Historical Record of the Thirty-sixth, or the Herefordshire Regiment of Foot, by Richard Cannon

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.

[ii]

—— 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.

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[iv] 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[v] long a period, been 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[vi] 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,[vii] 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.

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[x] 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;[xi] 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,[xiii] 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[xiv] 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[xv] 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[xvi] Philip, prisoners. On the 25th of October, 1415, King Henry V., with an army 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[xvii] 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[xviii] 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[xix] 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 ensure 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	20	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 THIRTY-SIXTH,
OR THE
HEREFORDSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT:

PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONARY OFFICE.
PUBLISHED BY PARKER, FURNIVALL, AND PARKER,
30, CHARING CROSS.

HISTORICAL RECORD.

Charles II., King of Spain, being affected with a dangerous indisposition, the European powers, in order to prevent the contention which was expected to arise on the decease of that monarch, determined to divide the Spanish territories among the several competitors. The first “Partition Treaty” was concluded between France, England, and Holland, on the 29th of August 1698; but a second Treaty was rendered necessary, in consequence of the death of the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, who had been declared heir to the Spanish Crown; accordingly, on the 15th of March 1700, a second Treaty was entered into between the same contracting powers, by which it was arranged that Charles Archduke of Austria, the second son of Leopold Emperor of Germany, should succeed to the throne of Spain, a certain portion of the territories of that Kingdom being, as before, allotted to the Dauphin of France;[2] and the Duke of Lorrain was to receive Milan in exchange for his own country, which was to be given to the French nation.

The long expected demise of the King of Spain occurred on the 1st of November 1700; and that Sovereign, incensed at the dismemberment of his dominions, bequeathed the Spanish monarchy to Philip Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin of France; and Louis XIV., disregarding the treaties to which he had been a party, determined to support his grandson’s accession to the throne of Spain.

The French at this period overran the Spanish Netherlands and seized several strong towns, partly garrisoned by the Dutch, which compelled the States of Holland to acknowledge the Duke of Anjou’s title, with a view of obtaining their soldiers, who were not permitted to return, without difficulty.

It is a singular circumstance of the time, that King William, seeing the unwillingness of the nation to engage in a fresh war, actually acknowledged the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain, and sent him a letter of congratulation. In May 1701, however, the House of Commons unanimously resolved to assist the Dutch, and provide succours for the States General, in order to maintain the liberties of Europe. Several regiments were in the following month embarked for Holland; and additions were also made to the army and navy.

On the 28th of June 1701 a Royal Warrant was issued authorizing William Viscount Charlemont to raise a regiment in Ireland, which was afterwards numbered the Thirty-sixth.

England might have abstained from open hostilities with France had it not been for the following circumstance:—In the midst of these preparations the decease of James II. occurred at St. Germains on the[3] 16th of September 1701, and his son, the titular Prince of Wales, was immediately proclaimed, by order of Louis XIV., as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by the title of King James III. This indignity to the British Sovereign and Nation, added to the contemplated union of the crowns of France and Spain, made war inevitable; and King William, with the Emperor of Austria and the States General, concluded “the Grand Alliance,” the principal objects of which were to procure the Spanish Netherlands as a barrier for the Dutch, and to prevent France and Spain becoming eventually under the sway of the same Prince.

War was thus on the eve of being proclaimed, when King William met with the accident which terminated in his decease on the 8th of March 1702; the accession of Queen Anne, however, caused no alteration in the policy of her predecessor; and war was declared against France and Spain on the 4th of May following; additional forces were sent to Flanders, and the Earl of Marlborough was appointed to command the British, Dutch, and auxiliary troops, with the rank of Captain-General. The contest which ensued is known as “the war of the Spanish succession.”

Six regiments had been added to the regular army in the year 1702 as marine corps, and six other of the regular regiments of infantry (the Thirty-sixth being among the number) were appointed for sea service; as shown in the following list:—

The following is a copy of the Royal Warrant for levying this body of men, which was dated the 1st of June 1702.

Prior to the decease of King William the reduction of Cadiz had been contemplated, after which it was resolved to embark an expedition against the possessions of Spain in the West Indies. Queen Anne following out this policy, it was arranged that a combined fleet of English and Dutch ships, consisting of fifty sail of the line, besides frigates, under Admiral Sir George Rooke,[5] and a land force, amounting to nearly fourteen thousand men, under the command of the Duke of Ormond, should proceed to the coast of Spain. The following corps were selected for this service, namely,—

The Thirty-sixth regiment, having been selected as part of the force to share in this enterprise, was withdrawn from Ireland, and proceeded to the Isle of Wight in June 1702, and embarked for Cadiz in July.

In the Harleian Manuscripts at the British Museum, the embarkation return of the regiment is preserved, of which the following is a copy:—

The difference in the number embarked, as shown in the foregoing document, and that specified against the Thirty-sixth in the list of regiments ordered to proceed to Cadiz, arises from the establishment being given in the first instance, while the embarkation return has reference only to effectives.

The armament appeared off Cadiz on the 12th of August, and the Duke of Ormond summoned the place; his terms being refused, a landing was effected between Rota and Fort St. Catherine on the 15th of that month, where the troops encountered and repulsed some Spanish cavalry. St. Catherine’s fort was compelled to surrender, and Port St. Mary’s was occupied by the British troops; the expedition, however, proved not of sufficient force to capture Cadiz, which was found much stronger and better garrisoned than was expected from the information which had been received in England prior to the fitting out of the armament, and the soldiers returned on board the fleet. The Thirty-sixth regiment was afterwards detached from Cadiz to the West Indies with a division of the royal navy under Commodore Walker, and sailed on this service on the 24th of September.

A powerful armament was prepared for the attack of the French and Spanish settlements in the West Indies in 1703, but this enterprise was subsequently abandoned.

After losing several men from the effects of the climate, the regiment was withdrawn from the West Indies, and was stationed in Ireland in the year 1704.

The successes obtained by the Duke of Marlborough in Flanders and Germany led to an attempt to place the Archduke Charles of Austria on the throne of Spain by force of arms. In the former year Gibraltar had been captured by the combined English and Dutch fleets, and in connexion with these events the Thirty-sixth regiment was embarked from Ireland in April[8] 1705, in order to proceed with the force under the Earl of Peterborough.

The design of this expedition was either to aid the Duke of Savoy in driving the French out of Italy, to make an attempt on Naples and Sicily, or to further the progress of the Archduke in Spain. The fleet arrived at Lisbon in June, and additional forces were embarked; at the same time the Archduke Charles went on board the fleet to share in the toils and dangers inseparable from the enterprise. From Lisbon the expedition proceeded to Gibraltar, where it was joined by the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt and a reinforcement from the garrison.

The fleet next proceeded to the bay of Altea, in Valencia, and there the officers and soldiers had opportunities of observing the attachment of the inhabitants of that part of Spain to the Austrian Prince. A thousand Catalonians and Valentians who had thrown off their allegiance to the house of Bourbon, and had acknowledged the Archduke Charles as the Sovereign of Spain, seized on the town of Denia, while others made demonstrations of giving effectual aid to the expedition; such a spirit of enterprise was evinced by King Charles, the Earl of Peterborough, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, and others, that both officers and men became imbued with the ardent zeal of their superiors, and resolved to effect something great and remarkable.

Under these feelings, the celebrated city of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and one of the most ancient towns in Spain, was selected as the scene of the first attempt. Its situation on a plain near the sea, with a mole capable of containing only galleys and small ships, defended by ten bastions, several old towers, and other works, with a strong castle and citadel named Montjuich, on a hill on the west side, and commanding the town; the garrison consisting of between five and[9] six thousand men under the Viceroy of Catalonia, Don Francisco de Velasco, while the besieging army was unable to bring more than seven thousand men into the lines; these circumstances, with the fact that in 1697 this fortress resisted the Duke of Vendôme, with a French army of thirty thousand men, eight weeks with open trenches, and cost the French monarch twelve thousand men, gave an interesting and romantic character to the enterprise, in which the Thirty-Sixth, and other regiments employed, gained much honour. It is also to be noticed, that it was the same Prince of Hesse Darmstadt who was now engaged in capturing what he had before so nobly defended; for it was a question whether the Duke of Vendôme gained more glory by the taking, than the Prince of Darmstadt by defending Barcelona, when employed in the Spanish service.

The Earl of Peterborough landed his troops on the 23d and 24th of August near the river Bassoz, about three miles east of Barcelona. On the 28th of that month, King Charles came on shore, and several of the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages greeted his landing with great acclamations. The progress of the siege was, however, retarded by opposite opinions and views entertained by the superior officers. It was at length determined to surprise the detached fortress of Montjuich, as proposed by the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt. The storming party of four hundred grenadiers, selected from the various corps employed in the siege, with a support of six hundred musketeers, commenced its march in the night of Sunday the 13th of September, round the mountains, and were followed by another detachment and a party of dragoons. The greater part of the way not being passable for above one man abreast, and the night very dark, the first detachment was nearly twelve hours on the march, and did not arrive at the foot of the mountain until break of day of the 14th of September; some Miquelets, in[10] the service of the enemy, gave the alarm to the troops in the castle and in the town, so that the Prince of Hesse, on his arrival, found the garrison in arms, with guards in the outworks, who received the Confederates with a general discharge of artillery and small arms. Upon this the Prince of Hesse, and the Viscount Charlemont, Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, (who commanded on the 14th of September as Brigadier, in consequence of the indisposition of the Dutch Brigadier Schonenberg,) ordered Lieut.-Colonel Southwell, of the Sixth foot, to commence the attack with the grenadiers; this service was performed with signal intrepidity and resolution. Upon this success the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt advanced to possess himself of a post which would prevent the enemy’s communication with the town, and in the attempt was mortally wounded. The loss of this officer damped the spirits of the soldiers;—the enemy, perceiving some disorder amongst the Confederates, called out, “Long live King Charles!” and invited the assailants to come to them; upon Colonel Allen’s advance to the fort, with about two hundred and fifty men, the Spaniards opened the gate the better to conceal their stratagem, but immediately fired upon the men, and compelled this detachment to surrender; at the same time, a large reinforcement was seen advancing from the town to aid the garrison in the castle, whereupon the troops were seized with a panic, and Lord Charlemont, with other officers, endeavoured to counteract the disorder which ensued.

Upon the Earl of Peterborough receiving this intelligence, his lordship placed himself at the head of the detachments that were retreating,—rallied them, and ultimately regained the posts they had before so nobly acquired; the Spaniards who were advancing from the town retired, and the outworks of Montjuich were gained. Batteries were then constructed, and the inner works were assailed with cannon balls, bombs, and[11] grenades. After the action was over, the Earl of Peterborough introduced Lord Charlemont and Lieut.-Colonel Southwell to the King of Spain, as officers that had done His Majesty signal service on this occasion; for which they both received the thanks of that Prince.[6]

On the 17th of September, Lieut.-Colonel Southwell, of the Sixth regiment of foot, being on duty in the trenches, observed that the bombs thrown by a Dutch bombardier from a small mortar fell to the left of the fort, and concluding that there was a magazine in the place, he traversed the mortar himself more to the right, and fired it; the bomb fell into a small chapel where the garrison had stored their powder, which exploded, and buried a number of officers and men in the ruins. Lieut.-Colonel Southwell advanced at the head of his men, and was met by the surviving officers and men of the garrison, who immediately surrendered the fortress. The Lieut.-Colonel was made Governor of the place, in consideration of his services.

The capture of Montjuich facilitated the siege of the city of Barcelona, which was prosecuted with vigour; and on the 4th of October the garrison agreed to capitulate. The Viceroy made several extravagant demands, which occupied some days in debating, so that the capitulation was not signed until the evening of the 9th of October; it was agreed that the Angel-gate and bastion should be immediately delivered up to the Allies, and the whole city four days after, when the garrison should march out with all the honours of war. The capture of Barcelona was accompanied by the submission to King Charles of all Catalonia, with the exception of Roses.

King Charles commenced forming a Spanish army for his service; he soon had five hundred dragoons for a guard, and six regiments of infantry. He was joined by Colonel Nebot, who forsook the service of King Philip with a regiment of horse, and in a short time the province of Valencia submitted to the Austrian Prince.

The regiment continued under the immediate directions of the Earl of Peterborough, with whose achievements its services are connected; his raising the siege of San Matteo, the capture of Monviedro, his exploits in Valencia, and the relief of the capital of that province,—successes gained with a small body of soldiers over a numerous army,—carry with them the appearance of fiction and romance more than of sober reality; but being supported by abundance of collateral and direct evidence, the truth of these achievements is unquestionable. Unfortunately, no documents have been discovered to prove what particular corps his lordship left in garrison, and what he took with him in his daring enterprise in Valencia; the part taken by the First and Eighth dragoons, the Thirteenth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-fourth foot, and a few other corps, can be clearly made out from history; but whether the Thirty-sixth remained in garrison in Catalonia, or was employed in the enterprise in Valencia, has not been ascertained.

King Charles and his counsellors, instead of exerting themselves to provide for the security of the towns which had been acquired, and collecting the means for future conquests, wasted their time and money in balls and public diversions. The breaches in Barcelona and the detached fortress of Montjuich were left unrepaired, and the garrison unprovided for a siege. Meanwhile King Philip was obtaining reinforcements from the frontiers of Portugal, from Italy, Provence, Flanders, and the Rhine; and he soon appeared at the head of above twenty thousand men to recapture the provinces[13] he had lost. A powerful French and Spanish force approached Barcelona by land, a French fleet appeared before the place, and the enemy encamped before the north side of the city on the 2nd of April 1706.

The Earl of Peterborough hastened from Valencia with a body of select troops, but found the town so closely beset that he was unable to force his way into it, when he took to the mountains, and harassed the enemy with skirmishes and night alarms. When the garrison was nearly exhausted, its numbers decreased from deaths, wounds, sickness, and other causes to about a thousand effective men, and a practicable breach was ready for the enemy to attack the place by storm, the English and Dutch fleet arrived with five regiments of foot; the French fleet withdrew from before the town, and the reinforcements were landed. Barcelona being thus relieved, the enemy, having lost six thousand men before the town, made a precipitate retreat on the 12th of May, leaving two hundred brass cannon, thirty mortars, and vast quantities of ammunition and provision behind him, together with the sick and wounded of his army, whom Marshal de Tessé recommended to the humanity of the British commander.

Barcelona was thus preserved by British skill and valour; and the Thirty-sixth, with the other regiments in garrison, received the thanks of King Charles for this important service.

On the 10th of May 1706, Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Alnutt was promoted to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to the Viscount Charlemont, who had been removed by the Earl of Peterborough. A complaint on this subject was subsequently preferred by Lord Charlemont; and the reports made by the council of general officers, after a patient investigation, are inserted in the memoir of that nobleman, as Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, at page 109. These documents are highly flattering to Viscount[14] Charlemont, and bear ample testimony to his gallant conduct at Barcelona.

An immediate advance upon Madrid having been resolved upon, the Marquis das Minas and the Earl of Galway, who commanded a British, Portuguese, and Dutch force on the frontiers of Portugal, were requested to penetrate boldly to the capital of Spain. To engage in this service the Thirty-sixth embarked from Barcelona, and proceeded by sea to Valencia, where King Charles was expected to arrive with the cavalry by land. While in Valencia the regiment furnished a detachment of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, which, with similar detachments from other corps of infantry, were formed into a regiment of dragoons, named the Earl of Peterborough’s regiment.

Requena and Cuenza, which places lie on the line of march from Valencia to Madrid, were captured after a short resistance by the troops detached under Major-General Wyndham. Meanwhile the army from Portugal had penetrated to Madrid, and was anxiously awaiting the arrival of King Charles, who, following the pernicious advice of his Italian counsellors, delayed his journey, and eventually proceeded by way of Arragon. This afforded time for the French and Spanish troops under King Philip to re-enter Spain; and uniting with the forces under the Duke of Berwick, the enemy had a great superiority of numbers. The allies were forced to retire from their forward position, and being joined on the 17th of September at Veles, by the troops which had been detached under Major-General Wyndham, they continued their route towards the frontiers of Valencia and Murcia, where they remained during the winter.

The Thirty-sixth, in the year 1707, joined part of the Allied army, which was composed of English, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Dutch, commanded by the Marquis das Minas and the Earl of Galway, and took[15] the field for offensive operations in the early part of April. After destroying several of the enemy’s magazines, the siege of the castle of Villena was undertaken, and while this was in progress, a French and Spanish force, of very superior numbers, commanded by the Duke of Berwick, advanced to the plains of Almanza. As the enemy expected the arrival of reinforcements under the Duke of Orleans, the allied generals, though much inferior in numbers, resolved to attack their adversaries without delay.

The following regiments were present at the battle of Almanza, and their effective strength is taken from the weekly return dated 22nd of April, three days prior to the battle:—

After a march of several hours along the rugged tracts of Murcia under a burning sun, the soldiers arrived in the presence of the enemy, at Almanza, about noon on the 25th of April. It was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon when the battle commenced. The Thirty-sixth were formed in brigade with the Ninth, Eleventh, and Lord Mark Kerr’s regiments under Colonel Hill, and Mino’s Portuguese dragoons were posted in the centre of the brigade, which was stationed in the second line; but nine of the enemy’s battalions having attacked Major-General Wade’s brigade, consisting of the Sixth, Seventeenth, Thirty-third, and Lord Montjoy’s regiments, the Ninth moved forward to their support. Great valour was displayed, but in vain, for the flight of the Portuguese squadrons had left the British and Dutch exposed to the weight and power of the enemy’s superior numbers, and no hope of victory remained. The Earl of Galway effected his retreat with the dragoons; several general officers collected the broken remains of the English infantry, which fought in the centre, into a body, and uniting them with some Dutch and Portuguese, formed a column of nearly four thousand men, which retreated two leagues, repulsing the pursuing enemy from time to time. On arriving at the woody hills of Caudete, the men were so exhausted with fatigue that they were unable to proceed further: they passed the night in the wood without food, and on the following morning they were surrounded by the enemy. Being without ammunition, ignorant of the country, and having no prospect of obtaining food, they surrendered prisoners of war.

Thus ended a battle in which the Thirty-sixth regiment behaved with great gallantry, but was nearly annihilated. Captains Musgrave and Parsons, Lieutenants Ayriss and Ballance, and Ensign Wells were killed; the following officers of the regiment were taken prisoners:—

The number of non-commissioned officers and soldiers killed, wounded, and taken prisoners at the battle of Almanza has not been ascertained; those who escaped, and were found serviceable, were afterwards transferred to other corps in Spain, and certain of the officers returned to England to recruit the regiment.

On the 15th of September 1707, orders were addressed to Colonel Alnutt to recruit and fill up the respective companies of the regiment; and the recruits were to assemble at Chester and Namptwich, which places were appointed for the rendezvous of the corps.

In the Annals of Queen Anne for the year 1708, it is stated, “Some time before, orders and commissions were delivered for new raising the regiments of—

which suffered most at the battle of Almanza, and the officers whereof, who were prisoners in France, were supplied by others.”

Colonel Archibald Earl of Ilay, afterwards Duke of Argyle, was appointed to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 23d of March 1709, in succession to Colonel Thomas Alnutt, deceased.

On the 23d of October 1710, Colonel Henry Desaulnais (afterwards spelt Desney) from the Coldstream foot guards, was appointed to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to Colonel the Earl of Ilay, resigned.

During the nine years which this war had been raging in Europe, British blood and treasure had been expended in making conquests for the house of Austria. The only advantage which had accrued to Great Britain was, that the power of the House of Bourbon had been diminished, and that of Austria augmented; the new Ministry chosen by Queen Anne, in 1710, resolved to act upon a different principle. Colonel Nicholson having made a successful attack on Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, on his return to England he submitted to the Government a plan for the reduction of Placentia and Quebec, as a preparatory measure for acquiring Canada for the British crown, and for expelling the French from Newfoundland, in order to regain the fishery.

Canada is stated to have been discovered by the famous Italian adventurer, Sebastian Cabot, who sailed under a commission from Henry VII.; and as the English monarch did not make any use of the discovery, the French soon attempted to derive advantage from it. Several small settlements were established, and in the early part of the seventeenth century the city of Quebec was founded for the capital of the French possessions in this part of the world. Although the colony continued in a very depressed state for some time, and the settlers were frequently in danger of being exterminated by the Indians, yet, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, it had become of such importance that its[19] capture was considered one of the best means of weakening the power of Louis XIV.

An expedition, consisting of about five thousand men, was accordingly ordered to proceed to North America under Brigadier-General Hill, for the purpose of making an attempt on Quebec. A large fleet formed part of the armament under Commodore Sir Hovenden Walker, and the force was to be further strengthened by troops from the North American colonies. The following regiments were employed on the expedition:—

On arriving at North America the fleet called at Boston for a supply of provisions, and the troops landed and encamped a short time on Rhode Island; but on the 20th of July they re-embarked, and having been joined by two regiments of provincial troops commanded by Colonels Walton and Vetch, sailed on the 30th of July from Boston for the river St. Lawrence. The expedition did not reach the river St. Lawrence until the 21st of August, when it encountered storms, and being furnished with bad pilots, eight transports, a store-ship, and a sloop were lost by shipwreck, and twenty-nine officers, six hundred and seventy-six soldiers, and thirty-five women of the Fourth, Thirty-seventh, Colonel Kane’s, and Colonel Clayton’s regiments, perished. There was also a scarcity of provisions. It[20] was, therefore, determined in a council of war, that further operations should be abandoned. Some of the regiments engaged in the expedition proceeded to Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia, but the Thirty-sixth returned to England, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 9th of October.

On the 12th of October 1711, Charles III., the claimant to the throne of Spain, was elected Emperor of Germany by the title of Charles VI., his brother Joseph having died at Vienna in the preceding April. This circumstance materially affected the war, and inclined Great Britain to agree to peace; for the consolidation of Spain with the Empire of Germany would have perilled the balance of power in Europe as much as the anticipated union of the crowns of France and Spain. The course of events had also shown, that a French and not an Austrian Prince was the choice of the Spanish nation.

