TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Old English font is denoted by =equals signs=.
In the original text a narrative change from one battalion to another
was indicated by some additional blank space. In this etext two blank
lines similarly indicates this transition.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of each chapter or section.
A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example Capt^n or
27^{TH}. The original text had a dot under the superscripts; this dot
has been removed in the etext.
Six town names with āo ending have been changed to ão for consistency.
Some other minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
THE RIFLE BRIGADE
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
[Illustration:
Plate I.
RIFLE CORPS, 1800.]
THE HISTORY
OF THE
RIFLE BRIGADE
(_THE PRINCE CONSORT’S OWN_)
FORMERLY THE
95th
BY
SIR WILLIAM H. COPE, BART.
LATE LIEUTENANT RIFLE BRIGADE
[Illustration]
_WITH MAPS AND PLANS_
=London=
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1877
TO
FIELD-MARSHAL
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES, K.G.
_&c. &c._
COLONEL-IN-CHIEF
THIS RECORD OF THE SERVICES OF
THE RIFLE BRIGADE
IS
BY HIS GRACIOUS PERMISSION
MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED
PREFACE.
A wish had long been entertained and often expressed by Riflemen,
both by those serving in the Regiment and by those who had formerly
served in it, that a detailed record of its services should be
compiled. It was suggested to me by many of my friends that I should
undertake this task. The will certainly was not wanting; but the
ability to carry out their wish has not, I fear, been equal to their
partial opinion, or to my own desire to do justice to the subject.
The materials for such a compilation were not wanting. The late
Colonel Leach published a very brief sketch of the Services of
the Regiment,[1] and his ‘Rough Notes’[2] give many and accurate
particulars of events during the time he served in it. The
Autobiography of Quarter-Master Surtees[3] is a most valuable record
of the events in which he took part. Surtees came as a private into
the 95th from the 56th Regiment in 1802. His good conduct raised
him through the various grades of non-commissioned officer to
Quarter-Master of the old 3rd Battalion. His book I have found, on
comparing it with other records, most accurate in every particular.
As the 3rd Battalion was disbanded before the order for drawing up
and preserving regimental records issued from the Horse Guards, no
formal record of its services exists;[4] and had it not been for the
facts and dates preserved and recorded by Surtees, I should have
found it difficult, if not impossible, to have given any detailed
account of the actions of that Battalion in the Peninsula and at
New Orleans. Though tinged with the peculiar religious opinions
which Surtees adopted, and which perhaps scarcely have place in a
military record, his work is written with a distinctness and in a
style which do him honour. And the high character of the man which
breathes through his work has led me to place every confidence in his
statements.
Very different are Sir John Kincaid’s two books.[5] These, though
written in too jocular and light a strain for regular history (‘ad
jocos forte propensior quam decet’) contain many anecdotes and facts
of which I have gladly availed myself. And I have found his dates and
statements confirmed by other and more formal materials to which I
had access.
Costello’s little work[6] has also afforded me much information; and
he has recorded many circumstances unnoticed or lightly touched upon
by others.
The ‘Recollections of Rifleman Harris’[7] have also been of
considerable service to me in compiling this record, especially as
preserving many particulars, elsewhere unnoticed, of the retreat to
Corunna and of the expedition to Walcheren. His editor, however,
seems to have used the materials Harris wrote or dictated without any
attempt at arrangement; so that it is difficult, and in some cases
almost impossible, to disentangle the narrative, or to arrange the
events he describes in chronological order.
The valuable List of the Officers of the Regiment, compiled by Mr.
Stooks Smith,[8] has also been of much use to me; and I have to thank
that gentleman for some additional information, and for permission to
republish that list with continuation to the present time, of which
I hope at some future period to avail myself.
Nor can I close this list of printed works bearing on the history of
the Regiment without mentioning the ‘Recollections of a Rifleman’s
Wife,’ by Mrs. Fitzmaurice, to which I am indebted for many facts and
anecdotes, many of them especially valuable because they relate to
the less stirring times of peace; nor without expressing my thanks
for her permission to use the materials she has thus preserved.
* * * * *
When I proceed to acknowledge the personal recollections and the
journals of services in the Regiment which have been placed at my
disposal, I scarcely know how adequately to express my obligations
to those who have aided me. Everyone who has worn the green jacket,
from Generals to private Riflemen, to whom I have applied, or who has
heard of my endeavour to preserve a record of the services of the
Regiment, has, almost without exception, most kindly placed journals
and letters in my hands, or assisted me by personal reminiscences.
The aid of my friend Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Horsford
procured for me the transcript of many valuable records and the
elucidation of many points which I could not otherwise have obtained.
Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Lawrence not only communicated to me
many particulars of the services of the 2nd Battalion in the Crimea,
but placed in my hands his private letters written from thence, which
afforded me most valuable information. Major-General Hill was so
good as to draw up for me a detailed statement of the services of
the 2nd Battalion, which he commanded during the Indian Mutiny. To
Major-General Leicester Smyth I am indebted not only for a narrative
of the battle of Berea, but also for the perusal of a private letter
written by him directly after, and describing that engagement, and
for much valuable information. By permission of Brigadier-General
Ross, Lady Ross transmitted to me his letters to his family both from
the Crimea and from India, to the perusal of which I cannot attach
too great importance.
Colonel Smith, now I believe the oldest officer of the Regiment
living,[9] has freely and kindly communicated to me his recollections
of services in the Peninsula and elsewhere, and has patiently borne
with my many enquiries which his accurate memory has enabled him to
answer. To Colonel Dillon I am indebted for much valuable information
which he kindly obtained for me. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was
so good as to write out for me from his journals a detailed account
of the movements and actions of the 3rd Battalion in India, in
which he took part. Lieutenant-Colonel Sotheby had the kindness
to transcribe for me his journal during the Indian Mutiny, and to
illustrate it with sketch-maps. Lieutenant-Colonel FitzRoy Fremantle,
Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, Captain Percival, Captain George Curzon, and
Major Harvey placed in my hands their valuable journals and diaries.
Colonel H. Newdigate and Captain Austin favoured me with detailed and
important particulars as to the services of the companies of Riflemen
who formed the Camel Corps. To Lieutenant-Colonel Green I am indebted
for his own narrative and that of Mr. Mansel (drawn up at the time)
of the affair at Jamo in which he was so desperately wounded. I have
to thank Captain Boyle for allowing me to see his continuation to
the year 1860 of Mr. Stooks Smith’s List of Officers, and for much
other information. To Captain Moorsom I am under great obligations,
not only for the three plans (of New Orleans, of Cawnpore, and of
Lucknow) which he has contributed to this work, but for materially
aiding me in obtaining important information. And to Surgeon-Major
Reade I am indebted for an accurate and interesting account of the
march to Cawnpore of Colonel Fyers’ detachment, to which he was
attached.
Sergeant-Major Bond, of the Sligo Militia, and formerly of the 1st
Battalion, gave me a detailed account, from his journal, of the
Kaffir War of 1847-9; and Corporal Scott, late of the 1st Battalion,
communicated to me a most minute and accurate journal which he kept
in short-hand during the Kaffir War of 1851-52, during the Crimean
campaign, and during his service in Canada. It is not too much to say
that without the valuable contributions of these two non-commissioned
officers it would have been impossible to give any detailed account
of the doings of the 1st Battalion during these wars. Sergeant
Fisher, late of the 2nd Battalion, placed in my hands an interesting
journal kept during the Indian Mutiny; and Sergeant Carroll, of that
Battalion, has communicated many particulars respecting the Camel
Corps.
To these and to other Riflemen I owe my thanks, not only for the
documents they have communicated to me, but for the kindness with
which they have entertained, and the courtesy with which they have
replied to my many questions for further information or details.
The officers commanding the four Battalions have given free access
to, or transcripts of the several Battalion Records. These, though
drawn up in obedience to an order issued in 1822, do not seem to have
been compiled till some years afterwards.
That of the 1st Battalion appears to have been written by, or under
the eye of, Sir Amos Norcott, who then commanded it, and by whom the
transcript transmitted to the Horse Guards is signed. For it is very
full and explicit in relating the actions in which he was personally
engaged (as, for instance, the account of the engagement at Buenos
Ayres, which bears internal evidence of having been drawn up by an
eye-witness) but is rather slight and meagre in the narrative of many
Peninsular and other victories.
The Record of the 2nd Battalion, transmitted to the Horse Guards,
and dated March 10, 1831, is a model of what such a document should
be. It has been compiled with great accuracy; and the movements and
engagements of the Battalion, the lists of killed and wounded, and
the distinctions won by its officers and men, are recorded under
separate heads and with great minuteness.
These Records have been continued to the present time, for the most
part with great accuracy and precision.
The Records of the 3rd and 4th Battalions have also been placed in
my hands. The latter, containing, of course, only the movements of
the Battalion, calls for no comment; that of the 3rd Battalion has
been, in the earlier parts, kept irregularly, probably in consequence
of the Battalion being broken up and constantly in the field; and
no one perusing it could form an idea of, or trace accurately the
distinguished service of that Battalion during the Indian Mutiny.
Nor is it to Riflemen alone that I am indebted for assistance. I
have to thank Major-General Sir John Adye for permission to use the
plan of Cawnpore, published in his account of those eventful days;
Major-General Payn for an interesting letter on the same subject;
the author of the articles on Ashantee in ‘Colburn’s United Service
Magazine’ for his liberal and unsolicited authority to use them as
materials for my narrative; and especially Lieutenant-Colonel Home,
R.E. for his kindness in giving me tracings of the plans of the
operations at New Orleans deposited in the Quarter-Master General’s
Office, and for permission to have copies made of the plans prepared
in the topographical department of that office for the Record of the
52nd.
I have expressed in another place the assistance I have derived from
the accurately kept journal of the late Major George Simmons, and
from his separate memoir on Waterloo, which were placed in my hands
by his widow.
* * * * *
I have not attempted to trace the strategical or tactical movements
of the armies of which the Battalions have formed part, for two
reasons: my own inability to record what has been so well described
by abler pens; and also because any attempt to have done so would
have swelled this book to an extent altogether disproportionate to
its object.
For it must be borne in mind that I profess to be the historian, not
of wars, but of this particular Corps only, and of that part it alone
bore in them.
So, in like manner, I have not recorded the deeds of other regiments
which may have acted with the Riflemen, save in a very few instances
where it was impossible to separate the narrative of their movements
from that of the movements of regiments which fought beside, or
supported them. In the case of their old and most frequent companions
in arms, the 43rd and 52nd, it was unnecessary that I should record
their actions, since the histories of both these distinguished
Corps have been fully and well written.[10] And if others who have
fought, and fought well, beside the Riflemen are here unnoticed,
and as yet without a special history, they must believe that their
gallant deeds, albeit unrecorded here, live in the recollection and
the praise of many Riflemen.
To some readers some of the facts and anecdotes I have here recorded
may appear trifling and unworthy of mention. But it must be borne
in mind that I write for Riflemen, at the desire of Riflemen, and
to preserve the memory of the deeds of Riflemen. By them I am sure
nothing will be considered trivial, nothing out of place in a history
of the Regiment, which records the valour, the acts, the sufferings
or even preserves an anecdote of any (of whatever rank) of the
members of that brotherhood.
W. H. C.
BRAMSHILL: _December 1876_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] ‘Sketch of the Field Services of the Rifle Brigade from its
Formation to the Battle of Waterloo.’ London, 1838, pp. 32.
[2] ‘Rough Sketches in the Life of an Old Soldier.’ London, 1831.
[3] ‘Twenty-five Years in the Rifle Brigade.’ Edinburgh, 1833.
[4] The order for keeping regimental records is dated September 1822.
The 3rd Battalion was disbanded in 1818.
[5] ‘Adventures in the Rifle Brigade’ and ‘Random Shots from a
Rifleman.’
[6] ‘Adventures of a Soldier.’ London, 1852.
[7] Edited by Henry Curling. London, 1848.
[8] ‘Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Rifle Brigade from 1800
to 1850.’ London, 1851.
[9] He joined the 1st Battalion in April 1808.
[10] ‘Historical Records of the 43rd Regiment.’ By Sir Richard G. A.
Levinge, Bart. 1868.
‘Historical Records of the 52nd Regiment.’ Edited by Capt. W. S.
Moorsom. 1860.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Formation of an Experimental Corps of Riflemen--Expedition to
Ferrol--Re-formation of the Rifle Corps--First list of officers--
Account of Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. W. Stewart--Standing orders--
First Expedition to Copenhagen--Nelson’s testimony--He gives a
medal to the Riflemen--The Rifle Corps numbered 95--Camp at
Shorncliffe under Sir John Moore--Formation of the 2nd Battalion
--Account of Lieut.-Colonel Wade--Sidney Beckwith’s magnanimity--
Expedition to Germany--Attack on Monte Video--Attack on Buenos
Ayres--Second Expedition to Denmark--Battle of Kioge--Three
companies proceed to Sweden--Arrival of Riflemen in Portugal--
Affair at Obidos--Battle of Roleia--Battle of Vimiera--Both
Battalions in Spain--Meeting of the Riflemen at the Trianon--
Retreat--General Craufurd’s stern discipline--2nd Battalion
embarks at Vigo--Fight at Cacabelos--Tom Plunket shoots a French
General--Battle of Corunna--Embarkation of 1st Battalion--
Casualties-- Arrival in England--Death of Colonel Manningham 1
CHAPTER II.
Formation of the 3rd Battalion--1st Battalion again proceed to
Portugal--Join the Light Division--March from Calzada to Talavera
--March to the bridge of Almaraz--Scarcity of food--Winter
quarters at Campo Major--2nd Battalion embark for Holland--Humbley
seizes a French picquet--Siege of Flushing--Walcheren fever--1st
Battalion on the Coa--Fight at Barba del Puerco--Craufurd’s
Divisional Order--Beckwith’s system of command--Night march to
Gallegos--Fight at the Coa--Casualties--Battle of Busaco--Lines
of Torres Vedras--Fight at Sobral--Simmons takes some French
prisoners--Massena’s retreat--Fight near Valle--Winter quarters--
A company of the 2nd Battalion with Ballesteros--Defence of
Tarifa--Defence of Cadiz--Battle of Barrosa 42
CHAPTER III.
