The SIXTEENTH had the honor to take part in the battle of
_Ramilies_, on the 23rd of May, 1706, when the French, Spanish,
and Bavarian forces, commanded by Marshal Villeroy and the Elector
of Bavaria, were forced from their formidable position with severe
loss, and pursued many miles.
Important results followed this triumph over the forces of Louis
XIV.; the states of Brabant and magistrates of Brussels renounced
their allegiance to the Duke of Anjou; the principal towns of
Brabant and several fortified places in Flanders were immediately
delivered up, and others surrendered after short sieges. Thus
provinces disputed for ages, and towns which had resisted powerful
armies for months and years, were conquered in one campaign. After
taking part in these splendid achievements, the SIXTEENTH marched
into quarters at Ghent.
[Sidenote: 1707]
The regiment was in the field during the campaign of 1707; but the
French avoided an engagement, and nothing of importance occurred.
[Sidenote: 1708]
In the spring of 1708 the King of France fitted out a fleet,
and prepared a land force for the invasion of Great Britain in
favour of the Pretender, and the SIXTEENTH were ordered to return
to England to repel the invaders: they arrived at Tynemouth on
the 21st of March; but the French fleet having been chased from
the British coast by the English navy, the regiment returned to
Flanders.
After remaining a few weeks at Ghent, the regiment joined the army
in the field, and took part in achieving another victory over
the armies of Louis XIV., in the fields near _Oudenarde_, on the
11th of July. The SIXTEENTH formed part of a division of twenty
battalions commanded by the Duke of Argyle, which traversed the
Scheldt by the pontoon bridge between Oudenarde and the abbey of
Eename, ascended the heights of Bevere, and, inclining to the
right, engaged the enemy in the open grounds beyond the rivulet;
when a fierce conflict of musketry ensued, and the French were
driven from field to field, with great slaughter, until the
darkness of the night rendered it impossible to distinguish friends
from foes, when the troops were directed to cease firing. The wreck
of the French army made a precipitate retreat.
The siege of the important fortress of _Lisle_ was afterwards
undertaken, and the SIXTEENTH were selected to take part in this
gigantic enterprise, which excited universal attention throughout
Europe; the strength of the place,--the garrison consisting of
fifteen thousand men under the celebrated Marshal Boufflers,
and being provided with everything necessary for a protracted
defence,--gave an interesting character to this undertaking.
When the besieging army appeared before Lisle, the French
out-guards retired, and _Serjeant Littler_ of the SIXTEENTH
regiment swam across the river with a hatchet, and cut the
fastenings which held up a drawbridge to enable a party to pass
the stream, for which act of gallantry he was rewarded with a
commission in the third foot, or the Buffs.
The SIXTEENTH regiment took its turn of duty in the trenches and
shared in the attacks during the siege of Lisle, evincing, on all
occasions, the same heroic gallantry for which it had previously
been distinguished. It had one serjeant and eleven rank and file
killed, and four serjeants and fifty rank and file wounded, at
the storming of the counterscarp; and sustained severe loss on
several other occasions. Numerous difficulties had to be overcome
in carrying on this siege; but the skill, valour, and perseverance
of the officers and soldiers of the allied army, overcame every
obstacle, and on the 9th of December the citadel surrendered.
[Sidenote: 1709]
After reposing a few weeks in quarters, and receiving a draft of
recruits from England, the regiment advanced up the country, and
was encamped with the army on the Upper Dyle; it was subsequently
employed in covering the siege of _Tournay_, and after the
surrender of the town, on the 29th of July, 1708, the SIXTEENTH
were selected to take part in the siege of the citadel. This
proved a difficult service, in consequence of the extensive
subterraneous works by which the fortress was surrounded. The
approaches were carried on underground, and the working parties
frequently penetrated the subterraneous labyrinths of the castle,
and, encountering detachments of the enemy, fought underground
with sword, pistol, and bayonet. Several parties were destroyed
by the mines; but the works were persevered in, and the garrison
surrendered in the beginning of September.
