The subsequent operations of the campaign were of a defensive character, and the allied army was so much inferior in numbers to the enemy, that it was unable to prevent the capture of several fortified towns in the Austrian Netherlands.
This year a rebellion broke out in Scotland, and Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, gained some advantages at the head of the Highland clans, when several corps were ordered to return to England, but the NINETEENTH remained in the Netherlands.
1746
Taking the field in the spring of 1746, the regiment was employed in various services; but the allied army, being very inferior in numbers to the force which the French monarch employed in the Netherlands, was necessarily restricted in its operations.
On the 11th of October the allied army was formed on the beautiful plain of Liege, and the NINETEENTH regiment was stationed, with two other corps, in the village of Roucoux. About noon the superior numbers of the enemy under Marshal Saxe were seen advancing, and about three in the afternoon a numerous body of infantry and artillery attacked three villages, which were occupied by eight battalions of British, Dutch, and Hessians. The disparity of numbers was about one to six, yet the allies stood their ground gallantly, and repulsed the leading brigades of the enemy. New combatants rushed forward, and the allies were again victorious; but they were eventually forced to quit the villages. After defending their post with great bravery for some time, the NINETEENTH, and other corps in Roucoux, quitted the village, and took post in a hollow way, where they defended themselves until a retreat was ordered, when the army withdrew to the vicinity of Maestricht.
One serjeant, one drummer, and thirty-three rank and file of the regiment were killed on this occasion; Lieutenant Cuthbert, Ensign M'Farlane, three serjeants, and nineteen rank and file wounded; Captain Leake, Lieutenant Campbell, and several private soldiers taken prisoners.
1747
After passing the winter in cantonments in Holland, the regiment took the field with the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and distinguished itself at the battle of Val, on the 2nd of July in that year. The enemy attacked the village of Val, which was occupied by the thirteenth, twenty-fifth, and thirty-seventh regiments, and a battalion of Hanoverians, who repulsed the attacks of their numerous opponents some time, but were eventually forced to give way. They were reinforced by the eighth, NINETEENTH, and forty-eighth regiments, and a foreign corps, and returning to the charge, recovered the village. The fighting at this point was very severe; several French brigades were nearly annihilated, and the village was lost and won several times. During this protracted contest the innate valour of the British troops was very conspicuous; but the enemy at length succeeded in breaking the line, and the army was ordered to retreat to Maestricht, where it arrived on the same evening.
Lieut.-Colonel Williams, two serjeants, one drummer, and thirty-two rank and file of the regiment were killed; Major Petitot, Captain Masters, Lieutenants Goddard, Brown, Martin, and Phillips, Ensigns Dobson and Fuller, three serjeants, and one hundred and three rank and file wounded; fifteen rank and file missing.[8]
1748