General St. Ruth having been killed in action, the main body of the Irish army fled in terror and dismay towards Limerick, and King William's forces followed. On arriving at Galway the garrison was summoned, and refused to surrender; but the river having been passed in boats, and a fort captured by storm, the governor capitulated on the 21st of July. The next service in which the regiment was engaged was the second siege of Limerick: it was one of the corps which appeared before the town on the 15th of August, and on the 25th it was detached with the regiments of Tiffin (twenty-seventh foot) and St. John, seven hundred horse and dragoons, and five pieces of cannon, under its colonel, the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, against Castleconnell, a strong fortress on the river Shannon, four miles north of Limerick, which surrendered after a siege of two days. The siege of Limerick was afterwards prosecuted with vigour, and it was delivered up in the beginning of October. This event terminated the war in Ireland. The regiment marched from Limerick to Dublin, where it embarked for England on the 20th of December, and after its arrival commenced recruiting its numbers.
1692
After reposing a short time in comfortable quarters in England, the regiment received orders to embark for the Netherlands, to take part in the war with France; and it served the campaign of 1692 with the army commanded by King William in person, by whom it was reviewed at the camp at Genappe on the 29th of June, in presence of the Elector of Bavaria and other distinguished persons. It was engaged in the manœuvres of the main army, and formed part of the division which attacked the French forces under Marshal Luxemburg, in their position near Steenkirk, on the 24th of July. It was one of the corps which supported the leading column under the Duke of Wirtemberg, and, having traversed some difficult grounds, formed with the cavalry of the left wing on the verge of a large wood. A narrow valley appeared in front, beyond which were several thick hedges, and the glittering arms and waving colours of the French infantry were seen through the thick foliage. After a sharp cannonade, the second battalion of the first foot guards, the first battalion of the Royals, the regiments of Fitzpatrick and O'Ffarrel, and two battalions of Danes, commenced the attack: they were supported by the regiments of Hesse d'Armstadt (Sixth), Cutts, Mackay, Leven's (twenty-fifth foot), Angus (twenty-sixth foot), Graham, and Lawder. These corps behaved with an intrepidity and valour which redounded to their honour: they drove the enemy from hedge to hedge, and gained considerable advantage. They were, however, not promptly sustained by the main body of the army under Count Solms, who neglected the King's orders, and occasioned the loss of the battle. Harris, in his History of the Life of King William, states, "The King, enraged at the disappointment of the vanguard, expressed his concern by often repeating, 'Oh! my poor English, how they are abandoned!' nor would he admit Count Solms to his presence for many months after."
The Sixth nobly sustained their reputation, and fought manfully, resisting the superior numbers of the enemy with signal firmness: their commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Foxon, fell mortally wounded: the French legions—dragoons, musketeers, pikemen, and grenadiers—crowded round this devoted corps in great numbers, and it sustained considerable loss. The King ordered a retreat, and the regiment withdrew from the field a mere skeleton. Its loss in killed and wounded was so great, that on the 8th of August it was ordered into quarters at Malines, and in September it embarked for England. After landing at Gravesend, a number of officers and serjeants were sent to various parts of England to procure recruits.
1693
1694
During the winter of 1693 the regiment again embarked for the Netherlands. It was employed in garrison duty in Flanders; and its colonel, the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, being a Roman catholic, transferred his services to the crown of Spain. He was succeeded, in February, 1694, by Henry Marquis de Rada, son of the Marquis de Montpouillan. During the winter of this year the regiment was in garrison at Bruges.
1695
On taking the field in May, 1695, the regiment left its colonel, the Marquis de Rada, dangerously ill of a fever in Bruges. It was encamped a short time on the canal between Ghent and Bruges, under the orders of Lieut.-General Sir Henry Bellasis; and subsequently with the main army, commanded by King William in person, near Arseele, where it was formed in brigade with a battalion of the Royals, and the regiments of Seymour, Granville, Saunderson, and Colyear, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir David Colyear. The King was at the head of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and the French generals headed upwards of a hundred thousand men. These two powerful armies confronted each other; and his Majesty, having by skilful movements drawn the enemy to the Flanders side of their line of entrenchments, invested Namur. This fortress was accounted one of the strongest and most important in the Netherlands, both by its situation and fortifications: it commanded two great rivers, the Sambre and the Maese; and its castle, which stood on a hill in an angle formed by the confluence of these rivers, was deemed almost impregnable. Such stupendous fortifications, defended by a numerous garrison, supplied with every thing requisite for a protracted defence, and commanded by a governor who was esteemed by his king, and beloved by the soldiers, seemed to defy the most powerful and best-appointed army that could be brought against it; and, when the veteran Marshal Boufflers had thrown himself with a large reinforcement into the town, this mass of fortifications was looked upon as a rock on which the grand confederacy of the allies would split. These difficulties stimulated the British monarch to greater exertions; and the Sixth, after remaining a short time with the covering army commanded by Charles Henry of Lorraine, Prince of Vaudemont, was ordered to join the forces employed in the siege, and to take part in the attack of this vast fortress. While on the march the Marquis de Rada died at Bruges, and King William conferred the colonelcy on an officer who had formerly served with distinction in the regiment, Ventris Columbine, from captain and lieutenant-colonel in the foot guards. This officer was highly esteemed in the corps, and, assuming the command of it before Namur, he had additional opportunities of signalizing himself.
The regiment was on duty in the trenches on the 6th, 10th, and 13th of July; and on the 17th it lost a number of men while engaged in storming the counterscarp: it had also Captain Young killed, and Lieut. Dorrington and Ensign Drobas wounded. On the 19th it was again on duty in the trenches, and lost several men; and during the night of the 23rd it was engaged in extending the lodgment to the right. A practicable breach having been made, the enemy surrendered the town on the following day, and retired to the castle, resolving to make a desperate defence. This was one of the regiments engaged in the siege of the castle, and was encamped at a place called Maison Blanche; but, having sustained considerable loss, it was relieved on the 11th of August, and joined the covering army under the Prince of Vaudemont, who had recently quitted his position at Waterloo, and was encamped within seven miles of Namur. A detachment from the grenadier company was engaged in storming the breaches of the Terra Nova and Cohorne on the 20th of August, under Lord Cutts. This proved a most severe service; a lodgment was made along the covered way and entrenchments, but with the loss of above a thousand English, besides Bavarians, Prussians, and Dutch. The grenadier company of this regiment lost several men, and had Captain Cummins killed, and Lieutenant Twinhoe wounded.
The fire against the castle was continued, and preparations made for another assault, when the garrison beat a parley, and agreed to surrender. Thus the capture of this important fortress, which was accounted the bulwark of Brabant, was achieved, and the reputation of the British monarch and his troops exalted. After the works were repaired, Colonel Columbine marched with his regiment into quarters at Bruges, where he expected to pass the winter; but circumstances occurred which occasioned his return to England.