1703
From Breda the regiment marched, in April, 1703, towards Maestricht. The French attempted to surprise the British troops in their quarters, but the gallant resistance of two regiments, at Tongres (the second, or Queen’s Royals, and Elst’s), gave time for the army to assemble in order of battle at Maestricht. The regiment served this campaign in brigade with the same corps as in 1702: it was employed in several movements designed to bring the enemy to a general engagement; but the French withdrew behind their fortified lines, where the Duke of Marlborough was desirous of attacking them, to which the Dutch generals would not consent.
In August, the fortress of Huy, situate on the Maese above the city of Liege, was besieged, and it was captured in ten days. Another proposal to attack the French lines having been declined by the Dutch, Limburg, in the Spanish Netherlands, was besieged, and on the 27th of September, the garrison surrendered, which completed the deliverance of Spanish Guelderland from the power of France.
1704
After taking part in these captures, the regiment was selected to transfer its services from the Netherlands to Portugal, to take part in the attempt to place Archduke Charles of Austria on the throne of Spain by force of arms; several states of Europe having acknowledged him as king of Spain, the British, Dutch, and Portuguese had engaged to aid him in gaining possession of the throne. The regiment embarked from Holland in October, and sailed to Portsmouth; but it was detained so long by contrary winds, that it did not arrive at Lisbon, before March, 1704, when it landed, and marched to Abrantes; but was afterwards removed to the Alemtejo.
The British troops in Portugal were commanded by General Mainhard Duke Schomberg, and he suggested active measures; but tardiness and inability were manifested by the Portuguese authorities, to so great an extent, that the Duke of Berwick invaded Portugal with a French and Spanish army, before the allies were prepared to take the field. The court of Lisbon was alarmed; Duke Schomberg solicited to be recalled; and the Earl of Galway was sent with reinforcements to Portugal.
In the early part of the campaign, the Thirteenth foot were employed in the Alemtejo: they were reviewed at the camp at Estremos on the 21st of July, and were afterwards removed to Vimiera.
After the summer heat had abated, the regiment joined the army, and penetrated into Spain as far as the bank of the Agueda, near Ciudad Rodrigo; but the Duke of Berwick had made so skilful a disposition of the French and Spanish forces under his orders, on the opposite side of the river, that the allies were prevented passing the stream, and the British troops returned to Portugal for winter quarters.
In the meantime the important fortress of Gibraltar[9] had been captured by the combined English and Dutch fleets, and garrisoned by a body of marines under the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt. The capture of this fortress revived the hopes and expectations of the allies, and disconcerted the measures of King Philip, of Spain, and his grandfather Louis XIV.; a combined French and Spanish army was assembled to retake Gibraltar, and the French monarch, who possessed, at that period, a naval force of great magnitude, directed his fleet to co-operate in this service. The troops under the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt defended the fortress with great gallantry, and eventually applied to the commander of the forces in Portugal for aid, when a battalion of the first and second foot guards, the Thirteenth and thirty-fifth regiments, the Dutch regiment of Waes, and the Portuguese regiment of Algarve, were selected to reinforce the garrison.
The Thirteenth regiment, mustering thirty-nine serjeants, thirty-nine corporals, twenty-six drummers, and six hundred and fifty private soldiers, marched from the frontiers of Portugal to Lisbon, and embarked on board of transports on the 8th of December: two days afterwards the fleet sailed under the convoy of four frigates, and on the 17th it was becalmed, when the boats were hoisted out, and attempts made to gain some progress by the use of oars. A fleet of men of war appeared in sight, under English and Dutch colours, and it was supposed to be the squadron under Vice-Admiral Leake and Rear-Admiral Vander-Dussen; but observing the men-of-war forming a half-moon to surround the transports, a private signal was made, and the men-of-war being unable to answer it, instantly hoisted French colours. The danger was great, with a hostile fleet so near, but the transports put out every boat, and made some way by towing: the enemy was becalmed, and in the evening a breeze sprung up, which enabled the British vessels to escape, excepting one ship, which was captured. On the following day, the Thirteenth regiment landed at Gibraltar, at the moment when the garrison was beginning to despair of assistance.