A powerful armament was prepared for the attack of the French and Spanish settlements in the West Indies in 1703, but this enterprise was subsequently abandoned.
1704.
After losing several men from the effects of the climate, the regiment was withdrawn from the West Indies, and was stationed in Ireland in the year 1704.
1705.
The successes obtained by the Duke of Marlborough in Flanders and Germany led to an attempt to place the Archduke Charles of Austria on the throne of Spain by force of arms. In the former year Gibraltar had been captured by the combined English and Dutch fleets, and in connexion with these events the Thirty-sixth regiment was embarked from Ireland in April 1705, in order to proceed with the force under the Earl of Peterborough.
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 Lisbon in June, and additional forces were embarked; at the same time the Archduke Charles went on board the fleet to share in the toils and dangers inseparable from the enterprise. From Lisbon the expedition proceeded to Gibraltar, where it was joined by the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt and a reinforcement from the garrison.
The fleet next proceeded to the bay of Altea, in Valencia, and there the officers and soldiers had opportunities of observing the attachment of the inhabitants of that part of Spain to the Austrian Prince. A thousand Catalonians and Valentians who had thrown off their allegiance to the house of Bourbon, and had acknowledged the Archduke Charles as the Sovereign of Spain, seized on the town of Denia, while others made demonstrations of giving effectual aid to the expedition; such a spirit of enterprise was evinced by King Charles, the Earl of Peterborough, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, and others, that both officers and men became imbued with the ardent zeal of their superiors, and resolved to effect something great and remarkable.
Under these feelings, the celebrated city of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and one of the most ancient towns in Spain, was selected as 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 named 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 Francisco de Velasco, while the besieging army was unable to bring more than seven thousand men into the lines; these circumstances, with the fact that in 1697 this fortress resisted the Duke of Vendôme, with 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 the enterprise, in which the Thirty-Sixth, and other regiments employed, gained much honour. It is also to be noticed, that it was the same Prince of Hesse Darmstadt who was now engaged in capturing what he had before so nobly defended; for it was a question whether the Duke of Vendôme gained more glory by the taking, than the Prince of Darmstadt by defending Barcelona, when employed in the Spanish service.
The Earl of Peterborough landed his troops on the 23d and 24th of August near the river Bassoz, about three miles east of Barcelona. On the 28th of that month, King Charles came on shore, and several of the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages greeted his landing with great acclamations. The progress of the siege was, however, retarded by opposite opinions and views entertained by the superior officers. It was at length determined to surprise the detached fortress of Montjuich, as proposed by the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt. The storming party of four hundred grenadiers, selected from the various corps employed in the siege, with a support of six hundred musketeers, commenced its march in the night of Sunday the 13th of September, round the mountains, and were followed by another detachment and a party of dragoons. The greater part of the way not being passable for above one man abreast, and the night very dark, the first detachment was nearly twelve hours on the march, and did not arrive at the foot of the mountain until break of day of the 14th of September; some Miquelets, in the service of the enemy, gave the alarm to the troops in the castle and in the town, so that the Prince of Hesse, on his arrival, found the garrison in arms, with guards in the outworks, who received the Confederates with a general discharge of artillery and small arms. Upon this the Prince of Hesse, and the Viscount Charlemont, Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, (who commanded on the 14th of September as Brigadier, in consequence of the indisposition of the Dutch Brigadier Schonenberg,) ordered Lieut.-Colonel Southwell, of the Sixth foot, to commence the attack with the grenadiers; this service was performed with signal intrepidity and resolution. Upon this success the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt advanced to possess himself of a post which would prevent the enemy’s communication with the town, and in the attempt was mortally wounded. The loss of this officer damped the spirits of the soldiers;—the enemy, perceiving some disorder amongst the Confederates, called out, “Long live King Charles!” and invited the assailants to come to them; upon Colonel Allen’s advance to the fort, with about two hundred and fifty men, the Spaniards opened the gate the better to conceal their stratagem, but immediately fired upon the men, and compelled this detachment to surrender; at the same time, a large reinforcement was seen advancing from the town to aid the garrison in the castle, whereupon the troops were seized with a panic, and Lord Charlemont, with other officers, endeavoured to counteract the disorder which ensued.
Upon the Earl of Peterborough receiving this intelligence, his lordship placed himself at the head of the detachments that were retreating,—rallied them, and ultimately regained the posts they had before so nobly acquired; the Spaniards who were advancing from the town retired, and the outworks of Montjuich were gained. Batteries were then constructed, and the inner works were assailed with cannon balls, bombs, and grenades. After the action was over, the Earl of Peterborough introduced Lord Charlemont and Lieut.-Colonel Southwell to the King of Spain, as officers that had done His Majesty signal service on this occasion; for which they both received the thanks of that Prince.[6]