Mysore, soon involved the British Government in India in another
war; he appeared near the confines 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.
[Sidenote: 1790]
This caused the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment to be removed from the
Presidency of Bengal, and it joined the troops under Major-General
Robert Abercromby, which consisted of His Majesty’s seventy-fifth
and seventy-seventh regiments, in addition to other corps belonging
to the East India Company.
[Sidenote: 1791]
The Mahratta armies having advanced to Seringapatam in May 1791,
later than the appointed period, their delay, and other unforeseen
circumstances, compelled General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K.G., to
destroy his battering train, after having defeated Tippoo on the
15th of May, in a pitched battle, and obliged his lordship to lead
back his army, leaving the siege of the enemy’s capital to be the
object of another campaign.
The Bombay army, of which the SEVENTY-THIRD formed part, commanded
by Major-General Abercromby, had, with infinite labour, formed
roads, and brought a battering train, with a large supply of
provisions and stores, over fifty miles of woody mountains called
Ghauts, that immense barrier separating the Mysore country from the
Malabar coast. This army, after surmounting all its difficulties,
had therefore to retrace its steps, worn down by sickness and
fatigue, and exposed to the incessant rains which then deluged the
western coast of India.
The troops under Major-General Abercromby were again ordered to
act from the same quarter as in the former campaign; they marched
on the 5th of December towards the Poodicherrim Ghaut, and took
possession of the pass on the 15th of that month.
[Sidenote: 1792]
On the 5th of February 1792, General the Earl Cornwallis directed
Major-General Abercromby to march from his encampment near
Periapatam, and on the 11th of that month he crossed the Cavery, at
Eratore, a ford about thirty miles above Seringapatam, and joined
the army under Earl Cornwallis on the 16th of February.
Meanwhile the army under General the Earl Cornwallis had attacked
the forces of the Sultan on the night of the 6th of February, near
_Seringapatam_, and gained a decisive victory.
The power of the Sultan being greatly reduced, and preparations for
the siege of his capital having been commenced, he sued for peace,
and a treaty was concluded, by which half of his dominions were
ceded to the allies. A large sum of money was also to be paid by
the Sultan, all the prisoners in his power were released, and two
of his sons were delivered as hostages.
[Sidenote: 1793]
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
SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to prepare to take the field;
it marched soon afterwards against the French settlement of
_Pondicherry_, on the coast of Coromandel, and arrived before the
fortress in July,--being formed in brigade, with the seventy-second
and seventy-fourth regiments, and the third East India Company’s
European regiment, under Lieut.-Colonel David Baird of the
seventy-first regiment; 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 22nd of August a white flag was displayed by the garrison,
with a request for permission 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 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.
[Sidenote: 1795]
In the early part of the year 1795, Holland became united to
France, and was styled the Batavian republic. When information of
this event arrived in India, an expedition was immediately fitted
out against the large and mountainous island of _Ceylon_, where the
Dutch had several settlements, and the SEVENTY-THIRD Highlanders
were selected to take part in the enterprise; the troops employed
on this service were commanded by Colonel James Stuart, of the
seventy-second, who was promoted to the rank of Major-General at
this period. The fleet arrived on the coast of Ceylon on the 1st
of August, and two days afterwards they landed four miles north of
the Fort of _Trincomalee_; the siege of the place was commenced
as soon as the artillery and stores could be landed, and removed
sufficiently near to the place. On the 26th of August a practicable
breach was effected, and the garrison surrendered. The fort of
_Batticaloe_ surrendered on the 18th of September, and the fort
and island of _Manaar_ capitulated on the 5th of October.
[Sidenote: 1796]
The regiment continued to be actively employed until the whole
of the Dutch settlements in Ceylon were reduced, which was
accomplished in February, 1796, when the governor, John Geraud Van
Angelbeck, surrendered the fortress of _Colombo_ to the British
arms. The people in the interior of the island had not been
deprived of their independence by the Dutch, and they were not
interfered with by the British so long as they preserved a peaceful
demeanour.
Major-General Gerard Lake was removed from the colonelcy of the
fifty-third to that of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment on the 2nd of
November, 1796, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir William Medows,
K.B., who was appointed colonel of the seventh dragoon guards.
[Sidenote: 1797]
In April 1797, the regiment proceeded from Colombo to Point
Pedro, in Ceylon, and shortly afterwards embarked for Madras. It
was removed from Fort St. George to Wallajahbad in October, but
returned to Fort St. George in January, 1798.
[Sidenote: 1798]
The regiment proceeded from Fort St. George to Poonamallee in
September, 1798, and continued at that station during the remainder
of the year.
