On May 6, 1805, the 2nd Battalion was formed by the transfer of 21 sergeants, 20 corporals, 7 buglers, and 250 privates from the original Corps (now the 1st Battalion); the remainder of the proposed establishment being made up by volunteers from the militia; 1 major (Gardner), 6 captains and 3 first lieutenants being promoted from the 1st Battalion, which also supplied the adjutant. The command and formation of the Battalion was conferred on Wade,[26] of the 1st Battalion, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and so vigorously did he proceed in its organisation, that in less than three months it wanted only 7 sergeants, 6 buglers, and 98 privates to complete its full strength. It was formed at Canterbury, but moved to Brabourn Lees, near Ashford, in June, where it was brigaded with the 1st Battalion.
It was while the two Battalions were stationed at Brabourn Lees that a singular instance of self-control and magnanimity was shown by Sidney Beckwith, then commanding the 1st Battalion. Some men, volunteers from the Irish militia, meeting Mrs. Beckwith, with her child and nurse, on the Ashford Road, most grossly insulted them, proceeding to such lengths (Surtees says) as delicacy forbids to mention. The culprits were discovered, but not punished; for Beckwith next day on parade forming the Battalion into square, addressed them; and, after relating the outrage, added: ‘Although I know who the ruffians are, I will not proceed any further in the business because it was my own wife whom they attacked; but had it been the wife of the meanest soldier in the Regiment, I solemnly declare I would have given the offenders every lash to which a Court-Martial might have sentenced them.’ It is no wonder that by such acts of generosity, as well as by his leading them in the field, this man ‘won the heart of every soldier in the Battalion;’ as Surtees tells us, who served in the ranks under him.
So rapidly and effectually had the 2nd Battalion been organised, that it was in September of this year ordered on service; the right wing being marched to Dover to embark for the Continent, and the left wing to Winchester, to prepare to embark for the Mediterranean. However, it was subsequently countermanded; the right wing, from Dover, being marched to Hailsham in October, and the left from Winchester to Eastbourne; and both in November assembled at Bexhill, where they were quartered till March 1806.
In October 1805 the head-quarters and five companies of the 1st Battalion, under Beckwith, marched to Deal, and embarked at Ramsgate for Germany, in the expedition commanded by Lord Cathcart. After a stormy passage, in which some part of the Battalion seems to have been in great danger from the misconduct of the master of a transport,[27] they reached the Elbe in November, and on the 18th disembarked at Cuxhaven, and marched at once for Dorum, a village twelve or fourteen miles distant, and proceeded by Osterholz and Bremerlehe to Bremen, the Riflemen forming the advanced guard. On their arrival before Bremen on the 24th, the barriers were shut, and the commandant of the Prussian garrison refused to let the troops enter; the Senate of Bremen also demurring to General Don’s request for a passage through the place, on account of its neutrality. However, Beckwith, who commanded the advanced corps, was not the man to be daunted by such refusals. He accordingly informed the Prussian commandant that unless his corps was admitted he should force an entrance. This he did on the morning of the 26th, opening the barriers by force, apparently without any armed resistance; and the refusal of the Senate seems to have been prompted rather by coyness than dislike, for the authorities of the town and the inhabitants generally received the advanced guard with expressions of friendship and satisfaction, the Prussian garrison alone looking on these tokens of welcome with great dissatisfaction. The Riflemen passed on, still in advance, to Delmenhorst, a Prussian regiment accompanying them through the city and across the bridge over the Weser, in order to guard their magazine of corn at Bremen for the use of their army on the Weser. From Delmenhorst the Riflemen were detached: three companies at Oldenburg, and two, under Major Robert Travers, at Wildeshausen, on outpost duty. These last were soon moved back to Delmenhorst, and shortly after reunited to the other three companies at Oldenburg. Here they were welcomed and entertained by the inhabitants, and by none more than by the reigning Grand-Duke of Oldenburg, who became extremely fond of the Regiment, officers and men. In consequence of the battle of Austerlitz in December, and the powerful armies set free by that event, and by Mack’s surrender of Ulm, to act against us in the North of Europe, the outposts were withdrawn to Delmenhorst, and eventually into Bremen; and on their march from Oldenburg the Duke sent forward plentiful refreshments for the Riflemen, both officers and men.
They continued at Bremen till February 1806, when the army moved towards a place of embarkation, Beckwith’s force covering the retreat; but as great numbers of the Germans, who formed part of the British army there, were deserting, the 95th were directed to remain in the villages in order to intercept them. However, eventually Beckwith’s Riflemen also retreated, and embarking at Cuxhaven, arrived and landed at Yarmouth on the 19th; thence they marched, by Lowestoft, to Woodbridge barracks, where they rejoined the remainder of the Battalion. During this abortive expedition they had never, I believe, been engaged with the enemy.
From Woodbridge the Battalion marched, in the spring of 1806, to Deal, and afterwards to quarters at Ospringe and Faversham, where they joined the 2nd Battalion, which had moved there from Bexhill.
On June 13 three companies of the 2nd Battalion (Captains Macdonald’s, Elder’s, and Dickenson’s), under the command of Major Gardner, marched from Faversham and embarked at Portsmouth, as part of the force under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, destined for service in South America. The transports in which the troops were embarked were in such bad condition that they were obliged to put into Rio; and it was not until January 16, 1807, that a landing was effected at Maldonado, near the mouth of the river La Plata. This operation was not accomplished without opposition, in which one bugler was killed and Lieutenant Chawner wounded. The General moved forward and occupied the suburbs of Monte Video, with a view to investing the place. On the morning of the 20th the enemy made a sortie, and attacked our troops with a force of 6,000 men. They advanced in two columns, one of which pressed our picquet so hard, that Colonel Gore Browne, of the 40th, who commanded the left of our line, ordered up three companies of that regiment in support. These companies fell in with the head of the enemy’s column and very bravely charged it. The charge was as bravely received, and great numbers fell on both sides. At length the column began to give way, when it was suddenly and impetuously attacked in flank by the Riflemen and by a light battalion which Auchmuty had ordered up. The column then gave way on all sides, and was pursued with great slaughter to the town. The other column, observing the fate of their companions, retired without coming into action. In this sortie the Riflemen lost 5 men killed and 25 wounded.
A breach having been effected, Auchmuty resolved to assault the place; and an hour before daybreak on the morning of February 3 the attacking column moved forward. It was headed by the Riflemen under Gardner; the storming party being led by Captain Dickenson at the head of his own company. They got near the walls before they were discovered, when a destructive fire was opened from every gun that could bear on the column and from the musketry of the garrison. The enemy had piled up hides in the breach; and unfortunately, in the darkness, its situation was not immediately discovered, and the troops remained under a heavy fire for a quarter of an hour. At last the breach was discovered and pointed out by Captain Renny, of the 40th (which formed part of the attacking column), who fell in the assault. Our troops at once mounted it, led by Dickenson and the Riflemen, and forced their way into the town; and though cannon placed at the head of all the principal streets opened a destructive fire, the place was taken and occupied.
In this gallant affair Dickenson fell gloriously at the head of his company; 10 rank and file were killed, and Lieutenants Scanlan and Macnamara, 4 sergeants, and 15 rank and file were wounded. The Riflemen engaged were specially thanked in General Orders; and eleven sergeants received silver medals under the sanction of the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, for their gallantry on this occasion.
The three companies under Gardner remained in La Plata until they were joined in May by a wing of the 1st Battalion.