After the capture of Tournay the army marched towards Mons; but
finding a numerous French force, under Marshals Villars and
Boufflers, in position at _Malplaquet_, the enemy was attacked in
his fortified post on the morning of the 11th of September, and the
SIXTEENTH had the honor to contribute to the gaining of another
victory over the armies of France. On this occasion, the regiment
was formed in brigade with the Buffs and the regiments of Temple
and Evans (afterwards disbanded), and was engaged in the attack of
the woods in which the enemy's left wing was posted, and in its
advance it encountered entrenchments and breastworks bristling with
bayonets, and emitting a storm of musket-shot and cannon-balls,
which thinned the British ranks. The leading corps were repulsed;
but, fresh troops arriving, a general attack was made with so much
resolution that the French were driven from their entrenchments
into the wood, where a sharp fire of musketry was kept up, and the
SIXTEENTH were engaged among the trees. Finally the French were
overpowered at every part of the field, and forced to retreat.
The regiment had about fifty men killed and wounded; and Captain
Ayloffe, Lieutenants Macrath, Whiting, and Lawder wounded. It was
afterwards employed in covering the siege of _Mons_, and passed the
winter in quarters at Ghent.
[Sidenote: 1710]
Having received another draft of recruits, the regiment marched
in April, 1710, to the vicinity of Tournay, where the army was
directed to assemble; its services were connected with the forcing
of the enemy's fortified lines at _Pont-à-Vendin_; it also
formed part of the covering army during the siege of _Douay_,
which fortress surrendered on the 27th of June. The regiment was
afterwards employed in covering the siege of _Bethune_, and this
fortress was captured before the end of August. The French army
avoiding a general engagement, the fortresses of _Aire_ and _St.
Venant_ were besieged at the same time, and after the capture of
these towns, the regiment returned to Ghent.
[Sidenote: 1711]
Brigadier-General Godfrey withdrew from the service, and was
succeeded in the colonelcy of the regiment by Brigadier-General
Henry Durell, from the foot guards, by commission dated the 17th of
February, 1711.
In the campaign of this year the regiment shared in the operations
by which the boasted impregnable lines, prepared by the French to
arrest the progress of the allied armies, were passed at _Arleux_,
on the 5th of August, and it was subsequently engaged in the siege
of the strong fortress of _Bouchain_,--services which called forth
all the powers of the active mind of the Duke of Marlborough, who
proved himself superior to the French generals in all the qualities
which constitute a great commander. Bouchain having been captured,
the regiment was placed in garrison for the winter.
[Sidenote: 1712]
Once more taking the field in April, 1712, the regiment joined
the army near Tournay, from whence it marched to the vicinity of
Bouchain, and was encamped at Cateau-Cambresis during the siege of
_Quesnoy_ by the Germans; it brought six hundred and eighty-one
rank and file into the field. The garrison of _Quesnoy_ surrendered
on the 4th of July; and soon afterwards a suspension of arms was
proclaimed preparatory to a treaty of peace, and the British troops
withdrew to the vicinity of Ghent, from whence the SIXTEENTH were
detached to Dunkirk, which city the French monarch delivered into
the hands of the British, as a pledge of his sincerity in the
negotiations for peace.
[Sidenote: 1713]
On the 1st of December, 1712, Brigadier-General Durell died,
and Queen Anne conferred the colonelcy of the regiment on
Brigadier-General Hans Hamilton, from the thirty-fourth regiment,
by commission dated the 23rd of June, 1713.
[Sidenote: 1714]
The regiment was stationed at Dunkirk until April, 1714, when
it embarked for Scotland, and, landing at Leith, relieved the
twenty-fifth regiment, which was ordered to embark for Ireland. The
SIXTEENTH were stationed at Stirling in September, 1714, with the
Inniskilling dragoons, when the arrival in London of King George I.
from Hanover, was celebrated with public rejoicings.
[Sidenote: 1715]
In the summer of 1715 the colonelcy of the regiment was conferred
on the Lieut.-Colonel, Richard Viscount Irving, in succession to
Brigadier-General Hamilton.
[Sidenote: 1716]
A rebellion in favour of the Pretender broke out in Scotland in
the autumn of this year, and the Earl of Mar headed the insurgent
clans; but the SIXTEENTH did not take the field: the protection
of Fort William was entrusted to their charge; and they were
in garrison at this place in the early part of 1716, when the
rebellion was suppressed by the troops under the Duke of Argyle.
[Sidenote: 1717]
[Sidenote: 1724]
In December, 1717, Viscount Irving was removed to the second horse,
now first dragoon guards, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel John
Cholmeley; and this officer dying in April, 1724, King George I.
conferred the colonelcy on Henry Earl of Deloraine (son of James
Duke of Monmouth), from the Scots troop of horse-grenadier-guards.