The reduction of the power and resources of Tippoo Saib, effected
by the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, had weakened, but not
extinguished, the evils consequent on his inveterate hatred of
the British. The Sultan had entered into a negociation with the
Governor of the Isle of France in 1798, and sent an embassy to
Zemaun Shah, sovereign of Cabool, for the purpose of exciting
him to an attack on the British possessions. Having also derived
encouragement from the successes of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt,
from which country the French Directory intended to act against
the British dominions in India, Tippoo commenced augmenting his
military force, and his hostile designs became every day more
apparent. The Governor-General the Earl of Mornington (afterwards
the Marquis Wellesley), seeing a rupture inevitable, resolved to
anticipate the attack, and ordered the British army to take the
field, and march into the heart of the dominions of the Sultan
Tippoo Saib.
[Sidenote: 1799]
In conformity to these orders, Major-General George (afterwards
Lord) Harris, who was serving with the local rank of
lieut.-general, advanced with the army under his command, on the
11th of February, 1799, and entered the Mysore territory on the 5th
of March. The SEVENTY-THIRD formed part of the second brigade under
Colonel John Coape Sherbroke, Lieut.-Colonel of the thirty-third
regiment.
The army reached Mallavelly on the 27th of March, when on
approaching the ground of encampment, the forces of Tippoo Sultan
were discovered drawn up on a height at a few miles distance.
The advanced piquets were attacked by the enemy, and a general
action ensued. The enemy lost one thousand killed and wounded, and
immediately retreated upon Seringapatam.
On the following day the army advanced, and arrived before
Seringapatam on the 5th of April, when preparations for the siege
were commenced.
On the 20th of April an attack was made on an entrenchment of
the enemy, about six o’clock in the evening. Colonel Sherbroke,
commanding the advanced posts, directed the attack. Three different
columns were to advance at the same time from Macdonald’s post;
one to the left, under Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, of the
SEVENTY-THIRD, consisting of four companies of that regiment, and
four of the Bengal volunteers, was to proceed along the bank of the
river Cavery, and to turn the right flank of the enemy’s entrenched
post. Another, to the right, consisting of the flank companies of
the twelfth regiment, and two companies of Bengal volunteers, under
Lieut.-Colonel Gardiner, was to move along Macdonald’s nullah,
and to turn the enemy’s left. The centre column, composed of six
companies of the SEVENTY-THIRD, and four of the Bengal volunteers,
under Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, (Major
of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment), was directed to make a feint,
which was to be converted into a real attack, should it be deemed
expedient.
The three columns at dusk, advanced under a well-directed fire from
the guns which commanded the entrenchment. The enemy’s resistance
was unavailing, and the several attacks were completely successful.
It was afterwards ascertained, that the enemy had two hundred
and fifty men in killed and wounded, and it is remarkable, that
although about eighteen hundred of Tippoo’s infantry occupied
the entrenchment, the British, in this attack, had only one man
wounded.[7]
The siege of Seringapatam was prosecuted with vigour. On the 26th
of April, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant James Todd wounded; and
Lieutenant Archibald John Maclean was wounded on the following day.
A breach being reported practicable on the 3rd of May, the assault
was ordered, and the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was selected to take
part in this enterprise, which was ordered to be commenced in the
heat of the following day, as the enemy’s troops would then be the
least prepared to oppose the attack.
The assault took place about half-past one o’clock in the afternoon
of the 4th of May, and the troops for this service, commanded
by Major-General David Baird, were divided into two columns of
attack. The SEVENTY-THIRD, with the seventy-fourth regiment,
four European flank companies, fourteen Sepoy flank companies,
with fifty artillerymen, formed the right column, under Colonel
Sherbroke. Each column was preceded by one serjeant and twelve men,
volunteers, supported by an advanced party of one subaltern and
twenty-five men. A brigade of engineers, under Captain Caldwell,
accompanied the storming party; Lieutenant James Farquhar, of the
seventy-fourth, commanded the European pioneers, and Lieutenant
John Lalor, of the SEVENTY-THIRD, both of whom had examined the
ford, conducted the columns.
The attack was completely successful, and in a short space of time
the British colours waved over the fortress. The body of Tippoo
Sultan was found among heaps of slain, and was afterwards interred
in the magnificent mausoleum which he had erected over the tomb
of his father, the once powerful Hyder Ali; a portion of the
victorious troops attended the ceremony.
In this manner terminated the siege of _Seringapatam_,[8] and the
fall of this capital placed the kingdom of Mysore at the disposal
of the British government, and extinguished a power in India which
had proved itself a formidable enemy.
[Illustration: STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM 4^{TH} MAY 1799.
_Madeley lith. 3 Wellington S^t Strand_
_For Cannon’s Military Records._]
In the assault on the 4th of May, the SEVENTY-THIRD had
Lieutenant John Lalor killed; Captain William McLeod, Lieutenant
John Thomas, and Ensigns Henry Antill and John Guthrie, wounded.
