1788, a highly useful work on the principles of military movements,
which became the basis of our army regulations for field exercises
and movements. His abilities obtained for him the favour and
attention of King George III., who appointed him adjutant-general
in Ireland, for the purpose of introducing his system of tactics
into the army of that country. In 1790 Colonel Dundas was promoted
to the rank of major-general. In 1791 he obtained the colonelcy of
the TWENTY-SECOND foot, and in the same year was placed on the Irish
staff, but he resigned that appointment in 1793 to engage in service
of actual warfare. After the commencement of hostilities with the
French republic, Major-General Dundas was employed on a military
mission to the island of Jersey, and was subsequently sent to the
Continent to confer with the Duke of York respecting the siege of
Dunkirk. From Flanders he proceeded to Toulon, where he commanded
under Lieut.-General O'Hara, and when the lieut.-general was taken
prisoner, he succeeded to the command of the garrison. His services
there, although he was ultimately obliged to evacuate the place,
called forth the approbation of his Sovereign and of the British
nation. After abandoning Toulon, he made a descent on Corsica, which
island was reduced and annexed to the British dominions; but shortly
afterwards he received directions to proceed to Flanders, where he
arrived in the spring of 1794, and commanded a brigade of cavalry
at the battle of Tournay on the 22nd of May, 1794. Major-General
Dundas was actively employed in the retreat through Holland, and the
corps under his immediate command gained considerable advantage over
the enemy in two successive actions near Gelder-Malsen; he highly
distinguished himself also in an attack upon the French post at
Thuyl, in December of the same year. He continued with the British
troops in Germany during the summer of 1795, and in December was
appointed colonel of the seventh light dragoons. After his return
to England he was appointed quartermaster-general to the army; and
he composed the celebrated regulations for the field exercises and
movements for the cavalry, which were approved by his Royal Highness
the Duke of York, and by King George III., and ordered to be
exclusively adopted throughout the cavalry.
In 1799 Lieut.-General Dundas commanded a division of the allied
army under the Duke of York, in the expedition to Holland; he
distinguished himself in several actions with the enemy, and was
highly commended by His Royal Highness in his public despatches. In
1801 he was appointed colonel of the second, or Royal North British
dragoons, and was constituted governor of Fort George. In 1802 he was
promoted to the rank of general; and in the following year, when the
French were preparing to invade England, he was placed in command of
the troops in the southern district, which comprised the counties
of Kent and Sussex. In 1804 he was appointed governor of the Royal
Hospital at Chelsea, and created a Knight of the Bath. On the 18th of
March, 1809, His Majesty was pleased to confer on this distinguished
veteran the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the army, on the
resignation of Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of York,
which appointment he held until the 25th of May, 1811, when His Royal
Highness was re-appointed. He was also appointed colonel-in-chief of
the rifle brigade on the 31st of August, 1809. He was promoted to the
colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards on the 27th of January, 1813.
He died in 1820, after a distinguished service of upwards of sixty
years.
WILLIAM CROSBIE.
_Appointed 23rd December, 1795._
After serving in the subordinate commissions, WILLIAM CROSBIE was
nominated captain of a company in the Twenty-eighth regiment, on
the 9th of May, 1769; and in October, 1778, he was promoted to the
majority of the seventh Royal Fusiliers, with which corps he served
in the Carolinas; in April, 1781, he obtained the lieut.-colonelcy
of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment. While stationed at Windsor in 1785,
he obtained the permission of King George III. for the introduction
of an order of merit in the corps, which under his command obtained
a high reputation for correct discipline. He was promoted to the
rank of colonel in 1790; and in 1793 received a letter of service for
raising the Eighty-ninth regiment, of which he was appointed colonel.
In 1794 he was advanced to the rank of major-general, and was removed
to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment in 1795. He died on the 16th of June,
1798, at Portsmouth, of which fortress he was lieut.-governor at the
time of his decease.
JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE.
_Appointed 18th June, 1798._
JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE, son of Captain Simcoe of the Royal Navy, evinced
great talent from his youth. It is recorded that, when a boy, he was
taken prisoner at sea, and conveyed up the river St. Lawrence, to
Quebec; and he constructed a chart of the river, which was given to
Major-General Wolfe, who sailed with an expedition against Quebec,
in 1759. On the 27th of April, 1770, he was appointed ensign in the
Thirty-fifth regiment, with which corps he served at Boston, in
1775; he was appointed captain in the fortieth regiment in December,
1775, and served at Long Island and New York in 1776, and in the
expedition to Pennsylvania in 1777, when he distinguished himself at
the battle of Brandywine, and was wounded. In October of the same
year, he was placed at the head of a provincial corps, called "The
Queen's Rangers," with the rank of major-commandant, and was promoted
to the rank of lieut.-colonel in 1778. His services with this corps
are spoken of by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, in a letter to
Lord George Germaine, in the following terms:--"Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe
has been at the head of a battalion since October, 1777, and since
that time he has been perpetually with the advance of the army.
The history of the corps under his command is a series of gallant,
skilful, and successful enterprises against the enemy, without a
single reverse. The Queen's Rangers have killed, or taken, twice
their own numbers. Colonel Simcoe himself has been thrice wounded;
and I do not scruple to assert, that his successes have been no less
the fruit of the most extensive knowledge of his profession which
study and the experience within his reach could give him, than of
the most watchful attention and shining courage." After repeatedly
distinguishing himself in North and South Carolina, and Virginia,
he was included in the capitulation of York Town, and returned to
England in a state of debility from excessive exertion, &c. In 1790
he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and in the following year
raised a corps of infantry called the Queen's Rangers, of which he
was appointed colonel on the 1st of September, 1791. He subsequently
proceeded to the West Indies, where he evinced the same talent,
energy, and courage which shone so conspicuously in the American war.
