which was celebrated for the extent of its underground works.
Captain Parker, of the regiment, states in his journal,--"Our
approaches against this citadel were carried on mostly underground,
by sinking pits several fathom deep, and working from thence until
we came to their casemates and mines. These extended a great way
from the body of the citadel, and in them our men and the enemy
frequently met, and fought with sword and pistol. We could not
prevent them springing several mines which blew up some of our
batteries, guns and all, and a great many men, in particular a
captain, lieutenant, and forty (the London Gazette says thirty) men
of our regiment." The EIGHTEENTH lost a lieutenant and several men
in the combats underground; and ten grenadiers were suffocated in
one of the galleries. In the early part of September the governor
surrendered.
From Tournay the army marched in the direction of Mons, and, the
French taking up a position near _Malplaquet_, a general engagement
took place on the 11th of September, when the enemy was forced from
his entrenchments with loss. Captain Parker states,--"The part
which our regiment acted in this battle was something remarkable.
We happened to be the last of the regiments which had been left
at Tournay to level the approaches, and did not come up till the
lines were formed. We were ordered to draw up on the right of the
army, opposite a skirt of the wood of Sart, and, when the army
advanced to attack the enemy, we entered the wood in our front. We
continued marching till we came to a small plain, on the opposite
side of which we perceived a battalion of the enemy drawn up, a
skirt of the wood being in its rear. Colonel Kane, who was then
at the head of the regiment, having drawn us up, and formed our
platoons, advanced towards the enemy, with the six platoons of
our first fire made ready. When we arrived within a hundred paces
of them, they gave us a fire of one of their ranks; whereupon we
halted, and returned them the fire of our six platoons at once, and
immediately made ready the six platoons of our second fire, and
advanced upon them again. They then gave us the fire of another
rank; and we returned them a second fire, which made them shrink;
however they gave us the fire of a third rank, after a scattering
manner, and then retired into the wood in great disorder; on
which we sent our third fire after them and saw them no more.
We advanced up to the ground which they had quitted, and found
several of them killed and wounded; and among the latter was one
Lieutenant O'Sulivan, who told us the battalion we had engaged
was the 'ROYAL REGIMENT OF IRELAND.'[24] Here, therefore, was a
fair trial between the TWO ROYAL REGIMENTS OF IRELAND, one in the
BRITISH and the other in the FRENCH service; for we met each other
upon equal terms, and there was none else to interpose. We had but
four men killed and six wounded; and found near forty of them on
the spot killed and wounded. The advantage on our side will be
easily accounted for, first from the weight of our ball; for the
French arms carry bullets of 24 to the pound, whereas our British
firelocks carry ball of 16 only to the pound, which will make a
considerable difference in the execution: again, the manner of our
firing was different from theirs; the French, at that time, fired
all by ranks, which can never do equal execution with our platoon
firing."
Lieut.-Colonel Stearne gives nearly the same particulars, and
adds--"We marched into the wood after them (the Royal Irish in
the French service); and when we had got through, we found our
army mounting the enemy's last entrenchments, and our brother
_harpers_[25] scoured off as fast as their heels could carry them.
Thus ended this great and terrible battle, which was the most
obstinate engagement on both sides that has been known in the
memory of man: the killed and wounded on both sides was very great."
The EIGHTEENTH were afterwards employed in covering the siege of
_Mons_, and passed the winter in quarters at Ghent.
