_Majors._
Hamilton Maxwell.
Norman Macleod.
_Captains._
Hon. Colin Lindsay.
John MacIntosh.
James Foulis.
Robert Sinclair.
Mackay Hugh Baillie.
Stair Park Dalrymple.
David Ross.
Adam Colt.
_Lieutenants._
Norman Maclean.
John Irving.
Rod. Mackenzie _senior_.
Charles Douglas.
Angus MacIntosh.
John Fraser.
Robert Arbuthnot.
David MacCullock.
Rod. Mackenzie _junior_.
Phineas MacIntosh.
John Mackenzie _senior_.
Alexander Mackenzie.
Phipps Wharton.
Laughlan MacLaughlan.
Kenneth Mackenzie.
Murdoch Mackenzie.
George Fraser.
John Mackenzie _junior_.
Martin Eccles Lindsay.
John Dallas.
David Ross.
William Erskine.
_Ensigns._
John Fraser.
John MacDougal.
Hugh Gray.
John Mackenzie.
John Forbes.
Æneas Fraser.
William Rose.
Simon Fraser, _Adj^t._
_Chaplain_, Æneas Macleod.
_Adjutant_, Simon Fraser.
_Quartermaster_, Charles Clark.
_Surgeon_, Andrew Cairncross.
[Sidenote: 1779.]
[Sidenote: 1st bat.]
In January 1779 the first battalion of the regiment, commanded by
Colonel Lord John Macleod, embarked for the East Indies.
[Sidenote: 2d bat.]
The second battalion, one thousand strong, embarked at Fort George
in Scotland, in March 1779, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the
Hon. George Mackenzie (brother of Lord Macleod), and proceeded to
Portsmouth, from thence it went on in transports to Plymouth, where
the battalion landed, and was encamped upon Maker Heights until the
27th of November following.
The Court of Versailles had now engaged that of Madrid to take
a part in the contest, and on the 16th of June 1779 the Spanish
ambassador had presented a manifesto at St. James’s, equivalent
to a declaration of war, and immediately departed from London.
During the summer the siege of Gibraltar was commenced by the
Spaniards, the reduction of that important fortress being one of
the principal objects of Spain in becoming a party to the war.
[Sidenote: 1st bat.]
The vessels conveying the first battalion formed part of a fleet
escorted by Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, which on the passage
touched at Goree, upon the coast of Africa. Goree being evacuated
by the French for the purpose of fortifying Senegal, which had
been captured by them early in the year, was occupied by a British
force, left for that purpose by Sir Edward Hughes.
After quitting Goree, the fleet proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope,
at that time in possession of the Dutch, and there landed the sick.
The fleet was detained for three months in Table Bay, for the
purpose of refreshment and recovery of the sick, after which it
sailed for India.
[Sidenote: 1780.]
[Sidenote: 2d bat.]
After the breaking up of the camp on Maker Heights, the second
battalion embarked for Gibraltar in transports, under convoy of
Admiral Sir George Rodney. When in the Bay of Biscay, the British
encountered, on the 8th of January 1780, a valuable Spanish
convoy belonging to the Caracca company, consisting of fifteen
merchantmen, with a ship of sixty-four guns, and two frigates, the
whole of which were captured. Sir George Rodney being compelled
to employ many of the crews of the ships of war in manning the
prizes, called upon Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie for
the services of the second battalion of the regiment as _Marines_.
In a few days after the men were distributed for this purpose,
the fleet defeated, on the 16th of January, off Cape St. Vincent,
a squadron of eleven sail of the line, commanded by Admiral Don
Juan de Langara. One Spanish ship of seventy guns blew up in the
beginning of the action. The Spanish admiral’s ship of eighty guns,
and three of seventy, were taken; one of seventy guns ran on shore,
and another was lost on the breakers.
Nothing further transpired during the remainder of the voyage,
and on the 18th of January 1780 the second battalion disembarked
at Gibraltar, then closely blockaded by the Spaniards, who had
despatched Don Juan de Langara to intercept the British admiral.
[Sidenote: 1st bat.]
The first battalion had, in the meantime, continued on its voyage
to India, and on the 20th of January 1780 anchored in Madras Roads,
being twelve months from the time of leaving England. The battalion
landed immediately at Fort St. George, and after remaining there
about a month was removed to Poonamallee.
