ASSAULT ON THE
ENTRENCHED CAMP
OF
SERINGAPATAM
on the night of the 6th of Febr.
1792
Returning home in 1805, the regiment proceeded to Scotland to recruit, and in 1809, despoiled of its Highland character, laid aside “the garb of old Gaul” and the designation it had hitherto enjoyed. Increased by the addition of a second battalion, the first battalion was sent to New South Wales; whilst the second, remaining at home, was, in 1813, employed as the solitary representative of the British army in the north of Germany.
The Annual Register gives the following account of the battle of Gorde, where it fought with honour:—“After landing at Stralsund, and assisting in completing the works of that town, Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, with the Seventy-third, was detached into the interior of the country, to feel for the enemy, and also to get into communication with Lieutenant-General Count Wallmoden, which dangerous service he successfully effected, though he had with great care and caution to creep with his small force between the large corps d’armée of Davoust and other French Generals at that time stationed in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Hanover. Having joined Count Wallmoden, the Seventy-third contributed greatly to the victory that General gained over the French on the plains of Gorde, in Hanover, where Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, at the head of his battalion, declining any aid, and at the moment when the German hussars had been routed, charged up a steep hill, took a battery of French artillery, and unfurling the British colours, at once spread terror amongst that gallant enemy which feared no others; a panic struck them, and they fled.”
This battalion was also hotly engaged at the desperate conflict of Quatre Bras, and the decisive victory of Waterloo, in 1815. In the Kaffir Wars, which desolated South Africa from 1846–47, and 1850–53, the Seventy-third bore an important part. It was also present in India during the recent Sepoy Mutiny. Having abandoned its national character since 1809, it does not fall within the scope of this work further to follow the narrative of those achievements that have never failed worthily to sustain the excellence which—whilst our own—belonged to it. We are sure that, whoever they be that now represent the Seventy-third, the perusal of this imperfect sketch will not make them ashamed of its Highland origin, but rather incite them to emulate those brave deeds, the glory of which they are privileged to inherit.
THE SEVENTY-FIFTH FOOT;
ORIGINALLY
HIGHLANDERS.
CHAPTER XX.
“Courage! Nothing e’er withstood
Freemen fighting for their good;