About this time the Prussians, having received orders to proceed to the south, separated from the British force; and Graham’s position on the frontier of Holland was far from secure. He fell back, as we have seen, from Antwerp, and occupied ground between that place and Breda. He eventually resolved to attempt the capture of Bergen-op-Zoom. The Riflemen moved on February 28 to West Wesel. In the storm of Bergen and its failure they had no part; for on March 8 (the day on which the attempt was made) they marched in the evening towards Antwerp, it being understood that their destination was to attack Fort Lillo. They marched all night, and towards morning were countermanded and halted; and some hours afterwards heard of the failure at Bergen-op-Zoom. However a picquet of the 3rd Battalion was left near Bergen; and on the failure of the attack on it, they were ordered late in the night of the 8th to retire, and to make the best of their way to their companies. This they effected; but with barely sufficient time to call in their advanced sentries.[145]
On the 9th the Riflemen halted at Stabroek, and on the 11th moved to Capellen.
Another sortie was made by the enemy from Antwerp on March 26, and the Riflemen were under arms expecting an attack; but none took place on them, the enemy having retired. Such alarms and affairs occasionally occurred; for on the 30th the Riflemen pursued a foraging party of the enemy, but unsuccessfully, for they made good their return into Antwerp before the Riflemen could intercept them. But all really active operations of this expedition terminated with the failure at Bergen-op-Zoom. Some further operations were contemplated; but as Graham was on the point of executing them, news reached the Riflemen on April 4 of the entrance of the Allies into Paris on March 31.
However by the Treaty of Paris the Kingdom of the Netherlands was to be established; and pending the details of that measure being arranged by the Congress of Vienna, an Anglo-Hanoverian force was to remain in the country. The Rifle detachments formed part of it.
Early in April a detachment of one company was sent to occupy Fort Batz, and on April 15 the Riflemen moved from Capellen to Braeschaet and Schooten; on the 29th they marched to Contich, and on the 30th to Mechlin, where they remained about a fortnight. On May 14 they arrived at Brussels; where on the 30th they were reviewed by the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, as he was then styled, afterwards the King of the Netherlands.
On Sir Thomas Graham, then Lord Lynedoch, returning to England, the Anglo-Hanoverian force was placed under the command of General the Prince of Orange. The Riflemen remained at Brussels until August 29, when they moved to Ypres, and on the 31st arrived at Courtrai. On September 5, they marched to Menin; but returned to Ypres on October 12. Remaining there till November 22, they moved on that day to Dixmude, and to Furnes on December 9. About this time the Rifle detachments received some reinforcements. Captain Logan, Lieutenant Robert Cochrane and 45 men of the 2nd Battalion embarked at Deal on November 7 to join them. On March 8, 1815, they were at Nieuport, with a detachment of two companies at Furnes; their strength being then 4 captains, 14 subalterns, 2 staff, 21 sergeants, 9 buglers and 388 rank and file, under the command of Captain Glasse of the 1st Battalion. But on March 24 they were re-united at Menin.[146]
On the renewal of hostilities in 1815 the companies of the 1st and 2nd Battalions joined those Battalions on their arrival in Flanders. The 2nd Battalion company joined at Leuze on April 18; and the two companies of the 3rd Battalion were (with the 2nd Battalion) in Sir Frederick Adam’s brigade at Waterloo.[147]
I have said that the five companies of the 3rd Battalion, on their return from the Peninsula disembarked at Plymouth, and moved into barracks there. On September 18, 1814, exactly two months after their arrival in England, they re-embarked for service; the commanding officer, Major Mitchell, and three companies on board the ‘Fox,’ and the other two companies on board the ‘Dover’ frigates. Their destination and the nature of their service were kept a profound secret, but they were, in fact, intended to effect a descent on the American coast near New Orleans. They reached Madeira on the 8th October, where they remained till the 11th, and having touched at Barbadoes early in November, anchored in Negril Bay, Jamaica, on the 25th. Here they were joined by four line regiments, and two West India regiments; and setting sail on the 29th, arrived off the American coast near Mobile on December 10, and on the 11th anchored near the Chandeleur Islands near the entrance to Lake Borgne.