INFANTRY : CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT ***




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  HISTORICAL RECORD

  OF

  THE THIRTEENTH, FIRST SOMERSET,

  OR,

  THE PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT

  OF

  LIGHT INFANTRY;

  CONTAINING

  AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
  IN 1685,

  AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES
  TO 1848.

  COMPILED BY
  RICHARD CANNON, ESQ.
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S OFFICE, HORSE GUARDS.

  ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES.

  LONDON:
  PARKER, FURNIVALL, & PARKER,
  30 CHARING CROSS.

  M DCCC XLVIII.




  LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES & SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
  FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE.




GENERAL ORDERS.


  _HORSE-GUARDS_,
  _1st January, 1836_.

His Majesty has been pleased to command that, with the view of
doing the fullest justice to Regiments, as well as to Individuals
who have distinguished themselves by their Bravery in Action with
the Enemy, an Account of the Services of every Regiment in the
British Army shall be published under the superintendence and
direction of the Adjutant-General; and that this Account shall
contain the following particulars, viz.:--

  ---- The Period and Circumstances of the Original Formation of
  the Regiment; The Stations at which it has been from time to time
  employed; The Battles, Sieges, and other Military Operations
  in which it has been engaged, particularly specifying any
  Achievement it may have performed, and the Colours, Trophies,
  &c., it may have captured from the Enemy.

  ---- The Names of the Officers, and the number of
  Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates Killed or Wounded by the
  Enemy, specifying the place and Date of the Action.

  ---- The Names of those Officers who, in consideration of their
  Gallant Services and Meritorious Conduct in Engagements with the
  Enemy, have been distinguished with Titles, Medals, or other
  Marks of His Majesty’s gracious favour.

  ---- The Names of all such Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers,
  and Privates, as may have specially signalized themselves in
  Action.

  And,

  ---- The Badges and Devices which the Regiment may have been
  permitted to bear, and the Causes on account of which such Badges
  or Devices, or any other Marks of Distinction, have been granted.

      By Command of the Right Honorable
      GENERAL LORD HILL,
      _Commanding-in-Chief_.

      JOHN MACDONALD,
      _Adjutant-General_.




PREFACE.


The character and credit of the British Army must chiefly depend
upon the zeal and ardour by which all who enter into its service
are animated, and consequently it is of the highest importance that
any measure calculated to excite the spirit of emulation, by which
alone great and gallant actions are achieved, should be adopted.

Nothing can more fully tend to the accomplishment of this desirable
object than a full display of the noble deeds with which the
Military History of our country abounds. To hold forth these bright
examples to the imitation of the youthful soldier, and thus to
incite him to emulate the meritorious conduct of those who have
preceded him in their honorable career, are among the motives that
have given rise to the present publication.

The operations of the British Troops are, indeed, announced in the
“London Gazette,” from whence they are transferred into the public
prints: the achievements of our armies are thus made known at the
time of their occurrence, and receive the tribute of praise and
admiration to which they are entitled. On extraordinary occasions,
the Houses of Parliament have been in the habit of conferring on
the Commanders, and the Officers and Troops acting under their
orders, expressions of approbation and of thanks for their skill
and bravery; and these testimonials, confirmed by the high honour
of their Sovereign’s approbation, constitute the reward which the
soldier most highly prizes.

It has not, however, until late years, been the practice (which
appears to have long prevailed in some of the Continental armies)
for British Regiments to keep regular records of their services
and achievements. Hence some difficulty has been experienced in
obtaining, particularly from the old Regiments, an authentic
account of their origin and subsequent services.

This defect will now be remedied, in consequence of His Majesty
having been pleased to command that every Regiment shall, in
future, keep a full and ample record of its services at home and
abroad.

From the materials thus collected, the country will henceforth
derive information as to the difficulties and privations which
chequer the career of those who embrace the military profession. In
Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to
the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and
where these pursuits have, for so long a period, being undisturbed
by the _presence of war_, which few other countries have escaped,
comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service
and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the
British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little
or no interval of repose.

In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country
derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist
and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to
reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,--on
their sufferings,--and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which
so many national benefits are obtained and preserved.

The conduct of the British Troops, their valour, and endurance,
have shone conspicuously under great and trying difficulties; and
their character has been established in Continental warfare by the
irresistible spirit with which they have effected debarkations in
spite of the most formidable opposition, and by the gallantry and
steadiness with which they have maintained their advantages against
superior numbers.

In the official Reports made by the respective Commanders, ample
justice has generally been done to the gallant exertions of the
Corps employed; but the details of their services and of acts of
individual bravery can only be fully given in the Annals of the
various Regiments.

These Records are now preparing for publication, under his
Majesty’s special authority, by Mr. RICHARD CANNON, Principal Clerk
of the Adjutant-General’s Office; and while the perusal of them
cannot fail to be useful and interesting to military men of every
rank, it is considered that they will also afford entertainment and
information to the general reader, particularly to those who may
have served in the Army, or who have relatives in the Service.

There exists in the breasts of most of those who have served, or
are serving, in the Army, an _Esprit de Corps_--an attachment
to everything belonging to their Regiment; to such persons a
narrative of the services of their own Corps cannot fail to prove
interesting. Authentic accounts of the actions of the great, the
valiant, the loyal, have always been of paramount interest with
a brave and civilized people. Great Britain has produced a race
of heroes who, in moments of danger and terror, have stood “firm
as the rocks of their native shore:” and when half the world has
been arrayed against them, they have fought the battles of their
Country with unshaken fortitude. It is presumed that a record of
achievements in war,--victories so complete and surprising, gained
by our countrymen, our brothers, our fellow citizens in arms,--a
record which revives the memory of the brave, and brings their
gallant deeds before us, will certainly prove acceptable to the
public.

Biographical memoirs of the Colonels and other distinguished
Officers will be introduced in the Records of their respective
Regiments, and the Honorary Distinctions which have, from time to
time, been conferred upon each Regiment, as testifying the value
and importance of its services, will be faithfully set forth.

As a convenient mode of Publication, the Record of each Regiment
will be printed in a distinct number, so that when the whole shall
be completed, the Parts may be bound up in numerical succession.




INTRODUCTION

TO

THE INFANTRY.


The natives of Britain have, at all periods, been celebrated for
innate courage and unshaken firmness, and the national superiority
of the British troops over those of other countries has been
evinced in the midst of the most imminent perils. History contains
so many proofs of extraordinary acts of bravery, that no doubts can
be raised upon the facts which are recorded. It must therefore be
admitted, that the distinguishing feature of the British soldier is
INTREPIDITY. This quality was evinced by the inhabitants of England
when their country was invaded by Julius Cæsar with a Roman army,
on which occasion the undaunted Britons rushed into the sea to
attack the Roman soldiers as they descended from their ships; and,
although their discipline and arms were inferior to those of their
adversaries, yet their fierce and dauntless bearing intimidated
the flower of the Roman troops, including Cæsar’s favourite tenth
legion. Their arms consisted of spears, short swords, and other
weapons of rude construction. They had chariots, to the axles of
which were fastened sharp pieces of iron resembling scythe-blades,
and infantry in long chariots resembling waggons, who alighted
and fought on foot, and for change of ground, pursuit or retreat,
sprang into the chariot and drove off with the speed of cavalry.
These inventions were, however, unavailing against Cæsar’s
legions: in the course of time a military system, with discipline
and subordination, was introduced, and British courage, being
thus regulated, was exerted to the greatest advantage; a full
development of the national character followed, and it shone forth
in all its native brilliancy.

The military force of the Anglo Saxons consisted principally of
infantry: Thanes, and other men of property, however, fought on
horseback. The infantry were of two classes, heavy and light. The
former carried large shields armed with spikes, long broad swords
and spears; and the latter were armed with swords or spears only.
They had also men armed with clubs, others with battle-axes and
javelins.

The feudal troops established by William the Conqueror consisted
(as already stated in the Introduction to the Cavalry) almost
entirely of horse; but when the warlike barons and knights, with
their trains of tenants and vassals, took the field, a proportion
of men appeared on foot, and, although these were of inferior
degree, they proved stout-hearted Britons of stanch fidelity. When
stipendiary troops were employed, infantry always constituted a
considerable portion of the military force; and this _arme_ has
since acquired, in every quarter of the globe, a celebrity never
exceeded by the armies of any nation at any period.

The weapons carried by the infantry, during the several reigns
succeeding the Conquest, were bows and arrows, half-pikes, lances,
halberds, various kinds of battle-axes, swords, and daggers. Armour
was worn on the head and body, and in course of time the practice
became general for military men to be so completely cased in steel,
that it was almost impossible to slay them.

The introduction of the use of gunpowder in the destructive
purposes of war, in the early part of the fourteenth
century, produced a change in the arms and equipment of the
infantry-soldier. Bows and arrows gave place to various kinds of
fire-arms, but British archers continued formidable adversaries;
and owing to the inconvenient construction and imperfect bore of
the fire-arms when first introduced, a body of men, well trained
in the use of the bow from their youth, was considered a valuable
acquisition to every army, even as late as the sixteenth century.

During a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth each company
of infantry usually consisted of men armed five different ways; in
every hundred men forty were “_men-at-arms_,” and sixty “_shot_;”
the “men-at-arms” were ten halberdiers, or battle-axe men, and
thirty pikemen; and the “shot” were twenty archers, twenty
musketeers, and twenty harquebusiers, and each man carried, besides
his principal weapon, a sword and dagger.

Companies of infantry varied at this period in numbers from 150
to 300 men; each company had a colour or ensign, and the mode of
formation recommended by an English military writer (Sir John
Smithe) in 1590 was:--the colour in the centre of the company
guarded by the halberdiers; the pikemen in equal proportions, on
each flank of the halberdiers: half the musketeers on each flank
of the pikes; half the archers on each flank of the musketeers,
and the harquebusiers (whose arms were much lighter than the
muskets then in use) in equal proportions on each flank of the
company for skirmishing.[1] It was customary to unite a number
of companies into one body, called a REGIMENT, which frequently
amounted to three thousand men: but each company continued to carry
a colour. Numerous improvements were eventually introduced in the
construction of fire-arms, and, it having been found impossible to
make armour proof against the muskets then in use (which carried
a very heavy ball) without its being too weighty for the soldier,
armour was gradually laid aside by the infantry in the seventeenth
century: bows and arrows also fell into disuse, and the infantry
were reduced to two classes, viz.: _musketeers_, armed with
matchlock muskets, swords, and daggers; and _pikemen_, armed with
pikes from fourteen to eighteen feet long, and swords.

In the early part of the seventeenth century Gustavus Adolphus,
King of Sweden, reduced the strength of regiments to 1000 men; he
caused the gunpowder, which had heretofore been carried in flasks,
or in small wooden bandoliers, each containing a charge, to be
made up into cartridges, and carried in pouches; and he formed
each regiment into two wings of musketeers, and a centre division
of pikemen. He also adopted the practice of forming four regiments
into a brigade; and the number of colours was afterwards reduced to
three in each regiment. He formed his columns so compactly that his
infantry could resist the charge of the celebrated Polish horsemen
and Austrian cuirassiers; and his armies became the admiration of
other nations. His mode of formation was copied by the English,
French, and other European states; but so great was the prejudice
in favour of ancient customs, that all his improvements were not
adopted until near a century afterwards.

In 1664 King Charles II. raised a corps for sea-service, styled
the Admiral’s regiment. In 1678 each company of 100 men usually
consisted of 30 pikemen, 60 musketeers, and 10 men armed with light
firelocks. In this year the King added a company of men armed with
hand-grenades to each of the old British regiments, which was
designated the “grenadier company.” Daggers were so contrived as to
fit in the muzzles of the muskets, and bayonets similar to those
at present in use were adopted about twenty years afterwards.

An Ordnance regiment was raised in 1685, by order of King James
II., to guard the artillery, and was designated the Royal Fusiliers
(now 7th Foot). This corps, and the companies of grenadiers, did
not carry pikes.

King William III. incorporated the Admiral’s regiment in the second
Foot Guards, and raised two Marine regiments for sea-service.
During the war in this reign, each company of infantry (excepting
the fusiliers and grenadiers) consisted of 14 pikemen and 46
musketeers; the captains carried pikes; lieutenants, partisans;
ensigns, half-pikes; and serjeants, halberds. After the peace in
1697 the Marine regiments were disbanded, but were again formed on
the breaking out of the war in 1702.[2]

During the reign of Queen Anne the pikes were laid aside, and every
infantry soldier was armed with a musket, bayonet, and sword; the
grenadiers ceased, about the same period, to carry hand grenades;
and the regiments were directed to lay aside their third colour:
the corps of Royal Artillery was first added to the Army in this
reign.

About the year 1745, the men of the battalion companies of infantry
ceased to carry swords; during the reign of George II. light
companies were added to infantry regiments; and in 1764 a Board of
General Officers recommended that the grenadiers should lay aside
their swords, as that weapon had never been used during the seven
years’ war. Since that period the arms of the infantry soldier have
been limited to the musket and bayonet.

The arms and equipment of the British troops have seldom differed
materially, since the Conquest, from those of other European
states; and in some respects the arming has, at certain periods,
been allowed to be inferior to that of the nations with whom they
have had to contend; yet, under this disadvantage, the bravery and
superiority of the British infantry have been evinced on very many
and most trying occasions, and splendid victories have been gained
over very superior numbers.

Great Britain has produced a race of lion-like champions who have
dared to confront a host of foes, and have proved themselves
valiant with any arms. At _Crecy_ King Edward III., at the head of
about 30,000 men, defeated, on the 26th of August, 1346, Philip
King of France, whose army is said to have amounted to 100,000
men; here British valour encountered veterans of renown:--the
King of Bohemia, the King of Majorca, and many princes and nobles
were slain, and the French army was routed and cut to pieces. Ten
years afterwards, Edward Prince of Wales, who was designated the
Black Prince, defeated, at _Poictiers_, with 14,000 men, a French
army of 60,000 horse, besides infantry, and took John I., King of
France, and his son Philip, prisoners. On the 25th of October,
1415, King Henry V., with an array of about 13,000 men, although
greatly exhausted by marches, privations, and sickness, defeated,
at _Agincourt_, the Constable of France, at the head of the flower
of the French nobility and an army said to amount to 60,000 men,
and gained a complete victory.

During the seventy years’ war between the United Provinces of the
Netherlands and the Spanish monarchy, which commenced in 1578 and
terminated in 1648, the British infantry in the service of the
States-General were celebrated for their unconquerable spirit and
firmness;[3] and in the thirty years’ war between the Protestant
Princes and the Emperor of Germany, the British troops in the
service of Sweden and other states were celebrated for deeds of
heroism.[4] In the wars of Queen Anne, the fame of the British
army under the great MARLBOROUGH was spread throughout the world;
and if we glance at the achievements performed within the memory
of persons now living, there is abundant proof that the Britons
of the present age are not inferior to their ancestors in the
qualities which constitute good soldiers. Witness the deeds of
the brave men, of whom there are many now surviving, who fought in
Egypt in 1801, under the brave Abercromby, and compelled the French
army, which had been vainly styled _Invincible_, to evacuate that
country; also the services of the gallant Troops during the arduous
campaigns in the Peninsula, under the immortal WELLINGTON; and
the determined stand made by the British Army at Waterloo, where
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had long been the inveterate enemy of Great
Britain, and had sought and planned her destruction by every means
he could devise, was compelled to leave his vanquished legions to
their fate, and to place himself at the disposal of the British
Government. These achievements, with others of recent dates, in the
distant climes of India, prove that the same valour and constancy
which glowed in the breasts of the heroes of Crecy, Poictiers,
Agincourt, Blenheim, and Ramilies, continue to animate the Britons
of the nineteenth century.

The British Soldier is distinguished for a robust and muscular
frame,--intrepidity which no danger can appal,--unconquerable
spirit and resolution,--patience in fatigue and privation, and
cheerful obedience to his superiors. These qualities, united with
an excellent system of order and discipline to regulate and give
a skilful direction to the energies and adventurous spirit of
the hero, and a wise selection of officers of superior talent to
command, whose presence inspires confidence,--have been the leading
causes of the splendid victories gained by the British arms.[5]
The fame of the deeds of the past and present generations in the
various battle-fields where the robust sons of Albion have fought
and conquered, surrounds the British arms with a halo of glory;
these achievements will live in the page of history to the end of
time.

The records of the several regiments will be found to contain a
detail of facts of an interesting character, connected with the
hardships, sufferings, and gallant exploits of British soldiers in
the various parts of the world where the calls of their Country
and the commands of their Sovereign have required them to proceed
in the execution of their duty, whether in active continental
operations, or in maintaining colonial territories in distant and
unfavourable climes.

The superiority of the British infantry has been pre-eminently set
forth in the wars of six centuries, and admitted by the greatest
commanders which Europe has produced. The formations and movements
of this _arme_, as at present practised, while they are adapted
to every species of warfare, and to all probable situations
and circumstances of service, are calculated to show forth the
brilliancy of military tactics calculated upon mathematical and
scientific principles. Although the movements and evolutions have
been copied from the continental armies, yet various improvements
have from time to time been introduced, to insure that simplicity
and celerity by which the superiority of the national military
character is maintained. The rank and influence which Great Britain
has attained among the nations of the world, have in a great
measure been purchased by the valour of the Army, and to persons
who have the welfare of their country at heart, the records of the
several regiments cannot fail to prove interesting.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] A company of 200 men would appear thus:--

__| | | |__| | 20 20 20 30 2|0 30 20 20 20 | Harquebuses. Muskets.
Halberds. Muskets. Harquebuses. Archers. Pikes. Pikes. Archers.

The musket carried a ball which weighed 1/10th of a pound; and the
harquebus a ball which weighed 1/25th of a pound.

[2] The 30th, 31st, and 32nd Regiments were formed as Marine corps
in 1702, and were employed as such during the wars in the reign
of Queen Anne. The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under
Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking of Gibraltar, and
in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at
the siege of Barcelona in 1705.

[3] The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed
in 1590, observes:--“I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation
would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the
field, let them be chosen where they list.” Yet at this time the
Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe.
For instances of valour displayed by the British Infantry during
the Seventy Years’ War, see the Historical Record of the Third
Foot, or Buffs.

[4] Vide the Historical Record of the First, or Royal Regiment of
Foot.

[5] “Under the blessing of Divine Providence, His Majesty ascribes
the successes which have attended the exertions of his troops in
Egypt to that determined bravery which is inherent in Britons; but
His Majesty desires it may be most solemnly and forcibly impressed
on the consideration of every part of the army, that it has been a
strict observance of order, discipline, and military system, which
has given the full energy to the native valour of the troops, and
has enabled them proudly to assert the superiority of the national
military character, in situations uncommonly arduous, and under
circumstances of peculiar difficulty.”--_General Orders in 1801._

In the General Orders issued by Lieut.-General Sir John Hope
(afterwards Lord Hopetoun), congratulating the army upon the
successful result of the Battle of Corunna, on the 16th of January,
1809, it is stated:--“On no occasion has the undaunted valour of
British troops ever been more manifest. At the termination of a
severe and harassing march, rendered necessary by the superiority
which the enemy had acquired, and which had materially impaired
the efficiency of the troops, many disadvantages were to be
encountered. These have all been surmounted by the conduct of the
troops themselves: and the enemy has been taught, that whatever
advantages of position or of numbers he may possess, there is
inherent in the British officers and soldiers a bravery that knows
not how to yield,--that no circumstances can appal,--and that will
ensure victory, when it is to be obtained by the exertion of any
human means.”




  HISTORICAL RECORD

  OF

  THE THIRTEENTH, FIRST SOMERSET,

  OR,

  THE PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT

  OF

  LIGHT INFANTRY;

  CONTAINING

  AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
  IN 1685,

  AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES
  TO 1848.

  COMPILED BY
  RICHARD CANNON, ESQ.
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S OFFICE, HORSE GUARDS.

  ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES.

  LONDON:
  PARKER, FURNIVALL, & PARKER,
  30 CHARING CROSS.

  M DCCC XLVIII.




  THE THIRTEENTH,

  THE FIRST SOMERSET REGIMENT OF FOOT,

  OR

  THE PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF
  LIGHT INFANTRY,

  Bears on its Regimental Colour

  THE SPHINX, WITH THE WORD “EGYPT,”

  In Commemoration of its Services in Egypt in 1801;

  THE WORD “MARTINIQUE,”

  In Commemoration of its Services at the Capture of that Island
  on the 24th February, 1809;

  AND THE WORDS

  “AVA,”--“AFFGHANISTAN,”--“GHUZNEE,”--“JELLALABAD,”
  _WITH THE MURAL CROWN_,

  AND

  “CABOOL, 1842,”

  In Commemoration of its Arduous and Meritorious Services in the
  Asiatic Territories from 1839 to 1842.




THIRTEENTH, PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY.


CONTENTS.

  Year                                                          Page

  1685  Formation of the Regiment                                  1

  ----  Station and Establishment                                  -

  ----  Earl of Huntingdon, and other officers appointed
          to Commissions                                           2

  ----  Encamped on Hounslow Heath                                 -

  1686  Establishment of the Regiment                              -

  ----  Uniform of the Regiment                                    -

  ----  Marched into Yorkshire and Cumberland                      -

  ----  Removed to Chester                                         -

  1687  List of Officers                                           3

  1688  Declaration of the Regiment in favour of the
          Protestant Interest                                      4

  ----  Colonel F. Hastings appointed in the place of
          the Earl of Huntingdon                                   -

  1689  Proceeded to Edinburgh                                     5

  ----  Engaged at Killicrankie                                    6

  ----  Embarked for Ireland                                       8

  1690  Engaged at the Battle of the Boyne                         9

  ----  Embarked for England                                       -

  ----  Re-embarked for Ireland                                    -

  ----  Engaged at Cork and Kinsale                               10

  1691  Engaged at Drumaugh and Ballycleugh                       11

  ----  Took possession of Drummaneer                             --

  1691  Engaged at Lismore                                        11

  ----  Termination of hostilities in Ireland                     --

  ----  Embarked for England                                      --

  1692  Selected to form part of an Expedition against
          the French Coast                                        12

  ----  Proceeded to Ostend                                       --

  ----  Returned to England                                       --

  1693  Detachment sent to Flanders to replace the
          casualties of the Army after the Battle of
          Landen                                                  --

  1695  Colonel F. Hastings cashiered, and Colonel Sir
          John Jacob appointed to succeed him                     13

  1697  Termination of the War in Flanders and the
          Establishment reduced                                   --

  1699  Proceeded to Ireland                                      --

  1700  Hostile measures of King Louis XIV. of France             --

  1701  Embarked from Cork for Flanders                           14

  ----  Landed at Helvoetsluys                                    --

  ----  Reviewed at Breda by King William III.                    --

  1702  Encamped at Rosendael                                     --

  ----  Colonel the Earl of Barrymore appointed by
          purchase to succeed Sir John Jacob                      --

  1702  Engaged in the siege of Kayserswerth                      --

  ----  The Earl of Marlborough assumed the command
          of the Army in Flanders                                 --

  ----  Formed in brigade under Brigadier-General
          Frederick Hamilton                                      15

  1702  Engaged in the siege and capture of Venloo                --

  ----  ---- ---- ---- of Fort St. Michael                        --

  ----  ---- ---- ---- of Ruremonde                               16

  ----  ---- ---- ---- of Liege                                   --

  ----  Entered winter-quarters at Breda                          17

  1703  Engaged in the siege of Huy                               --

  ----  ---- ---- ---- of Limburg                                 --

  1703  Spanish Guelderland delivered from France                 17

  ----  Embarked for England                                      --

  ----  Proceeded to Portugal                                     --

  1704  Encamped at Estremos                                      18

  ----  Embarked for Gibraltar                                    19

  1705  Engaged in defence of Gibraltar                           20

  ----  Re-embarked for Spain                                     21

  ----  Engaged in the siege of Barcelona                         22

  ----  ---- in storming Fort Montjuich                           --

  ----  ---- in relief of St. Matheo in Valencia                  23

  1706  Formed by the Earl of Peterborough into a
          Regiment of Cavalry commanded by Colonel
          Edward Pearce                                           24

  ----  Marched to Oropeso and formed into eight troops 25

  ----  Remainder of the Regiment sent to England to
          recruit                                                 --

  ----  Pearce’s Regiment of Dragoons engaged in
          Valencia                                                26

  1707  ---- ---- ---- ---- at Almanza                            --

  1708   Thirteenth Regiment, having been recruited,
           again embarked for Portugal, and encamped
           between Elvas and Campo Mayor                          27

  1709  Proceeded to the banks of the Caya                        --

  ----  Engaged at the attack on the Caya                         --

  ----  Colonel the Earl of Barrymore taken prisoner              28

  1710  Served the Campaign on the frontiers of Portugal          --

  1711  Embarked from Portugal for Gibraltar                      --

  1713  Received volunteers from several Corps disbanded
          after the peace of Utrecht                              --

  1715  Colonel the Earl of Barrymore succeeded by
          Colonel Stanhope Cotton, then Lieutenant-Governor
          of Gibraltar                                            29

  1725  Colonel Cotton died, and succeeded as Colonel of
          the Thirteenth Regiment by Lord Mark Kerr               --

  1727  Engaged in a second successful defence of
          Gibraltar against the Spaniards                         29

  1728  Relieved from duty at Gibraltar, after foreign
          service for twenty years                                30

  1730  Reviewed on Winkfield-plain, with the Twelfth
          foot, by King George II.                                --

  1732  Colonel Lord Mark Kerr removed to the Eleventh
        Dragoons, and succeeded by Colonel John Middleton         --

  1739  Colonel John Middleton died, and succeeded by
          Colonel Henry Pulteney                                  --

  ----  War declared against Spain, and augmentation
          took place                                              --

  1740  Encamped on Windsor Forest                                --

  1741  Encamped on Lexden Heath                                  31

  1742  Embarked for Flanders under the Earl of Stair             --

  1743  War declared against France                               --

  ----  Encamped at Aschaffenburg                                 --

  ----  Engaged at the battle of Dettingen                        --

  1744  Engaged under Field Marshal Wade on the
          banks of the Scheldt                                    32

  1745  Engaged at the battle of Fontenoy                         --

  ----  Encamped on the plains of Lessines                        33

  ----  Arrival of Charles Edward, elder son of the
          Pretender, in Scotland                                  --

  ----  Thirteenth Regiment returned from Flanders,
          and landed at Blackwall                                 34

  ----  Proceeded to Doncaster and Newcastle                      --

  1746  Engaged at Falkirk-moor                                   --

  ----  ---- at Culloden-moor                                     35

  ----  Rebellion in Scotland suppressed                          36

  ----  Flight of the Young Pretender                             --

  ----  Regiment returned to Holland                              --

  1746  Advanced to Maestricht, and thence to Liege               36

  ----  Engaged at Roucoux                                        --

  1747  Engaged at Val                                            37

  1748  Employed in Limburg, and in North Brabant                 39

  ----  Treaty of Peace at Aix la Chapelle                        --

  ----  Returned to England                                       --

  1751  Royal Warrant issued regulating the clothing,
          and colours of Regiments                                --

  1754  Embarked for Gibraltar                                    --

  1762  Returned to England                                       --

  1766  His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester appointed
          Colonel in succession to Honorable Henry Pulteney       40

  1767  Reviewed in Hyde Park with the Twelfth Foot,
          by King George III.                                     --

  ----  The Duke of Gloucester appointed to the Third
          Foot Guards, and succeeded in the Colonelcy
          by Honorable James Murray                               --

  1768  Proceeded to Ireland                                      --

  1769  Embarked for Minorca                                      --

  1776  Returned to England                                       --

  1781  Embarked for the West Indies                              41

  1782  The war with America ceased and the regiment
          returned to England                                     --

  ----  The Regiment directed to assume the County
          title of First Somersetshire Regiment                   --

  1784  Embarked for Ireland                                      --

  1789  General George Ainslie appointed Colonel in
          succession to Honorable James Murray                    --

  1790  Embarked for Jamaica                                      42

  1793  Embarked for St. Domingo                                  --

  1794  Proceeded on an expedition under Colonel John
          Whitaker to Cape Tiburon                                43

  ----  Engaged at the Post of L’Acal                             44

  1794   Engaged at Port-au-Prince                                44

  ----  ---- at Fort Bizzeton                                     45

  1796  Re-embarked for England                                   --

  1797  Proceeded to Ireland                                      --

  1800  Embarked for England                                      46

  ----  Embarked on an expedition to the Coast of Spain           --

  ----  Proceeded to Gibraltar and Malta                          47

  1801  Joined the expedition to Egypt under General
          Sir Ralph Abercromby                                    --

  ----  Landed at Aboukir                                         48

  ----  Advanced to Alexandria, and engaged the French
          on 12th March                                           --

  ----  Engaged a second time at Alexandria against
          “Buonaparte’s Invincibles” on the 21st of
          March                                                   49

  ----  French Army expelled from Egypt                           --

  ----  The Grand Seignior conferred orders of Knighthood
          and Gold Medals on the Officers                         50

  ----  Authorized to bear the “Sphinx,” and the word
          “Egypt” on the Colours and Appointments                 --

  1802  Embarked from Egypt for Malta                             51

  1803  Embarked for Gibraltar                                    --

  1804  General Ainslie died, and Lieut.-General A.
          Campbell appointed to the Colonelcy                     --

  ----  Epidemic fever prevailed at Gibraltar which
          occasioned many casualties                              52

