SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF DRAGOONS.
John Lord Churchill.
Appointed 19th November, 1683.
At its formation the Royal Regiment of Dragoons had the honour of being commanded by one of the most distinguished officers Great Britain has produced,—a general who acquired celebrity in the field and in the cabinet,—who never fought a battle he did not win, nor besiege a town which he did not capture.
John Churchill was born on the 24th of June, 1650. At sixteen years of age he was page of honour to the Duke of York, who procured him an ensign's commission in the first foot guards; and he soon afterwards resigned the pleasures of the court to acquire a practical knowledge of his profession at Tangier, in Africa, where he served as a volunteer against the Moors, and gave presage of those bright qualities for which he afterwards became distinguished. On the breaking out of the Dutch war in 1672 he was appointed captain in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot, in the service of the King of France, with which corps he served in the Netherlands, where he signalised himself by a regular attention to his duties, and by volunteering his services on occasions of difficulty or danger; and he evinced signal gallantry in 1673, at the siege of Maestricht,[68] where he was wounded. He subsequently served with the French army on the Rhine,—attracted the particular attention and regard of the celebrated Marshal Turenne,—and in 1674 he was appointed colonel of one of the English regiments in the service of the French monarch, in succession to the Earl of Peterborough. His regiment was recalled from France in 1678, and he was appointed to the command of a brigade of foot in Flanders; but the peace of Nimeguen taking place, he returned to England, and his regiment was disbanded. He became the constant attendant of the Duke of York, and being employed in several delicate missions between His Royal Highness and the King, he evinced great address.
The King having resolved to add to the regular army a regiment of dragoons for permanent service, Colonel Churchill was commissioned to raise a troop of dragoons, and was appointed colonel of the regiment, which was honoured with the distinguished title of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons. He was also advanced to the peerage of Scotland by the title of Baron Churchill of Aymouth. Soon after the accession of King James II. he was created an English peer by the title of Baron Churchill of Sandridge. On the 14th of May, 1685, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general: on the breaking out of the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth he was sent, with a body of cavalry, to the west of England, and he was second in command at the battle of Sedgemoor. His meritorious conduct during this rebellion was rewarded with the colonelcy of the third troop of life guards, and the rank of major-general. No ties of interest, or charms of royal favour, could, however, induce him to abandon the best interests of his native country; and at the Revolution in 1688 he joined the standard of the Prince of Orange, for which he was removed from the life guards by King James. On the accession of King William III. he was restored to the command of the third troop of life guards,—appointed colonel of the royal fusiliers,—sworn a member of the privy council,—made lord of the bedchamber to his Majesty,—created Earl of Marlborough, and appointed to the command of the British troops sent to the Netherlands, to be employed in the war with France. During the campaign of 1689 he served under Prince Waldeck, and gave proof of his personal bravery, and ability to command, at the battle of Walcourt. In June, 1690, he was appointed commander-in-chief, and proceeding, in the autumn of that year, with a body of troops to Ireland, captured Cork and Kinsale. In 1691 he commanded the British infantry under King William in the Netherlands. In the following year he was confined in the Tower of London on a charge of high treason; but was subsequently released without being brought to trial, and restored to royal favour. On the breaking out of the war in 1701, he was selected by King William to command the British forces sent to the Netherlands, and to negotiate the treaties to be formed with foreign powers; and he was appointed colonel of a regiment of foot (now twenty-fourth). Queen Anne confirmed these appointments; also advanced him to the post of captain-general of her forces, and procured him the chief command of the united British, Dutch, and auxiliary troops. At the head of these forces he evinced the abilities of a great captain; he forced the enemy to take shelter behind their lines; took Venloo, Ruremonde, Stevenswaert, and Liege with surprising rapidity; extended and secured the Dutch frontiers; and was rewarded with the thanks of parliament, the approbation of his sovereign, and the dignity of Duke of Marlborough. In the campaign of 1703 he was again victorious; he captured Bonn, Huy, and Limburg; but his career of victory was impeded by the jealousy or timidity of the Dutch, which he bore in a manner corresponding with the greatness of his mind. On the 25th of April, 1704, he was appointed colonel of the first foot guards. The succeeding campaign was splendid in glorious achievements. He led his army from the ocean to the Danube; forced the heights of Schellenberg on the 2nd July, 1704, and compelled the enemy to take shelter behind the lines of Augsburg. New armies and new generals appeared, and their overthrow, at the decisive battle of Blenheim on the 13th of August, added new lustre to the reputation of the British commander: there the heaps of slain gave dreadful proofs of British valour, and whole legions of prisoners of their mercy. This victory displayed the distinguishing character of Marlborough, and produced important results: Bavaria was subdued; Ratisbon, Augsburg, Ulm, Meninghen,—all were recovered. From the Danube he marched to the Rhine and the Moselle; Landau, Treves, and Traerbach were taken; and the British commander,—courted and honoured by sovereign princes,—applauded by nations, became the pride of armies, and was rewarded with the dignity of a Prince of the Roman Empire. While his judgment swayed the councils of the states of Christendom, he led their armies to battle and victory. In 1705 he experienced disappointment from the princes he had delivered in the preceding year; but, suddenly changing the scene of his operations, he led his army from the Moselle to the Maese; Liege was relieved; Huy retaken; and the boasted impregnable French lines forced. In the spring of 1706 another campaign opened, when the discipline he had introduced, and the confidence he had inspired, again proved invincible. He met, attacked, and triumphed over the French, Spaniards, and Bavarians, at Ramilies, on the 23rd of May. This decisive action was followed by the surrender of Louvain, Brussels, Malines, Liege, Ghent, Oudenarde, Antwerp, Damme, Bruges, and Courtray; and by the capture of Ostend, Menin, Dendermond, and Aeth,—places which had resisted the greatest generals for months—for years; provinces, disputed for ages, were the conquests of a summer. So great was his reputation, that, throughout the campaign of 1707, the enemy avoided a general engagement: but in the following summer a gallant French army, led by the princes of the blood, was overcome at Oudenarde; and, although new armies and new generals appeared, the career of Marlborough could not be stopped. The barriers of France on the side of the Low Countries,—the work of half a century,—were attacked. A numerous French army were spectators of the fall of Lisle, the bulwark of their barriers. Every campaign added new conquests. In 1709 Tournay was taken; and a powerful French army posted near Malplaquet, in a position covered by thick woods, defended by triple intrenchments, was attacked. The battle was bloody,—the event decisive; the woods were pierced; the fortifications were trampled down; and the enemy fled. After this victory Mons was taken. In the succeeding year Douay, Bethune, Aire, St. Venant, shared the same fate; and the campaign of 1711 was distinguished by splendid success. A new series of lines were passed, and Bouchain captured. Nothing availed against a general whose sagacity foresaw everything, whose vigilance attended to everything, whose constancy no labour could subdue, whose courage no danger could dismay, and whose intuitive glance always caught the decisive moment and insured victory; while the discipline he maintained, and the confidence he inspired, were equivalent to an army. The French monarch saw with alarm his generals overmatched, his armies beaten and discouraged, his fortresses wrested from him, and an invincible leader with a victorious army on the confines of France, ready to carry all the horrors of war into the heart of his kingdom, and he sued for peace. A change of the ministry in England, with the adoption of a policy favourable to the French interest, was followed by the removal of the great Marlborough from all his offices dependent on the British crown. He retired to the Continent, where he remained until the accession of King George I., when he was replaced in his former posts, in which he continued until his decease in 1722.