Louis XIV. finding his armies defeated and dispirited, by the victorious troops under the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, at length sued for peace, negociations for which were shortly afterwards commenced.

The conditions of a Treaty of Peace having been agreed upon between Queen Anne and the French monarch, Dunkirk was delivered up to the British by Louis XIV., as a security for the performance of the stipulations, and the Thirty-sixth formed part of the force embarked under Brigadier-General Hill, to occupy that fortress. The regiment sailed from the Downs on the 7th of July 1712, with the fleet under Admiral Sir John Leake; on the following day the troops landed at Dunkirk, relieving the French guards at the citadel.

While the regiment was stationed at Dunkirk the Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the 11th of April 1713, which terminated the “War of the Spanish Succession.”

In the spring of 1714, the Thirty-sixth regiment returned to England; on the 1st of August of that year Queen Anne died, and was succeeded by King George I. The new sovereign having been quietly seated on the throne, the regiment proceeded to Ireland, and was placed on the establishment of that country.

On the 11th of July 1715, Colonel William Egerton was appointed by His Majesty King George I. to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to Colonel H. Desney, upon whom was subsequently conferred the colonelcy of the Twenty-ninth regiment.

While the regiment was in Ireland, an insurrection was organized in England, by the partizans of the house of Stuart; at the same time the Earl of Mar summoned the Highland clans to arms, and proclaimed the Pretender King of Great Britain. On the breaking out of the rebellion, the regiment was withdrawn from Ireland, in the autumn of 1715; and it joined the troops encamped near Stirling under the Duke of Argyle.

In the early part of November, the rebel army advanced towards the Forth, with the view of penetrating to England, and the Duke of Argyle marched from Stirling to Dumblaine, near Sheriffmuir, for the purpose of opposing the progress of the insurgents. On the morning of Sunday, the 13th of November, the enemy, ten thousand strong, was seen advancing in order of battle; and the King’s troops, not mustering four thousand men, moved forward to engage their opponents. The Thirty-sixth regiment was in the left wing of the royal army. At a critical moment it was ordered to make a change of position, and, while in the act of re-forming, it was attacked by an immense body of Highlanders, the élite of the insurgent host. The soldiers were unable to withstand the very superior numbers of their opponents, and the left wing became separated from the main body of the army, and retired[22] beyond Dumblaine, to gain possession of the passes leading to Stirling. In the meantime, the right wing of the royal army had overpowered the left wing of the rebels, and chased it from the field. Thus both generals had one wing victorious, and one wing defeated: both in consequence claimed the victory. The insurgents were, however, prevented penetrating southward, and were defeated in their object. The Thirty-sixth had one serjeant and twenty-one rank and file killed; Captain Danoer, and fourteen rank and file, were wounded. From the field of battle the troops proceeded to Stirling, where they again encamped.

Towards the end of December the Pretender arrived in Scotland, and assumed all the ensigns of royalty. He held his court at Scone, and his head-quarters were at Perth: but the Highland chieftains finding it impossible to resist the royal forces, resolved to abandon the enterprize. They, however, burnt several villages, to distress the Duke of Argyle in his march, who, in January 1716, obliged them to abandon Perth, whence they retired to Montrose, where the Pretender escaped on board a French ship, together with the Earl of Mar and other adherents. After this the rebels dispersed to the Highlands.

In the year 1718 the Thirty-sixth regiment proceeded to Ireland. In July 1718, the King of Spain having taken Sardinia and invaded Sicily, the “Quadruple Alliance” was formed between Great Britain, France, Germany, and Holland. War was declared against Spain in December by England and France.

The King of Spain afterwards made preparations in favour of the Pretender, and the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked, in March 1719, at Cork for Great Britain.

Brigadier-General Sir Charles Hotham, Bart., was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 7th of July 1719, in succession to Colonel Egerton, removed to the Twentieth regiment.

In January 1720 the King of Spain accepted the conditions of peace, and acceded to the “Quadruple Alliance,” which had been formed two years previously between Great Britain, France, Germany, and Holland; in consequence of which the regiment returned to Ireland, where it remained for several years.

On the 2d of December 1720 Colonel John Pocock was appointed to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to Brigadier-General Sir Charles Hotham, Bart., removed to the Eighth, or the King’s regiment of foot.

Lieut.-Colonel Charles Lenoe was promoted from the Coldstream guards to be colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, on the 21st of April 1721, in succession to Colonel John Pocock, removed to the Eighth, or the King’s regiment of foot.

On the 14th of May 1732, Brigadier-General John Moyle was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, upon the removal to the Eighth, or the King’s regiment of foot, of Colonel Charles Lenoe.

Lieut.-Colonel Humphrey Bland, from the Second horse, now the First dragoon guards, was promoted to the rank of Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 27th of June 1737, in succession to Major-General John Moyle, removed to the Twenty-second regiment.

The claim of the Spanish Government to the right of search, and the aggressions committed by that power on the commerce of Great Britain, in the West Indies, by the guarda-costas and other ships acting by authority of the King of Spain, contrary to the existing treaties, led to a Convention between the two Crowns, which was concluded on the 14th of January 1739. This Convention stipulated, that compensation should[24] be made by Spain to the English Government, in reparation for the hostilities committed on the British subjects in the American seas. The Court of Madrid, however, violated the Convention, and hostilities being on the eve of commencing, the Thirty-sixth regiment was removed from Ireland to Great Britain in September 1739. On the 23d of October following, war was proclaimed by Great Britain against Spain.

A formidable armament was prepared for the attack of the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, and the land forces were placed under the command of General Lord Cathcart. On the 12th of June 1740 the Thirty-sixth regiment was ordered to proceed to Portsmouth for embarkation, but only a portion of the corps subsequently proceeded on this service. Some delay occurred by the fleet being twice driven back by contrary winds. On the 26th of October it sailed a third time, and was dispersed by a tempest in the Bay of Biscay; but the greater part of the vessels were re-collected, and proceeded on the voyage. Arriving at the neutral island of Dominica, to provide wood and water, the troops sustained the loss of their commander, Lord Cathcart, (then Colonel of the Sixth dragoon guards, or Carabineers,) who died of dysentery; the command, in consequence, devolved on Brigadier-General Thomas Wentworth, Colonel of the Twenty-fourth regiment.

Lieut.-Colonel James Fleming was promoted from the Seventh Royal fusiliers to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 9th of January 1741, in succession to Colonel Humphrey Bland, removed to the Thirteenth dragoons.

Upon arriving at Jamaica, in January 1741, the expedition was joined by Vice-Admiral Vernon; but the season of the year for active service in the West Indies was fast passing away, and several circumstances concurred to create further delay. At length an[25] attempt on Carthagena, the capital of a wealthy province in the country of Terra Firma, in South America, was resolved upon. This place was found strongly fortified, and the garrison was reinforced by the crews of a squadron of large ships. A landing was effected on the island of Terra Bomba, near the mouth of the harbour, on the 10th of March, and the siege of the principal fort or castle, named Bocca-chica, was commenced. On the evening of the 25th of March the grenadiers mounted the breach to storm the fortress, when the Spanish garrison fled, and the place was captured without loss.

Two channels having been made through the sunk vessels with which the Spaniards had blocked up the entrance of the harbour, the troops and artillery were re-embarked, and commenced landing on the 5th of April near the city. The country round Carthagena was found covered with trees and herbage of the most luxuriant growth, and the interwoven branches formed a shelter impenetrable both to heat and light; as the troops, led by Brigadier-General Blakeney, advanced along a narrow defile, several men were wounded by shots from the openings into the wood; on diverging from the defile six hundred Spaniards were seen advantageously posted to dispute the passage; but they were speedily driven from their ground, and the British bivouacked within a mile of the castle of Lazar, which commanded the town. The men passed three nights in the open air for want of tents and tools, which could not be landed sooner, and the health of the soldiers was in consequence seriously injured. The siege of the castle was commenced, but as the men were fast diminishing in numbers from hard duty and the effects of climate, Brigadier-General Wentworth resolved to attack St. Lazar by escalade. The attempt was made on the 9th of April before day-break, but without success,[26] although the assailants evinced distinguished gallantry. After sustaining a most destructive fire for several hours with intrepidity and perseverance, the troops were ordered to retire, having sustained a severe loss in killed and wounded.

Violent periodical rains commenced, the country was deluged with water, and the change of atmosphere produced fatal effects on the health of the men, who were drenched with rain. All hope of further success immediately vanished, and the troops returned on board the fleet, where numbers died from the distempers incidental to the climate.

The forts of the harbour of Carthagena having been demolished, the fleet sailed for Jamaica, and the portion of the Thirty-sixth regiment which had formed part of the expedition subsequently returned to Great Britain.

In the year 1744 France and Great Britain, from being auxiliaries in the “War of the Austrian Succession,”[7] became principals in the contest. On the 20th of March 1744 France declared war against England, and on the 29th of that month a counter-declaration was made by Great Britain, in which the French Monarch was accused of violating the “Pragmatic[27] Sanction,”[8] and of assisting the son of the Pretender in his designs on the British throne.

In the spring of 1744 the Thirty-sixth and other regiments were embarked to join the troops in Flanders; but the operations of the British army during that year were confined to the defensive, and no general engagement occurred.

In the spring of 1745 a French army, commanded by Marshal Saxe, invested Tournay, and the Duke of Cumberland, who had assumed the command of the allied army of British, Dutch, and Austrians, advanced to the relief of the town. The Thirty-sixth regiment was left in garrison at Ghent, and was consequently not at the battle of Fontenoy, which was fought on the 11th of May. The Duke of Cumberland having failed in the attempt to relieve Tournay, retreated and encamped his army at Lessines. In the meantime events were transpiring in Scotland which occasioned the Thirty-sixth and other regiments to be embarked for England.

Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, having arrived at a remote part of Scotland, was joined by many of the Highland clans, when he proceeded to assert his father’s pretentions to the throne. The young adventurer and his hardy mountaineers made considerable progress, and advanced as far as Derby, but subsequently retreated towards Scotland. Upon the arrival of the Thirty-sixth regiment in England, it formed part of the army assembled at Newcastle under Field-Marshal Wade, and upon the young Pretender’s advance into England, was employed in several movements designed to cover Yorkshire. On the retreat of the insurgent[28] clans from England, the regiment returned to Newcastle, and was afterwards ordered to proceed to Edinburgh.

The regiment arrived at Edinburgh in January 1746, and was placed under the orders of Lieut.-General Hawley, the commander of the forces in North Britain. Meanwhile the young Pretender being joined by new levies, and having procured artillery and ammunition, obtained possession of the town of Stirling and commenced the siege of the castle. In order to raise the siege Lieut.-General Hawley advanced from Edinburgh, and an encampment was formed near the village of Falkirk. On the 17th of January, as the King’s troops were at dinner in the camp, the advance of the enemy was discovered; the royal forces seized their arms and proceeded along some rugged and difficult grounds to a large moor, where the rebel army appeared in order of battle.

Success or failure in the hour of battle has sometimes been found to depend upon accidental circumstances over which the commanders of armies have no control. Such was the case at the battle of Falkirk,[9] at which a tempest of wind and rain beat so violently in the faces of the royal forces at the moment when they engaged their adversaries, that their ammunition was spoiled in the act of loading; the soldiers could not see their opponents, and several regiments gave way, while others maintained their ground. At night both parties withdrew from the field of battle, and the King’s troops proceeded to Edinburgh.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland arrived in Scotland to command the army, and on the 31st of January the troops were again in motion towards the enemy, who instantly raised the siege of Stirling Castle, and made a precipitate retreat to Inverness. The royal forces followed in pursuit, but were delayed in their advance by severe weather. The Thirty-sixth regiment was engaged in the operations of the army until the battle of Culloden on the 16th of April, on which occasion it composed part of the second line under Major-General Huske. The following return shows the number of officers and men in each regiment of infantry on the morning of the battle:—

After a sharp cannonade several select clans of mountaineers sprang forward, and with shouts and dismal yells attacked the King’s forces sword in hand. In less than an hour after the commencement of the action the enemy’s forces were overthrown and a decisive victory was obtained, which effectually suppressed the rebellion.

The Thirty-sixth regiment sustained but small loss, having only six men wounded on this occasion.

After halting a short time at Inverness the army advanced into the highlands, and encamped in the gloomy valley, surrounded by rugged precipices, near Fort Augustus, from whence detachments were sent out to search for arms, and for persons who had been engaged in the rebellion. Prince Charles, after enduring many hardships, succeeded in escaping to France in September.

Meanwhile hostilities had been continued on the Continent, and in the beginning of 1747, the Thirty-sixth regiment re-embarked at Gravesend for Flanders. After having joined the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, the regiment was engaged in several operations near the frontiers of Holland, which led to the battle of Laffeld, or Val, fought on the 2d of July 1747, in the villages in the vicinity of Maestricht. On this occasion the allied army was very inferior in numbers to the enemy, and although the British infantry were conspicuous throughout the action for the gallantry with which they fought, the Duke of Cumberland was obliged to order a retreat. His Royal Highness passed the highest encomiums on the British troops for their conduct in this battle; and according to the “London Gazette,” there was not a squadron or battalion which did not charge and beat the enemy more than once.

The loss of the Thirty-sixth regiment in this battle was Major Petrie, Lieutenant Brodie, two serjeants, and twenty-two rank and file, killed; with Lieut.-Colonel Jackson, Captains Morgan, Pechell, Dod, and Gore, Lieutenant Ackland, Ensigns Vaughan, Duncan, Elrington, Strong, and Porter, three serjeants, two drummers, and seventy-four rank and file, wounded; and eighty-two men missing.

After withdrawing from the field of battle, the army continued its retreat to Maestricht, where it arrived on the same evening. The Thirty-sixth regiment was subsequently employed in various parts of the provinces of Limburg and North Brabant.

The regiment again took the field in the spring of 1748, and was employed in several operations, but no general engagement occurred. Hostilities were at length terminated by a treaty of peace, which was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 7th of October 1748. During the winter the Thirty-sixth returned to England.

On its arrival from Holland, the establishment of the regiment was reduced, and it was ordered to proceed to Gibraltar, in which fortress it was stationed during the five following years.

Colonel Lord Robert Manners was appointed by His Majesty King George II. to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 13th of March 1751, in succession to Major-General James Fleming, deceased.

In the Royal Warrant, dated the 1st of July 1751, for ensuring uniformity in the clothing, standards, and colours of the army, and regulating the numerical title and rank of regiments, the facings of the Thirty-sixth were directed to be green. The first, or King’s colour, was the great union; the second, or regimental colour, was of green silk, with the union in[32] the upper canton; in the centre of the colour the number of the rank of the regiment, in gold Roman characters, within a wreath of roses and thistles on the same stalk.

In 1754 the Thirty-sixth regiment returned to England from Gibraltar, and was subsequently stationed in North Britain.

Towards the end of the year 1755 the Thirty-sixth regiment was removed from Scotland to South Britain.

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was at length interrupted by the aggressions of the French on the British territory in North America; and early in 1756 the King of France prepared a powerful armament for the capture of the island of Minorca. In consequence of this attack on Minorca, hostilities became inevitable on the part of Great Britain, and on the 18th of May war was declared against France. At this period the army and navy were increased; and, among other augmentations, fifteen of the regiments of infantry, including the Thirty-sixth, were authorized to raise second battalions from the 25th of August 1756.

From the 17th of June to the 12th of October 1756, the Thirty-sixth and other regiments were encamped at Chatham under Major-General Lord George Sackville.

In the year 1757 the Thirty-sixth regiment, consisting of two battalions, and other corps were encamped under General Charles Duke of Marlborough at Barham Downs.

The second battalions, which had been added two years previously to fifteen of the regiments of infantry, were, in 1758, formed into distinct corps, and numbered from the Sixty-first to the Seventy-fifth regiment. By this arrangement the second battalion[33] of the Thirty-sixth was constituted the Seventy-fourth regiment, which was disbanded after the peace of Fontainebleau.[10]

The Government resolved upon making a descent on the French coast, by which it was expected to create such a diversion in favour of the British allies in Germany as would obviate the necessity of sending them a reinforcement of troops. The Thirty-sixth formed a part of the army selected for this service, which amounted to fourteen thousand men, and was commanded by General Charles Duke of Marlborough. The Thirty-sixth proceeded to the Isle of Wight, where it was formed in brigade with the Fifth, Twenty-fifth, and Seventy-fourth regiments (the latter corps since disbanded), under Major-General John Mostyn. The embarkation commenced on the 24th of May; the expedition sailed on the 1st of June, and on the 5th of that month a landing was effected, without loss, about two leagues to the eastward of St. Maloes, towards which place the army advanced in two columns on the 7th of June, and encamped within a mile from the town: here the Commander-in-Chief reconnoitred, and having observed several houses filled with naval and military stores, which were not protected by the guns of the town, the Thirty-sixth, in common with the other regiments, furnished a detachment, which was sent after dark to set fire to them, a service which was most effectually performed, thirteen vessels of war, besides[34] several merchantmen, and vast quantities of stores being destroyed. St. Maloes, though incapable of making an effectual resistance against a regular siege, was considered too strong to be attempted by a coup-de-main; the troops were accordingly re-embarked, and preparations were afterwards made for a descent at Granville, on the coast of Normandy, and afterwards at Cherbourg; but, the weather being severe, the fleet returned to England.

In August of the same year the Thirty-sixth was engaged in a second expedition to the coast of France, when Cherbourg was captured, and the harbour, forts, magazines, and ordnance, consisting of 173 pieces of iron cannon and three mortars were destroyed; at the same time, 22 pieces of fine brass cannon and two brass mortars were brought off as trophies, and sent to England, when, after being viewed by King George II. in Hyde Park, they were conducted in procession through the City to the Tower of London.

Another descent was made on the coast of Brittany on the 4th of September, when the batteries in the bay of St. Lunaire were destroyed, and the troops marched into the interior, while the fleet proceeded to the bay of St. Cass, thus alarming the country with the view of producing the return of the French army from Germany. Upon the troops being re-embarked at St. Cass, the enemy attacked the rear-guard and occasioned considerable loss. Towards the end of September the regiment landed at Cowes, and, having encamped a short period near Newport, went into winter quarters.

During the summer of 1759 the regiment was encamped at Chatham under Lieut.-General John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle.

In the course of the year 1760 the Thirty-sixth regiment was encamped at Sandheath under Lieut.-General the Earl of Ancram.

In the spring of 1761 a force proceeded under the command of Major-General Studholme Hodgson[35] against Belle-Isle, a French island in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of Brittany. The expedition appeared before Belle-Isle on the 7th of April, and a landing was attempted on the following day, but without success;—other endeavours to secure a landing on different points of the island proving also unsuccessful, orders were given to desist from the attempt, and the men returned to the boats, and proceeded back to their several ships. Many of the boats were destroyed or damaged in these efforts, and about five hundred men were lost in killed, wounded, and missing.

Major-General Hodgson subsequently received the following reinforcements, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part:—

A landing was effected by Brigadier-General Hamilton Lambert on the 22d of April, on the rocks near Point Lomaria, where the difficulty of ascending the precipice had made the enemy least attentive to that part. Beauclerk’s grenadiers (Nineteenth foot), with Captain Patterson, of that regiment, gained the summit before the enemy saw what was intended, who immediately marched a body of three hundred men to attack them; the grenadiers, however, maintained their ground till the remainder of Brigadier Lambert’s troops arrived. The success thus gained was promptly followed up; the French were eventually repulsed, and three brass field-pieces, with a few prisoners, were captured.

The cannon was afterwards landed from the ships and dragged up the rocks; the lines which covered the town of Palais were carried by assault, and the siege of the citadel was prosecuted with vigour. The garrison, under their governor, the Chevalier de St. Croix, made a gallant defence; but on the 7th of June were forced to surrender, and were permitted to march through the breach with the honours of war, in consideration of their bravery. The capture of the island was thus achieved, with the loss of about eighteen hundred men killed and wounded.

This conquest was regarded with great pride by the British nation; but the island was restored to France, at the peace of Fontainebleau in 1763, in exchange for Minorca, which had been taken by the French at the commencement of the war.

During the remainder of the year 1761 the Thirty-sixth regiment was stationed in South Britain.

The Thirty-sixth regiment during 1762 continued to be quartered in South Britain. In January war was declared against Spain, and in the summer of that year the regiment was encamped at Sandheath under Lieut.-General Edward Carr. Negociations for peace were shortly afterwards commenced, and the preliminary articles were signed at Fontainebleau by the Duke of Bedford on the 3d of November 1762.

On the 10th of February 1763 the treaty of Fontainebleau was concluded at Paris, the ratifications were exchanged on the 10th of March, and peace was proclaimed in London on the 22d of that month.

The Thirty-sixth regiment embarked on the 17th of March 1764 for Jamaica, in which island it was stationed for some years.

Major-General Richard Pierson was removed from the Sixty-third to the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 11th of September 1765, in succession to Lieut.-General[37] Lord Robert Manners, appointed to the Third dragoon guards.

In 1773 the Thirty-sixth returned home from Jamaica, and the regiment arrived in England in June of that year.

On the 6th of August 1774, the light infantry companies of the Third, Eleventh, Twenty-first, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-sixth, and Seventieth regiments assembled at Salisbury, where they were formed into a brigade, and disciplined under the command of Major-General the Honourable Sir William Howe until the 4th of October following, when they were reviewed by His Majesty King George III. in Richmond Park, and were afterwards ordered to rejoin their respective regiments.

The war with the American colonies commenced in April 1775, but the Thirty-sixth regiment did not proceed to that country; on the 10th of September following it embarked at Portsmouth for Ireland, where it was stationed for the seven following years.

Colonel the Honourable Henry St. John, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-seventh regiment, was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth on the 27th of November 1778, in succession to Lieut.-General Richard Pierson, removed to the Thirteenth dragoons.