  1805  Embarked for England                                      --

  1806  Proceeded from Portsmouth to Ramsgate                     --

  1807  Embarked for Ireland                                      --

  ----  Completed by Militia Volunteers, and re-embarked
          for England                                             --

  1808  Embarked for the West Indies and proceeded to
          Bermuda                                                 --

  1808  Joined an expedition against Martinique                   53

  1809  Stationed at Martinique                                   54

  1810  Joined an expedition against Guadaloupe                   --

  1811  }
  1812  } Stationed at Martinique                                 --

  1813  Lieut.-General Edward Morrison appointed to the
          Colonelcy in succession to General Campbell,
          removed to the thirty-second regiment                   --

  ----  Embarked from Martinique for Canada                       55

  ----  Proceeded on an expedition to Plattsburg                  --

  1814  Defended a post on the La Cole river against a
          numerous Corps of Americans                             56

  1815  Peace concluded with the United States of
          America                                                 57

  ----  Embarked from Canada and landed at Portsmouth
                                                                  58

  ----  Proceeded to Jersey                                       --

  1817  Presentation of new Colours                               --

  ----  Proceeded to Guernsey                                     59

  1819  Embarked for Portsmouth                                   60

  ----  ---- ---- Scotland                                        61

  1820  ---- ---- Ireland                                         --

  1822  ---- ---- Liverpool                                       62

  ----  Proceeded to Edinburgh                                    --

  ----  Furnished Guards of Honour to King George IV.
          on his visit to Scotland                                --

  ----  Proceeded to Chatham to prepare for embarkation
          for India                                               --

  ----  Constituted a regiment of Light Infantry                  --

  1823  Embarked for Bengal                                       --

  1824  Employed in the war with the King of Ava                  63

  ----  Capture of _Rangoon_, the principal city of the
          Burmese Empire                                          --

  ----  Detached against the Island of Cheduba                    --

  1824  Advanced against formidable stockades erected
          by the Burmese                                          64

  ----  Repeated attacks of the Burmese on the British
          possessions                                             65

  ----  Attack on the Burmese in the neighbourhood of
          Rangoon                                                 66

  ----  Another victorious attack under Majors Dennie
          and Sale                                                67

  ----  Further attacks followed up                               68

  1825  Proceeded against the city of Bassein                     69

  ----  Embarked for Rangoon                                      70

  ----  Proceeded to join the army at Prome                       --

  ----  Advanced to attack the Burmese at Simbike                 71

  ----  Again marched to attack the enemy at Napadee
          Hills                                                   --

  1826  Advanced and took post at Melloon                         72

  ----  Engaged with the Burmese at Pagahm Mew                    73

  ----  Advanced upon the capital, Ummerapoora                    --

  ----  Treaty of peace concluded with the King of Ava            --

  ----  Order of thanks from the Governor-General of
          India for services performed in this arduous
          campaign                                                74

  ----  Authorized to bear the word “AVA” on its colours
          and appointments                                        --

  ----  Embarked for Calcutta                                     --

  ----  ---- ---- Berhampore                                      --

  1827  Arrived at Dinapore                                       --

  1831  Proceeded to Agra                                         --

  1836  Marched to Kurnaul                                        --

  1837  A detachment proceeded to Lahore with the
          Commander-in-Chief on a visit to Runjeet Singh,
          the ruler of the Sikhs                                  75

  ----  Detachment returned to Kurnaul                            --

  1838   War with the chiefs of Affghanistan                      76

  ----  Joined the army of the Indus, proceeded to Ferozepore,
          and encamped on the banks of the river Gharra           --

  ----  Marched to Bhawulpore                                     77

  1839  Arrived at Roree, and took possession of Bakkur           78

  ----  Crossed the river Indus and arrived at Shikarpore         --

  ----  Continued its march to Beloochistan                       --

  ----  Penetrated the Bolan Pass                                 79

  ----  Marched through the Vale of Shawl                         --

  ----  Arrived at Candahar                                       --

  ----  Advanced to Ghuznee                                       80

  ----  Stormed and captured the citadel of Ghuznee               81

  ----  Shah Shoojah-ool-Moolk restored to his dominions
          in Affghanistan                                         82

  ----  Rewards to the conquerors of Affghanistan                 83

  ----  Remained in Affghanistan to support the government
          of the restored Shah                                    84

  ----  Encamped near Cabool                                      --

  1840  Advanced against Dost Mahomed in the Kohistan
          of Cabool                                               --

  ----  Assisted in carrying the town and forts of Tootumdurra    --

  ----  Engaged in the attack of Julgar                           85

  ----  ---- ---- ---- of Babookooshghur                          86

  ----  ---- ---- ---- at Purwan                                  --

  ----  Returned to Cabool                                        --

  1841  War recommenced with the Affghans                         --

  ----  Attempt of the Affghans to expel Shah Shoojah             --

  ----  Marched to the Khoord Cabool Pass                         --

  ----  ---- ---- Tezeen                                          87

  ----  ---- ---- Gundamuck                                       88

  ----  Engaged at the Jugdulluck Pass                            --

  1841  Captured the Fort of Mamoo Khail                          88

  ----  Returned to Gundamuck                                     --

  ----  Captured the town of Jellalabad                           89

  1842  Defended the town                                         --

  ----  Defeated the Affghans                                     --

  ----  Renewed attempts of the Affghans to expel the
          British from the Cabool territory                       90

  ----  Means adopted for a general attack  on the
          Affghan camp                                            91

  ----  Death of Colonel Dennie                                   92

  ----  Defeat of Mahomed Akbar                                   93

  ----  Expression of approbation and thanks by the
          Governor-General of the conduct of Major-General
          Sir Robert Sale, and of the army under his command      94

  ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- of the houses of Parliament to
          the army in Affghanistan                                95

  ----  Arrival at Jellalabad of the forces under Major-General
          Pollock                                                 97

  ----  Major-General Sir Robert Sale’s report of the
          services and privations of the troops for five
          months                                                  98

  ----  Her Majesty’s approbation and marks of distinction
          conferred on the Thirteenth regiment                   101

  ----  Marched from Jellalabad to Gundamuck                     102

  ----  The Affghans defeated at Jugdulluck                      103

  ----  Actions at Tezeen, and in the Huft Kotul Pass            104

  ----  Re-occupied Cabool                                        --

  ----  Detachment marched to meet the prisoners detained by
          Akbar Khan on their release and return to Cabool        --

  ----  Quitted the Affghan territory on return to India         105

  ----  Marched to Jellalabad                                     --

  ----  Proceeded to Peshawur                                     --

  1842   Proceeded across the Punjaub to Ferozepore              105

  ----  Received with military honours by the troops at
          the several stations on the route to India, by
          orders of the Governor-General                          --

  ----  Received the Queen’s authority to bear
          “CABOOL, 1842” on the colours and appointments         106

  1843  Marched from Ferozepore to Mowbarukpore                  107

  ----  Proceeded to Kussowlie                                    --

  ----  Marched to Ferozepore                                     --

  ----  Embarked for Sukkur                                       --

  ----  Major-General Sir Robert Sale appointed to the
          colonelcy of the Thirteenth regiment, in succession
          to General Morrison, deceased                           --

  1844  Moved to Kurrachee                                       108

  ----  Embarked for Bombay                                       --

  1845  Embarked for England                                     109

  ----  Arrived at Gravesend                                      --

  ----  Proceeded to Walmer                                       --

  1846  Lieutenant-General Sir William M. Gomm appointed
          to the colonelcy in succession to Major-General
          Sir Robert Sale, killed at the battle of Moodkee,
          on the 18th December, 1845                              --

  ----  Marched to Portsmouth                                     --

  ----  Presentation of new colours by Field Marshal
          His Royal Highness the Prince Albert                    --

  1847  Embarked for Ireland                                     112

  ----  The Conclusion                                           113

Description of the Flags captured from the Affghans
in the Year 1842                                                 115




SUCCESSION OF COLONELS.


  Year                                  Page

  1685  Theophilus Earl of Huntingdon                            117

  1688  Ferdinand Hastings                                       118

  1689  Sir John Jacob, Bart.                                     --

  1702  James Earl of Barrymore                                  119

  1715  Stanhope Cotton                                           --

  1725  Lord Mark Kerr                                           120

  1732  Lord Middleton                                           121

  1739  Henry Pulteney                                            --

  1766  William Henry Duke of Gloucester                         122

  1767  Hon. James Murray                                        123

  1789  George Ainslie                                            --

  1804  Alexander Campbell                                       124

  1813  Edward Morrison                                          125

  1843  Robert Henry Sale                                        126

  1846  William Maynard Gomm                                     128




PLATES.

                                                               Page.

  Colours of the Regiment                             _to face_    1

  Costume of the Regiment                                 ”       62

  Standards captured from the Affghans in the
  Action at Jellalabad on the 7th April, 1842             ”      116


[Illustration: THIRTEENTH, PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY.

QUEEN’S COLOR.

REGIMENTAL COLOR.

FOR CANNON’S MILITARY RECORDS.]




HISTORICAL RECORD

OF

THE THIRTEENTH,

FIRST SOMERSETSHIRE REGIMENT;

OR

PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY.


[Sidenote: 1685]

When JAMES DUKE OF MONMOUTH denounced the character and pretensions
of King James II., asserted his own claims to the throne, and
organized a military force to establish his authority, the small
regular army then in England was not deemed sufficiently numerous
for the protection of the crown and kingdom against lawless
usurpation, and a number of additional corps of cavalry and
infantry were embodied. Among the noblemen who stood forward in
support of the throne at this important juncture, was THEOPHILUS,
EARL OF HUNTINGDON, who was appointed colonel of one of the
regiments ordered to be raised,--now THIRTEENTH LIGHT INFANTRY,--by
commission dated the 20th of June, 1685.

This regiment was raised in the southern counties of England,
and its general rendezvous was at Buckingham, where the Earl of
Huntingdon established his head-quarters; it consisted of ten
companies, which were raised by Colonel the Earl of Huntingdon,
Lieut-Colonel Francis Villiers, Major Charles Morgan, Captains
Watson Dixey, Thomas Condon, Thomas Skipworth,--Hildibran, John
Tidcomb, Bryan Turner, and Charles Hatton; and a number of loyal
men coming readily forward to enrol themselves under the colours of
the regiment, it was speedily formed and quartered at Buckingham
and Aylesbury. In the middle of July it was employed to guard
prisoners taken after the overthrow of the rebel army at Sedgemoor.

The rebellion being suppressed, and the Duke of Monmouth beheaded,
the King assembled many of the newly-raised corps on Hounslow
Heath, where the Earl of Huntingdon’s regiment encamped in the
beginning of August: it was reviewed on the Heath by His Majesty;
the officers and soldiers received the expression of the King’s
royal approbation of the ready manner in which they had come
forward to support the throne at the hour of danger, and they
afterwards marched into garrison at Hull.

On the 6th of January, 1686, the establishment was fixed at the
following numbers and rates of pay, viz. (_see_ p. 3).

[Sidenote: 1686]

The uniform of the regiment was, round hats with broad brims, the
brim turned up on one side, and ornamented with yellow ribands;
scarlet coats lined with yellow; yellow breeches, and gray
stockings; the pikemen were distinguished by white sashes tied
round their waists.

In June the regiment was again encamped on Hounslow Heath, and in
August it marched into Yorkshire and Cumberland; the head-quarters
being at York, where it passed the winter.

From York the head-quarters were removed, in February, 1687, to
Chester, where they remained during the following twelve months.

  +-----------------------------------------+-----------------+
  |   THE EARL OF HUNTINGDON’S REGIMENT.    |   Pay per Day.  |
  +-----------------------------------------+-----------------+
  |              STAFF.                     |  £.  _s._  _d._ |
  |                                         |                 |
  | The Colonel, _as Colonel_               |  0    12     0  |
  | Lieut.-Colonel, _as Lieut.-Colonel_     |  0     7     0  |
  | Major, _as Major_                       |  0     5     0  |
  | Chaplain                                |  0     6     8  |
  | Chirurgeon 4_s._ and Mate 2_s._ 6_d._   |  0     6     6  |
  | Adjutant                                |  0     4     0  |
  | Quarter-Master and Marshal              |  0     4     0  |
  |                                         +-----------------+
  |                 Total Staff             |  2     5     2  |
  |                                         |                 |
  |        THE COLONEL’S COMPANY.           |                 |
  |                                         |                 |
  | The Colonel, as Captain                 |  0     8     0  |
  | Lieutenant                              |  0     4     0  |
  | Ensign                                  |  0     3     0  |
  | Two Serjeants, 1_s._ 6_d._ each         |  0     3     0  |
  | Three Corporals, 1_s._ each             |  0     3     0  |
  | One Drummer                             |  0     1     0  |
  | Fifty Soldiers, 8_d._ each              |  1    13     4  |
  |                                         +-----------------+
  |              Total for one Company      |  2    15     4  |
  |                                         +-----------------+
  | Nine Companies more at the same rate    | 24    18     0  |
  |                                         +-----------------+
  |              Total per day              | 29    18     6  |
  |                                         |                 |
  |       Per Annum £10,922 12_s._ 6_d._    |                 |
  +-----------------------------------------+-----------------+


[Sidenote: 1687]

LIST OF OFFICERS IN 1687.

  _Captains._             _Lieutenants._        _Ensigns._

  Earl of Huntingdon,     Thomas Carleton.      William Delavale.
  (col).                  William Rhodesley.    Ralph Cudworth.
  Ferdinando Hastings     John Hook.            Deacon Garrett.
  (lieut.-colonel).       John Fry.             Henry Fern.
  Robert Ingram (major).  John Sheldon.         John Orefeur.
  Watson Dixie.           Talbot Lacells.       Ambrose Jones.
  John Tidcomb.           George Comly.         Hussey Hastings.
  Owen Macarty.           Michael Dunkin.       Joseph Byerley
  Charles Hatton.         George Keyworth.      Thomas Knivetton.
  Sir John Jacob.         Henry Walrond.        William Callow.
  Thomas Condon.
  Charnock Heron.
  Christopher Viscount }  Bernard Ellis     {   Company of grenadiers
  Hatton.              }  William Hawley    {   added to the regiment
                                            {   in 1687.
  Gabriel Hastings, _Chaplain_.      Talbot Lacells, _Adjutant_.
  Claudius Gilbert, _Chirurgeon_.    John Evans, _Quarter-Master_.

[Sidenote: 1688]

The regiment left Chester in April, 1688, and in June it pitched
its tents on Hounslow Heath. In the meantime, the proceedings of
the King, to establish Papacy and arbitrary government, had filled
the country with alarm, and many of the nobility and gentry had
solicited the Prince of Orange to come to England with a Dutch
army, to aid them in opposing the measures of the court. The
Earl of Huntingdon continued, however, faithful to the interests
of the King, and his regiment was ordered into garrison at
Plymouth, together with the Earl of Bath’s (now Tenth) regiment.
When the Prince of Orange landed, the garrison of Plymouth was
divided in its political views: the governor, the Earl of Bath,
and Lieut.-Colonel Hastings, of the THIRTEENTH (cousin of the
Earl of Huntingdon), were in the Protestant interest; the Earl
of Huntingdon, who was present, and performing the duties of
commanding officer, with Lieut.-Colonel Sir Charles Carney, of the
Tenth, were devoted to the Roman Catholic interest; but nearly all
the officers and soldiers had espoused the Protestant cause. The
Earl of Bath, Lieut.-Colonel Hastings, and several other officers,
arrested the Earl of Huntingdon, Captain Owen Macarty, Lieutenant
Talbot Lacells, and Ensign Ambrose Jones, of the THIRTEENTH, who
were Roman Catholics, and afterwards declared for the Prince of
Orange, in which the two regiments in garrison concurred. When the
fortress of Plymouth was established in the Protestant interest,
the arrested officers were released.

The army refusing to fight in the cause of Papacy and arbitrary
government, King James fled to France and the Prince of Orange
promoted Lieut.-Colonel FERDINANDO HASTINGS to the colonelcy of the
regiment, by commission, dated 1688.

[Sidenote: 1689]

The accession of the Prince and Princess of Orange to the throne
having met with some opposition in Scotland, the regiment was
ordered thither; and on arriving at _Edinburgh_, in the spring
of 1689, it was employed in the blockade of the _castle_, which
the Duke of Gordon held for King James; at the same time Viscount
Dundee was arousing the clans to arms.

While the regiment was at Edinburgh, Major-General Hugh Mackay,
commanding-in-chief in Scotland, was watching the motions of
Viscount Dundee, and he sent orders for Colonel Ramsay to join
him with six hundred men of the Scots Brigade, in the Dutch
service. The colonel commenced his march, but was intimidated by
the menacing attitude of the Athol men, and returned to Perth;
when a hundred men of Berkeley’s (now Fourth) dragoons, a hundred
of the THIRTEENTH foot, and two hundred of Leven’s newly-raised
regiment (now Twenty-fifth), were ordered to join him. Thus
reinforced, the Colonel commenced his march through Athole and
Badenoch for Inverness; and with the aid of this detachment,
Major-General Mackay chased the clans, under Viscount Dundee, from
the low country, and compelled them to take refuge in the wilds
of Lochaber: the detachment of the THIRTEENTH foot was afterwards
stationed at Inverness; and the regiment was relieved from the
blockade of Edinburgh Castle by the surrender of that fortress on
the 13th of June.

After forcing Viscount Dundee to take refuge in Lochaber,
Major-General Mackay proceeded to Edinburgh, where he learned
that the clans expected to be joined by a reinforcement from
Ireland, and would probably soon descend from the hilly country;
the major-general, therefore, assembled the THIRTEENTH foot, and
several other corps, and marched from Edinburgh, to watch the
motions of the insurgent Highlanders. Arriving at Dunkeld, he
received an express from Lord Murray, son of the Marquis of Athol,
stating that part of Viscount Dundee’s army had arrived at Blair;
and in consequence of this information, he commenced his march at
daybreak on the morning of Saturday, the 27th of July, towards
the pass of Killicrankie,[6] to confront his opponents, and on
this occasion the THIRTEENTH foot, commanded by their colonel,
Ferdinando Hastings, formed the rear-guard, to cover the march of
twelve hundred pack-horses, which carried the baggage of the army.

Entering the pass of Killicrankie, the troops moved along the
east bank of the river Garry, by a narrow road, confined between
a range of craggy precipices on one hand, and on the other the
river, considerably below the road, rushing from rock to rock with
a murmuring sound; and as the THIRTEENTH regiment emerged from
this difficult defile with the baggage, the royal army was seen in
order of battle, on some rising ground at the foot of a hill, on
the summit of which appeared the insurgent host, under Viscount
Dundee. The THIRTEENTH foot formed on the right of the line, the
grenadier company on the flank, with a supply of hand-grenades, the
musketeers formed two wings; and the pikemen stood in column in the
centre. During two tedious hours of a bright summer evening the
armies stood looking at each other; and about half an hour before
sunset, the Highlanders moved slowly down the hill, barefooted,
and stripped to their shirts, to commence the battle: as they
descended, they quickened their pace, uttered a loud shout, and
commenced an irregular fire of musketry, which produced little
effect. The King’s troops reserved their fire until the clans came
within a few paces, and then by a regular discharge, with a sure
aim, produced great havoc on the thick masses opposed to them; but
at that moment the Highlanders threw down their muskets, drew their
swords, and closed upon their opponents, who had not time to fix
their bayonets in the muzzles of their muskets,[7] and being thus
attacked, under peculiar disadvantages, many of the king’s troops
gave way.

The THIRTEENTH foot, commanded by Colonel Hastings, stood their
ground with great gallantry, and the Highlanders were unable to
make any impression on this brave regiment. After being repulsed
in their attack on its front, the Highlanders attempted to turn
its right flank, when Colonel Hastings wheeled his pikemen to the
right, and by a determined charge routed the clans at that point.
As the conquering pikemen of the THIRTEENTH were returning to
their post in the centre of the regiment, they discovered that the
other corps of the royal army were overpowered, and the soldiers
flying in every direction; at the same time the Highlanders had
discontinued the pursuit, to plunder the baggage. At that moment
Major-General Mackay galloped to the regiment; he collected the
fragments of other corps to it, and retreated. In his memoirs of
this war, published in 1833, Major-General Mackay commends the
conduct of this regiment;[8] and in his life, published in 1836,
the author (John Mackay, Esq., of Rockfield) states, ‘HASTINGS, on
the right, sustained the reputation of the English lion, but all
to no purpose, so far had the panic extended.’ Yet it was to great
purpose, for one corps was preserved entire, which enabled the
commander-in-chief to make good his retreat to Stirling.

Viscount Dundee was killed in the action; and the loss of the
clans, in killed and wounded, was much greater than that of the
king’s troops. Major-General Mackay called to his aid additional
corps, resumed the offensive, and by a series of active and skilful
operations, restricted the movements of the Highlanders so much,
that they separated to their homes.

In the meantime King James had arrived in Ireland with a body of
French troops, and all the country, excepting Inniskilling and
Londonderry, was subjected to his dominion. To rescue Ireland from
his power, an army was sent to that country, under the veteran
Marshal Duke Schomberg, and the THIRTEENTH foot were ordered to
take part in this enterprise.

The regiment embarked from Scotland in the beginning of October,
landed at Carlingford on the 9th of that month, and received
orders to join the army encamped at Dundalk; but these orders were
countermanded, and the regiment marched into quarters at Armagh and
Clownish, where it was stationed during the winter.

[Sidenote: 1690]

In April, 1690, the THIRTEENTH were stationed at Belfast, and they
had the gratification of serving in the campaign of that year,
under King William III., who commanded his army in Ireland in
person. They had the honour to contribute towards the gaining of
the battle of the _Boyne_, on the 1st of July, when the army of
King William forced the passage of the river Boyne, overthrew the
French and Irish forces under King James, and gained a decisive
victory.

After this victory, the regiment advanced with the army towards
Dublin, and it was stationed several weeks in garrison in that
city, under Brigadier-General Trelawny.

In the meantime, considerable alarm had been produced in England
by the defeat of the combined English and Dutch fleets, under
Admirals Lord Torrington and Evertsen, by the French navy, under
the Count de Tourville. After this disaster, England was menaced
with invasion, and a body of French troops landed on the western
coast, and destroyed a village; when the THIRTEENTH, and several
other corps, were ordered to return to England.

After landing at Portsmouth, the regiment was encamped, for several
weeks, near that fortress; and when the alarm of invasion had
passed away, it was ordered to join the expedition against _Cork_
and _Kinsale_, under Lieut.-General the Earl of Marlborough,
(afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough). It embarked on
this service in the middle of September, arrived in Cork roads
on the 21st of that month, and the co-operation of part of the
army on shore having been secured, the troops landed on the 23rd,
and besieged the city of Cork. A breach having been made, the
THIRTEENTH regiment was selected to form part of the storming
party, which advanced to assault the town on the 28th of September;
but before the soldiers gained the breach, the enemy hung out a
white flag, and agreed to surrender.

The troops marched out of Cork on the 1st of October, arrived
before _Kinsale_ on the following day, and commenced the siege of
the two forts. The old fort was taken by storm immediately, and the
new fort surrendered on the 15th of October.

After taking part in these services, the regiment was stationed in
garrison at Cork. The health of the men suffered from having been
employed in sieges during inclement weather, and in the official
returns the regiment is stated to have had 462 rank and file fit
for duty, and 216 sick.

[Sidenote: 1691]

In the spring of 1691, when the army took the field under General
de Ginkell (afterwards Earl of Athlone), the THIRTEENTH were
left in garrison at Cork, from whence they frequently sent out
detachments in quest of the bands of Roman Catholic peasantry who
prowled about the country in arms, committing every description
of depredation. On one of these occasions, when Colonel Hastings
was out with two hundred men of the regiment, and five hundred
militia, he was informed that a party of the royal dragoons was
surrounded by a numerous body of the enemy at _Drumaugh_, and he
instantly marched to their relief. On arriving at the vicinity of
_Ballycleugh_, he found the hedges on both sides of the road lined
with opponents; when the soldiers of the THIRTEENTH rushed into the
inclosures, killed fifty adversaries, and chased the remainder some
distance. On the following morning the soldiers of the THIRTEENTH
drove the Irish from Drumaugh, and liberated the party of the royal
dragoons at that place.

Soon after this exploit, Colonel Hastings marched out of Cork
with a party of the regiment and some militia, and seized upon
_Drummaneer_, an important post near the Blackwater.

On the 12th of September, Captain John Orefeur left Cork, with a
detachment of the regiment, to scour the country; and arriving in
the vicinity of _Lismore_, he encountered a numerous body of armed
partisans of King James, whom he instantly attacked, killed twenty
of their number upon the spot, and put the remainder to flight,
which so alarmed the armed bands of Roman Catholic peasantry, that
they did not again appear in that part of the country for some time.

While the regiment was engaged in these services, the Irish army
was defeated at Aghrim, and the city of Limerick was besieged by
King William’s forces. The surrender of this fortress, completed
the deliverance of Ireland from the power of King James, and
terminated the war in that country.

The THIRTEENTH regiment was relieved from garrison duty at Cork on
the 22nd of December, and embarked for England, where it arrived
towards the end of that month.

[Sidenote: 1692]

At this period, the desire of conquest, with the disposition,
by adding city to city and province to province, to form a vast
empire, and to control the nations of Europe with despotic
sway, marked the policy of the French court: this rendered it
necessary for the British monarch to engage in war to preserve
the civil and religious liberties of Europe; and while the army
of the confederate states, commanded by King William, confronted
the forces of Louis XIV. in the Netherlands, the THIRTEENTH
were selected to form part of an expedition against the French
coast, under Lieut.-General the Duke of Leinster (afterwards
Duke Schomberg). The French fleet had been defeated a short time
previously off La Hogue, and Louis XIV. had anticipated a descent,
and had assembled so many forces on the coast, that the Duke of
Leinster did not venture to land his troops. After menacing the
coast of France at several points, the fleet sailed to Ostend,
where the regiment landed on the 22nd of August. The THIRTEENTH and
a number of other corps advanced a few stages up the country, when
the French withdrew from Furnes and Dixmude, and the English took
possession of, and fortified these towns.

When the army went into winter quarters, the THIRTEENTH were
ordered to return to England, and they were employed on home
service during the remainder of the war.

[Sidenote: 1693]

After the loss of the battle of Landen, in July, 1693, by the
confederate army under King William, the THIRTEENTH regiment sent
a draft of one hundred and fifty men to Flanders, to replace the
losses of the regiments which had suffered most on that occasion.

[Sidenote: 1695]

In the early part of 1695, an accusation was preferred against
Colonel Ferdinando Hastings, of charging the soldiers too high a
price for certain articles which he, as Colonel, was in the habit
of providing for them; an investigation afterwards took place, he
was proved guilty of extortion, and deprived of his commission on
the 4th of March. On the 13th of March, King William conferred the
colonelcy of the regiment on the Lieut.-Colonel, SIR JOHN JACOB,
Baronet, who had served in it several years, and distinguished
himself in Scotland and Ireland.

[Sidenote: 1697]

[Sidenote: 1698]

[Sidenote: 1699]

In 1697 the war was terminated by the treaty of Ryswick, and King
William saw his efforts to arrest the progress of French conquests
attended with complete success. The regiment was placed upon a
peace establishment in 1698; the army was further reduced in 1699,
and the THIRTEENTH proceeded to Ireland to replace one of the corps
ordered to be disbanded in that country.

[Sidenote: 1700]

When a powerful monarch adopts measures of unprincipled aggression,
and pursues schemes of aggrandizement without regard to the
stipulations of treaties, to the rights of nations, or to the
privileges of individuals, peace is not of long duration; but
princes of a pacific disposition, and people devoted to the
interests of industry and commerce, are forced to assume the
profession of arms, and to fight in defence of their just rights
and privileges. Such was repeatedly the case during the reign of
Louis XIV., who terminated the repose granted to Europe by the
treaty of Ryswick, by procuring the elevation of his grandson, the
Duke of Anjou, to the throne of Spain;--by taking possession of
the Spanish Netherlands,--making prisoners the Dutch garrisons in
the barrier towns, and other acts of aggression. The interests of
every state in Europe being affected by the change in the dynasty
of Spain, the preparations for war were universal, and King William
sent thirteen British battalions to Holland, to act as auxiliaries.

[Sidenote: 1701]

The THIRTEENTH regiment was selected to proceed on foreign service:
it was augmented to eight hundred and thirty officers and soldiers;
and sailing from Cork in the middle of June, 1701, arrived at
Helvoetsluys, in South Holland, on the 8th of July. The British
troops were afterwards sent up the Maese to Breda, and other
fortified towns; and on the 21st of September they were reviewed on
Breda heath by King William III.

[Sidenote: 1702]

After passing the winter in garrison in Holland, the regiment
quitted its quarters on the 10th of March, 1702, and proceeded
to Rosendael, where the British infantry encamped under
Brigadier-General Ingoldsby, then Colonel of the 23rd Royal Welsh
Fusiliers.

Colonel Sir John Jacob, Baronet, being desirous of retiring from
the active duties of commanding officer of the regiment, which
were performed by all colonels not having higher rank, procured
permission to dispose of the colonelcy of the regiment for fourteen
hundred guineas, to his brother-in-law, JAMES EARL of BARRYMORE,
whose appointment was dated the 15th of March, 1702, being seven
days after the death of King William III., and the accession of
Queen Anne.

In the middle of April, the Imperialists besieged the strong
fortress of _Kayserswerth_ on the Lower Rhine, and the THIRTEENTH
regiment was one of the corps which traversed the country to the
duchy of Cleves, and joined the covering army, under the Earl of
Athlone, encamped at Cranenburg.