Massena’s retreat from Santarem--Skirmishes at Paialvo; at
Pombal; at Redinha--French politeness--Skirmishes at Casal-nova;
at Foz d’Aronce; at Ponte da Murcella; at Freixadas--Lieutenant
James Stewart--Combat at Sabugal--Skirmish at the bridge of
Marialva; at Fuentes d’Onor--Battle of Fuentes d’Onor--Night
panic at Sabugal--March to the Alemtejo--Cantonments on the
Agueda--Retreat to Soita--Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo--Assault of
San Francisco--Storming of Ciudad Rodrigo--Casualties--Anecdotes
of General Craufurd--Military Executions--Siege of Badajos--
Capture of La Picurina--Storming of Badajos--Casualties--Harry
Smith’s romantic adventure 71
CHAPTER IV.
Character of Sidney Beckwith--Riflemen reviewed by Lord
Wellington--Skirmish near Rueda; at Castrejon--Manœuvring near
Salamanca--Battle of Salamanca--March to Madrid--2nd Battalion
companies fight at Seville; at Puente Larga--Departure from
Madrid--Death of Lieutenant Firman--Retreat to the frontier of
Portugal--Sufferings of the Riflemen--Their high state of
discipline--Spanish recruits--Campaign of 1813--Affair at the
Hormuza--Skirmish at San Millan--Battle of Vittoria--The 95th
capture the first gun; and the last at the Araquil--March to
intercept Clausel; to Pamplona; to the Pyrenees--Skirmish at
Santa Barbara--Night marches--Fight at the bridge of Yanci;
at Echalar--First Regimental dinner--Storming of S. Sebastian--
Fight at the Bidassoa--Cadoux’s picquet at the bridge of Vera--
Forcing the pass of Vera--The Arrhunes 112
CHAPTER V.
Battle of Nivelle--Fight at Arcangues--Good feeling between the
Riflemen and the French outposts--Battle of the Nive--Outpost
courtesies and discourtesies--Gave d’Oleron--March to Orthez--
Battle of Orthez--Battle of Tarbes--Fight at Tournefeuille--
Battle of Toulouse--Suspension of arms--Embarkation for England
and arrival there--Expedition to Holland--Investment of
Bergen-op-Zoom--Skirmishes before Antwerp; at Donk--Fight at
Merxem--Failure of Graham’s attempts on Antwerp--Bergen-op-Zoom
--Sorties from Antwerp and alarms--The companies in this
expedition occupy Belgium, and eventually join the Battalions
in the Waterloo campaign--Expedition to New Orleans--
Disembarkation--James Travers captures an American picquet--
Attack on the bivouack of the Riflemen--Hallen’s picquet--
Advance towards New Orleans--Attacks on the American lines--
Truce to remove dead and wounded--Dishonourable conduct of the
Americans during the truce--Difficult march to the shore--
Re-embarkation--Arrival at Île Dauphine--Sergeant Fukes turns
the tables on a Yankee officer--Fort Boyer surrenders--Return
to England 154
CHAPTER VI.
Embarkation for the Netherlands--Advance of the 1st Battalion to
Brussels--March to Quatre Bras--Battle of Quatre Bras--Riflemen
the first English engaged; under the eye of the Duke of
Wellington--Retreat through Genappe to Waterloo--Battle of
Waterloo--Casualties; and Anecdotes--Charles Beckwith--March
to Paris--Army of occupation--The 95th made ‘the Rifle Brigade’
--Return to England--Death of Amphlett--The 3rd Battalion
disbanded 195
CHAPTER VII.
Home Service--1st Battalion sent to Glasgow to suppress riots--
2nd Battalion proceeds to Ireland--The Duke of Wellington
Colonel-in-chief--Address to him on that occasion--Both
Battalions in Ireland--Names of victories to be borne on the
pouch-belt--Outrage on some women of the Regiment--Engagement
with Irish insurgents at Carrigamanus; and at Dasure--Embarkation
of the 1st Battalion for Nova Scotia; and of the 2nd Battalion
for Malta--The Depôt engaged against rioters in Ireland--Death
of Sir William Stewart--The Depôts of both Battalions reviewed
by the Duke of Clarence--Service abroad and at home--A Depôt
Company of 1st Battalion suppresses smuggling at Hastings--
Return of the 1st Battalion to England--Riflemen sent to Persia
--Death of Colonel Eeles--Return of the 2nd Battalion to England
--Coronation of Queen Victoria--Review in Hyde Park--Inspection
by the Colonel-in-Chief and Marshal Soult--Birmingham Riots--The
1st Battalion embarks for Malta--Guards of Honour to Queen
Victoria--Riots in South Wales--Embarkation of 2nd Battalion for
Bermuda--Reserve Battalion formed--1st Battalion ordered to the
Cape--Speech of Lord Seaton 217
CHAPTER VIII.
Landing in South Africa--Marches to Kaffraria--Death of Captain
Gibson and Assistant-Surgeon Howell--Bivouack on Mount Misery--
Fording the Kei river--Attack on the Kaffirs--Fire at King
William’s-town--Expedition to the Amatola Mountains--Surrender
of Sandilli--Arrival of Sir Harry Smith--War against the Boers--
Crossing the Orange river--Battle of Boemplaats--Death of
Captain Murray--Submission of the Rebels--Riflemen employed in
building--2nd Battalion in Canada--Shipwreck at Sault Ste. Marie
--Embarkation of the 1st Battalion--Sir Harry Smith’s General
Order--Return to England--The Reserve Battalion done away with 245
CHAPTER IX.
Last review by the Duke of Wellington--1st Battalion again
embark for Kaffraria--Disasters of the ‘Megæra’--Landing at
Algoa bay--Marches up the country--Skirmishes at Mundell’s
Krantz; at Ingilby’s farm--Reconnaissance to the Waterkloof and
Blinkwater--Patrols and reconnaissances--Attack on the
Waterkloof--General Cathcart’s General Order--Escorts--Final
attack on the Waterkloof--Road-making and patrols--Expedition to
Moshesh’s country--Battle of Berea--Death of the Duke of
Wellington--Riflemen guard and escort his body--His funeral--
Return of the 2nd Battalion to England--The Prince Consort
appointed Colonel-in-Chief--Return of the 1st Battalion--General
Cathcart’s order on that occasion--Camp at Chobham 269
CHAPTER X.
Embarkation for the East--The 2nd Battalion in Turkey and
Bulgaria--Disembarkation in the Crimea--Kindness of Sir George
Cathcart--Advance to Kentúgan and Kamishli--Popularity of the
Riflemen with the inhabitants--False alarms--Advance to the
Búlganak--Battle of the Alma--March to the Katchka and the
Belbek--Russian baggage captured at Mackenzie’s farm--Attack
on Balaklava--Both Battalions before Sebastopol--Wheatley
disposes of a live shell--Remarkable shot by a Rifleman--Attack
on Fyers’ picquet--Hugh Hannan’s single combat--Battle of
Balaklava--Markham’s picquet at the Magazine Grotto--Wing of 2nd
Battalion sent to the heights of Balaklava--Battle of Inkerman--
Exploit at the Ovens--General Canrobert’s ‘Ordre Général’--
Severe duty--Sufferings and sickness--Russian attempt to retake
the Ovens--Reconnaissance on Kamara--Increased suffering and
disease--Huts erected--Death of Sir Andrew Barnard--Second
reconnaissance on Kamara--A 3rd Battalion added--Attacks and
volunteers--Victoria Cross won by three Riflemen--New clothing--
Wing of the 2nd Battalion embark for Kertch, but return
countermanded--Queen Victoria distributes the Crimean Medal to
24 Riflemen (officers and men)--Capture of the Quarries--Attack
on the Redan--Death of Lord Raglan--Thirteen Riflemen shot down
coming off picquet--Captain Balfour’s affair in the trenches--
Final attack on Sebastopol--Captain Hammond--Explosion in French
lines--The armistice--Reviews by French and Russian Generals--
Embarkation for England--Corunna in 1809 and 1856--Both
Battalions at Aldershot--Reviewed by the Queen--Formation of
the 3rd Battalion--The 1st Battalion proceeds to Scotland--Fire
and riots--2nd Battalion reviewed by the Queen in Hyde Park,
when Her Majesty gave the Victoria Cross to eight Riflemen
(officers and others)--Afterwards proceeds to Dublin--A 4th
Battalion added to the Regiment 298
CHAPTER XI.
The Sepoy Mutiny--2nd and 3rd Battalions embark for India--
Woodford’s detachment arrives at Calcutta--March up the country
--Arrival of Fyers’ detachment--Woodford’s party reach Cawnpore
--Fight at the Pandoo Nuddee--Battle of November 27--Fyers’
march from Futtehpore to Cawnpore--Atherley’s company (3rd
Battalion) reach Cawnpore--Battle of November 28--Death of
Colonel Woodford--The Riflemen take two guns--Fight on
November 29--Woodford’s body recovered and buried--Arrival of
the 3rd Battalion at Calcutta--Marches up the country--Final
battle of Cawnpore--Attack on the Subhadar’s tank--Arrival of
the 2nd Battalion Head-quarters--Marches and expeditions--
Capture of the fort of Etawah--Operations on the Ramgunga--
Return to Cawnpore--Formation of the Oude field force--
Expedition to intercept the Nana--Return _re infectâ_--Escorts
--Advance towards Lucknow--The Riflemen join Outram’s force--
Operations on the left bank of the Goomtee--First engagement
there--Attack on a picquet of Riflemen--Capture of the Yellow
Bungalow--Escort of mortars--Reconnaissance in force--The iron
and stone bridges--Wilmot’s fight near the iron bridge--Deaths
of Captain Thynne and Lieutenant Cooper--Capture of Lucknow--
Expedition to Koorsie--Formation of the Camel Corps--Sickness
in the 3rd Battalion--Fight at Baree--Expeditions--Pursuit of
Beni Madhoo--March to Nuggur--Sufferings from the heat--Fight
at Nuggur--Night panic--Pursuit of rebels--Camp at Chinhut--
Night march to Nawabgunge--Sufferings of the Riflemen from
fatigue, dust, and thirst--Battle of Nawabgunge--Sir Hope
Grant’s opinion of the enemy--Shaw’s combat with a Ghazee--
Casualties from wounds and sunstroke--Sir Hope Grant’s
despatches 347
CHAPTER XII.
Return of the 3rd Battalion to Lucknow--Distressing march of the
2nd Battalion to Sultanpore--Cross the Gogra--A company of the
3rd Battalion proceed to Sundeelah--Green’s fight at Jamo--
Capture of Birwah--Death of Ensign Richards--Expedition to the
fort of Amethie--March to Shunkerpore--Escape of Beni Madhoo--
Expedition to Koilee--Fight near Hydergurh--Pursuit of rebels--
Riflemen mounted on gun-limbers--Trans-Gogra campaign--March to
Baraitch--Christmas dinner at Jeta--Skirmish near Churdah--
Capture of Mejidia--Night march to Bankee--Fight at the Raptee--
Renewed pursuit of Beni Madhoo--Capture of Oomria--March to
Gonda--Expedition into Nepaul--Fight at Sidka Ghât--Expeditions
near the Raptee--Fight at Akouna--Clearing the Jugdespore
jungles--Patrols near the fords of the Raptee--End of the Mutiny
--2nd Battalion return to Lucknow--Marches, services, and
casualties of the 2nd Battalion--Inspection by Lord Clyde--3rd
Battalion moves to Tulsipore to receive captured guns--Proceeds
to Agra 394
CHAPTER XIII.
The Camel Corps--Riding drill--Move to Cawnpore--Proceed to join
Sir Hugh Rose--Cross the Jumna--Battle of Goolowlee--Capture
of Calpee--Return to Cawnpore--Move to Allahabad and Benares--
Cross the Ganges--Expedition to Mohaneea--Standing camp at
Kurroundea--Expedition to Nassreegunge; to Bikrumgunge; to
Kochus--Fight at Sukreta--Various expeditions in pursuit of
rebels--March to Fyzabad--Ordered to Lucknow--Pursuit of Tantia
Topee--Capture of Tantia Topee--Camel Corps cross the Chumbul--
March to Saugor--Operations in the jungles--Fight at Mitharden--
Chase of rebels near Shahgurh--Move to Agra--Camel Corps broken
up--Colonel Ross’ testimony to their zeal and discipline 429
CHAPTER XIV.
Home service--1st Battalion inspected by Sir Harry Smith--His
speech--4th Battalion embarks for Malta--Death of Sir Harry
Smith--Marches in India--1st Battalion in Ireland--The Rifle
Brigade exempted from being required to carry a colour on
guards--The ‘Trent’ affair--Embarks for North America--Dangers
of the voyage--Death of the Prince Consort--The designation
‘The Prince Consort’s Own’ granted to the Regiment--Journey from
St. John’s New Brunswick to Rivière de Loup--Service abroad--Sir
George Brown Colonel-in-Chief--Expedition against the Mohmunds--
Battle of Shubkudder--Testimonies to the good conduct of the 1st
Battalion in Canada--4th Battalion proceeds to Canada--Death of
Sir George Brown--Bravery of two Riflemen--Fenian raid--Return
of the 2nd and 4th Battalions to England--The Prince of Wales
Colonel-in-Chief--Prince Arthur joins 1st Battalion as
Lieutenant--Two Battalions at Aldershot--Flying columns--Return
of the 1st Battalion to England--Autumn manœuvres--Return of the
3rd Battalion to England--Illness of H.R.H. the Colonel-in-Chief
--Autumn manœuvres, 1872--Thanksgiving for the recovery of the
Prince of Wales--2nd and 4th Battalions move to Ireland--Review
before the Shah--Ashantee Expedition--2nd Battalion embarks for
the Gold Coast--Autumn manœuvres of 1873--4th Battalion proceeds
to India--Entry of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh into London 451
CHAPTER XV.
