again took the field in May, 1706, and had the honour to serve at
the battle of _Ramilies_, where the forces of France, Spain, and
Bavaria sustained a decisive overthrow. This battle occurred on
Whitsunday, the 23rd of May. On the morning of that day, the allied
army was advancing in the direction of Mont St. André; when the
forces of the enemy were discovered in position, with their centre
at the village of Ramilies, which was occupied by a numerous body
of troops. Having complete reliance on the valour of his soldiers,
the English general commenced the action, and in three hours the
numerous legions of the enemy were overthrown, and driven from
the field with a terrible slaughter. Many prisoners, with cannon,
standards, and colours, were captured on this occasion.
The wreck of the French army fled to Louvain, and immediately
afterwards abandoned that city and also Brussels. The States
of Brabant, and the magistrates of Brussels, renounced their
allegiance to King Philip. The principal towns of Brabant, and
several places in Flanders, were immediately delivered up, and
others surrendered on being summoned, or in a few days afterwards.
Ostend, Menin, Dendermond, and Aeth were captured. Towns which
had resisted numerous armies for months and years, and provinces
disputed for ages, were the conquest of a summer. After sharing in
these splendid achievements, the regiment was placed in garrison in
Flanders.
[Sidenote: 1707]
During the campaign of 1707, the services of the regiment were
limited to marching, and occupying various encampments. No general
engagement or siege occurred.
[Sidenote: 1708]
In the spring of 1708 the regiment was called from its winter
quarters in Flanders, in consequence of the King of France having
fitted out a fleet, and embarked troops at Dunkirk, for the
purpose of making a descent on the British coast, in favour of the
Pretender. The FIFTEENTH, and several other regiments, marched
from Ghent on the 8th of March, 1708, embarked at Ostend on the
15th, and arrived in England on the 21st; but the French fleet,
with the Pretender on board, having been chased from the British
shores by the English navy, the regiment returned to Flanders: it
landed at Ostend on the 20th of April, and proceeded in boats,
along the canal, to Ghent.
Leaving its quarters towards the end of May, the regiment joined
the allied army, and was engaged in the active operations which
followed. The French gained possession of Ghent and Bruges by
treachery.
On the 11th of July, the regiment passed the Scheldt, on a pontoon
bridge, between _Oudenarde_ and the abbey of Eename, and engaged
the French troops under the Duke of Burgundy and Marshal Vendome,
in the fields and open grounds beyond the river. A fierce conflict
of musketry ensued; and charge succeeded charge until the shades of
evening gathered over the scene, and the progress of the conflict
could only be discerned by the flashes of musketry, which pointed
out the ground on which the battle raged. The French were forced
from their position; part of their army was separated, and nearly
destroyed; but it was preserved from complete annihilation by the
darkness of the night.
This victory prepared the way for additional conquests; and the
FIFTEENTH foot formed part of the covering army during the siege of
the important fortress of _Lisle_, the capital of French Flanders,
which was defended by fifteen thousand men under Marshal Boufflers.
The regiment was in position when the united French forces advanced
to raise the siege, but were frustrated by the superior tactics of
the Duke of Marlborough. The grenadier company of the regiment
joined the besieging army, and took part in the attacks on the town.
When the Elector of Bavaria besieged Brussels, the regiment formed
part of the force which marched to the relief of that city, passed
the _Scheldt_, and carried the enemy's positions beyond that river
on the 27th of November; which was followed by the retreat of the
enemy from before Brussels.
The citadel of Lisle surrendered on the 9th of December; _Ghent_
and _Bruges_ were afterwards recaptured, and the regiment had its
winter quarters at Ghent.
