In 1799, with the army of Lieutenant-General Harris, the Seventy-fourth advanced against Seringapatam, which ultimately fell a conquest to our arms. The distinguished service of the regiment on this occasion is recorded in the word “Seringapatam” borne upon its colours. Subsequently it was engaged against the Polygars; and in 1801 was removed to Bombay to replace the troops drawn from that Presidency for service in Egypt. Under Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley, in the invasion of the Mahratta states, the regiment was most conspicuous for its fortitude in enduring many severe privations, and refusing withal to petition or complain when grievances remained unredressed. The capture of the strong fortress of Ahmednuggur, was but the prelude to the exceeding glory so soon destined to grace the records of the Seventy-fourth in the victory of Assaye.
On the 23d September, 1803, the British army, not exceeding 5000 men, of which the Nineteenth Dragoons and the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-eighth Highlanders were the only King’s regiments, came up with the combined hosts of Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar, amounting together to 40,000 well-disciplined and excellent troops. Undaunted by this formidable superiority, Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley at once ordered the attack, which undertaken with spirit and upheld with heroic gallantry, soon overcame the resolution and desperate defence of the enemy. The Seventy-fourth, posted on the right of the second line, prematurely advancing against the village of Assaye, became exposed to a terrific tempest of shot and shell; and, moreover, charged by a powerful body of horse when somewhat confused by the fatal effects of the artillery, was almost annihilated. True to its duty, and borne forward by an unconquerable perseverance, the Seventy-fourth struggled on, carried and maintained the post, although at a fearful sacrifice of human life, upwards of 400 men and officers being hors-de-combat. Of its officers, the only one escaping scatheless was Quarter-Master James Grant, who seeing so many of his comrades fall, although by office a non-combatant, resolved to share with his brethren the dangers and the glory of the fight, and, accordingly, joining in the terrible mélée of the battle, resolutely fought till its close, miraculously surviving the disasters of so severe and fatal a strife. The Major-General thus writes: “Our loss is great, but the action, I believe, was the most severe that ever was fought in this country, and, I believe, such a quantity of cannon and such advantages have seldom been gained, by any single victory, in any part of the world.”
On this occasion the valour of the regiment was rewarded by the exceptional permission to carry a third colour, bearing thereon the “Elephant” and “Assaye,” specially commemorative of the unparalleled glory of the day. The inconvenience of a third colour has since brought about its disallowance as other than an honorary distinction to be borne only when on peaceful parade.
The severe losses of the regiment at the battle of Assaye required it should be released from active duty for a time, to allow these losses to be repaired, and the wounded to recover and resume their posts. However, in November of the same year we find it in the field with the army on the plains of Argaum, burning to avenge, by a new victory, the death of friends sacrificed at Assaye. Major-General Wellesley, in his official despatch, particularly commends the perseverance, steadiness, and bravery of the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-eighth Highlanders as materially helping to the triumph of Argaum. A variety of minor actions closed the campaign, crowned by the submission of the enemy.
Thereafter selected by the Commander-in-Chief, the regiment was detached with other troops, under his own command, which marching sixty miles in twenty hours, destroyed a camp of freebooters, which, quartered at Perinda, had been the pest and terror of the neighbourhood.
In 1804, the regiment was stationed with the Seventy-eighth and some native troops for protective purposes in the territory of the Peishwah, until the war with Holkar anew occasioned it to undertake more active service. In the capture of Gaulnah, the Seventy-fourth was called upon to supply volunteers for the forlorn hope. Such was the spirit of the corps, that the whole regiment spontaneously offered itself.
After sixteen years’ service in India, during which it was almost always engaged with an enemy—earning therefrom the name it afterwards gloriously upheld as the “fighting regiment”—the gallant remnant was ordered to return home, and, in consequence, embarking at Madras in September, 1805, landed at Portsmouth in February, 1806.
DUKE OF WELLINGTON.