Disembarkation at Cape Coast Castle--March to the Prah--Meeting
with a supposed rhinoceros--African fever--Death of Captain
Huyshe--Advance beyond the Prah--First contact with the
Ashantees--Battle of Amoaful--Defence of Quarman--Advance from
Amoaful--Fight near the Ordah--Crossing the river--Fight at
Ordahsu--Advance to Coomassie--Return towards the coast--
Aggemamu fortified--Arrival at Cape Coast and return to England
--Reception at Portsmouth and Winchester--Reviews--2nd
Battalion proceeds to Gibraltar--Death of Lieutenant-Colonel
Nixon--The Colonel-in-Chief in India--The Duke of Connaught
takes command of the 1st Battalion--Conclusion 482
APPENDIX I.
Succession of Colonels-in-Chief and Colonels-Commandant 513
APPENDIX II.
On the Armament of the Regiment 515
APPENDIX III.
Actions and Casualties of the Regiment 518
APPENDIX IV.
Rewards for Distinguished Service 523
INDEX 529
LIST OF PLATES.
UNIFORM OF THE RIFLE CORPS _Frontispiece_
PLAN OF THE COA _to face page_ 56
PLAN OF BUSACO ” 60
PLAN OF BARROSA ” 68
UNIFORM OF THE 95TH ” 71
PLAN OF SABUGAL ” 81
PLAN OF FUENTES D’ONOR ” 85
PLAN OF BADAJOS ” 105
PLAN OF VITTORIA ” 135
PLAN OF VERA ” 151
PLAN OF NIVELLE ” 155
PLAN OF NEW ORLEANS ” 187
PLAN OF WATERLOO, I. ” 202
PLAN OF WATERLOO, II. ” 206
UNIFORM OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE ” 217
PLAN OF BEREA ” 292
UNIFORM, 1856 ” 347
PLAN OF CAWNPORE[11] ” 350
PLAN OF LUCKNOW ” 374
UNIFORM, 1872 ” 474
PLAN OF AMOAFUL ” 488
⁂ I have not inserted plans of the Crimean actions, as accurate
and detailed plans of these battles are to be found in Mr.
Kinglake’s ‘Invasion of the Crimea,’ and in other works of the
period, which are generally accessible.
FOOTNOTE:
[11] The position of the troops on this plan is that of November 27,
1857; but the plan will explain the actions on the other days.
_Erratum._
Page 337, line 31: the name of the sergeant who distinguished himself
is James Harrywood.
THE RIFLE BRIGADE.
CHAPTER I.
Towards the close of the last century Colonel Coote Manningham
and Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable William Stewart addressed a
representation to the Government, pointing out the importance of
having a corps furnished with arms of precision, and the advantage
of training such a corps in the special duties of Riflemen. It would
have been interesting to preserve the text of this document; but I
regret that it does not now exist. Every search has been made in
the records of the War Department, by the kindness of Mr. Denham
Robinson, of the War Office, but, I regret to say, without success;
and it has been suggested that it may probably have been transferred
to the Small Arms Department, and may have perished with the records
of that office in the fire at the Tower of London in 1841.
However, in consequence of the suggestions it contained, the
following Circular was issued to the commanding officers of fourteen
regiments of infantry:--
CIRCULAR.
HORSE GUARDS: _January 17, 1800_.
_Addressed to Officers Commanding the 2nd Battalion Royals, the
21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th, 49th, 55th, 69th, 71st, 72nd, 79th,
85th, and 92nd Regiments._
Sir,--I have the honour to inform you that it is His Royal
Highness the Commander-in-Chief’s[12] intention to form a corps
of detachments from the different regiments of the line for the
purpose of its being instructed in the use of the rifle, and in
the system of exercise adopted by soldiers so armed. It is His
Royal Highness’s pleasure that you shall select from the regiment
under your command 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, and 30 private men
for this duty, all of them being such men as appear most capable
of receiving the above instructions, and most competent to the
performance of the duty of Riflemen. These non-commissioned
officers and privates are not to be considered as being drafted
from their regiments, but merely as detached for the purpose
above recited; they will continue to be borne on the strength
of their regiments, and will be clothed by their respective
colonels.
His Royal Highness desires you will recommend 1 captain, 1
lieutenant, and 1 ensign of the regiment under your command, who
volunteer to serve in this corps of Riflemen, in order that His
Royal Highness may select from the officers recommended from the
regiments which furnish their quota on this occasion a sufficient
number of officers for the Rifle Corps. These officers are to be
considered as detached on duty from their respective regiments,
and will share in all the promotion that occurs in them during
their absence.
Eight drummers will be required to act as bugle-horns, and I
request you will acquaint me, for the information of His Royal
Highness, whether you have any in the ---- Regiment qualified to
act as such, or of a capacity to be easily instructed.
I have, &c.
HARRY CALVERT.
A. G.
Thus we see that the Regiment was formed as a _corps d’élite_; and
as regards the officers there was a double selection, eight of each
rank of company officers being selected from the fourteen originally
recommended.
The detachments so selected assembled at Horsham, in Sussex, in March
1800, and their first parade as ‘An Experimental Corps of Riflemen’
took place there on April 1 in that year; Lieutenant-Colonel the
Honourable William Stewart being apparently in command.
The following is the Return of the state and strength of the Corps on
this its first formation:
+----------+-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
| |Lieut.-|Captains|Lieut-|Ensigns|Sergeants|Drummers|Rank and|
| |Colonel| |enants| | | | file |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
| 1st Foot| | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 21st ” | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 23rd ” | | | | | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 25th ” | | | 1 | | 2 | | 32 |
| 27th ” | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 29th ” | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 49th ” | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 55th ” | | | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 67th ” | 1 | | 1 | | | | |
| 69th ” | | 1 | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 71st ” | | 1 | | | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 72nd ” | | 1 | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 79th ” | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 85th ” | | | | | 1 | | 27 |
| 92nd ” | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| +-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
| Total | 1 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 27 | 12 | 443 |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
|Wanting to| | | | | | | |
| complete | | | | | 1 | 1 | 5 |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
|Establish-| | | | | | | |
| ment | 1 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 28 | 13 | 448 |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-------+---------+--------+--------+
The Corps being now formed marched to a camp of exercise at
Swinley in Windsor Forest in May, and proceeded actively with their
training as Riflemen. They are mentioned with great approbation
by Mr. W. H. Fremantle in a letter, dated July 15, 1800, to the
Marquis of Buckingham, as being ‘good, and much more useful’ than
some other regiments then in that camp.[13] The camp broke up at
the end of July, and at the request of Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart
three companies of the corps (Captains Travers’,[14] Hamilton’s,
and Gardner’s) were ordered to embark, under his command, with the
expedition against the north coast of Spain, under Lieutenant-General
Sir James Pulteney, Bart., and Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, K.B.
The expedition arrived before the harbour of Ferrol on August 25, and
immediately commenced its disembarkation. This was effected without
opposition in a small bay near Cape Prioriño; but on the troops
proceeding to occupy a ridge of hills adjoining the bay, the Rifle
Corps, which covered the advance, just as they gained the summit fell
in with a party of the enemy which they drove back. In this skirmish
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart was dangerously wounded through the body.
On the next morning, at daybreak, the position was attacked by a
considerable body of the enemy, who were repulsed with much loss, and
the English troops remained in complete possession of the heights.
But in this action Captains Travers and Hamilton, and Lieutenant
Edmonston, attached to the Rifle Corps, and eight rank and file were
wounded. Sir James Pulteney being, however, of opinion that Ferrol
could not be taken, or the ground he occupied be held, re-embarked
the troops.[15] It was subsequently stated in the House of Lords that
at the very moment he did so the proper officer was on his way with
the keys of the place, to surrender it. And Mr. Ford affirms that
‘had the expedition sailed boldly up to the Ferrol, the Gallicians
were only waiting to surrender, being, as usual, absolutely without
means of defence.’ He attributes the failure to the combined
indecision of the leaders.[16]
Of this, the first affair in which the Regiment was engaged, it may
be observed that it has the high honour of having shed its first
blood before its actual embodiment, and while it consisted only of
detachments experimentally assembled for instruction. It was the only
corps engaged on the day of disembarkation, and (with the exception
of one officer of the 52nd) the only officers wounded were attached
to it. August 25, the day on which it was first engaged, was the
date of the commissions of its first officers when it was formally
embodied.
The expedition then proceeded to Malta; and an order was issued by
the Commander-in-Chief for all officers and men of the Rifle Corps,
whose regiments formed part of the expedition, to rejoin them, and
for those whose regiments were not so employed to be attached to
corps serving with the expedition.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, Captain Travers, and Lieutenant Edmonston
returned to England.
The Rifle Corps was immediately re-formed, principally from
detachments of fencible regiments serving in Ireland, and I presume
also, on the return of the expedition, from the men originally
selected as Riflemen. These detachments began to assemble at
Blatchington in Sussex, near Lewes, about the end of August, and
continued to join during the autumn. The whole of the officers
who had been attached to the experimental corps were appointed to
it; their commissions being ante-dated, as I have observed, to
August 25, the anniversary of which has been since observed as the
foundation-day of the Regiment. A second lieutenant-colonel and two
majors were appointed, and some others were added to complete the
Corps to eight companies, with a captain and two subalterns to each.
The establishment was, therefore, on December 25, returned as follows:
Colonel 1
Lieut.-Colonels 2
Majors 2
Captains 8
First Lieutenants 8
Second Lieutenants 8
Paymaster 1
Adjutant 1
Quarter-Master 1
Surgeon 1
Assistant Surgeon 1
Staff-Sergeants 5
Sergeants 40
Buglers 18
Corporals 40
Privates 760
The officers on its formation were:
_Colonel._
COOTE MANNINGHAM.
_Lieutenant-Colonels._
THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM STEWART. ALEXANDER HOUSTON.
_Majors._
GEORGE CALLANDER. HAMLET WADE.
_Captains._
ROBERT TRAVERS. THOMAS SIDNEY BECKWITH.
CORNELIUS CUYLER. TIMOTHY HAMILTON.
THOMAS CHRISTOPHER GARDNER. ALEXANDER STEWART.
HENRY SHEPHERD.
_Captain-Lieutenant._
ALEXANDER D. CAMERON.
_First Lieutenants._
BLOIS LYNCH. JOHN ROSS.
J. A. GRANT. EDWARD BEDWELL LAW.
JOHN STUART. HENRY POWELL.
PETER O’HARE. WILLIAM COTTER.
THOMAS STIRLING EDMONSTON. JOHN CAMERON.
ROBERT DUNCAN. ---- DOUGLAS.
ALEXANDER CLARKE. L. H. BENNET.
NIEL CAMPBELL.
_Second Lieutenants._
HENRY GOODE. PATRICK TURNER.
JAMES MACDONALD. SAMUEL MITCHEL.
THOMAS BRERETON. GEORGE ELDER.
LOFTUS GRAY. JAMES PENDERGAST.
JOHN JENKINS. JOHN BURTON.
_Paymaster._
JAMES INNES.
_Adjutant._
J. A. GRANT.
_Quarter-Master._
DONALD MACKAY.
The Regiment, as it has existed since, and as it has won lasting
renown in so many fields, as ‘a Corps of Riflemen,’ ‘the Rifle
Corps,’[17] ‘the 95th,’ and ‘the Rifle Brigade,’ was then and thus
organised under Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart. For though Manningham was
the colonel, and justly shares the honour of its formation, he seems
seldom to have been present with it; for he was equerry to George
III., and often at Court.
William Stewart was the fourth son of John, seventh Earl of Galloway,
and at the early age of thirteen was appointed Ensign in the 42nd
Regiment; but subsequently served in the 22nd and 67th, and with
the former had seen service at the capture of the French West India
Islands in 1793. We have seen that it was owing to Manningham’s
and his suggestions that the Rifle Corps was formed; and after its
embodiment he also addressed a long letter to the Adjutant-General
on the discipline and internal economy of such a corps. His
recommendations (which were adopted) were: that it should first be
formed of volunteers from infantry battalions which best could spare
them, and by men from the undrafted part of the Irish militia; and
he added the (rather singular) opinion that Irishmen were preferable
for Riflemen, as ‘perhaps from being less spoiled and more hardy than
British soldiers, better calculated for light troops.’[18]
He now set himself vigorously to organise and discipline the Corps
thus formed at his suggestions. The standing orders of the Regiment,
which, though issued of course in Manningham’s name, were probably
principally compiled by Stewart, testify not only to his capability
for organising and disciplining it, but in a most remarkable way
to his pre-eminence above and beyond the military ideas of his
time. The germs, if not, indeed, the actual existence of most of
the late improvements for the training and advantage of the soldier
are found in these orders. The good-conduct medal; the medals for
acts of valour in the field; the attention given and the methods
adopted to secure accurate shooting, dividing men into classes
according to their practice at the target, and instituting a class
of Marksmen; the rules for a regimental school, and for periodical
examination of its scholars; the institution of a library; the
provision for lectures on military subjects, tactics and outpost
duties; the encouragement of athletic exercises; these and many other
plans, carried out in the British army only after the middle of the
nineteenth century, are inculcated in the original standing orders,
and were adopted in the Regiment from its formation.[19]
Sir Charles Napier, who was appointed to a lieutenancy in the Rifle
Corps, December 25, 1800, and joined it at Blatchington, in his
letters to his family, bears high testimony to Stewart’s ability in
organising the Corps; though he seems not to have liked him, and
eventually to have quarrelled with him. ‘Stewart makes it a rule
to strike at the heads. With him the field-officers must first be
steady, and then he goes downwards: hence the privates say: “We had
better look sharp if he is so strict with the officers.”’[20]
In 1801 Colonel Stewart was selected to command the troops (the 49th
Regiment and a company of the Rifle Corps) ordered to embark on board
the fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. And on February 28
Captain Beckwith’s[21] company, consisting of 1 captain, 2 first
lieutenants, 1 second lieutenant, 5 sergeants, 2 buglers, 1 armourer,
and 101 rank and file, embarked at Portsmouth on board H.M.S. ‘St.
