As that which beats beneath the Scottish plaid;
And when the pibroch bids the battle rave,
And level for the charge your arms are laid,
Where lives the desperate foe that for such onset staid?”
WALCHEREN—PENINSULA—WATERLOO—1809–1862.
In 1809 the Ninety-second was engaged under the Earl of Chatham in the unfortunate expedition to Walcheren, wherein a splendid army in a few weeks was discomfited by the poisoned breath of the pestilence. Of 1000 men comprised in the Gordon Highlanders, only 300 returned effective to England.
In 1810 the regiment embarked for the Peninsula, and joined the army of Viscount Wellington in the lines of Torres Vedras. Brigaded with the Fiftieth and Seventy-first regiments, under Major-General Howard, it advanced with the army in pursuit of the French under Marshal Messena, shared the glories of “Fuentes d’Onor,” accomplishing the fall of Almeida.
The brigade was afterwards detached as part of the second division of the army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Hill, which covered the operations of the grand army under Wellington against the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. This division, pursuing the enemy towards Merida, overtook and surprised the bronzed veterans of the fifth French corps, under General Gerard, when about to decamp from Arroyo del Molinos. The honour of this feat of arms is mainly due to the Seventy-first and Ninety-second Highlanders, who, during the raging of a fearful tempest, and screened by a thick mist, charged into the village. In the confusion the loss of the enemy was immense; of 3000 only 600 escaped to tell the tale of the catastrophe. It is said the enemy was first made aware of his danger by the scream of the bagpipes as they appropriately played—
“Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin’ yet?”
Driven out at the point of the bayonet, the French were utterly broken and dispersed. Few events reflect greater credit upon the Gordon Highlanders than this exploit.