On the decease of Colonel Ventris Columbine, Her Majesty conferred the colonelcy on the lieutenant-colonel, James Rivers, by commission dated the 2nd of November, 1703: at the same time Major William Southwell was appointed lieutenant-colonel.
1704
The quarters were extended to Worcester in April, 1704, and a detachment was sent to the Isle of Wight: in August following the regiment proceeded to Plymouth, where it passed the succeeding winter.
1705
Meanwhile the war was raging in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and other parts of the continent, and an attempt was being made to place Archduke Charles of Austria on the throne of Spain by force of arms. Gibraltar had been captured by the combined English and Dutch fleets, and in connexion with these events the regiment was embarked at Plymouth in May, 1705, under the Earl of Peterborough, to take part in the war. The design of this expedition was either to aid the Duke of Savoy in driving the French out of Italy, to make an attempt on Naples and Sicily, or to further the progress of the Archduke in Spain. The fleet arrived at the capital of Portugal in June, and additional forces were embarked: at the same time Archduke Charles went on board the fleet to share in the toils and dangers of the enterprise. From Lisbon the expedition proceeded to Gibraltar, where it was joined by the former colonel of the Sixth—the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, and a reinforcement from the garrison.
From Gibraltar the fleet proceeded to the bay of Altea, in Valencia; and while at this small port the officers and soldiers had opportunities of observing the attachment of the inhabitants of that part of Spain to the house of Austria. A thousand Catalonians and Valentians, who had thrown off their allegiance to the house of Bourbon, and had acknowledged Archduke Charles as the sovereign of Spain, seized on the town of Denia, while others made demonstrations of giving effectual aid to the expedition; and such a spirit of enterprise was evinced by King Charles, the Earl of Peterborough, the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, and others, that every officer and man caught the ardent zeal of the superior officers, and resolved to do something great and noble. Under these feelings the famous city of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and one of the most ancient towns in Spain, was selected to be the scene of the first attempt. Its situation, on a plain near the sea,—with a mole capable of containing only galleys and small ships,—defended by ten bastions, several old towers and other works,—with a strong castle and citadel, called Montjuich, on a hill on the west side and commanding the town; the garrison consisting of between five and six thousand men, under the viceroy of Catalonia, Don Francis de Velasco;—and the besieging army being unable to bring more than seven thousand men into the lines; these circumstances, with the fact, that, in 1697, this fortress resisted a French army of thirty thousand men eight weeks with open trenches, and cost the French monarch twelve thousand men, gave an interesting and romantic character to this enterprise, in which the Sixth gained much honour, and which produced a great sensation throughout Europe.
The troops landed near the river Bassoz, about three miles east of Barcelona, on the 23rd and 24th of August. On the 28th King Charles came on shore, when the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages flocked to the camp with demonstrations of joy, and many took arms to act as guerilla bands and miquelets; but the progress of the siege was delayed by opposite opinions and views among the superior officers. "Such were the unhappy circumstances of the Earl of Peterborough in the camp before Barcelona: impossibilities proposed; no expedients to be accepted; a court reproaching; councils of war rejecting; and the Dutch general refusing the assistance of the troops under his command."[24] Yet all these difficulties were overcome; and an attack by storm on the detached fortress of Montjuich was resolved upon, in which the grenadiers of the Sixth, headed by their Lieutenant-Colonel, William Southwell, had the honour to take the lead. The storming party of four hundred grenadiers, with a support of six hundred musketeers, commanded by the Earl of Peterborough and the Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, commenced their march about ten o'clock on the night of Sunday the 13th of September, round the mountains, and were followed by another detachment and a party of dragoons. After traversing many miles of rugged mountain scenery by difficult tracts, the storming party appeared before the fortress, and received a discharge of small arms and artillery from the garrison. The Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt and Lord Charlemont directed Lieut.