A letter, dated the 31st of August 1782, conveyed to the regiment His Majesty’s pleasure that county titles should be conferred on the infantry, and the Thirty-sixth was directed to assume the designation of the Herefordshire regiment, in order that a connexion between the corps and that county should be cultivated, which might be useful in promoting the success of the recruiting service.

On the 6th of September 1782, the Thirty-sixth regiment was brought from Ireland, and placed on the British establishment, and occupied Hilsea barracks, near Portsmouth.

The contest with the American colonists had involved Great Britain in war with France, Spain, and Holland; but on the 30th of November 1782, the preliminary articles of peace were signed at Paris between Great Britain and the United States of America, and the treaty was concluded in the ensuing February.

In the year 1783, peace was concluded between England, France, Spain, and Holland. A new field of service was about to open for the Thirty-sixth, that regiment having been selected to proceed to the East Indies, for which country it embarked at Portsmouth on the 10th of March 1783, and arrived at Madras in July following, while the British were engaged in hostilities against the powerful Sultan of the Mysore, Tippoo Saib, who, on the death of his father, Hyder Ali, in December of the preceding year, had succeeded to the dominions of that soldier of fortune.

The regiment, being thirteen hundred strong, was immediately transferred from the Indiamen into King’s ships, and proceeded, under the command of Brevet-Colonel Allan Campbell, to the relief of Mangalore, on the Malabar coast, which had been invested by Tippoo Saib on the 18th of May 1783, and was gallantly defended by the second battalion of the Forty-second regiment (afterwards numbered the Seventy-third regiment) and some native corps. Meanwhile the general peace, which had been entered into with the European Powers, deprived Tippoo of his French allies, and the Sultan entered into negotiations for terminating the war between Mysore and the British. The troops under Brigadier-General Macleod appeared in sight of Mangalore on the 24th of November 1783, but on the 1st of December, in consequence of the following circumstances, the ships sailed to the southward.

Some boats with Sepoys having at this period been wrecked near Cannanore, upon the Malabar coast, about[39] two hundred of them were seized and detained by Ali Rajah Biby, the Queen of that country; repeated applications were made for their release, but without success, and Brigadier-General Norman Macleod determined to take satisfaction for these injuries, immediately after the relief of Mangalore. Tippoo Saib desired him to desist, and claimed the ruler of the Cannanore country as his ally.

The Thirty-sixth regiment proceeded under the command of Major the Honourable John Knox to Cannanore, which was captured by the troops under Brigadier-General Macleod in December 1783.

On the 11th of March 1784 peace was concluded with Tippoo Saib, the Sultan of Mysore; one of the articles of the treaty stipulated, that the fort and district of Cannanore should be evacuated and restored to Ali Rajah Biby, the Queen of that country.

During the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, the Thirty-sixth regiment occupied cantonments at Poonamallee, Arcot, Vellore, and Wallahabad.

The insatiable ambition of Tippoo Saib, the Sultan of the Mysore territory, soon involved the British Government of India in another war; he appeared near the confines of the country of Travancore, at the head of a powerful army, made unreasonable demands on the Rajah, a British ally, and commenced hostilities towards the end of December 1789.

A force was consequently directed to be assembled, in March 1790, at Wallahabad, under the orders of Colonel Thomas Musgrave of the Seventy-sixth regiment; it was put in movement on the 29th of that month, and proceeded towards Trichinopoly, at which place the troops arrived on the 29th of April, where the following corps had been collected under the command of Colonel Bridges:—Two King’s regiments, the Thirty-sixth and Seventy-second; the Second and Fifth Native cavalry; the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Sixteenth,[40] Twentieth, and Twenty-third Coast sepoys. At the same time Colonel Deare, with three companies of Bengal artillery, joined, the whole being under the orders of Major-General Musgrave, to which rank he had been promoted on the 28th of April 1790.

On the 24th of May Major-General (afterwards Sir William) Medows assumed the command, and reviewed the army, which was directed to proceed towards the Coimbatore country.

Advancing from Trichinopoly on the 26th of May, and penetrating the enemy’s country, the army arrived, after a march of about fifty miles, on the 15th of June, at the fort of Caroor, where the troops encamped eighteen days, while provisions were being collected and a magazine formed. Leaving this place on the 3d of July, the army marched to Daraporam, which was abandoned by the enemy; a garrison was left at this place, and the army marched through a beautiful country to the city of Coimbatore, where the British arrived on the 22nd July; here the army halted, and detachments were sent off to reduce Dindigul, Errode, and Palghautcherry. About the end of July, Colonel, afterwards General Sir John Floyd, of the Nineteenth light dragoons (since disbanded), with the Cavalry of the army and a brigade of Native infantry, was ordered to take possession of the small and weak fort of Sattimungulum, in which, after its capture, he placed a battalion of sepoys. At this period the army was separated in three divisions, one at Coimbatore, one at Sattimungulum, sixty miles in advance, and one besieging Palghautcherry. Tippoo resolved to attack, and if possible destroy, the division in advance before the main body could arrive to its support. The troops from Coimbatore were accordingly ordered to march, to reinforce Colonel Floyd.

In the beginning of September a detachment of troops under Colonel Oldham, of which the Thirty-sixth[41] formed part, marched from Errode to join Colonel Floyd at Sattimungulum, which place was reached in three days. Colonel Floyd’s entire force now consisted of His Majesty’s Nineteenth light dragoons and sixteen troops of Native cavalry, His Majesty’s Thirty-sixth regiment and five battalions of Native infantry, eleven guns, and a due proportion of artillerymen and officers. Detachments of cavalry were sent almost every day to scour the country towards the Gudzelhetty Pass, and they generally brought in a few of the enemy’s horse, belonging to Syde Saib’s party, stationed at the foot of the Ghauts, who were much distressed for provisions and forage, his people having been constantly obliged to cross the Boovany, in order to procure grain in the different villages, in which places they were generally taken prisoners; their horses were very small and bad. A deposit of grain and provisions was in the meantime formed in this frontier station for the use of the army under Major-General Medows, which was destined to ascend to Mysore by the Gudzelhetty Pass early in October. On the 11th and 12th of September it was reported in camp that Tippoo, in person, had descended the Gudzelhetty Pass with a large army of cavalry and infantry, with several pieces of artillery. On the morning of the 12th of September Tippoo’s army, estimated at about thirty thousand cavalry, infantry, and artillery, descended the Gudzelhetty Pass, and crossed the Boovany river at daybreak of the following morning. A reconnoitring party of British cavalry, under Major Child, encountered the enemy’s advance guard of cavalry on the 13th, and compelled it to recross the river. On the 12th at night orders had been given to Major Darley to march with his regiment of Native cavalry towards the Pass early in the morning, to support Major Child, and he had not proceeded three miles, when he perceived a large body of cavalry advancing, and was immediately charged by them; being so much pressed on all sides,[42] he was obliged to take post and keep off the enemy while his ammunition lasted, which was nearly expended, when Colonel Floyd, with the remainder of the cavalry, came to his support, to whom he had sent information on first perceiving the enemy; this reinforcement fortunately arrived just in time, as Major Darley’s regiment was in a very dangerous situation.

Colonel Floyd, unperceived by Tippoo’s forces, charged them in flank with three troops of the Nineteenth light dragoons, supported by the remainder of the regiment, entirely routed them, and pursued them to the river; it was supposed that the enemy had nearly five hundred killed on the ground, and a great number drowned in endeavouring to recross the river, which was fordable in very few places, while those were deep and dangerous.

The infantry moved about two miles from the camp in order to give support if necessary. The encampment being confined, and change of situation requisite, orders had been already issued for a change of ground, which was situated about a mile from the position then occupied, near to Damicotta; the tents were accordingly struck early on the 13th of September.

Colonel Floyd, having dispersed the body of cavalry, the troops were ordered to return to camp, which they had not reached a quarter of an hour, when some guns were opened from the opposite side of the river, whose shot came direct into the lines: the lines immediately turned out, and the tents, which were scarcely pitched, were ordered to be struck. The enemy was perceived in great force on both sides of the river; and three columns, two of infantry and one of cavalry, on the same side of the river with the British detachment, could be distinguished marching with rapidity round the left flank, which the foe seemed endeavouring to penetrate; the opening of the guns on the opposite side, and showing force there, being intended to withdraw[43] attention from his intended attack, Colonel Floyd moved out the infantry to a commanding ground, with the British right towards the river, and the left extended so as to cover Sattimungulum, and prevent the enemy getting on his flank.

The first line consisted of the First Native battalion on the right; the Thirty-sixth King’s regiment, the Fifth and Twenty-fifth Native battalions on the left; the cannon consisted of one eighteen-brass-pounder, two twelve-pounders, and eight sixes.

The ground between the British and that occupied by the forces of Tippoo Saib was low and intersected with thick hedges; the British left was covered by stony rugged ground, difficult of approach; the enemy formed his line nearly parallel to the British, having his left extended to the river at about twelve hundred yards distance. Before the troops had well taken up their position, the enemy opened some guns; the ground was exceedingly stony, as was most of the county adjacent, which in a great manner prevented Tippoo making use of his cavalry during the day. The British cavalry formed a second line, about half a mile in the rear; the baggage was moved under the cover of some hills about the same distance in the rear and on the right flank of the cavalry; the enemy kept firing from three or four guns from the opposite side of the river during the whole of the day, the British right being within shot of them, to which one battalion was fronted to hinder him from crossing the river, as it was fordable in that part. One native battalion (the sixteenth) remained in the fort, where it had been stationed some time.

When the cannonade first commenced it was about eleven o’clock, A.M. Soon after the British had taken up their ground the enemy opened about sixteen guns, and in a short time had the range of the line very exactly. Colonel Deare, of the Bengal Artillery, who[44] was on the right giving some necessary directions, was shot through the body shortly after the commencement of the action. At about one o’clock the axletrees of the two twelve-pounders broke, and rendered those two guns useless; these were the best the British had for the purpose.

Finding that the men were beginning to suffer very much, as nearly every ball struck the line, Colonel Floyd, not wishing to give up his advantageous position, ordered the men to lie down, which preserved the lives of several. The troops obeyed these directions, and sustained with the greatest coolness and fortitude the galling fire of the enemy. The cannonade continued without the least intermission until it was quite dark, about eight at night. Tippoo’s forces, supposing from the inactivity of the British during the day that a night attack was meditated, withdrew about six miles back on the road by which they had advanced that morning.

The British were not able to do the enemy much injury, for the six-pounders scarcely reached his line; the slaughter among the draught cattle was very great, nearly two-thirds of them being killed. The Thirty-sixth had Lieutenant Dennis Kelly Armstrong and twenty-five men killed; Lieutenant John Vallancy and about forty men were wounded.

When the cannonade ceased, every assistance was given to the wounded; from the situation of the baggage and stores no refreshment could be procured for the men except a dram of arrack, the cattle carrying water for the men having been mostly killed, and the drivers fearing to come to the lines, water was much wanted. A council of war was held during the night, in which it was agreed to force a way through the enemy’s lines about three o’clock in the morning of the 14th of September, and join Major-General (afterwards Sir William) Medows, to whom information had been sent[45] on the night of the 12th or morning of the 13th. Every endeavour was made to repair the two twelve-pounders, and settle the other guns so as to move; the want of cattle was so great that it was impossible to draw all the guns; the baggage was searched, and all the private draught bullocks that could be obtained were brought to the lines, but on trial would not move the guns. The necessary instructions were given for the march, which was to take place, from the left, in the following manner:—The grenadiers of the Thirty-sixth regiment to lead, provided with instruments for spiking the enemy’s guns; the Twenty-fifth Native battalion next, then the Fifth battalion; the battalion companies of the Thirty-sixth regiment; the Sixteenth and First Native battalions; the light company of the Thirty-sixth regiment in the rear. The cavalry were to march in a separate column on the left. The sixteenth battalion of sepoys was ordered to be withdrawn from the fort about twelve at night, but did not arrive until five, to which may be attributed the engagement on the 14th, as the troops would otherwise have been two hours’ march in advance of the enemy. It was only found possible to repair one of the twelve-pounders, and that with much exertion; upon collecting all the bullocks that could be obtained, the eighteen-pounder, two six-pounders, and two tumbrils were obliged to be left on the ground, besides the broken down twelve-pounder; one wheel of the eighteen-pounder had been much damaged, as was the timber, and one of the six-pounders; unfortunately the followers, the people with the baggage, and the wounded, who were moved behind one of the hills in the rear, being out of danger, were not properly informed of the intended march, and were left almost to the mercy of the enemy’s horse. The first they knew of the movement was seeing the line in motion, and every one then endeavoured to make the best of his way to it; some[46] of the dooly-men ran off, as did most of the followers, leaving the sick and a great portion of the baggage on the ground; when it was sufficiently light, it was perceived that the enemy had left the position occupied by him during the night. The British line moved off about five o’clock, and was obliged to lift the guns on by hand, which caused the troops to get on very slowly. Before the ground had been well quitted, it was covered by the enemy’s troops, who could be seen cutting down every straggler they met; they came close on the rear, annoying it as much as they could; all the wounded and sick as were able to make their way to the line were placed on the guns, and such officers’ horses as could be found; in a short time the guns were laden with them as much as could by any method be placed on them, which much increased the difficulty of moving, the soldiers being chiefly obliged to drag the guns. The march was continued unmolested except by small parties of horse, until the troops arrived within about four miles of Shawoor, five miles from Sattimungulum. The country was very close, and there being but one road between two rugged hills, the British formed one column, the cavalry leading; these moving faster than the infantry had reached Shawoor, and were most of them dismounted collecting forage, when Tippoo’s forces were perceived on some rising ground on the right flank, gaining on the British with great rapidity. The centre of the line had just reached some rising ground, when the enemy opened two guns; the second shot killed and wounded four men of the Thirty-sixth regiment. The line kept still moving forward, the enemy closing on it in all directions, his cavalry making several charges in front, and particularly on the rear; some of his infantry had by this time got very close without being perceived, as the country was much intersected with hedges, and annoyed the line greatly with musketry and rockets, particularly the centre and[47] rear. The line halted, and fronted the enemy. When the British musketry commenced, the enemy’s horse had formed completely round the troops, and were making constant charges at the line in all directions, several times coming close to the ranks; the most numerous attacks were on the rear flank; the light company of the Thirty-sixth was much pressed, and several were killed and wounded; this company continued the arduous conflict until the ammunition was expended, when charging with the bayonet Captain William Hartley of the Thirty-sixth was killed.

The light company was immediately relieved by a battalion company of the Thirty-sixth, which was again relieved by another company on the ammunition being expended.

In this cool and spirited manner the engagement was carried on for about two hours and a half with the same regularity as on a common field day, when the enemy’s cavalry, consisting of about two thousand, in two dense columns, made a circuit and charged the grenadier company, commanded by Captain Robert Burne, of the Thirty-sixth, but were effectually checked by a steady and well-directed fire from the company, which caused them to wheel off to the south. During the engagement, and immediately after this event, an officer of the British artillery, seeing a chief of the enemy’s army mounted on an elephant encouraging his troops on to the attack, directed his fire against him, and killed him with the third shot. This chief proved to be Bunham-ud-deen, the commander of the army, and a near relative of the Sultan Tippoo Saib.

This event, in addition to the discouraging circumstance of having been repulsed with considerable loss in every attempt to break the British line, decided the fate of the day; the enemy retired from the contest, and by four o’clock in the afternoon left his opponents complete masters of the field of battle.

Colonel Floyd, with the cavalry, being a few miles in advance, on the sudden appearance of the enemy’s cavalry, and hearing from Colonel Oldham the situation of the infantry, immediately formed line, and charged the foe, who, dreading to come in contact with the troops that had, in the early skirmish on the previous day, given him such a severe specimen of their prowess, moved off at too rapid a rate to be overtaken; a pursuit was, however, kept up for some time, and, after scouring the country for a distance round, the troops were enabled to rest quietly during the night at the village of Shawoor, where they arrived about seven o’clock in the evening.

Colonel Floyd having during the action received intelligence of the arrival of Major-General Medows at Vellady that day, a distance of about twenty miles from Shawoor, the march of the entire detachment was in consequence directed to that village; and, moving off at three o’clock in the morning of the 15th of September, arrived there at sunset in the evening, quite overcome by fatigue, thirst, and hunger.

The Thirty-sixth regiment, which had borne the brunt of the contest, had no refreshment from the evening of the 13th until late on that of the 15th of September, excepting a supply of tobacco procured by Lieutenant William Chambers, of the Thirty-sixth, immediately after the action, from a cabin in the neighbourhood of the line. The good qualities of this plant are well known to soldiers and sailors, and under these circumstances this timely supply proved a matter of great importance to the men. It allayed their hunger and thirst, revived their spirits, and afforded infinite relief during the remainder of their long and fatiguing march.

It is to be observed that Tippoo’s regular troops, called the “Tiger Infantry,” were the attacking force on this occasion, and were so named from their jackets[49] having the emblem stripe of the royal tiger woven in the cloth. A report was also current, that after the battle Tippoo asked the officers why they had not destroyed the Feringhee battalion; to which they replied, that “they had done their best, but the battalion wearing the colour of their prophet (the facings of the Thirty-sixth being green), could not be vanquished by any troops in the world.”

The army returned to Coimbatore on the 23d of September. The Sultan, disappointed in his object of destroying the divisions of the British army in detail, resolved to attack the chain of depôts; he gained possession of Errode and the stores at that place, and afterwards marched southwards. The British troops advanced from Coimbatore on the 29th of September, and, arriving at Errode on the 4th of October, found the place abandoned, and Tippoo’s army gone. He had marched in the direction of Coimbatore; but, hearing that the garrison was augmented, he advanced rapidly upon Darraporam, against which the Sultan opened his batteries on the 8th of October. The fort had no cannon mounted, and the garrison, consisting of a hundred Europeans and two hundred sepoys, capitulated on honourable terms, to which the enemy strictly adhered.

The British army moved on the 5th of October, and on the 15th of that month encamped in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore, where Lieut.-Colonel Stuart joined from Palghautcherry, after having taken the place, and left it in a tolerable state of defence. The pursuit of the Sultan was continued, the troops traversing extensive tracts of country, and undergoing much fatigue under an Indian sun. In the middle of November the army traversed the difficult pass of Tappoor, winding through deep valleys, and dragging the guns over precipices. Here the advance fell in with the rear of Tippoo’s force, but could make no impression. The[50] Sultan resolved to leave the British troops in his own country, and to invade the Carnatic, which would bring the English back for the defence of Trichinopoly. Major-General Medows was about to carry offensive plans into execution, when the movements of Tippoo rendered it necessary to return to the Carnatic, and the army arrived at the vicinity of Trichinopoly in the middle of December.

On the 1st of January 1791, the army arrived at Terrimungulum, and on the 12th at Arnee. During this long and fatiguing march the Anglo-Indian troops frequently encamped upon the ground from which the enemy had removed in the morning; but the efforts made to overtake him were not successful. The sick and heavy guns having been placed in the fort of Arnee, on the 14th of January the advance and right wing marched for Velhout, where they arrived on the 27th, followed by the left wing.

On the 29th of January the army was reviewed by General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K. G., who had arrived from Bengal to assume the command, and who expressed great satisfaction at the appearance of the troops. His Lordship was at this period Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, and had quitted Bengal on the 6th of December of the previous year, and landed at Fort St. George, Madras, on the 30th of the same month.

The army arrived in the vicinity of Vellore on the 11th of February 1791, and the troops were ordered into the fort. Tippoo was prepared to oppose any attempt to penetrate into the country under his dominion by the easiest passes; but Earl Cornwallis contrived the appearance of a march towards Amboor, which completely deceived the Sultan; and then turning suddenly to the north, traversed the difficult pass of Muglee, without the enemy having power to offer the least obstruction, and arrived on the 20th of February[51] on the table-land of the Mysore country. Two days afterwards the troops commenced their march towards the strong fortress of Bangalore.

The following graphic description of the Fort of Bangalore is extracted from Colonel Mark Wilks’s History of the South of India:—

An attack on the Delhi gate of the pettah was made early in the morning of the 7th of March 1791 by the Thirty-sixth regiment, commanded by Captain Andrew Wight, supported by the Third brigade of sepoys, under Lieut.-Colonel Cockerell, and a few six-pounders under Colonel Moorehouse. The zigzag approach to the gate was scarcely twenty feet wide; two field-pieces were opened on the gate, but that being[52] supported behind by a piece of masonry-work, three feet high and three feet thick, the shot, penetrating through the gate above, had no effect in bringing it down.

All this time the troops were exposed to a destructive shower of musketry from the turrets, on which a heavy fire was kept up by the assailants, when two pieces of ordnance were advanced, and their fire being directed at the lower part of the gate and masonry work, shattered it so much that, with the assistance of the troops, a sufficient opening was made to admit one person to enter, which happened to be Lieutenant John Eyre of the light company of the Thirty-sixth regiment. The soldiers continuing their exertions, at length pulled down the gate, and immediately entered, when the enemy fled with precipitation to the fort.

Lieutenant Eyre had received a sabre blow from a cavalry soldier, which cut through his cap, wounded his forehead, and knocked him down, but recovering his feet immediately, he joined his company in pursuit of the enemy. Shortly afterwards the enemy made a great effort to retake the pettah, but being immediately charged with the bayonet from street to street, were driven back with considerable loss, and the British were left in undisturbed possession of the town. In this attack, Captain Jeremiah Delany, of the Thirty-sixth, was killed.

The efforts of the troops were now directed to the reduction of the fort,—and every preparation for the approaching siege was carried on with diligence and activity. On the 15th of March, the batteries being completed, opened a fire upon Bangalore, and on the 17th the lines were cannonaded by the enemy, while at night the camp was much disturbed by his rockets.

Forage became very scarce, and none could be procured beyond the advanced piquets. The siege, however, proceeded, and the enemy continued to harass the[53] British until the 21st of March, when the breach being considered practicable, an attack was ordered.

