Before following the proceedings of the first battalion any further, it will be as well to return to the second battalion, which, as already mentioned, was embodied in September, 1778. In March of the following year, this battalion, 1,000 strong, and commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie (brother of Lord McLeod), embarked at Fort George, and was conveyed to Plymouth. There it remained encamped upon Maker Heights until the 27th November, when it embarked for Gibraltar in transports under convoy of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney. In the Bay of Biscay the Spanish Caraccas Fleet was encountered, and captured, and the Admiral being compelled to employ a number of the men of his ships of war to man the prizes, called upon Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie for the services of the battalion as Marines. A few days after the men had been distributed in this manner, the fleet fell in with the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Langara, with a fleet consisting of eleven sail of the line, the whole of whose ships were either taken or dispersed. On the 18th January, 1780, the second battalion1780. disembarked at Gibraltar, then closely blockaded by the Spaniards, landing at the New Mole and occupying the Casemates in the King’s Bastion, the marching in strength being as follows:—
| 30 | Officers, | 22 | Drummers, |
| 6 | Staff ditto, | 944 | Rank and file, |
| 50 | Sergeants. |
Here it remained during the whole of the siege of that fortress by the French and Spaniards, sustaining a high character as steady and trustworthy soldiers.
In the grand sortie in which the Spanish batteries before the garrison were destroyed, all the grenadier and light infantry companies in garrison were made up to their establishment previous to the sortie. The grenadier and light companies in this regiment consisted of four officers, five sergeants, and 101 rank and file each. They were stationed with the companies of the Thirty-ninth and Fifty-sixth Regiments, and a proportion of artillery and engineers, amounting in all to 668 men, in the centre, or reserve column, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Dachenhausen and Major Maxwell. The orders they received were to march through Bayside barrier, towards the mortar batteries. The moon shone brightly as the soldiers assembled on the sands at midnight. Between two and three o’clock darkness overspread the country, and the troops issued silently from the fortress. They were challenged and fired upon by the enemy’s sentries, but the British soldiers rushed forward, overpowered the Spanish guards, and captured the batteries. The enemy’s soldiers, instead of defending the works, fled in dismay and communicated the panic to the troops in their rear. Within an hour the object of the sortie was effected, trains were laid to the enemy’s magazines, and the soldiers withdrew. As they entered the fortress, tremendous explosions shook the ground, and rising columns of smoke, flame, and burning timber proclaimed the destruction of the enemy’s immense stores of gunpowder. General Elliot stated in orders:—
“The bearing and conduct of the whole detachment, officers, seamen and soldiers on this glorious occasion, surpass my utmost acknowledgements.” The casualties in the three columns of attack were only 4 killed, 24 wounded, and 1 missing. The grenadier company, commanded by Captain Sinclair on this occasion, drove the enemy from their centre guard-house, and the light infantry, commanded by Captain Dalrymple, obliged them to evacuate Parchal’s battery.
The casualties of the battalion during the three years that the siege lasted were 1 sergeant, 41 privates killed; 6 officers, 7 sergeants, and 108 rank and file wounded, and 58 privates died from sickness. Although application has frequently been made to the authorities, for permission to have Gibraltar inscribed on the colours, yet for some inexplicable reason, this has always been refused, though granted to other regiments that served during the siege with the Seventy-third.
In May, 1783, it embarked on board transports, and sailed for Portsmouth, where it landed in July, and occupied Hilsea Barracks. The following month it marched to Stirling, where it was disbanded on the 3rd October after a service of five years, during the whole of which period it was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie.
In 1784 the officers belonging to the late second battalion who were regimentally senior to those serving with the first were given the option of joining that battalion in the East Indies at their own expense, of which some availed themselves.
1st bat.
We shall now return to the first battalion which we left in quarters at Poonamallee in February, 1780. At the commencement of 1780 a new war had broken out in India, the causes of which it is not easy to unravel, owing to the depth to which the several Presidencies of the East India Company had entered into the intrigues and quarrels of the Native rulers. On the 5th April, the Mahratta Chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, were defeated in their camp whilst advancing on Surat, and this victory was followed by numerous less important successes. In Bengal, military movements were taking place under the direction of Sir Eyre Coote, who had now succeeded to the chief command in India, and the strong fortress of Gwalior, hitherto regarded as impregnable, was taken by escalade on the 3rd August.