Colonel Sir John Jacob, Baronet, being desirous of retiring from the active duties of commanding officer of the regiment, which were performed by all colonels not having higher rank, procured permission to dispose of the colonelcy of the regiment for fourteen hundred guineas, to his brother-in-law, James Earl of Barrymore, whose appointment was dated the 15th of March, 1702, being seven days after the death of King William III., and the accession of Queen Anne.
In the middle of April, the Imperialists besieged the strong fortress of Kayserswerth on the Lower Rhine, and the Thirteenth regiment was one of the corps which traversed the country to the duchy of Cleves, and joined the covering army, under the Earl of Athlone, encamped at Cranenburg.
A French army of superior numbers proceeded, by forced marches, through the forest of Cleves and plain of Goch, to cut off the communication of the troops at Cranenburg, with Grave and Nimeguen. In consequence of this movement, the British and Dutch struck their tents on the evening of the 10th of June, and retreating throughout the night, arrived, about eight o’clock on the following morning, within a few miles of Nimeguen, at which time the French columns appeared on both flanks and in the rear. Some sharp skirmishing occurred: the British corps forming the rear guard behaved with great gallantry, and the army effected its retreat under the works of Nimeguen. Kayserswerth surrendered three days afterwards.
Additional forces arrived in Holland, the Earl of Marlborough assumed the command, and the Eighth, Thirteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth regiments, were formed in brigade under Brigadier-General Frederick Hamilton. This brigade took part in the manœuvres by which the French army was forced to withdraw from the frontiers of Holland; and when the siege of the fortress of Venloo—a town in the province of Limburg, situate on the east side of the Maese, with fortifications beyond the river—was undertaken, Brigadier-General Hamilton’s brigade formed part of the force of thirty-two battalions of infantry and thirty-six squadrons of cavalry, detached from the main army for this enterprise, under Prince Nassau Saarbruck.
The Thirteenth regiment carried on its attacks against the detached fortress of St. Michael, on the west side of the river; and on the 18th of September, the grenadier company of the regiment was ordered to take part in storming the covered-way, which, from the extraordinary gallantry of the soldiers, ended in the capture of the fort. Between five and six o’clock in the evening the signal was given, when the grenadiers rushed forward;—the French fired a few rounds and fled;—the British leaped into the covered-way, and pursued their opponents so closely, that friends and foes entered the ravelin together. The French in the ravelin were soon sabred; those who escaped fled across a small wooden bridge, and were followed so closely that they had not time to remove the bridge, and after a sharp struggle, the English and French entered the fort together. The British got over the fausse-braye, climbed up the rampart with great difficulty,—pulled up the palisades from the parapet, ascended the rampart, and captured the fort sword in hand, making thirty officers and one hundred and seventy soldiers prisoners; the remainder of the garrison, which consisted of six hundred men, were either killed in the attack, or drowned in attempting to escape across the river, excepting twelve men, who passed the stream in small boats.
In a few days afterwards, information arrived of the capture of Landau by the Germans, when the army before Venloo assembled to fire three rounds for that event, and the batteries were ordered to fire three volleys. When the garrison and inhabitants saw the preparations in the besieging army, they imagined it was for attacking the place by storm: the magistrates begged the governor to surrender, and the town was delivered up.
After the surrender of Venloo, the Thirteenth regiment was engaged in the siege of Ruremonde, which fortress was invested towards the end of September, and surrendered on the 7th of October.
The army afterwards advanced towards Liege; the city was immediately delivered up, and the citadel was captured by storm on the 23rd of October: on which occasion the grenadiers of the army distinguished themselves. A detached fortress, called the Chartreuse, surrendered soon afterwards, and these conquests terminated the campaign.
Quitting the valley of Liege on the 3rd of November, the regiment marched back to Holland, and was stationed in garrison at Breda during the winter.