During the siege the regiment sustained a loss of twenty-one
killed, and ninety-nine wounded, including all ranks.
The SEVENTY-THIRD afterwards received the Royal authority to bear
on the regimental colour and appointments, the word “SERINGAPATAM,”
in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the
regiment in the storming and capture of that fortress.
In the General Orders issued on the 5th of May by Lieut.-General
Harris, the gallantry of Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, and
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, of the
SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, is particularly recorded.
In the General Orders issued by the Earl of Mornington (afterwards
the Marquis Wellesley), dated Fort St. George, 15th May, 1799, it
was stated:--
“The Right Honorable the Governor-General in Council having this
day received from the Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the
field, the official detail of the glorious and decisive victory
obtained at Seringapatam, on the 4th of May, offers his cordial
thanks and sincere congratulations to the Commander-in-Chief,
and to all the officers and men composing the gallant army which
achieved the capture of the capital of Mysore on that memorable day.
“His Lordship views with admiration, the consummate judgment with
which the assault was planned, the unequalled rapidity, animation,
and skill with which it was executed, and the humanity which
distinguished its success.
“Under the favour of Providence and the justice of our cause, the
established character of the army had inspired an early confidence,
that the war, in which we were engaged, would be brought to a
speedy, prosperous, and honorable issue: but the events of the
4th of May, while they even surpassed the sanguine expectations
of the Governor-General in Council, have raised the reputation
of the British arms in India to a degree of splendour and glory,
unrivalled in the military history of this quarter of the globe,
and seldom approached in any part of the world.
“The lustre of the victory can be equalled only by the substantial
advantages which it promises to establish, in restoring the peace
and safety of the British possessions in India on a durable
foundation of genuine security.”
Upon the division of the territory subject to the late Sultan
Tippoo, Seringapatam, with several extensive districts, was
allotted to the East India Company; another portion was given
to the Nizam; and a third to the Mahratta power; the remainder
continued to form an independent state under a descendant of the
ancient Rajahs of Mysore. Thus was the hostile combination against
England confounded, the British territory extended, and its power
and revenue increased.
The SEVENTY-THIRD regiment remained encamped until November, 1799,
when it was selected to garrison Seringapatam.
[Sidenote: 1800]
Major-General George Harris was appointed, from lieut.-colonel of
the seventy-sixth, to the colonelcy of the SEVENTY-THIRD, on the
14th of February, 1800, in succession to Lieut.-General Gerard
Lake, who was removed to the eightieth regiment.
The regiment remained at Seringapatam until May, 1800. The
SEVENTY-THIRD, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Michael
Monypenny, afterwards served with distinction against the Polygars,
during which campaign great exertions were made, and losses
sustained, of which no distinct record has been preserved.
[Sidenote: 1801]
In October, 1801, the regiment was removed from its encampment to
Gooty.
[Sidenote: 1802]
The regiment remained at Gooty until December 1802, when it
proceeded to Bellary.
[Sidenote: 1803]
In July, 1803, the regiment returned to Gooty, and in September
following, it proceeded to Pondicherry, in the capture of which
place it had participated in the year 1793.
[Sidenote: 1804]
The SEVENTY-THIRD remained at Pondicherry until September, 1804,
when the regiment proceeded to Fort St. George, Madras, where it
continued to be stationed during the remainder of the year.
[Sidenote: 1805]
On the 8th of September, 1805, the SEVENTY-THIRD embarked at Fort
St. George, Madras, for England, after having transferred five
hundred and twelve men to other regiments serving in India.
[Sidenote: 1806]
The regiment arrived in England in the beginning of July, 1806,
and disembarked at Greenwich, where it was quartered until the
middle of November, when, after discharging the men recommended
to be invalided, the remainder proceeded to Scotland, on board
of some Leith packets. Shortly after the disembarkation of the
SEVENTY-THIRD at Leith, the head-quarters of the regiment proceeded
to Stirling Castle, from whence recruiting parties were sent to all
the towns in Scotland, and some to England and Ireland, as far as
officers were disposable for that service.
[Sidenote: 1807]
In February, 1807, the regiment was ordered from Stirling Castle
to Glasgow, as a better recruiting station; but not having proved
as successful there as was expected, it was removed in May
following to Perth, which, from being the town where the regiment
was originally embodied, was expected to prove a better recruiting
station.
In 1807 the regiment received new colours and accoutrements from
Lieut.-General George Harris, and was newly armed and equipped in
that year.
[Sidenote: 1808]
On the passing of the Act, in the year 1808, for permitting a
certain number of the militia of the United Kingdom to volunteer
their services to regiments of the line, the SEVENTY-THIRD
received a very considerable augmentation of force by volunteers,
particularly from the Irish militia. The number received from the
Scotch regiments of militia, allotted for the SEVENTY-THIRD, was
not at all in the same proportion, and the only English corps
allotted to it was the Stafford militia, from which thirty-three
men volunteered, a circumstance totally unexpected, from the
dislike English soldiers were known to entertain to the Highland
uniform.
