In division orders, dated Camp near Tournay, 20th May, 1794, Major-General Whyte stated 'he had great pleasure in informing the British troops, that General Count Clerfait has highly approved of their spirited conduct in the field, and great exertions in going through such excessive fatigues, as they necessarily have had since their first movement from Ostend. Major-General Whyte laments the loss sustained by the eighth light dragoons, whose spirited and distinguished gallantry, led on by Lieut.-Colonel Hart, has gained them the highest honour; and he desires his thanks may be accepted by the commanding officers, and all the officers and men of the thirty-eighth and fifty-fifth regiments; and also by Major Bowes and the officers and men of the Twelfth regiment, whose conduct has been highly approved of by Major-General Hammerstein, under whose immediate command they served. To Lieut.-Colonel Hart, who led on the squadron of the eighth light dragoons to the attack at Rousbeck, his best and distinguished thanks are due; and also to Lieut.-Colonel M'Donald, who led on the fifty-fifth regiment to support the attack on the front. He is perfectly convinced the same praise would have been due to Lieut.-Colonel Pitcairn of the thirty-eighth, had they been called into action.'
The Twelfth foot continued to serve under General Count Clerfait, and when the French besieged Ypres, with thirty thousand men, with a covering army of twenty-five thousand, the regiment was engaged in the attempt to relieve that fortress. The Austrian advance-guard was repulsed at Olglede on the 7th of June; but the French were defeated in their attempt on Rouselaer. Still entertaining hopes of being able to raise the siege, Count Clerfait attacked the French again on the 13th of June, at Hoogledge, and Major-General Hammerstein engaged a body of the enemy, of very superior numbers, at Kootmarke, and was repulsed. He afterwards retreated to Bruges, detaching the eighth light dragoons, and thirty-eighth and fifty-fifth foot to Ostend.
The very superior numbers of the enemy gave them so great an advantage, that the allied army was forced to commence retrograde movements. The Twelfth foot remained with Major-General Hammerstein's division until the 9th of July, when the following paragraph appeared in the division orders issued at the camp at Contiche,—'As the Twelfth British regiment is going to leave Major-General Hammerstein's brigade, he takes this opportunity to assure the regiment of his best acknowledgments for the good and gallant behaviour it has shown during the time the general has had the honour to command it; he likewise thanks it for the readiness and good will with which it has borne so many and great fatigues.'
On its removal from Major-General Hammerstein's command, the regiment was formed in brigade with the thirty-third, forty-second, and forty-fourth foot, under Major-General Balfour. In August it was in position near Breda, and in the beginning of September retired to the vicinity of Bois-le-duc.
In the middle of September the enemy advanced in great force, and attacked all the British posts on the right; the outpost at Boxtel, being most advanced, was forced, and the troops of Hesse D'Armstadt, who occupied it, sustained a severe loss. The post, occupied by a detachment of the Twelfth regiment, was environed and assailed by very superior numbers; it was defended with great gallantry for a short time, but the soldiers were unable to withstand so overwhelming a force as that by which they were assailed. The regiment had a few soldiers killed and wounded, and Lieutenant Eustace, three serjeants, one drummer, and forty-four rank and file taken prisoners. The British troops afterwards retired beyond the river Maese.
In the meantime, the flank companies had been engaged in the defence of the island of Guadaloupe, where about two thousand French troops had arrived from Europe, and being joined by a multitude of mulattoes and blacks, among whom the doctrines of liberty and equality were disseminated, they gained possession of part of the island, and frightful outrages were perpetrated. The companies of the Twelfth were engaged in an attempt to regain possession of Grand-Terre; but the troops employed in this service were not sufficiently numerous. The Twelfth had Lieutenant John Leister and several soldiers killed, and others wounded.
The companies of the Twelfth were employed in the defence of Guadaloupe under great disadvantages, and they were nearly annihilated. The island was given up in October, and the few remaining officers and soldiers proceeded to St. Domingo.
Meanwhile the Twelfth regiment, serving under the Duke of York, in Holland, was exposed to much suffering and privation. The Dutch, having imbibed the revolutionary doctrines of equality, beheld the advance of the French without alarm, and surrendered their fortresses without much resistance. The British troops had no chance of ultimate success, yet they held their positions with firmness, and they did not fail to impress the enemy with a just idea of British valour. The Twelfth were in position near Nimeguen in September, and afterwards attempted to defend the passage of the Waal.
1795
During the winter the river Waal became frozen, so as to admit the immense masses of the enemy to pass on the ice, and the British were obliged to retreat through Holland to Germany. The sufferings of the soldiers during this retrograde movement were very great; long marches, exposed to snow-storms and tempests, along roads choked with ice and snow, and a deficiency of provisions, put to a severe test the strength of the officers and soldiers. In March, 1795, they arrived at Bremen, where the hardships they had endured were ended. The Twelfth regiment lost so many men during the campaign and retreat through Holland, that its numbers were reduced from eight hundred and fifteen to four hundred and twenty-five rank and file.