The storming party consisted of the grenadiers of the Thirty-sixth, Fifty-second, Seventy-first, Seventy-second, Seventy-fourth, and Seventy-sixth regiments, followed by their respective light companies, and led by Lieutenant James Duncan of the Seventy-first, and Lieutenant John Evans of the Fifty-second, with a forlorn hope of thirty chosen men; the whole supported by the battalion companies of the Thirty-sixth, Seventy-second, and Seventy-sixth, with some battalions of Bengal sepoys. The corps of attack were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell of the Seventy-fourth, the flankers immediately by Major Skelly; Major-General Medows was present on the occasion.

The troops proceeded on this enterprise at eleven o’clock on a fine moonlight night on the 21st of March, and after a sharp conflict, by one o’clock in the morning they became masters of the important fortress of Bangalore.

On the 28th of March the army quitted Bangalore to join the forces of the Nizam, amounting to about fifteen thousand cavalry, sent to co-operate with the English in this war, and the junction was effected on the 13th of April. The army afterwards returned to Bangalore, where preparations were made for the siege of Seringapatam; the troops advanced upon the capital of the Mysore on the 4th of May, and on the 13th of that month arrived at Arakerry, on the Cavery, about eight miles below Seringapatam, which derived its name from the god Serung, to whom one of the pagodas was dedicated. The enemy was discernible in front, with his right resting on the river, and his left on a high hill named the Carighaut.

During the night of the 14th of May, the troops marched with a view to surprise the enemy; but owing to the badness of the weather and roads, together with the jaded state of the gun-bullocks, little or no progress was made during the night; but on the following day, after having undergone great fatigue, they were brought into action, when the enemy was driven from his strong position, and forced across the river into the island upon which the capital, Seringapatam, is situated, where he was protected by his batteries. In this affair Lieutenant[55] John Turner was severely wounded, which caused his death.

The army rested upon the field of battle, and was again in movement on the 18th of May, and arrived on the 20th at Canambaddy, situated on the Cavery, some miles above Seringapatam. It was now ascertained that the season was too far advanced for undertaking immediately the siege of Tippoo’s capital, and it was determined accordingly to withdraw. The battering train was destroyed; all the ammunition and stores were buried which could not be removed, and on the 26th of May the army marched in the direction of Bangalore.

Before commencing their retreat the soldiers were thanked in orders for their conduct throughout these services, and it was added:—

In the course of this retreat the British were joined by the Mahratta army, under Hurry Punt and Purseram Bhow, consisting of about thirty-two thousand men, chiefly cavalry, and thirty pieces of cannon. Of the approach of this large force the British had been kept in total ignorance by the active manner in which the[56] communications were interrupted by Tippoo’s irregular troops. Captain Little, having under his orders two battalions of Bombay sepoys, joined with the Mahratta army, and the supplies were now abundant.

The army arrived at Bangalore on the 11th of July, and the enemy made no attempt whatever to interrupt the march. By this time the Nizam’s cavalry had become unfit to keep the field, and were allowed to return to their own country. Purseram Bhow also, with a large detachment of the Mahrattas, proceeded into the Sera country; but Hurry Punt, with the remainder, continued attached to the British army. On the 15th of July the whole of the sick and one-half of the tumbrils belonging to the field-pieces were sent into the fort of Bangalore, and the army moved towards Oussoor, where it arrived on the 11th of the following month—the fort at that place being abandoned by the enemy after he had blown up the angles thereof.

On the 12th of August the army moved from Oussoor and on the 23d arrived at Bayeur. About this period Major Gowdie, of the Honorable East India Company’s service, was detached with some troops for the reduction of the strong hill fort of Nundydroog, which it was found required regular approaches. Major Gowdie arrived before the place on the 22d of September.

Nundydroog, the capital of a large and valuable district, was built on the summit of a mountain about one thousand seven hundred feet in height; three-fourths of its circumference were absolutely inaccessible, and the only face on which it could be ascended was protected by two excellent walls and an outwork which covered the gateway, and afforded a formidable flank fire. The foundation for a third wall had been dug, but the Sultan had not been able to have the plan completed.

The flank companies of the Thirty-sixth and Seventy-first regiments, under the command of Captain James Robertson of the latter corps, marched on the[57] 17th of October to join the detachment under Major Gowdie, and, upon their arrival, were immediately placed in the last parallel.

General the Earl Cornwallis, with a view to intimidate the garrison, encamped with the army within four miles of Nundydroog, on the 18th of October, and in the evening of that day the troops were told off for an assault upon the two breaches, which had been pronounced practicable. The attacks commenced at eleven o’clock at night, the grenadiers assaulting the right breach and the light companies the left. The forlorn hope of the right attack consisted of twenty grenadiers, volunteers from the Thirty-sixth and Seventy-first regiments. Captain Robert Burne supported, with the Thirty-sixth grenadiers, the right attack, and Captain William Hartley, with the light company of that regiment, the left attack; Major-General Medows animated the whole with his presence.

The assailants were soon discovered; blue lights immediately illuminated the fort, and a heavy fire opened from the works; this fire was fortunately ill-directed, but the large stones hurled down the hill, and acquiring great velocity as they bounded from the rock in their descent, were extremely formidable. The storming party, however, soon mounted the breaches, and pursuing the enemy closely prevented his barricading the gate of the inner wall. This was forced open, and the troops entered. Captain Robertson, seeing that the place was carried, used every endeavour to prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood. The flank companies which formed the storming party had two men killed and twenty-eight wounded, the latter principally from bruises by the stones thrown from the rock. The loss during the siege amounted to forty Europeans and eighty sepoys and pioneers, killed and wounded. At this place Lieutenant John Eyre, of the regiment, died of his wounds.

In this manner Nundydroog, in the course of three weeks, was taken, a place defended by seventeen pieces of cannon, principally iron guns of large calibre; this fort was not captured by Hyder Ali from the Mahrattas until after a defence which lasted three years.

After the fall of Nundydroog, the other hill fort of Cumeldroog, adjacent and dependent thereon, although a place of great strength, surrendered on being summoned.

Lord Cornwallis, in General Orders of the 19th of October, stated, that “having been witness of the extraordinary obstacles, both of nature and art, which were opposed to the detachment of the army that attacked Nundydroog, he cannot too highly applaud the firmness and exertions which were manifested by all ranks in carrying on the operations of the siege, or the valour and discipline which were displayed by the flank companies of His Majesty’s Thirty-sixth and Seventy-first regiments.”

In a few days afterwards the army retraced its route to Bangalore. Savendroog and several hill forts were captured by detachments in December, but the Thirty-sixth regiment remained with the main body of the army.

On the 31st of January 1792 the army under General the Earl Cornwallis was reviewed by the Poonah and Hyderabad chiefs, and on the following day commenced its march towards Seringapatam, passing by Hooleadroog, Tajilly, and Carrycode. The troops came in sight of Tippoo’s capital on the 5th of February, and encamped at the French rocks. The enemy’s horse showed itself on the 4th and 5th, but attempted nothing hostile. The Sultan took up a formidable position to cover his capital, and was attacked during the night of the 6th of February.

The entrenched camp of Tippoo was reconnoitred on the 6th of February, and at dark the army was formed in three columns of attack. The right, under Major-General[59] Medows, consisting of the Thirty-sixth and Seventy-sixth King’s regiments. The centre under the Commander-in-Chief, General the Earl Cornwallis, consisting of the Fifty-second, Seventy-first, and Seventy-fourth King’s regiments. The left, under Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, of the Seventy-fourth, was composed of the Seventy-second regiment. The native troops were divided among the three columns.

The right column, to which the Thirty-sixth regiment was attached, under the command of Major-General Medows, was directed to penetrate the left of Tippoo’s line, and turning to the left, overthrow the troops of the enemy there posted, and proceed on until it joined Lord Cornwallis in the centre column, and receive further orders; but the officer charged to guide the column led it wrong, bringing it to the advanced redoubt on the left of Tippoo’s lines, known by the name of the Ead-gah redoubt,—which was mounted by eight pieces of cannon, and was defended with great bravery. The grenadiers of the Thirty-sixth rushed steadily forward to escalade the work, with the officer of engineers in charge of the scaling ladders, but a heavy fire of grape shot and musketry killed most of the men in charge of the ladders, which, being consequently lost, it appeared impossible to enter the redoubt.

The work near the gorge had not been quite finished; the troops again rushed forward, but the enemy’s fire was so destructive as to sweep all opposed to it; a momentary pause ensued, and at this crisis Captain Andrew Wight, who commanded the Thirty-sixth regiment, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable John Knox having charge of a brigade, observing a narrow pathway leading to the rampart, ordered his corps to follow him, when the soldiers resumed the attack with increased animation, and advancing with the bayonet carried the work; only a few of the defenders escaped instant death, and that by leaping from the embrasure[60] into the ditch, which, from its height, must have proved equally fatal to them. The loss of the enemy at the Ead-gah redoubt was more considerable than at any other post of his lines.

The loss in private men fell chiefly on the Thirty-sixth, that regiment and the flank companies of the Seventy-sixth being the troops which formed the front division of the column. The grenadiers of the Thirty-sixth, who led, in advancing to the redoubt, had twenty men killed and wounded.[12]

After leaving a sufficient force in this strongwork, including four companies of the Thirty-sixth, under Captain John Austin, who had commanded the leading company of the column, the troops under Major-General Medows moved to the left, intending to fall on the enemy’s left wing, instead of which they came in view of another redoubt of equal strength and magnitude with the former, which it was deemed imprudent to attack. The column then recrossed the bound-hedge, moved to the left of the British army, which it did not find until daybreak, when the action was over.

Lord Cornwallis, on joining Major-General Medows at the Pagoda hill, on the morning of the 7th of February, detached the remaining six companies of the Thirty-sixth regiment and the third battalion of Bengal sepoys towards the Sultan’s redoubt; but they were afterwards ordered to proceed to the island, where the enemy had commenced an attack on the troops, which was gallantly repulsed.

The foregoing details show what an active part the Thirty-sixth sustained in these operations, and testify the share which the regiment deserved of the following general commendation bestowed by the Earl Cornwallis in his orders issued on the evening of the 7th of February.

In the assault of Tippoo Sultan’s fortified camp and island of Seringapatam on the 6th and 7th of February 1792, the total loss of the right division, under Major-General Medows, including officers, amounted to twenty-seven killed and sixty-five wounded. Lieutenant Alexander David Robertson, of the Seventy-third, doing duty with the Thirty-sixth, from which he had been promoted, and Ensign Pooley Smith, of the Thirty-sixth, were killed. Lieutenants Thomas Brownrigg, Robert Campbell, and John Campbell,[13] of the Thirty-sixth, were wounded.

The enemy’s loss was very severe, being estimated at 20,000 hors de combat. Eighty pieces of cannon were taken by the British.

On the 9th of February the army took up its final position for the siege of Seringapatam, and on the 15th Major-General Robert Abercromby joined with the Bombay force, consisting of the Seventy-third, Seventy-fifth, and Seventy-seventh regiments, beside native troops, making a total of about six thousand men.

Preparations were now made for the siege of Seringapatam, and the approaches were carried on with the greatest activity until the 24th of February, when the general orders announced that the preliminary articles of peace had been signed, and in consequence all hostile measures immediately ceased.

On the 26th of February the two sons of Tippoo Saib, Abdel Kalek and Mooza-ud-Deen, the former ten years of age, and the latter eight, were brought to the British camp, as hostages for the due performance of the preliminary articles.[14]

In consequence of some obstacles which had been opposed by Tippoo to the arrangement of the definitive Treaty, working parties were ordered, and the guns replaced in the batteries on the 10th of March. This state of suspicion and preparation lasted until the 15th of March, when it was discontinued, and on the 18th of that month, the definitive Treaty being duly executed and signed, was delivered by the young Abdel Kalek to each of the confederates. On the 20th the counterpart was sent off to Tippoo Saib.

Thus terminated a war in which the confederates wrested from the enemy seventy fortresses, eight hundred pieces of cannon, and destroyed or dispersed at least fifty thousand men. By the articles of the Treaty Tippoo was bound to pay a large sum of money and to cede one half of his dominions.

The Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India granted from this money a sum equal to six months’ batta for all ranks, and the Court of Directors afterwards made a similar grant.

On the 26th of March the exchange of the definitive treaty being completed, the British commenced moving towards Bangalore, from whence they proceeded to the Pednaigdurgum Pass, where the Bengal troops were ordered to their own Presidency.

The French revolution, which had commenced a few years previously, had at this period assumed a character which called forth the efforts of other countries to arrest the progress of its destructive principles; and, on the 1st of February 1793, shortly after the decapitation of Louis XVI., war was declared by the National Convention of France against Great Britain and Holland.

News of this event arrived in India in May 1793; in June the Thirty-sixth regiment was ordered to prepare to take the field; it marched soon afterwards against the French settlement of Pondicherry, on the Coromandel coast; the troops employed on this service were commanded by Colonel John Brathwaite.

The siege of Pondicherry was commenced in the early part of August, the army encamping in a thick wood where tigers were so numerous that the natives durst not travel in the night. On the 22d of August a white flag was displayed by the garrison, with a request to be allowed to surrender. The French soldiers in the fortress had embraced democratical principles, and were particularly insubordinate; they insisted that the Governor should surrender; but after the white[64] flag was displayed, they fired two shells, which killed several men. During the night they were guilty of every species of outrage: breaking into houses, and becoming intoxicated. On the following morning a number of them environed the house of the Governor-General Charmont, and threatened to hang him before the door, when application was made to the British for protection. The English soldiers rushed into the town, overpowered the insurgents, rescued the Governor, and preserved the inhabitants from further violence. After this service the regiment returned to Madras.[15]

During the years 1796 and 1797 the regiment was stationed at Warriore, near Trichinopoly.

In the beginning of 1798 the regiment was stationed at Pondicherry, and subsequently at Wallahabad. The men fit for service were afterwards drafted into the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-sixth regiments, and the remainder of the Thirty-sixth embarked at Madras for Europe on the 15th of October 1798. Previously to the regiment returning to England, orders were issued by the Governor in Council, and by the Commander-in-Chief of Madras, dated 24th of September and 14th of October 1798, which are highly complimentary of the regiment, and are inserted at page 121 of the Appendix. The want of convoy caused the fleet of Indiamen to be detained three months at St. Helena, and the regiment did not arrive in England until the 26th of July 1799, when it landed at Greenhithe;—it subsequently proceeded to Cirencester, and thence[65] to Winchester, where the corps was completed to its establishment by volunteers from the militia.

The Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Portsmouth, in January 1800, for Ireland, and disembarked at Tarbert and Cork; it afterwards proceeded to Fermoy, Clonmel, and thence to Cork, where the regiment embarked with an expedition under Brigadier-General the Honorable Sir Thomas Maitland, and landed in the beginning of June at the Isle de Houat, on the coast of France; on the 4th of June the light company of the Thirty-sixth regiment landed at Quiberon, and destroyed some batteries, after which it re-embarked for the Mediterranean, and the regiment arrived at Minorca in July, which island had surrendered to Great Britain in November 1798.

On the 27th of March 1802 a treaty of peace was signed at Amiens between the French Republic, Spain, and the Batavian Republic on the one part, and Great Britain on the other; by this treaty the Island of Minorca was restored to Spain.

In August 1802 the Thirty-sixth regiment returned to Cork from Minorca, marched to Galway, and occupied the barracks at that place.

The conduct of Napoleon Bonaparte had occasioned hostilities to be renewed in May 1803, when the British army was augmented, and preparations were made to repel a threatened invasion by the French. The “Army of Reserve Act” was passed in June 1803 for raising men for home service by ballot; and numerous volunteer and yeomanry corps were formed in every part of the Kingdom.

The regiment was suddenly ordered to proceed by forced marches from Galway to Dublin in July 1803, where a serious riot had occurred on the 23d of that month, when Lord Chief Justice Kilwarden, and his[66] nephew the Rev. Richard Wolfe, were attacked in his carriage, and murdered by the rioters.

On the 18th of May 1804 Napoleon was invested with the dignity of Emperor of the French; and on the 26th of May of the following year he was crowned King of Italy, at Milan.

Further measures of defence were adopted by Great Britain, and the “Additional Force Act” was passed on the 29th of June 1804, by which a second battalion was added to the Thirty-sixth regiment, to be formed of men raised in the county of Durham for limited service; the second battalion was placed on the establishment of the army from the 25th of December following.

On the 12th of December 1804 the Court of Spain issued a declaration of war against England, in consequence of the capture of some frigates off Cadiz, which had been intercepted on their way to France with cargoes of treasure for the use of Napoleon, Spain having agreed to furnish a powerful aid to that ruler.

During the year 1804 the first battalion of the regiment continued in garrison at Dublin.

On the 3d of August 1805 the first battalion of the regiment marched from Dublin, having been selected to form part of the army under Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart; it encamped on the Curragh of Kildare until the 20th of September, marched from thence to Bandon, and occupied the barracks there; on the 29th of October the battalion embarked at Cork for Germany.

The second battalion remained in Great Britain during 1805, and three following years.

The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment arrived in Germany on the 1st of January 1806, and occupied cantonments in Bramstead and Bokell until February, when it again marched and embarked for Great Britain, the British troops having been recalled[67] to England in consequence of the events which followed Napoleon’s victory over the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz in December of the preceding year;—the battalion landed at Ramsgate early in March.

In the autumn of 1806 the first battalion was directed to proceed to Portsmouth for the purpose of joining the expedition under Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd, about to be employed on secret service; and the battalion embarked at Portsmouth on the 22d of September.

The expedition, which consisted of the first battalions of the Fifth, Thirty-sixth, Forty-fifth, and Eighty-eighth regiments, five companies of the Rifle corps, two squadrons of the Sixth dragoon guards, and two companies of Royal Artillery, did not sail from Falmouth until the 12th of November 1806; and after remaining at St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde Islands, from the 14th of December 1806 to the 11th of January 1807, arrived in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 22d of March following. Here the troops were landed for refreshment and exercise under Brigadier-General Craufurd. From the Cape the expedition sailed again on the 6th of April; reached St. Helena on the 21st of April, where the stock of water and provisions was completed; and, quitting that island on the 26th, arrived on the 14th of June at Monte Video, then occupied by the British troops under Lieut.-General John Whitelocke, who had arrived there in the preceding May, and had assumed the command of the whole British force in South America.[16]

Great preparations were made to effect a landing of the troops, which took place on the 28th of June at Ensenada da Baragon, about thirty-two miles distant from Buenos Ayres, without firing a shot. The first battalions of the Thirty-sixth and Eighty-eighth regiments were brigaded together under the orders of Brigadier-General the Honourable William Lumley. On the 29th the troops moved forward; the light brigade, composed of the Rifle corps and nine light infantry companies, formed the advance, which was supported by Brigadier-General Lumley’s brigade, and followed by the other corps in succession. On the 1st of July the army was concentrated near the village of Reduction, about seven miles from Buenos Ayres, from whence it again advanced on the following day, crossed the Chuelo, a rivulet, by a ford called the Chico, and traversed the low ground on the opposite bank, at the extremity of which is situated the City of Buenos Ayres.

The light company was at the attack and carrying of the enemy’s advance field-work on the 2d of July; on the 5th of that month the right wing of the Thirty-sixth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Robert Burne, and the left wing by Captain William Cross, stormed and established themselves in Buenos Ayres. Upon this severe service Captains Alexander, Williamson, and Henry Cole Johnson, with Lieutenant Robert Whittell, two serjeants, one drummer, and forty-one rank and file, were killed; Captains William Wright Swain and Henry Vernon, Lieutenants William Wingfield, William Cotton, John Chaloner, and John White, seven serjeants, and thirty-six rank and file, were wounded.

Notwithstanding the intrepidity displayed by the advancing troops, upon whom a destructive fire was poured from the tops of houses and every other advantageous position, the enterprise failed. On the following[69] morning the Governor-General Liniers sent a letter to Lieut.-General Whitelocke, offering to restore the prisoners taken in this action, and also those made with Brigadier-General Beresford, on condition that the whole of the British forces should be withdrawn from South America, which proposals were accepted. The Lieut.-General’s conduct subsequently became the subject of inquiry by a Court-martial, and he was cashiered.

The first battalion of the regiment re-embarked at Buenos Ayres, and descended the River Plate to Monte-Video, whence it embarked on the 9th of September for Europe, and arrived at Cork on the 17th of December following.

The battalion occupied the barracks at Cork until February 1808, when it proceeded to Fermoy, where it remained until the 5th of July, when it marched to Cork for embarkation, having been selected to form part of a force, under the command of Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley, destined to proceed to the Peninsula to aid the Spanish and Portuguese patriots in their efforts against Napoleon, who had placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain, and was endeavouring to reduce the Peninsula under his domination.

In May 1808 the second battalion proceeded to Jersey, but returned to England in July following.

On the 9th of July the first battalion embarked at Cork, and landed at Figuiera, in Portugal, on the 1st of August. The battalion under the command of Brevet Colonel Robert Burne, advanced with the troops under Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley towards Lisbon. The division, consisting of about four thousand men, under Major-General Sir Brent Spencer, K.B., having joined the army from Cadiz, a change was made in the arrangement of the brigades, and the first battalions of the Thirty-sixth, Fortieth,[70] and Seventy-first regiments were placed in that commanded by Major-General Ronald Craufurd Ferguson. After a short halt the army was again put in motion to occupy a more forward position, where it remained for some days. On the 17th of August the enemy, commanded by General Laborde, was encountered near Roleia. The first battalion under the command of Colonel Robert Burne shared in this action, Captain William Cross being detached in charge of three companies. The position was attacked and carried, with great loss to the French, who retreated on Torres Vedras.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Roleia” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of this victory.

Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley, after this battle, did not pursue the enemy by the high roads, but keeping to the right near the sea marched to Vimiera, to cover the landing of a brigade commanded by Major-General Anstruther, which was effected on the 20th of August.

The morning of the 21st of August was given up to the troops in order to prepare and repose themselves. The men were engaged in washing and cleaning their equipments when the approach of the enemy, moving to the left, was discovered at eight o’clock in the morning; and the brigades commanded by Major-General Ferguson, Brigadier-Generals Nightingall, Acland, and Bowes, were consequently moved across a valley from the heights on the west to those on the east of Vimiera.

