1778
1779
In 1778 the French monarch sent a numerous fleet under the Count D’Estaing, having on board a large body of troops, to the assistance of the Americans; in 1779 the court of Spain commenced hostilities against Great Britain, and this example was followed by the Dutch.
1780
Major-General Thomas Clarke, from the Coldstream Guards, was appointed, on the 3rd of May, 1780, to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir James Adolphus Oughton, K.B., deceased.
1781
The battalion companies of the regiment had remained in Canada, where they eventually were joined by the flank companies. On the 12th of March, 1781, the light company was detached to Lake Champlain, with a view of reconnoitring the neighbourhood, and effecting the destruction of the military stores left at Ticonderago by Lieut.-General Burgoyne. The object was partly accomplished, and Captain Andrew Ross, who commanded the company, gained great credit for the skill and conduct he displayed in this difficult enterprise. The party consisted, in addition to the light company of the THIRTY-FIRST, of men selected from the different Provincial corps, with a few Indians. It was in the spring of the year, when the ice was breaking up, and the operations were attended with difficulties and great privations. The men suffered so severely from fatigue, that the Provincials and Indians dropped off by degrees, and the party was reduced, on its return, to the light company only.
During July the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was encamped on the Plain of Abraham, memorable as the scene of the British victory over the French under the Marquis de Montcalm, on the 13th September, 1759, by which Quebec was gained to England, and in which battle the celebrated Major-General Wolfe lost his life.
1782
In October, 1781, the British army under Lieut.-General the Earl Cornwallis, after a gallant defence against the combined French and American forces, was compelled to surrender to General Washington at York-Town. The enormous expense of carrying on the war with America, so distant from the seat of preparation and power, with the other evils attending this memorable and ever-to-be regretted contest, were so apparent, that the desire for peace became general, and King George III. at length conceded the Independence of the United States. The Preliminary Articles of Peace were signed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, by the Commissioners of the King of Great Britain and by those of the American Congress, and the Treaty was concluded in the ensuing February.
While the THIRTY-FIRST was stationed in Canada, a letter, dated the 31st of August, 1782, conveyed to the regiment His Majesty’s pleasure that County-titles should be given to the regiments of infantry, and the THIRTY-FIRST was directed to assume the name of the Huntingdonshire regiment, in order that a connexion between the corps and that county should be cultivated, which might be useful in furthering the success of the recruiting service.