[Sidenote: 1710]
From Ghent the regiment advanced on the 14th of April, 1710,
and took part in the operations by which the French lines were
passed at _Pont-à-Vendin_; and also formed part of the covering
army during the siege of _Douay_, and also during the siege of
_Bethune_; and was afterwards detached, under the Prince of
Anhalt, to attack the town of _Aire_, situate on the banks of the
river Lys. In the siege of this place many difficulties had to be
overcome, from the nature of the ground, and from the determined
defence of a numerous garrison: the EIGHTEENTH regiment had three
officers killed, and five wounded; also about eighty soldiers
killed and wounded. The garrison surrendered on the 9th of
November; and the regiment, afterwards returned to Ghent.[26]
[Sidenote: 1711]
The ROYAL IRISH again took the field in April, 1711, and were
employed in the operations by which the boasted impregnable French
lines were passed at _Arleux_, and the opportunity of attacking the
fortified town of _Bouchain_, situated on both sides of the river
_Scheldt_, was ensured. The regiment formed part of a detachment of
twenty battalions, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Orkney,
which took post on the north and north-west side of the town
and river, and advanced to drive the French from the heights of
Wavrechin. Captain Parker states, "Our British grenadiers marched
to the top of the hill on the left of their works, in order to
begin the attack on that side: here we were posted in a field of
wheat, about seventy or eighty paces from their works, expecting
every moment the signal to fall on. I must confess I did not like
the aspect of the thing: we plainly saw their entrenchment was a
perfect bulwark, strong and lofty, and crowded with men, and cannon
pointed directly at us: we wished much that the Duke might take a
nearer view. * * * * While I was musing, the Duke of Marlborough,
ever watchful, ever right, rode up unattended, and posted himself
on the right of my company of grenadiers, from whence he had a
fair view of the greater part of the enemy's works. It is quite
impossible for me to express the joy which the sight of this man
gave me. I was well satisfied he would not push the thing unless he
saw a strong probability of success; nor was this my notion alone;
it was the sense of the whole army, both officers and soldiers,
British and Foreigners; and, indeed, we had all the reason in the
world for it, for he never led us on to any one action that we did
not succeed in. He stayed only three or four minutes, and then rode
back: we were in pain for him while he stayed, lest the enemy might
have discovered him, and fired at him, in which case they could
not well have missed him. He had not been longer from us than he
stayed when orders came to us to retire. As the corn we stood in
was high, we slipped off undiscovered, and were a good way down the
hill before they perceived that we were retiring, and then they
let fly all their great and small shot after us; but as we were by
this time under the brow of the hill, all their shot went over our
heads." This statement of a distinguished officer of the EIGHTEENTH
regiment shows how fully the great Duke of Marlborough possessed
the confidence of his troops.
During the siege of _Bouchain_, the ROYAL IRISH regiment was
actively engaged in the trenches and the attacks; but did not
sustain a very severe loss. Lieut.-Colonel Stearne states,--"In
this siege our regiment had four officers wounded but none killed,
and about forty men killed and wounded; the grenadiers suffered
most. Bouchain being taken, our regiment was ordered to Tournay,
where we were quartered the remaining part of the campaign, from
whence we escorted what provision came that way to the army which
continued about Bouchain." In October the regiment marched to
Lisle, where it passed the winter.
[Sidenote: 1712]
In February, 1712, Lieut.-General Ingoldsby died, and was succeeded
in the colonelcy of the regiment by Lieut.-Colonel Stearne, who
had held a commission in the corps thirty-four years, and wrote an
account of its services.[27]
From Lisle the regiment advanced in April to some high ground
beyond Bouchain, where a camp was formed of several corps, and
entrenchments thrown up. The ROYAL IRISH regiment afterwards joined
the army under the orders of the Duke of Ormond, and its grenadier
company advanced on a reconnoitring party into Picardy; but a
suspension of hostilities took place soon afterwards, and the army
withdrew to Ghent, where the regiment passed the winter. The power
of France was reduced, its armies defeated, its frontier towns
captured, its ambitious monarch was forced to sue for peace, and
the treaty of Utrecht gave repose to Europe.
[Sidenote: 1713]
The ROYAL IRISH regiment had acquired a high reputation during the
war; and a board of officers being assembled in London, to decide
on the rank of regiments, Colonel Stearne sent Captain Parker
to England to claim rank for the regiment from the date of its
formation in 1684, which would have given it rank as FIFTH foot;
but this was not granted, and it continued to take date and rank
in the English army from the time of its arrival in England in the
autumn of 1688.[28]
During the winter, a very serious mutiny occurred among the troops
stationed at Ghent, to which the soldiers were incited by a man,
whom Captain Parker calls "a pettifogging attorney from London,"
who had entered the EIGHTEENTH regiment. This dangerous combination
was suppressed, and ten of the ringleaders were executed.
[Sidenote: 1714]
After the conclusion of the treaty of peace, the British regiments
quitted Flanders, excepting the eighth and EIGHTEENTH, which were
appointed to garrison the citadel of Ghent until the barrier treaty
was signed. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough passing through
Ghent, the officers of the two regiments met His Grace without
the town, to show their respect to the character of their former
commander.
[Sidenote: 1715]
On the breaking out of the rebellion of the Earl of Mar, in the
autumn of 1715, the regiment was ordered to proceed to England,
leaving the lieut.-colonel and a hundred men in the castle of
Ghent; it landed at Greenwich, and marched to Gloucester, where it
was joined by the party from Ghent in February following.
