the fortifications and unable to procure supplies, were soon forced in turn to retreat.
May 3rd and 5th 1811, FUENTES D’ONOR.
May 16th, 1811, ALBUHERA.
In March, 1811, the British again advanced, driving Ney from Pombal and Redinha, and Massena from Casal Nova and Sabugal. While following up his successes, Wellington was attacked by Massena at Fuentes D’Onor, on the 3rd of May, and again on the 5th, but he held his ground in spite of severe fighting. In the meanwhile Marshal Beresford,[[20]] who had four companies of the 60th with his division, had in April taken Olivenza, and on the 16th of May had defeated Soult at Albuhera; and the campaign of 1811 was brought to a close by the brilliant action of Arroyo dos Molinos by General Hill on October the 28th, 1811, when the Regiment specially distinguished itself.
1812, CIUDAD RODRIGO. BADAJOZ.
July 22nd, 1812, SALAMANCA.
The next year, 1812, opened with the siege, assault, and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, and immediately afterwards ensued the successful siege of Badajoz. Sending Hill to destroy the bridge of Almarez, Wellington proceeded northwards, and on the 22nd of July defeated Marmont at the battle of Salamanca, the crowning feat of a long series of brilliant manœuvres. The English General thereupon marched towards Madrid, and, driving King Joseph before him, entered the capital in triumph on the 12th of August. But the French were so strongly reinforced that the British troops were obliged to retire for the winter to Portugal.
June 21st, 1813, VITTORIA.
July 24th to Aug. 2nd, 1813, PYRENEES.
Nov. 10th, 1813, NIVELLE.
Dec. 9th to 13th, NIVE.
In May, 1813, the Army finally quitted Portugal, and again advancing drove the French northwards by brilliant strategy. On the 21st of June Wellington gained a splendid victory over King Joseph at Vittoria, capturing 150 guns and his whole transport. The companies of the Regiment with Picton and the 3rd Division played an especially brilliant part. Ignominiously driven from Spain the French Army rallied on the Bidassoa, where Soult assumed command, having been despatched by Napoleon to supersede his brother King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan. He immediately attacked the English, but was defeated with great slaughter at the battle of the Pyrenees, which lasted eight days, July the 24th to August the 2nd. The 5th Battalion was at this time commanded by Major Fitzgerald.[[21]] Wellington, then advancing into France, forced the passage of the Bidassoa on October the 7th, and defeated the French at the battle of Nivelle, terminating the campaign by a victory on the Nive after a battle lasting five days.
Feb. 27th, 1814, ORTHES.
In February, 1814, occurred one of the most brilliant manœuvres of the war—the famous passage of the Adour, which was forced in the teeth of a Division of the French Army, the company of the 60th leading the advance of the Guards’ Brigade, to which it was attached. On the 27th of the same month Soult was again totally defeated at Orthes.
April 10th, 1814, TOULOUSE.
Wellington, following up this victory, advanced on Toulouse, where, on the 10th of April, the British troops won the last of the fourteen great battles fought in the Peninsular War, in twelve of which the Regiment had taken a glorious part. The repulse of a sortie from Bayonne was the final episode of this memorable war.
Thus closes a momentous record of gallant achievements of the Regiment. Among the officers of the 5th Battalion who distinguished themselves during the Peninsular War, besides those already mentioned, were Major Woodgate,[[22]] Lieutenant-Colonel Galiffe,[[23]] Captain Schoedde,[[24]] and Captain de Blacquière.
To continue the history of the other Battalions of the Regiment at this period, the 2nd Battalion, in January, 1809, after Corunna, had returned to the Channel Islands, and thence to the West Indies. The 1st Battalion, which had previously always been quartered in America, was in 1810, together with the 4th Battalion, brought to England, whence it shortly afterwards proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, and the 4th Battalion was sent to Dominica.
A 7th and 8th Battalion were added in 1813, the former raised at Gibraltar and the latter at Lisbon. Both battalions were dressed in green, which colour at the end of 1815 was adopted for the whole Regiment.
1824, 60th ROYAL AMERICANS become 60th THE DUKE OF YORK’S OWN RIFLE CORPS.
At the conclusion of the war with France the Regiment was reduced to two battalions, of which the 1st was called “The Rifles,” and the 2nd “The Light Infantry” Battalion. In 1824 the 2nd Battalion became also a Rifle Battalion, and the Regiment dropping its old title of “Royal Americans” was granted by George IV the name of “The Duke of York’s Own Rifle Corps,” dated June 4th.