George,’ bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson. On arrival
in Yarmouth Roads the right platoon of Captain Beckwith’s Riflemen
was shifted to the ‘London,’ Sir Hyde Parker’s flag-ship. But the
men of the Rifle Corps seem to have been distributed, on arrival in
the Baltic, among the ships of Nelson’s squadron, which on April 2
attacked and reduced the Danish fleet at Copenhagen.
In this action First Lieutenant and Adjutant Grant was killed
‘whilst gallantly fighting the quarter-deck guns of H.M.S. “Isis.”’
He was the first officer of the Regiment killed in action. He had
volunteered for this service. His head was taken off by a cannon-ball
as clean as if severed by a scimitar. Stewart recommended Second
Lieutenant Pendergast, who was in the expedition, for the vacancy,
and he was accordingly promoted on May 9. Two rank and file were also
killed; and 1 sergeant and 5 rank and file wounded, of whom some
subsequently died of their wounds.[22]
Lord Nelson, in his despatch, says: ‘The Honourable Colonel Stewart
did me the favour to be on board the “Elephant;” and himself, with
every officer and soldier under his orders, shared with pleasure the
toils and dangers of the day.’
It is said in the Record of the 1st Battalion that ‘an appropriate
medal was issued upon this occasion by Admiral Lord Nelson to the
non-commissioned officers and several soldiers.’ I have not been
able to find any trace of this medal, which does not seem to have
been given to the officers. For it appears from a correspondence
between Stewart (then Lieutenant-General Sir William Stewart), Earl
St. Vincent, and Lord Sidmouth in 1821-2, that Nelson had been
desirous of obtaining a medal for the captains of his squadron who
were engaged at Copenhagen, and had recommended Stewart for one; but
that Lords St. Vincent and Sidmouth opposed the issue of any such
medal, on the ground that it would be a very invidious distinction
from those captains who, being with Parker’s fleet, were not engaged.
Stewart advanced a request for this medal in 1821, on the plea that,
being a military man, his case was essentially different from that of
the captains. But though his application was then supported by Earl
St. Vincent, it was refused (in very flattering terms however) by
Lord Sidmouth.[23]
The Regiment marched to Weymouth in the early part of the summer, and
was encamped there. Their being near Windsor the year before, and now
at Weymouth, the summer residence of George III., was probably due
to Manningham’s being attached to the person of that sovereign. They
returned to Blatchington barracks in the autumn.
On June 25 the establishment of the Corps was again changed, and
companies were given to the field-officers, as was then the case in
line regiments. But this arrangement was of short duration, for on
March 27 following field-officers’ companies were abolished, and
effective captains were appointed in their place.
In the autumn of 1802 the Regiment marched to Chatham. On this march,
at Maidstone, some of the men broke open the plate-chest of the
officers’ mess. One of the offenders was discovered, and being tried
by court-martial, was sentenced to receive 800 lashes, the whole of
which were inflicted at one time.
The Regiment appears, even at this early period, to have been a
favourite one with volunteers from the line and militia; and Surtees
mentions four men in the ranks who had been commissioned officers;
one of whom, indeed, was drawing half-pay, and was eventually
recalled to full pay as lieutenant.
After a short stay at Chatham, the Regiment was moved for the winter
to Shorncliffe and forts in the vicinity.
On December 25, 1802, the Rifle Corps was ordered to be numbered as
the 95th Regiment, and thus assumed the name under which it was long
known, and which its services on the continent of Europe made famous.
In May 1803, the head-quarters, with five companies, returned
to their old quarters at Blatchington, and in November moved to
Colchester, and eventually to Warley and Woodbridge barracks; the
other five companies, under Colonel Beckwith, remaining during the
summer at Shorncliffe, where, on Colonel Stewart’s promotion to
Brigadier-General and command of a district, the head-quarters and
other five companies joined them. Here they formed part of that
camp of instruction under Sir John Moore, the marvellous results of
which have been so truly and eloquently described by Sir William
Napier;[24] and here they first met and were brigaded with their
compeers, the 43rd and 52nd, in united action with whom, as the Light
Division in the Peninsula, so many of their laurels were won.
During the time the Regiment was encamped at Shorncliffe, Colonel
Manningham, carrying out the intentions of his own standing orders,
delivered a course of lectures on the duties of Riflemen in active
service, which he published.[25]
On the breaking up of that camp, the Regiment moved into Hythe
barracks till April 1805, when it appears to have returned to
Shorncliffe.
On May 6, 1805, the 2nd Battalion was formed by the transfer of
21 sergeants, 20 corporals, 7 buglers, and 250 privates from the
original Corps (now the 1st Battalion); the remainder of the proposed
establishment being made up by volunteers from the militia; 1 major
(Gardner), 6 captains and 3 first lieutenants being promoted from
the 1st Battalion, which also supplied the adjutant. The command and
formation of the Battalion was conferred on Wade,[26] of the 1st
Battalion, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and
so vigorously did he proceed in its organisation, that in less than
three months it wanted only 7 sergeants, 6 buglers, and 98 privates
to complete its full strength. It was formed at Canterbury, but moved
to Brabourn Lees, near Ashford, in June, where it was brigaded with
the 1st Battalion.
It was while the two Battalions were stationed at Brabourn Lees
that a singular instance of self-control and magnanimity was shown
by Sidney Beckwith, then commanding the 1st Battalion. Some men,
volunteers from the Irish militia, meeting Mrs. Beckwith, with her
child and nurse, on the Ashford Road, most grossly insulted them,
proceeding to such lengths (Surtees says) as delicacy forbids to
mention. The culprits were discovered, but not punished; for Beckwith
next day on parade forming the Battalion into square, addressed them;
and, after relating the outrage, added: ‘Although I know who the
ruffians are, I will not proceed any further in the business because
it was my own wife whom they attacked; but had it been the wife of
the meanest soldier in the Regiment, I solemnly declare I would have
given the offenders every lash to which a Court-Martial might have
sentenced them.’ It is no wonder that by such acts of generosity, as
well as by his leading them in the field, this man ‘won the heart of
every soldier in the Battalion;’ as Surtees tells us, who served in
the ranks under him.
So rapidly and effectually had the 2nd Battalion been organised, that
it was in September of this year ordered on service; the right wing
being marched to Dover to embark for the Continent, and the left wing
to Winchester, to prepare to embark for the Mediterranean. However,
it was subsequently countermanded; the right wing, from Dover, being
marched to Hailsham in October, and the left from Winchester to
Eastbourne; and both in November assembled at Bexhill, where they
were quartered till March 1806.
In October 1805 the head-quarters and five companies of the 1st
Battalion, under Beckwith, marched to Deal, and embarked at Ramsgate
for Germany, in the expedition commanded by Lord Cathcart. After
a stormy passage, in which some part of the Battalion seems to
have been in great danger from the misconduct of the master of a
transport,[27] they reached the Elbe in November, and on the 18th
disembarked at Cuxhaven, and marched at once for Dorum, a village
twelve or fourteen miles distant, and proceeded by Osterholz and
Bremerlehe to Bremen, the Riflemen forming the advanced guard. On
their arrival before Bremen on the 24th, the barriers were shut, and
the commandant of the Prussian garrison refused to let the troops
enter; the Senate of Bremen also demurring to General Don’s request
for a passage through the place, on account of its neutrality.
However, Beckwith, who commanded the advanced corps, was not the
man to be daunted by such refusals. He accordingly informed the
Prussian commandant that unless his corps was admitted he should
force an entrance. This he did on the morning of the 26th, opening
the barriers by force, apparently without any armed resistance;
and the refusal of the Senate seems to have been prompted rather
by coyness than dislike, for the authorities of the town and the
inhabitants generally received the advanced guard with expressions
of friendship and satisfaction, the Prussian garrison alone looking
on these tokens of welcome with great dissatisfaction. The Riflemen
passed on, still in advance, to Delmenhorst, a Prussian regiment
accompanying them through the city and across the bridge over the
Weser, in order to guard their magazine of corn at Bremen for the
use of their army on the Weser. From Delmenhorst the Riflemen were
detached: three companies at Oldenburg, and two, under Major Robert
Travers, at Wildeshausen, on outpost duty. These last were soon moved
back to Delmenhorst, and shortly after reunited to the other three
companies at Oldenburg. Here they were welcomed and entertained by
the inhabitants, and by none more than by the reigning Grand-Duke
of Oldenburg, who became extremely fond of the Regiment, officers
and men. In consequence of the battle of Austerlitz in December, and
the powerful armies set free by that event, and by Mack’s surrender
of Ulm, to act against us in the North of Europe, the outposts were
withdrawn to Delmenhorst, and eventually into Bremen; and on their
march from Oldenburg the Duke sent forward plentiful refreshments for
the Riflemen, both officers and men.
They continued at Bremen till February 1806, when the army moved
towards a place of embarkation, Beckwith’s force covering the
retreat; but as great numbers of the Germans, who formed part of the
British army there, were deserting, the 95th were directed to remain
in the villages in order to intercept them. However, eventually
Beckwith’s Riflemen also retreated, and embarking at Cuxhaven,
arrived and landed at Yarmouth on the 19th; thence they marched, by
Lowestoft, to Woodbridge barracks, where they rejoined the remainder
of the Battalion. During this abortive expedition they had never, I
believe, been engaged with the enemy.
From Woodbridge the Battalion marched, in the spring of 1806, to
Deal, and afterwards to quarters at Ospringe and Faversham, where
they joined the 2nd Battalion, which had moved there from Bexhill.
On June 13 three companies of the 2nd Battalion (Captains
Macdonald’s, Elder’s, and Dickenson’s), under the command of Major
Gardner, marched from Faversham and embarked at Portsmouth, as
part of the force under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, destined for service
in South America. The transports in which the troops were embarked
were in such bad condition that they were obliged to put into Rio;
and it was not until January 16, 1807, that a landing was effected
at Maldonado, near the mouth of the river La Plata. This operation
was not accomplished without opposition, in which one bugler was
killed and Lieutenant Chawner wounded. The General moved forward
and occupied the suburbs of Monte Video, with a view to investing
the place. On the morning of the 20th the enemy made a sortie, and
attacked our troops with a force of 6,000 men. They advanced in two
columns, one of which pressed our picquet so hard, that Colonel Gore
Browne, of the 40th, who commanded the left of our line, ordered up
three companies of that regiment in support. These companies fell
in with the head of the enemy’s column and very bravely charged it.
The charge was as bravely received, and great numbers fell on both
sides. At length the column began to give way, when it was suddenly
and impetuously attacked in flank by the Riflemen and by a light
battalion which Auchmuty had ordered up. The column then gave way
on all sides, and was pursued with great slaughter to the town. The
other column, observing the fate of their companions, retired without
coming into action. In this sortie the Riflemen lost 5 men killed and
25 wounded.
A breach having been effected, Auchmuty resolved to assault the
place; and an hour before daybreak on the morning of February 3 the
attacking column moved forward. It was headed by the Riflemen under
Gardner; the storming party being led by Captain Dickenson at the
head of his own company. They got near the walls before they were
discovered, when a destructive fire was opened from every gun that
could bear on the column and from the musketry of the garrison. The
enemy had piled up hides in the breach; and unfortunately, in the
darkness, its situation was not immediately discovered, and the
troops remained under a heavy fire for a quarter of an hour. At
last the breach was discovered and pointed out by Captain Renny, of
the 40th (which formed part of the attacking column), who fell in
the assault. Our troops at once mounted it, led by Dickenson and
the Riflemen, and forced their way into the town; and though cannon
placed at the head of all the principal streets opened a destructive
fire, the place was taken and occupied.
In this gallant affair Dickenson fell gloriously at the head of
his company; 10 rank and file were killed, and Lieutenants Scanlan
and Macnamara, 4 sergeants, and 15 rank and file were wounded. The
Riflemen engaged were specially thanked in General Orders; and eleven
sergeants received silver medals under the sanction of the Duke of
York, Commander-in-Chief, for their gallantry on this occasion.
The three companies under Gardner remained in La Plata until they
were joined in May by a wing of the 1st Battalion.
This force, consisting of five companies (Norcott’s,[28]
O’Hare’s,[29] Jenkinson’s, Ramage’s, and Bennett’s), under the
command of Majors M’Leod and Travers, and numbering 25 sergeants
and 370 rank and file, marched from Faversham on July 23, 1806, and
embarked at Gravesend on the 26th on board the ‘Chapman,’ armed
transport. Their voyage was a slow one. They sailed on the 27th,
remained at anchor in the Downs from the 30th till August 4, arrived
on the 21st in Plymouth Sound, were disembarked on September 2, and
encamped on Buckland Down till the 13th, when they re-embarked,
Norcott’s and Bennett’s companies being placed on board the
‘Alexander’ transport. They did not sail, however, till October 6,
and then only to Falmouth; the other ship, with the head-quarters,
having preceded them on September 28.
On October 24, Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd (under whom the
Regiment served subsequently so long and so gloriously in other
fields) arrived at Falmouth and took command of the troops assembled
in that harbour for (as it was then called) ‘the remote expedition.’
