An expedition was fitted out, in 1813, consisting of a detachment of the Fourteenth Regiment, and of the troops in the service of the Honourable the East India Company; and placed under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Watson of the Fourteenth, for the attack of the piratical state of Sambas, on the western coast of the island of Borneo, which terminated in the surrender of the town, after a sharp conflict in which Captain Watson and Lieutenant Jennings were wounded; the capture of all the batteries, fortified posts, and defences of the Sultan, and the complete discomfiture of Pangerang Anom and his adherents. The first battalion proceeded to Bengal in October, 1813.
In the mean time the war in Europe was prosecuted with great vigour; the British troops were victorious in the Peninsula, and every effort was made to bring a powerful army into the field. At this period a third battalion was added to the Fourteenth Regiment of Foot; it was raised by volunteers from the Militia and assembled at Weedon under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel the Honorable James Stewart, and was soon in a condition fit for active service.
1814
After a contest of twenty years, the period of the downfall of that gigantic power, which had sprung out of the French revolution, arrived; the snow storms of the winter of 1812–13, had annihilated the French army in Russia; the British army, which had delivered Portugal and Spain from the tyrannical rule of Napoleon, was following up its career of victory in the heart of France; at the same time the forces of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and other continental states, were invading France. Thus a favourable opportunity presented itself; one powerful effort appeared likely to overthrow Napoleon and his adherents, and at this important juncture, (the spring of 1814,) the third battalion of the Fourteenth Regiment received orders to hold itself in readiness for foreign service, and commenced its march for the coast; at the same time the second battalion was withdrawn from the island of Malta, to join the expedition, under Lieutenant-General Lord William Bentinck, against the north-west coast of Italy. This expedition captured several places, including the maritime city of Genoa, once a celebrated republic, now the capital of a province in the Sardinian States. The progress of the British arms in Italy was suddenly arrested by the termination of the war: Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated; Louis XVIII. ascended the throne of France; and the nations of Europe hailed the event as the great jubilee of Christendom. The embarkation of the third battalion of the Fourteenth Regiment was countermanded, and after some delay, the second battalion was placed in quarters at the city of Genoa, where it remained twelve months.
Towards the end of the year the third battalion was held in readiness to embark for North America; circumstances connected with the trade of neutral nations, during the war with France, having involved Great Britain in hostilities with the United States. Before the battalion quitted England, peace was concluded with the United States, when the order for its proceeding abroad was countermanded, and directions were given for its being disbanded on the 24th of March, 1815.
1815
In the spring of 1815, while the Congress at Vienna was deciding on the boundaries of kingdoms, and the people of all countries were looking forward to a period of peace, Bonaparte suddenly violated his engagements, re-appeared in France, and the French army declaring in his favour, he reascended the throne he had abdicated. War was immediately declared against the usurper; the order for disbanding the third battalion of the Fourteenth Regiment was consequently rescinded, and on the 21st of March, (three days before the date fixed upon for its being disbanded,) the battalion received directions to embark for Flanders: it landed at Ostend on the 31st of March, and formed part of the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange.
Additional forces were sent to Flanders, Field Marshal his Grace the Duke of Wellington assumed the command, and the third battalion of the Fourteenth Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Francis S. Tidy, (Major of the regiment,) was formed in brigade with the Twenty-third Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and Fifty-first Light Infantry under Colonel Mitchel, and constituted part of the fourth division, commanded by Lieutenant-General the Honorable Sir Charles Colville, K.C.B.
Bonaparte attempted, by one of those rapid advances for which he had always been celebrated, to interpose between the British and Prussian armies, and on the 16th of June the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought: the British were victorious; but the Prussians were defeated; and the Duke of Wellington retreated, on the 17th of June, to the position in front of the village of Waterloo, to preserve his communication with Prince Blucher.
On the 18th of June the third battalion of the Fourteenth Regiment had the honour to take part in the memorable battle of Waterloo, the character and importance of which engagement, distinguish it as the greatest event of the age, and mark it as the brightest era in the history of the British army. The battalion was composed of young soldiers, who had never before been under fire, but their bearing reflected honour on the corps to which they belonged. During the heat of the conflict, when the thunder of cannon and musketry, the occasional explosion of caissons, the hissing of balls, shells, and grape shot, the clash of arms, the impetuous noise and shouts of the soldiery, produced a scene of carnage and confusion impossible to describe, a staff officer rode up to Lieutenant-Colonel Tidy, and directed him to form square; this was scarcely completed when the glittering arms of a regiment of cuirassiers were seen issuing from the smoke. The French horsemen paused for a moment at the sight of the scarlet uniforms of the Fourteenth, and then turned to the right to attack a regiment of Brunswickers; but a volley from the Brunswick square repulsed the enemy, and Lieutenant-Colonel Tidy, with the view of giving confidence to the young soldiers of the Fourteenth, drew their attention to the facility with which infantry could repulse cavalry. The French cuirassiers rallied, and appeared inclined to charge the Fourteenth, but were intimidated by the steady and determined bearing of the battalion.