THE TWENTY-FIRST FOOT,
OR,
ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS.
CHAPTER XII.
“The warrior boy to the field hath gone,
And left his home behind him;
His father’s sword he hath girded on—
In the ranks of death you’ll find him.”
ORIGIN—EARLY SERVICES—CIVIL WARS—WARS OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION—WARS OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION—1678–1748.
Success is too commonly esteemed, by a short-sighted public, to be the criterion of excellence. It remains, however, to each of us, an exercise of faith and duty to confute this popular fallacy, inasmuch as it has wronged, foully wronged, many a brave heart who, battling with several and powerful foes, struggling manfully, yet desperately, for the very life, has as yet failed to rise beyond the surface; and hence the man bowed down by adversity, as yet unrewarded by a better success—regarded as nothing beyond the common—this deceitful, false world cannot recognise the heroic soul in the martyr to circumstances. Thus it is that the gallant regiment, whose history we are now about to narrate, is in danger of being done injustice to, since its history is not always garnished with splendid success, nor its path to honour strewn with the glittering distinctions of victory, nor its heroism illustrated by a long series of triumphs, which gild many a page of our national history.
This regiment claims an origin co-eval with that of the Scots Greys and Scots Foot Guards. It was regimented and commanded by Charles, Earl of Mar, at a time when the rampant bigotry of the King—oppressing the consciences of the people, had exiled many of the bravest and best, or driven them to desperate measures—induced them to draw together for defence of their liberty and lives. Such was the state of things in Scotland in 1678 when our Fusiliers were raised to hunt down our covenanting forefathers, who, for conscience sake, branded as heretics, endured the cruel ban of the Church of Rome; who, “not ashamed to own their Lord,” freely resigned life and property for His sake. The history of the regiment is one with that of the Scots Greys and Scots Foot Guards, already in our previous chapters alluded to, where it may almost be traced page by page; it is therefore needless for us to repeat the incidents which marked their early history. They were present at the battle of Bothwell Bridge, where the Covenanters were signally defeated, and were afterwards engaged in repressing the Rebellion of Argyll in 1685. At length the day of retribution arrived, when the voice of the people declared the sovereignty of the House of Stuart to be an intolerant burden no longer to be submitted to,—by a general rising decreed its overthrow, and by an almost universal welcome hailed the advent of a better state of things under the healthier government of the House of Orange. Amid these changes our Fusiliers remained faithful to James II. Having marched into England with a strength of 744 men, under Colonel Buchan, they were stationed in the Tower Hamlets. The flight of the King rendering all resistance to the advancing forces of William futile and needless, the regiment submitted to the victorious party of William and Mary. Removed to Oxfordshire, the command was conferred on Colonel O’Farrell. Colonel Buchan, adhering to the fallen fortunes of James, followed him into exile. His name has acquired a melancholy interest as the chief who, a few years later, after the death of Dundee at Killiecrankie, headed the rebel forces in a vain attempt to restore the dominion of the Stuarts. Subsequently, in 1689, the regiment embarked at Gravesend for Flanders, where, under Marlborough, it formed part of the British division which, with the Dutch, strove to check the aggressions of the French. In the early part of the campaign they were associated with their countrymen of the Third, or Scots Foot Guards, and the First, or Royal Scots Regiment, besides other British troops. These shared the glory of the victory of Walcourt, where an attack of the French under D’Humieres was repulsed. In 1690 the ill success of the allied general, Prince Waldeck, yielded to the enemy many and important advantages, especially in the disastrous battle of Fleurus. In the following year the Scots brigade was further augmented by the addition of the regiments of Mackay and Ramsay, known to fame as the Old Scots Brigade in the Dutch service, or as the Ninety-Fourth in later times in the British service. To these were added the Earl of Angus’s regiment of Cameronians, now the Twenty-sixth, and subsequently the Earl of Leven’s regiment of King’s Own Borderers, the present Twenty-fifth. The arrival of King William, who in person assumed the command, as it set at rest the national jealousies which hitherto prevailed among the troops, and hushed the petty contests for precedence on the part of their leaders, infused at the same time new life and vigour into the movements of the Allies. In a vain attempt to surprise the fortress of Mons, Colonel Sir Robert Douglas of the Royals, and Colonel O’Farrell of our Fusiliers, were taken prisoners by the French, but released on payment of the customary ransom. Both were destined for very different fates. The former, as narrated in a previous chapter, fell, gallantly fighting at the head of his regiment, at the battle of Steenkirk; the latter, surviving that bloody day, was reserved to be the unlucky commander who surrendered the fortress of Deinse, garrisoned by his regiment, to the enemy without striking a blow in its defence. This denial of the courage of our Fusiliers under his command, who, with able hands and ready hearts, might have successfully challenged the attempts of a numerous foe—whilst they were delivered over to be prisoners of war—justly received the severe censure of the King; and, tried by court martial, Brigadier-General O’Farrell was cashiered, and his command conferred on Colonel Robert Mackay. Meanwhile, three years previously, the battle of Steenkirk had been fought, and the superior numbers of the French, directed by the ability of the Duke de Luxembourg, had triumphed, notwithstanding the desperate valour of the British. Our Fusiliers, with the Royals, formed part of the advanced guard of our army, and fiercely assailed the French, who, strongly posted behind a series of thick hedges, poured in a deadly fire into our ranks. Successively they were driven from their strong position, but only to take a new position, equally defensible, behind a second hedge. A third and a fourth position was assumed and bravely defended, yet nothing could withstand the onset of our troops. Every obstacle was overcome, and victory was within our grasp, when disasters in other parts of the field compelled the abandonment of all these hard-earned advantages. D’Auvergne says: “Our vanguard behaved in this engagement to such wonder and admiration, that though they received the charge of several battalions of the enemy, one after the other, yet they made them retreat almost to their very camp;” and the London Gazette records: “The bravery of our men was extraordinary, and admired by all; ten battalions of ours having engaged above thirty of the French at one time.” At the battle of Landen in 1693, brigaded with the Twenty-fifth, the Twenty-sixth, and the regiments of the Old Scots Brigade, separated from the army by the prevailing efforts of the French, they most heroically maintained themselves, until overwhelming numbers compelled them to retire. With difficulty they effected their retreat, without disorder, by fording the river Gheet, and so succeeded in rejoining the main army. The ignominious surrender of Deinse, and the consequent dismissal of Colonel O’Farrell, occurring in 1695, have been already alluded to. Nothing of importance falls to be recorded in the history of our Fusiliers during the remainder of the war, which was terminated in 1697 by the peace of Ryswick. Returning to Scotland, the rest they enjoyed was but of short duration. Once again the rude blast of war lashed into fury the ambition of princes. Would that princes acted out the words of the ballad writer—