Compelled by the severity of the weather, and the increasing numbers of the French, to retreat, the British troops retired behind the Leck, after the division under Lord Cathcart had repulsed an attack made by the enemy on the 8th.
Disease, the result of a want of necessaries and proper clothing, had greatly diminished the ranks of the British; and the men, whose robustness of constitution had hitherto enabled them to withstand the rigours of one of the severest winters ever remembered, at last sank under the accumulated hardships which beset them. Such was the state of the British army when General Pichegru, crossing the Waal in great force, made a general attack on the 14th of January along the whole line, from Arnheim to Amerougen. After a continued resistance till morning, the British began the disastrous retreat to Deventer, the miseries of which have only been exceeded by the sufferings of the French in their disastrous retreat from Moscow.[312] The inhumanity of the Dutch boors, who uniformly shut their doors against the unfortunate sufferers, will ever remain a disgrace on the Dutch nation. The hospitable conduct of the inhabitants of Bremen, where the remains of this luckless army arrived in the beginning of April, formed a noble contrast to that of the selfish and unfeeling Dutch.
In no former campaign was the superiority of the Highlanders over their companions in arms, in enduring privations and fatigues, more conspicuous than in this; for whilst some of the newly-raised regiments lost more than 300 men by disease alone, the 42d, which had 300 young recruits in its ranks, lost only 25, including those killed in battle, from the time of their disembarkation at Ostend till their embarkation at Bremen, on the 14th of April.
The Royal Highlanders having landed at Harwich were marched to Chelmsford, and encamped in June 1795 in the neighbourhood of Danbury. In September the regiment was augmented to 1000 men, by drafts from the Strathspey and Perthshire Highlanders, and the regiments of Colonel Duncan Cameron and Colonel Simon Fraser, which had been raised the preceding year, and were now broken up. “Although these drafts,” says General Stewart, “furnished many good and serviceable men, they were, in many respects, very inferior to former recruits. This difference of character was more particularly marked in their habits and manners in quarters, than in their conduct in the field, which was always unexceptionable. Having been embodied for upwards of eighteen months, and having been subject to a greater mixture of character than was usual in Highland battalions, these corps had lost much of their original manners, and of that strict attention to religious and moral duties which distinguished the Highland youths on quitting their native glens, and which, when in corps unmixed with men of different characters, they always retained. This intermixture produced a sensible change in the moral conduct and character of the regiment.”
Since 1795 the soldiers of the 42d have worn a red feather or “heckle” in their bonnets, being in this respect distinguished from all the other Highland regiments. The following is the story of the “glorious old red heckle,” as told by Lieutenant-Colonel Wheatley, who, we believe, had his information directly from those who took part in the exploit on account of which the Black Watch is entitled to wear the plume.
In December 1794, when the Forty-Second were quartered at Thuyl, as above mentioned, they received orders for the night of the 31st to march upon Bommell, distant some miles on the opposite side of the river Waal, which they reached by four o’clock on the morning of 1st January 1795. Here they were joined by a number of other regiments, and lay on their arms until daybreak, when they attacked the French army, and drove them across the river on the ice. The British held their position on the banks of the river until the evening of the 3d, when (the French having been reinforced) a partial retreat took place early on the morning of the 4th. The British retired upon the village of Guildermalson, where the 42d, with a number of other regiments, halted, and formed up to cover the retreat through the village. The French cavalry, however, cut through the retreating picquets, and made their way up to the regiments stationed at the village, where they were met and repulsed, and a number of them taken prisoners.[313] Two field-pieces were placed in front of the village to protect the retreat of the picquets; but instead of resisting the charge of cavalry, they (the picquets) retreated to the rear of the village, leaving their guns in possession of the French, who commenced dragging them off. An A.D.C. (Major Rose) ordered Major Dalrymple, commanding the 42d, to charge with his regiment, and retake the guns; which was immediately done, with the loss of 1 man killed and 3 wounded. The guns were thus rescued and dragged in by the 42d, the horses having been disabled and the harness cut.
There was little or no notice taken of this affair at the time, as all was bustle; but after their arrival in England, it was rumoured that the 42d were to get some distinctive badge for their conduct in retaking the guns on the 4th of January; but the nature of the honour was kept a profound secret. On the 4th of June 1795, as the regiment, then quartered at Royston, Cambridgeshire, was out on parade to fire three rounds in honour of his Majesty’s birthday, the men were surprised and delighted when a large box was brought on to the field, and a red feather distributed to each soldier. This distinctive ornament has ever since adorned the otherwise funereal head-dress of the old Black Watch.
In 1822, from a mistaken direction in a book of dress for the guidance of the army, some of the other Highland regiments concluded that they also had a right to wear “a red vulture feather.” The 42d, however, remonstrated, and their representations at headquarters called forth the following memorandum:—
“For Officers commanding Highland Regiments.
“Horse Guards, 20th Aug. 1822.