The day following the inspection, the 15th of March 1858, a detachment, under Captain Falconer, consisting of 2 captains, 4 subalterns, 1 staff-officer, 12 sergeants, 12 corporals, 3 pipers, and 280 privates, proceeded on field-service to the southern Mahratta country, being placed at the disposal of the Bombay Government, and being ultimately stationed at Darwar.
On the 28th of May, a petty rajah or zemindar having taken possession of the Fort of Kopál, a field force from Bellary was immediately put in motion—No. 9 Company, under Captain Menzies, composing the European infantry with the force. Major Hughes, deeming it politic to nip in the bud this outbreak before it spread further in the Madras Presidency, pushed on the force as quickly as possible by forced marches, and arrived before Kopál on the 31st. The fort was stormed and recaptured on the 1st of June by No. 9 Company, which formed the storming party on the occasion, having 1 sergeant and 6 privates wounded, one of the latter dying on the 5th.
The same day on which the storm and capture of Kopál took place, Companies 2 and 6, under Captain Davies, having been, by direction of the Bombay Government, detached from the contingent stationed at Darwar, proceeded to Noorgoond, and stormed and captured the fort of that name, on which occasion only 1 private was wounded.
Government being apprehensive that the rebel leader, Tantéa Topee, was endeavouring to enter the Deccan and incite the Mahrattas, a field force under the command of Brigadier Spottiswood of the 1st Dragoon Guards, who had temporarily succeeded Brigadier Macduff in command of the Bellary Brigade, marched from Bellary on the 9th of November. The force consisted of the 74th Highlanders, 47th Regiment Native Infantry, one battery of Royal Artillery, 5th Light Cavalry, and one regiment of Mysore Horse. It proceeded by way of Kurnool to Hyderabad, arriving there on the 3rd of December. This force remained fully equipped and ready to move on any point until the 21st of January 1859, when it was broken up and taken on the strength of the Hyderabad subsidiary force. The 74th left Hyderabad on February 3rd, and reached Bellary on the 22nd of the same month.
Shortly before this, Major-General Macleod left his district, and it must be exceedingly gratifying to the 74th that an officer of his penetration, knowledge, and honesty of speech, felt himself able to issue an order so highly complimentary as the following, dated “Headquarters, Ceded Districts, October 8th, 1858:”—
“The Major-General thanks Colonel Monkland for the excellent state of discipline and good behaviour of the men of the 74th Highlanders while the regiment remained at Bellary. The conduct of the men has been strikingly correct. A single case of irregularity in any soldier’s conduct out of quarters has never been observed.... As the Major-General thinks it probable that during his period of command he will not again have the troops composing the column under his orders, he deems it right to express his high opinion of those composing it, and feels confident that opportunity is only wanting to prove that the Bellary column is second to none on field-service.”
It was at this time that, at the repeated request of the commanding officer, the whole regiment was reunited at Bellary, where the strength of the regiment was found to be as follows:—1 colonel, 2 lieutenant-colonels, 2 majors, 10 captains, 14 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 6 staff, 55 sergeants, 44 corporals, 20 drummers, 6 pipers, 942 rank and file, being a total of 1067; and on the 14th of June a draft of 16 recruits joined headquarters from England.
The period of service, under the “Limited Service Act” (of June 1847), of many of the men having long expired, and the country being considered quiet, authority for the discharge of such as desired it having been received, the regiment lost a large number of its best soldiers, and by the end of 1859 was considerably reduced in numbers.
Colonel Macduff—the division under Major-General Whitlock, including the 2nd Infantry brigade which he commanded, having been broken up—returned to Bellary, and assumed the command of the brigade at that station, having been repeatedly, during his absence on field-service, successfully engaged against the rebels.
There is but little to record out of the even tenor of the regiment’s way from this time until it embarked for England in 1864. The 74th was of course regularly inspected every half-year by the superior officer whose duty it was to do so; and invariably a good report was given, not only of the discipline and bearing of the men, their knowledge of their business, and their smart and soldierly appearance, but also of their personal cleanliness, and the excellent interior economy of the regiment, and of the unanimity and good feeling that existed among all its ranks. Indeed, the terms in which Major-General Coffin, whose duty it was at this time frequently to inspect the regiment, spoke of the character and efficiency of the 74th, were such that Colonel Villiers seems to have been afraid that the men would be spoiled by so much praise, and in a regimental order of November 1860 sincerely hopes the high encomiums passed by the Major-General may not lead either officers or men to rest satisfied with the present state of the efficiency of their corps, but act as an additional incentive to renewed exertion on the part of every one concerned to render perfect what is now in their estimation considered good.