It sailed on November 12, and arrived in Porto Praza Bay, in the
island of St. Jago (Cape Verde) on December 14. Here Craufurd, with
the zeal for discipline which always distinguished him, minutely
inspected the troops forming the expedition, on board the several
transports. The companies of the 95th were frequently landed for
exercise during their stay at this island. They sailed from St. Jago
on January 11, 1807, and anchored in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope,
on March 14, and in Table Bay on the 20th.
Here General Craufurd received instructions to proceed, not to the
coast of Chili, to which the expedition was originally destined, but
to the river La Plata to join the force under Sir Samuel Auchmuty.
The troops therefore sailed on April 6, and arrived at St. Helena
on the 21st; sailed again on the 26th, and anchored in the river
La Plata on the 27th. They were not, however, disembarked; and on
June 4 a most violent gale drove the ships out to sea, and they did
not reach Monte Video till the 14th. Every preparation having been
completed for the service on which it was about to be employed, the
expedition, comprising the troops under General Craufurd and those
already at Monte Video under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, sailed on June 17.
General Whitelocke had been appointed to command the whole force,
most unfortunately, as the event proved, and assumed his command at
Monte Video. On the 27th they arrived at Ensenada de Barragon, about
thirty miles to the eastward of Buenos Ayres, where they disembarked
on the morning of the 28th, at nine o’clock.[30] After some fatiguing
marches through a country much intersected by swamps and muddy
rivulets, the army reached Reduction, a village nine miles distant
from the bridge over the Rio Chuello, on the opposite bank of which
the enemy had constructed a formidable line of defence. The General
resolved to cross the river higher up and to turn this position. On
the evening of July 2, the light division of General Gower’s column
crossed at the ford of Passo Chico; the Chuello was about waist-deep,
and the Riflemen carried their pouches on their shoulders. They were
soon seriously engaged with the enemy. They charged rapidly, and
overthrew their opponents in a few minutes, with great loss, taking
twelve guns. In this affair Major Travers and the officers and men
of both Battalions serving with this force greatly distinguished
themselves. One sergeant and 1 private of the 1st Battalion were
killed, and 2 sergeants and 10 rank and file wounded; and 1 private
of the 2nd Battalion was killed, and Captain Elder and 10 rank and
file wounded.[31]
The left column, with the Commander of the Forces, united with that
under Major-General Gower in the suburbs of Buenos Ayres on the
afternoon of July 3, and the whole army was placed in position. Two
companies of the 1st Battalion, under Major Norcott, were immediately
detached to occupy an advanced post, and became warmly engaged until
dark; by which time they had completely dislodged a very superior
force of the enemy from every point in their front which they were
ordered to occupy.
On the morning of the 4th this picquet was furiously attacked by
several hundreds of the enemy, whose continued exertions to dislodge
it proved fruitless. Major M’Leod joined the post about the middle
of the day, and distinguished himself by his gallantry and judicious
arrangements. This affair lasted until dusk, and our loss amounted
to 2 officers (Lieutenants James Coane and Charles Noble) severely
wounded, 1 sergeant and 1 rank and file killed, and 2 sergeants and
2 rank and file wounded. The two companies were relieved at night by
a detachment of the 36th, and joined the army in its position.
Orders were received during the early part of the night for the
attack of the town at daylight on the 5th. The five companies of
the 1st Battalion formed a part of the column of attack under
Brigadier-General Craufurd and Lieutenant-Colonel Packe, leaving one
company as an advanced guard to each division, supported by a light
company. Major Travers commanded the advance of the right column and
Major Norcott that of the left.
The companies of the 2nd Battalion seem to have been attached to Sir
Samuel Auchmuty’s division, the light battalion of which was divided
into wings, each followed by a party of the 95th. These troops were
all unloaded, and were directed not to fire until the columns had
reached their final points and formed.
At the appointed signal the troops were in motion. The right column
proceeded down the line of street it was directed to take, until it
nearly reached the river; when, turning to the left, with the view
of making for the Franciscan Convent and taking possession of it, it
was assailed from the parapets and windows of every house along the
whole street in so vigorous a manner as to render it impossible to
penetrate further without the probable loss of every officer and man.
Orders were at this moment given to retire; and General Craufurd took
post in the great Convent of St. Domingo, occupying as many houses as
his means enabled him to break into, on the flat parapetted tops of
which the troops formed. Every possible effort was made to assail the
enemy from all parts of the Convent, but without success; for those
points which the men were enabled to reach were mostly commanded by
the neighbouring houses on one side, which the Riflemen had not been
able to force open, and from which fire they suffered dreadfully.
With the exception of the operations of the force under Sir Samuel
Auchmuty, and of the 45th Regiment, every point of attack failed.
The capture of the 88th Regiment, together with the Light Brigade
under Lieutenant-Colonels Packe and Cadogan, and the immense loss of
killed and wounded, furnished the enemy with such powerful means of
attack that at three o’clock he had dislodged our force from every
house they occupied, and confined our operations entirely to one or
two points of the Convent. The loss of officers and men at this
time increased most considerably. Every effort was made to preserve
the posts; but, finding his troops deprived of all means of succour,
or prospect of success in holding out, having ascertained the fate
of the neighbouring columns, and further resistance proving quite
useless, the Brigadier surrendered with his column at four o’clock
in the afternoon, and the officers and men were immediately marched
as prisoners to the citadel and other buildings. Major M’Leod, of
the 95th, however, on Craufurd consulting the field-officers in
the Convent, was the only one who demurred to the necessity of
surrendering. But when Craufurd offered, if M’Leod was decidedly of
opinion that they could force their way out, to head the column with
him, he declined the responsibility.[32]
The left column moved as directed until it came in view of the river;
it had scarcely approached the Franciscan Convent when, by an almost
invisible fire, it lost nearly half its officers and men. Finding it
impossible to penetrate to the objects of attack, Lieutenant-Colonel
Packe acceded to Lieutenant-Colonel Cadogan’s taking possession of
some houses. This was effected, and they were afterwards defended
to the last extremity by that officer and Major Travers; but they
were at length compelled to surrender, having suffered most severely
in killed and wounded, and all chance of further resistance being
deemed useless on account of the capture of the column on their left.
Nothing could exceed the persevering gallantry and conduct of every
officer and man of the Regiment engaged on this unfortunate day.[33]
The loss of the five companies of the 1st Battalion was Captain
Jenkinson, 2 sergeants, 2 buglers, and 36 rank and file, killed;
Captain O’Hare, Lieutenants Cadoux, Macleod, and Turner,[34] wounded
severely; Majors Travers and M’Leod, and Lieutenant M’Cullock,
wounded slightly; and 8 sergeants, 2 buglers, and 73 rank and file
wounded; and 2 sergeants, 2 buglers, and 39 rank and file missing.
Of the three companies of the 2nd Battalion the loss was 3 sergeants,
1 bugler, and 46 rank and file killed; and Lieutenants Hill[35] and
Scott, 6 sergeants, and 40 rank and file wounded.
In consequence of the treaty which had been concluded on the 7th, the
prisoners were released on the morning of the 8th July, and joined
the different posts occupied by the army.
Every arrangement having been completed for the evacuation of the
country on the south side of the river La Plata, the army was
embarked by the 12th, sailed on the 13th, and anchored at Monte Video
on the 15th.
On August 8 the five companies of the 1st Battalion sailed for
England, and arrived at Falmouth on November 9. They proceeded to
Dover by sea about the end of January, 1808, whence they marched to
Shorncliffe barracks, and soon after to Colchester to join the other
five companies of the Battalion, to which station they had moved
after their return from Germany.[36]
The three companies of the 2nd Battalion embarked also, under Major
Gardner, on July 12th. They landed at Portsmouth on December 2, and
joined the Battalion at Hythe on the 18th.
But we must return to the companies of both Battalions which remained
in England. In July, 1807, five companies of the 1st Battalion,
under Colonel Beckwith, and five companies of the 2nd Battalion,
under Colonel Wade, embarked at Deal with the expedition to Denmark
under Lord Cathcart. They arrived in the Sound on August 18, and
disembarked at Veldbeck, about ten or twelve miles from Copenhagen,
on the 16th. Immediately on landing, the Riflemen of both Battalions
were sent on in advance towards Copenhagen. And here first they
served under the immediate command of the great chief, who commanded
the advance; under whose eye they were so often to fight; whose
praise they were so often to receive: their future Colonel, then
Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley.
To this march no opposition was offered by the enemy; a small patrol
of cavalry appeared in their front, but retired on the approach of
the Riflemen. They halted for the night at Lingbye, rested on their
arms all night, and early next morning again advanced, and about
mid-day took up a position within a long gunshot of Copenhagen, and
invested the place.
About three o’clock on that day (August 17) a considerable body of
the enemy advanced from the town and attacked the picquets on the
left of the line towards the seashore. This small force, consisting
of four companies of the 2nd Battalion and six of two line regiments,
in all not more than 1,000 men with two light field-pieces, were
opposed to about 3,000 of the enemy. But almost as soon as they came
in contact the Danes gave way and retired into the town, leaving a
good many dead and wounded. The detachment of the 2nd Battalion lost
1 man killed, and 2 men were wounded.
On the 19th the 2nd Battalion was moved further to the right, and
nearer to the town; and from this day till the 24th a constant fire
was kept up between the advanced posts and the place; by which,
however, no loss seems to have been inflicted on the Riflemen.
On the 24th they were under arms at two o’clock in the morning,
and immediately advanced, driving in the Danish outposts; in this
operation they encountered considerable opposition, and had some
skirmishing among the gardens and suburbs. During the 25th a constant
fire both of artillery and small arms was kept up from the place,
by which a battalion of the German Legion suffered rather severely.
They were relieved on outpost duty a little before dark by the
2nd Battalion, who did not lose a man at this post. On the 26th a
division was formed, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, to which the two
Battalions of the 95th were attached; and they were ordered to
proceed into the interior to disperse a large body of militia and
armed peasantry. They marched about three P.M., and made their way
through the country on the left of the great road to Roeskild. They
halted that night at Cagstrup; and next morning continued to advance
towards Kioge, halting in the evening at a village near Roeskild.
The troops were now, or just previously, formed into two brigades,
the five companies of the 1st Battalion being attached to that under
the immediate command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, and those of the 2nd
Battalion to General Baron Linsingen’s brigade.
On the 29th Sir Arthur Wellesley attacked the Danish army, which was
established in position on the north side of the town and rivulet
of Kioge. He sent round Baron Linsingen’s brigade to cross the
rivulet at Salbye and fall upon the enemy’s left flank, while Sir
Arthur himself advanced on his front, covered by the 1st Battalion
skirmishers. The enemy gave way at once before an attack by the
92nd, and retreated in disorder, ‘followed in the most gallant style
by the 1st Battalion of the 95th,’[37] and eventually by the whole
infantry. Major-General Oxholm, the second in command of the Danish
army, attempted to make a stand with the rear-guard in the village
of Hervolge, but was briskly attacked by some German hussars and a
company of the 2nd Battalion; and though he took up a strong position
in the churchyard, which was considerably higher than any other
part of the village, he was, after a short resistance, compelled
to surrender with several officers and about 400 men. In this
action at Kioge the loss suffered by the 95th appears to have been
inconsiderable; no mention of casualties appears in the 2nd Battalion
Record; Sir Arthur Wellesley says that ‘a few men of the 95th
fell.’[38] They must have belonged to the 1st Battalion. The conduct
and steadiness of the 1st Battalion of the 95th, under Colonel
Beckwith, are ‘mentioned particularly’ in Sir Arthur Wellesley’s
despatch.[39]
The two Battalions were engaged all the remainder of the 29th and
during the 30th in scouring the woods near Kioge, in order to
complete the dispersion of the Danish force and to prevent its
reassembling. They reached Ringstæd on the 31st; and as the regular
portion of the troops of the enemy had retired into one of the
islands, and the militia had entirely disbanded itself, they halted
here till after the surrender of Copenhagen on September 7. But
during this halt detachments were occasionally sent out to search for
and disperse any lurking parties of the enemy, and to bring in arms
or stores. One of these detachments, consisting of 100 men of the 2nd
Battalion, mounted in light German waggons, scoured a considerable
tract of country, and took possession of ten guns of small calibre,
forty rifles, and a number of muskets.
The terms of the capitulation of Copenhagen extended only to the
British and Danish forces in the Island of Zealand, and the troops
were, therefore, still liable to attack from any Danish force which
might be reassembled on the mainland or in the other islands. Strong
outposts were therefore established in the towns and villages along
the Belt, and the two Rifle Battalions were employed on this service;
the 1st Battalion occupying Callundborg, Slagelse, Corsoer, and
Skielskior; and the 2nd Battalion, Nestved, Lundbye, Wordingborg, and
Præstoe. They remained in their cantonments till October 15, when
they retired towards Copenhagen, which they reached on the 17th.
The two Battalions embarked on board the ‘Princess Caroline,’ 74,
a Danish prize, sailed on the 21st, arrived in Yarmouth Roads in
November, and (after a stormy passage) at Dover on the 15th, landed
next day at Deal, and joined their Battalions at Hythe.[40]
On April 8, 1808, three companies of the 1st Battalion (Major
Norcott’s, Captains Ross’[41] and O’Hare’s), under the command of
Major Gilmour, marched to Harwich, embarked the next day, sailed
the following day, and joined the troops assembled in Yarmouth
Roads destined for the Baltic, under Sir John Moore, to co-operate
with Sweden. They arrived at Gottenburg on May 17, but owing to
misunderstandings with the King of Sweden they never landed; and
having remained on board their transports nearly ten weeks, they
sailed at the latter end of July, and eventually landed in Portugal,
at Peniche, at the end of August, and formed a junction with the
force under Sir Arthur Wellesley.
But previously to their arrival there, two companies from those of
the Battalion remaining in England (Captains Cameron’s[42] and
Ramage’s), under Colonel Beckwith, embarked at Harwich early in July.
The strength of this detachment was about 180 men;[43] these landed
on August 19, a few days before Major Gilmour’s force, which was
immediately united to it.