A French army of superior numbers proceeded, by forced marches,
through the forest of Cleves and plain of Goch, to cut off
the communication of the troops at Cranenburg, with Grave and
_Nimeguen_. In consequence of this movement, the British and
Dutch struck their tents on the evening of the 10th of June, and
retreating throughout the night, arrived, about eight o’clock on
the following morning, within a few miles of Nimeguen, at which
time the French columns appeared on both flanks and in the rear.
Some sharp skirmishing occurred: the British corps forming the
rear guard behaved with great gallantry, and the army effected its
retreat under the works of Nimeguen. Kayserswerth surrendered three
days afterwards.

Additional forces arrived in Holland, the EARL OF MARLBOROUGH
assumed the command, and the Eighth, THIRTEENTH, Seventeenth,
and Eighteenth regiments, were formed in brigade under
Brigadier-General Frederick Hamilton. This brigade took part in
the manœuvres by which the French army was forced to withdraw
from the frontiers of Holland; and when the siege of the fortress
of _Venloo_--a town in the province of Limburg, situate on the
east side of the Maese, with fortifications beyond the river--was
undertaken, Brigadier-General Hamilton’s brigade formed part of the
force of thirty-two battalions of infantry and thirty-six squadrons
of cavalry, detached from the main army for this enterprise, under
Prince Nassau Saarbruck.

The THIRTEENTH regiment carried on its attacks against the detached
fortress of _St. Michael_, on the west side of the river; and on
the 18th of September, the grenadier company of the regiment was
ordered to take part in storming the covered-way, which, from the
extraordinary gallantry of the soldiers, ended in the capture of
the fort. Between five and six o’clock in the evening the signal
was given, when the grenadiers rushed forward;--the French fired a
few rounds and fled;--the British leaped into the covered-way, and
pursued their opponents so closely, that friends and foes entered
the ravelin together. The French in the ravelin were soon sabred;
those who escaped fled across a small wooden bridge, and were
followed so closely that they had not time to remove the bridge,
and after a sharp struggle, the English and French entered the
fort together. The British got over the fausse-braye, climbed up
the rampart with great difficulty,--pulled up the palisades from
the parapet, ascended the rampart, and captured the fort sword in
hand, making thirty officers and one hundred and seventy soldiers
prisoners; the remainder of the garrison, which consisted of six
hundred men, were either killed in the attack, or drowned in
attempting to escape across the river, excepting twelve men, who
passed the stream in small boats.

In a few days afterwards, information arrived of the capture of
Landau by the Germans, when the army before Venloo assembled to
fire three rounds for that event, and the batteries were ordered
to fire three volleys. When the garrison and inhabitants saw the
preparations in the besieging army, they imagined it was for
attacking the place by storm: the magistrates begged the governor
to surrender, and the town was delivered up.

After the surrender of Venloo, the THIRTEENTH regiment was engaged
in the siege of _Ruremonde_, which fortress was invested towards
the end of September, and surrendered on the 7th of October.

The army afterwards advanced towards _Liege_; the city was
immediately delivered up, and the citadel was captured by storm
on the 23rd of October: on which occasion the grenadiers of the
army distinguished themselves. A detached fortress, called the
Chartreuse, surrendered soon afterwards, and these conquests
terminated the campaign.

Quitting the valley of Liege on the 3rd of November, the regiment
marched back to Holland, and was stationed in garrison at Breda
during the winter.

[Sidenote: 1703]

From Breda the regiment marched, in April, 1703, towards
Maestricht. The French attempted to surprise the British troops in
their quarters, but the gallant resistance of two regiments, at
Tongres (the second, or Queen’s Royals, and Elst’s), gave time for
the army to assemble in order of battle at Maestricht. The regiment
served this campaign in brigade with the same corps as in 1702: it
was employed in several movements designed to bring the enemy to a
general engagement; but the French withdrew behind their fortified
lines, where the DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH was desirous of attacking
them, to which the Dutch generals would not consent.

In August, the fortress of _Huy_, situate on the Maese above the
city of Liege, was besieged, and it was captured in ten days.
Another proposal to attack the French lines having been declined by
the Dutch, _Limburg_, in the Spanish Netherlands, was besieged, and
on the 27th of September, the garrison surrendered, which completed
the deliverance of Spanish Guelderland from the power of France.

[Sidenote: 1704]

After taking part in these captures, the regiment was selected
to transfer its services from the Netherlands to Portugal, to
take part in the attempt to place Archduke Charles of Austria on
the throne of Spain by force of arms; several states of Europe
having acknowledged him as king of Spain, the British, Dutch, and
Portuguese had engaged to aid him in gaining possession of the
throne. The regiment embarked from Holland in October, and sailed
to Portsmouth; but it was detained so long by contrary winds, that
it did not arrive at Lisbon, before March, 1704, when it landed,
and marched to Abrantes; but was afterwards removed to the Alemtejo.

The British troops in Portugal were commanded by General Mainhard
Duke Schomberg, and he suggested active measures; but tardiness
and inability were manifested by the Portuguese authorities, to so
great an extent, that the Duke of Berwick invaded Portugal with
a French and Spanish army, before the allies were prepared to
take the field. The court of Lisbon was alarmed; Duke Schomberg
solicited to be recalled; and the Earl of Galway was sent with
reinforcements to Portugal.

In the early part of the campaign, the THIRTEENTH foot were
employed in the Alemtejo: they were reviewed at the camp at
Estremos on the 21st of July, and were afterwards removed to
Vimiera.

After the summer heat had abated, the regiment joined the army, and
penetrated into Spain as far as the bank of the Agueda, near Ciudad
Rodrigo; but the Duke of Berwick had made so skilful a disposition
of the French and Spanish forces under his orders, on the opposite
side of the river, that the allies were prevented passing the
stream, and the British troops returned to Portugal for winter
quarters.

In the meantime the important fortress of _Gibraltar_[9] had been
captured by the combined English and Dutch fleets, and garrisoned
by a body of marines under the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt. The
capture of this fortress revived the hopes and expectations of the
allies, and disconcerted the measures of King Philip, of Spain,
and his grandfather Louis XIV.; a combined French and Spanish
army was assembled to retake Gibraltar, and the French monarch,
who possessed, at that period, a naval force of great magnitude,
directed his fleet to co-operate in this service. The troops under
the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt defended the fortress with great
gallantry, and eventually applied to the commander of the forces
in Portugal for aid, when a battalion of the first and second
foot guards, the THIRTEENTH and thirty-fifth regiments, the Dutch
regiment of Waes, and the Portuguese regiment of Algarve, were
selected to reinforce the garrison.

The THIRTEENTH regiment, mustering thirty-nine serjeants,
thirty-nine corporals, twenty-six drummers, and six hundred and
fifty private soldiers, marched from the frontiers of Portugal to
Lisbon, and embarked on board of transports on the 8th of December:
two days afterwards the fleet sailed under the convoy of four
frigates, and on the 17th it was becalmed, when the boats were
hoisted out, and attempts made to gain some progress by the use
of oars. A fleet of men of war appeared in sight, under English
and Dutch colours, and it was supposed to be the squadron under
Vice-Admiral Leake and Rear-Admiral Vander-Dussen; but observing
the men-of-war forming a half-moon to surround the transports, a
private signal was made, and the men-of-war being unable to answer
it, instantly hoisted French colours. The danger was great, with a
hostile fleet so near, but the transports put out every boat, and
made some way by towing: the enemy was becalmed, and in the evening
a breeze sprung up, which enabled the British vessels to escape,
excepting one ship, which was captured. On the following day, the
THIRTEENTH regiment landed at Gibraltar, at the moment when the
garrison was beginning to despair of assistance.

The regiment was not long at Gibraltar before it had opportunities
of distinguishing itself, and a detachment formed part of the
body of troops which issued from the fortress during the night
of the 22nd of December, forced the Spanish posts, routed a body
of cavalry, levelled part of the works, burnt many fascines and
gabions, and retired with little loss.

[Sidenote: 1705]

Still anticipating success, the French and Spaniards prosecuted the
siege; and, in the beginning of February, 1705, a chosen band of
French grenadiers attacked the round tower: they climbed the rock
by the aid of hooks, but were repulsed with loss.

About four days afterwards, six hundred select French and Walloon
grenadiers, supported by a large body of Spaniards, ascended the
hill with great silence in the night, and concealed themselves
until daybreak on the morning of the 7th of February; and when
the night-guard had been withdrawn from the breach near the round
tower, they made a sudden rush, and drove the ordinary guard from
its post with a shower of hand-grenades: at the same time, two
hundred grenadiers attacked the round tower. The troops in garrison
were soon alarmed, and Captain Fisher, of the Queen’s marines (now
fourth foot), charged the enemy at the head of seventeen men; but
his party was soon over-powered and himself taken prisoner. Major
MONCALL of the THIRTEENTH foot, a most gallant officer, collected
between four and five hundred men, principally of his own regiment,
and charged the enemy, sword in hand, so vigorously, that he soon
drove them back, recaptured the round tower, after it had been in
the possession of the enemy about an hour, and liberated Captain
Fisher and several other prisoners. The soldiers of the THIRTEENTH
regiment were aided, in this gallant effort, by Colonel Rivett of
the foot guards, who climbed the rock on the right of the covered
way with twenty grenadiers, and favoured Major Moncall’s success.
Additional men were brought forward, and the French and Walloon
grenadiers were driven from the works with severe loss. On the
following day, the brave Major Moncall of the THIRTEENTH lost his
leg by a cannon-shot.

The French and Spaniards continued their unavailing attempts
on Gibraltar, and the siege became a subject of great interest
throughout Europe; but towards the end of March, they withdrew the
shattered remains of their formidable army from before the place,
and left the English in quiet possession of the fortress they had
so gallantly defended, and which they have preserved to the present
period.

In a few weeks after the siege of Gibraltar was raised, an
expedition sailed from England, under Charles Earl of Peterborough,
either to aid the Duke of Savoy in driving the French out of Italy,
to make an attempt on Sicily and Naples, or to further the progress
of Archduke Charles in Spain, as should appear most advantageous
for Her Majesty’s service; and the latter course was adopted. The
expedition arrived at Gibraltar in the beginning of August; and
the THIRTEENTH foot were relieved from duty in that garrison by
a newly-raised regiment from England, and embarked on board the
fleet, which put to sea in a few days afterwards.

The expedition appeared off the coast of Valencia: a thousand
Catalonians and Valencians threw off their allegiance to King
Philip, acknowledged Archduke Charles as sovereign of Spain,
and seized on Denia, while others made demonstrations of giving
effectual aid to the expedition. Thus encouraged, the Earl
of Peterborough undertook the daring enterprise of besieging
_Barcelona_, the capital of Catalonia, which assumed a romantic
character, in consequence of his being unable to bring more than
seven thousand men into the lines, the garrison consisting of
nearly six thousand men, and of this fortress having resisted a
French army of thirty thousand men, eight weeks, in 1697, and cost
the French monarch twelve thousand men to take it. The troops
landed on the 23rd and 24th of August, and the THIRTEENTH regiment
took part in the siege. On the 13th of September, the grenadier
company of the regiment left the camp, and after a night march
among the mountains, appeared before the detached fortress of
_Montjuich_, at daylight on the following morning, and took part in
storming the outworks of that place, in which it had several men
killed and wounded. Three days afterwards, the strong castle and
citadel of Montjuich surrendered, which greatly facilitated the
progress of the siege of Barcelona.

The besieging army was so very weak in numbers that extraordinary
efforts were necessary: the soldiers and seamen were incessant
in their exertions; cannon and mortars were dragged up steep
precipices by men, and a practicable breach having been made, a
detachment of the THIRTEENTH foot was in readiness to take part in
storming the works, when the governor surrendered.

The capture of so important a fortress, by so small a body of
men, produced a great sensation throughout Europe, and this
splendid achievement was followed by the submission of nearly all
Catalonia, the largest and richest province of Spain.

Elated by this success, the Earl of Peterborough resolved to
undertake another enterprise of a more romantic character than the
former, namely the invasion of Valencia, with a body of troops not
sufficiently numerous to form the advance guard of the opposing
army. The THIRTEENTH regiment being conspicuous for its efficiency,
and for the gallant bearing of the officers and soldiers, was
selected to form part of his Lordship’s force.

From Barcelona the regiment marched under the command of
Lieut.-Col. EDWARD PEARCE, to Tortosa, on the river Ebro. In the
meantime the Conde de las Torres having been sent by King Philip,
with a numerous force, to retake the towns which had declared for
Archduke Charles, he had besieged the fortress of _St. Matheo_, and
the THIRTEENTH were ordered to march to the relief of this town.
The troops employed in this service were very inferior in numbers
to the besieging army; but by night marches among the woods and
mountains, and circulating exaggerated reports of his numbers, the
British general succeeded in surprising his opponents, and the
Spanish commander, being deceived by spies, made a precipitate
retreat.

After this service was performed, the officers and men were so
exhausted by long marches, day and night over the mountains, that
the regiment was ordered into quarters of refreshment at Vinaros,
where it remained a short period, while the Earl of Peterborough
was making preparations for the expedition to Valencia.

[Sidenote: 1706]

Early in the year 1706, Lieut.-Col. Pearce received orders to
march with the THIRTEENTH regiment from Vinaros to Oropeso, where
an extraordinary alteration took place in the character of the
corps, which is without parallel in the history of the British
army. The Earl of Peterborough was much in want of cavalry for
his expedition to Valencia, and he procured, with great zeal and
industry, about eight hundred Spanish horses; about two hundred of
these horses were given to the Royal Dragoons, and other corps,
to remount the men whose horses had died, and with the other six
hundred he resolved to form a corps of cavalry. He had been much
pleased with the conduct of the THIRTEENTH foot on all occasions,
and he determined to constitute them a _Regiment of Dragoons_. This
was, however, not communicated to the officers and soldiers until
every preparation was made, and as the regiment approached Oropeso,
it was met by the Earl of Peterborough, and reviewed on a small
plain near the town. After the review the horses were produced, and
the regiment was constituted a corps of dragoons of eight troops,
of which Lieut.-Col. Edward Pearce was appointed colonel. The
following account of this circumstance is copied from Dr. Freind’s
account of the Earl of Peterborough’s campaign in Valencia:--‘No
surprise, I believe, was equal to that of the officers and soldiers
of Colonel Pearce’s regiment, who had orders to march from Vinaros,
to a place called Oropeso, four leagues from Castillon de la Plana:
at this place, by ten in the morning, they were met by the Earl of
Peterborough, on a plain just bordering on the town. His Lordship
having made a review, was complimenting the regiment, and wishing
he had horses and accoutrements, to try whether a corps of so good
a character would maintain the like reputation upon such a change.
They, no doubt, concurred very heartily with his Lordship in his
wishes, little expecting the execution of them in a moment: but
his Lordship having ordered his secretary to give the commissions
already prepared, the officers at last believed the general in
earnest; when, turning to the edge of a hill, they saw eight bodies
of horses, drawn up separately, and found them all ready accoutred.
Among these there were three good horses for each captain, two
for each lieutenant, and one for each cornet. My Lord left to the
field officers the choice of their troops; the other captains drew
lots: and immediately they all mounted and marched to the quarters
appointed for them.’

In the ‘Annals of Queen Anne,’ it is stated:--‘He (the Earl of
Peterborough) collected above six hundred horses, with which he
recruited his horse, and formed a regiment of dragoons of the LORD
BARRYMORE’S regiment of foot, the command of which new regiment he
gave to Lieut.-Col. Pearce, ordering the remaining officers of the
old corps to return to England to recruit the same.’

Similar statements to the above are contained in Carleton’s
Memoirs, Tindal’s History of England, and other historical works.
In the official records, it is stated, that twenty-seven officers
and six hundred and sixty non-commissioned officers and soldiers of
the THIRTEENTH foot, then called the Earl of Barrymore’s regiment,
were formed into a corps of dragoons in Spain; that Lieut.-Col.
Pearce of the THIRTEENTH was appointed colonel of the new regiment
of dragoons, which obtained rank in the army from the 25th of
February, 1706; and that 900_l._ levy money was paid for recruiting
the THIRTEENTH to its establishment in England.

The regiment of dragoons thus formed proved a valuable corps, and
distinguished itself on several occasions. It formed part of the
force engaged in the Earl of Peterborough’s splendid campaign
in Valencia, and evinced great gallantry in the capturing of the
Spanish battering train near the city of Valencia. After the siege
of Barcelona was raised, this regiment advanced upon Madrid,
and joined the army of Portugal, under the Earl of Galway, at
Guadalaxara, on the 8th of August, 1706. It subsequently took part
in covering the march of the army to Valencia, and was so reduced
in numbers by continual service, and the losses it sustained in
numerous skirmishes, that in the spring of 1707, it only mustered
two hundred and seventy three men. It was one of the corps which
displayed great intrepidity and bravery at the battle of Almanza,
on the 25th of April, 1707, when it had Lieut.-Col. Deloches,
Cornets Cundy and Holmes, and Quarter-Master Sturges killed; Lieut.
Fitzgerald and Cornet Barry wounded and taken prisoners: it also
sustained a severe loss in killed and wounded. It was disbanded
after the treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

The remaining officers and soldiers of the THIRTEENTH, who were not
constituted dragoons, returned to England in 1706, and had so great
success in recruiting the regiment, that in less than two years it
was fit for service.

[Sidenote: 1707]

While the regiment was recruiting in England, the allied army
was defeated at Almanza, and a French and Spanish force invaded
Portuguese Estremadura and the Alemtejo, when four regiments
(the fifth, twentieth, thirty-ninth, and Stanwix’s, afterwards
disbanded) embarked from Ireland for Portugal; and during the
winter the THIRTEENTH regiment, being again fit for duty, proceeded
to the same destination: it was placed on the strength of the army
in Portugal on the 24th of December, 1707.

[Sidenote: 1708]

After landing at Lisbon, the regiment marched under the orders of
its colonel, the Earl of Barrymore, to the Alemtejo; in the spring
of 1708 it was encamped at Fuentes de Sapatores, between Elvas and
Campo Mayor, with the army commanded by the Marquis de Fronteira,
and was formed in brigade with the regiments of Stanwix and Galway
(newly-raised corps, afterwards disbanded) under Brigadier-General
Thomas Pearce (of the fifth foot); but the services of the
THIRTEENTH were limited to operations of a defensive character.

[Sidenote: 1709]

In April, 1709, the regiment was encamped near Estremos, from
whence it was removed to Elvas, and subsequently to the banks of
the Caya. On the 7th of May, the French and Spaniards under the
Marquis de Bay marched in the direction of Campo Mayor, when the
Portuguese generals resolved to pass the _Caya_ and attack the
enemy, contrary to the advice of the Earl of Galway. The Portuguese
cavalry of the right wing crossed the river, and opened a sharp
cannonade; but when the opposing horsemen advanced to charge,
the Portuguese squadron galloped out of the field, leaving their
cannon behind. The infantry of the allied army stood its ground,
repulsed the charges of the Spanish cavalry three times, and
afterwards commenced its retreat, when the Earl of Galway led
forward the THIRTEENTH, Stanwix’s, and his own regiment, to favour
the retrograde movement. The THIRTEENTH were in front, and charged
the Spaniards with distinguished gallantry; the other two regiments
of the brigade also evinced great bravery, and the three corps
overthrew the leading columns of the opposing army, and recaptured
the Portuguese guns. Animated and encouraged by this success, the
three regiments pressed forward until they became exposed to the
attack of superior numbers, when the Portuguese cavalry of the
left wing were ordered to support them, but instead of obeying
these orders, the Portuguese squadrons galloped to the rear.
Thus forsaken, the three regiments were cut off from the allied
army, surrounded by opponents, and only a few officers and men
were able to cut their passage through the host of adversaries
which environed them; the remainder were forced to surrender
prisoners of war. Among the prisoners were Major-General Sankey and
Brigadier-General Thomas Pearce.

The THIRTEENTH foot sustained a severe loss on this occasion;
besides the killed and wounded, it had Colonel the Earl of
Barrymore, four captains, eight lieutenants, eight ensigns, three
volunteers, and between two and three hundred non-commissioned
officers and soldiers taken prisoners.

[Sidenote: 1710]

The captured officers and soldiers were exchanged; and the regiment
served the campaign of 1710 on the frontiers of Portugal, but had
no opportunity of distinguishing itself.

[Sidenote: 1711]

[Sidenote: 1713]

In 1711 the THIRTEENTH foot were withdrawn from Portugal, and
proceeded to Gibraltar, where they were stationed until the peace
of Utrecht, 1713, when that fortress was ceded to Great Britain.

At the conclusion of the peace, 1713, the regiment received drafts
of non-commissioned officers and soldiers from several corps which
were ordered to be disbanded, and the protection of the important
fortress of Gibraltar was confided to the fifth, THIRTEENTH, and
twentieth regiments.

[Sidenote: 1715]

On the 8th July, 1715, the Earl of Barrymore was succeeded in the
command of the regiment by Colonel Stanhope Cotton, who had served
in Brigadier-General Bowles’s regiment, which was disbanded in
1713.

Colonel Cotton was honoured with the appointment of Lieut.-Governor
of Gibraltar, and the THIRTEENTH regiment, under his command, was
as much distinguished for its excellent conduct in garrison in time
of peace, as it had been for its gallantry in action during the war.

[Sidenote: 1725]

After commanding the regiment upwards of twelve years, Colonel
Cotton died on the 7th of December, 1725, when King George I.
conferred the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH foot on Brigadier-General
Lord Mark Kerr, from the twenty-ninth regiment.

[Sidenote: 1726]

The importance of _Gibraltar_ had rendered the loss of that
fortress a subject of deep regret to the crown of Spain, and on
the prospect of England being involved in a continental war, in
1726, the Spanish monarch resolved to commence hostilities with
Great Britain, by a determined effort to recover possession of this
desirable entrepôt to the Mediterranean, which gave the THIRTEENTH
regiment another opportunity of adding to its honours, that of a
second successful defence of Gibraltar.

[Sidenote: 1727]

The Spaniards made preparations for the siege upon an extensive
scale: their troops encamped before the fortress in January, 1727,
under General Count de las Torres, and the bringing up of cannon
and mortars occupied several weeks. In February they commenced
constructing batteries, before any declaration of war had been
made, and persisted in the work, notwithstanding the remonstrances
of the Lieut.-Governor, Colonel Jasper Clayton.

On the 21st of February, the garrison opened its fire upon the
besiegers, and from that day the thunder of cannon and mortars
reverberated among the mountains of Andalusia, proclaiming the
strenuous efforts of the besieging army, and the gallant defence
made by the garrison, which was encouraged by the arrival of
additional corps from England. The siege was continued until
thousands of Spaniards had perished in the attempt; but very little
loss had been sustained by the garrison. In the early part of June
the fire slackened, and on the 18th of that month hostilities
ceased, in consequence of preliminary articles for a treaty of
peace having been agreed upon.

[Sidenote: 1728]

The regiment was relieved from duty at Gibraltar in the spring of
1728, and returning to England, after an absence of upwards of
twenty years, landed at Portsmouth on the 1st of May.

[Sidenote: 1730]

On the 18th of July, 1730, King George II. reviewed the regiment,
in brigade with the twelfth foot, on Winkfield plain. His Majesty
was accompanied by the Queen, and a number of distinguished
persons, and the appearance and movements of the two regiments
excited great admiration.

[Sidenote: 1732]

[Sidenote: 1739]

In May, 1732, Lord Mark Kerr was removed to the eleventh dragoons,
and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH foot, by
Colonel John Middleton, from the twenty-fifth regiment. This
officer commanded the regiment seven years, and died on the 4th
of May, 1739: the colonelcy remained vacant two months, and was
conferred, on the 5th of July, on Colonel Henry Pulteney from major
of the second foot guards.

On the 23rd of October of this year war was proclaimed against
Spain, and the establishment of the regiment was augmented to eight
hundred, and fifteen officers and soldiers.

[Sidenote: 1740]

In the summer of 1740 the THIRTEENTH foot pitched their tents
in Windsor forest, where an encampment of two regiments of
horse, three of dragoons, and three of foot, was formed, under
Lieut.-General Honeywood. In the autumn of this year, Charles VI.
Emperor of Germany died, when the succession of the Archduchess
Maria Theresa, as Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, was disputed by the
Elector of Bavaria, who was supported by the arms of France.

[Sidenote: 1741]

On the prospect of Great Britain being involved in the war on the
Continent, the regiment was held in readiness to embark for foreign
service, and in July, 1741, it pitched its tents on Lexden-heath,
in the county of Essex, where three regiments of horse, four of
dragoons, and seven of foot, were encamped, and held in readiness
to proceed abroad.

[Sidenote: 1742]

[Sidenote: 1743]

In the summer of 1742, sixteen thousand men proceeded to Flanders,
under the Earl of Stair, to support the house of Austria: the
THIRTEENTH regiment was one of the corps which proceeded to
Flanders, where it remained in quarters until the early part of
the following year. On the 31st March, 1743, war was declared
against France, and the troops which the King of Great Britain had
assembled in the Netherlands began their march for Germany. The
THIRTEENTH was engaged in operations in the territory bordering
on the Rhine, and after several movements it was encamped at
Aschaffenburg, where King George II. and His Royal Highness the
Duke of Cumberland joined the army.

On the 27th of June, the troops commenced their march for Hanau,
when a body of French crossed the river Maine, and formed for
battle in a strong position near the village of _Dettingen_. The
allied army formed for action under a heavy cannonade, and about
midday the contest commenced. The THIRTEENTH were sharply engaged,
and had the honour to signalize themselves under the eye of their
sovereign, who evinced great personal bravery, and stimulated
the soldiers to deeds of heroism by his presence and animating
language. The French army was defeated and driven across the river
Maine with severe loss, and the allied army stood triumphant on the
field of battle, having in its possession many colours, standards,
prisoners, and other trophies indicating a complete victory.

Twenty-one rank and file of the THIRTEENTH foot were killed on
this occasion; and Ensigns Ogilbie and Gray, one drummer, and
twenty-nine rank and file, wounded.

From the field of battle, the army continued its march, on the
following day, to Hanau, where the regiment was encamped several
weeks: it afterwards crossed the Rhine, and was engaged in
operations in West Germany; but repassed the Rhine in October, and
returned to Flanders for winter quarters.

[Sidenote: 1744]

In May, 1744, the regiment again took the field, and served the
campaign of that year under Field-Marshal Wade: it was encamped
between Asche and Alost, and afterwards on the banks of the
Scheldt. Towards the end of the campaign it penetrated the
territory subject to France as far as Lisle, but returned to Ghent
for winter quarters.

[Sidenote: 1745]

In April, 1745, the regiment pitched its tents near Brussels, and
in the beginning of May marched to the village of Soignies, from
whence it advanced, with the army commanded by His Royal Highness
the Duke of Cumberland, to the relief of _Tournay_, which fortress
was besieged by a numerous French force. This movement brought on
a general engagement, near the village of _Fontenoy_, on the 11th
of May, when the regiment had another opportunity of distinguishing
itself in conflict with the enemy.

On this occasion the regiment entered the plain in front of the
French position, formed line under a heavy fire of artillery from
the enemy’s batteries, and advanced to attack the formidable array
of infantry and artillery posted on the right of the village of
Fontenoy. The British infantry, advancing to the attack, exhibited
a splendid spectacle of war, and the heroic resolution with which
they precipitated themselves, with the bayonet, upon the opposing
ranks, proved the innate bravery of the men; but owing to the
failure of the Dutch in their attack on the village, the British
were forced to retire. The attack was repeated, British prowess was
again triumphant, and the French lines were forced; but the Dutch
failed a second time, and the British were compelled to withdraw:
the army retreated from the field of battle to Aeth.

Captain Queenchant, two serjeants, and thirty-five private soldiers
of the THIRTEENTH foot, were killed; Captain Lieutenant Daniel
Nicholas, Lieutenants William Jones and Samuel Edhouse, two
serjeants, and thirty-nine private men were wounded.

Leaving Aeth on the 16th of May, the regiment encamped on the
plains of Lessines, and was afterwards employed in defensive
operations; but the allied army was not sufficiently numerous to
prevent the enemy obtaining possession of several fortified towns.

While the army was in Flanders, Charles Edward, eldest son of the
Pretender, arrived in Scotland, and being joined by several clans,
he asserted his father’s pretensions to the throne. Unaccustomed
to hear the sound of war at their own gates, the British people
were at first alarmed, but soon recovering, they evinced loyalty
and union in sustaining the fixed rights of their sovereign and in
defending their own liberties. The volunteer associations were not,
however, ready to take the field for some time, and several corps
were ordered to return from Flanders. The THIRTEENTH regiment
was one of the corps ordered home on this occasion, and it landed
at Blackwall on the 23rd of September. It was immediately ordered
to the north; and, joining the troops assembled by Field-Marshal
Wade at Doncaster, marched from thence to Newcastle-on-Tyne. When
the clans penetrated into England, the regiment was employed in
covering Yorkshire, and when they made their precipitate retreat to
Scotland, it returned to Newcastle, where it arrived on the 26th of
December.

[Sidenote: 1746]

From Newcastle the regiment marched to Edinburgh, and joined the
forces assembled at that place, under Lieut.-General Hawley, for
the relief of Stirling Castle, which was besieged by the young
Pretender. This force advanced to _Falkirk_, where it arrived on
the 16th of January, 1746, and encamped. On the following day the
outposts gave information of the approach of the rebel army, and
the King’s troops left their camp-ground and formed for battle on
Falkirk moor. At the moment when the battle commenced, a heavy
storm of wind and rain beat violently in the faces of the King’s
troops; the soldiers could scarcely see their opponents, their
muskets would not give fire, confusion ensued, and a great portion
of the army retired from the field of battle: a few regiments,
however, remained firm, and repulsed the left wing of the rebel
army.

