formed part of the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of
Cumberland, who advanced to the relief of the town. The French took
up a position near the village of _Fontenoy_ to cover the siege; and
the Duke of Cumberland, though inferior to the enemy in numbers,
resolved to attack the position. The army accordingly advanced to the
vicinity of Tournay, drove in the French out-posts on the 10th of May,
and on the morning of the following day moved from its camp-ground to
attack the enemy. Having passed through some narrow defiles and broken
ground, the troops deployed on the plain in front of the enemy, and
the British infantry commenced the attack with a spirit and resolution
which overcame all opposition. But the Dutch having failed in their
attack on the village of Fontenoy, and a brigade of infantry ordered
to storm a battery above Vezont having delayed its attack, the British
infantry, which had forced the French lines, were exposed to a dreadful
cross-fire, and were ordered to retire. A second attack was afterwards
made, with similar results: the cavalry advanced to charge; but the
failure of the Dutch on Fontenoy, and the delay of the brigade detached
against the flank battery at Vezont, rendered a retreat necessary; and
the army withdrew from the field of battle, and halted that night
under the cannon of Aeth. Although the attack failed, yet the army
succeeded in impressing the French with a sense of British valour
and magnanimity, and the honour of the British arms was preserved
untarnished. The loss on both sides was nearly equal; that of the first
battalion of the ROYAL Regiment was 2 serjeants and 85 rank and file
killed; with Captains Thompson and Edmonstone, Lieutenants Cockburn,
Nairn, Elliott, Abernethy, and Grant, Ensign Jones, 5 serjeants, and
178 rank and file, wounded; also 8 rank and file missing.
The ROYALS were subsequently encamped with the army on the plain of
Lessines, from whence they retired to Grammont, and afterwards occupied
a position near Brussels to cover Dutch Brabant; but the French, by
means of their immense superiority of numbers, captured several towns
in the Austrian Netherlands. In the autumn the army went into winter
quarters.
Meanwhile Charles-Edward, the eldest son of the Pretender, being
encouraged by several chiefs of the Highland clans, who were
disaffected to the Protestant succession, landed on the western coast
of Scotland, and was soon joined by a number of hardy mountaineers,
with whom he advanced to Edinburgh, and obtained possession of that
city. This success of the young Pretender occasioned the first
battalion of the ROYAL Regiment to be withdrawn from the Netherlands,
and it arrived in the Thames on the 25th of October. It was afterwards
ordered to form part of the army assembled in the south of England to
oppose the threatened descent of the French.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
[Sidenote: 1746]
In the meantime the second battalion, having embarked from Dublin on
the 30th of September, 1745, had arrived in England, and formed part of
the army under Field Marshal Wade, assembled in order to prevent the
advance of the Highlanders into England. The rebels, however, succeeded
in eluding the vigilance of the King's troops, and penetrated as far
as Derby. The second battalion of the ROYAL Regiment was at this time
in Yorkshire; and when the young Pretender, being disappointed of the
expected aid in England, was forced to make a precipitate retreat to
Scotland, this battalion marched in pursuit of the rebels, and arrived
at Newcastle-on-Tyne on the 24th of December. From Newcastle this
battalion marched to Edinburgh, where it arrived in the early part
of January, 1746, and was placed under the command of Lieut.-General
Hawley.
The young Pretender had, in the meantime, been joined by some new
levies, and having procured a supply of artillery and ammunition, he
occupied the town of Stirling and commenced the siege of the Castle.
A few regiments having been assembled at Edinburgh, one division,
commanded by Major-General Huske, advanced on the 13th of January and
drove a party of rebels out of Linlithgow; another division advanced
to Barroustouness, and on the 16th the whole proceeded to _Falkirk_
and encamped near the town. On the 17th, about mid-day, the rebel army
was discovered advancing towards the high grounds on Falkirk Moor;
the King's troops quitted their camp and marched through the broken
and rugged grounds towards the enemy, and between three and four in
the afternoon the action commenced. But at this moment a tremendous
storm of wind and rain beat in the faces of the King's troops and
nearly blinded them, and their muskets became so wet that the soldiers
could not fire. At the same time the storm beating on the backs of
the Highlanders caused them little annoyance, and they charged their
nearly blinded antagonists under such advantageous circumstances, that
several regiments were instantly broken and driven from the ground.
The reserve, however, stood firm, and the ROYALS having rallied, joined
these troops under Major-General Huske. This body of troops made a
resolute stand; the storm had abated a little, and when the Highlanders
attempted to charge the reserve, they were assailed by a shower of
bullets, which caused them to shrink back; and they were eventually
driven up the hill with precipitation. This division, of which the
ROYALS formed part, maintained its ground to the last, and remained on
the field until dark, when no enemy being in sight, and the night being
cold and stormy, the troops retired from the Moor to their camp, and
afterwards to Linlithgow, where the soldiers, who were all dripping wet
and nearly exhausted, were put under cover, and on the following day
they marched to Edinburgh.