About the same time four companies of the 2nd Battalion, under the
command of Major Robert Travers, had embarked at Dover on June
8, and formed part of the force destined for Portugal under Sir
Arthur Wellesley. The transports assembled in Cork harbour early
in July. The strength of the detachment of the 2nd Battalion was 1
field-officer, 4 captains, 13 subalterns, 1 staff, 20 sergeants, 8
buglers, and 399 rank and file.[44] These disembarked at Figueira, in
Mondego Bay, on August 1, 1808.
These four 2nd Battalion companies were attached to General Fane’s
brigade; and, immediately after disembarkation, pushed on, keeping
their right towards the sea, several miles over an unbroken plain of
white sand. The men, who had been many weeks on board ship, were much
fatigued by this their first day’s march, as the weather was hot, and
the sand so loose that they sank ankle-deep every step. They encamped
at night near the village of Lavaos, to which the rest of the army
moved up as soon as they disembarked. On August 9, these companies,
forming part of the advance, marched from Lavaos about three o’clock
in the morning. Their destination was Leiria, and their orders were,
if the enemy were in strength at Leiria not to drive him out till the
10th, but to halt in the pine-woods which cover the country between
Lavaos and Leiria. And General Hill was ordered to let 200 Riflemen
and a few dragoons feel their way into Leiria, and if they obtained
possession to support them with his whole corps.[45] However, the
French had evacuated Leiria before the Riflemen entered it, and it
bore terrible marks of their cruelty and excesses.
The army marched hence towards Lisbon, the Riflemen still forming
the advance, and daily expecting to fall in with the enemy, who
were gradually retiring before them. The first meeting took place
at Obidos on the evening of August 15, where, after a long march,
a party of French cavalry and infantry were found. These were
immediately attacked by the Riflemen under Major Travers, together
with some of the 60th, and forced to retire. In the eagerness of
this first encounter the pursuit was continued too far, and the
Riflemen pushed on to a distance of three miles from Obidos, and
quite away from any support. They were then attacked by a superior
body of the enemy, who attempted to cut them off from the main body
of the detachment to which they belonged, which now advanced to their
support. Larger bodies of the enemy appeared on both flanks, and it
was with some difficulty that General Spencer, who had gone out to
Obidos, when he heard that the Riflemen had advanced, was able to
extricate them.[46] In this sharp skirmish Lieutenant Bunbury and 2
men were killed, and Captain Pakenham[47] and 6 men wounded. Ralph
Bunbury was the first English officer who fell in the Peninsula.
Harris says that he was ‘the first man that was hit;’ and he was
much regretted by his brother officers. It is painful to add that
this first blood was spilt, in Sir Arthur Wellesley’s opinion,
unnecessarily. ‘The affair,’ he writes to Lord Castlereagh, ‘was
unpleasant, because it was quite useless; and was occasioned solely
by the imprudence of the officer and the dash and eagerness of the
men; they behaved remarkably well, and did some execution with their
rifles.’[48] And to the Duke of Richmond he says, ‘that it was
foolishly brought on by the over-eagerness of the Riflemen in the
pursuit of an enemy’s picquet; the troops behaved remarkably well,
but not with great prudence.’[49]
They held possession that night of an extensive knoll near the road
by which the enemy had retired, and were under arms till morning,
when they occupied the village of Obidos till the morning of the 17th.
Early on that day they advanced towards Roleia,[50] where, after
a march of two or three hours, they found the enemy, under General
Laborde, posted in a strong position on high ground, having Roleia
and several passes into the mountains in his rear. The four companies
formed part of General Fane’s brigade, which attacked the enemy’s
position in front; but some were detached to cover the advance of
General Ferguson’s brigade, which operated on the right of Laborde’s
posts at Roleia. As soon as the army moved, the Riflemen of Fane’s
brigade were sent into the hills on the left of the valley, in order
to keep up the communication between the centre and the left columns,
and to cover the advance of the former; and the enemy’s outposts
were rapidly driven in. He was pressed by the attacking force in his
front; Hill’s division advanced against his left, and the Riflemen
were in the hills on his right. From this position he extricated
himself by a rapid retreat by the passes into the mountains, where
he took up a formidable position. The Riflemen were already on his
right, and no time was lost in supporting them and attacking the
different passes. These were all difficult of access, and it is well
known that they were forced with great courage and impetuosity,
especially by the 9th and 29th Regiments. Here, however, I have only
to do with the part borne by the 95th; and their conduct during the
day elicited the approval of Sir Arthur Wellesley. They were almost
all young soldiers, and few of them had ever been under fire; yet,
engaged with the French light troops during an intensely hot day,
they succeeded in driving them before them from pass to pass, and
mountain to mountain, in spite of a destructive fire from thick heath
and brushwood, which hid their opponents from them. During this fight
the Riflemen were fearfully galled by the fire from two houses which
the French light troops occupied, and some high ground in front of
the buildings gave them a further advantage. At last the Riflemen
could stand it no longer; and one of them, jumping up and rushing
forward, exclaimed, ‘Over, boys! over, over!’ In a moment every
one of them was dashing forward, repeating the cry, ‘Over, over!’
and fixing their sword-bayonets as they ran up the rising ground.
The voltigeurs could not stand this, but turned and fled; and the
Riflemen soon entered and cleared out the houses. Their loss was 17
rank and file killed, and Captain Creagh and Lieutenants Hill and
Cochrane, and 30 rank and file wounded. It was during this action
that an incident occurred, which I give in Leach’s own words, who
records it[51]:
‘Having driven the enemy from one of the highest mountains, and
in the act of collecting our men on its summit to renew the
attack on a second position to which they had retired, one of
my brother officers, whilst holding his canteen to my mouth to
give me some wine, well mulled by the sun, received a musket-shot
through his hand and through the canteen, which latter it split,
splashed my face thoroughly with wine, spoiled my draught, gave
me a sharp blow, which cut my mouth, and spun me round like a
top. For a few moments I concluded that I was wounded; but the
mystery was soon explained by my seeing my friend on the ground
bleeding profusely, and the broken canteen at his side. I sent a
soldier with him to the rear; and notwithstanding that his wound
was for a length of time afterwards painful and troublesome,
we had the pleasure to see him rejoin us in a few weeks. A
more gallant soldier, sincere friend, or a more independent,
straightforward, manly fellow than Cochrane, never wore His
Majesty’s uniform. In proof of the high estimation in which
he was held by his Corps, suffice it to say, that his brother
officers erected a monument to his memory in Ireland,[52] where
he died a few years after the termination of the war in the
Peninsula and Waterloo, in both of which he was actively engaged.’
On the 20th the two companies of the 1st Battalion which had embarked
at Harwich, and had landed at Maceira on the day before, joined the
army, which was then in position near Vimiera.
On the night of the 20th, a detachment of the 2nd Battalion, with
some of the 60th, in all about 200 men, were on picquet in a large
pine wood, on the road from Lourinha to Torres Vedras. About eight
in the morning of the 21st, a cloud of light troops, followed by a
strong column of the enemy, entering the wood, vigorously attacked
this picquet and drove it in on the 97th, which was in support. As
soon as the Riflemen had cleared the front of this regiment, passing
by its right flank to the rear, the 97th poured a steady fire on
the advancing column and held it in check, while the 52nd took it
in flank and drove it back in confusion.[53] This picquet, on being
driven in, rejoined the other 2nd Battalion companies. With this
attack began the Battle of Vimiera. The Riflemen were soon assailed
by a swarm of light troops, who covered the advance of large masses
of infantry. These pressed on up the hill on which the Riflemen were
posted, in spite of a deadly fire which they poured upon them; until,
the Riflemen running in, the 50th received them with a destructive
volley and a furious charge, which sent them, broken, down the hill
in confusion, with the loss of seven guns and many prisoners. In
this fight, three brothers of the name of Hart, privates in the 2nd
Battalion, pressed on the French with such daring intrepidity, that
Lieutenant Molloy, who himself was never far from his opponent in
action, was obliged repeatedly to rebuke them: ‘D--n you!’ he cried,
‘keep back and get under cover. Do you think you are fighting with
your fists, that you run into the teeth of the French!’
In the meanwhile the enemy were attacked in flank on our left by
General Acland’s brigade, to which the two 1st Battalion companies
were attached.
In his despatch of this victory and in General Orders Sir Arthur
Wellesley particularly notices the valour and discipline of the 2nd
Battalion of the 95th under Major Travers.[54]
In this battle the 2nd Battalion suffered severely; 3 sergeants
and 34 rank and file having been killed; and Lieutenants Manners,
Hill, James Johnson, William Cox, 3 sergeants, and 40 rank and file
wounded. As they had left England about 400 strong, and had suffered
at Obidos and Roleia, about one-fourth of their effective strength
was put _hors-de-combat_ at Vimiera.
No record exists of the casualties, if any, of the 1st Battalion
companies on this day.
The two 1st Battalion companies, which had landed with General
Acland’s brigade, were immediately after the action transferred to
General Fane’s brigade, where they joined the four 2nd Battalion
companies.
As I am the historian not of the War but of the Regiment, I need only
add that, owing to the evacuation of Portugal by Junot’s army, and
the Convention of Cintra, the portion of the Corps in the Peninsula
was not actively employed for some months.
But at the end of August, the three companies of the 1st Battalion,
which had been to Sweden with Sir John Moore, and had been
disembarked in the Mondego on the 28th, joined their comrades in camp
at Torres Vedras. There were now, therefore, five companies of the
1st and four of the 2nd on active service.
Early in September the five 1st Battalion companies moved across the
Tagus to Villa Viciosa, where they were quartered; and the four 2nd
Battalion companies soon after drew towards Lisbon, and encamped
near it. The French army had not yet embarked, and the best feeling
existed between our men and their late opponents; Riflemen and French
soldiers walking about the streets of Lisbon and drinking together in
the wine-shops.
Sir John Moore soon after assumed the command of the army; and moved
from before Lisbon at the end of October. The Riflemen, marching
with the central division, under Moore himself, on the 27th, by way
of Abrantes, crossed the frontier into Spain on November 12, and
proceeded by Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca, where they arrived about
the 13th.
Meanwhile, five companies of the 1st Battalion still at home,
embarked, under Major Norman M’Leod, to join the other companies
already in Portugal; and four of the remaining companies of the 2nd
Battalion embarked at Harwich, under Colonel Wade. After a short
detention at Falmouth, they sailed for Spain, and disembarked at
Corunna on October 26.[55] They were attached to the force under
the command of Sir David Baird, and the Riflemen of both Battalions
formed the advanced guard. A day or two after landing they marched
to Betanzos, and thence through Lugo, Villa Franca, and Cacabelos,
to Astorga, which they reached on November 26. Already on this
march they experienced great privations, owing to the defective
arrangements of the Commissariat; and it was not until they reached
Celada, a village a few miles in advance of Astorga, where they
halted for some days, that they were sufficiently supplied with
provisions. They were then sent forward to La Bañeza; but after a
few days’ halt they were, on account of a report that the enemy were
in force in their front, recalled to Celada. Hence, on account of
the utter rout of the Spanish armies, under Palafox and Castaños, at
Tudela, Moore ordered Baird’s force to retire again to Corunna; and
they retreated, the Riflemen now forming the rear-guard and halting
at Cacabelos, while the army moved on to Villa Franca. But after a
few days, Baird’s force was again ordered forward; and the Riflemen,
now again forming the advanced guard, moved up through Astorga and
La Bañeza to Benevente, which they reached on December 15. They
marched again on the 17th, through Valderas, Mayorga, and Sahagun,
and reached the Convent of Trianon, about a league from the latter
place, on the 20th.
The companies of Riflemen were here reunited with those already
in the Peninsula; the five companies under Major M’Leod joining
the five head-quarter companies of the 1st Battalion under Colonel
Beckwith; and the four companies of the 2nd Battalion, under Major
Travers, which had served at Roleia and Vimiera, uniting themselves
to the head-quarter companies under Colonel Wade, which had come
out with Sir David Baird. When these men met, a few miles from the
Trianon Convent, the new comers gave a loud cheer to the ‘heroes of
Portugal,’ as they called their comrades who had fought at Roleia
and Vimiera; which was heartily returned.[56] The worn and sunburnt
appearance of the one set of Riflemen contrasted strangely with the
trim and neat look of the other. They were soon all to be alike in
the tokens of toil, want and suffering. A new distribution of the
army taking place, consequent on the junction of Moore’s and Baird’s
forces, the 1st Battalion were attached to the reserve, under Sir
Edward Paget; and the 2nd Battalion, with a battalion of the 43rd
and one of the 52nd, formed a brigade under Brigadier-General Robert
Craufurd.
I will first trace the services of this Battalion till their
separation from Moore’s army. On the evening of December 23 the
Battalion was called to arms, with a view it was believed of
attacking Soult in his position on the Carrion. In a cold and bitter
night they moved forward; but had not marched far when they were
countermanded, and returned to the quarters at Trianon. Surtees
records an instance of Craufurd’s severe and impartial discipline
during this night march. An officer of the Battalion, who was unwell,
in passing a brook, of which there were many on the road, left his
section and went round it. Craufurd, who happened to be by, recalled
him, and made him walk through and through it several times.[57] The
retreat commenced on the 25th, in terrible weather and over ground
covered with snow. On that night they fell back to Mayorga; and the
next day, though they started early, the state of the ground they
had to get over was such that they did not reach the village of San
Miguel till midnight. The day following they marched to Castro Pipa,
near Castro Gonzalo. Here there was a bridge, the passage of which
Craufurd was to guard until the army, the stragglers and the baggage
had passed over, and then to destroy it. During this operation, while
half the brigade worked at its destruction, the other half held
the enemy at bay; for his cavalry hovered all round and frequently
attacked them, and the Riflemen had some smart skirmishing. At last,
at midnight on the 28th, the brigade passed over in single file by
planks laid over the broken arches, and fell back to Benevente.[58]
On the next morning the 2nd Battalion left Benevente, and after a
toilsome march of thirty miles, reached La Bañeza late at night; and
on the following day moved on to their old quarter, Celada. On the
31st they marched into Astorga, and halted for an hour or two there
while the magazine was destroyed; observing the road from Astorga to
Leon, by which it was thought the enemy were advancing. However, they
did not appear; and the Battalion moved on another wearisome march
of twenty miles to Foncevadon. Here Craufurd’s brigade, which had
hitherto formed the rear-guard, was detached, and proceeded by Orense
to Vigo, in order to seize the passage of the Minho should Moore’s
army find it necessary to retreat by that route. On January 1, 1809,
therefore, the Battalion marched by most difficult mountain roads to
Ponferrada. Here the men suffered great privation, the Alcalde having
given all the bread to his countrymen of Romana’s army, which was
marching with ours, and thus left our people without provisions after
their wearisome march.
