1703
A powerful French army was in the field menacing the frontiers of Holland. The Earl of Marlborough assembled the forces under his orders towards the end of June, and in July the Royal Dragoons joined the army with the train of artillery. By a daring advance the British commander disconcerted the designs of his opponents, who retired without venturing an engagement. The Royal Dragoons were employed in covering the sieges of Venloo, Ruremonde, and Stevenswaert; and took part in the capture of the city of Liege: they afterwards marched back to Holland, and were quartered at Arnheim, the capital of the province of Guelderland, where they were reviewed in April, 1703, by their colonel, Lord Raby, who was passing through Holland on his way to Prussia, as envoy extraordinary to that court.[36]
At the commencement of the campaign of 1703 the Royal Dragoons were employed in covering the siege of Bonn, and afterwards joined the army near Maestricht, with six battalions of infantry commanded by the Prince of Hesse, and were formed in brigade with the same regiments as in the preceding year.
On the advance of the allied army commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, the French retreated, and took post behind their fortified lines.
On the 27th of July the British commander proceeded, with four thousand horse and dragoons, towards the enemy's intrenchments, and Lieutenant Benson, with thirty men of the Royal Dragoons, who formed the advance-guard, charged and defeated a piquet of forty French horsemen, and chased them to the barriers of their intrenchments with signal gallantry, which gave his Grace an opportunity of advancing within musket-shot of the lines. He was desirous of attacking these formidable works, but was prevented by the timidity and pertinacity of the Dutch generals and field deputies. In August, when the siege of Huy was undertaken, the Royal Dragoons were encamped on the banks of the river Maese, to secure the bridge, and to keep up the communication. They were subsequently engaged in the siege of Limburg, a city situated on a pleasant eminence among the woods near the banks of the little river Wesdet. Spanish Guelderland having been delivered from the power of France, and the Dutch freed from the dread of an invasion, the Royal Dragoons quitted the vicinity of Limburg and marched back to Holland. In the mean time circumstances had occurred which occasioned their removal from the army commanded by the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, to another theatre of war.
During the summer the Emperor of Germany and Prince Joseph renounced their pretensions to the Spanish monarchy in behalf of Archduke Charles, who was acknowledged as King of Spain by several of the states of Europe; and a treaty of alliance having been concluded with the King of Portugal, the Royal Dragoons were selected to accompany the Archduke to Lisbon, and to take part in the attempt to place him on the throne of Spain by force of arms.
1704
The Portuguese monarch having engaged to provide horses for the English cavalry, the Royal Dragoons transferred their horses to the British regiments in Holland, and embarked, dismounted, in October; but were so long detained by contrary winds and severe weather, that they did not arrive at the capital of Portugal before March, 1704, when they landed with the remainder of the British and Dutch forces commanded by Duke Schomberg.
In consequence of the horses produced by the Portuguese authorities being of so inferior a description that the English officers rejected the greater part of them, only twenty men per troop of the Royal Dragoons were mounted; the dismounted men proceeded to Abrantes to await the arrival of horses, and the mounted men advanced to the frontiers of Portugal, and encamped on a pleasant plain near Estremos. Tardiness and inability were, however, manifested by the Portuguese authorities to such an extent, that the Duke of Berwick, having arrived from France with eighteen battalions of infantry and nineteen squadrons of cavalry, and taken the command of the French and Spanish forces, attacked the frontiers of Portugal before the allies were prepared to take the field. The court of Lisbon was alarmed, the provinces were in consternation; the Duke Schomberg solicited to be recalled, and the Earl of Galway was sent with reinforcements to Portugal, and appointed to the command of the British forces in that country.