Additional forces were afterwards sent to Scotland; the Duke of
Cumberland arrived at Edinburgh and took the command; and on the 31st
of January the troops were again in motion towards the Highlanders, who
raised the siege of Stirling Castle and made a precipitate retreat for
Inverness, and one division for the Highlands.
The second battalion of the ROYAL Regiment also took part in the
several movements which preceded the battle of _Culloden_, which
was fought on the 16th of April, on Culloden Moor, a few miles from
Inverness. The army had advanced on the 14th to the Royal burgh of
Nairn, about 16 miles from Inverness. During the night between the
15th and 16th of April, the Pretender attempted, by a forced march, to
surprise the Royal camp, but the out-posts were found alert and the
surprise impracticable, and he retreated towards Inverness, and halted
on Culloden Moor. On the following day the King's army was discovered
advancing in order of battle, with the second battalion of the ROYAL
Regiment on the right of the first line, commanded by Lieut.-General
the Earl of Albemarle. The action commenced between twelve and one,
and in less than one hour the rebel army was overpowered and chased
from the Moor with dreadful slaughter. This victory was decisive. The
young Pretender fled from the field, and after wandering for some time
in disguise amongst the isles and mountains, he escaped to France. The
ROYALS, after returning from the pursuit of the fugitive Highlanders,
pitched their tents near Inverness, where they remained for several
weeks, and afterwards marched to Perth.
[Sidenote: 1st Batt.]
The rebellion being thus finally suppressed, part of the forces in
England became disposable for other services; and the nation being at
war with France, an attack on the French possessions in Canada was
meditated; and the first battalion of the ROYAL Regiment, being at
this period in the south of England, was selected to form part of the
expedition, under its Colonel, Lieut.-General the Hon. James St. Clair,
which was accompanied by a naval force under Admiral Lestock. The
fleet was, however, detained so long by contrary winds that the attack
on Canada was deferred, and an attempt on _L'Orient_, a considerable
sea-port on the north-west of France, and the principal station for the
French East India Company's shipping and stores, was resolved upon.
The expedition sailed from Plymouth on the 14th of September, and on
the 20th a landing was effected in Quimperle Bay, and a body of French
troops were driven from the shore. On the following day the troops
advanced in two columns towards L'Orient, the ROYALS being in the right
column; some French militia fired upon the troops from the woods, but
a few skirmishers were thrown out, and the militia were driven back.
On arriving at Plemur the leading companies of the column entering
the village were fired upon from the houses; but this resistance was
speedily overcome, and the villagers were punished for their temerity.
On the 22nd the troops appeared before L'Orient, when the governor
sent a flag of truce, and proposed to surrender the town on certain
conditions. These conditions were, however, considered too favourable
to the French, and they were rejected in consequence of a report of the
engineers stating the practicability of reducing the town. The siege
was immediately commenced, the sallies of the garrison were repulsed,
and the town was set on fire in three places by the bombs; but the
expedition proved of insufficient force for the capture of the town,
and the siege was raised on the evening of the 26th. The roads being
bad, four pieces of cannon, one mortar, and some ammunition, were left
behind; and the troops retreated to Quimperle Bay and re-embarked
without opposition.
In the early part of October another descent was made on the French
coast. The troops effected a landing on the peninsula of _Quiberon_,
and Lieut.-General St. Clair, at the head of the ROYALS and 42nd
Highlanders, took a fort with 18 guns, and having fortified the isthmus
the troops were cantoned in the villages and farm-houses. The forts
and guns in the peninsula, with those in the isles of Houat and Hedic,
having been destroyed, and the country laid in ruins, the troops
re-embarked and returned to England.
