The same spirit of disorganization that devastated Guadaloupe was soon spread, through the instrumentality of agents, to the other conquered islands, and thus tended to weaken the power of the English forces at the principal point of attack:—added to this circumstance, the ranks of the British battalions had been thinned by an epidemic, most malignant in its nature, and it was found impossible to oppose an effectual resistance to the accumulated force which now assailed them. The island of Martinique was the only settlement that could be preserved, and this was not done without great exertions of the British troops, ably supported by the colonists.
The Queen's Royal had proceeded to Martinique shortly after its arrival in the West Indies; and so great had been its sufferings, that, at the termination of 1795, the total strength of the battalion in that country was reduced to 162 men, and of those, two serjeants and four privates were afterwards killed in an engagement with the French brigands at Vaughlin, and in the same affair we find Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Dalhousie numbered with the wounded.
In the month of July, 1795, the two flank companies of the regiment, already mentioned as being left on board the Fleet, were disembarked at Guernsey, and proceeded in the month following to Southampton: they had been augmented, and now formed the First Battalion of the regiment, which was already in a state of readiness for foreign service. In October, eight companies of the First Battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, embarked, and formed part of the memorable expedition destined for the West Indies, under Major-General Sir Ralph Abercrombie and Admiral Christian.
1796
On this occasion about 16,000 troops were collected at Portsmouth, and on the 18th of November the fleet containing them stood down the Channel, but in a few hours it was overtaken by a dreadful hurricane, which caused many ships laden with men to be wrecked, and the coast about Weymouth to be strewed with dead bodies. Amongst the transports lost, was that having on board the flank companies of the First Battalion of the Queen's, who were afterwards collected at Plymouth, and commanded by Major Eyre. No further attempt was made to forward this portion of the regiment to its previous destination; but the six companies, under Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, proceeded onwards with the fleet, and in February, 1796, were landed at Martinique, where they formed a junction with the Second Battalion, serving in that island.
In addition to this timely reinforcement, the Second Battalion, during its service in the West Indies, was augmented by drafts from the Forty-sixth and Sixty-first regiments, and also by men of different regiments who had been prisoners at Guadaloupe, and who had been exchanged.
By Returns of the battalion in the West Indies, made at the above period, its casualties for a half year, ending
| Officers. | Serjeants. | Corporals. | Drummers. | Privates. | |
| In December, 1795, were | 2 | 19 | 9 | 5 | 115 |
| And for a half-year ending June, 1796 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 139 |
| The Deaths for Twelve Months amounted to | 6 | 31 | 19 | 6 | 254 |
1797
In 1797 the Second Battalion of the Queen's formed part of the expedition when Sir Ralph Abercrombie captured the Spanish island of Trinidad; and in the course of the same year, the serviceable men were transferred to the Fifty-seventh regiment, and the battalion, comprising altogether seventy persons, was embarked, and returned to Europe.