After retiring from Falkirk moor, the THIRTEENTH regiment marched
back to Edinburgh, where additional forces arrived, and His Royal
Highness the Duke of Cumberland took the command of the troops in
Scotland.

On the 31st of January, the army again advanced, when the young
Pretender raised the siege of Stirling Castle, and made a
precipitate retreat towards Inverness. The THIRTEENTH were engaged
in the pursuit of the rebel clans; but the army was forced to halt
at Perth, in consequence of the severity of the weather, until the
20th of February, when the march was resumed; and in the beginning
of March, the army arrived at Aberdeen, where it was detained by
heavy rain and snow storms.

In the early part of April, the King’s troops were again in motion,
and on the 14th of that month they arrived at Nairn. The rebels
made a sudden advance From Inverness, with the view of surprising
the royal forces in the night, but finding the outposts alert, they
retreated.

Early on the morning of the 16th of April, the army advanced in
three columns towards Inverness, and about eleven o’clock the
rebel forces were discovered on _Culloden_ moor, when the royal
army formed for battle; the THIRTEENTH regiment having its post in
Brigadier-General Mordaunt’s division, and bringing into the field
twenty-two officers, twenty-three serjeants, nineteen drummers,
and three hundred and ten rank and file. In the first instance,
the regiment formed part of the reserve, but as the army advanced,
a change in the character of the ground occasioned the THIRTEENTH
foot to be ordered forward to take post on the right of the royals.
The fire of cannon was succeeded by several charges, in which the
King’s troops were victorious. A body of Highlanders, with broad
swords and targets, advanced towards the THIRTEENTH foot, but they
were intimidated by the gallant bearing of the regiment, and fled
from the field before the soldiers could close upon them with
bayonets. The rebel army was routed at every part of the field, and
pursued for several miles with great slaughter, and the loss of
all its artillery. Thus the events of one day transformed the young
Pretender from an imaginary monarch to a destitute fugitive, and
after enduring great hardship and suffering he escaped to France.

After the victory at Culloden, the regiment was encamped a short
period at Inverness, and it was subsequently employed in escorting
the prisoners taken on that occasion.

The rebellion in Scotland having been suppressed, the THIRTEENTH
regiment was ordered to return to the Netherlands. It landed in
Holland in the autumn and advanced up the country to Maestricht,
where it arrived on the 9th of October. At this period, the French
army under Marshal Saxe, and the allied army under Prince Charles
of Lorraine, were manœuvring in the vicinity of the city of Liege,
and an engagement being expected, the regiment received orders
to advance with all possible expedition, and join the army. In
obedience to these orders, the regiment quitted Maestricht, and,
by a forced march, arrived in the vicinity of Liege on the morning
of the 11th of October, at the moment when the French army was
developing its attack on three villages, which were occupied by
eight battalions of English, Dutch, and Hessians. The regiment was
instantly ordered to take post near the village of _Roucoux_, under
the command of Brigadier-General Houghton. The leading brigades
of the enemy were repulsed, and a second line of combatants was
defeated; but the enemy brought forward so many fresh troops, that
the eight battalions were driven from the villages by superior
numbers. A retreat was ordered, which was executed with great
regularity, and the army inarched to the vicinity of Maestricht.

[Sidenote: 1747]

The regiment was subsequently employed in the province of Limburg,
and passed the winter in quarters near the Dutch frontiers.

In the spring of 1747, the regiment took the field, and formed part
of the army under the command of His Royal Highness the Duke of
Cumberland. After encamping for a short period near the banks of
the Scheldt, it was employed in operations on the Great Nethe and
on the Demer. On the 1st of July, the opposing armies confronted
each other between Tongres and Maestricht, and the THIRTEENTH,
twenty-fifth, and thirty-seventh regiments, with Freudeman’s
Hanoverians, and a portion of artillery, took possession of the
village of _Val_, situate about a league from Maestricht, and on
the south of the road from that place to Tongres. The day was
passed in cannonading and skirmishing, and the troops lay all the
night on their arms.

Early on the morning of the 2nd of July, the French infantry
descended the hills, and advanced in a grand column of upwards of
sixty battalions against the village of Val, where the THIRTEENTH
and three other regiments were formed to resist this immense
array of French power, and the Duke of Cumberland galloped to
that part of the field to encourage the soldiers to a determined
resistance, and to be ready to support them as circumstances might
require. About ten o’clock, the French artillery opened a heavy
fire, and the second shot killed the Duke of Cumberland’s German
aide-de-camp, Baron Ziggesaer: under the cover of this cannonade,
the leading brigade of the French column attacked the village,
and the British battalions withstood the tempest of war with
astonishing firmness, repulsing the French regiments, and driving
them back with severe loss. As the discomfited regiments retired,
a second line of combatants advanced to storm the village, but
they were met, overthrown, and driven back in disorder, and the
THIRTEENTH and other regiments at that point remained triumphant at
their post. Few moments elapsed before a fresh body of assailants
came rushing forward, but the British battalions were again
victorious; and a fourth attack on the village was also repulsed.
The French commander appeared determined to carry this point, and
his superior numbers enabling him to continue to send forward fresh
troops, he eventually gained possession of the village; but the
THIRTEENTH, and other corps which had occupied that post, were
reinforced by four additional battalions, and they returned to the
charge, and recovered the village in gallant style. The vicinity
of _Val_ was covered with killed and wounded men, and several
French brigades had been nearly destroyed, yet the French commander
continued to order forward fresh troops: the soldiers on both sides
fought with great resolution, and the village was lost and won
several times.

The superior numbers of his army gave Marshal Saxe a decided
advantage, and after the display of British valour, which reflected
great honor on the corps engaged, the army was ordered to retreat
towards Maestricht.

In the narratives of this battle published at the time, the
heroic conduct of the corps engaged is highly commended. The
THIRTEENTH foot had Lieutenant Haddock and forty rank and file
killed; Captain Stafford, Lieutenant Naylor, Ensign Holyday,
five serjeants, two drummers, and seventy rank and file wounded;
fifty-one non-commissioned officers and soldiers prisoners of war
and missing.

The regiment was employed near the frontiers of the United
Provinces during the remainder of the campaign, but it was not
again engaged in combat with the enemy.

[Sidenote: 1748]

A fine body of recruits from England replaced the losses of the
preceding year, and in the spring of 1748, the regiment again took
the field, and was employed in several services in the province of
Limburg and in North Brabant. Preliminary articles for a treaty of
peace were afterwards agreed upon, a suspension of hostilities took
place, and the regiment went into quarters in Holland.

A treaty of peace, concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, terminated the
contest, and during the winter the regiment returned to England.

[Sidenote: 1749]

In 1749 a reduction was made in the strength of the army, and the
THIRTEENTH regiment was placed on a peace establishment.

[Sidenote: 1751]

On the 1st of July, 1751, King George II. issued a regulation
relative to the clothing, standards, and colours of the several
regiments. According to this regulation, the uniform of the
THIRTEENTH regiment was scarlet, faced and lined with _philemot
yellow_. The first, or King’s, colour was the great union; the
second colour was of philemot yellow silk, with the union in the
upper canton, and in the centre of the colour, XIII. in gold Roman
characters, within a wreath of roses and thistles on the same stalk.

[Sidenote: 1754]

[Sidenote: 1762]

The regiment remained in Great Britain until the year 1754, when
it embarked for Gibraltar; and was stationed at that fortress
during the whole of the seven years’ war; at the termination of
hostilities in 1762, it returned to England.

[Sidenote: 1766]

King George III. paid great attention to everything connected with
the army, and the THIRTEENTH foot obtained His Majesty’s special
approbation of their conduct on all occasions. In June, 1766, His
Royal Highness William, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, was appointed colonel
of the regiment, in succession to General the Honorable Henry
Pulteney, who resigned.

[Sidenote: 1767]

His Majesty reviewed the regiment in Hyde Park, in brigade with the
twelfth foot, on the 5th of June, 1767: the Queen, and a numerous
assemblage of distinguished persons, were present on this occasion;
and the King was pleased to express his high approbation of the
appearance and discipline of the two corps.

In December the Duke of Gloucester was promoted to the rank of
major-general, and appointed colonel of the third foot guards; at
the same time the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH foot was conferred on
Major-General the Honorable James Murray, from colonel-commandant
in the sixtieth regiment.

[Sidenote: 1768]

After remaining in England upwards of five years, the THIRTEENTH
were ordered to transfer their services to Ireland, where they
arrived in August, 1768, and were stationed in that part of the
United Kingdom seven months.

[Sidenote: 1769]

In March, 1769, the regiment embarked for the island of Minorca.

[Sidenote: 1775]

[Sidenote: 1776]

When the American war commenced, in 1775, the regiment was
performing garrison duty at Port Mahon; it was relieved, soon
afterwards by a battalion of Hanoverians, which had been taken into
British pay, and returned to England, where it arrived in February,
1776.

[Sidenote: 1778]

In the summer of 1778, the regiment was encamped near Plymouth,
with four battalions of militia, under Lieut.-General Parker.

[Sidenote: 1779]

[Sidenote: 1780]

The regiment was encamped, in 1779, at Rye; and, in 1780, pitched
its tents at Dorking.

[Sidenote: 1781]

Meanwhile the American war had been continued; France and Spain
had taken part in the contest, in favour of the colonists; and
an English armament had captured several French islands in the
West Indies. The enemy sent a powerful force to recapture the
lost possessions; and, in 1781, the THIRTEENTH received orders to
proceed to the Leeward Islands, to augment the British force in
that part of His Majesty’s dominions.

[Sidenote: 1782]

Soon after the regiment arrived in the West Indies, hostilities
were terminated; the British Monarch acceded to the independence of
the United States, and a treaty of peace was concluded. This change
occasioned the regiment to return to England in 1782.

In this year, the THIRTEENTH foot received directions to assume
the title of the FIRST SOMERSETSHIRE REGIMENT, and, in order to
facilitate the procuring of recruits, to cultivate a connection
between that county and the regiment.

[Sidenote: 1783]

The army was reduced in 1783, when the regiment was placed upon a
peace establishment.

[Sidenote: 1784]

In the spring of 1784, the regiment embarked for Ireland, where it
was quartered during the succeeding six years.

[Sidenote: 1789]

On the 5th of June, 1789, General the Honorable James Murray was
removed to the twenty-first foot, or Royal North British Fusiliers,
and His Majesty conferred the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH regiment
on Major-General George Ainslie, from the lieut.-colonelcy of the
fifteenth light dragoons.

[Sidenote: 1790]

In the following year, the regiment received orders to hold itself
in readiness for foreign service. A revolution had taken place
in France; the French monarch was divested of regal power; the
doctrines of liberty and equality were disseminated, and Great
Britain was on the eve of being engaged in a contest to arrest the
destructive operation of the principles of democracy.

The doctrines of equality were taught in the French West India
Islands; their mischievous tendency was soon experienced among the
black population, and the British Government deeming it necessary
to augment its military power in that part of the world, the
THIRTEENTH regiment was sent as a reinforcement to the island of
Jamaica.

[Sidenote: 1791]

[Sidenote: 1793]

In 1791, the negroes of the French settlements in _St. Domingo_,
(now the black republic of Hayti,) one of the largest and most
fertile of the West India Islands, revolted; the island became
a scene of massacre and devastation, and the French planters
solicited the aid of the British, in 1793; when troops were sent
to enable them to recover their estates from their former slaves.
The revolted blacks and mulattoes took possession of part of the
island, and declared themselves a free and independent people:
the British gained several important posts; many of the planters
transferred their allegiance to the British crown, and strenuous
efforts were made to deliver the island from the domination of the
slaves. Towards the end of 1793, the THIRTEENTH regiment embarked
from Jamaica, and proceeded to the island of St. Domingo, where
it was engaged in many difficult and arduous services, in which
the officers and soldiers evinced valour, constancy, and patient
endurance of the most distressing sufferings, in a manner which
reflected great credit on the corps.

[Sidenote: 1794]

In January, 1794, the regiment was stationed at Jeremie, of which
town its commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel John Whitelocke, was
commandant. On the 31st of January, the regiment embarked, with
the expedition commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke, for the
attach of the important post of Cape _Tiburon_, which commanded
Cape Nichola mole, and an extensive bay. On the evening of the 2nd
of February, the squadron approached the shore, where about six
hundred and fifty blacks, and two hundred mulattoes and whites were
formed to oppose the landing. A few broadsides from the frigates
soon cleared the beach, and as the sun was declining beneath the
horizon, Major Brent Spencer, of the THIRTEENTH, quitted the ships
with the flank companies of the expedition. As the boats approached
the shore, a line of opponents commenced a sharp fire of musketry;
but the soldiers leaped upon the beach, charged with bayonets,
routed their opponents in an instant, killed and wounded a number
of blacks and mulattoes, and took possession of a house which
was well situated for protecting the landing of the whole of the
detachment. At daylight on the following morning, the THIRTEENTH
and twentieth regiments landed, with a party of marines and of the
British Legion; and as the troops prepared to attack the post,
the enemy fled, leaving twenty-two pieces of heavy ordnance,
three field-pieces, and a magazine full of every description of
ammunition, behind them: about fifty of the enemy were killed and
wounded, and a hundred and fifty taken prisoners.

The loss of the regiment, on this occasion, was limited to two
private soldiers killed; Captain the Honorable Charles Colville,
Lieutenant George Kinnaird Dana, Volunteer Dolphina, and two
private soldiers, wounded. The conduct of Major Spencer of
the THIRTEENTH, and of the officers and soldiers of the flank
companies, was commended in Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke’s despatch.

This important post was placed under the charge of Lieutenant
Robert Baskerville, of the THIRTEENTH, who had fifty men of his own
regiment, the colonial corps, and Jean Kino’s corps from Irois,
under his orders for the defence of the post.

On the 20th of February, the flank companies of the THIRTEENTH
were engaged in the storming of the post of _L’Acal_, situate six
miles from Leogane. Part of the force designed for this service
proceeded by water, and the remainder by land: the whole under
Lieut.-Colonel Whitelocke. Contrary winds prevented the troops
in transports taking part in the attack, but the other division
captured the fort in gallant style; the soldiers climbing the hill,
exposed to a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and their progress
impeded by felled trees placed in all directions, and capturing the
works with fixed bayonets. After obtaining possession of the fort,
two officers and thirteen soldiers were killed by the explosion
of a magazine. The only loss sustained by the THIRTEENTH foot was
one private soldier killed; one serjeant, and one private soldier
wounded. Major Spencer again distinguished himself.

The flank companies of the regiment were employed, under
Brigadier-General Whyte, in the expedition against
_Port-au-Prince_, the capital of the island: the troops employed in
this service arrived in the bay on the 31st of May, and the capture
of this place was accomplished in four days, with little loss. A
malignant fever broke out in the town soon afterwards, and the
British lost forty officers and six hundred soldiers by disease,
within two months after the surrender of the place. Lieut.-Colonel
Whitelocke had the rank of colonel in the expedition, and
Major Spencer that of lieut.-colonel; they both distinguished
themselves, and their conduct was commended in the strongest terms
in Brigadier-General Whyte’s despatch.

Captain James Grant, of the THIRTEENTH regiment, commanded the
garrison of _Fort Bizzeton_, which consisted of one hundred and
twenty men. Between four and five o’clock on the morning of the 5th
of December, three columns of the enemy, amounting to about two
thousand men, approached the fort with great silence, and arrived
under the works before they were discovered; but the garrison
was under arms; it repulsed the assailants, and drove them from
before the works with great loss. Major-General Sir Adam Williamson
stated in his public despatch,--‘Captain Grant (THIRTEENTH), and
his two lieutenants, Clunes of the Royals, and Hamilton of the
twenty-second regiment, merit every attention that can be shown
them. They were all three severely wounded early in the attack, but
tied up their wounds and continued to defend their post. It has
been a very gallant defence and does them great honor.’

[Sidenote: 1795]

[Sidenote: 1796]

The regiment continued actively employed in St. Domingo in the year
1795; but the climate proved particularly injurious to the health
of the officers and soldiers, and its losses from disease were so
severe that, in 1796, it returned to England a skeleton.

[Sidenote: 1797]

After remaining in England a few months, the regiment embarked for
Ireland in 1797, and arrived in that part of the kingdom at the
period when the Roman Catholics were combining against the British
government, and preparing for open rebellion, in the expectation of
receiving aid from France.

[Sidenote: 1798]

In May, 1798, the rebellion broke out, and the passions of the
misguided peasantry having been excited into a state of fury,
by all the motives which bigotry and vengeance could inspire,
their conduct was marked by actions of a most atrocious and cruel
character. The THIRTEENTH regiment was, however, weak in numbers,
and it was not called in very active service on this occasion. The
rebellion was suppressed towards the end of July; and in August,
when a body of French troops arrived, they were surrounded and made
prisoners.

[Sidenote: 1799]

The regiment remained in Ireland recruiting its numbers during the
year 1799.

[Sidenote: 1800]

In the early part of 1800, the establishment was completed by
volunteers from the Irish militia; and on the 3rd of March the
regiment embarked for England, where it arrived, a splendid corps
of disciplined men, and it was soon afterwards selected to proceed
on foreign service.

The Spanish monarch had united with France, in the war against
Great Britain, and an attack on the ports of Spain formed part of
the plan for employing the disposable force of the country. The
THIRTEENTH embarked from England on the 31st of July, and sailed,
with the expedition under Lieut.-General Sir James Pulteney, to the
bay of Corunna, and a landing was effected on the coast of Galicia,
with the design of attacking the fortress of _Ferrol_; but after
viewing the town and its defences, Sir James Pulteney resolved not
to lose time in attacking this place, and the troops re-embarked
and proceeded to join General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded
a British force in the Mediterranean. The united forces appeared
before _Cadiz_, and summoned the governor to surrender; but a
disease was ravaging the city at the time, and the fleet quitted
the coast for fear of infection, and proceeded to Gibraltar.

At this period a veteran French army, which had been vauntingly
styled the ‘_Army of the East_,’ was holding _Egypt_ in subjection,
and meditating scenes of conquest in distant regions; and the
British government resolved to employ the disposable force of the
kingdom in delivering Egypt from the French yoke. The THIRTEENTH,
commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Charles Colville, were
selected for this enterprise: they mustered seven hundred and
thirty-seven rank and file, fit for duty, and formed part of the
second brigade under Major-General Cradock.

After experiencing much severe weather at sea, the fleet arrived
at the island of Malta, where the troops went on shore, and the
abundance of fresh provisions which the island afforded, with
the comforts of the beautiful city of Valetta, soon restored and
reanimated the troops.

Leaving Malta on the 20th of December, the armament sailed to
Marmorice, in Asiatic Turkey, where the fleet anchored in a
spacious bay surrounded by mountains, while gun-boats were being
procured for the expedition, horses for the cavalry, and a plan of
co-operation arranged with the Turks.

[Sidenote: 1801]

On the 23rd of February, 1801, the fleet again put to sea, and
arriving off Alexandria on the 1st of March, bore down at sunset
into the bay of _Aboukir_. On the morning of the 8th of March, as
the rays of light gilded the horizon, one hundred and fifty boats
laden with soldiers approached the shore, which was crowded with
French troops assembled to oppose the landing. The murmuring sound
of a thousand oars, urging forward the _élite_ of a brave army,
whose arms glittered in the rays of the morning sun, was soon lost
in the loud thunder of cannon, and a storm of bullets from the
shore cut furrows in the surface of the water; a few boats were
struck and began to sink, others stopped to save the men, and a
momentary check was given; but the impulse returned with increased
ardour, and pressing through the storm of grape and musketry, the
rowers forced their boats to the beach. The soldiers instantly
leaped on the shore, formed as they advanced, and rushing up the
heights with supernatural energy, charged with bayonets, and
overthrew the opposing ranks. A sharp combat ensued; the THIRTEENTH
regiment landed during the action, and the French were driven from
their position, with the loss of three hundred men, eight pieces
of cannon, and many horses. Thus was the first step gained towards
the accomplishment of this brilliant enterprise; and the landing on
the shores of Egypt ranks among the splendid achievements of the
British arms.

Advancing towards _Alexandria_, the troops arrived, on the 12th
of March, at the vicinity of Mandora Tower, and on the succeeding
day marched through a wood of date trees to attack the enemy on
the ridge of heights in front. As the British emerged from among
the trees, the French advanced from the high ground and commenced
the action. The brigade to which the THIRTEENTH belonged was
advancing in column, when it was charged by a body of French
cavalry, which was repulsed by the ninetieth regiment, forming the
advance guard of the right column. Major-General Cradock instantly
formed the brigade under a heavy fire, and the gallant conduct
of the regiments was equal to the most sanguine expectation of
their commander. The French were driven from their position, and
compelled to retreat over the plains into the lines on the heights
before Alexandria.

The regiment had Captain Chester, one serjeant, and fifteen rank
and file killed; Captain Brown, Lieutenant Dolphin, and three
soldiers, died of their wounds; Lieutenants Handcock, Copland,
Serle, and Rich, Ensigns Hewson, Andrews, and O’Malley, three
serjeants, and ninety-seven rank and file, wounded.

In general orders, issued on the following day, it was stated--‘The
Commander-in-chief has the greatest satisfaction in thanking the
troops for their soldier-like and intrepid conduct in the action
of yesterday; he feels it incumbent on him particularly to express
his most perfect satisfaction with the steady and gallant conduct
of Major-General Cradock’s brigade.’ This brigade consisted of the
eighth, THIRTEENTH, eighteenth, and ninetieth regiments.

The French forces at _Alexandria_ having been augmented in numbers
by the arrival of additional troops from the interior, General
Menou advanced early on the morning of the 21st of March, and
attacked the English position with great intrepidity; but the
French were repulsed at every point of attack, and the British
soldiers stood triumphant over Buonaparte’s “_invincible_” legions,
at the close of the third engagement on the distant shores of
Egypt. Sir Ralph Abercromby was wounded in the action, and died a
few days afterwards, much regretted by the army: he was succeeded
by Lieut.-General (afterwards Lord) Hutchinson.

After this victory, one division traversed the country to Rosetta,
and captured the forts at that place; part of the army then
advanced up the river Nile, and forced the French troops at the
city of Cairo to surrender. The THIRTEENTH foot were, however, not
employed in these services, but were engaged in the _blockade of
Alexandria_.

A body of troops arrived in Egypt from India; the forces which had
captured Cairo returned to the vicinity of Alexandria, and the
siege of this city was commenced. The French were unable to defend
the place, and they surrendered in the beginning of September.
Egypt was thus delivered from the power of the French “_Army of
the East_,” which was forced to quit that country, shorn of its
laurels, and to return to France with blighted hopes.

The British soldiers received the thanks of Parliament, and the
expression of their Sovereign’s approbation of their heroic
conduct; and the “SPHINX,” with the word “EGYPT,” on the colours of
the THIRTEENTH REGIMENT, commemorates its gallant conduct on this
splendid enterprise. The Grand Seignior established an order of
Knighthood, of which the general officers were made members; and
large gold medals were presented to the field officers, captains,
and subalterns.

As a further proof of the estimation in which the Grand Seignior
held the services of the British soldiers in Egypt, he ordered a
palace to be built at Constantinople for the future residence of
the British Ambassadors.

NAMES of the officers of the THIRTEENTH Regiment who received gold
medals for service in Egypt:--


  _Lieut.-Colonels._

  Lawrence Bradshaw.
  Hon. Charles Colville (_Commanding the regiment._)


  _Majors._

  Edward Scott (_Lieut.-Colonel_).
  G. Kinnaird Dana (_Lt.-Colonel_).


  _Captains._

  Francis Weller.
  William Belford.
  John Beaver Brown (_wounded 13th March, 1801_).
  A. W. Young.
  John O’Neil Bayley.
  Arthur Wilkinson.
  Francis Wm. Schyler.
  John Staunton (_Captain, Lieut. and Captain_.)


  _Lieutenants._

  Thomas Serle.
  Cæsar Colclough.
  James Wood.
  George Innes.
  Alexander Patterson.
  George Thornhill.
  Hyacinth Daly.
  Richard Butler Handcock (_wounded 13th March, 1801_.)
  John Peck (_wounded 13th March, 1801_).
  James Blake.
  James Kearnay Browne.
  Richard Huson.
  William Trench.
  Patrick Hering.
  George O’Malley.
  Eyre Trench.
  John Dunn.
  Richard M. West.


  _Ensigns._

  Soden Davys.
  Brinley Purefoy.
  James Galbreath.
  Edward Sheridan.
  Peter Shansey.
  John Richardson.
  Richard Church.
  James Fitzsimons O’Reilly.
  John Custice.
  Peter Shansey.

  _Adjutant_, Geo. Parson.--_Quarter-Master_, Edw. Murray.

  _Surgeon_, Wm. Patton.--_Assistant Surgeons_, Jas. McGuire,
  and Francis Coul.

The British army in Egypt had equalled the most sanguine
expectations of their country; and when ages have passed, the
story of the gallant achievements of the soldiers who fought under
the brave Sir Ralph Abercromby will stimulate to heroic actions
the future warriors of the British empire. The English army had
proved to the world that French soldiers were not invincible; the
expectations of Buonaparte had been defeated, and negociations for
a treaty of peace were commenced.

[Sidenote: 1802]

The THIRTEENTH regiment remained in Egypt until the 13th of
January, 1802, when it embarked from Alexandria for the island of
Malta, where it arrived on the 2nd of March.

The regiment was stationed at Malta twelve months, during which
time a treaty of peace was concluded at Amiens, on the 25th March,
1802, in which the British government agreed to give up Malta; but
the conduct of Buonaparte, then First Consul of France, was marked
by so many acts of aggression, that the government considered
itself justified in refusing to deliver up the island.

[Sidenote: 1803]

In March, 1803, when hostilities were on the eve of re-commencing,
the regiment embarked for Gibraltar, to relieve the second
battalion of the royal regiment of foot from garrison duty at that
fortress.

[Sidenote: 1804]

On the decease of General Ainslie, in 1804, King George III.,
conferred the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH foot on Lieut.-General
Sir Alexander Campbell, (who had commanded the seventh West India
regiment which was disbanded in 1802,) by commission dated the 11th
of July, 1804.

While the regiment was stationed at Gibraltar, a fever of a very
fatal character broke out in the town and garrison, and during the
months of September, October, and November, the regiment lost four
officers, and one hundred and twenty-six non-commissioned officers
and private soldiers.

[Sidenote: 1805]

[Sidenote: 1806]

In the autumn of the following year, the regiment was relieved from
garrison duty at Gibraltar, and it landed on the 1st of January,
1806, at Portsmouth, from whence it proceeded to Winchester and
Weymouth.

The court of Spain had again united with Napoleon Buonaparte in
hostilities against Great Britain, and in August the regiment
returned to Portsmouth for the purpose of forming part of an
expedition against the Spanish possessions in South America; but
the order for the embarkation of the regiment was countermanded,
and it marched to Dover, and afterwards to Deal barracks.

[Sidenote: 1807]

The regiment left Deal on the 4th of May, 1807, for Ramsgate, where
it embarked for Ireland; and landing at Monkstown on the 23rd of
May, marched from thence to Middleton barracks and afterwards to
Cahir.

In the autumn, the regiment was completed to its establishment
by volunteers from the militia, and embarking at Monkstown for
England, landed at Portsmouth on the 2nd of December.

[Sidenote: 1808]

On the 26th of January, 1808, the regiment embarked for the West
Indies, and on its arrival it was appointed to the garrison of
Bermuda, where it landed on the 26th of March.

The West India islands belonging to France, which had been restored
to that country at the peace of Amiens in 1802, had not been
recaptured at the re-commencement of hostilities in 1803; but
in 1808 an expedition was assembled at Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes,
for the reduction of the French island of _Martinique_; the land
forces were under Lieut.-General George Beckwith, and the navy
was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, K.B. The
THIRTEENTH foot embarked from Bermuda on the 23rd of November to
join the expedition, and remained at Barbadoes until the armament
was ready for the enterprise.

[Sidenote: 1809]

The fleet left Carlisle Bay on the 28th of January, 1809, and
arrived off the island of _Martinique_ in two days. On the 30th,
the troops landed in two divisions; the first division at Bay
Robert, under Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost; and the second
division, commanded by Major-General Maitland, near St. Luce and
Point Solomon. Both divisions were actively engaged in operations
for the reduction of the island. After a night march of seven
miles through a difficult country, the first division occupied a
position on the Great Lizard River; and on the 1st of February
it engaged the enemy on Morne Brune and the heights of Surirey,
which were warmly contested; but British valour was triumphant. In
eight days from the time the fleet quitted Barbadoes, Fort Desaix
(or Fort Bourbon) was invested, ‘notwithstanding heavy rains, and
most unfavourable weather, in which the troops have borne every
species of privation in a manner worthy the character of British
soldiers.’[10] The siege of the fort was prosecuted with vigour;
and on the 24th February, the French governor, General Villaret,
surrendered, the French twenty-sixth and eighty-second regiments
becoming prisoners, and delivering up their arms and EAGLES to the
British troops. The conduct of the regiment, at the capture of this
valuable island, was afterwards rewarded with the royal authority
to bear on its colours the word “MARTINIQUE,” to commemorate its
services on this occasion.