On the next day they marched over rugged snow-clad mountains; and
while they were toiling over them another instance of Craufurd’s iron
discipline occurred. The word being passed to open out to allow the
General to pass, a hungry Rifleman called out that ‘he had more need
to give them bread.’ This, unhappily, reached the General’s ears,
who at once halted the brigade, ordered the offender to be tried by
drum-head Court-Martial, and flogged on the spot: a terrible, perhaps
a necessary, check to murmuring under such privations. So, labouring
in hunger and fatigue, the Battalion toiled on to San Domingo-Flores,
which they reached at ten o’clock at night, and after a scanty ration
of black bread, lay down, wet and weary, till dawn, when another long
and difficult march brought them at night to La Rua. These terrible
marches caused many stragglers; many perished on the inhospitable
hills; many fell into the hands of the yet more cruel enemy; and
some, with the help of some refreshment from the sparse and poor
population, dragged on wearily and rejoined the Battalion at Orense
or Vigo.
In such want and sufferings the Battalion reached Orense on January
7, having pushed on a detachment by forced marches to secure the
bridge over the Minho there. A halt on the 8th enabled the men to
wash their linen and take off their clothing and accoutrements; a
relief they had not had for many days; and a supply of provisions
much refreshed the starving soldiers.
On the 9th they resumed their retreat, marching that day to
Rivadavia, through roads inundated by the overflowing of the Minho
and Avia, swollen by the incessant rains and melting snow. Three more
such toilsome marches brought them to Vigo. And when they crowned
the hills at some distance from the town, and, looking down on the
bay and _ria_ of Vigo, saw the ships which were there waiting to
convey them home, the hearts of the weary, foot-sore Riflemen bounded
for joy, and the rest of the day’s march was performed with a long
unwonted cheerfulness. They immediately embarked; and after waiting
in the bay a few days to give a chance to stragglers to come in,
sailed on the 21st, and landed on February 1 at Portsmouth, whence
they marched to their old quarters at Hythe barracks.
Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion continued with the force under Sir John
Moore; and being in the reserve, under Sir Edward Paget, which formed
the rear-guard, besides the almost unparalleled sufferings from
hunger, fatigue and exposure to unusually inclement winter weather,
were daily engaged with the enemy.
On December 28 the reserve passed the Esla at Castro Gonzalo and fell
back on Benevente, and the bridge (as we have seen) was destroyed.
During the whole day and night there was sharp skirmishing between
the picquets of the Battalion and the enemy, who came up with the
rear-guard for the first time on this day.
On the next day the outposts were withdrawn, and the infantry
marched; but the cavalry was left in Benevente, with outposts on the
bank of the river.
On January 3 the enemy again came up. The Battalion, forming the
rear-guard of the reserve, was formed in front of the village of
Cacabelos. This place, scarcely more than a hamlet, is situated on
the declivity of a high hill, sloping down to a deep stream, a
branch or tributary of the Sil, which is crossed by a bridge at the
foot of the village street. Two companies (Captains Norcott’s and
O’Hare’s) and a small party of the 15th Hussars were detached to
cover the retreat of the Battalion. These troops were soon warmly
engaged with a very large body of cavalry, advanced by the enemy as
a reconnoitring party; but, as this was soon after joined by a still
more formidable force, they were directed to retire and follow the
Battalion through the village, and to take post on the other side of
the river and bridge, situated at the extremity of the street.
During the execution of this movement the enemy’s cavalry pressed
forward so rapidly and in such large masses that they compelled the
15th Hussars, who were in rear of the two companies, to retreat at
full gallop. And Sir John Moore and his Staff also dashed past. The
Riflemen, having opened to let them pass, immediately faced about,
and forming across the whole breadth of the street of the village
which they had now entered, poured on the enemy’s cavalry such a
rapid and well-aimed fire that many saddles were emptied and the
pursuit instantly checked. But it was still necessary to go through
the village to pass the bridge, and to gain the opposite bank of the
river; and this was at length effected, not without great exertion
and fatigue, and the loss of about 40 men, killed, wounded, or
prisoners.
The Reserve formed in position on a range of heights about five
hundred yards from the river, the 95th being advanced as a support to
their rear-guard, and in that position awaited the enemy’s attack. He
was not long in fording the river to our right and left with a large
body of cavalry and about a thousand Voltigeurs, which latter had not
until then come up with the retreating army. They had been passed
over the river on the horses of the cavalry.
The attack by this infantry began at about four o’clock in the now
rapidly approaching evening, on the flanks of the Rifle picquets and
on the Battalion of Riflemen formed for their support; and the enemy
moved at the same time a large force of cavalry over the bridge on
the high road to Villa Franca. After some severe skirmishing both
with the picquets and the Battalion, these were obliged to fall back
and occupy a more defensible position; and five companies extended
behind the banks, and in the vineyards on each side of the road,
on which the British cavalry and some guns were posted. Scarcely
had this movement been effected when a warm attack was made by the
Voltigeurs and cavalry against the Riflemen, the dragoons, and the
guns. After an hour’s hard fighting it was found impossible to
withstand the superior force of the enemy, and the advanced wing of
the Battalion was withdrawn, and joined the other five companies,
with the view of following the main body of the Reserve, which had
just before been ordered to retire.
It was now nearly dark; and General Colbert, who commanded the
enemy’s cavalry, conceiving probably that the Riflemen had retired,
and that the English cavalry and guns were unprotected, made a most
rapid and furious charge upon them with a mass of cavalry. The
Riflemen again instantly threw themselves into the vineyards, and
from the banks lining the road poured so hot and well-aimed a fire
that the attacking cavalry were instantly checked. It was at this
moment that Thomas Plunket, a private of the Battalion, noted for his
excellent shooting, crept out with some expression that he ‘would
bring that fellow down,’ and throwing himself on his back on the
snow-covered ground he caught the sling of his rifle over his foot,
fired with deliberate aim, and shot General Colbert dead. His orderly
trumpeter rode up to assist him, but Tom Plunket had reloaded, and
he also fell before his unerring rifle.[59] He had just time to jump
up, and, amidst the cheers of his comrades, by running in upon one
of the rear sections, to escape the sabres of a dozen troopers who
spurred after him in pursuit.
By the fire of the Riflemen the enemy’s cavalry suffered severely.
Besides their General, some two hundred horsemen were killed,
wounded, or prisoners.
Night had now fallen, and no further attack was attempted: the
Riflemen retained the position till about ten at night, in order
to give the rest of the army time to fall back. They then retired,
marching all night, a most difficult and fatiguing march, part of it
through vineyards, and arrived at Curtro about daybreak.
This most gallant action may be said to have been fought altogether
by the 1st Battalion; for no troops assisted them except a few of
the 15th Hussars, who, being hard pressed by the enemy, rode through
the two rear companies at the first onset, and formed on the rising
ground beyond the bridge on the Villa Franca road; and ‘a few of
the 52nd,’[60] who, as night fell, appeared on that ridge to their
assistance; but Colbert’s final charge had then been checked by
the Riflemen. Mr. Moore, in his Life of his brother, says that ‘to
arrest the enemy, four hundred Riflemen, with a small detachment of
horse, were posted,’ while the Reserve crossed the bridge; but in
fact scarce half that number remained on that side of the river. Only
two companies (Norcott’s and O’Hare’s) were there posted; and their
strength would not have been a hundred men each after the casualties
of several days’ march, in weather of unusual severity, and amidst
almost unparalleled toils.
The march was resumed in a few hours; the weather was intensely
cold, the road rugged and difficult, and the snow knee deep, and the
fatigue and exhausted state of the men were extreme; yet amidst all
these sufferings the Reserve preserved order, ‘covered the retreat,
and protected, as much as lay in their power, the stragglers.’[61]
On the road from Villa Franca to Herrerias the French patrols during
the night attacked the Rifle picquets, and wounded a few men; but
the Riflemen drove them back, and the enemy did not ascertain that
the retreating army had abandoned the position. After a march of
eighteen miles the Reserve reached Herrerias on the morning of the
4th. A forced march of thirty-six miles brought them on the 5th to
Nogales. Thence they started again, and towards evening of that day,
when near Constantino, the enemy came up with them. Moore was with
them, and his position was difficult. A river was to be crossed, and
a hill overlooking and close to the bridge would, if the enemy should
occupy it, give him such an advantage as would render the passage of
the Reserve very difficult. Moore posted a battery on the top of the
hill, ‘and guarded it, as usual, by the brave Rifle Corps.’[62] They
held the enemy in check while the Reserve defiled over the narrow
bridge; as soon as they were safely over, the guns were limbered
up, and trotted down the hill; the Riflemen followed at the double,
and passed the bridge without the loss of a man. The French rushed
on in pursuit; but when they reached the bridge the Reserve were in
position, and after maintaining the post till nightfall General Paget
fell back towards Lugo.
During all this retreat Moore accompanied the Reserve, and rode
beside his friend General Paget, their chief. His cheerful demeanour
sustained the spirits of the way-worn, suffering soldiers; he praised
their superior discipline on the march, and warmly applauded their
gallant conduct in action.
The whole of Sir John Moore’s forces were now in position in front
of Lugo. On the 6th the French came in sight, and collecting in
considerable numbers, took up a position in front of the rear-guard.
On the next day the outposts were attacked, and the enemy repulsed.
And on the 8th another attack was made, and with a similar result.
On the 9th Sir John Moore drew up his whole force in position, and
offered battle. After waiting in line of battle till towards evening,
the General ordered the army to retire in the night, the Reserve
covering their march. They kept up bright fires to deceive the enemy,
and then, in a night of terrific weather, and in drenching showers of
rain and sleet, they fell back towards Betanzos. Near this town the
enemy came up with them, and attacked them during their passage over
a bridge, with some loss.
The sufferings of the Battalion in the next few days were terrible.
The men were in a state of starvation; many without shoes, and almost
all in rags. The officers were, many of them, barefooted; and some,
from hunger and fatigue, so incapable of further exertion that they
had to be carried on mules. In this state they arrived, on the 11th,
at El Burgo (the main body of the troops having entered Corunna),
their discipline unimpaired and their courage undismayed. ‘For
twelve days,’ says Napier, ‘these hardy warriors had covered the
retreat, during which time they had traversed eighty miles of road
in two marches, passed several nights under arms in the snow of the
mountains, were seven times engaged with the enemy, and now assembled
at the outposts, having fewer men missing, including those who had
fallen in battle, than any other division of the army: an admirable
instance of the value of good discipline.’
As soon as they had passed the river at El Burgo the bridge was
blown up, and two companies of Riflemen, under Major Norcott, were
posted in the village; the remainder of the Battalion being, with the
Reserve, cantoned upon the high road to Corunna, at a little distance.
The enemy’s cavalry again came in sight on the morning of the 12th,
and, after reconnoitring, dismounted a part of their force, and
attacked the companies at El Burgo vigorously. This skirmishing
continued during the day; but their efforts to drive the Riflemen
from the post were ineffectual.
On the 14th, however, this post was withdrawn, as the enemy had
forded the river on our left. The Battalion therefore joined the
Reserve in the position taken up by the army on the heights about
two miles in front of Corunna; while the enemy was employed in
concentrating his forces on a very strong range of hills opposite and
nearly parallel to the British line, and distant from it about five
hundred yards.
The Battalion was advanced, in the course of the morning, about
half-a-mile in front of the Reserve, in order to occupy several
detached and commanding pieces of ground, on the right of Lord
William Bentinck’s brigade, and just opposite a battery of guns on
the left of the French position.
The enemy’s troops continued to pour into his position during the
whole night. Their bands played, and shouts, plainly heard by the
Riflemen, announced their joy at the certainty of a general action
on the morrow, and the anticipated destruction or capture of the
British army.
On the 16th several movements of cavalry, artillery and infantry were
observed in the French lines, and about two o’clock in the afternoon
the Riflemen could distinctly see their first line getting under arms
on the brow of the hill. The assault was not long in coming. At three
o’clock a furious onset of three thousand skirmishers burst upon the
whole line of English picquets; which, although at first driven back,
rallied under cover of the numerous stone walls which intersected
the valley, and kept the enemy in check for a considerable time;
particularly at the village of Elvina, which was watched by the
brigade under Major-General Coote Manningham.
The enemy finding his first efforts to drive in our picquets
unavailing, reinforced his first line with several battalions, and
compelled them to fall back to their respective brigades. The action
immediately became general, and the attacks particularly severe from
the Corunna road to the extreme British right (comprising about
half the English forces). It was evidently Soult’s great object
to turn the right, whilst on the left and left centre the attack
was not pushed with much energy, and was intended only as a feint.
