“His signal deeds and prowess high
Demand no pompous eulogy,—
Ye saw his deeds!
Why should their praise in verse be sung?
The name, that dwells on every tongue,
No minstrel needs.”
FRENCH REVOLUTION—CANADA—THE CRIMEA—INDIA—CHINA—1804–1862.
The gigantic proportions which the war in 1804 had assumed, the
imminence of the danger which threatened ourselves from the overgrown
power of Napoleon, and his still unsatisfied ambition, had thoroughly
roused our Government more completely to arm our people, and occasioned
the raising of many new corps. Aware of the favour in which our Royal
Regiment was held by the people, from the ancient renown it had
acquired, the Government, taking advantage of this good name, speedily
raised and attached thereto a third and fourth battalion. Returning from
the West Indies, where, for a short time, it had been engaged in
capturing the French and Dutch possessions, the second battalion
embarked for the East Indies, where, for upwards of five-and-twenty
years—returning home in 1831—it remained actively on duty. Meanwhile,
the third battalion, sharing the glories, was doomed to endure the
disasters of the Spanish campaigns of 1808–9, under that gallant leader,
Sir John Moore—glories which had their consummation in the victory of
Corunna. On this occasion the Royals were brigaded with our countrymen
of the Twenty-sixth Cameronians. The army, returning to England, was
shortly thereafter employed in a new attempt to expel the French from
the Netherlands. In this unfortunate effort, known as the Walcheren
Expedition, our third battalion had a part. But the day of better things
was now about to dawn, when these repeated disasters should be redeemed,
and the eclipse of the world’s liberty be dissipated, through the
triumphs which, rewarding the heroic endurance and persevering valour of
our soldiers, should crown our arms. Trained by adversity, our troops
had learned how to conquer. Under Sir Arthur Wellesley, the third
battalion was, with the British army, which, from “Busaco” to the
“Nive,” trod the path of uninterrupted victory, baffling successively
the splendid efforts with which the genius of Massena, Marmont, Jourdan,
and Soult, strove to preserve for their master the provinces of the
Peninsula. Every attempt to arrest the onward march of British valour
signally failed, entailing upon the foe a series of fatal defeats, until
at length the Peninsula, delivered from the yoke of the tyrant, our
army, in triumph, entered the French territory. At the siege of St
Sebastian our Royals very specially distinguished themselves, and
although suffering a loss of more than 500 men in the several assaults,
nothing could quench the dauntless spirit which twice stirred them to
enter the deadly breach; but the second time with most splendid success,
when, overcoming every obstacle, this famous and gallantly defended
fortress was captured.
[Illustration:
ASSAULT
of
S^T. SEBASTIAN
31^{st}. August 1813.
]
“At a Scots corporation dinner, held in London on the 4th of May, 1811,
on the health of the Duke of Kent, the father of our beloved Queen, then
Colonel of the Royal Regiment, being drunk, his Royal Highness rose to
return thanks, and, in the course of his speech, said:—‘My royal brother
has been pleased to praise the regiment in which I have been employed,
and have had the honour to command, and I too can bear testimony to the
spirit and gallantry of the Scottish soldiers. From the earliest days,
when I commenced my military life, it was always my utmost aim to arrive
at the command of a Scots regiment, and to bring that regiment into
action would have been the greatest glory I could have attained, as I am
well convinced the officers and men would have justified my most
sanguine expectations; their courage, perseverance, and activity, being
undoubtedly such as may always be relied on; and they are always able
and willing to do their duty, if not more than their duty.’ His Royal
Highness took great interest in the welfare of the regiment; and he this
year presented, by the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel MʻLeod, a gold medal
to Serjeant Manns of the regiment for the very meritorious manner in
which he had educated upwards of 800 soldiers and soldiers’ children.”
His Royal Highness was the first to establish regimental schools,—a rich
blessing, which will be ever associated with his memory, conferring as
they have done such priceless benefits upon the army.