The THIRTEENTH were stationed at Martinique, where they received
two hundred and fifty volunteers from the English militia, in
October, 1809.

[Sidenote: 1810]

A strong detachment of the regiment embarked from Martinique
on the 21st of January, 1810, and sailed to Prince Rupert’s,
Dominica, where it joined the expedition against _Guadaloupe_,
under the orders of Lieut.-General Beckwith: the detachment of
the THIRTEENTH, sixty-third (600 rank and file), York light
infantry volunteers, and fourth West India regiment, formed the
fourth brigade under Brigadier-General Skinner, in the first
division, commanded by Major-General Hislop. This division sailed
from Dominica on the 26th of January, landed at St. Mary’s, in
Capesterre, on the 28th, and took an active part in the operations
by which the French troops in the island of Guadaloupe were forced
to surrender on the 6th of February. The loss of the THIRTEENTH
foot, in this service, was limited to one man killed and five
wounded; and immediately after the capture of the island, the
detachment rejoined the regiment at Martinique.

[Sidenote: 1811]

[Sidenote: 1812]

During the years 1811 and 1812, the THIRTEENTH were stationed at
the island of Martinique.

[Sidenote: 1813]

On the 15th of February, 1813, General Campbell was removed to
the thirty-second regiment, and was succeeded in the colonelcy
of the THIRTEENTH by Lieut.-General Edward Morrison, from
Colonel-Commandant in the sixtieth foot.

In the meantime, the measures adopted by the English government,
to counteract the tyrannical decrees of Napoleon, designed for the
destruction of the commerce of Great Britain, had involved England
in war with the United States of America, and the frontiers of
Canada had become the theatre of conflict, to which the THIRTEENTH
foot were directed to repair. The regiment accordingly embarked
from Fort Royal, Martinique, on the 2nd of May, 1813, arrived
on the 28th of June at Quebec, and proceeded from thence in
steam-boats and bateaux to Montreal.

At this period, a numerous American force had penetrated Upper
Canada; and a small expedition was fitted out on Lake Champlain,
with the view of calling the attention of the Americans to the
defence of their own settlements on the borders of that sheet of
water. To engage in this service, nine officers and one hundred
and eighty-one soldiers of the THIRTEENTH foot crossed the river
St. Lawrence in boats, on the 24th and 25th of July, and proceeded
to the Isle aux Noix, where an expedition was assembled under
Lieut.-Colonel J. Murray; Lieut.-Colonel William Williams, of
the THIRTEENTH, being second in command. Sailing from the Isle
aux Noix in boats, the expedition navigated the lake, and as it
approached the enemy’s post at _Plattsburg_, the American militia
abandoned the place. The British landed, destroyed the arsenal,
block-house, commissary’s buildings and stores, with the barracks
at Saranac, capable of containing four thousand men. The flotilla
afterwards returned to Isle aux Noix. In concluding his public
despatch, Lieut.-Colonel Murray expressed his sense of the conduct
of Lieut.-Colonel Williams, of the THIRTEENTH foot, in terms of
commendation; and added, ‘I have to report in the highest terms
of approbation, the discipline, regularity, and cheerful conduct
of the whole of the troops; and feel fully confident, that, had
an opportunity offered, their courage would have been equally
conspicuous.’

[Sidenote: 1814]

Active operations were continued during the winter, when the
weather permitted; and in the spring of 1814, Lieut.-Colonel
Williams, of the THIRTEENTH foot, had charge of the advance-posts
on the river Richelieu.

The American commander, Major-General Wilkinson, concentrated a
considerable force for the invasion of Lower Canada; the THIRTEENTH
and forty-ninth regiments, the Canadian voltigeurs, a troop of the
nineteenth light dragoons, and a field train, were assembled at
St. John’s, and its vicinity, to oppose the invaders. This force
was placed under the orders of Colonel Sir Sidney Beckwith, and it
was ordered to dislodge a body of Americans, who had taken post at
Philipsburg, in the seigniory of St. Armand; but the enemy made a
precipitate retreat across the ice on Lake Champlain.

On the 30th of March, the American light troops entered Odell-town,
followed by three brigades of infantry, a squadron of cavalry,
and eleven guns; they drove in the British piquets, and attached
the post at Burton Ville; but were so well received by the troops
stationed there, that they soon desisted in the attempt on that
post. Their leading brigades afterwards attacked the mill and
block-house on the _La Cole_ river, where a detachment of the
THIRTEENTH foot and a party of Canadians were stationed, under
Major Handcock, of the THIRTEENTH. The Americans drove in the
piquet, gained possession of a wood, established a battery among
the trees, and opened a sharp fire upon the post, which was
gallantly defended. Major Handcock having ascertained that the
flank companies of the THIRTEENTH had arrived at the mill, directed
an effort to be made to capture the American artillery, when
Captain Ellard led his company to the charge with distinguished
bravery, and a spirited attempt was made on the battery; but the
wood was found crowded with American infantry. Captain Ellard was
severely wounded, and the few men who had made the sally, finding
themselves opposed by several entire regiments of the enemy,
withdrew from the unequal contest. The Americans persevering in
the attack, a second attempt was made to capture their guns, but
their brigades were too numerous to admit of a chance of success.
The post was, however, successfully defended; every attempt of
the Americans to capture it was repelled, and they retired, after
sustaining considerable loss.

Major Handcock, and the officers and soldiers who had so nobly
defended this post, were thanked for their conduct, by the
commander of the forces, Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost. The
regiment had thirteen rank and file killed; Captain Ellard, Ensign
Whitford, two serjeants, and forty-six rank and file wounded.

In April the war with France was terminated, and Napoleon
Buonaparte was removed from the throne of that kingdom; but the
contest in America was continued, and the THIRTEENTH regiment
was employed on the frontiers of Lower Canada, but it had no
opportunity of distinguishing itself.

[Sidenote: 1815]

Peace was concluded with the United States in 1815, when the
regiment received orders to return to England: it embarked from the
Isle aux Noix in bateaux, was removed into smaller boats at William
Henry, on the river St. Lawrence, and embarking in transports at
the Three Rivers, arrived at Portsmouth on the 15th of July, when
it landed, and was employed in garrison duty at that fortress. The
period of its arrival from America, did not, therefore, afford an
opportunity of the services of the regiment being available on the
occasion of the return of Buonaparte to France, his overthrow at
Waterloo, nor on the restoration of Louis XVIII.

The regiment remained at Portsmouth until August, when it embarked
for the island of Jersey, where it was stationed upwards of two
years; and its orderly conduct, on all occasions, procured for it
the respect and esteem of the inhabitants and civil authorities of
the island.

[Sidenote: 1816]

In January, 1816, an order was received for the reduction of the
regiment to ten companies, of sixty rank and file each.

[Sidenote: 1817]

On the 24th of May, 1817, new colours were presented to the
regiment, on the parade in Fort Regent-square, Jersey. The colours
bore on them the “SPHINX,” with the words “EGYPT” and “MARTINIQUE,”
and were consecrated by the Rev. George Lawrence, garrison
chaplain, who delivered a very learned and suitable address to the
regiment on the occasion.

In June of the same year, the establishment was augmented to nine
hundred and seven officers and soldiers.

The regiment embarked from Jersey in August, and proceeded to
the islands of Guernsey and Alderney. Its conduct, while at
Jersey, had excited the admiration of the inhabitants and civil
authorities of the island; and on its departure, a numerous public
meeting of the inhabitants and functionaries of the parish of
Saint Heliers, expressed the high sense they entertained of the
distinguished merits of the corps, which was communicated to the
commanding officer, Colonel Sir William Williams, by the principal
constable of St. Helier. The states of the island also passed an
act, setting forth their estimation of the discipline and orderly
behaviour of the regiment;[11] which was communicated to the
commanding officer, by his Excellency Major-General H. M. Gordon.
In acknowledging the receipt of the act of the states, Colonel
Sir William Williams observed, ‘To possess the good wishes of
those with whom a soldier resides must ever be the most pleasing
reflection, but particularly where, in the performance of his duty,
approval emanates from so high and so respectable an assembly
as the states of Jersey; it thence becomes a source of the most
heart-felt and lasting gratification, and will be recorded, and
handed down, as one of their dearest memorials. In communicating
the contents to the officers of the THIRTEENTH regiment, I am to
request you may accept their thanks; they being actuated with the
most fervent wishes for the prosperity of the island.’

[Sidenote: 1818]

[Sidenote: 1819]

The regiment remained at the islands of Guernsey and Alderney
during the two following years. In October, 1818, the establishment
was reduced to seven hundred and forty-six officers and soldiers.
In May and June, 1819, the regiment embarked by detachments for
Portsmouth.

On quitting Guernsey, the following letter was received, dated 4th
May, 1819:--

  ‘SIR,

  ‘The Royal Court of this island have desired me, as their
  president, to express the high regard which they in common with
  its inhabitants entertain for the officers of His Majesty’s
  THIRTEENTH regiment of foot; as well as their approbation and
  admiration of the general good conduct of the men of that corps,
  while quartered among us; and I feel much pleasure, in being thus
  enabled to assure you, Sir, that from all classes I have heard
  no other sentiments but those of regret, at the approaching
  departure of the THIRTEENTH regiment, which under your command,
  and that of Lieut.-Col. Sir William Williams, has shown itself
  throughout so orderly, and worthy of the esteem of this and the
  neighbouring islands; and the officers in particular, by their
  gentlemanly and social manners, have so thoroughly gained the
  good will of those who had the pleasure of their acquaintance,
  that one and all unite in the best wishes for the happiness and
  prosperity of the whole corps, in which none is more sincere than
  he who has the honour to be,

        ‘Sir, yours, &c.,
        ‘PETER DE HAVILLAND,
        ‘_Bailiff of Guernsey_.’


In acknowledging the receipt of this letter, Lieut.-Colonel R. B.
Hancock, stated,--‘It will, no doubt, be extremely gratifying to
Sir William Williams, as it is to all ranks of the regiment now
here, to find that their conduct has been thought deserving of
so great an honour. Penetrated by the repeated proofs of esteem
and affection, which they have received from the inhabitants of
Guernsey, the officers request me to offer their sincere wishes
for the general prosperity of the island, and for the individual
happiness and welfare of those friends to whose polite and marked
attention they are so deeply indebted.’

In September the regiment embarked for Scotland, and landing at
Leith, proceeded from thence to Stirling castle, with detachments
to Dumbarton castle, Paisley, Callender, and Buchlivie.

[Sidenote: 1820]

The regiment marched to Edinburgh castle in September, 1820:
towards the end of October it proceeded to Port Patrick, where it
embarked for Ireland, landing at Donaghadee, marched from thence to
Dublin, with detachments to Stranorlane, Carndonagh, Greencastle,
Buncrana, Rethinilton, and Letterkenny.

[Sidenote: 1821]

After occupying these stations ten months, the regiment called in
its detachments, and marched to Richmond barracks, Dublin, where it
arrived on the 21st of September, 1821.

[Sidenote: 1822]

From Dublin the regiment embarked, on the 18th of July, 1822, for
England, and two days after landing at Liverpool, orders were
received from the Horse Guards for the regiment to embark for
Greenock, proceed from thence to Edinburgh, and do duty there
during the visit of His Majesty King George IV. to that city.

The regiment arrived at Edinburgh on the 31st of July and 1st of
August: it had the honour of mounting guard over the royal person,
when the King visited that city, and Captain Ellard, who commanded
the guard of honor assembled to receive His Majesty on landing,
obtained the brevet rank of major.

After His Majesty’s departure, the regiment embarked for Chatham,
where it arrived on the 21st, 23rd, and 24th of September.

The regiment having been selected to proceed to India, made
preparations for transferring its services to that part of the
British dominions. Previous to embarking, it was constituted a
corps of LIGHT INFANTRY, to take date as such from the 25th of
December, 1822; and the usual augmentation was made to its numbers.

[Illustration: THIRTEENTH, PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF LIGHT
INFANTRY.]

[Sidenote: 1823]

On the 1st and 3rd of January, 1823, the regiment embarked on
board the ‘General Kydd’ and ‘Kent’ Indiamen, under Lieut.-Col.
M‘Creagh and Major Robert H. Sale, and landed in May at Calcutta,
where it received six hundred and twenty volunteers from corps
about to return to England.

[Sidenote: 1824]

Soon after the arrival of the regiment in India, the tranquillity
of the eastern dominions of Great Britain was interrupted by the
sovereign of Ava, who governed a numerous nation of Burmans,
inhabiting an extensive territory, lying in one direction, between
the Chinese dominions and Bengal. For many years the Burmese
officers, in the country contiguous to the British territory, had
been guilty of acts of encroachment and aggression, which at length
became of so outrageous a character, as to render it necessary to
call upon the court of Ava for an explanation. No answer was given;
but after overcoming several petty tribes by which his kingdom
was surrounded, the King of Ava made preparations for invading
the British territory. Troops were assembled to penetrate the
Burman empire, and to put an end to these acts of aggression, and
an armament was prepared at Port Cornwallis, under the command of
Brigadier-General Sir Archibald Campbell and Commodore Grant, for
the capture of _Rangoon_, a city, and the principal part of the
Burmese empire, situate on the north bank of the river Irawaddy,
thirty miles from the sea. The THIRTEENTH light infantry embarked
on this service, on the 5th of April, 1824; their commanding
officer, Lieut.-Colonel M‘CREAGH was appointed to the command of a
brigade, with the rank of Brigadier-General, and the command of the
regiment devolved on Major SALE. The fleet entered the Irawaddy on
the 10th of May: the Burmese made a feeble attempt to defend the
city, but their batteries were soon silenced, and the place was
captured without the loss of a man; the inhabitants quitting their
houses and seeking refuge in the thickly-wooded country.

Brigadier-General M‘Creagh was detached with three companies
against the island of _Cheduba_, on the Arracan coast, where he
landed on the 14th of May, captured the Burmese stockade by storm
on the 17th, made the rajah, or governor, prisoner, and reduced
this fertile and productive island to submission: in which service
the THIRTEENTH had Brevet Major Thornhill, Ensign Kershaw, one
serjeant, one bugler, and eighteen rank and file wounded.

The Burmese army continued in great force in the neighbourhood of
Rangoon, under the protection of fortifications of wood, called
stockades, and of the thick jungle which covered the face of the
country.

On the 28th of May, a hundred rank and file of the THIRTEENTH
regiment, commanded by Major William H. Dennie, with a detachment
of the thirty-eighth, advanced, under Sir Archibald Campbell, and
attacked two stockades by storm, without ladders, captured the
works with the bayonet, and killed about five hundred of the enemy.
The THIRTEENTH had Lieutenant A. Howard killed; one bugler, and
nine rank and file wounded.

When driven from one series of stockades, the Burmese erected
another at a greater distance. On the 10th of June, two companies
of the THIRTEENTH, under Major Robert Henry Sale, advanced with
other troops, to attack the enemy’s stronghold at _Kemmendine_;
when about two miles from the town, the head of the column was
stopped by a strong stockade, full of men, against which the
British artillery opened a well-directed fire, and in half an hour
a breach was made. The forty-first, and part of the Madras European
regiment, stormed the works in front; and the detachments of the
THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth assaulted the rear face which was
ten feet high. The soldiers being encouraged and animated by the
spirited conduct of Major Sale, who showed an example of valour
and personal agility, climbed the works, one helping another up,
and entering simultaneously with the party by the breach, they
bayoneted every man that opposed them. The loss of the THIRTEENTH
was limited to one private soldier killed; Lieutenant Petry, and
ten soldiers wounded.[12]

This point being gained, the column advanced about a mile, and
at four o’clock in the afternoon, took up a position against the
enemy’s principal stockade; batteries were erected during the
night, the artillery opened a heavy fire at daylight, and the
Burmese forsook their works and fled.

On the 17th of June, Brigadier-General M‘Creagh joined with the
three companies from the island of Cheduba.

In the beginning of July numerous columns of Burmese warriors were
seen in front of the British position, when four companies were
ordered to make a reconnoissance under the command of Major Dennie:
they discovered the enemy in force on the plains of Kumaroot,
and returned with the loss of one man wounded. On the same day,
the Burmese attacked the British posts, but were repulsed: the
THIRTEENTH had two men wounded.

The Burmese position in the rear of the great pagoda was attacked
on the 5th of July, when the regiment had one private soldier
killed; Lieutenant Knox Barrett, one serjeant, and sixteen rank and
file wounded.

A general attack was made on the 8th of July, and three hundred men
of the THIRTEENTH, under Brigadier-General M‘Creagh, formed part
of the force detached, under Brigadier-General M‘Bean, to storm
the enemy’s works. The attack was led by Major Sale, at the head
of the soldiers of the THIRTEENTH regiment, with heroic gallantry,
and seven stockades were carried in rapid succession. Major Sale
encountered the Burmese commander-in-chief in the works, and slew
him in single combat, taking from him a valuable gold-hilted sword
and scabbard. Three other stockades were captured by other portions
of the armament; and the men, under Brigadier-General M‘Bean,
fell in with a number of Burmese flying from a stockade attacked
by the shipping, of whom they bayoneted a great number. Eight
hundred Burmese were killed on this occasion, and thirty-eight
pieces of artillery, forty swivels, and three hundred muskets were
captured.[13]

Two serjeants of the THIRTEENTH were killed; Captain Johnson, two
corporals, and five private soldiers were wounded.

The terror of these attacks caused the Burmese troops to remove to
a greater distance; and the difficult character of the country,
rainy weather, inundations, and the necessity for procuring a large
supply of provisions before the army advanced, detained the British
some time in the neighbourhood of Rangoon.

Meanwhile the Burmese recovered from the consternation into which
they had been thrown, and a veteran chief, named Maha Bandoola,
was appointed commander of the army of Ava. This chief approached
the British position on the 1st of December, with upwards of
fifty thousand foot, a body of Cassay horse, and three hundred
pieces of artillery, and commenced forming entrenchments. The
British beheld the legions of Ava, ten times more numerous than
themselves, without dismay; and the left of the Burmese line
presenting a favourable opportunity for an attack, Major Sale
advanced with two hundred of the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, under
Major Dennie, and two hundred and fifty of the eighteenth Native
Infantry, under Captain Ross, and stormed the entrenchments with
distinguished gallantry, in sight of the whole army. The soldiers
of the THIRTEENTH led the charge with great intrepidity; they
burst through the entrenchments, overthrew all opposition, and
spread terror and dismay on the enemy’s flank. The native infantry
followed the example; the Burmese fled, and the victorious British
soldiers returned to their posts laden with trophies.[14]

The THIRTEENTH foot had Lieutenant O’Shea, one serjeant, and three
rank and file killed; Captain Clark died of his wounds: Ensigns
Blackwall and Croker, one serjeant, and twenty rank and file
wounded.

This victory was followed by a decisive triumph over the left wing
of the Burmese army, on the 5th of December, on which occasion two
hundred and forty-five rank and file of the THIRTEENTH, under Major
Dennie, formed part of the first column of attack, under Major
Sale, which penetrated the enemy’s lines, and routed the legions of
Ava with a facility which proved the superior prowess of British
soldiers. The first advantage was followed up, the powerful army
of the enemy was overthrown, and of the three hundred pieces of
ordnance which the enemy had in position, two hundred and forty
were brought into the British camp.[15] The loss of the regiment
was six rank and file wounded.

Anxious to retrieve his disgrace, the Burmese commander rallied
his broken legions, called reinforcements to his aid, and took up
another position, which he fortified with great labour and art.
These formidable works were attacked on the 15th of December, when
two hundred of the THIRTEENTH, under Major Sale, formed part of
the column of attack under Brigadier-General Cotton, which made a
detour round the enemy’s left to gain the rear of his position at
_Kokien_, which was to be attacked in front by another column. On
arriving in front of the position it presented a very formidable
appearance; but the English general knew from experience the
character of the troops he commanded, and he gave the signal
for the attack, when the soldiers rushed forward with the most
determined and enthusiastic bravery, and in less than fifteen
minutes they were in full possession of these stupendous works. The
THIRTEENTH met with very determined resistance; their commanding
officer, Major Sale, received a severe wound in the head; he was
succeeded by Major Dennie, who was wounded in the hand, but who
continued at the head of the regiment until the action was over.
The Burmese only resisted a short time, and then fled in a panic,
leaving their camp standing, all their baggage, and a great portion
of their arms and ammunition behind them.

Lieutenants Darby, Petry, and Jones, two serjeants, and seven rank
and file, of the THIRTEENTH, were killed; Majors Sale[16] and
Dennie, Captains Thornhill (Brevet Major) and James M‘Pherson,
Lieutenants M. Fenton and Pattisson, Ensigns Wilkinson and
Blackwell, two serjeants, and forty rank and file wounded.

[Sidenote: 1825]

These splendid successes, connected with the services of the royal
navy, had produced important results; the maritime provinces of
Mergui, Tavoy, Yeb, and Martuban, had been captured, and seven
hundred pieces of artillery had been taken from the Burmese. To
wrest additional territory from the court of Ava, the THIRTEENTH
regiment was detached, under Major Dennie, with other troops, the
whole under Major Sale, against the city of _Bassein_, in the
south-west part of the ancient kingdom of Pegu, which constituted
part of the Burmese empire. The regiment embarked on this service
on the 10th of February, and after a tedious passage arrived,
on the evening of the 14th, off Pagoda Point, Great Negrais. On
the 26th the expedition entered the river, and the THIRTEENTH,
thirty-eighth, and twelfth Native Infantry landed and captured a
stockade. The troops afterwards re-embarked, and proceeded to the
next stockade, which the Burmese abandoned as the soldiers went on
shore to storm the works; and so great was the consternation of the
enemy, that the city of Bassein was set on fire and abandoned. The
expedition anchored opposite the smoking ruins on the 3rd of March,
when the troops landed and took post in the area of the principal
pagoda: many private houses were not destroyed, and the inhabitants
were induced to return to their homes. On the 13th of March,
Major Dennie made a reconnoissance up the Bassein river; he was
afterwards joined by another party under Major Sale, and the whole
proceeded one hundred and twenty miles up the river, to Lanrince,
and returned to Bassein on the 23rd, having had two men wounded.

No resistance being met with in the province of Bassein, the
THIRTEENTH regiment embarked for Rangoon, where it arrived on the
2nd of May; meanwhile the army under Lieut.-General Sir Archibald
Campbell had advanced up the country, and had captured several
strong towns.

On the 8th of August, the regiment embarked from Rangoon, to
join the army at Prome, where it arrived in boats on the 25th.
Soon afterwards overtures of peace were made by the Burmese, but
hostilities were resumed in the middle of November; and the army of
Ava having repulsed the attack of three bodies of sepoys, became
suddenly elevated with a high idea of its own power, and advanced
to envelop the British troops at Prome.

About sixty thousand Burmese environed six thousand British and
native Indian troops; but undismayed by this formidable host, the
English general left four native regiments for the defence of
Prome, and advanced, on the 1st of December, to attack the enemy’s
left wing at _Simbike_. This post was stormed by the troops under
Brigadier-General Cotton,[17] and the works were carried, in
gallant style, in ten minutes. The THIRTEENTH were engaged in the
operation, but did not take part in the assault.

After a harassing march of about twenty miles, the troops
bivouacked at Ze-ouke, and at daylight on the following morning
(2nd December) they were again in motion, to attack the formidable
position occupied by the enemy’s centre division on the _Napadee
Hills_. Arriving in the vicinity of the position, the British
artillery commenced a sharp cannonade; Brigadier-General
Elrington’s troops drove the enemy from the jungle, six companies
of the eighty-seventh regiment carried the posts at the bottom of
the ridge, and the Burmese were driven from the valley to their
principal works on the hills, which appeared very formidable; the
heights could only be ascended by a narrow road, commanded by
artillery, and defended by stockades crowded with men armed with
muskets. As soon as the artillery had made an impression on the
works, the THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth regiments sprang forward
with astonishing resolution and steadiness, rushed into the enemy’s
works, overthrowing all opposition with the bayonet, and driving
the Burmese from hill to hill, over precipices that could only be
ascended by a narrow stair, until the whole of the position, nearly
three miles in length, was captured. Lieut.-Colonel Sale and Major
Thornhill, of the THIRTEENTH regiment, distinguished themselves.

On the 5th of December, the enemy’s right wing was driven from its
post; the immense army of Ava was thus forced from its positions by
the fierce attacks of the British soldiers; and the Burmese legions
sought safety in flight.

After this success, the army continued to advance; the Burmese
evacuated Meeday, and took post at _Melloon_, at the same time they
renewed their offers for terminating the war; but this appears to
have been done with the view of gaining time to re-organize their
army for a more determined resistance.

[Sidenote: 1826]

The conditions of peace not being ratified by the stipulated
time, hostilities were resumed on the 19th of January, 1826, on
which day the THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth regiments embarked in
boats under Lieut.-Colonel Sale, to assault the main face of the
enemy’s fortifications at Melloon; at the same time other corps
embarked to storm the works at different points. The whole of
the boats quitted the shore together; but the current and breeze
carried the THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth to their point of attack,
before the other divisions could reach the opposite bank of the
river, and Lieut.-Colonel Sale was wounded in his boat; but the
two regiments landed, formed under the command of Major Frith of
the thirty-eighth, and rushed forward with such intrepidity and
resolution, that they overpowered all resistance, and were speedily
masters of these formidable works.[18] Major Frith was wounded
in the assault, and the command of the brigade devolved on Major
THORNHILL, of the THIRTEENTH regiment, who distinguished himself.

The loss of the regiment was one man killed; Major Sale and three
men wounded.

The army advanced upon the capital of the Burmese empire, and the
legions of Ava resolved once more to try their fortune in battle;
they met the British in the open fields near _Pagahm Mew_, where an
action took place on the 9th of February. The THIRTEENTH led the
right attack in their usual gallant style, the Burmese troops soon
gave way before the superior prowess of the British soldiers, and
another victory was gained. The regiment had one soldier killed;
Captain Tronson and six soldiers wounded.

After this victory, the army continued its advance upon
Ummerapoora, the capital, situated upon the shores of a romantic
lake; and when within four days march of that city, the King of Ava
sent the ratified treaty, paying the expenses of the war and giving
up a considerable portion of territory.

On the conclusion of this splendid undertaking, the following
statement appeared in orders:--‘While the Governor General in
Council enumerates, with sentiments of unfeigned admiration, the
achievements of the first, or royals, the 13th, 38th, 41st, 45th,
47th, 87th, and 89th regiments, the Honorable Company’s Madras
European regiment, and the Bengal and Madras European artillery,
as the European troops which have had the honour of establishing
the renown of the British arms in a new and distant region, His
Lordship in Council feels that higher and more justly-merited
praise cannot be bestowed on those brave troops than that, amidst
the barbarous hosts with which they have fought and conquered, they
have eminently displayed the virtues, and sustained the character
of the British Soldier.’

Lieut.-Colonel SALE, and Majors DENNIE and THORNHILL, were rewarded
with the honour of being constituted Companions of the Bath: and
the word “AVA,” on the colours of the regiment, commemorates its
gallantry during these campaigns.

The regiment embarked in boats, from Yandaboo, on the 7th of March,
arrived at Rangoon on the 22nd, proceeded on board of transports on
the 23rd, and arrived at Calcutta in the middle of April.

After remaining a few days at Calcutta, the regiment embarked by
divisions for Berhampore, where it was stationed several months.

[Sidenote: 1827]

On the 15th of November, the regiment commenced its march from
Berhampore, for Dinapore, where it arrived on the 3rd of January,
1827.

[Sidenote: 1831]

[Sidenote: 1832]

The regiment remained at Dinapore nearly five years, and towards
the end of 1831, commenced its march for Agra, a city situate on
the river Jumnah, the capital of a province of the same name,
where it arrived in January, 1832.

[Sidenote: 1835]

[Sidenote: 1836]

At the city of Agra, which exhibits numerous marks of its ancient
greatness, the regiment was stationed four years. From Agra the
regiment marched, in December, 1835, for Kurnaul, where it arrived
in January, 1836.

[Sidenote: 1837]

Early in the year 1837, the regiment furnished a detachment,
under the command of Captain N. Chadwick, to accompany the
commander-in-chief, General Sir Henry Fane, G.C.B, on a visit
to the ruler of the Sikhs, Maharajah Runjeet Singh, at Lahore,
the capital of his dominions. After a journey of several weeks,
General Sir Henry Fane arrived at Lahore on the 10th of March, and
was greeted at the court of the ruler of the Sikhs by a gorgeous
display of oriental magnificence, for which Asiatic potentates
have been celebrated. The British troops which accompanied the
commander-in-chief, were reviewed, on the 17th of March, by the
Maharajah, who expressed great admiration of their appearance and
discipline, and in a general order published immediately after the
review, it was stated,

‘The Commander-in-Chief has much pleasure in communicating to the
officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the escort,
that their appearance and steadiness under arms, this morning,
met with much approbation, and their performance of the various
movements will leave in the Punjaub a very favourable impression of
their discipline.’

Very valuable presents were made to the officers of the escort, and
the Maharajah also gave eleven thousand rupees (1100_l._) to be
distributed among the non-commissioned officers and soldiers.

The Commander-in-Chief remained seven weeks at the capital of
the ruler of the Sikhs, and afterwards commenced his journey back
to the British dominions, and the officers and soldiers of the
THIRTEENTH Light Infantry rejoined the regiment at Kurnaul.