Marshal Junot, Duke of Abrantes, moved his army to the attack of the position, and commenced it on the British centre, where the Fiftieth regiment was posted, moving along the front gradually to the left, until the whole line became engaged.

The Thirty-sixth had the good fortune to take a distinguished share in the battle of Vimiera on the 21st of August; and the gallantry of the battalion was particularly noticed by Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley in the General Orders of that day.

The battalion had nine rank and file killed; Captain Paul Minchin Hobart; Lieutenants H. S. Hart, Thomas Wright, and Walter Ewart; Ensign Peter Joseph Bone; Lieutenant and Adjutant John Povah, and twenty-three rank and file, were wounded.

The conduct of the battalion and of its commanding officer, Colonel Burne, was thus specially noticed by Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley in his despatch of the 21st of August;—

In a letter dated 22d of August 1808 (inserted in the Appendix, page 122), addressed to Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State, Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley bore further testimony to the merits of Colonel Burne, and stated, that “the Thirty-sixth regiment is an example to the army.”

The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were conferred on the troops, and the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Vimiera” on the regimental colour and appointments in commemoration of this battle.[17]

The “Convention of Cintra” was the result of this[72] victory, and it was signed on the 30th of August; by its provisions the French army evacuated Portugal, which country became freed from its oppressors.

The British army was ordered to move forward to Lisbon, some of the reinforcements for it having proceeded by water, and occupied the forts at the mouth of the Tagus. The French army having by this convention fallen back on Lisbon, the British proceeded to the vicinity of Fort St. Julien, and encamped.

All the objects of the expedition being carried into effect, and the French troops embarked for France, the British army remained for some time at Lisbon and its vicinity. At this period (September) Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, having assumed the command, made dispositions for entering Spain.

The first battalions of the Thirty-sixth, Seventy-first, and Ninety-second regiments were brigaded under Brigadier-General Catlin Craufurd, and placed in the division under the command of Lieut.-General the Honorable John Hope, afterwards the Earl of Hopetoun. On the 27th of October the division was put in motion, and after a short stay at Badajoz resumed the march to Talavera-de-la-Reyna. From this town the column proceeded to the Escurial, seven leagues to the north-west of Madrid, where it arrived and halted on the 22d of November.

Intelligence was here received of the enemy’s approach towards Madrid; the division was in consequence put in motion across the Guadarama mountains on the 27th of November towards Villa Castin, at which place Lieut.-General the Honorable John Hope, in consequence of the information he received of the enemy’s movements, made a night march to the left, by Avila and Peneranda, and finally proceeded to Alba-de-Tormes, where a junction was formed with a detachment from the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, then at Salamanca. The army under Sir John Moore[73] was shortly afterwards put in motion towards Valladolid, and subsequently to the left, to effect a junction with Lieut.-General Sir David Baird’s division, which had landed at Corunna.

Previously to this period, the Spanish armies under General Blake, near Bilboa on the left, General Castanos in the centre, and General Palafox lower down the Ebro on the right, had been completely defeated; Lieut.-General Sir John Moore consequently made arrangements for a retreat on Portugal by Ciudad Rodrigo, but it having been represented to him that Madrid held out against the French, he was induced to form a junction with Lieut.-General Sir David Baird, in order to make a diversion in favour of Madrid, by attacking Marshal Soult on the river Carion.

The British force, twenty-nine thousand strong, joined at Toro on the 21st of December, and on the 23d of that month Sir John Moore advanced with the whole army. The cavalry had already met with that of the enemy, and the infantry were within two hours march of him, when an intercepted letter informed the British commander that Napoleon, who had entered Madrid on the 4th of December, was then in full march for Salamanca and Benevente. A retreat on Corunna, through Gallicia, was immediately decided on, that through Portugal being then impracticable.

Accordingly the several divisions marched towards the Esla, the greater part crossing by the bridge of Benevente on the 26th of December, when, after a day’s halt, the cavalry, under Lieut.-General Lord Paget and Brigadier-General the Honorable Charles Stewart, had an engagement with some of the Imperial guards that had forded the river Esla under General LeFevre, who was made prisoner with several of his men.

At this period the situation of the British army was dispiriting in the extreme. In the midst of winter, in a dreary and desolate country, the soldiers chilled and[74] drenched with the heavy rains, and wearied by long and rapid marches, were almost destitute of fuel to cook their victuals, and it was with extreme difficulty that they could procure shelter. Provisions were scarce, irregularly issued, and difficult of attainment. The waggons, in which were their magazines, baggage, and stores, were often deserted in the night by the Spanish drivers, who were terrified by the approach of the French. Thus baggage, ammunition, stores, and even money were destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy; and the weak, the sick, and the wounded were necessarily left behind.

On the 5th of January 1809, the troops took up a position at Lugo, where they remained bivouacked in order of battle until the 9th of that month, when they marched in the night, and arrived at Corunna on the 11th of January. The British army, having accomplished one of the most celebrated retreats recorded in modern history, repulsing the pursuing enemy in all his attacks, and having traversed two hundred and fifty miles of mountainous country under very disheartening circumstances, accompanied by severe privation, was not destined to embark for England without a battle.

Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, having taken up a position above the town of Corunna, made arrangements for attacking the British army as soon as the troops should commence their embarkation. The sick men, the women, and baggage having been conveyed on board ship, preparations were made for embarking the troops on the 16th of January 1809. The French instantly descended from the heights, and advanced, about two o’clock, to attack the British position in front of Corunna; a sanguinary action ensued, and before dark the French were defeated in all their attacks. Lieut.-General Sir John Moore was killed, and the battle was scarcely ended, when, wrapped in a military cloak, his remains were interred in the citadel of Corunna,[75] over which Marshal Soult, with the chivalrous feeling of a true soldier, erected a monument.

This victory enabled the British troops to be embarked without further molestation. In this battle the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth was posted on the left of the British line.

During the retreat to Corunna, and its services there, the battalion had Lieutenant John White wounded, and one serjeant and two rank and file killed; one serjeant, three drummers, and one hundred and fifty-three rank and file, were taken prisoners.

In commemoration of this battle, and of the conduct of the battalion during the expedition, the Thirty-sixth, in common with the army employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, received the Royal authority to bear the word “Corunna” on the regimental colour and appointments.[18]

The army also received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament “for its distinguished discipline, firmness, and valour in the battle of Corunna.”

On the 17th of January the battalion embarked at Corunna for England; portions landed at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Deal, but the several divisions were assembled at Battle, in Sussex, during the month of February.

Immense preparations had been made by the British Government to fit out the most formidable armament that had for a long time proceeded from England. The troops amounted to forty thousand men, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham; the naval portion consisted of thirty-nine ships of the line, thirty-six frigates, and numerous gun-boats and bomb-vessels, and other small craft, under Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. The object of the expedition was to obtain possession[76] of the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt, and to destroy the French ships in that river, with the docks and arsenals at Antwerp. The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment received orders to prepare itself for this service, and on the 16th of July embarked at Portsmouth for Walcheren, under the command of Colonel Burne. The expedition sailed from the Downs on the 28th of July, and on the morning of the 1st of August the Thirty-sixth and other corps were landed, and on the same day the troops advanced to the investment of Flushing, which operation was warmly contested by the enemy.

By the 13th of August, the preparations for the attack on the town were completed, and on the night of the 14th one of the enemy’s batteries, advanced upon the sea dyke in front of Lieut.-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser’s position, was most gallantly carried at the point of the bayonet by detachments from the Thirty-sixth, Seventy-first, and the light battalions of the King’s German legion, under Lieut.-Colonel Denis Pack, of the Seventy-first, although opposed to great superiority of numbers; the troops took forty prisoners, and killed and wounded a great many of the enemy. Flushing capitulated on the 15th of August; the garrison becoming prisoners of war.

From the 8th to the 15th of August the Thirty-sixth had three rank and file killed; Major Alexander Mackenzie was dangerously wounded; two serjeants and seven rank and file were wounded.

An epidemic disease of a fatal character broke out among the troops, and the following officers and men of the Thirty-sixth regiment died of fever:—Captains Waddle, C. Douglas, and Alexander Barbor, Lieutenant McDermott, Assistant-Surgeon James McFarlane, fourteen serjeants, two drummers, and two hundred rank and file.

On the 10th of December 1809 the first battalion embarked for England, and arrived at Woolwich on the 22d of that month; it subsequently returned to Battle in Sussex.

The second battalion was moved from Worcester to Kidderminster in the spring, and in the summer to Cirencester, and subsequently to Horsham.

The first battalion occupied the barracks at Battle until January 1811, on the 28th of which month it embarked at Portsmouth under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane on board His Majesty’s ship “Victory,” and landed at Lisbon on the 5th of March. The battalion immediately joined in the pursuit of Marshal Massena from Santarem, and was in position at the expulsion of the enemy from Guarda on the 29th of March.

The battalion was next employed in the blockade of Almeida, and Marshal Massena, having concentrated his forces, crossed the Agueda on the 2d of May for the purpose of relieving the place. This movement led to the actions at Fuentes d’Onor on the 3d and 5th of May. In the battle of the 5th the battalion was in position, but was not actively engaged. The French were defeated, after a prolonged contest, and Marshal Massena left Almeida to its fate. The place was evacuated by General Brennier at midnight of the 10th of May, when the enemy blew up the works, and the greater part of the garrison succeeded in effecting its escape during the night.

On the 11th of May, when the garrison of Almeida effected its escape through the corps on duty, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane, with about half of the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, had the good fortune to come up with the French at the bridge of Barba del Puerco; and, in conjunction[78] with the Grenadier company of the Fourth foot under Captain Thomas Burke, caused them considerable loss. Many were killed and wounded, and three hundred were taken prisoners, but the rest escaped.

The remainder of the battalion took another road in the pursuit, under the orders of Brigadier-General Robert Burne, Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth, and intercepted many stragglers, whom they made prisoners.

The casualties under Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane were two killed;—Lieutenant Charles Moody and eight rank and file were taken prisoners.

Early in June 1811 the battalion commenced its march for the south of Portugal, and continued at the camp of Arronches until the 18th of July, when it again returned to the north, and was in cantonments at Barquilla, in Spain, during August and September; on the 25th of September it was in position at the affair of Especha, when the enemy advanced to relieve Ciudad Rodrigo, which was blockaded by the Allied army. The battalion was likewise in position at the subsequent affair near Ronda on the 27th of September.

On the 30th of September the British army went into cantonments, the Thirty-sixth occupying the village of Pinziu. There Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Basil Cochrane found his health so much on the decline that he was compelled to apply for leave to return to England; and on the 13th of October he quitted the corps for that purpose, the command of which then devolved on Major William Cross.

On the 24th of November the battalion marched to Gallegos, in Spain, with the view of intercepting a convoy of provisions intended for the garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo, but the incessant rain had so flooded the rivers that it was found impossible to cross at the points intended, which circumstance enabled the convoy to reach its destination.

The battalion commenced its march to new cantonments at Mongualda on the 27th of November, which it reached on the 3d of December.

On the 14th of January 1812 the battalion was moved from Mongualda, by forced marches, to assist in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, which, however, was taken on the night of the 19th of January by the troops under Viscount Wellington, just as the Thirty-sixth were on the point of leaving Nava d’Aver, within ten miles of the scene of operations; the battalion remained at Nava d’Aver until Ciudad Rodrigo was secured against a coup de main, and then marched into cantonments at Meda, which it reached on the 3d of February.

Major-General Henry Clinton arrived and assumed the command of the sixth division on the 11th of February. On the 20th of that month the battalion marched for the south of Portugal, reached Estremos on the 6th of March, and remained there until the 14th, on which day it proceeded to Borba, and on the 15th to the camp at Elvas, where the army was assembled. On the following day it marched to aid in investing Badajoz, and from thence proceeded with the covering army, under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), which, after the affairs of Usagré, Llerena, Berlonga, and Asuaga, effected the expulsion of the enemy from Spanish Estremadura, and then returned to support the attack on Badajoz. The battalion reached Albuhera on the 6th of April, on the night of which Badajoz was stormed and carried.

The enemy being thus thwarted in all his views against the south, in which the principal part of the British troops was assembled, made a sudden invasion of the north of Portugal, and advanced as far as Castello Branco. The sixth division was in consequence moved with the utmost rapidity in that direction, but on its approach the enemy retired, and the division again returned to the south, the Thirty-sixth taking[80] up cantonments at Castello de Vide on the 30th of April.

On the 5th May 1812, Lieut.-Colonel Lewis Davies arrived, and assumed the command of the Thirty-sixth; towards the end of the month Major William Cross, who had been in very bad health for several weeks, proceeded to join the second battalion in England.

The battalion marched to Azumar on the 8th of May, and on the 13th to Arronches, from which it moved towards the end of the month to Puebla, in Spain, then to Badajoz, where it halted five days, thence to Castello de Vide for two days, from which it marched through Castello Branco in the direction of Salamanca, which it reached on the 17th of June, and operations were then immediately commenced against the Forts at Salamanca by the light companies of the division under Colonel Samuel Venables Hinde, of the Thirty-second regiment. They were attacked without success on the 23d, and carried on the 27th of June by a party under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Davies, of the Thirty-sixth, with a loss to the battalion of Lieutenant George Mackenzie and eleven rank and file killed, and Captain Paul Minchin Hobart and twenty-five rank and file wounded. Captain Hobart, who was promoted to the brevet rank of Major on the 23d of July 1812, died of his wounds.

The battalion then occupied different villages in the neighbourhood, and on the 22d of July it took a considerable share in the battle of Salamanca. The change of the allied position and various manœuvres occupied the day without any close engagement, excepting on the left for the possession of the Arapiles; the battle of Salamanca did not commence in earnest until after three o’clock, when the French left, having been very much extended by the advance of the division of General Thomières, with the light cavalry and fifty pieces of artillery, along a range of heights parallel with the[81] British line, to cut off the right of the allies from the Ciudad Rodrigo road, the third division was ordered to advance in four columns, supported by cavalry to turn the French left. The evolutions of this great battle are too varied to be clearly described with brevity. The sixth division under Major-General Clinton, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, was placed at first in reserve, but at a critical period in the action it was ordered up to relieve the fourth division, and the battle was soon restored to its former success.

The enemy’s right, reinforced by the troops which had fled from his left, and by those which had by this time retired from the Arapiles, still continued to resist; and while other corps were directed to turn the right, the sixth division, supported by the third and fifth, attacked the front. It was dark before this point was carried by the sixth division, and the enemy then fled through the woods towards the Tormes.

Lieut.-General Sir William Napier, in his History of the Peninsular War, thus sums up the account of this victory:—

The Thirty-sixth had Captains William Tulloh and Alexander Middleton, Lieutenants Arthur Parker and Richard Barton, one serjeant, and fifteen rank and file killed. Brevet-Major John Fox, Lieutenants Walter Ewart, and David Price, Ensigns Richard James Bourchier, William Wainwright, with four serjeants and seventy rank and file, were wounded. Lieutenant Ewart subsequently died of his wounds.

Lieut.-Colonel Davies obtained the medal issued for the victory gained at Salamanca; and the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Salamanca” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the gallantry displayed in that battle.

On the 23d of July the battalion was employed in pursuit of the enemy by the route of Alba de Tormes, and in August went into cantonments at Cuellar; towards the end of that month it marched again, and encamped before Burgos, which the Marquis of Wellington (that title having been conferred upon him after the victory at Salamanca) ordered should be forthwith invested.

Major Molyneux Smith, of the Thirty-sixth, died on the 21st of August 1812, and Brevet-Major John Fox was appointed his successor on the 1st of October following. The battalion took an active share in all the operations against Burgos, from which the British army retired on the 21st of October. The Thirty-sixth, during the siege, had seven rank and file killed and eleven wounded.

After this most harassing retreat, rendered so by the severity of the weather and the dreadful state of the roads, as well as by a numerous and active-pursuing enemy, the battalion, early in December, reached Falgosa de Medelina, in Portugal, where it halted for some weeks.

In February 1813 the battalion marched from Falgosa de Medelina to Toraish, where it remained until May. There Lieut.-Colonel Davies, in consequence of ill-health, left the corps for England, when the command devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel John Ward.

On the 14th of May the allied army again advanced, crossed the Douro on the 19th, and halted on the 20th at Toro de Monte Corva; on the 24th reached Malhadus,[83] and halted until the 27th, and on the 29th entered Spain by crossing the Corsa, near Murga, where the troops, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, halted until the 31st. On the 1st of June they crossed the Esla by a pontoon bridge, and continued the march until the 19th, when they halted at Madina to observe General Clausel’s corps, and cover the British stores and ammunition.

The battalion reached Vittoria on the 22d of June, the day following the victory gained there by the Marquis of Wellington, and halted at that place during the 23d and 24th, still observing General Clausel. On the 26th the battalion marched to Mondragoa, and afterwards retrograded to Montinca, whence Clausel was pursued to the bridge of Lagosa, where the battalion arrived on the 30th of June; and, marching again on the 1st of July, it encamped near Pampeluna on the 5th of that month.

There the battalion halted until the 13th of July, and on the following day it marched to Lanz, where it remained until the 22d; and on the 23d it crossed the Low Pyrenees to the valley of San Estevan; on the 27th the battalion re-crossed the Pyrenees to Torrossa.

On the 28th of July the battalion was in position near Pampeluna, and was warmly engaged, the light company under Captain William Campbell being detached in smart skirmishing. On the following day both armies remained quiet; but on the 30th of July the battalion was again engaged early in the morning, the light company being, as before, detached, under Captain Campbell, to expel the enemy from the village of Sorauren. About eight o’clock Major Martin Leggatt arrived, and assumed the command, when Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Ward immediately proceeded to join the light company in Sorauren. Marshal Soult was however foiled, and about two o’clock in the afternoon[84] the enemy was in general retreat, being pursued by the whole army.

In approbation of the conduct of Major Leggatt, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Ward and Captain Campbell on the three last-mentioned days, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, was graciously pleased to present each of them with a medal for the battles of the Pyrenees, and to promote Captain Campbell to the brevet rank of Major.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear on the regimental colour and appointments the word “Pyrenees,” in commemoration of the services of the first battalion in the actions which occurred there, and which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees.”

On the 1st of August the battalion reached Bargetta, and halted there until the 3d; on the following day it pursued the enemy to the valley of Alduides; and on the 5th and 6th the battalion was in position;—on the 7th it marched and encamped in the valley near Maya, and on the 8th moved to the camp at the Pass of Maya, where the battalion remained until the 9th of September.

Major William Cross arrived at the camp of Maya on the 10th of September, and resumed the command of the battalion.

The battalion was present in the affair of Urdax on the 7th of October, and had forty-six rank and file killed and wounded.

The British army was put in motion at an early hour in the morning of the 10th of November, and advanced to attack the enemy in his fortified position on the Nivelle. In the battle which ensued, it was the proud lot of the sixth division, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, to charge and carry the enemy’s breastwork and principal redoubt on the heights of Ainhoa,[85] with the loss of one drummer and five rank and file killed.

The Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch of the 13th of November, thus alluded to the conduct of the Thirty-sixth on this occasion:—

In this battle the Thirty-sixth had Captains Robert Blakeney and William Gillam, Lieutenants Thomas L’Estrange and William Tunstall, Ensigns James McCabe and John Skerry, one serjeant and fifty-eight rank and file, wounded.

Major Cross, for his services on this day, was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was with Brevet-Major Campbell honoured with the medal for the battle of the Nivelle.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Nivelle” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the gallantry of the first battalion in that battle.

After this victory the battalion was in cantonments at Usteritz, on the river Nive, observing the enemy,—who was in force on the opposite side,—until the 9th of December, when the passage of the river was forced,[86] and the battle of the Nive ensued. In the passage of the Nive the Thirty-sixth had only three rank and file wounded.

The enemy having failed in all his attacks, with his whole force, on the British left, withdrew into his entrenchments on the night of the 12th of December, and passed a large force through Bayonne, with which, on the morning of the 13th, he made a most desperate attack on the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill; the Marquis of Wellington, in expectation of this attack, had given orders that the Lieut.-General should be reinforced with the sixth division, which crossed the Nive at daylight on that morning. The Thirty-sixth were accordingly in position at Bidart, but Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill defeated the enemy with the troops under his own immediate command on the 13th of December, with immense loss, before the arrival of the reinforcement, although the march of the sixth division afforded him great facility in making his movements.

In commemoration of the operations connected with the passage of the river Nive, the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Nive” on the regimental colour and appointments.

On the 14th of December the Thirty-sixth occupied cantonments at Ville Franque, and commenced the severe duty of the blockade of Bayonne.

The battalion was employed on this duty until the 21st of February 1814, on which day the army advanced, the Thirty-sixth being selected by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., for the important duty of protecting the artillery of the division from an apprehended attack upon it by the enemy’s garrison of St. Jean Pied de Port, which the dreadful state of the roads obliged it nearly to pass. This obstacle fortunately surmounted, by forced marches the Thirty-sixth[87] rejoined the army on the 26th of February, and shared in the battle of Orthes on the following day.

On the day previous to the battle the third division forded the river Gave de Pau, and a pontoon bridge was afterwards laid at Bereaux, by which the fourth and sixth divisions crossed on the morning of the 27th, at which time the third division was already posted with skirmishers thrown out close upon the left centre of the French position. The sixth division, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, was placed on the right between the third division and the river, and the light division on its left in rear as a reserve. During the whole morning there had been occasional skirmishing by the third division, but the real attack commenced at nine o’clock by the third and sixth divisions on the French left centre, and the fourth and seventh divisions on their right, which last was intended to be the principal point of attack; but it having been found, after three hours’ hard fighting, that the enemy was there too strongly posted, the Marquis of Wellington ordered an advance of the third and sixth divisions, with the Fifty-second regiment, from the centre upon the left centre of the French position, which they carried, and thus secured the victory; while Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, with the second division, had crossed the river above Orthes, and nearly cut off the only line of retreat open to the enemy, who then retired from the field, but without confusion, and constantly resisting the advance. The allies followed, keeping up an incessant fire and cannonade, but lost many men, particularly of the third division, which was the most strongly opposed; this continued until the French nearly reached the Luy de Bearn river, when their retreat became a flight, and they effected their escape by the fords and one bridge, which they destroyed, having lost four thousand men and six guns.