In December, 1808, the regiment, being then about four hundred rank
and file, received orders to proceed to England, to embark for New
South Wales, and commenced its march from Perth on the 26th of that
month.
On the order for the embarkation of the regiment for New South
Wales, a second battalion was added to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment,
which was directed to be placed on the establishment of the army
from the 24th of December, 1808. It was ordered to consist, in
the first instance, of four companies. When these companies were
completed to a hundred rank and file each, the battalion was to be
augmented to six companies, and so on, in succession, until the
establishment was increased to one thousand.
[Sidenote: 1809]
On the 13th of January, 1809, the regiment embarked at Leith on
board of four packets, and the whole arrived in the course of that,
and the beginning of the following month, at Gravesend, where the
men were transhipped into two transports, and ordered round to
Spithead. In March the regiment was landed at Cowes, in the Isle of
Wight, marched to Newport, whence, after a few days, it was ordered
to Colwell barracks.
A second volunteering from the militia took place in April, 1809,
by which the SEVENTY-THIRD received a considerable increase of
numbers, particularly from the Stafford, West Middlesex, and Durham
regiments.
In April, 1809, officers and non-commissioned officers were
detached to recruit for the second battalion, the head-quarters of
which were fixed at Nottingham.[9]
It appearing that the Highland dress was an obstacle to the
recruiting of the regiments wearing that costume, orders were
issued, directing the SEVENTY-THIRD, and five other regiments, to
discontinue that dress, and to adopt the uniform of other English
regiments.[10]
While at Colwell barracks, sixty men, who had volunteered from
veteran battalions to serve at New South Wales, were transferred
to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, and were ordered to embark with
the first battalion for that colony, which, by the addition of
these men, and of the volunteers from the militia, was now upwards
of eight hundred strong, and its establishment was fixed at ten
companies, consisting of fifty-four serjeants, twenty-two drummers,
and a thousand rank and file.
The first battalion embarked on the 8th of May, 1809, at Yarmouth,
in the Isle of Wight, on board of His Majesty’s ships “Hindoostan”
and “Dromedary,” and sailed from St. Helen’s on the 25th of that
month. The fleet touched at Madeira, Port Praya, Rio Janeiro, and
at the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Port Jackson, New South
Wales, on the 28th of December.
[Sidenote: 1810]
The battalion landed at Sydney on the 1st of January, 1810, and
detachments were sent out in the course of that, and the two
following months, to the Derwent and Port Dalrymple, in Van
Diemen’s Land; to Norfolk Island, and to Newcastle, whence Sydney,
the capital of the colony, was supplied with coals, lime, and cedar
wood, for buildings and making furniture.
[Sidenote: 1812]
The first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment having been
considerably reinforced by volunteers from the hundred-and-second
regiment (late New South Wales corps), which it relieved at
New South Wales, and which was ordered home, its establishment
was raised, in the year 1812, to twelve hundred rank and file,
which included a veteran company formed from the veterans of the
hundred-and-second regiment, and attached to the SEVENTY-THIRD,
while the battalion continued to serve at New South Wales, and was,
on its leaving that colony, transferred to the forty-sixth regiment.
[Sidenote: 1813]
[Sidenote: 1814]
About the end of the year 1813, an order arrived from England to
embark the first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment for the
island of Ceylon, and the first division, consisting of three
companies, sailed from Port Jackson on board the ship “Earl
Spencer,” hired for the passage, on the 24th of January, 1814. On
the 24th of March two more divisions embarked on board the “General
Hewitt” and “Windham,” and sailed from Port Jackson on the 5th
of April; but the “Windham” being ordered to the Derwent to take
on board the two companies stationed at Van Diemen’s Land, the
“General Hewitt,” having the head-quarters and flank companies
on board, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Maurice Charles
O’Connell, after a very circuitous voyage round New Guinea, New
Britain, and through the Molucca islands, arrived at Colombo, in
Ceylon, on the 17th of August.
Prior to the embarkation of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment from New
South Wales, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie,[11] commanding in
New South Wales, stated in General Orders, dated 17th March, 1814,
that--
“On the occasion of parting with the first battalion of the
SEVENTY-THIRD regiment His Excellency Major-General Macquarie,
the Governor and Commander of the Forces in this territory,
cannot fail to express the warm feelings of interest he takes in
the corps, which he has commanded for six years; and to assure
them, that no additional prosperity or honor, to which they may be
entitled, in the part of the world where they are now destined to
serve, and where they have already obtained so large a portion of
well-earned fame, can exceed his sanguine wishes and expectations.