The intricate politics of India gave rise to a war in that country.
Hyder Ali, the son of a petty chief in the Mysore, had risen to the
chief command of the army of that state, and when the rajah died,
leaving his eldest son a minor, Hyder assumed the guardianship of
the youthful prince, whom he placed under restraint, and seized
on the reins of government. Having a considerable territory under
his control, he maintained a formidable military establishment,
which he endeavoured to bring into a high state of discipline and
efficiency. Hyder, now Sultan of Mysore, formed a league with
the French, and entered into a confederacy with the Nizam of the
Deccan, the Mahrattas, and other of the native powers, for the
purpose of expelling the British from India.
In July 1780, Hyder Ali, having passed the Ghauts (as the passes in
the mountains on both sides of the Indian peninsula are termed),
burst like a torrent into the Carnatic, while his son, Tippoo Saib,
advanced with a large body of cavalry against the northern Circars,
and the villages in the vicinity of Madras were attacked by parties
of the enemy’s horse.
These events occasioned the first battalion of the regiment to be
ordered to proceed to join the army which was being assembled at
St. Thomas’s Mount, under the command of Major-General Sir Hector
Munro, K.B., consisting entirely of the troops of the Honorable
East India Company, with the exception of the _Seventy-third_, then
about 800 strong.
Sir Hector Munro’s army amounted to upwards of 4,000 men, and was
thus composed:--
{ Infantry 1,000
European { Artillery 300
{ Dragoons 30
Native { Infantry 3,250
{ Dragoons 30
------
Total 4,610
======
With the army were also thirty field-pieces and howitzers, together
with four battering twenty-four pounders.
The Anglo-Indian army marched to Conjeveram, sixty miles westward
of Madras, where it was to be joined by a detachment from the
northward, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie.
At this period the Sultan of Mysore was engaged in besieging
_Arcot_, the capital of the Carnatic, which was invested by the
enemy on the 21st of August. The movement of Sir Hector Munro’s
force caused Hyder Ali to raise the siege; he then detached his
son, Tippoo Saib, with a large body of horse and foot, amounting to
24,000 men and twelve guns, to intercept Lieut.-Colonel Baillie,
whose junction with the main army had been ordered.
In this manœuvre Tippoo Saib succeeded, and Major-General Sir
Hector Munro was compelled to detach Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher with
a thousand men to reinforce Lieut.-Colonel Baillie. The flank
companies of the first battalion of the _Seventy-third_ formed
part of this detachment; the grenadier company was commanded by
Lieutenant the Honorable John Lindsay, and the light company by
Captain, afterwards General the Right Hon. Sir David Baird, Bart.
and G.C.B.[7]
On the 6th of September, Lieut.-Colonel Baillie was attacked at
Perambaukum by the division under Tippoo Saib, and on the 9th
of that month was joined by the detachment under Lieut.-Colonel
Fletcher. On the following day they were attacked by Hyder’s whole
army, and the officers and men of this ill-fated detachment were
either killed, taken, or dispersed.
The following graphic description of this unequal contest with
Hyder’s whole army, the division under Tippoo Saib acting in
concert, is given by Captain Innes Munro, of the _Seventy-third_,
who published a “Narrative of the Military Operations on the
Coromandel Coast from 1780 to 1784:”--
“Lieut.-Colonel Baillie could but make a feeble resistance
against so superior a force; but his little band yet gallantly
supported a very unequal fire, until their whole ammunition had
either been blown up or expended, which of course silenced the
British artillery. Hyder’s guns upon this drew nearer and nearer
at every discharge, while each shot was attended with certain and
deadly effect. Lieut.-Colonel Baillie’s detachment, seeing their
artillery silenced and remaining inactive while exposed to certain
destruction, very naturally became dismayed; which the enemy no
sooner perceived than they made a movement for a general charge
and advanced on all quarters to a close attack. At this dangerous
and trying juncture, sufficient to damp the spirits of the most
intrepid, all the camp-followers rushed in confusion through the
ranks of every battalion, and in an instant threw the whole into
disorder. The black troops, finding themselves in this calamitous
situation, relinquished every hope of success; and, notwithstanding
the extraordinary exertions of their European officers, were no
more to be rallied. But such of the Europeans as had fallen into
disorder by this irregularity, quickly united again in compact
order, headed by their gallant commander, who was at this time
much wounded; and, being joined by all the Sepoy officers, planted
themselves upon a rising bank of sand in their vicinity, where they
valiantly resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity.