When all Europe had combined in a sacred crusade against the despotic
rule of Napoleon, the fourth battalion of the Royals was selected to
form part of a British force which should act with the Swedo-German army
advancing from Pomerania, under Bernadotte, upon France. Thus, at the
interval of nearly 300 years, did our Royal Scots revisit the scenes of
their early glory; and, under the same Swedish banner, led on by the
successor of Gustavus Adolphus, once more do battle for the cause of
truth. No doubt, their souls roused within them, their arms must have
been nerved, by the “stirring memories” of “auld langsyne.” The march of
this battalion through Germany, when called to join the army of
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, in the
Netherlands, about to attempt the reduction of the strong fortress of
Bergen-op-Zoom, is marked by the extreme severity of the weather, which
entailed sufferings of the most fatal kind upon our brave
soldiers—upwards of 120 men being lost in the snow. To the survivors a
darker and a sadder fate was near, whilst these trials served to school
them to meet it with the heroic fortitude of the soldier. In the
subsequent attack upon Bergen-op-Zoom the several companies of the
battalion had struggled with determined yet unavailing valour to
dislodge the French. Our troops could not prevail, as they could not
destroy the strong natural defences of the place. They suffered a most
serious loss from an unseen foe, who visited their temerity with a fatal
fire from their powerful and numerous batteries. At length, overwhelmed
and encompassed by foemen, and entangled amongst destructive batteries
which vomited forth death upon our devoted Royals, they were compelled
to surrender, having previously sunk the colours of the regiment in the
river Zoom. Peace being accomplished by the abdication of Napoleon, the
sword of war was for a moment sheathed. Alas! that it should have been
but for a moment. Soon the dream of a fancied security was disturbed, as
the captive of Elba once more appearing, the Emperor, idolised by the
great army, forged thunderbolts of vengeance with which he threatened to
annihilate his many foes. Happily, his ambitious career was speedily
terminated, and Europe thereby saved the repetition of the bloody
tragedy of protracted war, so lately and so fondly believed to be
closed. The sudden irruption of the French army into the Netherlands was
met by the bravery of the British and Prussians, and its progress for
ever arrested by the total defeat of Waterloo. In this campaign the
third battalion of the Royals was honoured to hold a conspicuous part;
especially at Quatre Bras, where it was the first to check the advance
of Marshal Ney, and sustain with great credit the brunt of his impetuous
and repeated attacks. The following splendid testimony has been recorded
to its valour:—“The third battalion of the Royal Scots distinguished
itself in a particular manner. Being removed from the centre of the
Fifth Division, it charged and routed a column of the enemy. It was then
formed in a square to receive the cavalry, and though repeated attacks
were made, not the slightest impression was produced. Wherever the
lancers and cuirassiers presented themselves, they found a stern and
undismayed front, which they vainly endeavoured to penetrate.”
It was not alone upon the continent of Europe that the dire effects of
Napoleon’s sway were felt and regretted, but wherever the foot of
civilisation had left its impress. Nor was it only the pulse of true
liberty that beat quickly and faintly beneath the evil rule of his
tyrant spirit, but commerce, by iniquitous decrees, lay groaning in
chains, or eked out but a sorry existence. The intention of these
ill-advised decrees was the destruction of the maritime and commercial
might of Britain. Our Government sought to retaliate upon France the
evils their imperial monarch had striven to inflict upon us, by
barbarous enactments of a kindred character. Thus, between the two, the
avenues of trade were all but hedged up—the channels of commercial
intercourse dried up. America had hitherto grown rich upon the poverties
which war had entailed upon the continental nations; and hence, when her
merchants found their trade at an end, or, at all events, amounting to a
thing of peril, her Government resented such decrees as a personal
attack. Retaining an old grudge arising out of the nature of recent
events, and, moreover, regarding Britain as the chief offender, having
within herself alone the power to set at defiance the attempts of
Napoleon, without adding a new evil to cure the old iniquity, America
declared war against us, and her armies forthwith proceeded to take
possession of Canada. To arrest the progress of the enemy in this
quarter, the first battalion of the Royals was ordered from the West
Indies to Canada. Although the forces engaged on either side were
trifling in numbers when compared with the vast armaments which were
then contending in Europe, still the contest was no less sanguinary and
bitter, and equally developed the sterling qualities of our Royal Scots.
