1812
Meanwhile the British army, commanded by Lord Wellington, now Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, was fighting the battle of Spanish and Portuguese independence in the Peninsula; and in November, 1812, the grenadier company of the TWENTY-FIRST FUSILIERS proceeded, with the grenadier battalion, to the eastern coast of Spain, to take part in the war. It arrived at Alicant, on the 2nd of December; but circumstances occurred soon afterwards, which occasioned its return to Sicily, where it arrived in the spring of 1813.
1813
Two companies proceeded, in 1813, to the island of Ponza; and in the same year, a strong detachment, commanded by Captain Renny, joined from the second battalion.
1814
The brilliant success of the British troops in the Peninsula, and of the armies of the Allied Sovereigns on the Continent of Europe, was followed by the embarkation of a body of troops for Italy, under Lieut.-General Lord William Bentinck and Major-General H. T. Montresor. The TWENTY-FIRST regiment embarked for this service, in February, 1814, under Major Whitaker (Colonel Paterson commanding a brigade), and landed at Leghorn on the 13th of March; on the 23rd it marched to Pisa, and on the 25th to Lucca. In April, the battalion advanced upon Genoa; on the 12th of that month, the enemy was driven from Mount Facia and Nervi, and the British took post at Sturla. On the 17th of April, at daybreak, the French position in front of Genoa was attacked, the enemy was driven from the strong position he occupied, and afterwards evacuated the town, which was taken possession of on the 19th of April, by the TWENTY-FIRST, and other corps. The regiment had Lieutenant Sabine wounded; one serjeant and fourteen rank and file killed and wounded.
In the meantime the second battalion had been withdrawn from Scotland, to take part in the war on the Continent; it embarked from Fort George, on the 30th of December, 1813, landed in Holland on the 10th of January, 1814, and was employed in the attack of Bergen-op-Zoom, on the night of the 8th of March. One portion of the battalion formed part of the third column, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Robert Henry, of the TWENTY-FIRST, who was directed to draw the enemy's attention by an attack near Steenbergen gate; the flank companies were attached to the fourth column, under Brigadier-General Gore. Some severe fighting took place, and advantages were gained in the first instance; but the attack failed, and a number of officers and men, who had penetrated the works, were forced to surrender prisoners of war. The battalion had a number of men killed and wounded on this occasion; Lieutenant John Bulteel died of his wounds; Lieut.-Colonel Henry, Captains Durrah and Donald Mackenzie, Lieutenants the Honorable F. Morris, H. Pigou, D. Moody, D. Rankin, and Sir William Crosby, were wounded. Hostilities were soon afterwards terminated; Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne of France; and in September the second battalion embarked from Ostend for England; it landed at Deal, and in October embarked from Gravesend for Scotland, where it arrived in the beginning of November, and landed at Leith.
The war in Europe having terminated, the first battalion of the ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS was selected to proceed to America, in consequence of Great Britain having become involved in war with the United States; it embarked from Genoa on the 12th of May, and arrived at Gibraltar on the 7th of June; and on the 11th, sailed with the Twenty-ninth and Sixty-second regiments, for the West Indies, where it joined the corps under Major-General Robert Ross. The fleet, with the troops on board, sailed from Bermuda on the 3rd of August, and proceeded to the Bay of Chesapeake, when the American flotilla fled for refuge up the Patuxent river. To ensure the capture or destruction of this flotilla, the troops landed at the village of St. Benedict, from whence they advanced to the delightful village of Upper Marlborough, when the Americans destroyed their flotilla to prevent its falling into the hands of the British. The object of the expedition had thus been accomplished; but the army had advanced within sixteen miles of Washington, and the enemy's force was ascertained to be such as would authorise an attempt to carry the capital. The troops accordingly advanced on the 23rd of August; routed some detachments on the road, and encountering the American army under General Winder, at the village of Bladensburg, gained a decisive victory over a force more than twice their own numbers, and occupying a position deliberately chosen. The light company of the regiment distinguished itself on this occasion; it had two men killed; Captain Robert Rennie, Lieutenant James Grace, and eleven rank and file wounded.
Advancing from the field of battle, the regiment moved towards Washington, and was the first corps which entered that city; it was fired upon by the Americans, and had sixty-eight men killed and wounded; but all resistance was soon overcome: the arsenal, docks, and other public property were set on fire, and the conflagration of burning buildings illuminated the sky during the night, while the exploding magazines shook the city, and threw down houses in their vicinity. Having completed this service, the British troops marched back to St. Benedict, and re-embarked on board of the fleet.