“History cannot produce an instance, for fortitude, cool
intrepidity, and desperate resolution, to equal the exploits
of this heroic band. In numbers, now reduced to five hundred,
they were opposed by no less than one hundred thousand enraged
barbarians, who seldom grant quarter. The mind, in the
contemplation of such a scene, and such a situation as theirs was,
is filled at once with admiration, with astonishment, with horror,
and with awe. To behold formidable and impenetrable bodies of
horse, of infantry, and of artillery, advancing from all quarters,
flashing savage fury, levelling the numberless instruments of
slaughter, and darting destruction around, was a scene to appal
even something more than the strongest human resolution; but it was
beheld by this little band with the most undaunted and immovable
firmness. Distinct bodies of horse came on successively to the
charge, with strong parties of infantry placed in the intervals,
whose fire was discharged in showers; but the deliberate and
well-leveled platoons of the British musketry had such a powerful
effect as to repulse several different attacks. Like the swelling
waves of the ocean, however, when agitated by a storm, fresh
columns incessantly poured in upon them with redoubled fury, which
at length brought so many to the ground, and weakened their fire
so considerably, that they were unable longer to withstand the
dreadful and tremendous shock; and the field soon presented a
picture of the most inhuman cruelties and unexampled carnage.
“The last and awful struggle was marked by the clashing of arms
and shields, the snorting and kicking of horses, the snapping of
spears, the glistening of bloody swords, oaths and imprecations;
concluding with the groans and cries of bruised and mutilated men,
wounded horses tumbling to the ground upon expiring soldiers, and
the hideous roaring of elephants, stalking to and fro, and wielding
their dreadful chains alike amongst friends and foes.
* * * * *
“Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher and twenty-nine European officers, with
one hundred and fifty-five European rank and file, were killed;
Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, with thirty-four officers, and almost all
the European privates, were miserably wounded; sixteen officers and
privates, from a Divine protection, and the generous clemency of
the French hussars, remained unhurt, who, with the rest, were all
made prisoners. The whole of the sepoys were either killed, taken,
or dispersed.”
The flank companies were almost annihilated. Captain Baird received
seven wounds, and Lieutenant the Hon. John Lindsay nine; both were
made prisoners.
Lieutenant Philip Melvill[8] was totally disabled by his wounds,
and was conveyed to Hyder’s camp, where many other wounded
prisoners were crowded together in one tent, so as to prevent a
moment’s ease or rest. They were afterwards confined at Bangalore,
where they endured the greatest suffering for three years and a
half, when, peace being concluded, the captives were released.
Lieutenant William Gunn, of the grenadiers, and Lieutenant Geddes
Mackenzie, of the light company, were killed.
These were the whole of the officers serving with the two
companies. Of the non-commissioned officers and privates only
two men joined the battalion, and those were found in the jungle
desperately wounded.
The melancholy fate of these companies rendered it necessary for
Colonel Lord Macleod to form two new flank companies from the
battalion.
After the defeat of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, Major General Sir
Hector Munro retired with the army to Chingleput, much pressed
on the march by the enemy. The wounded and sick being left at
Chingleput, the army went into cantonments on Choultry Plain for
the rainy season, which had set in. The troops in the retreat had
suffered severely from fatigue and want of provisions.
Captain Alexander Gilchrist, of the grenadiers, whose ill-health
prevented him from being with his company when Lieut.-Colonel
Baillie was attacked, died at this period[9], and Lieutenant
Alexander Mackenzie was wounded, together with several soldiers, in
skirmishes with the enemy.
[Sidenote: 2d bat.]
After the British fleet had departed from Gibraltar the Spaniards
renewed the blockade by sea, and attempted to destroy the vessels
in the harbour by fire-ships, but failed. Towards the close of
the year provisions again became short. A limited supply was
occasionally obtained from the Moors. The effects of the scurvy
were mitigated by cultivating vegetables on the rock; and the brave
defenders of the fortress maintained their attitude of defiance to
the power of Spain.