[Sidenote: 1838]

Events occurred in the years 1837 and 1838, which appeared to
render a temporary departure from those pacific councils, which
have marked the British policy in India, necessary, and which
occasioned the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry to take the field, under
the following circumstances. Shah Shoojah-ool-Moolk had been driven
from the throne of Affghanistan, and his kingdom divided among
several chiefs. A Persian army besieged Herat, on the frontiers
of Affghanistan, and the court of Persia claimed an extensive
portion of that kingdom, which lying between India and Persia
appeared to menace the safety of the British dominions in the
East Indies. These circumstances, and the unprovoked attack made
on an ancient British ally, Runjeet Singh, by Dost Mahomed Khan,
who relied on Persian encouragement and assistance, were followed
by the conclusion of a tripartite treaty, between the British,
Runjeet Singh, and Shah Shoojah, for the purpose of effecting
the restoration of the dethroned monarch of Affghanistan, and a
British force was assembled to achieve this important change in the
aspect of affairs beyond the river Indus; this force was called the
“ARMY OF THE INDUS,” and the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry having been
selected to take part in this enterprise, left Kurnaul in November,
and proceeded to the rendezvous of the army at Ferozepore, where
they arrived before the end of the month. They encamped within
four miles of the Gharra, beyond which river the crimson tents
and pavilions of the army of the Punjaub, designed to co-operate
in the enterprise, presented a splendid and imposing appearance.
The ruler of the Sikhs was with his forces; the governor general
arrived at the camp, and grand interviews, entertainments, and
reviews, took place, which were conducted with great magnificence.
In the meantime the Persians had raised the siege of Herat, and the
strength of the army was, in consequence thereof, reduced.

From the gala scenes on the banks of the Gharra the troops were
called to the more arduous duties of the field, and they advanced
upon the capital of the Daoodpootra state; the country was open,
the roads good, the air clear and healthful, the river contiguous,
and this pleasant march was completed before the end of December,
1838, when the army pitched its tents at the city of Bhawalpore.[19]

[Sidenote: 1839]

After a short halt, the THIRTEENTH resumed their march in the
beginning of January, 1839, and after passing the boundary of
Bhawul Khan, they entered the territory of the Khyrpore Ameer,
where the inhabitants evinced a disposition bordering on
hostility, and withheld aid of every kind. Towards the end of
January they arrived at Roree, and beheld the river Indus, which
they were about to pass, upwards of half a mile broad, with its
banks clothed with groves of date trees covering hills, which
presented a striking contrast to the plains near them, green with
corn and tamarisk bushes. After some delay, the fortress of Bakkur
was delivered up to the British, as a place of arms during the war
in Affghanistan.

The troops from Bombay having met with some interruption in their
advance through Lower Scinde, part of the Bengal force, including
the THIRTEENTH, quitted the Indus, to menace the city of Hyderabad;
but returned to Roree in the middle of February, in consequence
of the submission of the rulers of Lower Scinde. A bridge of
boats had, in the meantime, been placed across the great river
Indus, and the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry crossed this celebrated
stream, to traverse regions which a British army had never before
penetrated, but which are interesting from their association
with ancient history, being the scene of the operations, and
reverses of Alexander the Great, upwards of two thousand years
since: after a march of four days they arrived at Shikarpore, when
the difficulties of the enterprise began to assume a formidable
character.

Advancing from Shikarpore the regiment proceeded through a desert
country to Usted, and afterwards continued its route through the
arid plains of Beloochistan, occasionally suffering inconvenience
from the want of water, and from the predatory habits of the
Beloochees, and arrived in the middle of March, at Dadur, situated
a few miles from the Bolan Pass.

From Dadur the regiment continued its route; and penetrating the
Bolan Pass, marched between mountains covered with snow: in some
places the pass was not more than seventeen yards wide, with gloomy
crags rising perpendicularly in awful grandeur on each side. In
these wild regions bands of Beloochees lurked to avail themselves
of every opportunity to follow their predatory habits, and they
murdered several camp followers, and plundered some baggage.
Issuing from this gloomy defile of more than fifty miles in length,
the regiment entered the Dusht-i be-doulut, or the unhappy-desert,
and halted a short time at Quettah, situated in the centre of the
valley of Shawl, of which it is the capital. Supplies of provisions
could not be procured for the army in these sterile regions; the
issue of grain for the horses ceased, the soldiers were placed upon
half rations, the native followers upon quarter, and several men,
who were searching for forage at a distance from the camp, were
murdered by the ferocious natives, who hovered round the army to
avail themselves of every opportunity of destroying small parties.

The soldiers bore all the hardships to which they were subjected
with fortitude, and in the early part of April the army commenced
its march through the vale of Shawl; it descended the picturesque
height of Kotul full one thousand feet, into the valley of
Koochlak; forded rivers; traversed a difficult country spangled
with flowers of every hue, and passed the height of Kozak,
where the soldiers had to drag the artillery over the precipice
with ropes. The army, surmounting every obstacle with patient
perseverance, continued to press forward; the rulers of western
Affghanistan were struck with dismay at the appearance of the
formidable British host, and they fled from the capital, leaving
the country to the Sovereign whom the British were advancing to
restore. As the army continued its march, various classes of
individuals tendered their submission, and on the 27th of April
the British troops arrived at Candahar, the capital of western
Affghanistan, where the soldiers obtained provisions and repose.
The tents were pitched in the grassy meadows, among enclosures
covered with crops of grain. The watery exhalations from the low
grounds proved injurious to the health of the men, and the great
heat experienced in the tents, with a saline impregnation in the
water, augmented the number of the sick.

Breaking up from Candahar on the 27th of June, to reduce the
remainder of the Shah’s dominions to obedience to his authority,
the army advanced along a valley of dismal sterility to the Turnuk
river; then proceeding up the right bank, traversed the country of
the Western Ghilzees, and arrived in the vicinity of _Ghuznee_, a
strong fortress garrisoned by three thousand Affghans under Prince
Mahomed Hyder Khan, who were well provided with stores, and had
determined on a desperate defence: they had blocked up every gate
by masonry excepting one.

The army having arrived before Ghuznee without a battering train
of sufficient power to proceed by the regular method of breaching
the walls, &c., the commander of the forces, Lieut.-General Sir
John Keane, resolved to storm the place without delay. On the
21st July, a company of the THIRTEENTH under Captain Sutherland
accompanied Captain Thomson, Bengal Engineers (Chief Engineer) on
his reconnoitre, and had one man killed, and two wounded. During
the night of the 22nd of July a quantity of gunpowder was brought
secretly to the gate which was not blocked up by masonry, and which
was destroyed by an explosion before daylight on the following
morning.

To the THIRTEENTH was assigned the duty of covering the
operations, in blowing open the gate, and they paraded at two
o’clock, A.M. The regiment proceeded in advance of the storming
party to the causeway of the gate, under cover of the darkness of
the night, and the fire of the batteries of the assailants. Six
men of the leading company were told off to assist in carrying the
powder bags. On reaching the causeway, the THIRTEENTH extended in
light order, along the ditch, and by their fire distracted the
enemy’s attention from the gate. After the explosion a company
of the regiment, under Lieutenant Jennings, moved up with the
Engineer Officer to ascertain if the operation had been attended
with success; on which the light company of Her Majesty’s Second
regiment of foot, No. 9 company of the THIRTEENTH under Captain
Vigors,--the light companies of Her Majesty’s seventeenth and of
the Bengal European Regiment, which had been named to form the
advance of the storming column, immediately pressed forward under
the command of Brigadier Dennie of the THIRTEENTH, and under a
heavy fire, gallantly gained an entrance into the fort. These
were quickly followed by the main storming column under Brigadier
Sale (who was severely wounded on this occasion), of which the
THIRTEENTH formed part, having been ordered to close on the advance
of the four companies; and the whole were soon established in
possession of the fort.

The THIRTEENTH and seventeenth regiments were directed against the
citadel, which was found evacuated by the enemy. Large supplies
of grain, ammunition of all kinds, and several guns and military
weapons, with about two thousand horses, fell into the hands of
the victors. A company of the regiment under Lieutenant Arthur
Wilkinson succeeded in capturing the redoubt (or outwork), and
took two standards and about sixty prisoners.

The distinguished conduct of Brigadier Sale was highly commended by
the Commander in Chief Lieut.-General Sir John Keane; and Brigadier
Dennie, Major Tronson, and Captain Kershaw were distinguished
in the despatches. The regiment had one man killed, and three
serjeants and twenty-seven rank and file wounded.

When the Affghan horsemen, who had assembled in the neighbourhood,
learnt the fate of the fortress, they abandoned their camp equipage
and baggage, and fled towards Cabool, the capital of eastern
Affghanistan, in the direction of which city the British forces
immediately advanced.

Dost Mahomed Khan, the ruler of the country, assembled a
formidable host in position near Ughundee; but ascertaining that
his soldiers had resolved to abandon him, he fled with a body
of select cavalry, leaving his artillery in position; and the
British army, advancing by triumphant marches to the capital,
replaced Shah Shoojah-ool-Moolk in the possession of the palace
of his forefathers, from which he had been an exile many years.
The conquest of a kingdom was thus achieved, by British skill and
enterprise, with trifling loss, and the army pitched its tents in a
rich valley near the capital.

The services of the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry were afterwards
rewarded with the royal authority to bear on their regimental
colour the words “AFFGHANISTAN” and “GHUZNEE.” A medal was given
by the restored monarch to the officers and soldiers present
at the storming of Ghuznee, which Her Majesty QUEEN VICTORIA
authorized them to receive and wear. An order of merit was also
instituted by the Shah, called the ORDER of the “DOORANÉE
EMPIRE,” the decorations of which were conferred on’ the general
and field officers; and Her Majesty was graciously pleased to
grant permission to Sir Robert Sale, of the THIRTEENTH, to accept
and wear the insignia of the first class, and Brevet Major James
Kershaw and Captain Hamlet Wade the insignia of the third class of
the order. Colonel Robert Henry Sale, was promoted to the rank of
Major-General in Affghanistan, and was appointed by Her Majesty
to be a Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Military Order of
the Bath; Major Edward T. Tronson was promoted to the rank of
lieut.-colonel in the army, and Captain James Kershaw to that of
major, for their services in this campaign; the promotions taking
place from the 23rd July, 1839, the date of the capture of Ghuznee.

NAMES of the officers of the THIRTEENTH who received the Ghuznee
Medal:--

  Brigadier Robert Henry Sale.
  ---- William Dennie.

  Major Edward Tronson.
  ---- Tristram Squire.


  _Captains._

  George Fothergill.
  William Sutherland.
  James Kershaw.
  Robert Pattisson.
  John Taylor.
  Horatio Vigors.
  Henry Havelock.


  _Lieutenants._

  Arthur Wilkinson.
  James Fenwick.
  John Foulston.
  Peter Jennings.
  Philip Von Streng.
  Alexander Holcombe.
  George King.
  Rollo Burslem.
  John Wood.
  Frederick Holder.
  William Sinclair.
  Hon. Emilius Forester.
  Thomas Oxley.
  David Rattray.


  _Ensigns._

  Edward King.
  George Mein.
  Richard Frere.
  George Wade.

  _Paymaster_ Harry Carew.--_Adjutant_ Hamlet Wade.
  _Assistant Surgeons_ J. Robertson, M.D. and G. Barnes, M.D.

A complete change had been achieved in the aspect of affairs beyond
the Indus; the chiefs of Cabool and Candahar, who had entertained
hostile designs against the British interest, had been deprived
of power, and the territories they ruled had been restored to a
friendly monarch. These splendid results accomplished, part of
the army was withdrawn from the country; but the THIRTEENTH Light
Infantry were selected to remain in Affghanistan, to support the
government of the restored Shah, against the machinations of the
chiefs who had usurped his authority during his exile.

The regiment was encamped near Cabool until November, when it
marched into garrison at the Bala Hissar, or citadel of Cabool, in
which stands the palace, with the thirty-fifth native infantry,
and a detail of artillery, and remained there during the winter,
which was an unusually severe season. Brigadier Dennie commanded
the garrison, and Lieutenant Hamlet C. Wade, who had been selected
by Lieut.-General Lord Keane to serve on the general staff of the
army, was appointed major of brigade to this force.

[Sidenote: 1840]

In May, the regiment moved into camp much reduced in numbers,
having suffered very severely from disease. On the 24th September
it was again called upon to take the field, having been attached to
the force, under Sir Robert Sale, directed against Dost Mahomed in
the Kohistan of Cabool; and it marched that day.

On the 29th September, the regiment under Lieut.-Colonel Tronson
assisted in carrying the town and forts of _Tootumdurra_, at the
entrance of the Ghorebund Pass, occupied by Ali Khan, a refractory
chief of the Kohistan. The loss of the THIRTEENTH was limited to
two privates wounded; one mortally.

On the 3rd October, the regiment was again engaged with the enemy
at _Julgar_, about sixteen miles from Charekar, and although the
attack of the storming party on the fort was not successful, yet
Lieut.-Colonel Tronson, commanding the storming party, and Brevet
Major Kershaw, Lieutenant and Adjutant Wood, Lieutenants Edward
King, and George Wade (the four latter officers having at one time
attained the crest of the breach) highly distinguished themselves,
and were particularly mentioned by Major-General Sir Robert Sale in
his despatch, who also acknowledged the assistance he received from
his major of brigade, Captain Hamlet Wade. The scaling-ladders,
hastily constructed from the poles used in carrying the litters for
the sick, were of little use; no sooner did the soldiers attempt
to ascend them, than they sank into the soft débris on which they
were planted: under these circumstances the storming party retired,
leaving the Serjeant-Major of the Regiment (Airey) and fourteen
men lying dead under the walls. Serjeant Hurst, of the THIRTEENTH,
unable to move from his wounds, was carried off by Lieutenant King;
and a Sepoy was, in like manner, conveyed to the rear by private
Thomas Robinson of the regiment, under a most terrific fire.
Lieutenant and Adjutant Wood, three serjeants, two corporals, and
twelve privates were wounded.

It was subsequently determined to renew the attack, when it might
be made by a combined movement against the breach, gateway, and
wicket, with better chances of success, but the enemy, however,
notwithstanding the precautions taken to intercept them, succeeded
in escaping from the fort before seven o’clock P.M., at which hour
the British took possession of it, and measures were taken for its
destruction.

The THIRTEENTH came again in contact with the enemy on the 19th
October at _Babookooshghur_, when they were attacked in camp at
night, but experienced little loss. On the 2nd November, the
regiment was engaged with the Affghans at _Purwan_, where they had
taken up a strong position under Dost Mahomed, who however retired
from the field, and delivered himself up to the authorities at
Cabool, when the purposes for which the force commenced operations
being effected, it was directed to return to Cabool, and the
THIRTEENTH took possession of the new cantonments there on the 8th
November.

[Sidenote: 1841]

After having been nearly three years on active service, the
regiment was in expectation of commencing its march back to India,
in October 1841; but at this period the government of Shah Shoojah
became so unpopular, that the Affghans appeared determined to
effect, by violence or circumvention, the expulsion of the British,
by whose aid he had been reinstated in the sovereignty of Cabool.

A body of insurgents having possessed themselves of the _Khoord
Cabool_ pass, about ten miles from the capital, impeded the
communication with India, when the first Lieut.-Colonel of the
regiment, Major-General SIR ROBERT SALE, K.C.B., was detached with
a small force, of which the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry formed part,
to expel the rebels and re-open the communication. The regiment
left Cabool on the 11th of October; the pass was forced on the
following morning, and the troops penetrated to Khoord Cabool.[20]
The regiment had three men killed and twenty-four wounded on this
occasion:--Major-General Sir Robert Sale, Captain H. C. Wade (Major
of Brigade), Lieutenant George Mein, and Ensign Oakes were wounded.
Lieutenant Mein being dangerously wounded, was obliged to be sent
back in a litter to Cabool. Upon Sir Robert Sale being obliged to
quit the field from the severity of his wound, the command of the
troops devolved on Lieut.-Colonel Dennie, C.B. of the THIRTEENTH.
The regiment then faced about, to return through the pass according
to the plan for executing the operation, leaving the other corps
at Khoord Cabool. Possession was then taken of Bootkhak, where the
regiment was stationed from the 12th to the 18th of October. During
this delay, the corps was much harassed by incessant night-attacks
from the enemy, called by them Shub Khoon (Night Slaughter),
which caused it some loss, but by Sir Robert Sale’s precaution in
ordering the men to lie down on their alarm posts, as soon as the
enemy’s fire was opened on the camp, much loss was prevented. The
orders prohibiting any return-fire from the troops saved much, and
all the attempts of the enemy to force an entrance into camp were
successfully resisted by the bayonet alone. Meanwhile the rebellion
continued of a formidable character, and the THIRTEENTH Light
Infantry were ordered to march to _Tezeen_, where they arrived on
the 22nd of October and were engaged with a body of insurgents,
whom they drove from some heights and strong positions. The
regiment on this duty had the misfortune to lose Lieutenant Edward
King, who fell at the head of his company, while gallantly charging
the enemy. Lieutenant R. E. Frere was wounded: the other casualties
were three privates killed, and nine rank and file wounded.

In consequence of orders from Cabool, the force under Major-General
Sir Robert Sale marched for _Gundamuck_, and were continually
pressed day and night, by insurgent bands hovering on their flanks
and rear, which occasioned the fatigues and duties of the troops
to be particularly harassing; the way led along defiles and over
mountains, and when the soldiers halted, breast-works had to be
thrown up to defend the bivouac ground from sudden attacks of the
Affghan cavalry.

On the 29th of October the rebels were found in force at the
_Jugdulluck_ Pass, and for some time they checked the advance
of the column; but the skirmishers of the THIRTEENTH Light
Infantry, sprang forward with distinguished gallantry, and driving
the Affghans from almost inaccessible heights protected by
breast-works, enabled the British force to surmount every obstacle
in the defile, and to arrive at Gundamuck on the following day.
Lieutenants P. R. Jennings, A. E. F. Holcombe, and David Rattray
were severely wounded on this service; four privates were killed,
and forty-two wounded. Lieut.-Colonel Dennie, Captains Wilkinson,
Havelock, Wade, (Brigade-Major) and Fenwick, were specially
mentioned by Major-General Sir Robert Sale in his despatch.

The troops under Major-General Sir Robert Sale remained at
Gundamuck until the 5th November, when they proceeded and captured
the fort of _Mamoo Khail_ in the neighbourhood, and returned on the
6th to Gundamuck; there intelligence was received of the breaking
out of a violent insurrection at Cabool, on the 2nd of November,
and of the probability that the rebellion would become general.
Under these circumstances, two forced marches on Jellalabad were
made, with a numerous enemy pressing on the flanks and rear; a
body of insurgents were beaten at _Futtehabad_ by the rear-guard
under Lieut-Colonel Dennie; and _Jellalabad_, the chief town in
the valley of Ningrahar, was seized by the British troops on
the 12th November, to establish a post upon which the corps at
Cabool might retire, if necessary, and to restore a link in the
chain of communication with India. The Affghan irregulars, left
at Gundamuck, revolted, and a general rising took place among the
tribes.

Major-General Sir Robert Sale, on taking possession of Jellalabad,
found the fortress in a very dilapidated state, and the inhabitants
disaffected to the government of the Shah. The Affghans collected
to about ten thousand, and the walls of the fort being without
parapets, and the garrison having only one day and a half supplies,
on half rations, a sally was made on the 14th November, which
routed the enemy, and enabled the troops to collect provisions, and
erect works for the defence of the fortress. On this latter duty,
the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry were conspicuous for the alacrity
and indefatigable perseverance they evinced under circumstances
of the most disheartening and trying character. The demolition
of ruinous forts and old walls, filling up ravines, destroying
gardens, cutting down groves, raising the parapets to six or seven
feet high, repairing and widening the ramparts, extending the
bastions, retrenching three of the gates, covering the fourth with
an outwork, and excavating a ditch ten feet in depth and twelve in
width round the whole of the walls, were works of great labour,
which called forth the efforts of every individual. While thus
employed another array of many thousands of Affghans on the 27th of
November again invested the place, but they were completely routed
and dispersed by a sally of the garrison on the 1st December.

[Sidenote: 1842]

On the 9th of January, 1842, the garrison was summoned to give up
the fortress, by the leader of the Affghan rebellion, in fulfilment
of a convention entered into at Cabool; but Major-General
Sir Robert Sale, being fully assured of the bad faith of the
insurgents, refused; the annihilation of the troops from the
capital, in the Ghilzie defiles, by the severity of the climate,
and the basest treachery on the part of those in whose promises
they had confided, proved the correctness of the major-general’s
estimation of the Affghan character.

By the indefatigable exertions of the troops, under the
direction of Captain Broadfoot, garrison engineer, and Captain
Abbott, commissary of ordnance, the works were brought into a
state of defence against any Asiatic enemy not provided with
siege-artillery; but the place was kept in a continual state of
alarm by the occurrence of one hundred shocks of an earthquake in
the course of a month, and on the 19th of February a tremendous
shock occasioned the parapets to fall, injured the bastions, made
a breach in the rampart, destroyed the guard-houses, reduced other
portions of the works to ruins, and demolished one-third part
of the town. With that unconquerable spirit of perseverance for
which the troops had already been distinguished, they instantly
turned to the repair of the works. Sirdar Mahomed Akbar Khan,
Barukzye, the assassin of the late Envoy, and the treacherous
destroyer of the Cabool force, flushed with success, approached
with a numerous body of troops to overwhelm the little garrison of
Jellalabad: he attacked the foraging parties on the 21st and 22nd
of February; but was astonished at finding the works in a state
of defence, and he established a rigorous blockade. From that
time to the 7th of April, the reduced garrison was engaged in a
succession of skirmishes, in which the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry
had opportunities of distinguishing themselves; particularly
detachments under Captains Pattisson and Fenwick, Lieutenants
George Wade and W. Cox.

On the 5th April, 1842, information was received that the force
under Major-General Pollock had experienced reverses in the
Khyber, and had retraced its steps towards Peshawur; and on the
6th a _feu-de-joie_ and salute of artillery were fired by Mahomed
Akbar, which were stated to be in honour of the event. It was
also reported that the Affghans were sending reinforcements to
assist in defending their frontier passes. These reports were
accompanied by others of a fresh revolution at Cabool, which was
considered by some as the cause of the rejoicing; and it was also
rumoured that the Ghazees had been defeated in Khyber, and that
the Sirdar had retreated into Lughman. Major-General Sir Robert
Sale resolved to anticipate the last-mentioned event, by a general
attack on the Affghan camp, with the hope of relieving Jellalabad
from blockade, and facilitating General Pollock’s advance to its
succour. Directions were accordingly given to form three columns
of infantry, the central consisting of the THIRTEENTH (mustering
five hundred bayonets) under Colonel Dennie, C.B.; the left
consisting of a similar number of the thirty-fifth native infantry
under Lieut.-Colonel Monteath, C.B.; and the right composed of one
company of the THIRTEENTH, one of the thirty-fifth native infantry,
and the detachment of Sappers under the command of Lieutenant Orr
(the severity of Captain Broadfoot’s wound still rendering him
non-effective), amounting to three hundred and sixty men, was
commanded by Captain Havelock of the THIRTEENTH; these were to be
supported by the fire of the guns of number 6 field battery under
Captain Abbott, the whole of the small cavalry force being under
Captain Oldfield and Lieutenant Mayne.

At daylight, on the morning of the 7th April, the troops issued
from the Cabool and Peshawur gates. The Sirdar, Mahomed Akbar
Khan, with his force of about six thousand men, was formed in
order of battle for the defence of his camp; its right resting on
a fort, and its left on the Cabool river; even the ruined works
within eight hundred yards of the place, recently repaired, were
filled with Ghilzie marksmen, who were evidently prepared for
a stout resistance. The attack was led by the skirmishers and
column under Captain Havelock, which drove the enemy in the most
satisfactory manner from the extreme left of his advanced line of
works, which it pierced at once, and proceeded to advance into the
plain; the central column at the same time directed its efforts
against a square fort, upon the same base, the defence of which was
obstinately maintained. Colonel Dennie of the THIRTEENTH, while
nobly leading his regiment to the assault, received a shot through
his body, which, to the deep regret of officers and men, shortly
after proved fatal.

The rear of the work having been finally gained by passing to its
left, orders were given for a combined attack upon the enemy’s
camp; this was brilliant and successful. The artillery advanced
at the gallop, and directed a heavy fire upon the Affghan centre,
while two columns of infantry penetrated his line near the same
point, and the third forced back his left from its support on the
river, into which some of his horse and foot were driven. The
Affghans repeatedly attempted to check the advance by a smart
fire of musketry,--by throwing forward heavy bodies of horse,
which twice threatened in force the detachments of infantry under
Captain Havelock, and by opening three guns, screened by a garden
wall, which were said to have been served under the personal
superintendence of the Sirdar; but in a short time the Affghans
were dislodged from every point of their positions, their cannon
taken, and their camp involved in a general conflagration.

The battle was over, and the enemy in full retreat in the direction
of Lughman by about seven, A.M. Two cavalry standards were taken
from the enemy, besides four guns lost by the Cabool army and
Gundamuck forces, the recapture of which was a matter of much
honest exultation. A great quantity of _matériel_ and stores
were, together with the enemy’s tents, destroyed, and the defeat
of Mahomed Akbar, in open field, by the troops he had boasted of
blockading, was complete.

The regiment had Colonel Dennie killed, and Lieutenant Jennings
and Assistant-Surgeon Barnes wounded; eight privates killed, and
thirty-one rank and file wounded.

Captain Wilkinson, of the THIRTEENTH, on whom the charge of one
of the infantry columns devolved on the lamented fall of Colonel
Dennie, and Captain Hamlet Wade (Brigade-Major), were highly
commended in Major-General Sir Robert Sale’s despatch, in which it
was also stated ‘that Lieutenant and Adjutant Wood, Her Majesty’s
THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, made a dash at one of the enemy, and
in cutting him down, his charger was so severely injured as to
have been since destroyed. Captain Havelock reports in the most
favourable manner the gallant conduct, throughout the day, of
Lieutenant Cox, Her Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, and he
was the first of the party which captured them to seize two of the
enemy’s cannon.’

Armourer Serjeant Henry Ulyett, of the THIRTEENTH, captured Mahomed
Akbar’s standard, which he took from a cavalry soldier, whom he
killed.

The force employed in this successful enterprise amounted to about
eighteen hundred men of all arms. The safety of the fortress was
entrusted, during the action, to the ordinary guards of its gates,
and one provisional battalion of followers of every description
armed with pikes and other weapons, who manned the curtains, and
made a respectable show of defence. Captain Pattisson, of the
THIRTEENTH, was left in command of this diminished garrison.
Towards the conclusion of the engagement a sally was made from the
Cabool gate by Lieutenant George Wade, of the THIRTEENTH, into the
fort before which Colonel Dennie had fallen, when it was observed
that the enemy were abandoning it; all it contained was set on
fire, and some of its defenders were bayoneted.

The enemy’s loss was very severe; the field of battle was
strewed with the bodies of men and horses, and the richness of
the trappings of some of the latter denoted that chiefs of rank
(several being present and taking part in the action) had fallen.

The following NOTIFICATION of this victory was issued by the
Government of India from Benares on the 21st April, 1842:--

‘The Governor General feels assured that every subject of the
British Government will peruse with the deepest interest and
satisfaction the report he now communicates, of the entire defeat
of the Affghan troops under Mahomed Akbar Khan, by the garrison of
Jellalabad.

‘That _Illustrious Garrison_, which, by its constancy in enduring
privation, and by its valour in action, has already obtained for
itself the sympathy and respect of every true soldier, has now,
sallying forth from its walls, under the command of its gallant
leader, Major-General Sir Robert Sale, thoroughly beaten in open
field an enemy of more than three times its numbers, taken the
standards of their boasted cavalry, destroyed their camp, and
recaptured four guns, which, under circumstances which can never
again occur, had during the last winter fallen into their hands.

‘The Governor General cordially congratulates the army upon the
return of victory to its ranks.

‘He is convinced that there, as in all former times, it will be
found, while, as at Jellalabad, the European and native troops
mutually supporting each other, and evincing equal discipline and
valour, are led into action by officers in whom they justly confide.

‘The Governor General directs that the substance of this
notification, and of Major-General Sir Robert Sale’s report, be
carefully made known to all the troops, and that a salute of
twenty-one guns be fired at every principal station of the army.’

On the 20th February following, the thanks of Parliament were
accorded to the Governor General of India, and to the officers
and troops employed in Affghanistan, the resolutions being moved
in the House of Lords by the Duke of Wellington, and in the
House of Commons by Sir Robert Peel, who, after eulogising the
gallant conduct of Sir Robert Sale and the garrison of Jellalabad,
proceeded to deplore the death of Colonel Dennie, in the victory
of the 7th April, in the following terms:--

‘That victory would have been the cause of almost unqualified
rejoicing if it had not been purchased at the cost of the life
of one of the most noble and gallant spirits, whose actions have
ever added brilliance to their country’s military renown. Need
I mention the name of the lamented Colonel Dennie? With his
accustomed valour,--a valour which was unquenchable,--he led the
British troops against the enemy. The attack which he headed was
successful, but he fell in the conflict; and a spirit as gallant
as his own has offered to his family and his friends that which
he thinks,--and justly thinks,--the highest consolation that can
be afforded them. “True it is,” he says, “he has lost his life;
but he lost his life on the field of battle, and in the hour of
victory!” Such is the consolation which Sir Robert Sale offers to
his bereaved family and friends. I wish it had been possible--but
it was not--I wish it had been possible that the dying moments of
Colonel Dennie could have been consoled, as I believe they would
have been, by the knowledge that, on account of the former valour
and intrepidity he had displayed,--he having no other interest or
influence than that just interest and influence which such courage
and devotion ought always to command,--the Queen of England had
signified her personal wish that Colonel Dennie should be appointed
one of her aides-de-camp. I sincerely wish that Colonel Dennie
could have been made acquainted with this fact.’[21]

The defence of Jellalabad, situated amid scenery of wild and
savage grandeur, against an undisciplined but desperate enemy,
who used his rude implements of war with deadly precision, will
ever excite the highest admiration, and the British nation owes a
lasting debt of gratitude to Major-General Sir Robert Sale, and the
gallant band of heroes composing the garrison. These successes,
contrasting so forcibly with the unforeseen disasters at Cabool,
which partook more of the character of a hideous dream than of
stern reality, may well make the THIRTEENTH refer with honest pride
to the part they bore in these achievements.