[Sidenote: 1709]
Having reposed a few months in quarters, and received a body
of recruits from England, the regiment traversed the conquered
territory to Lisle, in June, 1709, and afterwards took part in
the manœuvres by which Marshal Villars was induced to reduce the
strength of his garrisons in his fortified towns, to reinforce
a line of entrenchments and forts, in which he expected to
be attacked. This object gained, the siege of _Tournay_ was
immediately commenced; and the FIFTEENTH foot, commanded by
Lieut.-Colonel Andrew Armstrong, formed part of the covering army;
but when the town surrendered, the regiment joined the besieging
force, and took part in the attacks on the castle. This proved a
desperate service. The citadel of Tournay was celebrated for the
multiplicity of its under-ground works, and the approaches were
carried on by sinking pits, and excavating subterraneous passages
to the enemy's casemates and mines. The soldiers employed on these
works were sometimes drowned with water, suffocated by smoke, and
buried by explosions; and at other times parties of the besieging
force and of the garrison met, and fought with sword and pistol in
these gloomy labyrinths. In these services the FIFTEENTH regiment
had a number of men killed and wounded; it also lost several men
from the explosion of a mine, which destroyed a battery.
On the 3rd of September, the citadel of Tournay surrendered;
and the army traversed the country towards Mons, the capital
of the province of Hainault, leaving the FIFTEENTH and several
other corps at Tournay, to level the approaches and fill the
excavations. Immediately after this work was performed, the
regiment traversed the country towards Mons, and joined the
army, on the morning of the 11th of September, at the moment the
columns of attack were advancing to assault the enemy's fortified
position at _Malplaquet_. This proved one of the most sanguinary
and hard-contested battles of the war: the confident and fierce
attacks of the allies were made against formidable works, defended
with resolution, which occasioned a great sacrifice of life; but
eventually the position was forced, and the French army retreated
with the loss of many colours, standards, cannon, and officers and
soldiers made prisoners. The FIFTEENTH were in reserve on this
occasion, and its loss was limited to Brevet Major Leslie, killed,
and three or four private soldiers killed and wounded.
This victory was followed by the siege of _Mons_, and the regiment
formed part of the covering army. The garrison surrendered in
October.
On the 23rd of October, Major-General Howe was succeeded in the
colonelcy of the regiment by Algernon Earl of Hertford, afterwards
Duke of Somerset, who had served with reputation at several battles
and sieges on the continent.
[Sidenote: 1710]
The regiment quitted its winter quarters at Ghent, on the 14th
of April, 1710, and marched to the rendezvous of the army near
Tournay. The services of the FIFTEENTH foot were this year
connected with the forcing of the French lines at _Pont-à-Vendin_,
and with the siege and capture of _Douay_, which fortress
surrendered on the 27th of June. They subsequently formed part of
the covering army encamped at Villars-Brulin, during the siege of
_Bethune_. This place having surrendered on the 29th of August,
and the French army avoiding a general engagement, the fortresses
of _Aire_ and _St. Venant_ were invested, and taken; and these
conquests were the last important events of the campaign.
After taking part in these services, the regiment marched into
quarters at Courtray, where it was stationed during the winter.
[Sidenote: 1711]
Towards the end of April, 1711, the regiment advanced from
Courtray, and joining the army near Douay, was formed in brigade
with the foot guards, a battalion of the royals, and the twentieth
and twenty-third regiments. It was reviewed on the 8th of June,
at the camp at Warde, by the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards
took part in the skilful operations by which the enemy's formidable
and newly constructed lines were passed at _Arleux_, on the 5th of
August; and this success was followed by the siege of _Bouchain_,
a fortified town of Hainault, situate on both sides of the
river Scheldt. The regiment formed part of a division of twenty
battalions of infantry, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of
Orkney, which took post on the north and north-west side of the
town and river; and it shared in the duties of the trenches, and
in carrying on the attacks, in which services it had several men
killed and wounded. The garrison agreed to surrender on the 13th of
September.
Thus the French monarch found his armies defeated and dispirited;
his fortresses wrested from him, and the victorious legions of the
allies prepared to penetrate the interior of his kingdom; and he
sued for peace.
[Sidenote: 1712]
In the spring of 1712 the FIFTEENTH regiment took the field with
the army under the Duke of Ormond, who had been appointed to the
command in succession to the Duke of Marlborough, and advanced to
the frontiers of France. Negociations for peace having commenced,
a suspension of hostilities took place between the British and
French, and the regiment returned to Ghent; from whence it was
afterwards removed to Dunkirk, the French monarch having agreed to
deliver up that fortress until the treaty of peace was concluded.