Mr. Laurens, late President of the American Congress, having been
captured in his passage to Holland by the British, papers were
found on him showing that a treaty of alliance was on the point
of conclusion between the Americans and the States General. Great
Britain in consequence declared war against Holland on the 20th of
December, and thus became engaged with a fourth enemy, exclusive of
the hostile powers in India.
[Sidenote: 1781.]
[Sidenote: 1st bat.]
Upon the 17th of January 1781, the army being re-assembled, took
the field under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B.,
Commander-in-Chief in India. At this period the strength of the
first battalion did not exceed five hundred men. Hyder Ali was then
in the Tanjore country, committing every species of outrage and
devastation.
On the 1st of June, 1781, Colonel Lord Macleod received the local
rank of Major-General in the East Indies. In June Sir Eyre Coote
moved the army along the coast southerly, towards Cuddalore, where
his out-posts were attacked by Tippoo Saib, who was repulsed.
The British commander afterwards marched his whole force to
Chillumborem, upon the Coleroon, where the enemy had a large
magazine of grain.
The pagoda was attacked by the piquets under the command of Captain
John Shaw, of the first battalion, but the detachment was repulsed,
and that officer wounded.
Hyder Ali, being apprehensive for the safety of Chillumborem,
moved his army in the direction of that place from Tanjore and
Trichinopoly, while Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, with the
view of obtaining supplies from the shipping, proceeded towards
Cuddalore. Hyder, by forced marches and manœuvres, had nearly
surrounded the British on the plains of _Porto Novo_, about two
days’ march to the southward of Cuddalore.
At four o’clock in the morning of the 1st of July, Sir Eyre Coote
put his army of about 8,000 men in movement, while that of the
enemy, computed at 100,000, was observed to range itself in order
of battle.
The army of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote formed on the plain in
two lines; the first battalion was commanded by Colonel James
Craufurd[10] (Lord Macleod having returned to England), and had its
station in the first line under the orders of Major General Sir
Hector Munro. Major General James Stuart commanded the second line.
The action commenced by an advanced movement of the English troops,
and the contest was sustained with great spirit by both parties
until night, when the firing ceased, and the British remained
masters of the field.
The veteran chief, Sir Eyre Coote, was so well pleased with the
conduct of the battalion upon this occasion that he was heard to
exclaim, addressing himself in the heat of the battle to one of
the pipers, “Well done, my brave fellow, you shall have silver
pipes when the battle is over!” The general did not forget his
promise, and in addition to a general order expressive of his sense
of the gallantry and steadiness of the battalion in the battle of
_Porto Novo_, he presented a handsome pair of silver pipes (value
one hundred pagodas[11]) to the corps, upon which was engraved a
suitable inscription; this he desired might be preserved as a
lasting monument of his approbation of its conduct in that battle,
the result of which enabled Sir Eyre Coote to reach Cuddalore, the
point of destination, on the 4th of July.
Shortly afterwards the army was moved to St. Thomas’s Mount.
On the 3d of August the force from Bengal, under the orders of
Colonel Pearse, arrived and formed a junction with Sir Eyre Coote’s
army at Pulicat, to which place the army had moved in order to
facilitate that important object. The British force now amounted to
twelve thousand men.
The first brigade, composed entirely of Europeans, was commanded by
Colonel Craufurd, of the present SEVENTY-FIRST regiment, and had
its station generally in the centre of the line. Major General Sir
Hector Munro commanded the right wing, and Colonel Pearse the left.
In August, Major James Mackenzie of the battalion died, universally
regretted. His exertions in the early part of the campaign had
brought on illness, which terminated his career.
On the 16th of August the preparations that had been carried on
for the siege of _Arcot_, which had been taken by Hyder Ali in the
previous year, and for the relief of _Vellore_ being completed,
the Anglo-Indian army was put in movement. On the 20th of August
_Tripassoor_ was retaken, by which capture a very large supply
of grain fell into the hands of the British. The camp of Hyder’s
main army was at Conjeveram, and every exertion was made by his
detachments to interrupt the progress of the British troops.
The British, on the 27th of August, came in sight of the
enemy, drawn up in order of battle upon the very ground where
Lieut.-Colonel Baillie had met his defeat, a position which the
religious notions of Hyder Ali induced him to consider fortunate.
