Holland had, in the mean time, become united to France, and in 1795 the Cape of Good Hope was captured by a British armament. A rebellion breaking out on the frontiers of the colony, the Sixty-first embarked for the Cape of Good Hope in the summer of 1798; the regiment arrived at that settlement in January, 1799, and was stationed there upwards of two years.
During its stay at the Cape of Good Hope, the regiment was employed against the hardy and warlike tribes of Kafirs, who committed depredations in the colony. On one occasion the light infantry company marched upwards of forty miles in one day, to support a detachment of the Eighth Light Dragoons, in an attack upon the Kafirs, and the timely appearance of the soldiers of the Sixty-first contributed to the success gained on that occasion.
1800
The Sixty-first Regiment, with a detachment of the Eighty-first, built a block-house, and threw up works at Algoa Bay, and thus commenced the formation of a settlement at that place, which has since risen into importance.
On the decease of General Morriss, King George III. conferred the colonelcy of the regiment on Major-General George Hewitt, from Colonel-Commandant of the second battalion of the Fifth Regiment, by commission dated the 4th of April, 1800.
1801
In February, 1801, four companies of the Sixty-first Regiment embarked from the Cape of Good Hope, for a secret service; but they were afterwards directed to join the Indian army commanded by Major-General Baird, destined to proceed up the Red Sea, traverse the Desert, and co-operate, with the troops from Europe, in the expulsion of the French “Army of the East” from Egypt. The remaining six companies of the regiment sailed from the Cape of Good Hope on the 30th of March, under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Carruthers, to join the expedition in the Red Sea.
The army from India arrived at the port of Cosseir on the Red Sea in June, and marched through the Desert to Kenna on the Nile, by divisions. The four companies of the Sixty-first Regiment, a detachment of the Tenth Foot, and a party of the Eighth Light Dragoons, mustering five hundred and eighty-two soldiers, under Lieut.-Colonel Barlow, of the Sixty-first[3], commenced their march from Cosseir through the Desert on the 18th of July; they suffered much from excessive heat, thirst, and the fatigue of a long march through a sandy desert, and arrived at Kenna in ten days. The other companies landed at Cosseir on the 10th of July, and commenced their march on the 20th of that month for Kenna, where they arrived in nine days, with the loss of only one man, a drummer, who died of fatigue. When the company, to which the drummer belonged, arrived at camp, he was missed, and Private Andrew Connell asked permission to return, notwithstanding the previous fatigue he had undergone, and assist the drummer: his humane exertions were, however, unavailing, as he found the drummer dead. This humane conduct brought Andrew Connell into notice, and he was eventually promoted to a commission in the regiment.
On the 2nd of August the regiment embarked in seventeen d’jirms (boats), and proceeded down the river Nile, about four hundred miles, to Cairo, which city had surrendered to the British troops a short time previously. The regiment afterwards continued its route down the Nile to the vicinity of Rosetta. The siege of Alexandria was carried on with vigour, and the deliverance of Egypt was completed by the surrender of the French garrison in the beginning of September.
The Sixty-first received, in common with the other corps which served on this expedition, the honor of bearing on their colours the word “Egypt” with the Sphinx, as a distinguished mark of His Majesty’s royal approbation of their conduct: the officers were permitted to accept of gold medals from the Grand Seignior.