[Sidenote: 1716]
From Gloucester the regiment marched to _Oxford_; many persons at
this celebrated university were disaffected to the government of
King George I., and on the Prince of Wales's birthday, when the
officers of the regiment were assembled at one of the inns, to
celebrate the day, they were assailed by stones thrown from a house
on the opposite side of the street. A number of soldiers, hearing
that their officers had been thus assailed by the Jacobites, came
running to the spot, and soon destroyed the windows of the house
from whence the stones had been thrown. They afterwards went from
street to street, and broke the windows of persons who refused to
illuminate for the Prince of Wales's birthday. The Vice-Chancellor
sent a complaint to His Majesty's privy council, and the officers
were called upon for an explanation. The subject was afterwards
investigated by the House of Lords, and, after several debates,
the university was censured for not observing the birthday of the
Prince of Wales, afterwards King George II.
[Sidenote: 1717]
In May, 1717, the regiment marched to Portsmouth, where it received
orders to hold itself in readiness to proceed abroad.
Brigadier-General Stearne obtained permission to dispose of the
colonelcy of the regiment to Lieut.-Colonel William Cosby, from the
first troop, now first regiment of life guards.
[Sidenote: 1718]
Soon afterwards the regiment embarked for the island of Minorca,
where it arrived in the early part of 1718, and it was stationed
there many years, during which period little occurred worthy of
being recorded.
[Sidenote: 1727]
In 1727, when the Spaniards besieged _Gibraltar_, a detachment from
the regiments at Minorca proceeded to that fortress, under Colonel
Cosby of the ROYAL IRISH regiment, to reinforce the garrison. This
detachment took part in the successful defence of Gibraltar against
the power of Spain, and when the siege was raised, it returned to
Minorca.
[Sidenote: 1732]
[Sidenote: 1735]
[Sidenote: 1742]
While the regiment was at Minorca, Colonel Cosby was succeeded by
Sir Charles Hotham, Baronet, in 1732; and, in 1735, King George II.
nominated Colonel John Armstrong to the colonelcy. This officer,
dying in 1742, was succeeded by Colonel John Mordaunt, from the
forty-seventh regiment.
In the same year, the ROYAL IRISH regiment was relieved from duty
at Minorca, and returned to England: it landed at Portsmouth and
Southampton, and marched to Taunton, and the neighbouring towns,
where it passed the winter.
[Sidenote: 1743]
From Taunton the regiment marched, in the spring of 1743, to Exeter
and Plymouth, where it was reviewed by Lieut.-General Lord Tyrawley.
[Sidenote: 1744]
In the spring of 1744, the regiment marched to Richmond, and other
towns near Hounslow Heath, and was reviewed by His Royal Highness
the Duke of Cumberland. "The regiment gained great reputation by
its discipline and good appearance, and had the pleasure of being
assured of His Royal Highness' approbation."[29] After the review,
the regiment marched to Fareham, and mounted guard over the French
and Spanish prisoners at Portchester Castle.
[Sidenote: 1745]
At the battle of Fontenoy, the British troops, supporting the
interests of the house of Austria against the power of France and
Bavaria, were repulsed in their attempts to raise the siege of
Tournay, and sustained severe loss; and the ROYAL IRISH regiment
was ordered to join the British army in Flanders. The EIGHTEENTH
embarked at Gravesend, with a detachment of foot guards and the
fourteenth regiment, landed at Ostend, and, advancing up the
country, joined the army, commanded by His Royal Highness the
Duke of Cumberland, at the camp at Lessines, in May, 1745. The
French, having a great superiority of numbers, captured several
strong towns, and besieged _Ostend_, when the ROYAL IRISH were
selected to reinforce the garrison of that fortress. The regiment
accordingly marched to Antwerp, where it embarked on board of
Dutch billanders, in which it sailed to Flushing, where it was
removed on board of transports that conveyed it to Ostend, which
town was found abandoned by the inhabitants, and besieged by a
numerous French force. The garrison did not exceed three thousand
men, a number very inadequate to the defence of the place; the
fortifications had been neglected and were out of repair; and
the Austrian governor permitted the enemy to gain possession of
the sluices before he had inundated the country round the town.