[Sidenote: 1713]
[Sidenote: 1714]
The regiment was stationed at Dunkirk in 1713, and at Nieuport in
the early part of 1714.
While the regiment was in Flanders, the decease of Queen Anne, and
the accession of King George I., occurred, on the 1st of August,
1714, and soon afterwards the FIFTEENTH foot, and several other
corps, were ordered to return to England.
[Sidenote: 1715]
On the 8th of February, 1715, the Earl of Hertford was promoted to
the colonelcy of the second troop (now second regiment) of life
guards, and was succeeded in the command of the FIFTEENTH foot by
Colonel Harry Harrison.
[Sidenote: 1716]
The regiment was actively employed in South Britain during the
troubles in 1715; but it was not called upon to take the field
against the rebels under the Earl of Mar, who were dispersed, in
the beginning of 1716, by the King's troops under the Duke of
Argyle.
[Sidenote: 1719]
In 1719, the regiment was stationed in Scotland, when the King of
Spain fitted out an armament for the invasion of Great Britain
in favour of the Pretender. The Spanish fleet was dispersed by
a storm; two ships, however, arrived on the coast of Scotland,
and four hundred Spaniards and about a hundred Scots and English
gentlemen, landed on the 27th of April, at Kintail, and were
afterwards joined by about fifteen hundred Highlanders. Against
this force, three troops of the Greys, and the eleventh,
fourteenth, and FIFTEENTH regiments of foot, marched from Inverness
on the 5th of June, under Major-General Wightman, and encountered
the rebels on the 10th of that month, at the pass of _Glenshiel_;
when the Spaniards and Highlanders withdrew a short distance, and
formed for battle on the romantic mountain scenery in the pass of
Strachell. About five o'clock in the afternoon, the grenadiers of
the three regiments climbed the rocky crags, and commenced the
action; they were followed by the eleventh, and a detachment of
the FIFTEENTH under Colonel Harrison; at the same time, the Greys
galloped forward along the road; and the Spaniards and Highlanders
were forced from the lofty ground on which they had taken post.
The rebels made a second stand on the top of the hill, but were
speedily driven from thence. The Highlanders afterwards dispersed
to their homes, and on the following day, the Spaniards surrendered
prisoners of war.
[Sidenote: 1727]
On the appearance of a continental war, in 1727, the regiment was
augmented, and held in readiness to proceed to Holland, but no
embarkation took place.
[Sidenote: 1728]
King George II. reviewed the second and FIFTEENTH regiments in
brigade on Blackheath, on the 29th of June, 1728, and expressed
his high approbation of their appearance and movements. The signs
of war disappearing, the establishment was afterwards reduced.
[Sidenote: 1739]
When hostilities commenced between Great Britain and Spain, in
1739, the establishment was again augmented.
[Sidenote: 1740]
In the middle of June, 1740, the FIFTEENTH, twenty-fourth,
twenty-seventh regiments, and the six battalions of marines, were
encamped on the Isle of Wight, under the orders of General Lord
Cathcart. Towards the end of July, the camp broke up, and the
FIFTEENTH, and twenty-fourth regiments, and the six regiments of
marines, embarked on board the fleet for the West Indies. Some
delay occurred, and after putting to sea, the fleet was twice
driven back by contrary winds; on the 26th of October it sailed a
third time, and was dispersed by a tempest in the Bay of Biscay;
but the greater part of the vessels were recollected and proceeded
on the voyage. Arriving at Dominica to provide wood and water,
the troops lost their gallant leader, General Lord Cathcart (then
colonel of the sixth dragoon guards or Carabineers), who died of
dysentery; and the command devolved on Brigadier-General Thomas
Wentworth.
[Sidenote: 1741]
The expedition arrived at Jamaica in January, 1741, and the
appearance of this force dispelled the apprehension of an attack on
that island by the combined fleets of France and Spain, and also
enabled the British commanders to act offensively. The expedition
put to sea, and after some delay, an attack on _Carthagena_, the
capital of a wealthy province in the country of Terra Firma, in
South America, was resolved upon. This place was found strongly
fortified, and the garrison reinforced by the crews of a squadron
of large ships; at the same time the season for active service in
that part of the world was fast passing away; but the design was
persevered in, and the fleet having silenced several small forts,
the FIFTEENTH mustering one thousand officers and soldiers, and
several other corps, landed on an island near the mouth of the
harbour, on the 10th of March, and commenced the siege of the
principal fort, or castle, called _Bocca-chica_. On the evening
of the 25th of March, the grenadiers of the FIFTEENTH, and other
regiments, mounted the breach in gallant style, to storm the
fortress, when the Spanish garrison fled, and the place was
captured without loss.