[Sidenote: 1725]
[Sidenote: 1727]
The regiment was employed on home service in Great Britain during
the whole of the reign of King George I.; it was one of the corps
selected to proceed to Holland in 1727, to assist the Dutch in
their war with the Imperialists; but no embarkation took place.
[Sidenote: 1730]
On the 9th of July, 1730, the Earl of Deloraine was removed to
the seventh horse, now sixth dragoon-guards, and the colonelcy of
the regiment was conferred by King George II. on Colonel Roger
Handasyd, from the twenty-second regiment.
[Sidenote: 1737]
In 1737 the British merchants complained of the depredations
committed on their vessels by the Spaniards in South America. A
Convention was entered into between the two Crowns, which was,
however, violated by the Spaniards in many instances.
[Sidenote: 1739]
On the 23rd of October, 1739, a declaration of war against Spain
was proclaimed, when the establishment of the regiment was
augmented.
[Sidenote: 1740]
In the summer of 1740 the regiment pitched its tents near Newbury,
where an encampment was formed of two regiments of horse, three
of dragoons, and four of infantry, under Lieut.-General Wade. The
SIXTEENTH left the camp and embarked on board the fleet, where
they served as Marines a short time, and afterwards landed at
Portsmouth. In the autumn they furnished a detachment to accompany
the expedition to the West Indies, under General Lord Cathcart, who
died on the passage.
[Sidenote: 1741]
The expedition arrived at Jamaica in January, 1741, and the
detachment of the SIXTEENTH was employed in the attempt on
_Carthagena_, the capital of an extensive and wealthy province
in the country of Terra Firma, in South America. The violent
periodical rains occurred before the conquest was achieved, and
the armament proved of insufficient strength to capture the place;
the country became deluged with water, the health of the soldiers
was seriously impaired, and the enterprise was abandoned. The
detachment of the SIXTEENTH was nearly annihilated by disease.
[Sidenote: 1742]
In this year the war of the Austrian succession commenced; and in
1742 a British army proceeded to Flanders to support the interests
of the Archduchess, Maria Theresa; but the SIXTEENTH were employed
on home service.
[Sidenote: 1745]
Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, arrived in Scotland
in the summer of 1745, and being joined by a number of the
Highland clans, he made a desperate effort to overthrow the
existing government, and to procure the accession of his father
to the throne. At first some partial successes were gained by the
insurgents; but the British nation evinced firmness and decision
in supporting the rights of their sovereign, and in preserving
the constitutional privileges of the people. The services of the
regiment were, at this period, limited to the south of England,
where a body of troops was held in readiness to repel a menaced
invasion by the French.
[Sidenote: 1746]
In January, 1746, the royal troops, under Lieut.-General Hawley,
were defeated by the Clans, on Falkirk moor, and additional forces
were ordered to proceed to Scotland. In March the SIXTEENTH
regiment embarked from Gravesend, with several other corps, for
Edinburgh, and arrived at Leith as the guns of Edinburgh castle
were firing for the decisive victory gained over the clans at
Culloden. The regiment waited a few days on board the transports,
until the return of an express from the army, when it received
orders to sail northwards, and landed at the royal burgh of Nairn
on the 1st of May. It was subsequently stationed at Elgin, &c.
[Sidenote: 1747]
The regiment remained in Scotland, and in the summer of 1747 it
was encamped in a valley environed by lofty mountains, near Fort
Augustus.
[Sidenote: 1748]
[Sidenote: 1749]
The war on the Continent terminated in 1748; and in the
following year the regiment was reduced in numbers to the peace
establishment, and sent to Ireland, where it was stationed nearly
twenty years.
[Sidenote: 1751]
On the 1st of July, 1751, King George II. issued a warrant for
establishing uniformity in the clothing, standards, and colours
of the several regiments of the regular army; and in this warrant
the uniform of the SIXTEENTH, or Lieut.-General Roger Handasyd's
regiment, was directed to be red, faced with _yellow_.[6] The
first, or the King's colour, to be the great Union: the second,
or regimental colour, to be of yellow silk, with the Union in
the upper canton; in the centre of the colours, the rank of the
regiment, in gold Roman characters, within a wreath of roses and
thistles on the same stalk.