On the 16th June, 1842, the Queen was graciously pleased to
appoint Colonel Sir Robert Henry Sale (serving with the rank of
Major-General in Affghanistan) to be a Knight Grand Cross of the
Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath.

Major Edward T. Tronson was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel,
in succession to Lieut.-Colonel Dennie, and Captain Robert
Pattisson was advanced to the Majority. Lieut.-Colonel Tronson
retired on full pay on the 2nd August, 1842, and was succeeded by
Major Squire, and Captain John Taylor was promoted to the vacant
rank of Major.

In a few days after this victory, the privations and sufferings of
the garrison, from incessant toil and the deficiency of provisions,
were terminated by the arrival of the force under Major-General
Pollock, who, in his despatch of the 19th April, 1842, stated
that, ‘I have had an opportunity of inspecting the works thrown up
for their protection by the indefatigable exertions of Sir Robert
Sale’s force, and my surprise at their strength and extent has
been only equalled by my admiration of the excellent arrangements
which must have pervaded all departments, since, after a siege
(by greatly superior numbers) of upwards of five months’ duration,
I find the garrison in excellent health and spirits, and in an
admirable state of discipline, with a good supply of ammunition,
ready and anxious to take the field, and most willing to advance on
Cabool.’

Major-General Sir Robert Sale’s report of the transactions in which
the garrison of Jellalabad had been engaged, gives the following
interesting particulars:--

‘From the time that the brigade threw itself into Jellalabad, the
native troops have been on half, and the followers on quarter
rations, and for many weeks they have been able to obtain little
or nothing in the bazaars to eke out this scanty provision. I will
not mention, as a privation, the European troops from the same
period having been without their allowance of spirits, because I
verily believe this circumstance and their constant employment
have contributed to keep them in the highest health and the most
remarkable state of discipline. Crime has been almost unknown
amongst them, but they have felt severely, although they have never
murmured, the diminution of their quantity of animal food, and the
total want of ghee, flour, tea, coffee, and sugar: these may seem
small matters to those who read of them at a distance, but they
are serious reductions in the scale of comfort of the hard-working
and fighting soldier in Asia. The troops have also been greatly
in arrears of pay, besides their severe duties in heat and cold,
wind and rain, on the guards of the gates and bastions. The troops,
officers and men, British and Hindoostanee, of every arm, remained
fully accoutred on their alarm posts every night from the 1st
of March to the 7th April. The losses of officers and men, in
carriage and cattle, camp equipage and baggage, between Cabool and
Jellalabad were heavy; and their expenditure, during the siege and
blockade, in obtaining articles of mere subsistence and necessity,
has been exorbitant.

‘It is gratifying to me to forward the opinion of my second in
command, Lieut.-Colonel Monteath, _C.B._, placed on record without
solicitation, of the merits of the THIRTEENTH LIGHT INFANTRY, of
which corps I am proud of being a member. * * * I must express my
gratitude to Providence for having placed so gallant and devoted
a force under my command; in every way it has exceeded my most
sanguine expectations, and I beg leave, in the strongest manner, to
solicit the interposition of Major-General Pollock, _C.B._, who has
nobly labored and fought to relieve it from its critical position
in the midst of a hostile empire, in now committing it to the
protection and favour of the Right Honorable the Governor General
in Council, and through him to the Court of Directors, and of our
Sovereign.’

Lieut.-Colonel Monteath stated in his report,--‘As doing but due
justice on this occasion to Her Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry
might be looked upon as a highly-coloured record of the merits
of your own regiment, and seeing that no such partial bias can
possibly be supposed to guide my feelings in the estimate I have
formed of their deserts, I have pleasure in sincerely declaring,
that _their conduct, throughout the painful and perilous position
in which we have so long been placed, has been such as fully to
deserve the applause and admiration of their country, and the
confidence and best consideration of our well-beloved Sovereign_.

‘On our throwing ourselves, on the 12th November last, into the
old and ruined town of Jellalabad, without money, without food,
and almost without protection, with a nation of highly excited
and barbarous enemies in arms against us, our situation seemed as
hopeless a one as British troops were ever called upon to confront;
notwithstanding which, the enemy was twice attacked within twenty
days, and on both occasions defeated with signal success.

‘You, yourself, will doubtless detail the works performed by the
regiment; let it then be only my province, who have witnessed their
exertions, almost hourly during a period of five months, to record,
that _their devoted perseverance and cheerfulness amidst all the
gloom that surrounded them, after the destruction of their comrades
of the Cabool force, could not have been surpassed by any troops
in the world_; and that after months of extreme toil, when an
earthquake, such as man is not often in the habit of experiencing,
in a moment left scarcely a vestige of their labour standing;
_their flying as they did with redoubled zeal to the work, and
completing it in ten days_, (so that on the arrival of the enemy
before Jellalabad, they declared that the calamity which had
befallen the valley arose from nothing but English witchcraft, it
being the only place that had escaped uninjured) _was what none but
British soldiers could have performed, and what no price could have
purchased_, for it was the labour of the heart, work of all others
most deserving of distinction and reward.’

The distinguished conduct of the regiment was appreciated, and
Her Majesty thus alluded to it in her most gracious speech on
proroguing Parliament on the 12th August, 1842:--‘Although I have
had deeply to lament the reverses which have befallen a division of
the army to the westward of the Indus, yet I have the satisfaction
of reflecting that the gallant defence of the city of Jellalabad,
crowned by a decisive victory in the field, has eminently proved
the courage and discipline of the European and Native troops, and
the skill and fortitude of their distinguished commander.’

On the 26th of August, the pleasure of Her Majesty the Queen
Victoria, was officially announced in the London Gazette:--

        ‘_War Office, 26th August, 1842._

  ‘In consideration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the
  THIRTEENTH Light Infantry during the campaigns in the Burmese
  empire and in Affghanistan, Her Majesty has been graciously
  pleased to approve of that regiment assuming the title of the
  THIRTEENTH OR PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY; and of
  its facings being changed from _yellow_ to _blue_.

  ‘Her Majesty has also been pleased to authorize the THIRTEENTH
  Regiment of Light Infantry to bear on its colours and
  appointments a ‘_Mural Crown_,’ superscribed ‘_Jellalabad_,’ as a
  memorial of the fortitude, perseverance, and enterprise, evinced
  by that regiment, and the several corps which served during the
  blockade of Jellalabad.

  ‘Her Majesty has been likewise pleased to permit the THIRTEENTH
  regiment to receive and wear a _silver medal_, which has been
  directed by the Governor General of India to be distributed to
  every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private, European
  and Native,--who belonged to the garrison of Jellalabad on the
  7th April, 1842;--such medals to bear on one side a ‘_Mural
  Crown_,’ superscribed ‘_Jellalabad_;’ and on the other side
  ‘_April 7th, 1842_.’’

The medal for Jellalabad was granted to the following officers of
the THIRTEENTH:--


  _Lieutenant-Colonels._

  Colonel Sir Robert Sale, _G.C.B._
  ---- William H. Dennie, _C.B._[22]


  _Major._

  Robert Pattisson.


  _Captains._

  Henry Havelock.
  Arthur P. S. Wilkinson.
  Hamlet C. Wade.
  James H. Fenwick.
  Peter R. Jennings.


  _Lieutenants._

  Alex. E. F. Holcombe.
  George King.
  John S. Wood, (_Adjutant._)
  Wm. A. Sinclair.
  Hon. E. J. W. Forester.
  David Rattray.
  Richard E. Frere.
  George Wade.
  John Wm. Cox.
  William Williams.
  Fred. Van Straubenzee.
  Thos. B. Speedy.
  J. Francis Scott.
  G. Chetwynd Stapylton.
  Robt. S. Parker.


  _Ensigns._

  Arthur Oakes.
  Geo. Talbot.

  _Surgeon_, Jno. Robertson, _M.D._
  _Assist.-Surg._ G. W. Barnes, _M.D._

The regiment remained in garrison at Jellalabad until the 6th
August, when it moved forwards to Futtehabad for change of air,
having suffered severely from the extreme heat of the weather. So
great was the heat, that six men fell dead in the ranks of apoplexy
the first march. On the 1st of September, the THIRTEENTH received
orders to join the force under Major-General Pollock at Gundamuck,
to which place the regiment marched on the following morning, and
joined on the 3rd. It remained there until the 7th, when it moved
towards Cabool, forming part of the first division of the advance,
which was placed under the command of Major-General Sir Robert
Sale. On the 8th, upon nearing _Jugdulluck_, the Affghans were
observed in position, and the THIRTEENTH under Captain Wilkinson
were directed to carry the left centre of the enemy, which was done
in gallant style. The enemy were dispersed in every direction,
a large body of them retiring to the summit of a high mountain.
On this rugged and almost inaccessible height they planted
their standards, but as the achievements of the day would have
been incomplete were they suffered to remain, it was decided to
dislodge them. The lofty heights were assaulted in two columns, the
THIRTEENTH being led by Captain Wilkinson, and the Ghilzies fled
from their last and least assailable stronghold. Major-General Sir
Robert Sale was again wounded. The other casualties of the regiment
were one private killed and two serjeants and twelve privates
wounded.

The THIRTEENTH bivouacked in the valley of Jugdulluck, which was
strewn with the blackened remains of their unfortunate comrades
of the Cabool force. Near this place Brevet Major Kershaw and
Lieutenant Hobhouse of the THIRTEENTH were killed in January 1842,
while retiring with the force from Cabool. The enemy showed no
opposition to the advance of the army until nearing the valley of
_Tezeen_, when some skirmishing took place, and the troops halted
in the valley a day to allow the rear division of the advance to
close up. The road from Tezeen to Khoord Cabool was through a
succession of lofty hills, called the Huft Kotul, or Eight Hills.
Dispositions for the attack of the _Huft Kotul Pass_ having been
made on the 12th of September, the force moved off on the following
morning, and three companies of the THIRTEENTH formed part of the
advance guard under Sir Robert Sale. To them was allotted the duty
of clearing the right of the Pass, which was effectively done. A
company under Lieutenant W. A. Sinclair, which formed part of the
force placed under Major Skinner of the thirty-first regiment, and
which was detached on the right of the pass, also distinguished
itself.

The regiment lost one rank and file killed, and had five wounded.
The enemy’s loss was heavy; he was completely defeated, and
left his artillery in the possession of the victors. The army
re-occupied Cabool on the 15th September, and on the 18th, part
of the regiment received sudden orders to march with the force
under Major-General Sir Robert Sale in order to meet the prisoners
lately in possession of the enemy, then on their way to Cabool, it
being supposed that Akbar Khan would attempt to re-capture them.
On the morning of the 20th, the troops met the prisoners (Lady
Sale and Lieutenant Mein[23] being among them), and on the 21st
returned with them to Cabool, without being annoyed by the enemy.
The regiment remained at Cabool until the 12th of October,[24]
when the army broke ground on its return to India. The regiment
shared in the many skirmishes on quitting the Affghan territory,
but sustained little loss, and on the 24th, it reached Jellalabad;
previously to proceeding further, it was considered advisable
to destroy the fortress, and in a few days not a wall was left
standing. On the south face of the fort was a large bastion,
close to which was an open space which had been converted into a
burial-ground; here the remains of Colonel Dennie, with many other
gallant soldiers, were laid, and the Engineer Officer in mining
the bastion, caused the whole mass to be thrown by the explosion
over the graves, thus leaving a lasting monument over them, and
what was of more importance, effectually preventing the bodies
being disturbed by the Affghans. The regiment thence proceeded to
Peshawur, and across the Punjaub _en route_ to Ferozepore.

According to the wish of the Governor-General (Lord Ellenborough),
the garrison of Jellalabad had received orders to proceed in
advance of the rest of the troops, in order that they should make
a triumphant entry into the British Provinces by themselves, and
the medals granted for the defence of, and general action near,
Jellalabad, had been forwarded a few days previously, so that
they might be worn on the entry of the garrison into Ferozepore.
On the 14th December, the THIRTEENTH arrived at the right bank of
the Sutlej, where they halted until the 17th, when they crossed
the river by a bridge of boats. At the opposite side was erected,
for the garrison to pass under, a triumphal arch, where they were
met by Lord Ellenborough; the distance from the river to the camp
was about six miles, and for the first three miles a sort of
street was formed for the garrison to pass through, by placing
elephants decked in their gayest trappings at intervals of about
twenty paces; the remainder of the road was lined by the army of
reserve encamped at Ferozepore, who presented arms as the garrison
passed, the bands playing the “National Anthem:” in the evening the
officers of the garrison were entertained at a magnificent banquet
given by the Governor General.

These honours were rendered, agreeably to the concluding paragraph
of the General Order by the Right Honorable the Governor General of
India, dated Allahabad, 30th of April, 1842, which stated that--

‘The Governor General will request His Excellency the
Commander-in-Chief of the army to give instructions, in due time,
that the several corps composing the garrison of Jellalabad may,
on their return to India, be received at all the stations on their
route to their cantonments, by all the troops at such stations, in
review order, with presented arms.’

The regiment received the Queen’s permission to bear on its colours
and appointments the word “CABOOL, 1842,” to commemorate its
important services. Major Pattisson was promoted to the brevet
rank of Lieut.-Colonel; Captains Havelock, Wilkinson, Wade, and
Fenwick were promoted to the brevet rank of Major, and, with the
following officers, received the silver medal for Cabool:--


  _Colonel_ Sir Robert Sale, G.C.B.


  _Captains._

  Major Henry Havelock.
  ---- Arthur Wilkinson.
  ---- Hamlet Wade.
  ---- James Fenwick.
  Captain Peter Jennings.
  ---- Alex. Holcombe.
  ---- George King.

  Majors Havelock, Wilkinson, and Wade were subsequently appointed by
  Her Majesty Companions of the most Honorable Military Order of the
  Bath.


  _Lieutenants._

  John S. Wood (_adjutant_).
  William A. Sinclair.
  Hon. Emilius J. Forrester.
  David Rattray.
  Richard E. Frere.
  Geo. Wade.
  John W. Cox.
  Fred. Van Straubenzee.
  Thomas B. Speedy.
  J. Fran. P. Scott.
  Granville Geo. C. Stapylton.
  Robert S. Parker.
  Arthur Oakes.
  George Talbot.

  _Surgeon_, J. Robertson, M.D.--_Asst.-Surgeon_, Geo. Barnes, M.D.

[Sidenote: 1843.]

On the 16th January, 1843, the regiment marched from Ferozepore,
and arrived at Mowbarukpore on the 5th of February, where it
remained encamped until the 9th of March, when it proceeded on
its route to Kussowlie, at which station it remained until the
21st October. Fatigue parties were here daily employed for two
hours in the cool of the morning or evening cutting and repairing
roads, etc. On the 21st October, the regiment marched to Ferozepore
_en route_ to Scinde. On the 6th November, the regiment reached
Loodianah, where percussion muskets were issued to it for the first
time, and the old flint arms were given into store. It arrived at
Ferozepore on the 15th November, embarked in boats for Sukkur, on
the 24th, and reached its destination on the 20th December.

General Edward Morrison died on the 3rd December, 1843, and the
vacant colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH was conferred on the 15th of
that month on Sir Robert Sale; Major Horatio Nelson Vigors was
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; and Captain R. M.
Meredith succeeded to the Majority.

[Sidenote: 1844]

On the 13th January, 1844, Lieut.-Colonel Squire joined with a
draft of officers and men from England, and assumed the command of
the regiment.

The THIRTEENTH moved from Sukkur, by wings, _en route_ to
Kurrachee during September, 1844; the left wing on the 4th and the
head-quarter division on the 24th. The former arrived at Kurrachee
on the 21st of September, and the latter on the 8th of October. The
regiment suffered severely from sickness during the movement, owing
to the malaria of Sukkur, having continually from two to three
hundred in hospital daily. Preparatory to the regiment leaving
Scinde, four hundred and forty-six of the men volunteered to corps
serving in India. It embarked at Kurrachee for Bombay on board the
Honorable East India Company’s steamers Pluto and Sesostris on the
4th of December, arrived in the harbour of Bombay on the night of
the 7th, and disembarked in the afternoon of the 8th of that month,
being received by the Governor and military authorities of Bombay;
the guard of honor presenting arms as the regiment passed, and
the band striking up “See the conquering hero comes.”--While the
regiment was stationed at Bombay, it had the misfortune to lose
Captain Sinclair, who had served throughout the campaign: he died
of cholera after an illness of a few hours: the soldiers however
continued generally healthy.

[Sidenote: 1845]

The head-quarter division of the THIRTEENTH embarked in the
freight ship Cornwall, at Colaba, Bombay, under the command of
Lieut.-Colonel Tristram C. Squire, on the 20th March, 1845, and
the second division in the freight ship Boyne, on the same day,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Horatio Vigors. The right wing
disembarked at Gravesend on the 28th July, and the second division
arrived there on the 8th August following, from whence it proceeded
to Walmer Barracks, in order to join the head-quarters, which had
marched thither from Chatham.

[Sidenote: 1846]

On the 10th March, 1846, Lieut.-General Sir William Maynard
Gomm, K.C.B., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Mauritius,
was appointed colonel of the THIRTEENTH, in succession to Sir
Robert Sale, who was killed at the battle of Moodkee, on the 18th
December, 1845.

The regiment proceeded from Walmer to Portsmouth on the 27th April,
1846. Previous to the march of the THIRTEENTH, a high testimonial
of their conduct, while stationed at Walmer, was received from
the Mayor and Magistrates of Deal. On Thursday, the 13th August,
the THIRTEENTH had the gratification of being presented with new
colours by His Royal Highness the Prince Albert. The “_United
Service Gazette_” of Saturday, the 15th August, gave the following
account of this interesting ceremony, which took place on Southsea
Common:--‘His Royal Highness Prince Albert, wearing a Field
Marshal’s uniform, came over from Osborne-house in the royal yacht,
accompanied by Colonel Wylde and a small retinue, all in uniform,
and landed at the King’s-stairs, in the Dockyard, at about a
quarter to four o’clock. The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir
Charles Ogle, Bart., the Lieut.-Governor, Major-General the Hon.
Sir Hercules Pakenham, K.C.B., and a brilliant staff of officers
of both services, received his Royal Highness on landing, who
immediately entered General Pakenham’s carriage, and was driven to
the field, escorted by General Pakenham and staff on horseback,
receiving the shouts of welcome from the immense concourse of
spectators who lined the road as he passed. Soon after three
o’clock, the regiment took up its position on Southsea Common,
in line, at open order, with the old colours in the centre. On
the arrival of the Prince he was received with the customary
honors. The regiment then formed three sides of a hollow square,
the company told off as a guard for the new colours remaining in
the centre of the open face. The Prince having alighted from the
carriage, mounted his charger (which, together with five other
beautiful animals, came down from the Royal mews to the George
Hotel last night), rode along the line, inside and out, inspecting
the troops, as they covered the ground, after which the Prince
dismounted and entered the hollow square, accompanied by General
Pakenham, Sir Charles Ogle, and staff, and stood uncovered while
the Rev. G. R. Gleig, Chaplain General to the Forces, consecrated
the colours, which, after this ceremony, were handed to the Prince
by Lieut.-Colonel C. T. Van Straubenzee and Major Meredith. The
Prince then handed them to the two senior ensigns (J. D. Longden
and Melville Browne), who received them kneeling, and continued
in that position whilst His Royal Highness addressed them in a
brief but most spirited and soldierly manner, enjoining them to
preserve their colours, never to allow them to be captured, but
to emulate the conduct exhibited by the departed hero, Sir Robert
Sale, whose absence was the only alloy to the gratification he felt
in performing the august ceremony of the day. His Highness, in the
course of his address, passed some high and well-deserved encomiums
on Colonel Squire and the THIRTEENTH regiment, to which that
gallant veteran replied--“I beg most respectfully to return my most
sincere though humble thanks for the distinguished honor your Royal
Highness has just conferred upon this corps in the presentation of
new colours, and for the highly flattering manner in which your
Royal Highness has been pleased to mention my name, in connection
with its services in India, and also for the gratifying encomiums
which you have passed on our late honored and respected Commanders,
Sir Robert Sale and Colonel Dennie. Your Highness may be assured
that your gracious condescension will ever be esteemed by all ranks
in the regiment as the greatest stimulant to the loyal and faithful
discharge of their duty, under whatever circumstances of trial they
may hereafter be placed, in supporting the honor and interest of
our beloved Queen and country. God save the Queen!”

‘His Highness appeared much gratified with the sentiments of the
gallant Colonel, and having bowed, retired with General Pakenham
and Sir Charles Ogle, and remounted his charger. The sides of the
square which were wheeled up then wheeled back, and the regiment
formed a line. The new colours were now “trooped,” followed by the
guard in charge, the band playing “The Grenadiers,” slow march.

‘On arriving at the left of the line, the colours were carried, and
the officers marched up in the front of the line, one rank of the
guard marching between the ranks of the line, and the other rank
in rear of the rear rank. On arriving at the place where the old
colours were stationed, the new colours took up their place, whilst
the old ones were paraded up the remaining portion of the line,
the “trooping” still proceeding, and were then delivered over to
the escort on the right of the line; their military existence, as
standards of the regiment, then ceasing.

‘The ceremony having terminated, the Prince re-entered the
carriage of General Pakenham, and, accompanied by Admiral Sir
Charles Ogle, Bart., and escorted by General Pakenham and staff,
returned to the Dockyard, whence he embarked for Osborne-house,
under salutes from the ships in harbour, the Platform Battery,
and the Contest, Columbine, and Sardinian corvette at Spithead. A
magnificent entertainment was given in honor of the event in the
evening, by the officers of the THIRTEENTH, at the King’s rooms,
Southsea-beach.’

On the 3rd November, 1846, Lieut.-Colonel Squire retired from the
service, and Lieut.-Colonel A. A. T. Cunynghame succeeded to the
command of the regiment; in the following month he exchanged with
Captain and Lieut.-Colonel Charles Stuart, of the Grenadier Guards.

[Sidenote: 1847]

The regiment proceeded from Portsmouth to Ireland in two divisions,
on the 12th and 13th January, 1847, and arrived at Dublin on the
16th of that month. Towards the end of September it proceeded to
Birr.

[Sidenote: 1848]

On the 18th of April, 1848, the regiment marched from Birr to
Newry, and on the 1st of June, to which period the Record has been
continued, the head-quarters, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Charles Stuart, remained at Newry, two companies being stationed
at Drogheda, and four companies being distributed at Belturbet,
Carrickmacross, Dundalk, and Monaghan.

       *       *       *       *       *

The preceding pages show that the THIRTEENTH, or PRINCE ALBERT’S
REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY, has gained laurels in Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America. From the period of its declaration in favour
of the Protestant interest at the Revolution, it has run a career
of glory. Leaving the army in Flanders, in 1703, after a short
campaign under the renowned Duke of Marlborough, it next formed
part of the force in the Peninsula, and highly distinguished itself
in the first defence of Gibraltar in 1704-5, a few months after its
capture from the Spaniards. While serving in Spain, the chivalrous
Earl of Peterborough formed the greater portion of the corps into a
_cavalry_ regiment;--an event unprecedented in the military history
of the British army;--in which character it proved its bravery at
the disastrous battle of Almanza.

The second defence of Gibraltar in 1727, the battle-fields of
Dettingen, Fontenoy, Falkirk, Culloden, Roucoux, and Val, all
attest its valour; while in later times the expeditions against St.
Domingo, the campaign in Egypt under the immortal Abercromby, and
the capture of Martinique, added to its ancient renown.

Recent times presented the Burmese war, in which the regiment
sustained a prominent part; latterly the campaigns in Affghanistan,
the capture of the stronghold of Ghuznee; and the advance upon
Cabool, testify the valuable services performed; but on none
of these events will the eye rest with greater interest than
the defence of Jellalabad: deservedly was the garrison termed
“ILLUSTRIOUS” by the Governor General in his proclamation!

Gallant deeds in all parts of the globe for upwards of a hundred
and sixty years, combined with excellent conduct in quarters,
have obtained for the regiment the respect of the country, and
Her Majesty has graciously named it after the Royal Consort, in
testimony of approbation of its many and varied services.


  1848.


  _Description of the_ FLAGS _captured from the Affghans by the
  THIRTEENTH Light Infantry in the Action at Jellalabad, on the 7th
  April, 1842_.

The Scarlet Standard is of fine _cloth_, and is in tolerable
preservation; it has a green border, with a crimson and yellow
fringe; on the join, about the centre, a patch of light blue cloth
is introduced, on which are neatly sewn some characters in yellow
cloth, which probably form an extract from the Koran, the Affghans
being known to attach great faith in such inscriptions, which are
supposed to ensure victory. The flag is triangular in shape, and
swallow-tailed; two of the sides are about eight and nine feet in
length, the shortest side being about four feet. The staff, which
is the branch of a tree with the bark on, is spear-headed, but is
broken at the lower extremity.

The two other Flags are but fragments; like the above they are
triangular. They have pointed iron-ends to plant them in the
ground. The _Crimson_ flag has a green piece of cloth, with red
characters, sewn in. The _Blue_ flag is a sort of coarse printed
cotton stuff, and has a rude shawl pattern border. There is about
five feet of the flag on both the staffs, which are from eight to
nine feet in length. Their appearance betokens that they have seen
service, and borne the brunt of battle.


[Illustration: STANDARDS CAPTURED FROM THE AFFGHANS BY THE 13^{TH}
LIGHT INFANTRY, 1842

DEPOSITED IN THE ROYAL HOSPITAL AT CHELSEA]


FOOTNOTES:

[6] List of troops under Major-General Mackay, at the battle of
_Killicrankie_, 27th July, 1689:--


  CAVALRY.

  Annandale’s troop of horse }  Afterwards incorporated in a regiment,
  now Belhaven’s  ”      ”   }    the Seventh Hussars.


  INFANTRY.

  HASTINGS’ Foot, now THIRTEENTH.
  Leven’s Foot, now Twenty-fifth.
  Kenmare’s Foot, afterwards disbanded.
  Mackay’s   }  _Scots’ Brigade_ in the Dutch Service, afterwards
  Balfour’s  }     _Ninety-fourth Regiment_ in the British line;
  Ramsay’s   }     disbanded in December, 1818.

One hundred of Hastings’ and two hundred of Leven’s, were
detached at Inverness, and were consequently not at the battle of
Killicrankie.

[7] The bayonet, at this period, was fixed by forcing the handle
into the muzzle of the musket; the troops, therefore, could not
fire with fixed bayonets.

[8] ‘There was no regiment or troop with me but behaved like the
vilest cowards in nature, except HASTINGS’ (THIRTEENTH), and Lord
Leven’s (Twenty-fifth), whom I most praise at such a degree, as
I cannot but blame others.’--_Mackay’s Despatch to the Duke of
Hamilton._

‘I could learn of no commanding officer that misbehaved, though
I confess that my Lord Leven, Colonel HASTINGS, and their
officers have distinguished themselves in this occasion above all
others.’--_Mackay’s Official Narrative of the Battle._

‘My Lord,--Your son has behaved himself with all his officers and
soldiers extraordinarily well, as did also Colonel HASTINGS with
his.’--_Mackay’s letter to Lord Melville._

[9] When the Moors invaded Spain, about the year 711, they took
possession of this rock, as a suitable place for the reception of
supplies from the opposite coast, and they called it, in honour of
a leader named TARIF, _Gib-el-tarif_, or Tarif’s Mountain; hence
the name of _Gibraltar_ is derived.

[10] Lieut.-General Beckwith’s despatch.

[11] ‘Aux Etats de l’île de Jersey. L’an mil huit cent
dix-sept, le vingtième jour d’Août.--Sensibles aux soins que le
Lieutenant-Colonel Messire William Williams, et tous les autres
officiers du treizième régiment d’infanterie de Sa Majesté, ont
apporté durant leur séjour dans ce pays à ce concilier l’estime des
habitans, et à y entretenier une heureuse harmonie, et pleinement
satisfaits du haut dégré de discipline dans lequel ils ont
constamment gardé et maintenu le dit régiment, et leur attention à
prevenir tout, sujets de plaintes et de disputes, à faire observer
l’ordre et respecter les lois, du zèle avec lequel ils se sont
toujours prêtés à soutenir et à appuyer les autorités constituées,
Les Etats saisissent cette occasion de leur première séance depuis
que le dit régiment a été rapellé hors du service de cette île,
où il a été en quartier pendant deux ans, pour leur rendre par ce
présente acte, le témoignage de leur approbation et leur exprimer
leur vive reconnaissance. Et les Etats prient le Lieutenant-Colonel
Messire William Williams, Chevalier commandeur de l’honorable ordre
du Bain, le Lieutenant-Colonel Weller, et le Lieutenant-Colonel
Hancock, qui ont chacun d’eux, l’un après l’autre, eu le
commandement du dit régiment, et tous les autres officiers de ce
corps, d’en accepter leurs sincères et unanimes remercîments. Les
Etats ont requis Son Excellence Monsieur le lieutenant-gouverneur
de vouloir bien transmettre, de leur part, le présent acte, au
lieutenant-colonel Messire William Williams, lequel est prié de
le communiquer à Lieutenant-Colonel Weller, au Lieutenant-Colonel
Hancock, et à tous les autres officiers du treizième régiment,
auquel effet le greffier est chargé de le transcrire sur parchemin,
afin qu’il soit mis sous le sçeau de l’île et de le remettre à Son
Excellence.’

