In the middle of January, 1807, a landing was effected nine miles from Monte Video, and the army advanced towards that fortress, when the column, composed of the Seventeenth, four troops of the Twentieth, and two of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, was attacked by the enemy. Some sharp fighting occurred; Brigadier-General Auchmuty's charger was killed, and he mounted one of Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd's horses; his orderly trumpeter, Thomas Hudson, had also his horse killed under him; but eventually the British dragoons drove back their opponents, and took up the first position before the fortress, about two miles from the citadel. On the 20th of January a numerous body of men sallied from the town, but were driven back, and on the 22nd a number of the enemy approached the rear of the British line, when a skirmish ensued, in which the Seventeenth had two men killed and three wounded. During the siege the Seventeenth were employed in covering the troops before the town and in bringing up provisions, in the performance of which service they took many prisoners, and Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd received the personal thanks of Brigadier-Generals Auchmuty and Lumley. The town was taken by storm on the 3rd of February; on this occasion the Seventeenth formed part of the division under Brigadier-General Lumley, in readiness to cover and support the attack, and to protect the rear; on the capture of the town the citadel surrendered.

Abundance of horses being found in the country, the regiment was mounted; but great difficulty was experienced in procuring forage. Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd proceeded above twenty miles up the country, with four troops of the Seventeenth, and two squadrons of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Light Dragoons, and occupied the out-posts of Canelon and St. Joseph, the latter situate on the bank of a river of the same name. In the early part of March Captain Ross's troop was sent to Las Penais, and Captain Supple's to Cosa Negro barracks; and on the 1st of May the regiment had two hundred and twenty-four mounted and three hundred and seventy-one dismounted men in cantonments in and about Monte Video.

The arrival of Lieut.-General Whitelocke with additional troops, and afterwards of Brigadier-General Craufurd with a further reinforcement, was followed by an attack on the city of Buenos Ayres. Embarking from Monte Video, the troops sailed nearly a hundred miles further up the river, and then landed on the right bank, about thirty miles from the city. Four dismounted troops of the Seventeenth were left, with a regiment of foot, to escort the artillery from the place of disembarkation; and the four mounted troops, mustering forty men each, under Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd, were employed as follows:—Two troops were ordered to give up their horses to the commissariat, but on putting on the pack-saddles the horses broke loose, and were of little use: thirty mounted men remained under Captain Lloyd, to superintend the landing of provision,—of these, ten were sent forward after the army with despatches, twelve mounted men were attached to one of the infantry brigades, and the remainder accompanied Lieut.-General Whitelocke. Thus this small mounted cavalry force was so employed, that it was not available for the more important services of the expedition.

Advancing through a difficult country, the army arrived at the suburbs of Buenos Ayres, and, on the morning of the 5th of July, penetrated the streets of the town; a number of the enemy collected in the rear of the army was dispersed by sixteen mounted men of the Seventeenth and thirty dismounted men of the Ninth Light Dragoons, under Lieut.-Colonel Torrens and Captain Whittingham. While advancing along the streets of this populous city, the British infantry were attacked by the whole male population, who crowded the windows and tops of the flat-roofed houses, and assailed the British with musketry, hand-grenades, bricks, and large stones. Fiercely braving this tempest of war, the English soldiers pressed forward; in some places they were victorious, in others they were overpowered and forced to surrender; and in the midst of this scene of carnage and confusion, sixteen men of the Seventeenth and fifty infantry soldiers, led by Captain Whittingham, opened a communication with Brigadier-General Auchmuty's brigade. Ten mounted men of the Seventeenth and some infantry, also communicated with Colonel Mahon's brigade left at the village of Reduction: but hostilities were terminated by a treaty, in which Lieut.-General Whitelocke agreed to surrender the posts he had taken, also Monte Video, and withdraw from the country, for which he was brought to trial and cashiered.

1808

The Seventeenth left South America in November; they put into Cork harbour from stress of weather, and were mustered there on the 24th of December; but leaving that port in January, 1808, they sailed to Portsmouth, and, after disembarking, joined the depôt troops at Chichester. At this place they remained six weeks dismounted, under orders for the East Indies; furloughs were given to the men to the 20th of February, and such was the excellent spirit which prevailed, that at the expiration of the term there was only one absentee,—a man detained by sickness.

On the 29th of February the regiment left Chichester; on arriving at this place the men had large balances to receive; on quitting, they were thanked by the mayor and corporation, who stated that they had spent three thousand pounds in the town in six weeks, without a single dragoon misbehaving himself.

Eight hundred non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the regiment embarked from Portsmouth under Major Cotton, (Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd being detained as an evidence on the trial of Lieut.-General Whitelocke,) and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st of June. On the 4th they were inspected by the Commander-in-Chief at the Cape, Major-General the Honourable Henry George Grey, who had formerly commanded the regiment, and was then a Lieut.-Colonel on its establishment; he expressed himself highly pleased with their appearance; and they fired a feu de joie in honour of the birth-day of King George III.

A remarkable circumstance, connected with the movements of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons is shown by the following statement, viz:—the celebration of the birth-day of His Majesty by the regiment in the four different quarters of the world in four successive years; viz., in 1806 in Europe, in England; in 1807 in America, at Monte Video; in 1808 in Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope; and in 1809 in Asia, at Surat, in the East Indies.

From the Cape of Good Hope the regiment sailed for Calcutta. On approaching the Ganges a fire broke out in one of the ships, the Hugh Inglis, through the carelessness of a petty officer; the magazine was instantly inundated, and the engines from the other ships assisting, the fire was extinguished without serious damage. On the following day the three top-masts were carried over the side of the ship by a squall, and with them fourteen or fifteen men; but the wind speedily subsiding, and the boats of the fleet rendering assistance, all the men were saved except one. On arriving at Diamond Harbour, the regiment was removed on board of small vessels, and it landed at Calcutta on the 25th of August,—mustering seven hundred and ninety men.