Thus encouraged or inspired, he seemed determined to hazard a
second general action, and accordingly commenced the attack by a
smart cannonade, when an obstinate contest ensued, which lasted the
whole day, and which terminated in his defeat, and his being forced
to retire from all his positions.
There was a circumstance peculiar to this field of battle which
stamped it with aggravated horrors. It is ably and feelingly
described by Captain Munro in his Narrative, from which the
following is extracted.[12]
“Perhaps there come not within the wide range of human imagination
scenes more affecting, or circumstances more touching, than many
of our army had that day to witness and to bear. On the very spot
where they stood lay strewed amongst their feet the relics of their
dearest fellow soldiers and friends, who near twelve months before
had been slain by the hands of those very inhuman monsters that
now appeared a second time eager to complete the work of blood.
One poor soldier, with the tear of affection glistening in his
eye, picked up the decaying spatter-dash of his valued brother,
with the name yet entire upon it, which the tinge of blood and
effects of weather had kindly spared. Another discovered the club
or plaited hair of his bosom friend, which he himself had helped
to form, and knew by the tie and still remaining colour. A third
mournfully recognised the feather which had decorated the cap of
his inseparable companion. The scattered clothes and wings of the
flank companies of the _Seventy-third_ were everywhere perceptible,
as also their helmets and skulls, both of which bore the marks of
many furrowed cuts. These horrid spectacles, too melancholy to
dwell upon, while they melted the hardest hearts, inflamed our
soldiers with an enthusiasm and thirst of revenge such as render
men invincible; but their ardour was necessarily checked by the
involved situation of the army.”
Upon this horrid spot the army halted two days, and it then retired
to Tripassoor, to secure provisions. At this period the health of
Major-General Sir Hector Munro compelled him to leave the army.
On the 19th of September, Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote made a
movement towards _Vellore_, the relief of which place Hyder Ali
appeared determined to oppose, by occupying in order of battle the
Pass of _Sholingur_, at the same time making very spirited attacks
against the fortress of Vellore.
Upon the 27th of September, Colonel Craufurd, now second in
command, received the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to move the
British army to the front.[13] Hyder, confident of success, made
a forward movement to meet his opponents, when a general action
commenced. A detachment, commanded by Colonel Edmonstone, (of which
the flank companies of the first battalion formed part,) succeeded
in turning the left flank of the enemy, and fell upon his camp and
rear. The day closed by the total defeat of Hyder’s troops, who
were pursued by the cavalry until sunset.
Under circumstances the most distressing and unpromising, but
with the hope of obtaining the supplies of provisions of which the
army was quite destitute, and for which no previous arrangement
had been made by the Government, Lieut. General Sir Eyre Coote, on
the 1st of October, boldly pushed through the Sholingur Pass, and
after a march of two days encamped at Altamancherry, in the Polygar
country. Here, by the friendly aid and kindness of Bum-Raze, one
of the Polygar princes, the troops were well supplied with every
requisite.
The British camp was moved on the 26th of October to Pollipet,
and the sick and wounded were sent to Tripassoor. Vellore was
also relieved. This desirable object being effected, and the army
reinforced by Colonel Laing with a hundred Europeans from Vellore,
it proceeded to the attack of Chittoor, which, after a gallant
resistance, capitulated.
With a view to get the British from a country so very inaccessible,
Hyder Ali proceeded to the attack of Tripassoor, and on the 20th
of November Sir Eyre Coote retired out of the Pollams, through
the Naggary Pass, which obliged the enemy to raise the siege of
Tripassoor, and to retire to Arcot. The campaign closed by the
recapture of Chittoor by the enemy.
On the 2d of December, the monsoon having set in, the army broke up
its camp on the Koilatoor Plain, and the different corps marched
into cantonments in the neighbourhood of Madras.
During the campaign of 1781, the battalion was commanded by Captain
John Shaw.
[Sidenote: 2d bat.]
While the first battalion had been thus actively employed in
India, the second battalion was engaged in the gallant defence of
_Gibraltar_, the garrison of which was again relieved, in April
1781, by the arrival of a numerous fleet under Vice-Admiral Darby.