[Sidenote: 1747]
The war had, in the meantime, continued to rage in the Netherlands,
and the French, having reduced the Austrian provinces, advanced, in
April, 1747, into Dutch Flanders, and captured Sluys and Sas van Ghent,
and besieged Hulst. The 1st battalion of the Royal Regiment had, in
the meantime, proceeded to Holland, and was in cantonments in the
province of Zealand, from whence it was detached, with Bragg's (28th)
and Lord John Murray's Highland (42nd) Regiments, under the command of
Major-General Fuller, to the relief of _Hulst_, and, having landed at
Stapledyke on the 1st of May, was employed in the defence of an outwork
called _Fort Sandberg_. On the 3rd of May the French attacked Sandberg
by storm; the Dutch made a gallant resistance, and, on the advance of
the British brigade, the enemy was driven back. On the 5th the ROYALS
were on duty in the fort, and the French, having carried the sap along
the dyke to within a few paces of the pallisades, attacked the place
by storm about nine o'clock in the evening. The assailants advanced
with all the spirit and fury which usually distinguishes the first
attack of the French; the out-guards and piquets were instantly forced
back into the garrison, and a Dutch regiment was disconcerted and gave
way. The enemy continued his triumphant career until he encountered
the ROYALS, when a most sanguinary conflict of musketry ensued, which
was kept up throughout the night. "The narrowness of the ground in
which the battalion was drawn up would not admit of wheeling outwards
to the right and left, as is requisite in common street-firing, as it
contained only a platoon abreast; so the first platoon fired their 24
rounds, and then filed off man by man, and were succeeded by the next
and following platoons, which acted in the same manner; and what is
extraordinary, all this, though in the night, was performed without any
disorder and confusion."[95]
The morning light had already dawned upon this scene of conflict and
carnage,--between three and four hundred officers and men of the ROYALS
were _hors de combat_; yet the survivors,--though standing amidst
the dying and the dead, and being unable to take one step without
treading on a killed or wounded man,--maintained their ground with
resolution, and continued to pour their fatal volleys upon the enemy,
who had sustained an equal or greater loss, until five o'clock, when
the ROYALS were relieved by the Highlanders; and the French, dismayed
by the sanguinary tenacity of the defence, retreated.[96] In this
desperate service Major Sir Charles Erskine was killed; Lieut.-Colonel
Abercrombie, Lieutenants Forbes, Grant, Gordon, and Rutherford, with
Ensigns Campbell and St. Clair, were wounded; and several of these
officers afterwards died of their wounds: the battalion had also about
four hundred non-commissioned officers and private men killed and
wounded.[97]
The fire of the French batteries being resumed with increased fury,
Fort Sandberg was rendered untenable a few days afterwards, and the
Dutch governor, General La Roque, having resolved to vacate the Fort
and surrender the town of Hulst, the British brigade proceeded to
Welshorden, where it was attacked by the French; but, having repulsed
the enemy, it embarked in small vessels, and, sailing to South
Beveland, went into cantonments on that island. The ROYALS appear to
have remained in South Beveland some time, and they did not engage in
any other military operation this year.
[Sidenote: 1748]
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
In the spring of 1748 the 2nd battalion of the ROYAL
Regiment, having been withdrawn from Scotland, embarked for Holland,
and joined the allied army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke
of Cumberland, at the camp near Ruremonde. Preliminary articles for
a treaty of peace having been agreed upon, a suspension of arms took
place.
[Sidenote: 1749]
[Sidenote: Both Batts.]
After the conclusion of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the British
troops were withdrawn from Holland, and both battalions of the
ROYAL Regiment proceeded to Ireland, and were placed upon the Irish
Establishment in 1749.
[Sidenote: 1751]
On the 1st of July, 1751, a warrant was issued under the sign manual
for regulating the standards, colours, and clothing of the army, in
which numerical titles were given to the several corps, and this
was styled the "FIRST, OR ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT." The rank of the
several regiments was first established by a board of general officers
assembled in the Netherlands, by command of King William, on the 10th
of June, 1694; another board of general officers was assembled by Queen
Anne in 1713, to decide on the rank and seniority of regiments raised
after 1694; and a third board was assembled by command of King George
I. in 1715, on the same subject. These boards decided that English
regiments raised in England should take rank from the date of their
formation, and Scots and Irish regiments, with English regiments raised
for the service of a foreign power, should take rank from the date of
their being first placed on the English establishment. Thus the ROYAL
Regiment obtained rank from 1661, as before stated.
In the warrant of 1751 the facing of the ROYALS is directed to be
BLUE.[98] "In the centre of their colours the King's cypher, within
the circle of St. Andrew, and the crown over it; in the three corners
of the second colour, the thistle and crown. The distinction of the
colours of the second battalion is, a flaming ray of gold descending
from the upper corner of each colour towards the centre.[99]
"On the grenadier caps the same device as in the centre of the colours,
white horse, and the King's motto over it, on the little flap.
"The drums and bells of arms to have the same device painted on them,
with the number or rank of the regiment under it."
[Sidenote: 1755]
Both battalions remained in Ireland until the undetermined limits of
the British territory in North America gave rise to another war. The
colonies on the coast had extended themselves on every side, while the
Indian trade drew many wandering dealers into the inland country, where
they found well-watered plains, a delightful climate, and a fruitful
soil. These advantages appearing to compensate for the distance from
the sea, a company of merchants and planters obtained a charter for a
tract of land beyond the Allegany Mountains and near the river Ohio,
and commenced establishing a settlement. The French laid claim to this
part of the country, drove away the new settlers, and built a strong
fort called Du Quesne, to command the entrance into the country on the
Ohio and Mississippi. Another dispute had, in the meantime, occurred
respecting Nova Scotia.