The means of a long defence were wanting, and, after holding out
until the ammunition was nearly expended, and the guns of the
fortress dismounted, the governor capitulated, on condition that
the garrison should march to the quarters of the allied army. The
writer of the continuation of General Stearne's journal complains
of the treacherous conduct of the French on this occasion, in
causing the garrison to make a considerable détour, employing
agents to induce, by promises of reward, the soldiers to desert,
and, after a march of twenty miles in one day, delivering the
garrison up at a frontier village cantonment about seven in the
evening, and having a numerous force ready to cut off the fatigued
men at an early hour on the following morning. This was, however,
defeated; the Duke of Cumberland sent a General officer to take
charge of the troops on their arrival, and, instead of allowing
the tired soldiers to go into quarters, he ordered them to load
their muskets, fix their bayonets, and march for Mons. The writer,
before alluded to, states, "As we every moment expected the enemy,
we continued our march in the greatest order; not a whisper was to
be heard: the officers who were present will always remember with
pleasure the discipline and good disposition every regiment showed
on that occasion." ... "So narrow was our escape, that the French
got to their ground within an hour of our passing it, and we saw
them in the morning encamped about two miles from Mons."
The EIGHTEENTH regiment, and other corps from Ostend, remained at
Mons about three weeks, watched by a numerous French force; but
on the approach of a detachment from the allied army, the enemy
retired: the regiments then marched out at midnight, arrived at
Charleroi on the following day, and afterwards joined the army near
Brussels.
In the autumn of this year, Charles Edward, eldest son of the
Pretender, raised the standard of his father in Scotland, and,
being joined by a number of Highland clans, penetrated into
England. On this occasion the ROYAL IRISH regiment marched to
Williamstadt, where it embarked for England, and, arriving at
Gravesend on the 5th of November, landed and joined the camp at
Dartford, where it remained several weeks, and lost the surgeon and
a number of men from diseases produced by being exposed to severe
weather in a camp in the winter months.
[Sidenote: 1746]
The regiment returned to Gravesend in March, 1746, and embarked
for Scotland, with the twelfth, sixteenth, and twenty-fourth foot.
These corps arrived at Leith on the 19th of April, as the guns of
Edinburgh castle were firing for the victory gained over the rebels
at Culloden, and this terminated the rebellion.
The regiment waited at Leith until the return of an express from
the army, when it received orders to sail northward; it landed at
Nairn on the 1st of May, was cantoned in the neighbourhood of that
place three weeks, and afterwards joined the army at Inverness, at
which place the regiment was encamped until the autumn, when it
marched into quarters at Nairn, Elgin, &c.
[Sidenote: 1747]
In the summer of 1747, the regiment marched to Fort Augustus, and
encamped among the mountains near that place, under the orders of
Major-General Blakeney, until October, when it marched to Edinburgh
castle, and Stirling.
Major-General Sir John Mordaunt was removed to the twelfth
dragoons in December of this year, and was succeeded in the
colonelcy by Colonel John Folliott, from the sixty-first foot, a
newly-raised corps, afterwards disbanded.
[Sidenote: 1748]
[Sidenote: 1749]
[Sidenote: 1750]
Returning to England in the spring of 1748, the regiment was
stationed at Berwick, Newcastle, and Carlisle, where it remained
until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, when it marched to Glasgow,
and embarked for Ireland on the 18th of February, 1749. It was
stationed at Enniskillen and Ballyshannon twelve months, and was
removed in 1750 to Kinsale, and in 1751 to Cork.
[Sidenote: 1751]
In the Royal warrant of the 1st of July, 1751, the uniform of the
regiment is directed to be scarlet, faced with blue. The First, or
King's colour, to be the great union; the Second, or regimental
colour, to be of blue silk with the union in the upper canton; in
the centre of the colour, the HARP in a blue field and the CROWN
over it; and in the three corners of the colour, the LION OF
NASSAU, the arms of King William III. On the grenadier caps, the
HARP AND CROWN, as on the colours. The HARP AND CROWN to be painted
in the same manner on the drums and bells of arms, with the rank of
the regiment underneath.[30]
[Sidenote: 1752]
[Sidenote: 1753]
[Sidenote: 1754]
From Cork the regiment marched, in 1752, to Waterford; in 1753 it
proceeded to Dublin, and in 1754 to Londonderry and Ballyshannon.
