1807
On the 3rd of February, 1807, the first battalion marched from Weeley for Harwich, with the view of checking the infection of ophthalmia, which then prevailed among the troops at Weeley. The first battalion returned to Weeley on the 27th of April.
Information having been obtained that Napoleon purposed employing the navy of Denmark against Great Britain, an armament was prepared for obtaining possession of the Danish fleet by treaty or force, on the assurance that it should be restored at the conclusion of the war with France. The first battalion was destined to share in this enterprise, and it received orders, on the 22nd of July, to be in readiness for foreign service.
The battalion, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Napier, marched for Harwich on the 26th of July, and embarked on the same day, after being inspected by Lieut.-General Sir David Baird. On the 27th a draft of one hundred and three rank and file joined from the second battalion: the effective strength of the first battalion consisted of forty-eight serjeants, nineteen drummers, and nine hundred and eighty-one rank and file.
On the 1st of August, the expedition sailed, and on the 8th anchored in the Sound near Elsineur. On the following day, Lieut.-General Harry Burrard[11] directed the army assembling in the Sound to be formed in brigades and divisions, and that the forty-third, fifty-second, NINETY-SECOND, and ninety-fifth (Rifle) regiments should compose the reserve, under Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, until the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief.
Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart arrived on the 12th of August, and assumed the command of the army; on the 14th the fleet sailed towards Copenhagen, and on the 16th of August the army landed at Vedeck, in Zealand, situated about half-way between Elsineur and Copenhagen, without opposition, and on the following day the regiment went into cantonments in Hassan, and Broomskoy. Its movements were various, and dependent upon circumstances during this period.
The NINETY-SECOND regiment advanced towards Roeskelde on the 26th of August, in consequence of the enemy collecting a large force at the town of Kioge and its vicinity, for the purpose of being thrown into Copenhagen, which was at this time invested by the British army.
On the 29th of August, the division under Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley advanced to attack the Danes in their position. The NINETY-SECOND regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Napier, was appointed to lead the infantry against the enemy’s camp, in which the regiment charged him, driving him out of it, and through the town of Kioge, with the loss of his artillery. The regiment had two rank and file killed, and one wounded.
On the 30th of August, the British troops marched to Osted, and went into cantonments. On this day, after expressing in orders his satisfaction at the conduct of the troops in the action of the 29th, Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, in particularizing those who had an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, alluded to the conduct of the NINETY-SECOND regiment, and of Lieut.-Colonel Napier, in the attack of the enemy in his camp, and to the regular and orderly manner in which the troops marched through Kioge, and formed beyond the town.