Channels having been made through the sunk vessels with which the
Spaniards had blocked up the entrance to the harbour, the FIFTEENTH
and twenty-fourth re-embarked, and commenced landing near the
city of Carthagena. From the place of landing, the two regiments
advanced along a defile, preceded by the grenadiers, through a
country covered with trees and herbage of luxuriant growth, the
interwoven branches forming a shelter impenetrable both to heat
and light, and several men were wounded by shots fired from the
tracks and openings into the wood. Diverging from the defile, the
two regiments encountered a body of Spaniards advantageously posted
to dispute the passage, but as the grenadiers sprang forward to
commence the attack, the enemy fled. The two regiments proceeded to
the vicinity of the castle of _St. Lazar_, which commands the town,
and were followed by the six battalions of marines. The soldiers
passed three nights in the open air, for want of tents and tools,
and their health was seriously injured.
The siege of the castle was commenced; and as the men were
fast decreasing in numbers from the effects of hard duty and
climate, Brigadier-General Wentworth was induced to attack the
place by escalade, to which dangerous enterprise he was urged
by Vice-Admiral Vernon. Twelve hundred men stormed the enemy's
entrenchments under the walls of the fort, exposed to a heavy fire
of musketry. The grenadiers, led by Colonel Grant, rushed forward
with astonishing bravery, and leaping into the lines, carried the
works in gallant style. The Spaniards fled over a drawbridge into
the fort. The British pursued, and called for ladders to storm the
fort; but the fire was so hot, that the Americans who carried the
ladders threw them down and fled. Meanwhile the storming party was
exposed to a destructive fire. At length three ladders were brought
forward, and a serjeant and ten grenadiers mounted the walls, but
were instantly cut to pieces, excepting the serjeant, who saved
himself by leaping down again. Several of the ladders were found
too short: it was ascertained that, owing to a guide having been
killed, the attack had been made on the strongest part of the
works; Colonel Grant fell mortally wounded; and after sustaining
a most destructive fire for several hours with intrepidity and
perseverance, the troops were ordered to retire, having sustained a
severe loss in killed and wounded.
Violent periodical rains commenced; the country was deluged with
water, and the change of atmosphere produced fatal effects on the
health of the men, who were drenched with rain. All hope of further
success immediately vanished, and the troops returned on board
the fleet, where numbers died from the distempers peculiar to the
climate.
The forts of the harbour of Carthagena having been demolished, the
fleet sailed to Jamaica. The FIFTEENTH, and several other corps,
afterwards sailed to the island of _Cuba_, where they landed, and
a camp was formed twenty miles up one of the large rivers of the
island. At this camp, the regiment was stationed some time; and the
country was reconnoitred in various directions by detachments. The
design of forming a British settlement on that part of the island
of Cuba, was, however, abandoned; in November the troops returned
on board ship, and were re-conveyed to Jamaica.
[Sidenote: 1742]
Having sustained a severe loss in killed and wounded at Carthagena,
and also from the effects of climate, the regiment returned to
England in 1742, and commenced recruiting its numbers.
[Sidenote: 1743]
[Sidenote: 1744]
During the years 1743 and 1744, the regiment was stationed in Great
Britain.
[Sidenote: 1745]
In the meantime, a British army was supporting the interest of the
house of Austria on the Continent; but the French monarch brought
so great a superiority of numbers into the field, that the allied
army, under His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, was unable
to prevent the enemy gaining possession of several fortified towns
in the Austrian Netherlands, during the summer of 1745. Under these
circumstances the regiment was sent from England to _Ostend_,
with the view of contributing to the preservation of that place,
where it arrived on the 27th of July. The French besieged Ostend,
which was defended by a garrison of British and Austrian troops
under Lieut.-General Count Chanclos, of the Austrian service, who
capitulated after a siege of thirteen days, the garrison being
permitted to march out with the honors of war, and proceed to the
Austrian territories. The FIFTEENTH joined the army.
