The British troops landed on the Dutch coast, near the Helder, on the 27th of August. A considerable body of French and Dutch troops assembled near the point of debarkation; some sharp fighting occurred, and in the evening the enemy retreated to a position six miles in his rear. Although one of the first to get a footing on the Dutch shores, it did not fall to the lot of the NINETY-SECOND to be materially engaged this day in the affairs on the sand-hills. The regiment had one serjeant and fourteen rank and file drowned in the landing on the Dutch coast. The enemy having abandoned his fortifications, and evacuated the town during the night, the regiment moved into Helder on the 28th of August. A numerous train of heavy and field artillery was found in this important post; two days afterwards the Dutch fleet surrendered without striking a blow, and hoisted the colours of the Prince of Orange.
On the 1st of September, the regiment marched out of Helder, and on the 2nd advanced to Oude Sluys, on the Zuyder Zee, where the army took up a position, along which the troops were placed in cantonments, the NINETY-SECOND being in advance of the right.
The Dutch did not manifest a disposition to rise against the French. At daylight, in the morning of the 10th of September, the united French and Dutch forces, under General Brune, attacked the piquets; the troops repaired to their alarm-posts, and the action soon became general: the British troops repulsed the attack, and the orders of that day directed the regiment to its cantonments at Oude Sluys, and conveyed the thanks of General Sir Ralph Abercromby[7] for its “noble and steady conduct during the day.”
Captain the Honorable John Ramsay was wounded in this action, which was fought near the villages of Crabbendam and Schagen.
Field Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of York arrived at the Helder on the 14th of September, and, having been reinforced by a corps of twelve thousand Russians, under Lieut.-General Hermann, resolved on attacking the French position in advance of Alkmaar, reaching from Zuyder Zee, on the right, to Camperdown on the left, and embracing the town of Bergen. The attack was made on the 19th of September, in four columns, but the Russians having failed in holding Bergen, after having entered it in gallant style, the places, which had been acquired by the other columns, were abandoned, and His Royal Highness withdrew his army to its former position on the Zuype.
From the 20th of September until the 1st of October both armies remained within their entrenchments, strengthening their lines of defence: the French had received reinforcements, and had inundated a large tract of country on their right by cutting the sluices, thus contracting the ground of operations to six or seven miles.
The Duke of York, on the 2nd of October, made another attempt on the French position, between Bergen and Egmont-op-Zee. The combined attacks were made in four columns: the division under General Sir Ralph Abercromby being on the right, marched along the beach. The left of the French army was posted and concentrated about Bergen, a large village surrounded by extensive woods, through which passed the great road leading to Haarlem; between which and the sea was an extensive region of high sand-hills, impassable for artillery. Behind the sand-hills, and to the enemy’s right, through the whole extent of North Holland, lies a wet and low country, intersected with dykes, canals, and ditches.
The army advanced before daylight to attack the enemy. The NINETY-SECOND regiment was ordered to escort twenty pieces of artillery to the front, along the sea-shore. In the performance of this duty it was attacked by a column of nearly six thousand men at Egmont-op-Zee, where a most sanguinary conflict ensued, immediately under the eye of General Sir Ralph Abercromby.
Trusting to their superior numbers the French advanced with resolution, and fairly met the bayonets of the regiment, now commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Erskine, Colonel the Marquis of Huntly having been wounded in the charge, which completely overthrew the enemy, and preserved the guns.[8]