In commemoration of this victory, the Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Orthes” on the regimental colour and appointments.

The battalion shared in the affairs of Vic Bigorre and Tarbes on the 19th and 20th of March. The movement of the sixth division under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton is stated by the Marquis of Wellington, in his despatch, to have been very ably made, and it was completely successful.

During the night Marshal Soult retreated towards Toulouse, followed on the 21st of March by the allies, who continued their advance, until on the 26th they arrived in presence of the French army. The town of Toulouse is surrounded on three sides by the Canal of Languedoc and the Garonne; on the left of that river, the suburb, which the enemy had fortified with strong field-works in front of the ancient wall, formed a good tête-de-pont. The city itself was only accessible from the south, and its strong though old-fashioned walls had been rendered more defensible by redoubts, and by an exterior line of entrenchments on a strong and rugged range of heights, about two miles in length beyond the canal. On the 28th the enemy’s troops were driven within the suburb of St. Cyprien, and several attempts were made to attack them by crossing the Garonne above Toulouse. Operations were, however, impeded by the floods and rapidity of the river, until the 3d of April, when the third, fourth, and sixth divisions, with three brigades of cavalry, under Marshal Beresford, passed over by a pontoon bridge fifteen miles below Toulouse; but the crossing of the remainder of the army was again impeded by the rising of the river, which caused the removal of the bridges, until the 8th, when the Marquis of Wellington crossed, and advanced within five miles of Toulouse; Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, with two divisions, remaining on the left bank.

In the battle of Toulouse, which began about six o’clock in the morning of the 10th of April, it was the good fortune of the Thirty-sixth to commence the attack of the sixth division. The Marquis of Wellington’s plan of attack was for Marshal Sir William Beresford, who was on the right of the Ers with the fourth and sixth divisions, to cross that river at the bridge of Croix d’Orade, to gain possession of Montblanc, and to march up to the left of the Ers to turn the enemy’s right, while Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre, with the Spanish corps under his command, supported by the British cavalry, attacked the front.

Marshal Sir William Beresford crossed the Ers, formed his corps in three columns of lines in the village of Croix d’Orade, and immediately carried Montblanc. He then moved up the Ers in the same order, over most difficult ground, in a direction parallel to the enemy’s fortified position, and as soon as he reached the point at which he turned it, he formed his lines, and moved to the attack. The gallant efforts of Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre did not meet with success, but they were highly applauded by the Marquis of Wellington. Meanwhile Marshal Sir William Beresford, with the fourth division under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Lowry Cole, and the sixth division under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, attacked and carried the heights on the enemy’s right, and the redoubt which covered and protected that flank; and he lodged those troops on the same heights with the enemy, who were, however, still in possession of four redoubts, and of the entrenchments and fortified houses.

The badness of the roads had induced the Marshal to leave his artillery in the village of Montblanc; some time elapsed before it could be brought up, and before Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre’s corps could be re-formed and led again to the attack. As soon as this was effected, the Marshal continued his movement along[90] the ridge, and earned, with Major-General Denis Pack’s brigade of the sixth division, the two principal redoubts and fortified houses in the enemy’s centre. The enemy made a desperate effort from the canal to regain these redoubts, but they were repulsed with considerable loss; and the sixth division continuing its movement along the ridge of the height, and the Spanish troops continuing a corresponding movement upon the front, the French were driven from the two redoubts and entrenchments on the left, and the whole range of heights were gained by the British.

By this last paragraph it is shown, that the sixth division, of which the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment had for some time formed a part, bore the brunt of this hard-fought, but, as it proved unnecessary, battle.

The killed and wounded of the Thirty-sixth were one hundred and fifty-three, of all ranks, out of two hundred and fifty; namely, Ensign James Cromie,[91] three serjeants and thirty-five rank and file killed, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel William Cross, Brevet Major William Campbell, Lieutenants James Prendergast, Thomas L’Estrange, Peter Joseph Bone, William Henry Robertson, and Edward Lewis, Ensigns Thomas M. Taylor, and James McCabe, eight serjeants, and ninety-seven rank and file wounded.

Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Cross was so severely wounded as to oblige him to be carried off the field, and the command of the battalion devolved upon Major Martin Leggatt.

In approbation of the services of Lieut.-Colonel Cross at the battles of the Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His Majesty, was graciously pleased to confer upon that officer a cross, and to nominate him a Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath; His Royal Highness was likewise pleased to bestow on Major Leggatt a medal for the battle of Toulouse.

The Thirty-sixth subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Toulouse” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry of the first battalion in that battle; also the word “Peninsula” in testimony of its services in Spain and Portugal.

During the night of the 11th of April the French troops evacuated Toulouse, and a white flag was hoisted. On the following day the Marquis of Wellington entered the city, amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants. In the course of the afternoon of the 12th of April intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon, and had not the express been delayed on the journey by the French police, the sacrifice of many valuable lives would have been prevented.

A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, the garrison[92] of which made a desperate sortie on the 14th of April, and Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun) was taken prisoner, Major-General Andrew Hay was killed, and Major-General Stopford was wounded. This was the last action of the Peninsular war.

A Treaty of Peace was established between Great Britain and France; Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of his ancestors; and Napoleon Bonaparte was permitted to reside at Elba, the sovereignty of that island having been conceded to him by the allied powers.

The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Pouillac on the 22d of June 1814, and arrived at the Cove of Cork on the 11th of the following month, and subsequently proceeded to Kilkenny.

The second battalion of the Thirty-sixth, which had been employed on home duty during the Peninsular War, was disbanded at Plymouth on the 24th of October 1814, and the men fit for service were transferred to the first battalion:—the detachment accordingly embarked for Ireland on the 30th of October.

The tranquillity which Europe appeared to have gained by the splendid successes over the French in the Peninsula, was again to be disturbed. Napoleon, who had been accustomed to imperial sway, was naturally discontented with his small sovereignty of Elba. Besides, the correspondence kept up by him with his adherents in France gave him hopes of regaining his former power, which were, for a short time, fully realized. Napoleon Bonaparte landed at Cannes, in Provence, on the 1st of March 1815, with a small body of men, and on the 20th of that month entered Paris at the head of an army, which had joined him on the road. This could not be matter of wonder, for the officers and soldiers had won their fame under his command,[93] and gladly welcomed their former leader, under whom they probably expected to acquire fresh honours, which might cancel the memory of the defeats sustained in the Peninsula and south of France.

Louis XVIII., unable to stem the torrent, withdrew from Paris to Ghent, and Napoleon resumed his former dignity of Emperor of the French. This assumption the allied powers determined not to acknowledge, and resolved to deprive him of his sovereignty, by again restoring the ancient dynasty.

Napoleon was finally defeated on the plains of Waterloo on the 18th of June 1815, and the allies advanced on Paris. The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Cork on the 3d of July, and landed at Ostend on the 11th of that month. The battalion marched from thence to Paris.

The Thirty-sixth regiment remained in the neighbourhood of Paris until December 1815, on the 22d of which month it embarked at Calais for England; and, landing at Dover and Ramsgate, it subsequently proceeded to Portsmouth.

Colonel the Honourable Basil Cochrane, who had been serving as Assistant-Quartermaster-General in Ireland, died on his passage from Newry to Liverpool on the 14th of May 1816. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel William Cross was appointed to succeed him as Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 23d of May, and Brevet Major William Wright Swain was promoted to the vacant majority.

The word “Firm” being an old regimental acquirement, it was deemed necessary to apply to Sir George Nayler, York Herald, Inspector of Regimental Colours, for its insertion on the new colours which had been prepared, when the following reply was received:—

The regiment embarked at Portsmouth for the Mediterranean on the 29th of July 1817, and landed at Malta on the 27th of September following.

On the 4th of April 1818 General George Don was removed from the Ninety-fifth (afterwards disbanded) to the Thirty-sixth regiment, in succession to General the Honourable Henry St. John, deceased.

The head-quarters of the regiment, with six companies, embarked at Malta on the 5th of December 1820, and landed in the island of Zante on the 11th of the same month, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cross, having left four companies at Malta under the command of Major Swain.

On the 18th of June 1821 the four companies which had remained at Malta embarked for the island of Cephalonia, where they arrived on the 22d of the same month. The head-quarters and four companies embarked at Zante on the 8th of July, and arrived at Cephalonia on the 10th of that month, when Lieut.-Colonel Cross assumed the command; two companies were left detached at Zante under the command of Brevet Major Henry Vernon.

On the 1st of November 1821 a detachment of the regiment, consisting of one captain, three subalterns, four serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred rank and file, was ordered to proceed to the island of Cerigo, under the command of Brevet Major William Campbell, on a particular service.

During the five latter months of the regiment being stationed at Cephalonia, the numbers of sick were very great; so much so, that it was deemed indispensably necessary to establish a convalescent hospital, as also forming a detachment of two subalterns, two serjeants, and eighty rank and file, principally consisting of the most weakly soldiers that could be selected, which proceeded to Fort St. George, a healthy eminence situated about five miles from Argostoli, where the head-quarters were stationed; another hospital was also established there for the reception of the sick of that detachment, under the superintendence of a medical staff officer.

The increase of disease in this island was principally attributed to the unconcentrated position of the barracks, which were small, crowded, and temporary, situated on a marsh in a valley close to the beach, together with the insalubrious atmosphere, which prevailed exceedingly during the time the regiment was stationed there. The loss of the Thirty-sixth by sickness here was sixteen in two months, which consisted principally of the stoutest young men in the regiment.

His Excellency the Commander of the Forces in the Mediterranean, Lieut.-General the Right Honorable Sir Thomas Maitland, G.C.B., having arrived at this island early in November, and perceiving the debilitated state of the corps, was pleased to direct its removal; six days previously to which the two companies under the command of Brevet Major Vernon arrived from Zante and joined the head-quarters. On the 30th of November the regiment, with the exception of the detachment at Cerigo, embarked for Corfu, where it arrived on the 4th of December, and occupied part of the barracks in the citadel, and the whole of the barracks and quarters in Fort Neuf; the head-quarters and three companies in the latter, and the remaining companies in the citadel; soon after which Lieut.-Colonel Cross, having been a considerable time in a bad state of health, obtained leave of absence; and Major Swain, through domestic calamities, being absent, the command devolved on Brevet Major Joshua Crosse. Here Lieutenant Henry O’Bré died on the 13th of December, about which time Brevet Major Vernon was appointed Commandant of Paxo, where he died.

Brevet Major Crosse was succeeded in the command by Brevet Major Campbell, on his arrival from Cerigo in the month of February 1822.

In March following Major Edmond Browne arrived from England and took the command of the regiment, he having succeeded to the majority by exchange from the half-pay with Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Leggatt in May 1821.

On the 2d June 1822 Major-General Sir Frederick Adam, K.C.B., commanding, was pleased to order the head-quarters and three companies stationed at Fort Neuf to join the remaining companies at the citadel, as well as the regimental hospital to be established there, which was productive of much comfort to the[97] corps, together with the unremitting and unwearied attention of the medical department, as well as at their solicitation to send a portion of the men that had not quite recovered from the diseases contracted at Cephalonia, to the sick depôt formed at Malta, which was acceded to, and they accordingly embarked for that station on the 8th of August, where they arrived on the 13th of the same month. This arrangement was attended with the fortunate result of restoration to their former good health; and, upon the 27th of October following, two serjeants and forty-two rank and file arrived from Malta in His Majesty’s ship “Cambrian;” and at subsequent dates others arrived, leaving only a very few bad cases at Malta; so that afterwards it generally had the fewest sick of any regiment in the Ionian Islands, or in the Mediterranean.

On the 1st of February 1823, the detachment which was stationed at Cerigo arrived at Corfu, and joined the head-quarters of the regiment.

In the year 1825, the establishment of the regiment was augmented from eight to ten companies, and formed into six service and four depôt companies, consisting of forty-two serjeants, fourteen drummers, and seven hundred and forty rank and file.

The regiment remained in the Ionian Islands until the 2d of December 1825, when it embarked at Santa Maura for England.

On the 18th of February 1826, the regiment disembarked at Chatham; in the spring it proceeded to Colchester, afterwards to Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester, and Bolton.

During the early part of the year 1827, the regiment remained at Bolton, in Lancashire, and in April it proceeded to Liverpool, from which place it embarked for Ireland on the 14th of that month. The regiment arrived at Dublin on the following day, proceeded from thence to Mullingar, and returned to Dublin in[98] August following, where it was stationed during the remainder of the year.

In May 1828, the regiment proceeded from Dublin to Naas, and in October it was removed to Limerick.

The regiment remained at Limerick until August 1829, when it proceeded to Birr, and continued during the rest of the year at that station.

Lieut.-General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Bart., was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 21st of December 1829, in succession to General Sir George Don, G.C.B. and G.C.H., removed to the Third foot, or the Buffs.

In June 1830, the Thirty-sixth regiment proceeded from Birr to Fermoy, and was formed into six service and four depôt companies. The service companies embarked at Cork on the 11th, 13th, and 14th of October for the West Indies. The depôt companies remained at Fermoy for a short time, and were afterwards stationed at Spike Island.

The service companies disembarked at Barbadoes on the 20th, 21st, and 28th of November.

The service companies suffered severely during the great hurricane in Barbadoes in 1831, having eleven men killed, and several severely injured.

The depôt companies were removed from Spike Island to Charles Fort, Kinsale, in October 1831, and continued there during 1832.

The service companies which had, since their arrival in the West Indies, remained at Barbadoes, were removed to Antigua in February 1833. The depôt companies proceeded from Charles Fort to Ballincollig in January 1833; to Cork in February; to Templemore in August, and to Nenagh in October following.

During the year 1834, the service companies remained at Antigua. The depôt companies were removed in October from Nenagh to Limerick.

In November 1835 the service companies proceeded from Antigua to St. Lucia. The depôt companies quitted Limerick for Galway in May 1835, and marched for Cork in June following, where they embarked for Plymouth on the 14th of September; during the remainder of the year they were stationed at Devonport.

During the year 1836, the service companies remained at St. Lucia, and the depôt at Devonport.

On the 10th of November 1838, the service companies embarked at Barbadoes for Nova Scotia, and arrived at Halifax on the 8th of December.

The following extract of a letter to the Adjutant-General from Lieut.-General Sir Samford Whittingham, K.C.B., Commanding in the Windward and Leeward Islands, is highly creditable to the Thirty-sixth regiment, and is, therefore, here inserted.

“Head-Quarters, Barbadoes,
“14th November 1838.

“The Thirty-sixth regiment was prepared to embark in four and twenty hours after the arrival of the ‘Hercules,’ but the embarkation was delayed, in consequence of the captain reporting that he could not be ready to receive the troops on board till the 10th.

“I feel much pleasure in stating that the embarkation, the whole of which I witnessed, was conducted in the most orderly and soldier-like manner, and I did not perceive a single case of drunkenness.

“I have the honour to enclose copy of the farewell Order I issued on the departure of this old and distinguished corps, as also an embarkation return of it,[100] and a disembarkation return of the Fifty-second regiment.”

“Head-Quarters, Barbadoes,
“9th November 1838.

“General Order.

“The Thirty-sixth regiment being about to embark for Halifax, in obedience to the orders of the General Commanding-in-Chief, Sir Samford Whittingham takes this opportunity of congratulating Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, and the officers and non-commissioned officers of that veteran regiment, on the high state of efficiency in which it will proceed to America, after a period of eight years’ service in the West Indies.

“The Lieutenant-General had great pleasure in witnessing, at his late inspection, the healthy appearance of the men, and their steadiness under arms.

“It is now upwards of thirty years since the Lieutenant-General had first the honour of serving with the Thirty-sixth regiment, then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Burne; and he has great pleasure in being able to state, that every succeeding campaign has crowned with fresh laurels this truly gallant corps.

“The Lieutenant-General begs Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell will accept, and communicate to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the regiment he so ably commands, the expression of his best wishes for their health and happiness; and his conviction that the oftener they are tried in the field of battle, the greater will be their accession of glory and honour.

“By Command,

(Signed) “E. R. King, Capt.,
“D. A. A. G.”

In January 1839, the service companies proceeded to New Brunswick, and were stationed during the rest of the year at Fredericton.

The depôt companies were removed from Kinsale to Tralee in April 1839; in November they proceeded to Limerick, and in December to Nenagh.

During the year 1840 the service companies were stationed at Fredericton in New Brunswick.

The service companies were removed on the 7th of July 1841, from Fredericton to St. John’s, New Brunswick. The depôt companies continued at Clare Castle.

On the 29th of April 1842, the service companies embarked at St. John’s for Ireland, and arrived at Cork on the 28th of May, where they were consolidated with the depôt companies.

The regiment embarked at Newry for Great Britain on the 24th of April 1845; arrived at Whitehaven on the 28th of that month; and proceeded to Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Colonel Archibald Montgomery Maxwell, K.H., died at Newcastle-on-Tyne on the 21st of May 1845, and Major Charles Ashmore was promoted Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment from the 22d of May. Captain Edward R. King was promoted to the vacant majority.

In 1846 the Thirty-sixth regiment was augmented to sixty-seven serjeants, twenty-five drummers, and twelve hundred rank and file. It was also ordered to be formed into two battalions of six companies each. In May the regiment proceeded from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Manchester, and in August it was removed to Weedon, where on the 28th of November the regiment[102] was divided into two battalions. While quartered at Weedon the regiment received new colours, which were presented by Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., commanding the northern and midland districts of South Britain.

The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Charles Ashmore, embarked at Gosport in Her Majesty’s troop ship “Resistance” for the Ionian Islands, on the 6th of January 1847; the reserve battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Charles Trollope, who had been promoted to that rank on the augmentation of the regiment, also embarked at Gosport for the Mediterranean, on the 2d of that month, in the “Vengeance” ship of war.

The head-quarters and three companies of the first battalion disembarked at Argostoli, in the island of Cephalonia, on the 8th of February. Two companies were detached to the island of Zante, and one to Ithaca.

The depôt of the Thirty-sixth regiment formed part of the depôt battalion at the Isle of Wight, on the embarkation of the two battalions for foreign service.

The detachment of the first battalion at Zante proceeded from thence on the 6th of May 1848, leaving one field officer, one captain, two subalterns, four serjeants, and ninety-six rank and file with the head-quarters at Cephalonia, the remainder proceeding to Corfu. The detachment at Cerigo was moved from thence to Corfu on the 13th of May 1848. The head-quarters and five companies of the first battalion proceeded from Cephalonia to Corfu on the 3d of August.

One company of the reserve battalion was detached at Vido from the 24th of March to the 19th of July 1848, and one company at Ithaca from the 15th of July to the 5th of October 1848. The reserve battalion proceeded from Corfu to Cephalonia on the 2d of[103] August 1848. On the 26th of September an attack was made on the town of Argostoli by several hundred armed Villani, which was repelled by Serjeant Luke Dunn and twelve men of the battalion, the resident’s guard on that morning, with the loss of two killed and two wounded. Privates Daniel McNamara and William Elsom killed; privates Thomas Fox and James Lidwell wounded; several others received shots through their caps, clothing, &c.

On the same day a detachment of fifty men, under Major Lorenzo Rothe, Captain James Nugent, and Lieutenant Rickard Lloyd, succeeded in saving the public records at Lixuri, as they were on the point of being destroyed by a party of insurgents, who fired on, and slightly wounded, two soldiers; the detachment returned the fire, wounded some of the insurgents, and drove them from the town.

The reserve battalion was engaged for ten or twelve days and nights in guarding the towns of Argostoli and Lixuri, during which period the sentries and guards were repeatedly fired upon and otherwise annoyed by the insurgents. A party under Ensign Bernard Robert Shaw succeeded in capturing Cappoletto, one of the principal rebels, for whose arrest a reward of fifteen hundred dollars had been offered. Detachments of fifty men, each under Captain Alexander McGeachy Alleyne and Ensign George Massy Robins, and Lieutenant Cecil Rivers and Ensign John Edmund Harvey, were sent to the southern part of the island to scour the district of Scala.

Two companies of the first battalion, consisting of one captain, four subalterns, six serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred and fifty rank and file, under the command of Major Edward R. King, proceeded to Cephalonia on the 30th of August 1849, for the purpose of suppressing an insurrection in that island, and returned to Corfu on the 17th of November following.

Two companies of the reserve battalion, under Captain Charles Wilson Carden, were, in February, employed in aid of the civil power at St. Gerasimo for the purpose of enforcing payment of the fines inflicted on the villages concerned in the insurrection of the 26th of September of the previous year; this party returned to head-quarters on the 26th of February. A company under Captain James Nugent likewise proceeded to St. Gerasimo in May 1849 in aid of the civil power, and to assist in pursuit of banditti; it rejoined the head-quarters in August. A company under Captain John Pratt proceeded in May to Scala in aid of the civil power, and to assist in enforcing the embargo, and rejoined the head-quarters on the 22d of June.

A company of the reserve battalion under Captain Henry J. Coote was detached to Sissi on the 29th of August in aid of the civil power, and was subsequently employed in very arduous services under the proclamation of martial law, which lasted from the 31st of August, to the 27th of October 1849, and in suppressing the outbreak in Cephalonia. Privates Taylor and Green of this company were wounded in a skirmish with the insurgents. A company under Lieutenant Rickard Lloyd proceeded in September to Sissi to reinforce the detachment under Captain Coote, and after serving in conjunction therewith, returned to head-quarters with it on the 15th of October. One company under Captain Nugent proceeded to Faraclata on the 16th of September, and assisted in the pursuit of the outlawed rebels; a portion of this detachment, under Ensign Alfred Macdonald, was employed as a flying column, and scoured the country in chase of the three outlawed rebel chiefs for twenty-three days, during the whole of which time it was subjected to the most fatiguing marches and labour. The reserve battalion during the period of martial law from the 31st of August to the 27th of October 1849, which was administered by[105] Lieut.-Colonel Trollope, was frequently employed in pursuit of rebels (parties, varying from forty to a hundred, being despatched into the country for this purpose) in disarming turbulent and refractory villages, and in guarding the town of Argostoli, the men having very seldom more than one night in bed.