-Colonel Southwell of the Sixth to commence the attack; and instantly springing forward at the head of the grenadiers, this gallant officer led the storming party to the assault with signal intrepidity and resolution. The native energy and contempt of danger of the British soldier was eminently displayed: Southwell and his grenadiers climbed the steep rock in the face of a storm of fire from the garrison,—entered the covered way and the ditch, sword in hand,—ascended to the top of a curtain which was not quite finished, one soldier helping another up, and, notwithstanding the vigorous resistance of the enemy, gained the bulwark of a new fortification. Here some sharp fighting took place: thrice Lieut.-Colonel Southwell was surrounded, but he overthrew his adversaries with matchless valour, and the enemy was driven from that post into the castle. The men, at the other points of attack, had also proved successful,—a considerable portion of the outworks were carried,—a temporary breastwork and entrenchment were speedily constructed,—and three pieces of cannon, which had been captured, were made use of to defend it. The Prince of Hesse d'Armstadt afterwards advanced with a body of men along the curtain which led to the ditch of the inward fort, and fell mortally wounded; two hundred and fifty of the men were made prisoners by the enemy; at the same time a large reinforcement was seen advancing from the town to aid the garrison in the castle, and the soldiers received orders to retire from some of the inferior officers. The Earl of Peterborough rushed to the spot, countermanded the order, seized the half-pike out of Lord Charlemont's hands, and rallied and led back the soldiers to the posts they had so nobly won: the Spaniards who were advancing from the town turned back, and the out-works of the fortress of Montjuich were thus gained. Batteries were constructed, and the inner works were assailed with cannon-balls, bombs, and grenades. On the 17th of September, Lieut.-Colonel Southwell of the Sixth, being on duty in the trenches with his regiment, observed that the bombs, thrown by a Dutch bombardier from a small mortar, fell to the left of the fort, and concluding there was a magazine in the place, he traversed the mortar a little to the right, himself, and fired it; and the bomb falling into a little chapel where the garrison had stored a great quantity of powder, it blew up, and the governor, a Neapolitan named Don Charlete Caracholi, with a number of other officers and men, were buried in the ruins. The intrepid Southwell called a few soldiers forward, and, advancing sword in hand to take advantage of the confusion, was met by the surviving officers and men of the garrison, who laid down their arms and surrendered the fortress; Lieut.-Colonel Southwell took possession of the works; and King Charles hastened to the spot and embraced the lieut.-colonel in a transport of joy. Thus the strong castle and citadel of Montjuich was captured; and Lieut.-Colonel Southwell of the Sixth was rewarded with the appointment of governor.[25]
The capture of Montjuich facilitated the siege of the city of Barcelona, which was persecuted with vigour: the miquelets and armed Catalonians blocked up the avenues of the town, and the soldiers were incessant in their exertions. "The admirals forgot their element, and acted as general officers at land; they came every day from their ships with a body of men formed into companies, and commanded by captains and lieutenants of their own."[26] Cannon and mortars were dragged up steep precipices by men; and a practicable breach having been made, a body of soldiers prepared to attack the city by storm; but the effusion of blood, which would have attended this enterprize, was spared by the surrender of the garrison. A number of miquelets entered the city through the breach with the design of plundering the partisans of the Bourbon dynasty. The governor being very unpopular, and suspected of a design to remove many of the prisoners, was surrounded by an enraged mob: but the Earl of Peterborough entered the town on the 14th of October with a troop of dragoons and the grenadiers of the army, put a stop to the plundering of the miquelets, and prevented the slaughter of the governor and his garrison; at the same time such excellent order and discipline were preserved among the English soldiers, that their conduct has been lauded by historians. The capture of Barcelona gave additional reputation to the arms of the allies, and this splendid achievement was the theme of conversation and a subject of astonishment throughout Europe. It was accompanied by the submission of nearly all Catalonia, the largest and richest province of Spain; and, as Boyer, the historian of these wars, observes, "all the generals, admirals, officers, private soldiers, and seamen, engaged in this memorable expedition, deserved each their share of the honour."
King Charles commenced forming a Spanish army for his service: he soon had five hundred dragoons for a guard, and six regiments of foot. He was joined by Colonel Nebot, who forsook the service of King Philip with a regiment of horse; and in a short time the province of Valencia submitted to the Austrian prince.