In 1794 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1796 to
the local rank of lieut.-general in the island of St. Domingo. In
January, 1798, he was appointed Colonel of the Eighty-first regiment,
and was removed, in June following, to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment,
the colonelcy of which corps he retained until his decease in 1806.
SIR JAMES H. CRAIG, K.B.
_Appointed 30th October, 1806._
JAMES HENRY CRAIG was appointed ensign in the thirtieth foot, in
1763, and served with his regiment at Gibraltar; in 1771 he was
promoted to captain in the Forty-seventh regiment, with which
corps he served several campaigns in America; and in 1777 he was
promoted to the majority, and in 1781 to the lieut.-colonelcy, of
the Eighty-second regiment, from which he was removed, in 1783, to
the sixteenth. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1790, and
to that of major-general in 1794; in 1795 he was nominated to the
colonelcy of the Forty-sixth regiment: he was advanced to the rank of
lieut.-general in 1801, and removed to the Eighty-sixth in 1804. He
commanded an expedition to the Mediterranean, in 1805, with the local
rank of general, and the dignity of a knight of the Bath; the troops
under his orders landed at Naples, and subsequently took possession
of the island of Sicily. In 1806 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND
regiment; and in 1807 he was appointed governor of Upper and Lower
Canada, with the local rank of general in America; in 1809 he was
removed to the Seventy-eighth Highlanders. He was also appointed
governor of Blackness Castle. He died on the 12th of January, 1812.
THE HONORABLE EDWARD FINCH.
_Appointed 18th September, 1809._
In 1778 the HONORABLE EDWARD FINCH was appointed cornet in the
eleventh light dragoons, and in 1779 he was promoted to a lieutenancy
in the Eighty-seventh foot. He embarked for the West Indies, in
January, 1780, and served there, and in North America, until 1782,
when he returned to England, and was appointed lieutenant and captain
in the second foot guards; in 1792 he was promoted to captain
and lieut.-colonel in the same corps. He served the campaigns of
1793 and 1794, in Flanders, under His Royal Highness the Duke of
York, and shared in the several actions in which the foot guards
distinguished themselves. In 1796 he was promoted to the rank of
colonel, and in 1799 he commanded the first battalion of his regiment
in the expedition to Holland, where he served in several actions
under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and His Royal Highness
the Duke of York. He commanded the brigade of light cavalry in the
expedition to Egypt, in 1800, with the rank of brigadier-general, and
was promoted to the rank of major-general, in January, 1801. After
commanding the light cavalry in Egypt some time, he was placed at
the head of a brigade of infantry, and was honored with the Order of
the Crescent from the Grand Seignior. He commanded a brigade of foot
guards in the expedition to Hanover in 1805; and in 1807 he commanded
a brigade at the capture of Copenhagen. In 1808 he was promoted to
the rank of lieut.-general, and appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth
regiment, and in 1809 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND. He was
promoted to the rank of general in 1819. His decease occurred on the
27th of October, 1843.
SIR CHARLES JAMES NAPIER, G.C.B.
_Appointed 21st November, 1843._
The following Regimental Order was issued by Major-General Sir
Charles Napier, upon his appointment by Her Majesty to the Colonelcy
of the TWENTY-SECOND Regiment.
"TWENTY-SECOND!
Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to place me at your head,
and I shall end my military career wearing the uniform of the
Regiment. Your Glory must be my Glory, and well I know it will
increase, when you have again an opportunity to use your Arms!
Never were the Musket and Bayonet wielded by stronger men, nor
were the Royal Colours of England ever confided to more intrepid
Soldiers!
"Many General Officers have been made Colonels of Regiments that
they had formerly commanded, and with whose glory their own fame
is associated; but old Comrades have passed away,--to the new men,
they are strangers,--and nought remains to bind them to their
Regiments, but Memory and Renown! My good fortune has been greater,
for while I rejoice in the past and present honors of my old Corps,
the Fiftieth Regiment, I am, as Colonel of the TWENTY-SECOND,
placed among men at whose head I have so lately fought, and to
whose valour I owe so much!!
"Soldiers, we are not men without feeling as _pseudo_ Philosophers
pretend! Obedience, Discipline, War, they deprive us not of Manly
sentiments. I shall always have the strongest attachment to the
corps with whom I have served, and among the honors won for me by
the Army of Scinde, the greatest is that of being your Colonel!!
(Signed) "C. J. NAPIER, _Major-General_,
"_Colonel 22nd Regiment_.
"_Kurrachee, 23rd January, 1844._"
The following Postscript to the Official letter to Major-General
Sir Charles Napier, announcing his appointment as Colonel of
the TWENTY-SECOND Regiment, was in the _Duke of Wellington's own
hand-writing_:--
"P.S. I recommended this arrangement to Her Majesty, principally
on the ground that it would be satisfactory to you, as this was
the only one of Her Majesty's Regiments in India engaged in the
two glorious battles fought at _Meeanee_ and _Hyderabad_, in
_Scinde_; and Her Majesty was graciously pleased to approve of the
recommendation on that ground."
LONDON:
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS, Stamford Street,
For Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
FOOTNOTE:
[12] David Hume, the historian, was secretary to General St. Clair,
during the expedition to the coast of France, and the embassy to
Vienna and Turin.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg xxix: 'thence to Portmouth' replaced by 'thence to Portsmouth'.
Pg 34: 'a deperate dash' replaced by 'a desperate dash'.
Pg 41: 'stanch and true' replaced by 'staunch and true'.
Pg 45: 'until its recal' replaced by 'until its recall'.
Pg 52: 'Anne to that' replaced by 'Anne to the'.
Pg 59: '27th of Januuary' replaced by '27th of January'.