Arrived in Canada in 1813, the battalion was present with credit at the
successful attacks upon Sackett’s Harbour, Sodius, Niagara, Black Rock,
and Buffalo; but it was not until 1814, that the preponderance of
numbers on the side of the Americans rendering the contest more unequal,
and when victory did not always smile on our arms—it was then we gather
more striking evidence of the gallant demeanour of the Royals. At
Longwood a superior force of Americans prevailed, and the battalion was
reluctantly withdrawn, having suffered severely, principally in
officers. At Chippewa 6000 Americans assailed a force of 1500 British,
including 500 of the Royals. Although repulsed in the action which
ensued, the General Order reports: “It was impossible for men to have
done more, or to have sustained with greater courage the heavy and
destructive fire with which the enemy, from his great superiority in
numbers, was enabled to oppose them.” The Royals only yielded when
upwards of 300 of their number had been disabled—sufficient proof of the
fierceness of the conflict, and the desperate valour which sustained it.
But a more deadly encounter—though happily a more successful one—took
place at Lundy’s Lane, where 5000 Americans were opposed to 2800
British, including at first only three, latterly ten, companies of the
Royals. We cannot do better than quote the description of the battle
from Mr Cannon’s invaluable Records: “About nine in the evening there
was an intermission of firing; but the Americans renewed the attack soon
afterwards with fresh troops, and a fierce conflict of musketry and
artillery followed in the dark. The Americans charged up the hill; the
British gunners were bayoneted while in the act of loading, and the guns
were in the possession of the enemy for a few moments; but the troops in
the centre, where the three companies of the Royal Scots were fighting,
soon drove back the Americans, and retook the guns. The storm of battle
still raged along the heights; the muzzles of the British and American
artillery were within a few yards of each other, and the fight was kept
up with a sanguinary obstinacy seldom witnessed. In limbering up the
guns, at one period an American six-pounder was put by mistake on a
British limber, and a British six-pounder on an American limber. At one
moment the Americans had the advantage; at the next the shout of victory
rose from the British ranks; and about midnight the enemy retreated.”
The troops were thanked for their distinguished bravery in general
orders on the following day; and “the admirable steadiness of the Royal
Scots, under Lieut.-Colonel Gordon, at several very critical points and
movements,” claimed Lieut.-General Drummond’s particular notice. On this
occasion the Royal Scots had to mourn the loss of many brave officers
and gallant men, nearly 160 being killed, wounded, or prisoners. The
siege and capture of Fort Erie is distinguished not merely for the
gallantry of our Royals, but possesses, moreover, a melancholy interest,
from the lamentable catastrophe—the explosion of a mine—which destroyed
many of our brave soldiers, who, struggling on, had effected a footing
in the breach.
It is interesting to note, about this period, the several battalions of
this ancient regiment, fighting our battles in so many different corners
of the world at the same time, and each contributing to the national
glory and their own marvellous fame. In 1814 the positions of the
battalions were as follows:—
First Battalion, Canada.
Second Battalion, India.
Third Battalion, Spain and France.
Fourth Battalion, Germany and Holland.
The war was brought to a termination in 1815, after the memorable battle
of Waterloo, wherein the third battalion of the Royal Scots immortalised
itself, when, peace being concluded, the Royals returned home, and the
third and fourth battalions were disbanded.
Passing over a long interval of comparative peace which succeeded, like
the calm, the storm that but lately raged, we have only time in our
present sketch to note that the Royals formed part of the British army
in the Crimea. The Crimean campaign gained for them the several
distinctions of the “Alma,” “Inkermann,” and “Sevastopol.”
On the alarm occasioned by the recent Indian Mutiny, in 1857, the first
battalion of the Royals was sent out to reinforce our army, destined to
suppress the Sepoy Revolt. Afterwards the second battalion formed part
of the Chinese Expedition, which, chastising the perfidy of the boasted
“Celestials,” reduced the “Taku forts,” and occupied Pekin.
We close our narrative of the First Royal Regiment, or Royal Scots, with
these lines from an old military ditty, the favourite apostrophe of that
distinguished veteran and representative of our old Scots brigade in the
Swedish service—Sir Dugald Dalgetty, the illustrious hero represented by
Sir Walter Scott in his “Legend of Montrose.” Thus he sang when waiting
in the guard-room of Inverary Castle:—
“When the cannons are roaring, lads, and the colours are flying,
The lads that seek honour must never fear dying:
Then stout cavaliers let us toil our brave trade in,
And fight for the Gospel and the bold King of Sweden.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: =1862.= TWENTY-FIRST, OR ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS.
=1678.=]
THE TWENTY-FIRST FOOT,
OR,
ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS.
----------