Lord William Bentinck’s brigade was so roughly handled about five
o’clock, and was losing so many men by the fire of the enemy’s guns
on our right (by which Sir John Moore fell at this time), that
Colonel Beckwith pushed on with the whole Battalion; and dashing
into the very midst of the enemy’s artillery, would inevitably have
captured or destroyed them in a few minutes, had not two battalions
of Voltigeurs moved out so rapidly from the second line to their
assistance, that the Riflemen were obliged to fall back for the
moment. They were checked, not quelled; a sharp skirmish, kept up
for two hours between the Riflemen and the Voltigeurs, ended in the
complete repulse of the latter, with considerable loss, leaving seven
officers and one hundred and fifty-six men prisoners in the hands of
their opponents, whom the Battalion took on ship-board and brought to
England.
By this time the enemy had been completely defeated at all points,
and retired to his position.
The troops embarked during the night. The 1st Battalion of the 95th
was the last corps that entered the gates of Corunna, having acted as
the rear-guard; and scarcely had it reached its ship, when the enemy
made his appearance, with several guns, on the heights commanding the
bay, from which he fired on all the vessels within range. The fleet,
however, was soon under sail, and arrived at Spithead on the 21st.
The Battalion was landed and marched to Hythe.
I have reserved till now the details of its losses during that
memorable retreat.
At Cacabelos, on January 3, 2 sergeants and 17 rank and file were
killed; and Captain Bennett, who died of his wounds on the 11th,
and Lieutenant Eeles were wounded; and on that occasion 4 sergeants
and 44 rank and file were taken prisoners. In the skirmish on the
5th, 1 man was killed and 1 man also on the 10th. One sergeant, 1
bugler, and 13 rank and file died of want, sickness, or fatigue
during the retreat; and 31 men, wounded or exhausted, fell into
the enemy’s hands. In the final fight before Corunna on the 16th,
Lieutenant Charles Noble, 1 sergeant, and 10 rank and file were
killed, and 8 rank and file were taken prisoners. Thus the total
loss of the Battalion in twenty days was 2 officers, 8 sergeants, 1
bugler, and 125 rank and file dead, or prisoners in the hands of the
enemy. Lieutenant Eeles, 1 sergeant, and 33 rank and file wounded
disembarked in England.
But the condition of the survivors and unwounded was deplorable. The
appearance of the Battalion was squalid and miserable. Most of the
men had lost some of their appointments; many were without shoes; and
their clothing was not only tattered and in rags, but in such a state
of filth and so infested with vermin, that on new clothing being
served out it was burnt at the back of Hythe barracks.
Among the losses of the Regiment consequent on the retreat to
Corunna, not the least conspicuous was that of their first Colonel,
Major-General Coote Manningham, who died at Maidstone on August 26,
1809, in his forty-fourth year. A short sketch of the life of one who
may be called the originator of the Regiment, may well be given in
this place. He was the second son of Charles Manningham,[63] Esq., of
Thorp, in Surrey, who was Governor of Bengal in 1758, by the daughter
of Colonel Charles Hutchinson, Governor of St. Helena, through whom
he was nearly related to two distinguished Generals, Sir Robert Boyd
and Sir Eyre Coote, who had married her sisters. Under the former,
and in his Regiment, the 39th, his services commenced at the siege of
Gibraltar. On the breaking out of the war of 1793, Manningham, then
a Major in the 45th, was appointed to a light infantry battalion,
formed in the West India Islands, in order to join Sir Charles Grey,
on his coming out to attack the French West India possessions. With
it he took part in the reduction of Martinique, St. Lucia, and
Guadaloupe. He soon after became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 41st, and
in 1795 was appointed Adjutant-General to the force under General
Forbes at St. Domingo. While on this service he was severely wounded
by an ambuscade of the enemy. On or soon after his return to England
he was, in 1798, appointed Aide-de-Camp to King George III., with the
rank of Colonel, and soon after one of His Majesty’s Equerries. He
was promoted a Major-General in 1805; and after serving some time on
the home staff, he was appointed to command a brigade in the division
which went out with Sir David Baird in 1808. On the junction of this
force with that under Sir John Moore, he had a brigade under Moore,
and took part in the retreat; and, as we have seen, held the position
of Elvina in the final action at Corunna. The fatigues and sufferings
he had undergone during this campaign, acting on a constitution
impaired by service and by wounds in the West Indies, brought on,
soon after his return to England, an illness from which he never
rallied. He is buried at Little Bookham,[64] in Surrey, where this
inscription to his memory remains:
In this vault are deposited the remains of
Major-General COOTE MANNINGHAM, equerry to the king
and colonel of the 95th or rifle regiment of foot;
This corps he originally raised and formed, and by his
unvaried zeal and exertion, as well as excellent discipline
and good example, brought to the highest state of
military reputation and distinction.
He died at _Maidstone_, on the 26th day of August 1809
in the 44th year of his age.
An early victim to the fatigues of the campaign in _Spain_
operating on a constitution already enfeebled
by long service in the _West Indies_
and honourable wounds received in that climate.
A monument to his memory was also erected in the North Transept
of Westminster Abbey, by his friend Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas
Hislop, in 1813; which records that ‘In him the man and the Christian
tempered the warrior;’ and that ‘He was the model of a British
soldier.’
His only surviving child married Sir Edward Buller, Bart., and more
than one of her sons has served with distinction in the Regiment,
in which they may be said to bear the honourable distinction of
‘founder’s kin.’
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Frederick, Duke of York.
[13] ‘Memoirs of the Court and Cabinet of George III.,’ vol. iii. 88.
[14] Major-General Sir Robert Travers, C.B., K.C.M.G., died at Cork,
December 24, 1834.
[15] Sir James Pulteney’s Despatch, August 27.
[16] ‘Handbook of Spain.’
[17] It was popularly known as ‘Manningham’s Sharpshooters.’
[18] ‘Cumloden Papers,’ 23.
[19] ‘Regulations for the Rifle Corps formed at Blatchington Barracks
by Colonel Manningham:’ London, 1801. Stewart also published
‘Outlines of a Plan for the General Reform of the British Land
Forces:’ a pamphlet, of which a second edition, enlarged, appeared in
octavo. London, 1806.
[20] ‘Life of Sir C. J. Napier,’ i. 19.
[21] Lieutenant-General Sir T. Sidney Beckwith, K.C.B., died January
19, 1831.
[22] Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart’s Despatch, ‘Cumloden Papers,’ 41.
[23] ‘Cumloden Papers,’ 50, 51, 52. This service seems to have
established a friendship between Stewart and Nelson, which terminated
only with the great admiral’s life. Several letters from him, written
in very affectionate terms, to Stewart, are printed in the ‘Cumloden
Papers;’ the last dated only thirteen days before his death off
Trafalgar. Stewart also mentions incidentally that his son Horatio
(who served in the Regiment) bore that name ‘by the express wish of
that great man who fell off Trafalgar.’ He must have wished him to
call his first son after him, for Horatio Stewart was not born till
after Nelson’s death.
[24] ‘Life of Sir Charles Napier,’ i. 58, 59.
[25] ‘Military Lectures delivered to the officers of the 95th (Rifle)
Regiment, at Shorn-Cliff Barracks, Kent, during the Spring of 1803.’
By Coote Manningham, Colonel of the 95th (Rifle) Regiment. Octavo,
London, 1803, pp. 70. And see p. 7.
In the same year appeared ‘Regulations for the Exercise of Riflemen
and Light Infantry in the Field,’ octavo, pp. 70, with diagrams and
two pages of bugle sounds. What share, if any, Manningham or Stewart
had in these books, I am unable to trace. A preface (signed by the
Adjutant-General) states that it is founded on a work written by a
German officer of distinction.
[26] Hamlet Wade was one of the original members of the Regiment,
having been promoted to a majority on its formation, from captain in
the 25th Foot. He was an extraordinary, gallant, dashing Irishman (he
was one of the Wades of Clonabraney, County Meath), and anecdotes
of him were still rife when I was in the Regiment. Surtees mentions
Wade’s praise and his rewards to him for his good shooting, when
he joined as a volunteer. He was an admirable shot with the rifle
himself. He and a private of the name of Smeaton used to hold a
target for each other at 150 yards; and it is said (Smith’s ‘List of
Officers,’ 58) that he and John Spurry, a private in the Regiment,
held the target for each other at 200 yards: a wonderful feat, while
the Baker rifle was still in use. There used to be a story of him at
an inspection by the old Earl of Chatham, who expressed a wish to
see some practice with the rifle; and having made some remark on the
danger of the markers, Wade said: ‘There is no danger;’ and calling
one of the men (no doubt Smeaton or Spurry), bade him hold a target,
and he himself taking a rifle fired and hit it. Lord Chatham’s horror
at this was extreme, on which Wade said: ‘Oh, we all do it.’ And
bidding the other to take a loaded rifle, he ran out himself and
held the target for the soldier’s fire. Probably no other men in the
Regiment but themselves could have done this. Colonel Wade, C.B.,
died February 13, 1821, having retired from the army.
[27] Surtees gives the story at length, 53-55.
[28] Major-General Sir Amos G. R. Norcott, K.C.H., died January 8,
1838.
[29] Major O’Hare was killed at Badajos.
[30] The five 1st Battalion companies had thus been _eleven months_
on board ship.
[31] The three companies of the 2nd Battalion at Monte Video had
been engaged, on June 7, at San Pedro, when Major Gardner and
Assistant-Surgeon Turner, 1 sergeant and 26 rank and file were
wounded. I find no particulars of this affair beyond the mention of
it, and the casualties, in the Record of the 2nd Battalion.
[32] ‘Brigadier Craufurd’s Evidence on Whitelocke’s Court-martial,’
p. 335-6.
[33] Two majors, 5 captains, 19 subalterns, 3 staff, 24 sergeants,
12 buglers, and 495 rank and file of the Rifle Corps (including
the wounded) surrendered to the enemy. ‘Return in Whitelocke’s
Court-Martial,’ Appendix, p. 45.
[34] Lieutenant Patrick Turner died of his wounds.
[35] Major-General Sir Dudley St. Leger Hill, K.C.B., died February
21, 1851.
[36] ‘Annual Register,’ xlix.; ‘London Gazette,’ September 13, 1807;
and Record of the 1st Battalion. This narrative is evidently drawn up
by an eye-witness: no doubt Sir Amos Norcott, by whom the regimental
Record is signed.
[37] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. 4.
[38] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ vi. 10. It is strange that no
mention of their services in this expedition appears in the 1st
Battalion Record. That of the 2nd Battalion mentions only the
casualties on the 17th before Copenhagen.
[39] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. 4.
[40] Surtees, 60-72. Leach, 28-38. ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. and:
Supplementary Despatches,’ vi.
[41] Major-General Sir John Ross, K.C.B., died April 31, 1835.
[42] Major-General Sir Alexander Cameron, K.C.B., died July 20, 1850.
[43] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. 28.
[44] Ibid. iv. 27.
[45] Ibid. iv. 77.
[46] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. 94.
[47] Afterwards Major-General Sir Hercules R. Pakenham, K.C.B.
The Duke of Wellington, applying for his promotion on October 15
following, mentions his being wounded in this affair, and adds ‘that
he is really one of the best officers of Riflemen that I have seen.’
(‘Supplementary Despatches,’vi. 160.) He was his brother-in-law. He
remained in the Regiment till 1810.
[48] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. 95.
[49] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ vi. 115.
[50] Properly _Roliça_. I retain the name granted to the Regiment,
and borne on its badge.
[51] Leach, 47.
[52] At Kinsale, where is this inscription in the church:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
LIEUTENANT THOMAS COCHRANE
OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE.
HE DIED IIND OF JULY MDCCCXXIII., AGED XXXIV. YEARS.
AS A SOLDIER
HIS ZEAL, GALLANTRY, AND INTELLIGENCE
RENDERED HIM VALUABLE TO HIS COUNTRY;
AS A MAN
HIS PRIVATE VIRTUES, EMBRACING EVERY ENNOBLING AND ENDEARING
QUALIFICATION,
SECURED TO HIM THE ESTEEM AND LASTING ATTACHMENT OF HIS BROTHER
OFFICERS, WHO HAVE RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO HIS MEMORY.
[53] Leach, 50, who was on this picquet.
[54] ‘Wellington Despatches,’ iv. III; and ‘Supplementary
Despatches,’ vi. 121.
[55] Surtees, 74. I take the dates from Surtees, who was with this
force. The dates in the 2nd Battalion Record are here in inextricable
confusion.
[56] Harris, 160.
[57] Surtees, 80.
[58] Surtees mentions that he crossed the Esla, at a ford a little
way from Castro Gonzalo, in a bullock-cart loaded with biscuit, while
the brigade were occupied in destroying the bridge. The time lost in
its destruction might have been saved had Moore or Craufurd known the
river was fordable.
[59] I note Costello’s assertion that General Paget offered his purse
to any Rifleman who would bring down the French General, only to
point out its improbability, not to say its impossibility. No one
who knew the gallant Sir Edward Paget will believe that he bribed
a soldier to slay a chivalrous and brave enemy; of whom Napier
writes, ‘his fine martial figure, his voice, his gestures, and, above
all, his great valour, had excited the admiration of the British,
and a general feeling of sorrow was predominant when the gallant
soldier fell.’ It is quite possible that, as Costello says, General
Paget flung his purse (or some of its contents) to Tom Plunket, in
admiration of two such unerring shots in the midst of a hot fight.
But this is a very different matter from the previous offer of it. It
is to be observed that Costello was not at Cacabelos, but was then
a recruit at the Depôt; and no doubt the story did not lose, in the
barrack-room or at the camp-fire, where he probably had heard it.
[60] ‘Napier,’ Book iv. chap. v.
[61] ‘Life of Sir John Moore,’ ii. 210.
[62] ‘Life of Sir John Moore,’ ii. 201.
[63] His grandfather was Bishop of Chichester. See a full account of
the family in Nichols’ ‘Literary Anecdotes,’ i. 207-11.
[64] He had married the daughter of the Reverend George Pollen,
Rector of Little Bookham.