Walker & Boutall ph. sc.
“The review of the 23rd Dragoons on Saturday last, was far superior to any expectation that had been formed of it, displayed the most brilliant military exhibition that has ever been seen in India, and it is presumed, equal to any that has taken place at anytime in Europe. It reflects the highest honour on the Commanding Officer, whose great military knowledge, joined to indefatigable exertions, has brought the regiment to that degree of perfection which, while it pleases and astonishes, teaches the very useful, though long doubted lesson, that men can be disciplined, and horses trained in this country equally as well as in Europe. The most particularly striking manœuvre was a charge at full speed for near three hundred yards in a perfect line; and that of two squadrons dispersing, and pursuing, supported by the regiment; these were performed with the exactness of mechanical precision, and produced the most beautiful effect; but what is very extraordinary the horses were all perfectly obedient, and scarcely a single accoutrement of the riders was discomposed.
“A Correspondent observes, that too much praise cannot be given to the 23rd dragoons, for the excellent manner in which they performed their manœuvres, at the review on Saturday last; that the men were in the highest perfection of discipline; and that the officers, the finest body belonging to any one corps that he recollects to have seen, were so perfectly masters of every manœuvre, and led each motion with so much judgment, that it were impossible for any troops under them to make a single mistake.”
The 23rd Light Dragoons were not cantoned at Wallajabad, but Floyd was directed to select a spot within a certain indicated area. He fixed on Shevtamodoo, about two miles from Conjeveram, and nine miles from Wallajabad.
“The spot is extremely beautiful, exceeding anything I have met with in India, except among the hills. My barracks are building something within the edge of an open grove of immense tamarinds. The Officers’ barracks are within the grove. A plain extends about half a mile in front, and something less in breadth along the north bank of the river Paliar, above the ordinary level of the country, with a large lake on the other side of the ground towards its extremity, with a small woody island in it skirting the whole plain. The plain is sprinkled by nature’s masterly hand with enormous banyan trees, far exceeding the size of the very largest trees known in Europe. My own barracks will stand at some distance, nearly in the middle of the plain, under the largest of these extraordinary trees.”[19]
It was here that Floyd laid the foundation of that excellence in discipline and efficiency, that fitted the regiment to play the distinguished part it was destined in after years to fill, with such success, in the stirring affairs of southern India. This will be a suitable place to give some account of this distinguished soldier.
John Floyd, born in 1748, was the son of an officer in the 1st Dragoon Guards who served at Minden, and died in Germany six weeks after the battle. In recognition of his father’s services, John Floyd was given a commission in the 15th (Elliott’s) Light Dragoons, in the year after the regiment was raised, and was present with it at the battle of Emsdorf, on the 16th July 1760, when only twelve years old. There he had his horse shot under him, while charging the French ranks, and was only saved by a brother officer who cut down his assailant. The sword of the French hussar is still preserved in the family.
The 15th Light Dragoons under Sir John Elliott and Lord Pembroke were regarded at that time as the school for British Light Cavalry. Lord Pembroke had made a special study of military equitation, concerning which he had written a book,[20] that went through several editions, and was a recognized text book on military riding. He interested himself in Floyd, and took pains to give him a complete education, and made him a proficient horseman. Later, on Lord Pembroke obtaining the command of the Royal Dragoons, he employed Floyd for twelve months in teaching his system to that regiment. In 1777–78–79, Floyd, under Lord Pembroke’s auspices, visited nearly every Court in Europe, and reported on their armies. In December 1778, he was appointed Major of the 21st Light Dragoons, and, on the formation of the 23rd Light Dragoons for Indian service, he was selected to be its Lt. Colonel. No better choice could have been made. A thorough soldier, and a horseman from his youth up, brought up in the school of two such cavalry soldiers as Sir John Elliott and Lord Pembroke, he was an enthusiastic believer in the power of cavalry. Writing from San Thomé in 1784, he says:
“You may depend upon it, the first military miracle that is to be performed in India, will be wrought by cavalry. No one here has an idea of that arm; a small body of well disciplined Europeans on horseback, judiciously led, will defeat and destroy myriads of Indian enemies. If I am of the party, it may perhaps afford me an opportunity of deserving your applause.”
All soldiers know how an able commander can impress his character on a regiment, to endure long after his connexion with it has ceased. Such was the case with the regiment that gathered laurels as the 19th Light Dragoons, and no small part of its glory was due to its first Lieutenant Colonel, John Floyd. The correctness of his views as to the great part cavalry might play, and the excellence of his system, were demonstrated on many a field in which the regiment fought during its career in India.