At this period the soldiers of the regiment wore three-cornered
cocked hats, bound with white lace, and ornamented with a white
loop and a black cockade; red waistcoats; red breeches; white
gaiters reaching above the knee, and fastened below the knee with a
black garter; and white cravats; they also wore buff cross-belts.
[Sidenote: 1755]
[Sidenote: 1756]
[Sidenote: 1757]
[Sidenote: 1758]
[Sidenote: 1760]
The undetermined extent of the British territory in North America
gave rise to hostilities with France in 1755, and the establishment
of the army was considerably augmented in that and the two
following years. Several expeditions were also fitted out; but the
SIXTEENTH regiment was detained on home service in Ireland. In 1760
a plan was formed for attacking the French island of Belleisle, and
the SIXTEENTH, mustering seven hundred men, under Lieut.-Colonel
Gabbet, embarked on board of the fleet; but the enterprise was
laid aside in consequence of the death of King George II., and the
regiment returned to Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1762]
On the termination of the war in 1762, the regiment was again
reduced to the peace establishment.
[Sidenote: 1763]
General Roger Handasyd died in January, 1763, and in June King
George III. conferred the colonelcy of the regiment on the
Honorable Robert Brudenell, third son of George Earl of Cardigan,
from captain and lieut.-colonel in the third foot guards.
[Sidenote: 1765]
In 1765 Colonel Brudenell was removed to the Fourth regiment of
foot, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the SIXTEENTH, by
Colonel William Draper, who had commanded one of the regiments
raised in 1757, and numbered the Seventy-ninth regiment, which was
disbanded in 1763.
[Sidenote: 1766]
Colonel Draper was honoured with the dignity of a Knight of the
Bath, and in 1766 he exchanged to the colonelcy of one of the corps
disbanded in 1763 (the 121st regiment) with Colonel James Gisborne,
who was performing the duty of Quartermaster-General in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1767]
The regiment embarked from Ireland in 1767, for North America, and
was stationed in the pleasant and fertile territory of Florida,
which had been ceded to Great Britain, by the Spaniards, in 1763,
in exchange for the Havannah.
[Sidenote: 1768]
The head-quarters were established at Pensacola,--a town of West
Florida, situate at the head of a delightful bay, or basin, in the
Gulf of Mexico; and the regiment furnished various detachments to
occupy military stations in East and West Florida.
[Sidenote: 1775]
[Sidenote: 1776]
[Sidenote: 1777]
In these pleasant and healthy quarters the regiment was stationed
when a number of the British colonies in North America revolted,
and declared themselves a free and independent people, under the
title of the United States. This occurred in 1775, and in the
following year the SIXTEENTH were withdrawn from Florida, to join
the army at New York, under Lieut.-General Sir William Howe; but
the necessity of having a small force in the ceded Spanish province
was evident, and the SIXTEENTH having, during their residence of
eight years in East and West Florida, acquired the confidence of
the inhabitants and a knowledge of the country, and of the habits
and language of the people, the regiment received orders to return
to Pensacola, and other stations in East and West Florida, and on
the confines of Georgia.
[Sidenote: 1778]
Lieut.-General Gisborne died on the 20th of February, 1778, and
King George III. conferred the colonelcy on Major-General James
Robertson, from Colonel Commandant of the second battalion of the
Sixtieth, who had previously performed the duties of Lieut.-Colonel
of the SIXTEENTH regiment, many years, with reputation.
[Sidenote: 1778]
[Sidenote: 1779]
Had the British revolted provinces been left unaided by European
states, they would, doubtless, have been reduced to submission;
but in 1778 the French monarch sent a numerous fleet and an army
to their assistance; and in 1779 the court of Spain commenced
hostilities against Great Britain, and this example was followed by
the Dutch.
Don Bernard de Galvez, governor of the Spanish province of
Louisiana, assembled a numerous force, and suddenly invaded
the British territories on the banks of the Mississippi; and
Lieut.-Colonel Dickson, of the SIXTEENTH, who commanded the
troops in that district, being unable to oppose the invading
army, withdrew to _Baton Rouge_, where he caused a redoubt to be
constructed, which was scarcely completed when the Spanish army
advanced in force against this post, which was invested on the
12th of September. On the 21st the enemy opened a battery of heavy
cannon against the works, which were so much damaged in a few
hours, that Colonel Dickson was obliged to surrender. The garrison,
consisting of a detachment of the SIXTEENTH, Sixtieth, and of the
Waldeck regiments, was sent prisoners of war to New Orleans, and
afterwards exchanged.