In April 1850 it was directed that the regiment should be reduced to a thousand rank and file; the reserve battalion at Cephalonia was in consequence broken up, and consolidated with the first battalion at Corfu, where the regiment was stationed during this year.

In March 1851, four companies embarked at Cephalonia for England for the purpose of forming the depôt, which was afterwards stationed at the Isle of Wight, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Trollope.

The service companies, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Ashmore, embarked at Corfu for the West Indies on the 21st of March 1851 in the freight ship “Java,” and arrived at Barbadoes on the 16th of May following, where they were stationed during the remainder of the year.

Major-General the Lord Frederick FitzClarence, G.C.H., was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 23d of July 1851, in succession to General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Bart., deceased.

The depôt companies proceeded in April 1852 from Parkhurst to Fort Pembroke Dock.

On the 31st of December 1852, the date to which this record has been brought, the service companies continued to be stationed at Trinidad, and the depôt companies at Fort Pembroke Dock.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] This account is different from the version given by some historians; but there can be no doubt as to its accuracy, for it is founded on the Report of the Council of General Officers that was subsequently assembled to investigate the complaint preferred by Lord Charlemont, upon his being afterwards removed by the Earl of Peterborough. This document is inserted in the memoir of Lord Charlemont, at page 109.

[7] While the war was being carried on between Great Britain and Spain, Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, died on the 20th of October 1740, and a contest arose in consequence of the succession of the Archduchess Maria Theresa to his hereditary dominions being disputed by the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, and also by the Kings of Prussia and Spain. The King of France, Louis XV., supported the Elector of Bavaria, while King George II. supported the claims of the Archduchess Maria Theresa. On the 27th of June 1743, King George II. gained a victory over the French army at Dettingen, and in the following year, Great Britain and France, no longer acting as auxiliaries, became principals in the contest, which is designated the “War of the Austrian Succession.”

[8] The “Pragmatic Sanction” was published by the Emperor of Germany, Charles VI., on the 17th of April 1713, whereby in case of his having no male issue, his daughters were to succeed to his hereditary dominions, in preference to the sons of his late brother, Joseph I.

[9] List of regiments at the battle of Falkirk:—Dragoons,—Tenth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth regiments. Infantry,—First Royals (one battalion), Third, Fourth, Eighth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Battereau’s, since disbanded. The Glasgow and Paisley Militia with the Argyle Highlanders, were in reserve.

[10]

2nd Batt.		Constituted.	2nd Batt.		Constituted.
3d	Foot,	the 61st regiment.	24th	Foot,	the 69th regiment.
4th	”	the 62d regiment.	31st	”	the 70th regiment.
8th	”	the 63d regiment.	32d	”	the 71st regiment.
11th	”	the 64th regiment.	33d	”	the 72d regiment.
12th	”	the 65th regiment.	34th	”	the 73d regiment.
19th	”	the 66th regiment.	36th	”	the 74th regiment.
20th	”	the 67th regiment.	37th	”	the 75th regiment.
23d	”	the 68th regiment.

The 71st, 72d, 73d, 74th, and 75th regiments were disbanded after the peace of Fontainebleau in 1763.

[11] In allusion to the above expression “firmness,” it has been supposed that the word “Firm” was adopted by the regiment; this supposition, however, does not agree with the statement of Lieut.-Colonel Burne (see pages 129, &c.), by which it would appear, that the Thirty-sixth had borne this distinction for many years prior to the capture of Bangalore. In 1817, the regiment was permitted to revive the word “Firm,” under the authority contained in the letter inserted at page 94, from Sir George Nayler, the inspector of regimental colours.

[12] Narrative of the Campaign in India in 1792, by Major Dirom, Deputy Adjutant-General of His Majesty’s forces in India.

[13] While the attack was being carried on in the redoubt on the 6th of February, one of the enemy’s corps advanced with drums beating and colours flying, the commanding officer of which supposed the British to be their own Europeans, whose uniform was also red; upon discovering his mistake, he soon made off, and Lieutenant John Campbell, of the Thirty-sixth grenadiers, who had come out of the redoubt wounded, on seeing the corps break, rushed forward and seized the standards.—Major Dirom’s Narrative of the Campaign.

[14] In 1794, Tippoo received back his sons, and immediately commenced secret negociations with the French, who were then at war with Great Britain, in order to renew measures for “utterly destroying the English in India.” This animosity ended only with the death of the Sultan, which took place on the 4th of May 1799, while defending Seringapatam against his former opponents. His body was found amidst heaps of slain, and was interred in the mausoleum which he had erected over the tomb of his father, Hyder Ali, a portion of the victorious troops attending the ceremony.

[15] On the 16th of October 1835, His Majesty King William IV. was graciously pleased to authorize the Thirty-sixth to bear on the regimental colour and appointments the word “Hindoostan,” in commemoration of its distinguished services in the several actions in which it had been engaged in India from September 1790 to September 1793.

[16] In June 1806, Buenos Ayres had been captured by the British under Brigadier-General William Carr Beresford, afterwards General Viscount Beresford; the place was, however, recovered by the Spaniards in August following, and the troops became prisoners; in consequence of these events Lieut.-General Whitelocke proceeded in command of an expedition for the purpose of re-capturing Buenos Ayres, and the Thirty-sixth became part of his force, as above stated.

[17] Lieut.-General Sir Harry Burrard landed during the action, but did not assume the command. Lieut-General Sir Hew Dalrymple landed on the following day, and took command of the army. The force under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore was also disembarked during the negotiation which subsequently took place, making the British army to amount to thirty-two thousand men.

[18] Vide General Orders of the 18th of January, and 1st of February, 1809; also a list of regiments employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore at Corunna, inserted in pages 124 &c. of the Appendix.

[19] The origin of the word “Firm” being borne by the Thirty-sixth has not been ascertained with certainty; but it has been supposed that it was adopted in consequence of the expression firmness used in the orders of General the Earl Cornwallis the day after the capture of the important fortress of Bangalore, the details of which are given at page 53; the documents alluded to by Sir George Nayler in the above letter, and on which the regiment was permitted to revive the word “Firm,” are inserted in the Appendix, pages 129, &c.; by these it will be perceived that the word “Firm” must have been adopted by the regiment several years before the capture of Bangalore, which was effected in March 1791.

William Caulfeild, the second Viscount Charlemont, for his services in the cause of King William III., was rewarded by a regiment of infantry. His Majesty also made him Governor and Custos Rotulorum of the counties of Tyrone and Armagh, and Governor of the fort of Charlemont. Several regiments of infantry being ordered to be disbanded in 1697, and his Lordship’s regiment being one of them, His Majesty, in consideration of his faithful services, directed the sum of eight shillings per day to be paid him as half-pay, and on the 28th of June 1701, His Majesty again appointed him to the command of a newly raised corps, which is now the Thirty-sixth regiment. On the 25th of August 1704, his Lordship was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and in the following year was called upon to serve in Spain under Charles, Earl of Peterborough. Lord Charlemont rendered important services at the siege of Barcelona; and at the attack of Fort Montjuich on the 14th of September 1705, his Lordship marched into the works, at the head of his men, and was near the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt when he received the wound which terminated mortally. After the action Lord Charlemont, and Lieut.-Colonel Southwell of the Sixth foot, were presented to the King of Spain as officers that had performed signal service on that occasion, for which they received the thanks of that Sovereign. The taking of this fort paved the way for[108] reducing Barcelona, which surrendered on the 9th of October 1705. His Lordship was subsequently removed from the Thirty-sixth regiment, by the Earl of Peterborough, and, in justice to his character and feelings, preferred a complaint to Her Majesty Queen Anne against his former Commander; this was referred to a Council of General Officers, who, after several meetings, at which witnesses were heard on both sides, made two satisfactory reports to Her Majesty, copies of which are inserted at the end of this memoir. On the 1st of January 1707 Queen Anne advanced him to the rank of Major-General, and he was honoured with the confidence of Her Majesty, as had been the case with King William III., both as a Peer, and in his military capacity. In May 1709, his Lordship was one of the committee appointed to draw up an address of condolence to Her Majesty on the decease of Her Royal Consort Prince George of Denmark, and also to congratulate the Queen on the success of her arms.

In May 1726, his Lordship was sworn of the Privy Council to King George I., and after having enjoyed the peerage upwards of fifty-five years, and being reputed the oldest nobleman in the Kingdom, he died on the 21st of July 1726, and was buried at Armagh.

The following are copies of the Reports of the General Officers concerning the difference between the Earl of Peterborough and Viscount Charlemont, alluded to in the foregoing Memoir.

“May it please your Majesty,

“In obedience to your Majesty’s command, referring to the General Officers of the Army a Petition of the Lord Viscount Charlemont, praying his conduct at the Fort of Montjuich may be examined into, as to which he lay under some reflections; the General Officers have met, and heard several witnesses produced on that occasion; and do thereupon humbly report to your Majesty, that they find as followeth:—

“That the Lord Charlemont was at the attack of the Fort of Montjuich, and marched into the works at the head of his men, and was near the Prince of Hesse when he was killed; and continued doing his duty during the heat of the action.

“That toward the end of the said action, a panic fear took the troops, to which the Lord Charlemont no way contributed; but the contrary, his Lordship having endeavoured, both by himself and other Officers, to put a stop to the disorder.

“That when the action was over, after the Lord Charlemont had been first relieved by Brigadier Gorges, the Earl of Peterborough took his Lordship and Colonel Southwell, and presented them to the King of Spain, as Officers that had done His Majesty signal service in that action; for which they both received His Majesty’s thanks.

[110]

“That by the disposition of the attack of the breach of the town of Barcelona, as the same is attested by the Earl of Peterborough’s secretary, the Lord Charlemont was commanded, with the First brigade, for that attack.

“The General Officers do also take leave to observe to your Majesty, that it does not appear to them, that any General Officer refused rolling with the Lord Charlemont; but that they did their duty with him as before. Which is most humbly submitted to your Majesty, this 24th of March 1707-8.

Upon Viscount Charlemont’s raising the corps which is now numbered the Thirty-sixth, this officer was appointed to a company in the regiment; and he embarked with it in the expedition against Cadiz in 1702. Captain Alnutt subsequently proceeded with the regiment to the West Indies; and in 1704 returned with it to Ireland. His services are also connected with the expedition to Spain under the Earl of Peterborough in 1705, the siege of Barcelona in the same year, and its gallant and successful defence against King Philip in 1706. Lieut.-Colonel Alnutt, to which rank he had been advanced at this period, was appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 10th of May 1706, in succession to the Viscount Charlemont. At the Battle of Almanza on the 25th of April 1707, Colonel Alnutt was wounded and taken prisoner. His decease occurred on the 7th of May 1708.

Archibald, third Duke of Argyle, was born at Ham, in Surrey, in June 1682, and resided in England until he was[111] about seventeen years of age, when he was sent to the University of Glasgow. From thence he went to Utrecht, and made considerable advancement in the study of civil law, intending to practise in that profession. Upon his father’s advancement to the Dukedom of Argyle on the 23d of June 1701, his son Archibald embraced a military life, and served under the Duke of Marlborough.

In 1705 he was constituted Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and in the Parliament of that year, in which his brother John, who had succeeded his father as Duke of Argyle two years previously, presided as Lord High Commissioner, he sat and voted as such upon the Queen’s letter; he was nominated one of the Commissioners for the Treaty of Union in 1706, and on the 19th of October of that year was created by patent, dated at Kensington, Earl and Viscount of Ilay, Lord Oransay, Dunoon, and Arrase. This nobleman was one of the sixteen representatives of the Scottish peerage, chosen by Parliament on the 13th of February 1707, and was re-chosen at every general election until his decease, with the single exception of the last Parliament of Queen Anne’s reign.

The Earl of Ilay, upon his brother’s resignation, was, on the 1st of June 1708, sworn and admitted one of the extraordinary Lords of Session, being, says Fountainhall, “the best school of law for the nobility to learn that is in Europe.” On the 23d of March 1709 Her Majesty Queen Anne appointed the Earl of Ilay to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment. The governorship of Dumbarton Castle was also conferred upon his Lordship.

Finding that a statesman’s career was more congenial to his taste than the military profession, he quitted the army and resigned the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment in 1710. With his accustomed assiduity his Lordship employed himself in the acquisition of political knowledge. In 1710 he was appointed Lord Justice General of Scotland, and was sworn a Privy Councillor in the following year. Upon the accession of George I. the Earl of Ilay was constituted Lord Clerk Register; and on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1715 he again betook himself to arms in defence of the reigning family. By his prudent conduct in the Western Highlands he prevented General Gordon[112] at the head of three thousand men, from penetrating into the country and raising levies. He joined his brother the Duke of Argyle on the 13th of November 1715, half an hour before the battle of Sheriffmuir, where he was wounded.

In 1725 this nobleman received the office of Keeper of the Privy Seal, and in December 1733 his Lordship was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal. Upon the decease of his brother, in 1743, the Earl of Ilay became third Duke of Argyle, and Hereditary Justiciary of Argyleshire and the Western Islands. After the suppression of the rebellion in 1746, he carried into effect the judicious plan of employing the Highlanders in the Royal army, which had been suggested by the Right Honourable William Pitt, afterwards the Earl of Chatham.

The Duke of Argyle continued at the head of affairs in Scotland, in full possession of his mental faculties, until his death, which happened in London, without a moment’s pain, as he was sitting in his chair at dinner, on the 15th of April 1761, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. On this nobleman’s decease the title of Earl of Ilay became extinct; his other titles and estates in Scotland descended to his cousin, Lieut.-General John Campbell of Mamore, Colonel of the Second dragoons, or Scots Greys.

Upon the resignation of Colonel the Earl of Ilay, Lieut.-Colonel Henry Desaulnais (afterwards spelt Desney) was promoted from the Coldstream guards to the Colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 23d of October 1710. In the following year he served with his regiment in the expedition against Quebec, and on the 25th of December 1725 this officer was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-ninth regiment. He died on the 21st of November 1731.

This officer served with reputation in the wars of King William III. and of Queen Anne. He was promoted to the[113] rank of Colonel in November 1711, appointed Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 11th of July 1715, and on the 6th of July 1719 was removed to the Twentieth regiment, which corps he commanded until his decease on the 15th of July 1732.

Charles Hotham, eldest son of the Reverend Charles Hotham, rector of Wigan, succeeded to the baronetcy on the decease of his uncle in 1691. He served with distinction in the wars of King William III., and also under the great Duke of Marlborough in the reign of Queen Anne. In 1705 he obtained the colonelcy of a regiment of infantry, with which he proceeded to Spain in 1706, and was in garrison at Alicant when the unfortunate battle of Almanza was fought. Sir Charles Hotham served with reputation during the remainder of the war; but his regiment, having suffered severely in the defence of several fortified towns, was disbanded in Catalonia in 1708. He was appointed Brigadier-General on the 1st of January 1710, and shortly after the accession of King George I. he was commissioned to raise a regiment of infantry, which, after the suppression of the rebellion of the Earl of Mar in 1716, was sent to Ireland, and disbanded in the following year. Sir Charles Hotham was afterwards appointed Colonel of a newly raised regiment of dragoons, which was disbanded in November 1718.

On the 7th of July 1719, the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment was conferred on Sir Charles Hotham; he was removed to the Eighth or King’s regiment of foot in December 1720, and in April following to the Royal dragoons. His decease occurred on the 8th of January 1723.

This officer obtained a commission in a regiment of infantry in June 1695; and having signalized himself in the wars of Queen Anne, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the army in 1707. In 1710, he succeeded[114] William Lord Strathnaver in the colonelcy of a regiment of infantry, with which he served in Flanders under the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, and afterwards under the Duke of Ormond. At the peace of Utrecht his regiment was disbanded; and in 1715 he was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot for the service of King George I. After the suppression of the rebellion of the Earl of Mar, this regiment was sent to Ireland, where it was disbanded in 1718; and on the 2d of December 1720, he was appointed to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, from which he was removed in April 1721 to the Eighth or King’s regiment. On the expectation that Great Britain would become involved in a continental war, in 1727, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. He died in April 1732, at his house in Leicester Fields, London.

Charles Lenoe entered the army in the reign of Queen Anne, his first commission bearing date the 4th of December 1704; he served under the Duke of Marlborough, and on the 21st of April 1721, Lieut.-Colonel Lenoe was promoted from the Coldstream guards to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, from which he was removed to the Eighth or King’s regiment on the 8th of May 1732, the colonelcy of which he retained until his decease in December 1738.

This officer entered the army in the reign of Queen Anne, and served with reputation under the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough; he rose to the lieut.-colonelcy of a newly raised regiment of infantry, and in 1708 was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the army. At the peace of Utrecht in 1713, his regiment was disbanded. Colonel Moyle was advanced to the rank of Brigadier-General on the 13th of March 1727. On the 14th of May 1732, King George II. conferred the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on Brigadier-General Moyle, who was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 5th of November 1735. In June[115] 1737, he was removed to the Twenty-second regiment. Major-General Moyle died on the 3d of November 1738.

Humphrey Bland served in several campaigns on the continent under the famous John Duke of Marlborough, as a Lieutenant and Captain of horse. He afterwards served as Lieut.-Colonel in Spain, and on the 27th of July 1710 was wounded at the battle of Almanara. In 1715, when a number of new corps were raised, King George I. appointed him Lieut.-Colonel of the Eleventh dragoons, and he was instrumental with his regiment in suppressing the rebellion which broke out in Scotland towards the end of that year; he was afterwards appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the Second horse, now First Dragoon guards, and having distinguished himself as an efficient and loyal officer, he was on the 27th of June 1737, promoted to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, from which he was removed, in 1741, to the Thirteenth dragoons, and two years afterwards to the Third or King’s Own dragoons. He had his horse shot under him at the battle of Dettingen on the 27th of June 1743; on the 30th of March 1745, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General; he displayed great gallantry at the battle of Fontenoy on the 11th of May following, and highly distinguished himself in the battle of Culloden on the 16th of April 1746; he was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 12th of September 1747. In July 1752 he was removed to the First Dragoon guards, the colonelcy of which regiment he retained until his decease in 1763.

Lieut.-Colonel James Fleming was promoted from the Seventh Royal fusiliers to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 9th of January 1741. He was advanced to the rank of Brigadier-General in June 1745, and was present in the action at Falkirk on the 17th of January 1746, and also at the battle of Culloden on the 16th of April following. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 2d of September 1747. He died in March 1751.

Lord Robert Manners, son of John, second Duke of Rutland, choosing a military life, purchased an ensigncy in the Coldstream guards, on the 26th of July 1735; was appointed Lieutenant in May 1740, and Captain and Lieut.-Colonel in the First Foot guards on the 22nd of April 1742. In December 1747, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed Aide-de-camp to King George II.; on the 13th of March 1751 his Lordship was appointed by His Majesty to the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment. The rank of Major-General was conferred upon Lord Robert Manners on the 7th of February 1757, and his Lordship was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-General on the 7th of April 1759; in 1765 he was removed to the Third Dragoon guards, and was promoted to the rank of General on the 25th of May 1772. His decease occurred on the 31st of May 1782.

Richard Pierson was for many years an officer in the First Foot guards, in which regiment he was appointed Major, with the rank of Colonel in the army, on the 21st of July 1760. On the 10th of July 1762, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and on the 5th of September 1764 he was appointed Colonel of the Sixty-third regiment, from which he was removed on the 11th of September 1765 to the Thirty-sixth regiment. In 1772 he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General, and was also honoured with the dignity of a Knight of the Bath; and on the 27th of November 1778, Sir Richard Pierson was removed to the Thirteenth dragoons. He was taken suddenly ill on his return from the theatre on the night of the 12th of February 1781, and died before the following morning.

The Honourable Henry St. John, brother of Viscount Bolingbroke, entered the army as Ensign in the Coldstream regiment of Foot guards, his commission being dated 31st of[117] December 1754, from which he was promoted on the 12th of January 1758 to the rank of Captain in the Eighteenth, Royal Irish regiment, then stationed in Ireland. Captain the Honourable Henry St. John was advanced to the rank of Major in the Ninety-first regiment on the 12th of January 1760, in which he was promoted Lieut.-Colonel on the 13th of February 1762, and on the corps being disbanded at the Peace of 1763 he was placed on half pay. On the 9th of November 1767, Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Henry St. John was appointed to the Sixty-seventh regiment then in garrison at Minorca. He received the brevet rank of Colonel on the 11th of January 1776, and was appointed by His Majesty King George III. to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 27th of November 1778.

Colonel the Honourable Henry St. John was advanced to the rank of Major-General on the 19th of February 1779, to that of Lieut.-General on the 28th of September 1787, and to that of General on the 16th of January 1797. His decease occurred in April 1818, at which period he retained the colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment, which he had held for upwards of thirty-nine years.

This officer entered the army in 1770, as Ensign in the Fifty-first foot; in 1784 he was promoted Major of the Fifty-ninth regiment, and in April 1789 was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the same corps. He was advanced to the rank of Colonel in 1795, and was appointed Aide-de-camp to His Majesty King George III. in 1797.

In 1798 Colonel Don was promoted to the rank of Major-General; in the succeeding year he was appointed Colonel of the Seventh West India regiment (afterwards disbanded), and was removed to the Ninety-sixth regiment in 1805. He was also promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General, and proceeded with the expedition to Hanover in the same year. In 1814 he was promoted to the rank of General, and appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar. On the 24th of January 1819, the Ninety-fifth (formerly Ninety-sixth) regiment was disbanded, previously to which he was, on the 4th of April 1818, removed therefrom to the Thirty-sixth[118] regiment. General Don was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on the 20th of May 1820, and on the 21st of December 1829 was appointed Colonel of the Third foot or the Buffs. He was appointed Governor of Scarborough Castle in 1831, and died at Gibraltar on the 1st of January 1832.