At this period, Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, had
aroused the Highland clans to arms, and asserted his father's
pretensions to the British throne. This rebellion occasioned the
regiment to be recalled from Flanders: it arrived in the river
Thames, and landed at Gravesend, on the 25th of October; but it was
not ordered to march against the insurgent clans--it was destined
to remain in the south of England, to oppose the threatened
invasion of the French.
[Sidenote: 1746]
When the hopes of the Pretender had been annihilated by the battle
of Culloden, on the 16th of April, 1746, part of the military
force of the kingdom became disposable for other services, and
the FIFTEENTH regiment was selected to form part of an expedition
against the French possessions in Canada. Various circumstances
occasioned the fleet to be detained so long, that this enterprise
was deferred, and an attempt on the port of _L'Orient_, 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; on the 20th a landing was effected
on the coast of France, and the troops assembled to oppose the
debarkation were driven from the shore. On the following day, the
British advanced in two columns towards _L'Orient_; the FIFTEENTH
forming part of the second column. The French militia fired upon
the troops from the woods, and put the men of one or two corps
into some confusion, when Captain Honorable James Murray led the
grenadier company of the FIFTEENTH forward with great gallantry,
and dispersed the enemy. When the leading companies arrived at the
village of _Plemur_, they were fired upon from the houses; but this
resistance was speedily overcome, and the people were punished for
their temerity. On arriving before L'Orient, the governor proposed
to surrender; but the conditions demanded were not acceded to, in
consequence of a report of the engineers stating the practicability
of reducing the town. The siege was immediately commenced; but the
artillery and stores with the expedition proved unequal to the
undertaking, and the troops retreated to the coast, and re-embarked
without molestation.
Another descent was made on the French coast in October: the troops
landing on the peninsula of _Quiberon_, capturing a fort with
eighteen guns, and afterwards destroying the guns and forts in
the peninsula, with those in the isles of Houat and Hedic. These
services performed, the regiment returned on board the fleet and
sailed for England.
[Sidenote: 1748]
[Sidenote: 1749]
Negociations for a treaty of peace were commenced in 1748, at
Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1749, the strength of the army was reduced, and
the regiment proceeded to Ireland.
After commanding the regiment thirty-four years, Lieut.-General
Harrison died, in March of this year, and was succeeded by Colonel
John Jordan, from the lieut.-colonelcy of the tenth dragoons, by
commission, dated 15th of April, 1749.
[Sidenote: 1751]
In the clothing warrant, dated the 1st of July, 1751, the facing
of the regiment is directed to be yellow. The first, or 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 the number of the regiment in gold Roman characters, within
a wreath of roses and thistles on the same stalk. The uniform at
this period was cocked hats bound with white lace; scarlet coats
faced and turned up with yellow, and ornamented with white lace;
scarlet waistcoat and breeches; white gaiters; white cravats; and
buff belts.
[Sidenote: 1755]
The regiment remained in Ireland until the undetermined boundary
of the British and French settlements in North America occasioned
a rupture between the two kingdoms. The aggressions of the French
led to the sending of a body of British troops to North America
in 1755; at which period the establishment of the FIFTEENTH was
augmented, and the regiment embarked for England.
[Sidenote: 1756]
Colonel Jordan was removed to the ninth dragoons, in April, 1756,
and King George II. conferred the colonelcy of the FIFTEENTH foot
on Colonel Jeffery (afterwards Lord) Amherst, from captain and
lieut.-colonel in the first foot guards.
In July of this year the regiment pitched its tents near Blandford,
where an encampment was formed of six regiments of foot and two of
dragoons under Lieut.-General Sir Charles Howard.
[Sidenote: 1757]
Numerous encampments were formed also in the following year, and
the troops held in readiness to repel a threatened invasion of the
French. The FIFTEENTH foot, and four other corps, pitched their
tents on Barham-downs, under Charles Duke of Marlborough.