      FRS. GODFRAY, Greffier.

[12] ‘A very spirited and successful attack was made on the other
side of the stockade, by the advance companies of the THIRTEENTH
and thirty-eighth regiments, under the command of Major Sale, who,
by assisting each other up the face of the stockade, at least ten
feet high, entered about the same time as the party by the breach,
putting every man to death who opposed their entrance: and it
affords me pleasure to state, that the first man who appeared on
the top of the work was, I believe, Major SALE of His Majesty’s
THIRTEENTH Light Infantry.’--_Major-General Sir A. Campbell’s
Despatch._

[13] ‘Nothing could have been more brilliant and successful.
He (Brigadier-General M‘Bean) took by assault seven stockades
with most rapid succession, throwing the enemy into the utmost
consternation.’ ... The brigadier-general assures me the ardour
of his column was irresistible, and speaks highly of the able
aid he received from Brigadier-General M‘Creagh; he also reports
favourably upon the judicious and gallant style in which Majors
Sale and Frith, of the THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth regiments, led
the troops under their respective command.’--_Major-General Sir A.
Campbell’s Despatch._

[14] ‘I never witnessed a more dashing charge than was made on
this occasion by His Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry; while
the eighteenth native infantry followed their example with a
spirit that did them honour, carrying all opposition before
them. They burst through the entrenchments, carrying dismay and
terror into the enemy’s ranks, great numbers of whom were slain,
and the party returned loaded with arms, standards, and other
trophies.’--_Major-General Sir A. Campbell’s Despatch._

[15] ‘All their artillery, stores, and reserve depôts, which had
cost them so much labour to get up, with a great quantity of
small arms, gilt chattahs, standards, and other trophies fell
into our hands. Never was victory more complete or decided, and
never was a triumph of discipline and valour, over the disjointed
efforts of irregular courage and infinitely superior numbers, more
conspicuous. Majors Dennie and Thornhill, of the THIRTEENTH Light
Infantry were distinguished by the steadiness with which they led
their men.’--_Major-General Sir A. Campbell’s Despatch._

[16] ‘In the list of wounded will be seen with regret the name of
Major SALE of His Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, an officer
whose gallantry has been most conspicuous on every occasion since
our arrival at Rangoon. I am happy to say that his wound, though
severe, is not dangerous, and I trust his valuable services will
not long remain unavailable.’--_Major-General Sir A. Campbell’s
Despatch._

[17] Now Lieut.-General Sir Willoughby Cotton, Commanding the
Forces at Bombay.

[18] ‘The conduct of His Majesty’s THIRTEENTH and thirty-eighth
regiments, during the advance, and their gallantry in the storm,
far exceed all that I can write in their praise.’--_Major-General
Sir A. Campbell’s Despatch._

[19] Names of the officers of the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, who
served in the campaign in Affghanistan in 1839.

  _Lieut.-Colonels._ R. H. Sale, (col.) commanding a brigade. ” W. H.
  Dennie ”

  _Major._ E. F. Tronson, commanding the regiment.

  _Captains._ G. Fothergill, W. Sutherland, J. Kershaw, R. Pattisson,
  J. G. D. Taylor, H. N. Vigors.

  _Lieutenants._ A. P. S. Wilkinson, J. H. Fenwick, J. Foulstone, P.
  R. Jennings, P. D. O. V. Streng, A. E. F. Holcombe, G. King, R.
  G. Burslem, F. Holder, W. A. Sinclair, Hon. E. J. W. Forester, T.
  Oxley, D. Rattray.

  _Ensigns._ E. King, G. Mein, R. E. Frere.

  _Paymaster._ H. Carew, _Adjutant_ H. C. Wade.

  _Assistant Surgeons._ J. Robertson, G. W. Barnes.

  _Captains._ T. C. Squire, major of brigade, H. Havelock,
  aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton, commanding the
  right division of the army of the Indus.

  _Lieutenant._ J. S. Wood, aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Sale.

  _Ensign._ G. Wade, aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Dennie.

[20] Captain H. C. Wade accompanied the force as Head of the Staff,
and Captain H. Havelock, who had been appointed Persian Interpreter
to the Major-General commanding in Affghanistan, volunteered his
services as aide-de-camp to Sir Robert Sale, who expressed his
satisfaction of their conduct in his public despatch.

[21] It is gratifying to be able to state, that Colonel Dennie’s
appointment as aide-de-camp to the Queen was known at the regiment
about a week previous to his lamented fall.

[22] The following interesting circumstance was related by Lord
Fitzgerald and Vesey in the House of Lords, in his speech on
the 20th February, 1843, regarding the vote of thanks for the
operations in Affghanistan. The Adjutant General of the Army in
India, acting by the command of Lord Ellenborough, transmitted to
the aged mother of Colonel Dennie that medal which her son would
have worn, had he happily survived. In replying to the letter which
accompanied this token Mrs. Dennie beautifully said, that she
accepted it with pleasure and with pride, for she had a right to
feel a ‘pride in her son’s life, and in his death.’ Lord Fitzgerald
added, that it was impossible to read that passage without honoring
the lady, and even more deeply lamenting the fate of the son of
whom she had so justly and truly written.

[23] Sir Robert Peel, on moving the vote of thanks to the army
employed in Affghanistan, on the 20th February, 1843, alluded in
the following terms to Lieutenant Mein’s conduct, while serving
with the army on its retreat from Cabool:--“I have said that,
in the course of this campaign, instances of the most generous
devotion, of friendly sympathy, and of desperate fidelity, were
displayed, which deserve at least a passing notice. Lieutenant
Eyre says: ‘Lieutenant Sturt (son-in-law to Sir Robert and Lady
Sale) had nearly cleared the defile, when he received his wound,
and would have been left on the ground to be hacked to pieces by
the Ghazees, who followed in the rear to complete the work of
slaughter, but for the generous intrepidity of Lieutenant Mein of
Her Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, who, on learning what
had befallen him, went back to his succour, and stood by him for
several minutes, at the imminent risk of his own life, vainly
entreating aid from the passers by. He was at length, joined by
Serjeant Deane, of the Sappers, with whose assistance he dragged
his friend, on a quilt, through the remainder of the Pass, when he
succeeded in mounting him on a miserable pony, and conducted him
in safety to the camp, where the unfortunate officer lingered till
the following morning, and was the only man of the whole force who
received Christian burial. Lieutenant Mein was himself at this very
time suffering from a dangerous wound in the head received in the
previous October, and his heroic disregard of self, and fidelity to
his friend in the hour of danger, are well deserving of a record
in the annals of British valour and virtue; I think, Sir, it is
but just that the name of Lieutenant Mein should be mentioned with
honour in the House of Commons, and I do not regret having noticed
this circumstance, as it has called forth so generous and general
an expression of sympathy and approval.’”

[24] The regiment lost by death a very promising young officer,
Lieutenant Scott, this night; and Lieutenant Frere also fell a
victim to the fatigues and vicissitudes of the campaign on the 18th
November, 1842.




SUCCESSION OF COLONELS

OF THE

THIRTEENTH, OR, PRINCE ALBERT’S REGIMENT

OF

LIGHT INFANTRY.


THEOPHILUS EARL OF HUNTINGDON.

_Appointed 20th June, 1685._

THEOPHILUS seventh EARL OF HUNTINGDON succeeded to that dignity on
the decease of his father in 1655. In the reign of King Charles
II. he was attached to the principles entertained by James Duke
of Monmouth, who was at the head of a political party in the
kingdom; but when he suspected the views of those with whom he
was connected to be destructive of the constitution, he quitted
their party; and in 1683 he was appointed a member of the Privy
Council. He held several appointments in the reign of King James
II.; was captain of the band of gentleman pensioners, now the
honorable corps of gentlemen-at-arms; and on the breaking out
of the rebellion of James Duke of Monmouth, in June, 1685, he
exerted himself in raising men for the king’s service, and was
appointed colonel of one of the regiments of foot embodied on that
occasion, now the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry. At the Revolution in
1688, he adhered to King James II., and being with his regiment
in garrison at Plymouth, he was arrested by Colonel the Earl of
Bath, Lieut.-Colonel Hastings, and other officers, who declared
for the Prince of Orange. Continuing firm in his adherence to the
Roman Catholic cause, he was removed from his appointments by King
William, was excluded from the benefit of the Act of Indemnity
passed on the 23rd of May, 1690, and upon the receipt of advice of
the intended descent, in favour of King James, from La Hogue, in
1692, he was sent a prisoner to the Tower of London; but he was not
long detained in confinement. The Earl of Huntingdon was one of the
peers who protested against the Act of Settlement in 1701. He died
suddenly at his house in Charles-street, St. James’s, on the 30th
of May, 1701.


FERDINANDO HASTINGS.

_Appointed--December, 1688._

FERDINANDO HASTINGS, cousin of Theophilus seventh Earl of
Huntingdon, entered the army in the reign of King Charles II., and
was promoted to the command of a company in the first foot guards;
in 1686, he was appointed lieut.-colonel of the regiment which
is now the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry. At the Revolution in 1688,
he united with the Earl of Bath in bringing over the garrison of
Plymouth to the interest of the Prince of Orange, and was rewarded
with the colonelcy of his regiment. He served in Scotland under
Major-General Hugh Mackay, against the clans under Viscount Dundee,
and distinguished himself at the battle of Killicrankie on the
27th of June, 1689. He afterwards proceeded with his regiment
to Ireland, and served at the battle of the Boyne, and at the
reduction of Cork and Kinsale, in 1690: he evinced ability and
personal bravery in several detached services in 1691, and served
in the expedition, under the Duke of Leinster, in 1692. He was
afterwards found guilty of extortion in his regiment, and was
cashiered on the 4th of March, 1695.


SIR JOHN JACOB, BART.

_Appointed 13th March, 1689._

SIR JOHN JACOB, Bart., of Bromley, in the county of Middlesex,
entered the army in the summer of 1685, and was many years an
officer in the regiment which is now the THIRTEENTH Light Infantry,
in which corps he rose to the rank of lieut.-colonel. He evinced
great courage, and received a severe wound at the battle of
Killicrankie, in June, 1689, where Viscount Dundee was killed; also
behaved with signal gallantry, under the eye of his sovereign,
at the battle of the Boyne in 1690; and served under the Earl of
Marlborough at the capture of Cork and Kinsale. King William
highly approved of his conduct, and promoted him to the colonelcy
of his regiment in 1695. Being afterwards desirous of retiring
from the service, he obtained permission to sell his regiment to
his brother-in-law, James Earl of Barrymore, for fourteen hundred
guineas. He died in 1739.


JAMES, EARL OF BARRYMORE.

_Appointed 15th March, 1702._

JAMES, fourth EARL OF BARRYMORE, embraced the interests of the
Prince of Orange at the Revolution in 1688, and was nominated
lieut.-colonel in the army on the 31st of December, 1688. He
subsequently held the commission of captain in the seventeenth
foot, and purchased the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH regiment in
March, 1702. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in
1706, and to that of major-general in 1708. He served in Portugal
in the war of the Spanish succession, and led his regiment to the
charge, at the battle of the Caya, on the 7th of May, 1709, with
great gallantry, overthrowing all opposition, and recapturing the
Portuguese guns; but not being supported by the Portuguese horse
of the left wing, his regiment became insulated, and he was taken
prisoner. In 1710 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general;
and in 1713 he was sworn a member of the Privy Council. He was
elected a member of the British Parliament for the Borough of
Stockbridge in 1713, and afterwards for Wigan in Lancashire. He
retired from his regiment in 1715. His decease occurred on the
5th of January, 1747, at Castlelyons, where a magnificent marble
monument was erected to his memory.


STANHOPE COTTON.

_Appointed 8th July, 1715._

This officer served with reputation in the wars of Queen Anne, as
captain, major, and lieut.-colonel of foot; he was several years in
Bowles’s regiment, which was disbanded at the peace of Utrecht; and
he was rewarded with the rank of colonel, and the appointment of
lieut.-governor of Gibraltar. In 1715 he obtained the colonelcy of
the THIRTEENTH foot, then in garrison at Gibraltar, and under his
care that regiment was celebrated for its efficiency and orderly
conduct. He died on the 7th of December, 1725.


LORD MARK KERR.

_Appointed 25th December, 1725._

LORD MARK KERR, fourth son of Robert fourth Earl of Lothian,
entered the army on the 1st of January, 1694, and served under
King William III. in Flanders. On the 1st of January, 1706, he was
promoted to the colonelcy of a newly-raised regiment of foot, with
which he served in the expedition under the Earl of Rivers in the
same year, and when the projected descent on the coast of France
was abandoned, he proceeded to Portugal, and afterwards to Spain.
He commanded his regiment at the battle of Almanza, on the 25th of
April, 1707, which was formed between two brigades of Portuguese
cavalry which quitted the field. His regiment was engaged with
very superior numbers: it behaved with great gallantry, but it
was literally cut to pieces; his lordship was wounded in the arm,
his lieut.-colonel and major were both killed, and his regiment
lost twenty-three officers killed, wounded, and prisoners. In 1711
he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and in 1712 he
was nominated colonel of the twenty-ninth regiment. He commanded
a brigade of infantry in the expedition to Spain, under Lord
(afterwards Viscount) Cobham, in 1719, and served at the capture
of Vigo. In 1725 he obtained the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH
foot,--was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1727,--removed
to the eleventh dragoons in 1732, and advanced to the rank of
lieut.-general in 1735. In 1740 he was appointed governor of the
island of Guernsey; in 1743 he obtained the rank of general, and
in 1745 he was constituted governor of Edinburgh Castle; in 1751
he was placed on the staff of Ireland. It is recorded in the
Peerage of Scotland that--‘He was a man of marked and decided
character; with the strictest notions of honour and good-breeding,
he retained, perhaps, too punctilious an observance of etiquette,
as it gave him an air of frivolity. He was soldier-like in his
appearance; formal in his deportment; whimsical, even finical, in
his dress; but he commanded respect wherever he went, for none
dared to laugh at his singularities. Manners, which in foreign
courts, where they had been acquired, would have passed unobserved,
were considered as fantastic in his own country, and were apt to
lead his impatient spirit into rencontres too often fatal to his
antagonists. Naturally of a good temper, his frequent appeals to
the sword on trivial occasions drew on him the imputation of being
a quarrelsome man; but he was inoffensive unless provoked; and
never meddled with any one, but such as chose to meddle with him.’
He died on the 2nd of February, 1752.


JOHN MIDDLETON.

_Appointed 29th May, 1732._

JOHN MIDDLETON obtained a commission in the army in the reign of
King William III., and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1706;
he served in Spain in the war of the Spanish succession, and also
on board the fleet, where his company was employed as Marines. He
was many years an officer in the twenty-fifth foot, in which corps
he rose to the rank of lieut.-colonel, and he was promoted to the
rank of colonel in 1711. He commanded the twenty-fifth regiment in
Scotland, under the Duke of Argyle, during the rebellion of the
Earl of Mar; and in 1721 he was rewarded with the colonelcy of that
corps, which he commanded until 1732, when he was removed to the
THIRTEENTH foot. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general
in 1735. His decease occurred on the 4th of May, 1739, at which
period he was member of Parliament for Aberdeen.


HENRY PULTENEY.

_Appointed 5th July, 1739._

HENRY PULTENEY was appointed ensign in a regiment of foot on the
10th of January, 1703, and he served in Queen Anne’s wars, under
the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough. He was several years
in the first foot guards, and was promoted, in July, 1715, to
the command of the grenadier company in the second foot guards,
with the rank of lieut.-colonel. In 1733 he was promoted to the
commission of second major, with the rank of colonel, and in 1734
to that of first major in the second foot guards, from which he was
removed, in 1739, to the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH regiment; at
the same time he was appointed governor of Hull. He was promoted
to the rank of brigadier-general in 1742, and accompanied the army
to Flanders under the Earl of Stair. In 1743 he was advanced to
the rank of major-general; in 1747 to that of lieut.-general, and
in 1765 to that of general. On the elevation of his brother to
the dignity of Earl of Bath, he was distinguished by the style of
Honorable; and upon his brother’s decease, without issue in 1764,
he succeeded to his lordship’s immense estates. He afterwards
resigned his commissions. He died 26th of October, 1767.


HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS WILLIAM HENRY DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, K.G., &c. &c.
&c.

_Appointed 25th June, 1766._

WILLIAM HENRY, third son of Frederick Prince of Wales, (who died
20th of March, 1751) was elected a Knight of the most noble order
of the Garter, in 1762; and a few days before he was of full age,
viz., on the 17th November, 1764, his brother, King George III.,
conferred on him the dignity of DUKE OF GLOUCESTER AND EDINBURGH,
and Earl of Connaught; in December following he took his seat in
the Privy Council. In 1766 His Royal Highness was appointed colonel
of the THIRTEENTH regiment; and on the decease of his brother,
Edward, Duke of York, in the autumn of 1767, he had a grant from
the King of Cranburne-chase lodge, Windsor Forest. In December of
the same year he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and
appointed colonel of the third foot guards; and in April, 1770, he
was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general, and nominated to the
colonelcy of the first regiment of foot guards. He was promoted
to the rank of general in 1772, and to that of field marshal in
1793. His Royal Highness was distinguished as a polite scholar and
an accomplished gentleman, engaging in his manners, respectful
to his sovereign, affable to his acquaintance, and generous and
condescending to his inferiors; a liberal supporter of every
institution calculated to promote the interests of society,
accompanied by a modest serenity of conduct which kept many
instances of his generosity out of public view; and a meekness of
disposition pervaded every feature of his character, which insured
for him the love of all ranks of society. He died on the 25th of
August, 1805.


THE HONORABLE JAMES MURRAY.

_Appointed 16th December, 1767._

THE HONORABLE JAMES MURRAY, son of the Duke of Athol, served
several years in the fifteenth foot, of which regiment he was
appointed lieut.-colonel on the 15th of January, 1751. He served
with his regiment in North America, in the early part of the seven
years’ war, had the local rank of colonel in that country on the
7th of January, 1758, and was appointed colonel-commandant in the
sixtieth, Royal American regiment, on the 24th of October, 1759. He
also served in Germany, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and
was wounded in the breast with a musket ball, which could not be
extracted, and he was never afterwards able to sleep in a recumbent
posture. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1762,
appointed colonel of the THIRTEENTH regiment in 1767, in succession
to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, advanced to the rank
of lieut.-general in 1772, to that of general in 1783, and removed
to the twenty-first, or Royal North British Fusiliers, in 1789. He
also held the appointment of governor of Hull. He died in 1794, and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.


GEORGE AINSLIE.

_Appointed 5th June, 1789._

This officer was appointed in 1755, sub-lieutenant in the second,
or Scots, troop of horse grenadier guards, of which the celebrated
General Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield, Baron Gibraltar, was
lieut.-colonel; and when Colonel Eliott raised his famed regiment
of “Light Horse,” now the fifteenth, or King’s Hussars, lieutenant
Ainslie was appointed captain of the first troop in that regiment.
He proceeded with the fifteenth light dragoons to Germany, in 1760,
and distinguished himself in the memorable action at Emsdorf, where
his regiment acquired great honour. He was also present at numerous
other actions, where “Eliott’s Light Horse” availed themselves of
every opportunity to acquire additional laurels; and on the 29th of
March, 1762, he was promoted to the majority of the regiment. At
the engagement near Homburg, on the 1st of July, 1762, he highly
distinguished himself, and was commended in the public despatch of
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. In the action near Friedberg, on the
30th of August following, he was attacked by three French hussars,
and received a dangerous wound in the head. He was promoted to the
lieut.-colonelcy of the fifteenth light dragoons in 1770, to the
rank of colonel in the army in 1779, and to that of major-general
in 1782: in 1789 King George III. rewarded him with the colonelcy
of the THIRTEENTH foot, His Majesty having frequently witnessed,
and expressed his high approbation of, the condition of the
fifteenth light dragoons under colonel Ainslie’s command. He was
afterwards appointed lieut.-governor of Scilly Island, was promoted
to the rank of lieut.-general in 1796, and to that of general in
1801. He died in 1804.


ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.

_Appointed 11th July, 1804._

On the 21st of April, 1769, Alexander Campbell was appointed ensign
in the forty-second, Royal Highland regiment, then in Ireland, and
in December, 1770, he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the second
battalion of the Royals, which he joined at the island of Minorca;
in September, 1772, he was advanced to captain of a company in the
fiftieth, from which he exchanged to the sixty-second regiment in
November following. He embarked for Canada with the sixty-second
on the breaking out of the American war, and served the campaign
of 1776, under General Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester. In
1777, he served under Lieut.-General Burgoyne, in the desperate
attempt to advance from Canada, through the country, in a state
of rebellion, to Albany, shared in the toils and fighting of
that enterprise, and was included in the convention at Saratoga.
On the 26th of December, 1777, he was promoted to major of the
seventy-fourth regiment, and proceeding to New York, he was
appointed to act as major of the first battalion of light infantry,
with which he served two campaigns, and at the termination of the
war he commanded at Penobscot. On the 31st of December, 1782, he
was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the sixty-second foot,
with which regiment he served in Scotland and Ireland until June,
1789, when he exchanged to captain and lieut.-colonel in the third
foot guards. He served the campaign of 1793, and part of that of
1794, in Flanders, under His Royal Highness the Duke of York; he
had, in the meantime, been promoted to the rank of colonel (12th
October, 1793), and commissioned to raise the 116th regiment of
foot, and he withdrew from Flanders. He subsequently commanded a
brigade in the forces under Lieut.-General the Earl of Moira, and
was promoted to the rank of major-general, on the 26th of February,
1795. In 1796 he served under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby,
in the West Indies, and was appointed colonel of the seventh West
India regiment, in November of that year. He served on the staff at
Newcastle in 1797; in Ireland in 1798; and afterwards in Scotland.
In 1802 his regiment was disbanded; he was promoted to the rank of
lieut.-general in April of that year, and was placed on the staff
of Ireland, and subsequently on that of Scotland, where he served
five years. In 1804 he was appointed colonel of the THIRTEENTH
regiment; in 1812 he was promoted to the rank of general, and was
removed to the thirty-second regiment in 1813. He died 24th of
February, 1832.


EDWARD MORRISON.

_Appointed 15th February, 1813._

This officer entered the army as an ensign in the Coldstream
Guards, on the 20th January, 1777; was shortly after employed
as Assistant Quartermaster-General; and on the 15th September,
1780, succeeded to a lieutenancy with the rank of captain: from
November 1781, to June, 1783, he served as aide-de-camp to the
commander-in-chief in the West Indies. He was promoted to a
company, with the rank of lieut.-colonel on 13th January, 1790,
and in 1793, was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General; but
obtained permission to join the first battalion of the Coldstream
Guards in Flanders, in 1794. He was appointed Governor of Chester
on 2nd November, 1796. On the 26th February, 1795, he received
the brevet rank of colonel; and on the 19th November, 1800, was
appointed colonel of the Leicester fencibles, and on 1st January,
1805, of a battalion in the sixtieth regiment. He was advanced to
the rank of major-general on the 1st January, 1798, and in April
following was appointed to the Staff in Ireland, where he commanded
the Limerick District during the rebellion. He was removed to the
Staff in England in July, 1803, and on the 1st January, 1805, was
advanced to the rank of lieut.-general; in May, 1809, was appointed
lieut.-general and commander of the forces at Jamaica; and was
promoted to the rank of general, on the 4th June, 1814. On the
15th February of the previous year, His Majesty King George III.
conferred on him the colonelcy of the THIRTEENTH light infantry,
which he held to the period of his decease, which occurred on the
3rd December, 1843.


SIR ROBERT HENRY SALE, G.C.B.

_Appointed 15th December, 1843._

At the early age of fourteen this officer had the honour of
carrying his Sovereign’s colours as an ensign in the thirty-sixth
regiment, to which he was gazetted on the 19th January, 1795; he
was promoted to a lieutenancy on the 12th April, 1797, and on
the 8th January following exchanged into the twelfth foot, with
which regiment he served at the battle of Mallavelly gained by
Lieut.-General (afterwards Lord) Harris on the 27th March, 1799.
In less than two months occurred the siege of Seringapatam, where
Lieutenant Sale’s services were rewarded by a medal. He served
throughout the campaign of 1801, in the Wynaud country, and on
the 23rd March, 1806, obtained his company. Captain Sale took
part in the storming of the Travancore lines in 1809; and was at
the capture of the Mauritius in 1810. On the 30th December, 1813,
he was promoted to the rank of Major, and the second battalion
of the twelfth being reduced in January, 1818, Major Sale was
placed on the half-pay. On the 28th June, 1821, he exchanged to
the THIRTEENTH light infantry, with which he proceeded to India,
joined the expedition under Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell,
and served throughout the Burmese war, being present at the capture
of Rangoon and the storming of the stockades near Kemmendine, on
both occasions displaying such heroism, that he received the thanks
of the commanding officer on the field of battle, and particular
notice in the general orders. He also stormed the seven stockades
near Kumaroot and Pagoda Point: on the 1st December, of the same
year (1824) he stormed the enemy’s lines, and on the 5th of that
month led a body of 1600 men in the engagement which resulted in
the utter defeat of the foe, who was driven from all his positions.
On the 8th December, he commanded in the attack on the rear of the
enemy’s lines opposite the Great Pagoda at Rangoon; and on the
15th, stormed the intrenchments at Kokien, where he was severely
wounded in the head. In the following year, he commanded a brigade
at the reduction of Bassein, and subsequent operations from 10th
February to 2nd May, 1825. On the 2nd June, 1825, he attained the
rank of lieut.-colonel; on the 1st December, he commanded the first
brigade and repulsed the Shaans and Burmese at Prome, and the
next day stormed the lines and heights near Prome. He was again
severely wounded at the storming of Melloon on the 19th January,
1826. These services were honored with the riband of a companion
of the order of the Bath. He became colonel by brevet on the 28th
June, 1838, and in the following October, was appointed to the
command of the first Bengal brigade of the army of the Indus, which
formed the advance throughout the campaign in Affghanistan: he
commanded the detachment of 2500 men sent to Girishk in May, 1839,
and on the 23rd July, headed the storming party which captured
the fortress of Ghuznee, deemed by the Affghans impregnable. A
sabre-wound in the chin and contusions on the chest and shoulder
from musket-shots were the results of this formidable conflict;
but not the only results, for his services were acknowledged by
Lord Keane, and Her Majesty conferred upon him the star of a Knight
Commander of the Bath, and his name was enrolled in the list of
Eastern Knights constituting the order of the Dooranée Empire,
which had been founded by Shah Shoojah. In September, 1840, the
forces sent to subdue the Kohistan country were entrusted to his
command; and after storming the towns and fort of Tootumdurra,
Julgar, Babookooshghur, Kardurrah, and Purwan, he compelled Dost
Mahomed to surrender to the authorities at Cabool. In forcing the
Khoord Cabool Pass on the 12th October, 1841, he was shot through
the leg. His gallant defence of Jellalabad,--his daring sorties,
and final defeat of the besieging army under Akbar Khan, for which
services he received the thanks of Parliament, and was nominated
a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Military Order of
the Bath, are detailed in the Regimental Record, and completely
identify Sir Robert Sale’s name with the THIRTEENTH light infantry,
the connexion being rendered more intimate by Her Majesty, who
conferred on him the colonelcy of the regiment in December, 1843,
on the decease of General Edward Morrison. On the 29th March, 1844,
he was appointed by Her Majesty, Quartermaster-General to the
Queen’s troops serving in the East Indies. Advancing with the army
to repel the Sikh invasion, Sir Robert Sale had his left thigh so
dreadfully shattered by a grapeshot at the battle of Moodkee on the
18th December, 1845, that he did not long survive the wound, but,
after a distinguished career, fell like Wolfe, Sir John Moore, and
other heroes, in the hour of victory.


LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD GOMM, K.C.B.

_Appointed 10th March, 1846._


  LONDON: Printed by W. CLOWES and SONS, Stamford-street,
  for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.




  TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

  Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
  corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
  the text and consultation of external sources.

  Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
  and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

  Variations in spelling (Mc. Creagh, M‘Creagh) have been changed
  to M‘Creagh. Other instances of M‘ or Mc (M‘Bean, McGuire) have been
  left unchanged.

  Pg xxxiv: ‘Re-occcupied Cabool’ replaced by ‘Re-occupied Cabool’.
  Pg 27: ‘with distintinguished’ replaced by ‘with distinguished’.
  Pg 28: ‘four aptains’ replaced by ‘four captains’.
  Pg 88: ‘in he defile’ replaced by ‘in the defile’.
  Pg 121: ‘such as choose to’ replaced by ‘such as chose to’.
  Pg 127: ‘the authorites at’ replaced by ‘the authorities at’.