[Sidenote: 1757]
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
These aggressions on the part of the French occasioned a body of
British troops to be sent to North America in 1755. War was declared
against France in 1756; and in May, 1757, the 2nd battalion of the
ROYALS embarked at Cork, and proceeded with the 17th, 27th, 28th, 43rd,
46th, 55th, and 58th regiments to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, where they
arrived in the early part of July, being designed to form part of an
expedition under the Earl of Loudoun against an island belonging to the
French in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, called _Cape Breton_. On arriving
at Halifax the ROYALS were landed and formed in brigade with the 28th,
44th, and 55th regiments, commanded by Major-General Hopson; and the
expedition was deferred until the succeeding year.
[Sidenote: 1758]
In May, 1758, the troops were again embarked, and sailed under the
orders of Lieut.-General Amherst (afterwards Lord Amherst)--the naval
force being under Admiral Boscawen; but owing to the unfavourable state
of the weather a landing could not be effected on the island until
the 8th of June, when the troops proceeded in boats towards the shore
in three divisions. The ROYALS, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Forster,
formed part of the right division under Brigadier-General Whiteman,
which proceeded towards White Point to make a diversion, while the men
of the centre division, led by the gallant Brigadier-General James
Wolfe, jumped into the water, in the face of a tremendous fire of
cannon and musketry, hastened to the shore, attacked the French with
fixed bayonets, and drove them from their posts in gallant style. The
other divisions followed; but the surf was so high that several boats
were overset, others were dashed to pieces, and many men were drowned.
The siege of _Louisburg_, the capital of the island, was afterwards
commenced; and in carrying on the approaches the troops underwent great
fatigues with a cheerful alacrity which redounded to their honour. By
their meritorious perseverance, and the co-operation of the fleet, the
town was taken by surrender on the 26th of July, and with it the whole
island and two other small islands in the Gulf also surrendered. The
French garrison was made prisoners, and eleven stand of colours were
sent to England. The ROYALS lost in this service Lieutenants Fenton
and Howe, killed; with Lieutenants Fitzsimmons, Bailey, and Ashe,
and Ensign Waterton, wounded. This conquest was considered of great
importance to the nation, and the meritorious conduct of the officers
and soldiers was rewarded with the approbation of their Sovereign and
the thanks of Parliament.
While the ROYALS were at Cape Breton, a body of British troops,
employed on the continent of North America under the command
of Major-General Abercrombie, had advanced against the fort at
Ticonderago, which had been built by the French in 1756 on the
west shore of Lake Champlain; and in the attack on this place the
British troops were repulsed. Lieut.-General Amherst, having received
information of this disaster, embarked from Louisburg on the 30th of
August with the 2nd battalion of the ROYALS, 17th, 47th, and 48th
regiments, and Frazer's Highlanders, and sailed to Boston, where he
disembarked the troops, and, marching through the woods to Lake George,
joined the camp of the forces under Major-General Abercrombie.
A resolution to attack the French possessions in North America at four
different points at one time was ultimately agreed upon; and the ROYALS
were selected to form part of the force, under Lieut.-General Amherst,
designed to make a second attempt on _Ticonderago_.
[Sidenote: 1759]
The troops assembled for this purpose on the east bank of Hudson's
River, about fifty miles from Albany, in the beginning of June, 1759,
where they were encamped three weeks. Advancing from thence on the
21st of June, they arrived at the banks of Lake George in the evening,
and there pitched their tents, and commenced erecting a fort; at
the same time means were used to collect boats to convey the troops
along the lake. This occupied one month, and on the 21st of July the
regiments struck their tents, went on board the boats, and, using
blankets for sails, arrived at the second Narrows on the following
morning, and effected a landing. Thence, advancing towards Ticonderago,
the van-guard encountered 400 French regulars and native Indians
near the saw-mills two miles from the fort, and routed them in a few
moments. The French commander, M. Bourlemaque, had fortified a post
in front of the fort, but, when he saw the steady resolution of his
opponents, he quitted his lines, placed a garrison in the fort, and
embarked with his main body for _Crown Point_, another fort on Lake
Champlain, erected by the French in 1731. The siege of Ticonderago
was then prosecuted with vigour, and on the 25th of July the garrison
blew up the fort and sailed to Crown Point; which place the French
commander also abandoned, and retired down the lake to Isle aux Noix.
The ROYALS and other forces afterwards proceeded to Crown Point and
commenced erecting a new fort; vessels were also built in order to have
a naval force on the lake. This work was in progress until the 11th
of October, when the large boats, with a brigantine mounting eighteen
guns and two swivels, and a sloop mounting sixteen guns, being ready,
the troops embarked, and sailed down the lake in four divisions; but
afterwards encountering high northerly winds, and a severe frost having
set in, the expedition was countermanded; the troops returned to Crown
Point and Ticonderago, and the ROYALS proceeded to New York for winter
quarters.
[Sidenote: 1760]