ASSAULT
of
DELHI.
14th. September 1857.
The Seventy-fifth regiment served with distinction at the Cape of Good Hope during the Kaffir War of 1835, which threatened to wrest that valuable colony from us. It is also distinguished for its heroic efforts before Delhi during the Indian Mutiny, where Lieutenant Wadeson and Private Patrick Green won the Victoria Cross.[[B]] With the Royal Tiger emblazoned upon its colours—a distinction gained on the same sultry plains for previous service in India, conferred in July, 1807—it increased its merited reputation by driving the enemy before it, at the point of the bayonet, and effecting the capture of all his guns. The conduct of the little army which achieved the fall of Delhi is thus eulogised by the Governor-General:—“Before a single soldier, of the many thousands who are hastening from England to uphold the supremacy of the British power, has set foot on these shores, the rebel force, where it was strongest and most united, and where it had the command of unbounded military appliances, has been destroyed or scattered by an army collected within the limits of the North-western Provinces and the Punjab alone.
[B]. For these and many other details, the Author is indebted to the “Medals of the British Army,” by Mr Carter, who has therein endeavoured to individualise the several regiments, and to show the particular deeds, not only of the corps, but also of the officers and men.
“The work has been done before the support of those battalions, which have been collected in Bengal from the forces of the Queen in China, and in Her Majesty’s eastern colonies, could reach Major-General Wilson’s army; and it is by the courage and endurance of that gallant army alone; by the skill, sound judgment, and steady resolution of its brave commander; and by the aid of some native chiefs, true to their allegiance, that, under the blessing of God, the head of rebellion has been crushed, and the cause of loyalty, humanity, and rightful authority vindicated.”
LORD LYNEDOCH.
THE NINETIETH, OR “PERTHSHIRE VOLUNTEERS.”