The French armament, under the Comte d'Estaing, approached the
city and port of _Savannah_ in Chatham county, in the state of
Georgia, early in September, and a detachment of the SIXTEENTH
regiment, commanded by Major Graham, formed part of the force under
Major-General Prevost, which defended that place. The French troops
landed, and were joined by an American force under General Lincoln;
but they encountered a resistance which proved the determined
valour of the garrison. A detachment from the SIXTEENTH was engaged
in a sally on the 24th of September, under Major Graham of the
regiment, and this service was performed with judgment and bravery.
"Major Graham artfully drew the enemy into a snare, by which the
French and Americans fired on each other, and had fifty men killed
before the mistake was discovered."[7] Before daylight on the 9th
of October, the French and Americans made a desperate effort to
capture the place by storm; but were repulsed at every point with
severe loss. They afterwards raised the siege and retired.
[Sidenote: 1781]
In 1781 the Spaniards sent a numerous sea and land force against
Florida, under Don Bernard de Galvez, and the invading army
commenced operations by an attack upon the works defending
_Pensacola_, where a detachment of the SIXTEENTH regiment was
stationed. From the strength of the Spanish force, mustering nine
thousand men, and a numerous fleet, at the same time the British
garrison only amounted to twelve hundred men, the reduction of the
place appeared inevitable; yet a gallant defence was made, and the
soldiers displayed that innate bravery and resolution for which
British troops have always been distinguished. On the morning of
the 8th of May a shell burst near the door of the magazine of the
advanced redoubt, set fire to the powder, and the redoubt and its
garrison were destroyed by the explosion, excepting a few men,
who were forced to retire, after spiking the guns. The Spaniards
carried the redoubt, and threatened to storm the remaining works;
but were intimidated by the determined bearing of the garrison. The
British commander, Major-General John Campbell, afterwards agreed
to surrender, on condition that the garrison should march out
with the honours of war, and be sent to a part belonging to Great
Britain, but not serve against the Spaniards, or their allies,
until exchanged. The SIXTEENTH had Lieutenant Edward Carroll and
seven soldiers killed; Captain Anthony Foster and five soldiers
wounded. Pensacola was a flourishing place while under the British;
but it declined after it was taken by the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: 1782]
The regiment having sustained severe loss from various services
in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, where detachments had
been employed, it was ordered to return to Europe, and arrived in
England in March, 1782.
In August the regiment received directions to assume the title
of the SIXTEENTH, OR THE BUCKINGHAM Regiment, and to cultivate a
connection with the respectable inhabitants of that county, which
might be useful towards recruiting the regiment.
[Sidenote: 1783]
The American War terminated in 1782; and the regiment was placed
upon a peace establishment in 1783.
[Sidenote: 1784]
In 1784 it embarked for Ireland, where it was stationed several
years under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel James Henry Craig, an
officer of great zeal and ability.
[Sidenote: 1788]
Lieut.-General Robertson, died on the 4th of March, 1788, and was
succeeded in the colonelcy by Major-General the Honorable Thomas
Bruce, from the late 100th regiment, which was reduced after the
termination of the American War.
[Sidenote: 1790]
[Sidenote: 1791]
On the 18th of August, 1790, the regiment embarked from Ireland for
Nova Scotia, and in 1791 it was removed to the island of Jamaica,
where it remained five years.
[Sidenote: 1793]
[Sidenote: 1794]
A revolution broke out in France, and the republican principles
which filled that kingdom with anarchy, confusion, and bloodshed,
soon extended to the French West India Settlements, where the
blacks and mulattoes rose in arms against the European planters,
and filled the islands with rapine and devastation. Many of the
respectable inhabitants of the French island of _St. Domingo_
solicited the protection of the British government against the fury
of the blacks, and a detachment of British troops proceeded to
their aid, from Jamaica, in 1793. The SIXTEENTH regiment furnished
a portion of this detachment, but the climate of St. Domingo proved
injurious to the health of the British troops, and the whole of
the party of the SIXTEENTH died of a pestilential fever, excepting
Lieutenant Vernon and one serjeant, who rejoined the regiment at
Jamaica.