This officer commenced his military career as ensign in the Fifth fusiliers, his commission being dated 1st of May 1778, in which regiment he rose to the rank of lieutenant on the 27th of December 1780. Lieutenant Sheaffe served in Ireland from January 1781 to May 1787, and in Canada from July following to September 1797. In 1794 he was employed under the orders of Lord Dorchester, and with instructions from Lieut.-Governor Simcoe, on a public mission to protest against certain settlements made by the Americans on the south shore of Lake Ontario. On the 5th of May 1795, he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Fifth fusiliers, and on the 13th of December 1797 was promoted Major in the Eighty-first regiment, and was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the Forty-ninth regiment on the 22d of March 1798.

Lieut.-Colonel Sheaffe served in Holland from August to November 1799; in the Baltic from March to July 1801; and in Canada from September 1802 to October 1811. On the 25th of April 1808, he received the brevet rank of Colonel, and on the 4th of June 1811 was advanced to the rank of Major-General. He again served in Canada from the 29th of July 1812 to November 1813. The Americans having invaded Upper Canada at Queenstown on the 13th of October 1812, and General Brock, commanding in the province, having fallen in a gallant effort with an independent force to oppose them, Major-General Sheaffe, on whom the command devolved, assembled some regular troops and militia, with a few Indians, and the same day attacked them in a woody height, which they occupied above the town, and completely defeated them, though far exceeding his own followers in number, their Commander delivering his sword, and surrendering his surviving troops on the field of battle.

In acknowledgment of this important service, Major-General Sheaffe was created a Baronet by patent, dated 16th January 1813. Sir Roger Sheaffe defended the town of York (now called Toronto), in Upper Canada, on the 27th of April 1813, when it was attacked by the Americans, whose loss exceeded the number of those opposed to them. He continued to command in the Upper Province, and to administer its government, until June 1813; on quitting it he received, from the resident members of the Executive Council, an address expressing their sense of “that display of candour, justice, and impartiality which had marked his administration, and the urbanity and confidence of his official intercourse.” They further acknowledged their conviction that they owed the salvation of the whole province to his military talents on the memorable day when he succeeded to the command. He was appointed to the Staff of Great Britain on the 25th of March 1814; but the appointment was recalled and deferred, in consequence of the change of affairs in Europe.

Major-General Sir Roger Sheaffe was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 19th of July 1821, and on the 21st of December 1829 was appointed by His Majesty King George IV. to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment. He was advanced to the rank of General on the 28th of June 1838. General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Bart., died at Edinburgh, aged eighty-eight years, on the 17th of July 1851.

Copy of the General Orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief of Madras upon the Thirty-sixth regiment being ordered to return to Great Britain.

Copy of an Order issued by the Governor in Council upon the Thirty-sixth regiment quitting Madras for Great Britain.

Copy of a Letter from Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.B. to Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State.

Contained in Vol. iv., page 100, “of the Despatches of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington.” Compiled by Colonel Gurwood.

“Vimiera, 22d August 1808.

“My dear Lord,

“After I wrote to you yesterday morning we were attacked by the whole of the French army, Sir Harry Burrard being still on board ship, and I gained a complete victory. It was impossible for troops to behave better than our’s did: we only wanted a few hundred more cavalry to annihilate the French army.

“I have sent my Report upon this action to Sir Harry Burrard, who will send it home. You will see in it that I have mentioned Colonel Burne of the 36th regiment in a very particular manner, and I assure you that there is nothing that will give me so much satisfaction as to learn that something has been done for this old and meritorious soldier.

“The Thirty-sixth regiment is an example to the army.

[123]

“Sir Harry did not land till late in the day in the midst of the attack, and he desired me to continue my own operations; and, as far as I am personally concerned in the action, I was amply rewarded for any disappointment I might have felt in not having had an opportunity of bringing the service to a close, by the satisfaction expressed by the army that the second and more important victory had been gained by their old General.

“I have also the pleasure to add, that it has more effect than all the argument I could use to induce the General to move on, and I believe he will march to-morrow. Indeed, if he does not, we shall be poisoned here by the stench of the dead and wounded, or we shall starve, everything in the neighbourhood being already eaten up.

“From the number of dead Frenchmen about the ground, and the number of prisoners and wounded, I should think their loss could not be far short of 3,000 men. The force which attacked us was very respectable, and probably not short of 14,000 men, including 1,300 dragoons and artillery, and 300 chasseurs à cheval.

“Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived last night, and will land this morning.

“Believe me, &c.
(Signed) “Arthur Wellesley.”

“The Viscount Castlereagh,
&c. &c.”

“General Orders.

“His Majesty’s Ship, “Audacious,”
“18th January 1809.

“The irreparable loss that has been sustained by the fall of the Commander of the Forces (Lieut.-General Sir John Moore), and the severe wound which has removed Lieut.-General Sir David Baird from his station, render it the duty of Lieut.-General Hope to congratulate the army upon the successful result of the action of the 16th instant.

“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 employ, 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.

“The Lieut.-General has the greatest satisfaction in distinguishing such meritorious services as came within his observation, or have been brought to his knowledge.

“His acknowledgments are, in a peculiar manner, due to Lieut.-General Lord William Bentinck, and the brigade under his command, consisting of the fourth, forty-second, and fiftieth regiments, and which sustained the weight of the attack.

“Major-General Manningham, with his brigade, consisting of the Royals, the twenty-sixth and eighty-first regiments, and Major-General Warde, with the brigade of Guards, will also be pleased to accept his best thanks for their steady and gallant conduct during the action.

“To Major-General Paget, who, by a judicious movement of the reserve, effectually contributed to check the progress of the enemy on the right; and to the first battalion of the fifty-second and ninety-fifth regiments, which were thereby engaged, the greatest praise is justly due.

“That part of Major-General Leith’s brigade which was engaged, consisting of the fifty-ninth regiment, under the[125] conduct of the Major-General, also claims marked approbation.

“The enemy not having rendered the attack on the left a serious one, did not afford to the troops stationed in that quarter an opportunity of displaying that gallantry which must have made him repent the attempt.

“The piquets and advanced posts, however, of the brigades under the command of Major-Generals Hill and Leith, and Colonel Catlin Craufurd, conducted themselves with determined resolution, and were ably supported by the officers commanding these brigades, and by the troops of which they were composed.

“It is peculiarly incumbent upon the Lieut.-General to notice the vigorous attack made by the second battalion of the fourteenth regiment under Lieut.-Colonel Nicolls, which drove the enemy out of the village, of the left of which he had possessed himself.

“The exertions of Lieut.-Colonel Murray, Quartermaster-General, and of the other officers of the General Staff, during the action, were unremitted, and deserve every degree of approbation.

“The illness of Brigadier-General Clinton, Adjutant-General, unfortunately deprived the army of the benefit of his services.

“The Lieut.-General hopes the loss in point of numbers is not so considerable as might have been expected; he laments, however, the fall of the gallant soldiers and valuable officers who have suffered.

“The Lieut-General knows that it is impossible, in any language he can use, to enhance the esteem, or diminish the regret, that the army feels with him for its late Commander. His career has been unfortunately too limited for his country, but has been sufficient for his own fame. Beloved by the army, honored by his Sovereign, and respected by his country, he has terminated a life devoted to her service by a glorious death,—leaving his name as a memorial, an example, and an incitement to those who shall follow him in the path of honor, and it is from his country alone that his memory can receive the tribute which is its due.

(Signed) “John Hope, Lieut.-General.”

“General Orders.

“Horse Guards, 1st February 1809.

“The benefits derived to an army from the example of a distinguished Commander do not terminate at his death; his virtues live in the recollection of his associates, and his fame remains the strongest incentive to great and glorious actions.

“In this view the Commander-in-Chief, amidst the deep and universal regret which the death of Lieut.-General Sir John Moore has occasioned, recalls to the troops the military career of that illustrious officer for their instruction and imitation.

“Sir John Moore from his youth embraced the profession with the feelings and sentiments of a soldier; he felt that a perfect knowledge and an exact performance of the humble but important duties of a subaltern officer are the best foundations for subsequent military fame, and his ardent mind, while it looked forward to those brilliant achievements for which it was formed, applied itself with energy and exemplary assiduity to the duties of that station.

“In the school of regimental duty he obtained that correct knowledge of his profession so essential to the proper direction of the gallant spirit of the soldier, and he was enabled to establish a characteristic order and regularity of conduct, because the troops found in their leader a striking example of the discipline which he enforced on others.

“Having risen to command, he signalised his name in the West Indies, in Holland, and in Egypt. The unremitting attention with which he devoted himself to the duties of every branch of his profession obtained him the confidence of Sir Ralph Abercromby, and he became the companion in arms of that illustrious officer, who fell at the head of his victorious troops in an action which maintained our national superiority over the arms of France.

“Thus Sir John Moore at an early period obtained, with general approbation, that conspicuous station in which he gloriously terminated his useful and honorable life.

[127]

“In a military character obtained amidst the dangers of climate, the privations incident to service, and the sufferings of repeated wounds, it is difficult to select any one point as a preferable subject for praise; it exhibits, however, one feature so particularly characteristic of the man, and so important to the best interests of the service, that the Commander-in-Chief is pleased to mark it with his peculiar approbation—

“The life of SIR JOHN MOORE was spent among the troops.

“During the season of repose his time was devoted to the care and instruction of the officer and soldier; in war he courted service in every quarter of the globe. Regardless of personal consideration, he esteemed that to which his country called him the post of honor, and by his undaunted spirit and unconquerable perseverance he pointed the way to victory.

“His country, the object of his latest solicitude, will rear a monument to his lamented memory, and the Commander-in-Chief feels he is paying the best tribute to his fame by thus holding him forth as an EXAMPLE to the ARMY.

“By order of His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief,

“Harry Calvert, Adjutant-General.”

The following regiments composed the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore at Corunna on the 16th of January 1809:—

Documents relating to the word “Firm,” borne by the Thirty-sixth regiment, alluded to in Sir George Nayler’s letter, dated 6th of January 1817, inserted at page 94.

“Monte Video, 30th July 1807.

“Sir,

“I do myself the honour of acknowledging the receipt of your letter dated the 9th of May last, and now transmit a sketch of the regimental colours of the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, as represented in the accompanying paper, marked D and E.; at present there are no camp colours with the 36th, they having been destroyed by fire when the regimental store was burned at Battle barracks, a few days before the regiment embarked for foreign service.

“I likewise do myself the honour of sending a sketch from the regimental seal, and beg to be informed by you if we have not a right to the word ‘Firm’ embroidered on the colours as represented in that sketch. How long the seal has been in the regiment I cannot pretend to say, only it is the same seal that has been made use of since I came into the Thirty-sixth, which will be thirty-four years the month after next. Should there be any office where the devices of different regiments are recorded, I should imagine it would be a matter easily ascertained.

“I have, &c.
(Signed) “Robert Burne,
“Lieut.-Colonel, Commanding 1st Battalion,
“36th Regiment.”

George Nayler, Esq., York Herald,
&c. &c. &c.

“52, Charlotte Street, Portland Place,
“21st March 1810.

“Dear Sir,

“I was favoured with your note and the enclosure last night, but in one part, as it does not exactly meet the facts, I have taken the liberty of enclosing you a certificate, which, from the conversation I have had with the Colonel, I think will. It is not in the power of the Colonel to certify that they positively have borne the word ‘Firm’ on the colours; but he has every reason to[131] believe so, as the bearings of the colours are usually on the regimental seals of regiments. The Colonel has been in the regiment thirty-seven years, and the oldest officer by very many years now remaining in it. During his time the regiment must have had three pairs of regimental colours;—the pair when the regiment returned from the West Indies, I presume, now entirely worn out and destroyed; the pair on the regiment’s return from the East Indies was, from the same cause, burned at Winchester; and the present pair of colours consists of as many rags as might form the size of a silk handkerchief, but not a piece that is whole six inches square. These rags are tied together round the staff. Therefore, concluding that the former colours were before disposed of, at least in as bad a state as those, it would become impossible to say what bearings or mottoes might have been upon the pair when Colonel Burne joined, which was on their return from the West Indies, to which is to be added the great mortality and change among officers who served at that time in those climates. I should have had the pleasure of waiting upon you this day upon the subject, but as I leave town to-morrow I am compelled to confine my business to writing. May I, therefore, beg the additional favour (should the certificate meet your approbation, or any other form that may accord with the fact stated) that you will enclose it to my brother, who will forward it to me? I feel extremely anxious to get the business completed as soon as possible, the regiment being again down for service, &c., which I trust, in your goodness, will plead as my apology for intruding so much upon your time.

“I am, &c.
(Signed) “Henry Vernon.”

“G. Nayler, Esq.”

“I Robert Burne, Lieut.-Colonel of the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, a Colonel in the army, and Governor of His Majesty’s garrison of Carlisle, do hereby certify and declare, that during the space of thirty-seven years to my own positive knowledge, and how long previous thereto I cannot set forth, the said regiment has used on its regimental seal the word ‘Firm;’ and that I verily believe, by reason thereof, the said regiment to be entitled to bear the same upon its colours, and that the said word may have lapsed and been forgotten by the frequent change of officers and the mutilated or almost destroyed state in which the colours of the regiment have been on their return from service, and that I am, therefore, extremely anxious that the said word ‘Firm’ should be inscribed in the painting of the colours of the aforesaid Thirty-sixth regiment, now preparing, by His Majesty’s command, under the inspection of George Nayler, Esquire, York Herald, and Inspector of Regimental Colours. In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name, and affixed the seal of the said regiment, at Battle, Sussex, this fifth day of April one thousand eight hundred and ten.

(Signed) Robt. Burne,
Lieut.-Col. Commanding 1st Battn.
36th Regt., and Colonel.

“Signed and sealed in the presence of

“A. Mackenzie,
Major 36th Regt.,

“Hy. Vernon, Capt.,
1st Battn. 36th Regt.”

Memoir of the services of Lieut.-General Robert Burne, formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment.

Robert Burne entered the army as Ensign in the Thirty-sixth, his commission being dated 28th of September 1773; and it is remarkable that he obtained all his regimental promotions in that corps. On the 13th of January 1777 he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. On the 10th of March 1783 Lieutenant Burne embarked with the Thirty-sixth regiment for Madras, and arrived in that Presidency in July following. In 1784 he succeeded to the Captain-Lieutenancy, and on the 7th of May of that year was appointed Captain of a company in the regiment. Upon the army taking the field against Tippoo Saib he was Captain of the Grenadier company. Captain Burne was in the battles of Sattimungulum and Shawoor on the 13th and 14th of September 1790, and was afterwards at the storming of the pettah and fort of Bangalore in March 1791. Captain Burne served at the attack of Nundydroog in October 1791; he was also present in the operations before Seringapatam during the night of the 6th of February 1792, under General the Earl Cornwallis, which compelled Tippoo to enter into a treaty of peace with the British. He was at the siege and capture of Pondicherry in August 1793; and on the 1st of March 1794 he was promoted to the brevet rank of Major, which rank he attained in the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 15th of April 1796. On the 1st of January 1798 Major Burne was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet, and he embarked at Madras in command of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 15th of October, but did not arrive in England until July 1799, the want of convoy having caused the Indiamen to be detained three months at St. Helena.

On the 13th of November 1799 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Burne was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment, with which he embarked, in the year 1800, for the coast of France, with the expedition under Brigadier-General the Honorable Sir Thomas Maitland; he afterwards proceeded with his regiment to Minorca, from which island, in 1801, he was compelled, by severe illness, to return to England for the recovery of his health, being the first[134] time he was ever absent from the regiment. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Amiens in 1802 Minorca was restored to the Spaniards, and the Thirty-sixth returned to Ireland, when Lieut.-Colonel Burne resumed the command of the regiment.

Lieut.-Colonel Burne embarked with the first battalion of the regiment for Germany in October 1805, and returned with it to England in March following. In November 1806 he proceeded with the first battalion of the regiment on the expedition to South America under Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd; and in June 1807 landed in that country; was with the advance of the army at the operations in the suburbs of Buenos Ayres on the 2d, 3d, and 4th of July; and also shared in the attack on the town of Buenos Ayres on the 5th of July.

The first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment embarked at Buenos Ayres in September, and arrived at Cork in December 1807. On the 25th of April 1808 Lieut.-Colonel Burne was promoted by brevet to the rank of Colonel, and in July following embarked with the first battalion for the Peninsula. Colonel Burne was present at the battles of Roleia and Vimiera on the 17th and 21st of August 1808. Lieut.-General the Honourable Sir Arthur Wellesley in his despatch particularly noticed the conduct of Colonel Burne and that of the battalion. On the 8th of September following Colonel Burne was appointed Governor of Carlisle by His Majesty King George III. After these services Colonel Burne proceeded in command of the battalion with the troops destined to join Lieut.-General Sir John Moore at Salamanca, and was present at the battle of Corunna on the 16th of January 1809; after which he embarked with the army for England. Colonel Burne, for his services at Roleia, Vimiera, and Corunna, received the honorary distinction of a medal and clasp.

On the 16th of July 1809 Colonel Burne embarked in command of the first battalion of the Thirty-sixth regiment, with the expedition to the Scheldt, and served in August at the siege and capture of Flushing, in the island of Walcheren. He was afterwards appointed Colonel on the staff at that place, where he continued until the evacuation of the island.

Colonel Burne was appointed a Brigadier-General on the staff in Portugal on the 21st of January 1811, and landed in the Peninsula prior to the retreat of the French army from Santarem, and was present at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor on the 3d and 5th of May, together with the other operations in which the sixth division of the army was engaged. On the 4th of June 1811 he was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and continued on the staff in the Peninsula until the 24th of April 1812, when he returned to England; and, on the 25th of June following, was appointed to the staff of Great Britain, and was ordered to take the command of the camp near Lichfield; upon the breaking up of that encampment Major-General Burne was ordered to the command of the Nottingham district, where he remained on the staff until the 24th of September 1814.

On the 19th of July 1821 Major-General Burne was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-General. His decease occurred in June 1825.

Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode,
Printers to the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty.
For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

The roman page numbering at the front of the book goes from i to xix, then from v to xii; this has not been changed.

The table on page 6 in the original book was very wide. It has been modified by splitting it into two parts, for each of the three ships.

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.

Pg v: ‘707. Battle’ replaced by ‘1707. Battle’.
Pg viii: ‘against of Tippoo’ replaced by ‘against Tippoo’.
Pg 14: ‘corps of infanty’ replaced by ‘corps of infantry’.
Pg 27: ‘in garison at’ replaced by ‘in garrison at’.
Pg 38: ‘the Europeau Powers’ replaced by ‘the European Powers’.
Pg 40: ‘In the begining’ replaced by ‘In the beginning’.
Pg 52: ‘were opposed to’ replaced by ‘were exposed to’.
Pg 58: ‘Seringpatam’ replaced by ‘Seringapatam’.
Pg 78: ‘marched ot Gallegos’ replaced by ‘marched to Gallegos’.
Pg 126: ‘recals to the troops’ replaced by ‘recalls to the troops’.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH, OR THE HEREFORDSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT IN 1701, AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES TO 1852 ***

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	Page.
Copy of the General Orders issued by the Commander-in-chief of Madras, upon the regiment being ordered to return to Great Britain	121
Copy of an Order issued by the Governor in Council upon the regiment quitting Madras	ib.
Copy of a Letter from Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.B., to Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State, respecting the exemplary conduct of the regiment at the battle of Vimiera	122
General orders of the 18th of January and 1st of February 1809, relating to the battle of Corunna and the death of Lieut.-General Sir John Moore	124
List of regiments which composed the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore	128
Documents relating to the word “Firm” borne by the regiment	129
Memoir of Lieut.-General Robert Burne, formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the regiment	133

	Page.
Colours of the regiment	to face 1
Battle of Vimiera	71
Costume of the regiment	106

	Officers and Men.
Lloyd’s dragoons, now Third light dragoons (detachment)	275
Foot guards, the Grenadier and Coldstream	755
Sir H. Bellasis, now Second foot	834
Churchill’s, now Third foot	834
Seymour’s, now Fourth foot	834
Columbine’s, now Sixth foot	724
O’Hara’s, three companies, now Seventh Royal fusiliers	313
Erle’s, now Nineteenth foot	724
Gustavus Hamilton’s, now Twentieth foot	724
Villiere’s marines, five companies, now Thirty-first foot	520
Fox’s marines, now Thirty-second foot	834
Donegal’s, now Thirty-fifth foot	724
Charlemont’s, now Thirty-sixth foot	724
Shannon’s marines	834
	——
	9,653
Dutch regiments commanded by Major-General Baron Sparre and Brigadier Pallandt	3,924
	13,577

The Right Hon^ble ye Lord Viscount Charlemont’s Reg^t.
	Captains.	Lieutenants.
On board the Grey.	┌ W^m Lord Charlemont, Colonel.	James Crofton
	│ Charles Wills, Lieut.-Colonel.	W^m Whitaker
	│ Arthur Moore, Major	Jas. Bamber
	│ Thos. Alnutt	Alex. Foster
	└ Henry Frankland	James Brough

Ensigns.	Serjts.	Corpls.	Drs.	Centinels.
Tho^s Caulfeild	2	3	2	43
Mich^l Merritt	2	3	2	42
Rog^r Mosten	2	3	2	44
W^m King	2	3	2	43
——	2	3	2	40

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Historical Record of the Thirty-sixth, or the Herefordshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1701, and of its subsequent services to 1852

GENERAL ORDERS.

PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION
TO
THE INFANTRY.

FOOTNOTES:

HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE THIRTY-SIXTH,
OR THE
HEREFORDSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT:

CONTENTS