[Sidenote: 1755]
Disputes having arisen between Great Britain and France, respecting
the extent of the British territories in North America, hostilities
commenced, and the regiment was suddenly ordered to England in
the spring of 1755. It landed at Liverpool on Easter Sunday, the
3rd of April, and marched to Berwick, where the establishment was
augmented to seventy-eight men per company, and two companies were
afterwards added: in October the regiment marched to Edinburgh,
where it was stationed during the winter.
[Sidenote: 1756]
In February, 1756, the two additional companies were incorporated
in the fifty-sixth regiment, then newly raised; and in May the
EIGHTEENTH were reviewed by Lieut.-General Bland, commanding the
forces in North Britain, and afterwards marched to Fort William,
with numerous detachments at various posts in the Highlands.
[Sidenote: 1757]
Orders were received in February, 1757, for the regiment to proceed
to Ireland, and it was stationed in that part of the United Kingdom
during the remainder of the seven years' war.
[Sidenote: 1762]
Lieut.-General Folliott died in January, 1762, and in April King
George III. conferred the colonelcy of the EIGHTEENTH regiment on
Major-General Sir John Sebright, Bart., from the eighty-third foot,
which corps was disbanded in 1763.
[Sidenote: 1767]
[Sidenote: 1775]
In 1767 the ROYAL IRISH regiment proceeded from Ireland to
North America, where it was stationed when the unfortunate
misunderstanding occurred between Great Britain and her North
American colonies on the subject of taxation. The Americans
manifested a disposition to violence, and three companies of the
EIGHTEENTH were stationed at Boston, the capital of the state of
Massachusetts, under the Governor of the province, General Gage.
General Gage, having ascertained that the Americans had collected a
quantity of military stores at _Concord_, detached the grenadiers
and light infantry, including the companies of the EIGHTEENTH, to
effect the destruction of these stores. These companies embarked
in boats, under Colonel Smith, of the tenth, on the evening of the
18th of April, 1775, and sailed up Charles river to the marshes of
Cambridge, where they landed and marched towards Concord. At the
village of _Lexington_ they were opposed by a party of American
militia; some firing occurred, and several men were killed and
wounded: thus the first blood was spilt, and open resistance
followed. The King's troops continued their march to Concord, and
effected the destruction of the stores. In the meantime the country
had been alarmed for many miles, and, when the soldiers commenced
their journey back to Boston, they were fired upon from behind
the walls, trees, fences, barns, &c., on both sides of the road,
and skirmish succeeded skirmish until they arrived at Lexington,
where they were met by Earl Percy's brigade, with two field-pieces.
The fire of the artillery checked the Americans, and the troops
continued their march to Boston. The flank companies of the ROYAL
IRISH regiment had two men killed and four wounded on this occasion.
This open resistance to legal authority was followed by the
appearance of multitudes of armed Americans in the neighbourhood
of Boston, and on the night of the 16th of June they commenced
throwing up entrenchments on the peninsula of Charleston, on a
height called _Bunker's Hill_; and on the following day General
Gage detached a body of troops, of which the flank companies of the
ROYAL IRISH regiment formed part, to drive the Americans from the
hill. The attack was made about three o'clock in the afternoon,
and British valour was conspicuously displayed; but the Americans
had a great superiority of numbers and a strong post. The King's
troops were twice arrested in their progress, but by a determined
effort they carried the height at the point of the bayonet, and
triumphed over thrice their own numbers. The loss of the EIGHTEENTH
was limited to three rank and file killed, Lieutenant William
Richardson and seven rank and file wounded.
[Sidenote: 1776]
Although the valour and discipline of the British corps in North
America were so conspicuous as to excite the admiration of their
country, yet the few corps at Boston were beset by such multitudes
of opponents, that it became impossible for these excellent
qualities to be exercised with any prospect of ultimate success;
and in the middle of March, 1776, the town was abandoned, the
British troops embarking for Nova Scotia.
[Sidenote: 1777]
Soon afterwards the regiment received orders to transfer its men
fit for service to other corps, and return to Europe: it arrived in
England in July, 1776, and was stationed at Dover Castle, where it
remained during the year 1777.
[Sidenote: 1778]
From Dover, the regiment proceeded to Coxheath, where an encampment
was formed of the Royal Dragoons, five regiments of infantry, and
fifteen battalions of militia.
[Sidenote: 1779]
In the summer of 1779, the regiment was encamped at Warley, in the
Essex district, with three other corps of regular infantry and ten
battalions of militia, under Lieut.-General Parker.
[Sidenote: 1780]
[Sidenote: 1782]